LNP Oct-20-09 by Liberty Newspost

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19/10/09 - 20/10/09

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Napolitano defends bringing Guantanamo detainees to U.S. By Jeremy Pelofsky (Front Row Washington)

Napolitano held out hope that the administration could meet the fast-approaching deadline: "I Submitted at 10/19/2009 6:30:10 PM would hope so." She declined to Department of Homeland comment on the likely location of S e c u r i t y S e c r e t a r y J a n e t where the detainees could be held Napolitano defended the Obama in the United States. administration's plans to bring But Republicans have criticized t e r r o r i s m s u s p e c t s h e l d a t the idea of bringing the terrorism Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the suspects to U.S. soil, arguing that United States -- countering critics they are not entitled access to the who questioned whether it would criminal court system and could create security risks. pose threats to the communities "There's no question in my mind where they may be imprisoned. that those detainees who would be Her remarks came as former moved to the United States would U.S. Attorney General Michael be held in such a fashion that they M u k a s e y i s s u e d a s t i n g i n g would not be any threat to public condemnation of the Obama safety, and I say that as a former administration plan, writing in a prosecutor," Napolitano said in an Wall Street Journal opinion piece interview during the Reuters that civilian courts were not the Washington Summit. She served right place to try the terrorism as a U.S. attorney in Arizona s u s p e c t s a n d c o u l d m a k e during the Clinton administration. communities, jurors and courts President Barack Obama has targets. pledged to close the controversial "Based on my experience trying prison by Jan. 22, 2010, including such cases, and what I saw as bringing some of the terrorism attorney general, they aren't. That suspects to U.S. soil for trial in is not to say that civilian courts military commissions or U.S. cannot ever handle terrorist criminal courts. There have been prosecutions, but rather that their questions and doubts about role in a war on terrorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to use an whether his goal can be achieved u n f a s h i o n a b l y harsh because of political, legal and phraseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;should be, as the term logistical complications. 'war' would suggest, a supporting

and not a principal role," he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. Mukasey served as a federal prosecutor in the 1970s and then as a federal judge in New York from 1988 to 2006, presiding over terrorism cases that included the trial of those who plotted to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993. He was attorney general under former President George W. Bush. While Mukasey also argued in his op-ed that imprisoning

terrorism suspects in the United States could expose others in the prison to their beliefs, many of the individuals convicted like Zacarias Moussaoui are kept in maximum security facilities isolated from the general population. He also warned that U.S. criminal court procedures would risk revealing too much sensitive information and that the cases against Guantanamo detainees were not built for civilian court proceedings. Many of the hearings in U.S. District Court for petitions by prisoners seeking their release from Guantanamo have been held in closed session to protect classified information. So do you believe U.S. criminal courts can handle the terrorism cases and would communities become targets or should terrorism suspects from Guantanamo only be tried in military commissions? For more news from the Reuters Washington Summit, click here. - Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Napolitano speaks to the Reuters Washington Summit)

Ideas for TechThemed Halloween Pumpkins [Halloween] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:30:00 AM

If you are looking for Halloween pumpkin carving ideas, here are some classic tech- and sci-fithemes. I sure like R2-D2 more than Darth Pumpkin and Yod-o'lantern, but the most terrifying is the red ring of death pumpkin. You got new ideas? Start carving, because someone tells me that next week there will be a contest coming up. Head to Unplggd for the complete gallery, including the best Mario of all times: Raccoon Mario. [ Unplggd]

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The First Draft: Clinton spills the beans? By Deborah Charles (Front Row Washington)

morning to talk about Sudan, made a brief statement alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri alSubmitted at 10/20/2009 6:46:03 AM Maliki. Then she walked him out After being upstaged by her own of the room and came back and boss as she announced a new i n v i t e d a q u e s t i o n a b o u t Sudan policy on Monday, U.S. A f g h a n i s t a n . Secretary of State Hillary Clinton It was then that Clinton made a special effort to let the mentioned that Karzai would be media know she had a secret: after making an announcement on much pressure and delay Afghan Tuesday, though she said she did President Hamid Karzai would not wish to preempt the Afghan announce on Tuesday how he leader’s news. planned to handle his country’s But her comment that she was to accept a run-off in the Aug. 20 disputed elections. “encouraged at the direction the election, which has been marred Clinton, who already had a situation is moving” suggested by allegations of widespread briefing with the media in the she expected the Afghan president

fraud. Sure enough, on Tuesday in Kabul, Karzai welcomed a second round runoff against former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. The drawn-out voting process has complicated Obama’s deliberations on whether to send thousands more troops to help out in the eight-year-old war. For more Reuters political news, click here. Photo credit: Reuters/Ahmad Masood (Karzai at news conference in Kabul)

J.J. Abrams Comes Clean on 'Star Trek' Coincidences, Sequel By John Scott Lewinski (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:25:00 AM

After putting the sci-fi franchise back on track, the director caught some flak from Trekkers for a plot that leaned on time travel and whimsy. Abrams and his writers talk about the movie's time line high jinks and discuss some deleted scenes that will show up on the Trek DVD, due out Nov. 17.

Shooting starts on Russia-Georgia film By Luke Harding (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

last August's fighting. The PR-savvy Saakashvili has given the project his full support and on Monday even loaned Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:04:35 AM Garcia his cosy presidential office Andy Garcia plays Saakashvili in Tbilisi, complete with leather in 'anti-war' film directed by armchairs, books and a Georgian Renny Harlin of Cliffhanger fame flag. His fans portray him as a plucky Garcia, as Saakashvili, discusses leader defending his small country tactics with his aides amid from Russian aggression. The Russian invasion. The Georgians Kremlin depicts him as an have also lent the Hollywood unstable madman, fond of producers fighter planes, chewing his own tie. But now h e l i c o p t e r s , a n d t a n k s . Hollywood is to give its own take Observers suggest that Garcia – on Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's who starred in The Godfather: controversial pro-US president, in P a r t I I I – b e a r s a s t r i k i n g a new movie set during last year's similarity to Georgia's dark-haired Russia-Georgia war. 41-year-old leader. The leading US actor Andy "Garcia does it very well," Zaza Garcia plays Saakashvili in the Gachechiladze, the editor-in-chief film, which began shooting in of the Georgian Messenger G e o r g i a e a r l i e r t h i s w e e k . newspaper said. Directed by Renny Harlin – "He's taken on some whose previous credits include the characteristic features of the testosterone-filled blockbuster Die president, like when he moves he Hard 2 – the movie follows the walks in a very hasty manner." fortunes of an American journalist Asked whether the film would and his cameraman caught up in bear any resemblance to the real

events of August 2008 – when Georgia's ill-fated attempt to recapture the breakaway province of South Ossetia led to a punitive Russian invasion – Gachechiladze said: "It depends how the film ends. We are a defeated country. We should admit that." He added: "The ruling administration has hinted it wants this film to be shot." Saakashvili is still locked in a bitter propaganda battle with his Kremlin enemies over who bears responsibility for the war. A much -publicised EU report by the Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini last month blamed Georgia for starting it. But it also chastised Russia for supplying passports to the South Ossetians, as well as for other misdeeds. Earlier this year Russia's state television premiered its own film about the August war, reflecting the official Russian version of events. Speaking in August, Harlin described his so-far untitled film as an anti-war drama. "I've waited

a long time to find something with substance and reality," Harlin said. "I want to make a film that says something about the human condition, and even if only a few people see this and feel its impact and its anti-war message, then I will have done something that's important and I will be proud of it." "Our main concern was to show war as a bad thing," executive producer Michael Flannigan said, according to Reuters. "We had an opportunity to make a really antiwar film." He said the budget was "pretty restrictive", in a departure from Finnish-born Harlin's previous big -budget action thrillers which include Die Hard 2, starring Bruce Willis, as well as Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone. Writing in his blog, Harlin last week described the film's screenplay as "brilliant", and said he was busy casting local Georgians for several roles. "Spent today with fighter-jets,

and make up effects. Things are getting better and better," he said. The young and upcoming British actor Rupert Friend plays the lead as a US journalist caught between compassion for the war's victims and telling the truth. Yesterday downtown Tbilisi ground to a halt as the filmmakers recreated a patriotic rally on 12 August 2008, marking the end of the war. Demonstrators celebrated Georgia's victory – even though it was Russia that actually won. The leaders of several eastern European countries appeared with Saakashvili in front of Georgia's parliament building in a show of solidarity against Russian attack. • Georgia • Russia Luke Harding guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Afghanistan runoff election ordered for 7 November By Jon Boone, Ewen MacAskill, Mark Tran (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

Karzai for his "great leadership", Kerry told reporters: "A great moment of uncertainty has been transformed into a time of great opportunity." Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:52:53 AM Barack Obama welcomed Afghan president Hamid Karzai Karzai's acceptance of a runoff bows to international pressure for e l e c t i o n , s a y i n g i t w a s a n second round of voting after i m p o r t a n t s t e p f o r w a r d f o r confirmation of fraud democracy. The US president said Afghanistan will hold a second in a statement: "It is now vital that round of voting on 7 November all elements of Afghan society after an election panel reluctantly continue to come together to accepted that massive fraud took advance democracy, peace and place in August's poll, which justice. We look forward to a President Hamid Karzai was second round of voting, and the declared to have won. completion of the process to The Independent Election c h o o s e t h e p r e s i d e n t o f Commission (IEC), which is A f g h a n i s t a n . " packed with Karzai supporters, Gordon Brown said Karzai's initially resisted the findings of promise to hold a second ballot f r a u d b u t – l i k e K a r z a i – was "statesmanlike". The prime succumbed to concerted western minister said it was clear there pressure for a runoff after it had been flaws in the election became clear ballot-rigging had process and that it was now vital taken place on an epic scale. that the country's new government At a press conference to "had legitimacy in the eyes of its announce the runoff, Karzai said people". the IEC's decision to hold a The chairman of the IEC, second round in November was A z i z u l l a h L o d i n , s a i d t h e legal and constitutional. commission had wanted to "leave "We believe that this decision of the people of Afghanistan in the IEC is legitimate, legal and uncertainty" no longer. "The c o n s t i t u t i o n a l , a n d t h a t i t commission agreed to go to a strengthens the path towards second round and say that nobody democracy," Karzai said in got more than 50%," Lodin said, remarks broadcast live on Afghan adding that all the materials were television. ready for the runoff. US senator John Kerry, who Karzai is still likely to emerge was in Kabul for some diplomatic the winner – as a Pashtun, he is a arm-twisting, sought to put the member of Afghanistan's largest best spin on what has been a ethnic group. But his credibility chaotic election process. Praising has been severely undermined by

the scale of fraud in the first round. It was feared that Karzai was preparing to reject the UN Electoral Complaints Commission's (ECC) findings of fraud, which had the effect of cutting his total by 954,526 votes and reducing his share of the vote from 55% to 48.3%. Anything less than 50% should automatically trigger a runoff, but Karzai had been disputing the figures. Peter Galbraith, the deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, who was sacked for being too vocal on election fraud, warned today that a second round held on the same basis as August's would be a disaster. Galbraith, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, called for the IEC to be scrapped. France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, predicted on France-Info radio that Karzai would accept a runoff because he "is rather smart. And in any case, he has won." Kouchner said that even after the ECC had thrown out a third of Karzai's votes from the first round, Karzai still won about twice as many votes as former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who came second. In a late meetinglast night at the presidential palace, attended by Kerry as well as the British and French ambassadors and the UN special representative, Kai Eide, a deal was struck whereby Karzai

would be lauded by other world leaders as a "statesman". Karzai's recent threats not to accept the results of the official investigation by the ECC, which found that almost one in every three of his votes was fraudulent, shocked his western allies, who believe he has engaged in dangerous brinkmanship. A senior diplomatic source said Karzai had been talked round by ultimatums from world leaders including Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, Gordon Brown and Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general. They made clear that if he did not back down, he would "be working outside the constitution and would no longer be a partner of the west". Only two members of Karzai's cabinet voted to reject the deal. But questions remain over how Abdullah will react. Among the posts that may be offered to Abdullah are head of the constitutional reform committee, acknowledging his campaign calls for power to be decentralised away from the president. • Afghanistan • Hamid Karzai • US foreign policy Jon Boone Ewen MacAskill Mark Tran guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Oracle (ORCL) foresees bright future with Sun By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: Cisco Systems (CSCO), Newsletters, Stocks to Buy " Oracle(NASDAQ: ORCL) has fattened itself up by swallowing more than 50 companies in the past five years," says Richard Moroney. In Dow Theory Forecasts, he suggests, "Oracle has proved itself capable of delivering predictable earnings even during tough times by squeezing higher returns out of its assets, including those inherited via $35 billion worth of acquisitions over the past halfdecade." "While some fear the software giant is choking on its latest meal (Sun Microsystems), the deal makes sense operationally. Continue reading Oracle (ORCL) foresees bright future with Sun Oracle (ORCL) foresees bright future with Sun originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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US scientist arrested on spying charges By Chris McGreal (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:21:14 AM

Stewart Nozette, 52, arrested after demanding Israeli passport during FBI sting A former Nasa scientist who helped discover evidence of water on the moon has been charged with attempting to sell Israel secrets about America's military satellite systems. Stewart Nozette, 52, from Maryland, was arrested in an FBI sting after demanding cash and an Israeli passport in return for classified information obtained when he worked with a high security clearance for the US space agency, the Pentagon and an energy department laboratory where he helped to develop a radar that indicated there is ice on the south pole of the moon. Although the indictment does not allege that Israeli agents had already recruited Nozette, it says that he had already been paid a substantial amount of money to work as a consultant to an Israeli state-owned defence firm in return for "answering questions from the company". During an FBI surveillance operation before the sting, Nozette also allegedly acknowledged to a colleague that he had committed a crime and

threatened to flee the country and tell everything he knows to Israel. The case is potentially a further embarrassment for Israel at a time of unusually strained relations with the US after a number of cases of Americans accused of spying for the Jewish state in recent years. The prosecutor in Washington, Channing Phillips, said: "Those who would put our nation's defence secrets up for sale can expect to be vigorously prosecuted." The FBI launched its sting last month when an agent contacted Nozette posing as a spy for Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad. The scientist and undercover agent met later in the day at a hotel and discussed an exchange of classified information for cash. Court papers say that Nozette told the agent he had access to much of what the "US has done in space". "These are among the most sensitive subjects and it will have to be recreated from memory over some time," he said. It was then agreed that the scientist would pass his information at a post office. "I don't get recruited by Mossad every day. I knew this day would come," Nozette is heard saying on a wiretap, according to the court papers.

In the following weeks, the FBI left two envelopes with a total of $11,000 (£6,700) in cash and questions about classified information for the scientist to answer. Nozette replied with information about the US satellite and military early warning systems, and its attack response system. The undercover agent also supplied the scientist with a mobile phone to send text messages and gave him an alias that was supposedly to appear on his new Israeli passport. Investigators have not said why they latched onto Nozette. But according to court papers, the scientist worked for more than a decade as a technical consultant for Israel Aerospace Industries, a government-owned defence firm during which he was paid $225,000 to answer "the company's questions and, in return, Nozette received regular payments from the company". The same agent recorded that shortly before Nozette travelled abroad in January he told a colleague he would flee the US if charged with a crime. That would appear to explain his demand for an Israeli passport. The agent said that Nozette said he would tell the Israelis and officials from another unidentified country "everything" he knew,

according to the court papers. Israel has previously assured Washington that it had no more spies in the US after the conviction of Jonathan Pollard, a former navy intelligence analyst, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1985. But last year an 85-year-old former army engineer, Ben-ami Kadish, was convicted of spying for Israel for 20 years during the time when Pollard was active. The same Israeli agent, Yosef Yagur, handled both men. In 2006, Lawrence Franklin, a former defence department official, pleaded guilty to passing information about Iran to officials at the powerful pro-Israel lobby group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). Charges against two Aipac workers of passing information to an Israeli diplomat were dismissed. • United States • US national security • US foreign policy • FBI • Israel Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Athletes Can Start Endorsing A Brand In Hours... But A Blogger Does It And It's A Federal Issue? By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 10/20/2009 5:23:00 AM

As the FTC still wants to stick by its questionable guidelines concerning bloggers "endorsing" products, I found it interesting that the NY Times was profiling a new online service that more easily allows brands to sign endorsement deals with star athletes. Basically, they just need to fill out a few forms, and within hours, that athlete may be the face of the local car dealership. Now, I don't see anything wrong with this, but I'm curious as to why this is somehow okay, but when a blogger fails to mention that he or she got a book for free, the FTC will consider fining them? Does anyone actually believe that the star football player shops at the local Ford dealer? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Personal Jet Usage Datapoint of the Day, Ken Lewis Edition (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

BofA ( BAC) corporate jet, but it’s hard to see how he would have had much time to do so for Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:08:40 AM personal reasons. 2008 was not exactly a pleasant, Yet after spending $111,000 on relaxing year for Ken Lewis. You personal use of corporate aircraft can see how he might have spent in 2006, and $128,000 in 2007, he a large part of the year on the managed to spend an impressive

$220,000 in 2008. (See page 29 of this proxy statement.) It’s all part

of a more general spike in personal corporate-jet use last year at companies which have received bailout funds. Here’s the chart: I suppose that some of the increase might be explained by a rise in jet-fuel prices. But a rise of

123%? That seems a bit much. When did they find the time? This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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South African university drops charges against race row students By David Smith (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:21:55 AM

Free State University will allow four accused of humiliating black workers in internet video to resume studies A university has tested the limits of racial reconciliation in South Africa after dropping disciplinary action against white students accused of humiliating black workers in a notorious internet video. Jonathan Jansen, the first black vice-chancellor of Free State University, announced that the four white students would be allowed to resume their studies as a gesture of forgiveness. His decision was condemned by leaders across the political spectrum, but won support from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chaired the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in an attempt to heal the wounds of apartheid. There was outrage across South Africa when a video posted on the web showed five black campus employees allegedly being forced to drink full bottles of beer and

perform athletic tasks. The final extract of the film showed a white male urinating on food, then shouting "Take! Take!" in Afrikaans – apparently forcing the campus employees to eat the food, and causing them to vomit. Jansen said the university would allow the students to continue their studies if they want to return. "As an act of reconciliation, the university will say to the students: 'You can come back, you can participate and complete your studies,'" he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. Jansen added that the university, in the Afrikaner stronghold of Bloemfontein, should take responsibility for failing to integrate black and white people. "This university has for more than 100 years excluded black people from participating as students … by failing to integrate early and with determination, [it] created the conditions in which such a racist act could occur." He pointed out that the workers – Laukaziemma Koko, David Molete, Noom Phororo, Mitta Nlseng and Rebecca Adams – would be offered financial reparations and, although the students will not face internal

discipline, they will still go to court to face charges. His decision was condemned by South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC). "Our view is that such an act will not lead to reconciliation but it will again harden racial attitudes, not only in the university but in the country broadly," the party said. "The dropping of the charges has robbed the former students, their victims, the university and South Africa of such corrections." The ANC said it planned to organise marches and pickets at the university in coming weeks. Helen Zille, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, said the students should be held accountable for their actions, adding that the pardon could do more harm than good. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union called Jansen's decision an "abortion of justice". But retired archbishop Tutu expressed support for the vicechancellor. "Forgiveness is not for sissies," he said. "Revenge and retribution are easy, being the path of least resistance." The students – Roelof Malherbe, Johnny Roberts, Schalk

van der Merwe and Danie Grobler – are expected to appear in a Bloemfontein court later this month. They are accused of willfully harming the employees' dignity through the use of racial gestures. The video is believed to have been recorded in 2007 in protest against the university's plans to racially integrate students' residences. Lawyers for two of the students played down the incident last year, saying the video was "no more than play-acting". Jansen said he understood the criticism, but had received "unbelievable" support and had spoken to the victims. "I do not come to this decision with hubris or self-satisfaction," he said. "It was a hard decision, but one on which I consulted widely." • South Africa • Race issues • Race in education David Smith guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Spotify Premium Bundled With Android Phone By Eliot Van Buskirk (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:05:00 AM

Music fans in the U.K. have a new way to access millions of songs on their phones: They can buy a phone that comes with a two-year subscription to Spotify Premium as part of its monthly fee structure.

Self-Steered Tractors and UAVs: Future Farming Is (Finally) Now By Alexis Madrigal (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:00:00 AM

In translating tech visions of the agricultural future from the lab to the field, growers create their own version of precision farming. It's probably cooler than people imagined it would be (think Darpa, not USDA).

Apple outs new Mac minis By Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:09:30 AM

Just like the rumor stated, Apple refreshed the Mac mini lineup today. The smallest Macs now sport faster 2.26GHz or 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo CPUs, 2 or 4 GB of RAM, and either 160 or 320

HDD. There is also a $999 1TB option but you must forgo the optical drive. Apple must be paying attention too because OS X server is now an official option. Prices are still the same as the previous options with the base model starting out at $599. Here’s the rundown.

The $599 Mac Mini

• 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo • 2GB of RAM • 160GB HDD • GeForce 9400M • 8X SuperDrive The $799 Mac Mini • 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo • 4GB of RAM • 320 GB HDD

• GeForce 9400M • 8X SuperDrive The $999 Mac Mini • 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo • 4GB of RAM • 2x 500GB HDD • GeForce 9400M • Snow Leopard Server

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Suicide blasts hit Islamabad university

Nasa unveils Ares 1-X rocket

By Haroon Siddique (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

By Ian Sample (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

panic in the capital city." The interior minister, Rehman Malik, said whether or not there had been a claim of responsibility, Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:45:49 AM "all roads lead to South Two bombers kill four people W a z i r i s t a n " . and injure many more on campus "We are in a state of war," he o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l I s l a m i c said. "They will make every effort University, on outskirts of to destabilise the country. These Pakistani capital so-called Islamists are enemies of Two suicide bombers have Islam and enemies of Pakistan." killed four people and injured 18 The attackers struck in a o t h e r s a t a u n i v e r s i t y i n women's cafeteria and at the Islamabad, the Pakistani interior I s l a m i c l a w d e p a r t m e n t . ministry said today. Witnesses told Dawn News there The attackers detonated were between 3,000 and 4,000 explosives almost simultaneously students on the campus at the at around 3pm local time on the time. Television footage showed a campus of the International woman with a bloodied left leg I s l a m i c U n i v e r s i t y , o n t h e being carried on a stretcher, and a outskirts of the Pakistani capital. redbrick building with shattered They A string of attacks by the windows. Taliban has shocked the country Geo News reported that one in the past two weeks. No one has female student was among the yet claimed responsibility for dead . It said a suspect had been today's blasts, but the university's arrested near the campus. president, Dr Anwar Hussain The university has more than Siddiqui, pointed the finger at the 18,000 students, nearly half of door of the Taliban, currently the whom are women. Many of the target of a huge army operation in students come from abroad, the lawless region of South including around 700 from China. Waziristan, on the Afghan border. It is a seat of Islamic learning, but " I t s e e m s t h a t [ m i l i t a n t ] most of the students take secular sympathisers or collaborators are subjects such as management doing this to divert attention from science or computer studies, the military operation," Siddiqui Siddiqui said. said. "They are trying to create Foreign students were among

Oh yeah: There’s a new Apple Remote By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:48:04 AM

For $19 you can get an Apple Remote that looks like an unibody MacBook Pro with black buttons and a different layout. Clearly the Internet has been waiting for this

all morning. Product Page

the injured, according to Dawn News. Zulkifli, a student from Indonesia attending the university, said he had seen two bodies being taken from a building on the campus. Security at educational establishments had been tightened in response to the recent campaign of violence by militants who want to overthrow the state. Many schools and universities had closed in the wake of the threat posed by the Taliban. Pakistani forces launched an offensive on Saturday to drive out the Taliban from their bases in the lawless region of South Waziristan. In the run-up to the offensive, militants attacked a police station in Peshawar, a United Nations office, the army headquarters in Rawalpindi and three different police facilities in Lahore on the same day. • Pakistan • Afghanistan • Taliban Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

retire its ailing fleet of space shuttles as early as next year, leaving astronauts reliant on Russia to get them into space. Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:40:20 AM Nasa officials plan to go ahead Space agency goes ahead with with the Ares 1-X test flight even demonstration despite concerns as Barack Obama's administration that it lacks cash to achieve a considers plans to shelve the return to the moon Constellation programme through The US space agency, Nasa, has lack of funding. rolled out a demonstration version A detailed review of Nasa's of its new rocket, the Ares 1-X, future programmes recently even though proposals have been delivered to the White House put to the White House to scrap raised concerns that the space the launcher. agency does not have deep The slender, 100 metre-high enough pockets to fulfil its vision rocket was moved in a delicate, for a return to the moon. The slow operation from its 52-storey review said the agency may have assembly hangar at Kennedy to abandon the Ares rockets and Space Centre in Florida this switch to a cheaper design. morning to a launch pad about The demonstrator rocket has four miles away. been fitted out with more than 700 The rocket is due to lift off next sensors that will send information Tuesday on a $455m unmanned b a c k t o N a s a e n g i n e e r s test flight that will allow Nasa throughout its brief flight. The top engineers to check the rocket's half of the rocket is a dummy performance and hardware as it version, combining its upper stage soars to an altitude of about 25 and the Orion crew capsule, miles before crashing down into designed and weighted to mimic the Atlantic Ocean. the real thing. The Ares rocket is the first new • Space exploration design to emerge from Nasa in 30 • Space technology years and is the workhorse of the • International Space Station space agency's Constellation • United States programme, which combines two • The moon rockets and a crew capsule to take Ian Sample astronauts and equipment to the guardian.co.uk© Guardian International Space Station, the News & Media Limited 2009 | moon and possibly beyond. Use of this content is subject to The demonstration flight is a our Terms & Conditions| More milestone in Nasa's plans to ready Feeds the Ares rockets for service in 2016. The agency is expected to

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Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AMZN, BA, BAC, F, LUV, LYG T, WEN ... By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)

c o v e r a g e o f Amazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN) and upgraded shares to Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:40:00 AM Outperform from Perform. The Filed under: Analyst reports, firm expects Amazon's revenue A n a l y s t u p g r a d e s a n d growth to re-accelerate over the d o w n g r a d e s , A m a z o n . c o m next several quarters, making (AMZN), Ford Motor (F), Bank c o n s e n s u s e s t i m a t e s t o o of America (BAC), Boeing Co conservative. Opco set a $130 (BA), Analyst initiations price target on the stock. Analyst upgrades: • Barclays upgraded • RBC Capital upgraded Bank of Ford(NYSE: F) to Equal Weight A m e r i c a ( N Y S E : B A C ) t o from Underweight and believes Outperform from Sector Perform the company will report Q3 a n d s a i d t h e c o m p a n y h a s results above the Street. The firm attractive franchise value and raised its Q3 EPS estimate to 7 earnings power, and is nearing the cents from 16 cents, vs. consensus start of a credit driven earnings of 21 cents, and its price target to recovery. The firm raised its $8 from $7. target to $22 from $19. • Charles River Labs(NYSE: • O p p e n h e i m e r a s s u m e d CRL) was upgraded to Neutral

from Sell at Goldman. • Briggs & Stratton(NYSE: BGG) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird. • Sealed Air(NYSE: SEE) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays. Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AMZN, BA, BAC, F, LUV, LYG T, WEN ... Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AMZN, BA, BAC, F, LUV, LYG T, WEN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Top 5 reasons the Apple Store refresh is taking so long By Erica Sadun (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Humor, Apple Wow. This has been an especially long wait for the Apple Store to return. So here's TUAW's top reasons this is taking so long. Reason #5 (via @serpicolugnut at Twitter, updated via TUAW reader Zaph): The App Store reviewers are "reviewing" the new store. The current average wait is 14 days. Reason #4: They might be done with their Time Machine backup by now... Reason #3: Man, WebObjects is outdated technology... Reason #2 (Courtesy of @verso via Twitter): Still waiting for the iPhone backups to finish... And our top reason?...

Continue reading Top 5 reasons the Apple Store refresh is taking so long TUAW Top 5 reasons the Apple Store refresh is taking so long originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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

month initiated Morgan Stanley with a Buy rating and $36 target. The firm believes the company's Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:31:08 AM near-term outlook will be Morgan Stanley( MS) is slated to "bumpy." However, it thinks the report Q3 earnings before the investment bank's valuation is market open on Wednesday, low, while all three of its business October 21 with a conference call have already hit trough earnings s c h e d u l e d f o r 1 1 a m E T . levels. As a result, Deutsche Bank Guidance believes the stock has significant Analysts are looking for EPS of upside potential for book value 11c on revenue of $6.99B. The growth and valuation increases. consensus range is 11c-56c for M o r e s p e c i f i c a l l y , M o r g a n EPS, and $5.64B-$8.23B for Stanley may benefit from better revenue, according to First Call. capital market trends and a better Analyst Views performance from its asset Deutsche Bank earlier this m a n a g e m e n t u n i t , t h e f i r m

contends. On the other hand, the investment bank faces risk from its upcoming CEO change, as well as regulation and capital requirements, Deutsche Bank

believes. Separately, FBR Capital earlier this month predicted that Morgan Stanley's EPS would come in at 26c. The firm expects the

investment bank to be negatively affected by a $500M debt value adjustment and some loss of market share to medium-sized brokers. Meanwhile, better than expected trading results by Goldman Sachs ( GS) and J.P. Morgan ( JPM) may be a positive sign for Morgan Stanley's results. The fact that Citigroup's ( C) costs for delinquent loans dropped may also be a good sign for Morgan Stanley, which still has a great deal of exposure to legacy loans. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Signals of Softer Pricing for Insurance Industry (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:02:27 AM

The Financial Times Lex Column reports that the combined ratio of American reinsurers through the first three quarters of 2009 averaged about 94 percent. The combined ratio is the sum of the claims ratio and the loss ratio and essentially compares the premiums received during a given year to the claims experience as well as all operating expenses. A combined ratio less than 100 indicates that a company generated underwriting profits while a ratio above 100 indicates an underwriting loss. While a combined ratio under 100 is generally good news for the industry, Lex notes that

conditions this year were about “as good as it gets”. The combined ratio of 94 is not so spectacular when one considers that it is similar to the combined ratio recorded in 2007, even though this year has had fewer catastrophes. This signals softer

overall pricing in the industry. The chart accompanying the article illustrates the trend very nicely: [click to enlarge] © The Financial Times Limited 2009 Another way to look at the

New York Times to cut 100 newsroom positions By Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

have the largest in the United States. Approximately 1,150 reporters and editors will remain. Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:40:00 AM Already, 100 jobs have been Filed under: Newspapers, New c o m p a n y i s h o p i n g t h a t slashed on the business side, York Times'A' (NYT), Gannett employees will take voluntary leaving it now staffed at 1,850. Co (GCI), Media World Continue reading New York buyouts where offered, but it is The folks in the news business prepared to conduct a round of Times to cut 100 newsroom are probably growing to hate layoffs if necessary. positions Mondays. Gannett's (NYSE: GCI) New York Times to cut 100 The newspaper, which is the profits are off by more than 50%, flagship property of the New newsroom positions originally a n d t h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s York Times Company(NYSE: appeared on BloggingStocks on announced that it's chopping 100 N Y T ) , c u t 1 0 0 n e w s r o o m Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:40:00 EST. jobs from the newsroom, along positions last year, mostly through Please see our terms for use of with an unspecified number voluntary buyouts, before a feeds. Read| Permalink| Email elsewhere in the newspaper. Like "relatively small" round of this| Comments Gannett, the New York Times layoffs. This year's 100-job cut is cites declines in ad revenue as the a p p r o x i m a t e l y 8 % o f t h e reason for the decision. The newsroom, but the paper will still

results is to understand that the combined ratio would likely have been well over 100 if we had a more “normal” number of megacatastrophes in 2009. In other words, underwriting profitability in 2009 is more due to a lack of catastrophes than any sign that underwriters are demanding adequate premiums for the risks that are being taken. This does not necessarily bode well for industry results in 2010. As always, underwriting discipline is key in a soft market and insurers willing to reject inadequately priced risks will benefit in the long run. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Verizon Attacks the iPhone, Hints at Upcoming Droid By Priya Ganapati (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:45:00 AM

Verizon launched a TV ad campaign and webpage that pits Motorola's soon-to-be launched Droid smartphone on the carrier's network directly against Apple's iPhone.

Apple Starts Tweeting About iTunes By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/20/2009 1:50:51 AM

Apple is a company that doesn’t often jump bandwagons; they rather have everyone else jump on theirs. It is thus somewhat understandable that they don’t have an official Twitter account yet, except for the one that lists all twitter.com/iTunesPodcasts the new iTunes Trailers. twitter.com/iTunesTV However, as noticed by twitter.com/iTunesMovies Tweetdeck founder Iain It’s not much, and we’d still like Dodsworth, Apple has recently to see Steve Jobs tweet, but it’s a added a couple of iTunes-related start. Twitter feeds, bringing the total Reviews: TweetDeck, Twitter number of their accounts to five. Tags: apple, itunes, twitter These are: twitter.com/iTunesMusic

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Deutsche Telekom CEO: No interest in acquiring Sprint Nextel By Brian White (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Rumors, Sprint Nextel Corp (S) After more than a year of speculation, it seems that German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom will not buy U.S.-based wireless giant Sprint Nextel Corp.(NYSE: S). Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Hoettges indicated that the American wireless competitive landscape had consolidated enough, and the control that the four largest wireless carries in the U.S. have wouldn't make a purchase wise. Hoettges was quoted as saying, "There are four national players in the U.S. market for 300 million households, while in Europe, where we have 350 million households, there are 50 to 70 operators." It's pretty clear that he thinks the U.S. wireless market is controlled by an oligopoly of operators, which seem to move in tandem with each other in terms

And a new MacBook, too. Polycarbonate, LED display, $999 of price control and roll out of new technology. Do the "large four" -- Verizon(NYSE: VZ)Wireless, AT&T(NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA -- move in lockstep with each other for the most part to not give any of the competition a large advantage? Continue reading Deutsche Telekom CEO: No interest in acquiring Sprint Nextel Deutsche Telekom CEO: No interest in acquiring Sprint Nextel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Earnings Preview: Northern Trust Corp.

By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:30:54 AM

Gadzooks, a new MacBook! Yup, Apple has re-designed the (Financial Sector and Stocks Northern Trust as one of three entry level MacBook, and it’s Analysis from Seeking Alpha) banks whose stocks he would n o w m a d e o f “ r u g g e d own. Northern Trust is a "wealth polycarbonate that withstands the Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:19:04 AM bank" that will definitely generate rough and tumble of everyday Northern Trust Corp.( NTRS) is pretax earnings over the next six life.” LED backlit, too. expected to report Q3 earnings m o n t h s , B o v e e x p l a i n e d . Other things to get excited before the market open on Conversely, Goldman Sachs about, if you’re the type of person Wednesday, October 21 with a recently said that J.P. Morgan who gets excited over laptops: conference call scheduled for 12 reported weak trust revenues. As a • Unibody design, like the noon ET. Guidance result, Goldman Sachs views trust MacBook Pro Analysts are looking for EPS of banks cautiously. Last month • 13-inch LED backlit display 83c on revenue of $984.64M. The Goldman Sachs lowered its view • Runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo @ consensus range is 69c-$1.00 for of the trust banking sector, as the 2.6GHz EPS, and $944M-$1.06B for firm predicted that trust banks • 2GB of RAM revenue, according to First Call. would be hurt by low interest • 250GB HDD Northern Trust investors may be rates. However, the firm thinks • SuperDrive (people still burn encouraged by the better than that Northern Trust is the best bet discs?) expected Q3 EPS and revenue in the sector, due partly to its 'Rock Band' for iPhone Looks Nice, Plays Rough • Glass touchpad, multi-gesture, reported by Bank of New York strong private client fees. The By Brian X. Chen (Wired Top M o n d a y , a n d w h i l e i t i s a M e l l o n ( B K ) , w h i c h , l i k e firm maintained a Buy rating on etc. • It’s environmentally friendly Stories) beautifully faithful interpretation Northern Trust, is a trust bank. the stock. I think that’s it. Oh, right, $999, of the console hit, it proves Analyst Views Submitted at 10/19/2009 2:01:00 PM This content has passed through available today. Yes, today. Go difficult to play. Rochdale Securities analyst fivefilters.org. ahead, go to your local Apple Rock Band for the iPhone went Richard Bove, in an interview last Store, they should have ‘em in on sale in Apple's App Store on month with CNBC, named stock. (And sorry if this seems Exoplanets Galore! 32 Alien Planets Discovered, Including Super-Earths rushed, it was written in approximately 90 seconds.) By Hadley Leggett (Wired Top A telescope in Chile outfitted that are small enough to be Stories) with a special planet-hunting potentially habitable. apparatus has discovered 32 new Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:12:00 AM extrasolar planets, including some

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Lockheed Martin (LMT) dips on slow growth forecast

Donny Osmond Floating on 'Cloud 10' on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 4:00:00 AM

Donny Osmond tangoed his way to the top of the scoreboard with partner Kym Johnson on Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:20:00 PM "Dancing with the Stars" Monday hedged play on LMT. night after receiving a 29 from the Filed under: Earnings reports, This morning, LMT opened at L o c k h e e d M a r t i n ( L M T ) $72.72. So far today the stock has judges. He told his sister and ET's Lockheed Martin(NYSE: LMT- hit a high of $73.48 and a low of special correspondent Marie option chain) is trading lower $72.10. As of 11:20, LMT is Osmond, "We're on cloud ten today after the company reported trading at $72.70, down $4.29 (- right now." La Toya Jackson watched the a third-quarter profit of $797 5.6%). The chart for LMT looks million, or $2.07 per share on neutral and S&P gives LMT a show from the audience and revenue of $11.1 billion. Analysts neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold delivered Marie a belated birthday gift backstage. Last week marked had forecast a profit of $1.83 per ranking. Marie's 50th birthday. share, but with revenue of $11.4 Continue reading Lockheed Also joining Marie after the (Financial Sector and Stocks the losses and deleveraging will billion. Since expectations have Martin (LMT) dips on slow show was Derek Hough, who Analysis from Seeking Alpha) pull down the stock's valuation been raised throughout the growth forecast rested his dancing feet this week going forward, FBR predicts. The market, it seems that just beating Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:34:10 AM Lockheed Martin (LMT) dips firm expects the bank to finish estimates is no longer enough to on slow growth forecast originally after being diagnosed with a bad KeyCorp( KEY) is expected to 2009 with EPS of ($2.55). A satisfy traders. Weaker revenues appeared on BloggingStocks on case of the flu. He gave ET a r e p o r t Q 3 e a r n i n g s o n number of other firms share FBR plus a forecast of slowing growth Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:20:00 EST. health status update, saying, "I'm Wednesday, October 21 before Capital's outlook on Keycorp, as in the coming years is dragging Please see our terms for use of feeling a little better…I'm on the t h e m a r k e t o p e n , w i t h a U B S h a s r e c e n t l y i n i t i a t e d LMT down. If you think this feeds. Permalink| Email this| way up." conference call scheduled for 9 KeyCorp with a Neutral rating, stock won't be rising too far in the Comments am ET. Guidance Morgan Keegan initiated the bank coming months, then it could be a Analysts are looking for EPS of with a Market Perform rating on good time to look at a bearish (41c) on revenue of $1.11B. The September 25, Collins Stewart consensus range is (62c)-(25c) for started the bank with a Hold EPS and $1.07B-$1.16B for rating on September 23, and revenue, according to First Call. Wells Fargo started KeyCorp with Analyst Views a Market Perform rating on FBR Capital recently reinstated September 22. The outlier is Bank (ETonline - Breaking News) considered the risk that Roman can continue efforts to influence KeyCorp with a Market Perform of America/Merrill, which started Submitted at 10/20/2009 3:51:00 AM Polanski might flee if released the Swiss Justice Ministry to rating and a $7 target. The firm KeyCorp with a Buy rating and $8 from custody as high. The bail approve his release. Washington placed the bank in the "medium target on October 13. Roman Polanski has encountered offered by the appellant does not has until late November to submit risk, medium reward category." This content has passed through another glitch that will delay his meet in its form the requirements a formal extradition request, after KeyCorp can handle the sizable fivefilters.org. extradition to the United States. set out by the law," according to w h i c h a d d i t i o n a l c o u r t losses it will likely generate, but According to the Associated the AP. proceedings will most likely take Press, the Federal Criminal Court This is not the end of the road place. in Switzerland ordered that the f o r P o l a n s k i . H e h a s t h e director remain detained in prison. o p p o r t u n i t y t o a p p e a l t o The court said, "The court Switzerland’s highest tribunal and

By Brent Archer (BloggingStocks)

Earnings Preview: KeyCorp

Polanski Considered Flight Risk, To Be Kept in Jail

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Wal-Mart progressing in international markets -finally By Brian White (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:20:00 AM

Filed under: International markets, Competitive strategy, Wal-Mart (WMT) The international division of Wal-Mart Stores(NYSE: WMT) would rank as the fifth-largest global retailer if it were a standalone company. With sales of $100 billion, it certainly looks impressive from a sales perspective. But, Wal-Mart international has failed in quite a few markets in recent years under the then-leadership of current company CEO Mike Duke. Recent partnerships in India and China have repaired Wal-Mart's somewhat disjointed international picture, and international operations are now given

autonomy and freedom to operate as needed inside the culture of each region and country where they are located. Long gone are the days of the "big box" retailing format being simply exported to other countries. That strategy obviously does not work. Continue reading Wal-Mart progressing in international markets -- finally Wal-Mart progressing in international markets -- finally originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. By Joshua Topolsky Permalink| Email this| Comments (Engadget)

Meryl Streep's Daughter Gets Engaged (ETonline - Breaking News)

smiley," Gummer said of her family's reaction to the news. Her dad is sculptor Don Gummer. Actress Mamie Gummer, Meryl The "smiley" couple met while Streep's daughter, is reportedly performing in Dangerous Liaisons tying the knot. on Broadway and started dating a Stage actor Ben Walker, 27, got year and a half ago. "He was the on one knee to propose to Keanu to my Uma," Gummer told longtime girlfriend Gummer, 25, People. "We were kind of pals People.com reports. "They're all first. It was a drawn-out thing." very happy â&#x20AC;Ś we're very, very Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:09:00 AM

Apple gives Mac mini a spec bump, adds dual-HDD Mac mini server Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:01:00 PM

Apple's high-noon extravaganza is touching just about every aspect of the company's consumer lineup today, and considering just how long it's been (okay, so maybe not that long) since the Mac mini saw any love, we're thrilled that it's amongst the crowd seeing updates today. The new $599 Mac mini configuration gets fitted with a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo CPU (up from 2GHz), 2GB of RAM (up from 1GB) and a 160GB hard drive (up from 120GB). The $799 build features a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of memory (up from 2GB) and a 320GB hard drive (same as before), and both

machines sport the same GeForce 9400M GPU and 8x SuperDrive as they did in March. The most intriguing news on the mini front, however, has nothing to do with the standard rigs. Apple is today introducing an all new machine in the Mac mini server, a system that's formed in the exact same enclosure as the standard mini but without an optical drive of any kind. Instead, there's room for an additional hard drive, and the $999 model ships with two 500GB HDDs. It also includes Snow Leopard Server(unlimited clients), a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, a GeForce 9400M GPU and the same port assortment (meaning no miniDisplayPort) as found on the other

guys. It's hard to say just how well something like this will do, but we're guessing Apple doesn't much mind if it remains a niche product. Catch Apple's official blurb after the break. Gallery: Apple gives Mac mini a spec bump, adds dual-HDD Mac mini server Continue reading Apple gives Mac mini a spec bump, adds dualHDD Mac mini server Filed under: Desktops Apple gives Mac mini a spec bump, adds dual-HDD Mac mini server originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Apple iMac Hands On [Apple] By Brian Lam (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:05:29 AM

The new iMac comes in two sizes, 21.5 and 27-inches. The screens are 16:9 with the same edge to edge glass of the Macbook Pro and they'll come out with both Core2Duo and new i5/i7 quadcore chips. And Unibody. The first thing I noticed when playing with the new iMac was the screens feel bigger and wider, as they should. Secondly, I noticed the black screen and aluminum smaller "chin". Thirdly, I noticed the wireless keyboard, which was missing the numeric keypad and the Magic Mouse. The computer itself has a few things going on that aren't apparent at a glance. The screen is IPS (In Plane Switching), as in the 24-inch display port Cinema Display, which is great for edge to edge viewing without color distortion. The iMac's displayport has a new trick, too — it can act as a second screen, receiving video (but not audio) input from DVD players or a Macbook. Apple said it was HDCP compliant so it should be fine for watching blu-rays on, via the port, via a separate player. The larger chassis allowed Apple to do two main things over the previous generation's 20 and 24-inch models: fit in 4 RAM modules, for a total of 16GB max memory, and increase the quality of sound using the both acoustics of the case and better components. There's a noticeable difference. Apple Unveils New iMac With 21.5 and 27-inch Displays Features LED-Backlit Displays, Available Quad-Core Processors & the New Wireless Magic

Mouse CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today unveiled an all new iMac® line featuring brilliant LED-backlit 21.5 and 27-inch widescreen displays in a new edge -to-edge glass design and seamless all aluminum enclosure. The new iMac line, starting at $1,199, is the fastest ever with Intel Core 2 Duo processors starting at 3.06 GHz, and Core i5 and i7 quad-core processors for up to twice the performance.* Every new iMac ships with a wireless keyboard and the all new wireless Magic Mouse, the world's first mouse with MultiTouch™ technology pioneered by Apple on the iPhone®, iPod

touch® and Mac® notebook trackpad. "The iMac is widely praised as the best desktop computer in the world and today we are making it even better," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With brilliant LED displays and the revolutionary Magic Mouse, the new iMac delivers an amazing desktop experience that we think customers will love." The new iMac features stunning LED-backlit displays with a 16:9 aspect ratio, ideal for watching high definition movies and TV shows from iTunes®, or editing and watching your own videos or photos using iLife®. The new 21.5-inch iMac features a high

resolution 1920-by-1080 pixel display. The 27-inch iMac features a beautiful 2560-by-1440 pixel display that offers 60 percent more pixels than the previous 24-inch model. Both 21.5 and 27-inch displays use IPS technology to deliver consistent color across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle. The iMac comes standard with a wireless keyboard and the new Magic Mouse featuring Apple's revolutionary Multi-Touch technology. Instead of needing mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless MultiTouch surface. Using intuitive gestures, a user can easily scroll through long documents, pan

across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Mouse can be configured as either a single button or two button mouse, according to the user's preference. The wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse work seamlessly with the iMac's built-in Bluetooth capabilities to provide a clean, cable-free desk top. The iMac features improved graphics across the line with NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics or ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics in the 21.5-inch model, and ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics in the 27-inch model. The new iMac line now also features 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory and capacity up to 16GB across four SODIMM slots. Every iMac features a built-in iSight® video camera, mic and stereo speakers integrated into the thin aluminum and glass design. iMac includes built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n Wi-Fi networking, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet, a total of four USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire® 800 port and a new built-in SD card slot. Apple today also announced that the Mac mini, the world's most energy efficient desktop,** is now faster, offers more storage and comes standard with double the memory. Starting at $599, the entry level Mac mini features a faster 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, a 160GB hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, NVIDIA GeForce APPLE page 15

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APPLE continued from page 14 9400M integrated graphics and a SuperDrive®. The $799 Mac mini features a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory and a larger 320GB hard drive. Apple now offers a $999 Mac mini that is specially configured with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® Server. Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server features two 500GB hard drives for a total of 1TB of server storage in the tiny 6.5-inch square by 2-inch tall Mac mini enclosure. Continuing Apple's commitment to the environment, both iMac and Mac mini extend their leadership in green design. iMac and Mac mini meet the new, more stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieve EPEAT Gold status.*** The new iMac now features LEDbacklit displays that are mercuryfree and made with arsenic-free glass. Both iMac and Mac mini use PVC-free internal components and cables, contain no brominated flame retardants, use highly recyclable materials, and feature material-efficient system and packaging designs. Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world's most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple's innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-

use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar. Pricing & Availability The new 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac and Mac mini lines are now shipping and available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The Intel Core i5 and i7 quad-core iMacs are available for order and will begin shipping this November. Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is available from the Apple Store and Apple's retail stores. The new 21.5-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes: 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LEDbacklit display; 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache; 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB; NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics; 500GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm; a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+ / -R DL/DVD+ / -RW/CD-RW); Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately); built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; built-in iSight video camera; Gigabit Ethernet port; four USB 2.0 ports; one FireWire 800 port; SD card slot;

built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse. The new 21.5-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes: 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LEDbacklit display; 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache; 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB; ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics; with 256MB GDDR3; 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm; a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+ / -R DL/DVD+ / -RW/CD-RW); Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately); built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; built-in iSight video camera; Gigabit Ethernet port; four USB 2.0 ports; one FireWire 800 port; SD card slot; built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse. The new 27-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,699 (US), includes: 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LEDbacklit display; 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache; 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB; ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics; with 256MB GDDR3;

1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm; a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+ / -R DL/DVD+ / -RW/CD-RW); Mini DisplayPort for video input and output (adapters sold separately); built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; built-in iSight video camera; Gigabit Ethernet port; four USB 2.0 ports; one FireWire 800 port; SD card slot; built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse. The new 27-inch 2.66 GHz Core i5 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes: 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LEDbacklit display; 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 quadcore processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB; ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics; with 512MB GDDR3; 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm; a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+ / -R DL/DVD+ / -RW/CD-RW); Mini DisplayPort for video input and output (adapters sold separately); built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; built-in iSight video camera; Gigabit Ethernet port; four USB 2.0 ports;

one FireWire 800 port; SD card slot; built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse. Build-to-order options for the 27-inch Core i5 quad-core iMac include a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core processor. *Based on estimated results of i n d u s t r y - s t a n d a r d SPECint_base2006 and SPECfp_rate_base2006 rate tests. SPEC® is a registered trademark of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC). Testing conducted by Apple in October 2009 using preproduction 27-inch iMac Intel Core i5-based 2.66 GHz units and shipping 24inch iMac Intel Core 2 Duo–based 3.06 GHz units. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of iMac. **Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA ENERGY STAR 5.0 database as of October 2009. ***EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

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New Unibody LED MacBook: All the Details and Hands-On Impressions [Apple] By John Herrman (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:03:36 AM

At the center of today's minor product explosion, Apple's refreshed $1000 White MacBook is the only right-fielder: It's got a rubberized bottom, multitouch trackpad, LED backlighting, the MacBook Pro's non-replaceable battery, and specification bumps. Updated: Added hands-on impressions. The multitouch trackpad and LED backlighting feel like necessary catch-up—they're less like "Pro" perks than they are standard technologies, so it's good to see them trickle down. Likewise, the spec bumps basically just keep up with inflation: the processor jumps from 2.13GHz to 2.26 GHz, the HDD from 160GB to 250GB, while the 2GB of DDR2 RAM has been swapped for the same amount of slightly faster DDR3 memory. And in the same divisive trade the 13" MacBook Pro made a few months back, the old removable battery has been switched out for the nonreplaceable 7-hour unit. The bottom is now entirely rubberized, which seems to serve two purposes: One, to bring something, anything, visually new to Mac's years-old baseline laptop; and two, to bring some semblance of durability and friction to the the polycarb's case, which to anyone who's watched a marred, scratched MacBook slide off their corduroys with astounding ease, probably sounds like a great idea. UPDATE: Brian had a chance

to paw the new MacBook for a few minutes. Here's what he noticed: • It feels bigger—like, fatter—than the last gen white Macbook • Small visual cues in the cover have been tweaked to look more like the Pro line • The uniformly white bezel makes the body look chunky • Now that the base is just a flat piece of rubber, airflow seems like it could be an issue. [ Ed. note: I mean, is rubber a good heatsink? It's more of an insulator, right?] • The eight screws in the base complement the finish on the aluminum MacBook well; here, they stand out, and look kinda

ugly • The edges are curvier, but again, the whole think feels chubbier. CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today updated its popular MacBook® with a new, durable polycarbonate unibody design featuring a brilliant LED-backlit display, a glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad and Apple's innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life. Inheriting technology and design features from the MacBook Pro line, the new MacBook is an ideal consumer notebook for students and new Mac® users, and is available for $999. "The new MacBook includes

backpack or briefcase. MacBook comes standard with a bright, LED-backlit display with the same wide-angle viewing technology used in the MacBook Pro line. The new MacBook has a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. The new MacBook includes Apple's innovative built-in notebook battery for up to seven hours of wireless productivity on a single charge, and up to 1,000 recharges.* At nearly three times the lifespan of conventional notebook batteries, Apple's builtin battery results in fewer depleted batteries and less waste. Depleted batteries can be replaced for $129, which includes installation and environmentally responsible disposal of your old battery. The energy-efficient MacBook many of the great features found on the innovative MacBook Pro, joins the industry's greenest such as an LED-backlit display, lineup of notebooks, with every glass Multi-Touch trackpad and Mac notebook achieving EPEAT built-in long-life battery," said Gold** status and meeting Energy Philip Schiller, Apple's senior Star 5.0 requirements. The entire vice president of Worldwide Mac notebook line now comes Product Marketing. "With the standard with energy efficient only lineup of notebooks all LED-backlit displays that are featuring unibody enclosures, mercury-free and made with LED-backlit displays and long- arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks life battery technology, there's contain no brominated flame never been a better time to switch retardants, use internal cables and components that are PVC-free and to a Mac." The new MacBook features a are constructed of recyclable unibody, polycarbonate enclosure materials. Every Mac comes with Mac that makes it lighter and more durable. The new design includes OS® X Snow Leopard®, the a unique non-skid bottom surface world's most advanced operating and at just 4.7 pounds, the sleek MacBook slides easily into a NEW page 21

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An interview with Johan Birger, part of the Jabra Stone design team By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:00:37 AM

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not every day I get excited about a Bluetooth headset but the Jabra Stone is an exception. The headset, in short, looks like a smooth stone. The earpiece fits into a small, portable charging unit and almost disappears in your pocket. The electronics inside are amazingly small and include dual microphones to reduce wind and traffice noises. In order to get to the bottom of this melding of high art and high tech we talked to Johan Birger, part of the Jabra Stone design team in Copenhagen. CrunchGear: Tell me about yourself. Johan: I started out studying industrial design at Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, but later found out I wanted deeper understanding of engineering and construction for designing, so I enrolled at Malmo University, where I pursued a modern engineering degree that blended product design with traditional mechanical engineering. My greatest design schooling came from my first job at Curve ID, an industrial design consultancy in NYC that has collaborated with international clients and brands such as Nike, Colgate, Altec Lansing, and Kenneth Cole, where I learned many of the basic design skills. I have also worked as a designed in France and in Sweden before moving across the water to Copenhagen, Denmark. As a product designer at GN Mobile, I work on investigating and developing future design

concepts for Jabra Bluetooth headsets. I posit that Bluetooth headsets are the most boring technology on Earth. Convince me otherwise.

We believe otherwise â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the Jabra STONE is evidence of how design is reinvigorating the Bluetooth headset category. The product category is still in

sort of its cradle, but as the mobile phone continues to play a larger role in the way we consume music and media, we can expect great enhancements in features and

styles. With the right design, headsets can live up to their potential as a practical wireless INTERVIEW page 18

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INTERVIEW continued from page 17 solution that increases the ability to multi-task. The engineering that goes into each headset is also rather complex – for the Jabra STONE, in particular, we were faced with fitting square components inside the headset without sacrificing the design. There’s a lot of technology – some of the smallest components in the market — packed into a device that’s so small and lightweight. This includes a touch volume panel that saves space inside the headset without jeopardizing the design and a chipset with built-in flash to save space inside the headset. Where was the Stone designed? Does it have European genetics? The Jabra STONE was designed in Copenhagen by the Jabra design team. It certainly bears a Scandinavian modern design heritage, though is also ergonomic in design. While many concepts that would evolve the Bluetooth category were presented in the planning stages, we ultimately selected an iconic shape with a sweeping design and minimalistic style. There is no wasted or extraneous material — every detail, part, and feature on the headset is necessary. The microphone boom arm in particular was a major focus for

us on this headset, and the new, intelligent, proprietary Jabraengineered technology within the headset allowed us to remove the boom arm from the face entirely without compromising audio quality. This was a major accomplishment from a design perspective – it’s a completely new, discreet look. What is the lab like where you work? How much science goes into the design? How much art? For the Jabra STONE, art and style were the starting point, whereas ‘science’ followed the shape. We believe style has to be the driver of headset design, now that many headset features are becoming standard, such as the dual-mic. The biggest challenge when style dictates the overall shape is finding a location for all the necessary technology that’s expected with a high end headset. It’s like trying to fit a square peg, or battery in this case, into a round hole. Once you understand the basic building blocks of headsets though, you can really create something different, and let design change a rectangular box into something really quite elegant. What were the major difficulties in building this headset? It was certainly one of the most

difficult projects in terms of the engineering. The sweeping, rounded shape doesn’t lend itself to large, square batteries, so it was a process to find the right balance of talk time and the design of the headset itself. Another challenge was balancing the three key factors that drive the design: first, the sweeping shape in itself, which needs to be smooth; second, the STONE charger, which has to integrate perfectly with the headset to create a smooth shape; and last, the overall design needs to fit the gamut of ear sizes. All three have to be in perfect balance for the shape to work. Of course with the innovative headset shape alone, there were an array of mechanical engineering and production challenges with the materials used to achieve a twisting, sweeping, elegant design. Why a stone? Where did you get the idea? The Jabra STONE concept was developed based on feedback from our consumer research and our design heritage, with previous models like the JX10 and JX20. The idea behind the stone shape was to create something very natural, yet tactile and palm-sized. The stone-shaped portable charger was initially brainstormed as a

simple carrying case solution for the headset, without a battery in it, but we’ve added an element of functionality to it. The smooth, round case complements the sweeping shape and rounded edges of the headset and unifies a number of shapes and lines into one simple elegant stone. What’s next in industrial design? Have we hit a wall in terms of miniaturization? We continue to push the boundaries of Bluetooth headsets with innovative design — and as with the Jabra STONE, we’ve creatively placed the battery and components in strategic places in relation to the ear. As the technical components become smaller and smaller over time, headsets will continue to evolve in both in terms of wearing-style and size. As the demand for Bluetooth devices increases – whether it be for hands-free driving solutions, increased productivity at work, etc. – we’re actually seeing our partners and manufacturers dedicate more energies to the miniaturization of importance, because we all recognize how important design is in terms of adoption.

'American Idol''s Adam Lambert Goes Gaga for New Song (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:24:00 AM

"American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert revealed on his Twitter that he's collaborating with one of the hottest pop stars of the year. Lambert disclosed on his tweet: "Yes it's true: I spent yesterday in the studio with the insanely talented and creative Lady GaGa recording a song that she wrote! I love her." He later tweeted, "GaGa just gets it, ya know?"

Phils rally past Dodgers in 9th to take 3-1 lead By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:03:26 AM

More from ESPN.com Jimmy Rollins didn't just finish off Game 4, he wrote a chapter of postseason history, Jayson Stark writes. Story • Wojciechowski: Manny should be Manny This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

ASUS' 12.1-inch Eee PC gets pictured, a little more real By Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:33:00 AM

Not that we've never heard of a 12.1-inch Eee PC before, but given the abundance of 10-inch options currently saturating the market, we'll take all the

expansion we can get. Slated to arrive as the largest Eee Seashell member of all time, the 1.4 pound Eee PC 1201HA is now staring at a mid-November release (at least in Italy), and it should bring along a "full-size" keyboard (with a borked Shift key), a 250GB hard

drive, Windows 7, a 6-cell battery

good for "up to eight hours" under ideal conditions and your choice of four colors: black, red, silver or blue. You'll also find WiFi, a built -in webcam and a price tag of €399 ($596), though only time will tell if it's saddled with a nearancient Atom N270.

Filed under: Laptops ASUS' 12.1-inch Eee PC gets pictured, a little more real originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Apple Magic Mouse Hands On [Apple] By Brian Lam (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:00:55 AM

Cory Doctorow Joins The CwF+RtB Experimental Crew By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

The Apple's Magic Mouse doesn't have anything on its surface. It's an aluminum base topped off with a smooth multitouch panel. It felt weird to use, but leagues ahead of the Mighty Mouse. I may go back to mice. Updated The strange thing about the Magic Mouse is not how it works. It is that you have different gestures than on a standard Macbook Pro trackpad. One obvious example: Since you move the cursor by moving the whole mouse with your hand, there's no point in also using one finger to move the cursor, like on the trackpad. Moving your finger on the surface of the Magic Mouse allows you to scroll in all directions, 360 degrees around. You can also scroll with two or three fingers, if you move them up and down. But if you swipe them from side to side while using a web browser, your browsing history moves forward or back. Physically, the mouse is beautiful, and feels nice. The top is made of white polycarbonate that matches the keys on Apple's keyboards. It is one seamless touch surface, and, logically, there is no Mighty Mouse scroll nipple. The surface can also simulate the left and right buttons. Unlike in previous Apple's mice, the two buttons work perfectly. This time they also added physical feedback, so when you click the buttons, you actually get the entire surface to click—like the original clear Apple mouse.

Submitted at 10/20/2009 2:53:16 AM

Writer Cory Doctorow has long b e e n a l e a d i n g thinker/experimenter when it comes to issues of copyright and content creation -- having long put his works under very permissive Creative Commons license, and making sure that his books were available in all sorts of different formats. However, for the most part, he kept using the same basic business model. However, it looks like he's The mouse runs on AA innovative technology in iPhone, u s e s B l u e t o o t h w i r e l e s s jumping on board our favored batteries, and Apple claims 4 iPod touch and Mac notebook capabilities to create a clean, "tiered" CwF+RtB model. Reader months of use per set. You can get trackpads," said Philip Schiller, cable-free desk top and its secure Russell sends in the news that it with the new iMac or pay $69 Apple's senior vice president of wireless connection works from Doctorow will not just be selfseparately. Worldwide Product Marketing. up to 10 meters away. To extend publishing his next book, but is Apple Introduces Magic Mouse "Apple's Multi-Touch technology battery performance, Magic also offering various "tiers" for — The World's First Multi-Touch allows us to offer an easy to use Mouse includes an advanced support. The ebook and the Mouse mouse in a simple and elegant power management system that audiobook will be free, but the CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 20 design." works with Mac OS® X to physical book will cost money. /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Magic Mouse features a automatically switch to low power On top of that, there will be a Apple® today introduced the new s e a m l e s s t o u c h - s e n s i t i v e m o d e s d u r i n g p e r i o d s o f limit of 250 specially bound wireless Magic Mouse, the first enclosure that allows it to be a inactivity. The wireless Magic limited edition hardcover versions m o u s e t o u s e A p p l e ' s single or multi-button mouse with Mouse is powered by two AA for $250. He also sold a $10,000 revolutionary Multi-Touch™ advanced gesture support. Using batteries which are included. commissioned story, which was t e c h n o l o g y . P i o n e e r e d o n intuitive gestures, users can easily Pricing & Availability already sold before he announced iPhone®, iPod touch® and Mac® scroll through long documents, Magic Mouse comes standard this (he thinks he priced it too notebook trackpads, Multi-Touch pan across large images or swipe w i t h t h e n e w i M a c a n d i s low). Finally, he may experiment allows customers to navigate to move forward or backward available at the end of October with ads in the book as well. It using intuitive finger gestures. through a collection of web pages t h r o u g h t h e A p p l e S t o r e ® will be interesting to see how well Instead of mechanical buttons, or photos. Magic Mouse works (www.apple.com), at Apple's this works, though I think the tiers scroll wheels or scroll balls, the for left or right handed users and retail stores and Apple Authorized c o u l d i n c l u d e s o m e m o r e entire top of the Magic Mouse is a multi-button or gesture commands Resellers for a suggested retail options/creativity, as most people seamless Multi-Touch surface. can be easily configured from price of $69 (US). Magic Mouse don't have many options outside Magic Mouse comes standard within System Preferences. requires Mac OS X Leopard® of the basic book. Still, it's great with the new iMac® and will be The Magic Mouse laser tracking version 10.5.8 or later. to see these tiered direct-to-fan available as a Mac accessory at e n g i n e p r o v i d e s a s m o o t h , CwF+RtB offerings getting closer just $69. consistent experience across more and closer to being mainstream. "Apple is the Multi-Touch surfaces than a traditional optical Permalink| Comments| Email leader, pioneering the use of this tracking system. Magic Mouse This Story

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The new Mighty Mouse is the Magic Mouse By John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:13:09 AM

Here it is: the new Magic Mouse, a single button mouse (with right click) and a touch sensitive top surface that allows you to touch the mouse to pinch, scroll, and drag, just like a trackpad. The mouse uses two AA batteries and lasts 4 months on one change. It costs $69 and is available at the end of October. RIP Mighty Mouse name. It’s now called the Apple Mouse. Product Page More Apple goodness here. Apple Introduces Magic Mouse — The World’s First Multi-Touch Mouse CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today introduced the new wireless Magic Mouse, the first mouse to use Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ technology. Pioneered on iPhone®, iPod touch® and Mac® notebook trackpads, Multi-Touch allows customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless Multi-Touch surface. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac® and will be available as a Mac accessory at just $69. “Apple is the Multi-Touch leader, pioneering the use of this innovative technology in iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads,” said Philip Schiller,

Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple’s Multi-Touch technology allows us to offer an easy to use mouse in a simple and elegant design.” Magic Mouse features a seamless touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. Using intuitive gestures, users can easily scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured from

within System Preferences. The Magic Mouse laser tracking engine provides a smooth, consistent experience across more surfaces than a traditional optical tracking system. Magic Mouse uses Bluetooth wireless capabilities to create a clean, cable-free desk top and its secure wireless connection works from up to 10 meters away. To extend battery performance, Magic Mouse includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS® X to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. The wireless Magic Mouse is powered by two AA batteries which are included.

Pricing & Availability Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and is available at the end of October through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $69 (US). Magic Mouse requires Mac OS X Leopard® version 10.5.8 or later. Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and

Anti-Islamic Dutch lawmaker speaking at US college (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:17:44 AM

Michael buzzed up: Obama heads to New York for campaign fundraisers (AP)

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professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone. © 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, MultiTouch, iPhone, iPod touch, iMac, Apple Store and Leopard are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Apple selling new 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:21:51 AM

I certainly don’t want to cause a panic, but EVERYBODY PANIC! APPLE DID SOMETHING! Yes, new iMacs are here. For prompt shipping, please send your wallet to… Apple 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014 …with a Post-It note saying “Send iMacs! Please! Hurry!” In return, you’ll get one of the following: 21.5-inch iMac(MSRP of $1199) • 21.5-inch LED backlit screen with 1920×1080 resolution (16:9) • 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU • 4GB of DDR3 RAM • 500GB hard drive (7200RPM SATA) • Slot-loading DVD burner

• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics (256MB) • Bluetooth, 802.11n, iSight webcam, Gigabit Etnernet, four USB ports, one Firewire port, SD card slot, mini DisplayPort for video output • Wireless keyboard, Magic Mouse 21.5-inch iMac(MSRP of $1499) • 21.5-inch LED backlit screen with 1920×1080 resolution (16:9) • 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU • 4GB of DDR3 RAM • 1TB hard drive (7200RPM SATA) • Slot-loading DVD burner • ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB discrete video memory • Bluetooth, 802.11n, iSight webcam, Gigabit Etnernet, four USB ports, one Firewire port, SD card slot, mini DisplayPort for video output • Wireless keyboard, Magic Mouse

27-inch iMac(MSRP of $1699) • 27-inch LED backlit screen with 2560×1440 resolution (16:9) • 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU • 4GB of DDR3 RAM • 1TB hard drive (7200RPM SATA)

• Slot-loading DVD burner • ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB discrete video memory (optional upgrade to 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 also available) • Bluetooth, 802.11n, iSight webcam, Gigabit Etnernet, four USB ports, one Firewire port, SD

NEW continued from page 16 system, and iLife®, Apple's innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which introduces a whole new

way to help you learn to play piano and guitar. Pricing & Availability The new MacBook is available immediately through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The new MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $999 (US), includes: 13.3-inch widescreen LEDbacklit 1280 x 800 glossy display; 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache; 1066 MHz front-side bus; 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics; 250 GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor; a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD+ / -R DL/DVD+ / -RW/CD-RW); Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately); built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; Gigabit Ethernet port; built-in iSight® video camera; two USB 2.0 ports; one audio line in/out port, supporting optical digital out and

analog in/out; glass Multi-Touch trackpad; built-in, 60WHr lithium polymer battery; and 60 Watt MagSafe® Power Adapter. Build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, or 320GB 5400 rpm, 500GB 5400 rpm hard drive, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

card slot, mini DisplayPort for video output • Wireless keyboard, Magic Mouse 27-inch iMac(MSRP of $1999 — available in November) • 27-inch LED backlit screen with 2560×1440 resolution (16:9) • 2.66GHz Intel Core i5 quadcore CPU • 4GB of DDR3 RAM • 1TB hard drive (7200RPM SATA) • Slot-loading DVD burner • ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB discrete video memory • Bluetooth, 802.11n, iSight webcam, Gigabit Etnernet, four USB ports, one Firewire port, SD card slot, mini DisplayPort for video output • Wireless keyboard, Magic Mouse Product Page[Apple.com] iMac Store Page[store.apple.com]

Kristen Stewart Takes on Wolf Pack in 'Twilight' Sequel 'New Moon' (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:48:00 AM

The wolves are out in the latest clip from the highly anticipated film ' The Twilight Saga: New Moon.' Watch as Bella Swan ( Kristen Stewart) seeks to defend her friend Jacob Black ( Taylor Lautner) from his wolf pack, but ends up risking both their lives. 'New Moon' -- starring Robert Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner -hits theaters Nov. 20.

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iMac line updated with 16:9 displays, quad-core Core i5 model By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:01:00 PM

After months of speculation, Apple has unveiled some completely new iMacs, featuring 21.5-inch and 27-inch 16:9 displays and all-aluminum enclosures. The new widescreen IPS panels are LED-backlit and have 178-degree viewing angles -the 21.5-inch iMac has a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, while the 27incher comes in at a staggering 2,560 x 1,440. Ports are the same as the outgoing model with the addition of an SD card slot and video-in on the 27-inch (via a special cable), and the wireless keyboard is now standard (as is the all-new Magic Mouse). Pricing tiers haven't changed

much: there's a low-end $1,199 21.5-inch model with a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB drive, a $1,499 model that bumps things up to 1TB of storage and ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics, while the base

Core i5 processor and Radeon HD 4850 graphics. Not a bad little refresh -- but it looks like all you Blu-ray fans are going home alone again. Check the full specs list after the break. Gallery: iMac line updated with 16:9 displays, quad-core Core i5 model Continue reading iMac line updated with 16:9 displays, quadcore Core i5 model Filed under: Desktops iMac line updated with 16:9 displays, quad-core Core i5 model 27-inch config starts at $1,699 originally appeared on Engadget with the same bumped specs. All on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:01:00 of those can be custom-configured EST. Please see our terms for use with up to a 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo, of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email but it's the top-end $1,999 27-inch this| Comments model that'll bring the real heat when it ships in November; it's packing a 2.06GHz quad-core

Is David Hasselhoff Getting His Own Reality Show? (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:24:00 AM

Will the life of David Hasselhoff become an A&E reality series? ET has the latest ... The cable channel released a statement to ET following reports that they were giving "The Hoff" his own show: "We are discussing a possibility of doing a documentary series with David and his kids."

MacBook goes unibody, available today By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)

incher boasts a LED-backlit display, new glass multitouch trackpad, and a built-in, "7 hour" Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:02:00 PM battery. Inside the single SKU Like a bat out of hell, Apple has will be a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, just shuttled a new, unibody 2GB of RAM (upgradable to MacBook in the gadget world's 8GB), an NVIDIA 9400M GPU, direction. The new model -- 250GB hard drive and the old which looks like an arctic, glossy standby SuperDrive. We had a version of the familiar 13-inch chance to play around with the MacBook Pro line -- will be laptop, and it's pretty snazzy for a landing in stores today (yes, hunk of plastic. The surface is today), with a familiar price tag: s u p e r s l i c k ( A K A s u p e r $999. In terms of changes, besides fingerprint friendly), though the the new, high-test plastic casing base of the laptop utilizes a soft(built in the same fashion as the touch, non-slip surface that's nice aluminum MacBook Pros) the 13- to handle. The display certainly is

brighter and better looking than the previous model, though the one on the desk we saw was slightly dimmer than we would prefer -- in its defense it was

sitting right next to a super bright iMac. As stated, the new model can be picked up right this very second at stores around the globe, and we'll have a much closer look

very soon -- so stay tuned! A full spec breakdown is after the break. Gallery: MacBook goes unibody Continue reading MacBook goes unibody, available today Filed under: Laptops MacBook goes unibody, available today originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Apple's Magic Mouse: one button, multitouch gestures, Bluetooth, four-month battery life By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)

and vertical scrolling, complete with a software-based inertia (see a video here). Sorry kids, no pinch Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:01:00 PM zoom. The wireless device boasts Ready for some more Apple a four-month battery life, and will news? Good. Say goodbye to the be available today for $69. Full M i g h t y M o u s e ( f o r r e a s o n s press release is after the break. beyond those legal Gallery: Apple's Magic Mouse: entanglements) -- the Magic one button, multitouch gestures, Mouse has arrived. Hate buttons Bluetooth, four-month battery life or moving parts? So does Apple, Continue reading Apple's Magic and nothing exemplifies the Mouse: one button, multitouch company's march towards a gestures, Bluetooth, four-month buttonless future more than this battery life "two button" laser mouse, which Filed under: Peripherals has one button and no scroll Apple's Magic Mouse: one wheel -- just a multitouch surface button, multitouch gestures, (a hard acrylic) across the top. Bluetooth, four-month battery life With the Magic Mouse you're originally appeared on Engadget able to do familiar gestures from on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:01:00 the Mac trackpad playbook such EST. Please see our terms for use as two-finger swipes, but you can of feeds. Permalink| Email this| also do single-finger horizontal Comments

Dana White Brings Back Video Blog By Ray Hui (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:50:00 AM

by Ray Hui Filed under: MMA Media Watch, UFC

UFC president Dana White has returned to video-blogging for this Saturday's UFC 104 event in Los Angeles, releasing a new blog (NSFW, above) Tuesday morning documenting his attendance at a

Store still down, but new gear embargo is lifted By Michael Rose (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Acer neoTouch S200 reviewed, not recommended

Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:12:00 PM

Filed under: Apple Macworld and Business Week are reporting on the new hardware that's forthcoming as soon as the store By Laura June (Engadget) the phone suffers from software comes up: optimization problems more than Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:09:00 AM • New unibody low-end hardware issues. The one ray of M a c B o o k m o d e l s w i t h t h e After what seemed like a full light in all this is of course that polycarbonate shell -- still $999 l i f e t i m e o f w a i t i n g , A c e r ' s 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon • Entirely revamped iMac line, recently-launched neoTouch S200 CPU, which can multitask and i n c l u d i n g a 2 7 " q u a d - c o r e is finally making its way into handle several things at once powerhouse and optional HDMI some reviewing hands. The fine without flinching -- but it's rather inputs to allow using the screens young cannibals over at Phone hard to get pumped about it in the as HDTVs Arena have just given it the head face of all that sadness. Hit the • Revs to the Mac mini line, to toe treatment, and we have to read link for the full, exhaustive including a $999 unit with Mac say, we're glad they've done the review. OS X Server preinstalled dirty work for us. This WinMo Filed under: Cellphones • The 'Magic Mouse,' a 6.5 handset, according to their Acer neoTouch S200 reviewed, multiouch wireless mouse that's impressions, seems to be a not not recommended originally supposed to run for months on 2 fully baked affair -- sluggishness appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 batteries (see above) and random crashing are both Oct 2009 11:09:00 EST. Please More in a moment. Details on reported, as is a rather serious see our terms for use of feeds. all the new products now on sounding call quality issue. The Read| Permalink| Email this| display at apple.com b a t t e r y a l s o s e e m s t o b e Comments TUAW Store still down, but inadequate for a workday, coming new gear embargo is lifted in at around five hours. Overall, originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 Tuff-N-Uff event to watch his Fanhouse MMA Blog on Tue, 20 12:12:00 EST. Please see our cousin's amateur MMA debut and Oct 2009 09:50:00 EST . Please terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| a ticket giveaway at a mall in Los see our terms for use of feeds. Angeles. Permalink| Email this| Linking Comments Dana White Brings Back Video Blogs| Comments Blog originally appeared on

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Jelli's crowd-sourced radio opens up to the U.S., Australia By Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com)

sold it has. Jelli's deal with Triton will put Jelli's user-picked station on FM Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:00:00 PM radio, twice a day on around Jelli.net, a Total Request Live- 4,500 stations across the U.S. This esq Internet radio station, is won't start until early next year coming out of beta on Monday though. In the meantime, the night and is expected to announce company has done a deal with that it's inked a syndication deal Australian media broadcasting with Triton Digital Media that company Austereo to get Jelli will get it played in actual played as a daily show, both in terrestrial FM radio stations FM and digital radio beginning across the U.S. beginning next next month in five Australian year. cities. The service revolves entirely One very important detail here around a playlist of songs that's is that with all of these affiliate managed by users in real time. stations across the world, the Users can vote songs up or down playlist will continue to be before they ever hit the air, as controlled by Jelli users at large. well as when they're playing. If This means the playlist can enough people downvote a song change drastically based on who's while it's in the middle of playing, awake and where they're from. it's pulled before it even finishes, Also worth noting is that Jelli something that can be either users are not going to be working deeply satisfying or disappointing off the same catalog they do when to those listening. it's streaming versus when it's on Jelli let susers vote on tracks to a real radio station. About 10 be played next, and are able to minutes before Jelli makes the yay or nay a video out of playing FM switchover, the catalog live on air.(Credit: Screenshot by changes to broadcast-friendly Josh Lowensohn/CNET) songs, which include things like Up until about four months ago the shortened and/or censored this music had existed only on the version of the tracks. It also Web, where Jelli streams as a cleans the slate for users to start 24/7 radio station. This changed up or downvoting the tracks. in June when Jelli nabbed a twoAs part of the beta, Jelli is hour spot Sunday nights on Live introducing multiple stations that 105 KITS, a local San Francisco will let subsets of users control FM radio station. The company t h e c o n t e n t . ( C r e d i t : J o s h says the trial run has been such a L o w e n s o h n / C N E T ) success it made it much easier to As part of the beta, there will sell the idea to other stations. And also be multiple stations, so users

can continue to control the streaming Web version without having to worry about the aforementioned catalog changeover. This also gives a minority of users a better chance of controlling what's played. Speaking of which, Jelli continues to work on are countermeasures to keep a group of users from completely dominating the listening experience. For instance, each user is given a limited number of "rockets" and "bombs" each day. Rockets let you jump your song, or someone else's to the head of the queue to give it a chance at playing next. To even those out, bombs (which are given out a little more sparingly) are able to wipe the score of any queued track to zero, which can keep it from making it on air if users don't vote it back up. That's not the end of the gamelike experience though. In a call with CNET News on Monday, Jelli CEO and co-founder Mike Dougherty (who was previously TellMe's VP of biz dev) told me that the bombs and rockets were just the tip of the iceberg and that other gaming "power ups" and ways to earn them were coming shortly but could not give specifics on what they would do. The company is also working on more ways to keep listeners engaged and feeding the station with recommendations. For instance, Jelli gives the person

who originally suggested a track and who successfully got it played a personalized call out right before it begins playing. Because the service has no real DJs, this is all done with a text-to-speech robot. Jelli will also be giving highly active users their own short audio signature, which will get played right before their chosen song starts. A little farther down the line, Dougherty hopes to get hardware besides PCs involved, including a way to manage the song queue and recommendations from mobile phones. There also isn't currently a way to purchase any of the music that's playing from Jelli's site, which means users have to go off and do a search for each track on their own. This too is something that will be changing in the very near future. Jelli's streaming service is definitely a fun experiment in controlling radio--both Web and now terrestrial. You can listen to it in any streaming audio player with this link, or sign up on Jelli's site to vote on the queue and get more information about what's playing--something that can be quite useful if you're trying to get the name of that song you loved that just got bombed off the air. Originally posted at Web Crawler

Police: Va. college student vanished after concert (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:05:24 AM

Rivy buzzed up: Abbas says to issue decree for Palestinian vote (Reuters)

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Apple's newest peripheral is the Magic Mouse By Joachim Bean (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:25:00 PM

Filed under: Peripherals As rumored, Apple has just introduced a new mouse called the Magic Mouse. This mouse will bring Multi-Touch capabilities to desktop Macs for the first time, something that the iPhone has had since its release in June 2007 and the MacBook Air since it was released in February 2008. It loses the scroll ball found on the Mighty Mouse, but adds support for scrolling gestures. This mouse is also wireless, using Bluetooth, and has a four month battery life. This mouse is available for $69 in late October, and requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or later. TUAW Apple's newest peripheral is the Magic Mouse originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Yahoo widgets for the iTunes fanatic By Don Reisinger (Webware.com)

reminders with your favorite songs, try out the iTunes Alarm Clock widget. Submitted at 10/19/2009 3:33:00 PM iTunes Alarm Clock is what you If you're a frequent iTunes user, might expect: an alarm clock that you're probably looking for some uses your music to wake you up helpful tools that will allow you to or alert you to an event. In the get more out of the software. If app's preferences, you can set the so, you might want to check out alarm, choose any song you want Yahoo Widgets. They're simple, from your catalog, and have it fast applications that run on your play at a specified volume. It's an desktop to provide a little more extremely simple app, but I found functionality than you'll find in it useful. iTunes itself. iTunes Alarm Clock is what you To save you from doing all the might expect.(Credit: Screenshot footwork yourself, I've compiled a by Don Reisinger/CNET) list of some really neat Yahoo iTunes Bar: iTunes Bar is w i d g e t s t h a t e x t e n d t h e simple: it adds a taskbar to your functionality of iTunes. Let's desktop, allowing you to control check them out. iTunes without opening the Music time application. iPhones: If you're wondering When you start using iTunes what the top songs are on iTunes Bar, the app will display a at any time, iPhones is for you. particular track's artwork. Above iPhones is designed like an that, you'll find a bar that displays iPhone. It displays the top 10 the track's singer and name. You albums and songs, as well as new can turn the volume up or down, releases, featured content, and change songs, shuffle tunes, more. When you click on one of access your playlists, and more. those options, you'll be brought to It's like having all the most often the song's individual listing page used features of iTunes with you in iTunes. There's not much more when it isn't up. It's highly useful. to the app than that. iTunes Bar gives you control iPhones shows off all the top over your favorite songs.(Credit: content on iTunes.(Credit: S c r e e n s h o t by Don Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) Reisinger/CNET) iTunes Companion: Unless you iTunes Alarm Clock: If you purchased a track in iTunes, want to personalize alarms and finding the album art for all those

other songs can be timeconsuming. But with the help of iTunes Companion, all those headaches go away. iTunes Companion analyzes the song you're playing and automatically finds its album art on Amazon.com. If it can't find the album art, you can search for it yourself and drag-and-drop the image into the widget. That dragand-drop option worked beautifully, in my experience. The app also features song lyrics. All that content can be quickly downloaded into your iTunes library, making the art and lyrics available anywhere you listen to the song. It's a great app. iTunes Companion is a really helpful app.(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) iTunes Remote: If you're having trouble controlling the songs in your iTunes library, iTunes Remote is the tool to use. Once downloaded, the widget displays a remote that lets you play or pause songs, skip through tracks, or shuffle tunes. There isn't much to it, but thanks to the ability to place it over any window on your computer, you can quickly play the songs you want without much trouble. iTunes Remote helps you sift through songs.(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) SongWidget: SongWidget is

easily one of the most capable widgets in this roundup. It allows you to do much more than simply control iTunes. SongWidget recognizes all the tracks you're playing in iTunes. It gives you the option of playing or pausing songs, and skipping to find the song you want. But where SongWidget shines is in all the extras. The app provides a direct link to the track's Amazon MP3 page, customer reviews, and (my favorite feature) YouTube videos of the songs you're listening to. When you click on that option, the video is automatically played in your browser. If you like a particular track, you can even search for the artist on Google. I really liked SongWidget. SongWidget displays all kinds of useful information.(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET) My top three 1. SongWidget: With so many neat features, SongWidget is a must-see. 2. iTunes Companion: iTunes Companion makes finding album art and lyrics much easier. 3. iTunes Alarm Clock: iTunes Alarm Clock is simple and easy to use. I like it a lot.

Is Saliva the Secret to Rivera's Cutter? By Tom Fornelli (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:21:00 AM

by Tom Fornelli Filed under: Yankees, MLB Rumors, MLB Video, American League Championship Series During Tuesday's FOX broadcast of Game 3 of the ALCS, Tim McCarver referred to Andy Pettite as the "Dean of the Cutter." It was a title I found somewhat ridiculous considering that Pettite doesn't even have the best cutter on his team. No, that would belong to closer Mariano Rivera. Rivera has booked himself a ticket to Cooperstown using his cutter to help him save 562 in both the regular and postseason during his career, and many have wondered what his secret to throwing the pitch is. Well, there's some video from Monday's television broadcast that may have just solved that mystery. Is Saliva the Secret to Rivera's Cutter? originally appeared on Fanhouse MLB Blog on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:21:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Mini gets a server-style upgrade By Tim Wasson (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:40:00 PM

Filed under: Xserve, Apple, Mac mini, Mac OS X Server Apple has given the mini a bit of a bump this morning, including a mini without

an optical drive, twice the storage and of course a copy of OS X Server. It is meant to be a solution for those small businesses out there that are too small to need an Xserve, as well as media enthusiasts who are looking for a quick and easy way to share their

stuff. Since it lacks an onboard optical drive, it works with the

USB Super Drive, originally 12:40:00 EST. Please see our meant only for the MacBook Air, terms for use of feeds. for disc-required functions. The Read| Permalink| Email this| Mac mini server sells for $999US. Comments TUAW Mini gets a server-style upgrade originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009

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Clusters of plug-in cars will tax local power grids (CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:35:00 AM

DETROIT--If plug-in electric cars become popular in your neighborhood, you may face an electricity supply crunch when it comes to charging. There have been a number of studies measuring whether the national power grid can fuel large numbers of electric vehicles. But the biggest concern regarding the impact of plug-ins is at the local level, where adding just a few vehicles could strain a local circuit, said Peter Darbee, the CEO of California utility Pacific Gas & Electric, during a talk at the Business of Plugging conference here Tuesday. Darbee predicts that demand for plug-in vehicles will be very high, as turned out to be the case with cell phones. Based on early data, it's clear that purchasers of plug-in electric vehicles live near each other. Berkeley, California, for example, represents 18 percent of all customers in PG&E's territory while Fresno is only 2 percent. PG&E CEO Peter Darbee; John Lauckner, General Motors' vice president of global program management; and George Pataki, former New York governor and counsel at Chadbourne & Parke, on a panel at the Business of Plugging In conference in Detroit.(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET) But high concentrations of plugin electric vehicles poses a serious challenge to utilities, Darbee said. Plug-in electric cars could draw electricity equivalent the amount needed to run one home, or up to three homes in certain places, he said. "You can see if you have three

or five electric cars arrive in a neighborhood, you're going to overload the local circuits, and that will lead to blackouts," Darbee said. "So we see it as an opportunity but we also see it as a challenge of significant proportions." Darbee said that utilities need to work with auto companies and policy makers to ensure that customers have a smooth experience and that the grid is not stressed.The utility--considered one of the most progressive in the U.S.--is also taking a number of steps to avoid potential problems. PG&E plans to recommend that consumers have a 220-volt charging point at home, which will allow most plug-in electric cars to recharge in two or three hours, rather than six or seven

hours for a regular 110-volt outlet. Although it's more convenient for consumers, that higher-voltage charging significantly boosts the draw--as much as 6.6 kilowatts. Darbee said that PG&E is a strong endorser of plug-in electric vehicle technology because it can significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reduce imports of foreign oil. But there is a "nightmare" scenario for utilities. That's when large numbers drivers come home on a hot day when the load is already maxed out and they turn on air conditioners and lights, and plug in their cars. "If that (charging) were at 220 (volts), the results would be pretty dramatic and pretty negative. You would create a peak on top of the current peak load. The effect

would be to bring down the electrical system if you had substantial concentrations in the area," Darbee said. To avoid that situation, PG&E plans to offer a 220-volt charger along with a timer. The consumer would be able to get off-peak rates--called dynamic pricing--by charging between 11:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. Smart-grid technology, whereby homes are equipped with meters that can communicate with the utility, gives more flexibility. In that case, the utility could charge three electric cars in succession or at different rates overnight to ease the draw on a local circuit. Or the utility could offer consumers a menu of charging alternatives. In about seven or 10 years, utilities are envisioning vehicle-to

-grid capability in which a plug-in electric car owner would sell electricity from a battery back to the grid. A driver could program the system so that the stored energy is sold only at a certain price, Darbee said. The costs of bulking up local electricity circuits should be shared by all people in a service territory, he argued. "Just like when there were hair dryers or electric driers, there was a shared cost," he said. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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First Look: New iMacs announced, and they're incredible! By Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:35:00 PM

Filed under: Hardware, iMac, Apple, First Look TUAW may have had the date wrong (we guessed October 9, 2009), but the new iMacs we were looking for finally showed up today. The 20" and 24" models are gone, replaced by 21.5" and 27" iMacs with a true 16 x 9 HD aspect ratio. It's also obvious that Apple intends for the new iMacs to end up on the desktops of a lot of designers, since the line now includes the first quad-core iMac ever. The pricing for the iMac line starts at the same US$1199, but that's where the similarities stop. The displays are now backlit by LEDs, providing better energy efficiency. The 21.5" model has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which is the equivalent of a 1080p HDTV. That screen size is actually 90% of the resolution of the old 24" iMac. Resolution on the 27" model is 2560 x 1440 pixels. Both of the new iMacs use the IPS display technology for excellent color fidelity and a very wide (178°) viewing angle.

For the first time, iMacs now have an SD card slot located below the optical drive slot on the right side of the computer. The systems will ship with Apple's new wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse, or you can get wired models as a configure-to-order option at no extra cost. All of the new iMacs can be loaded with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 2 TB of storage. The new low-end model, at US$1199,

is running a blazing-fast 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and comes with 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce 9400M video card. The US$1499 model of the 21.5" iMac bumps storage up to 1TB and upgrades video to a Radeon HD 4670 card. The US$1699 27" model has the same features as the US$1499 21.5", but of course has the 27" display. At the high end of the line will

line. The Core i5 features a turbo mode, which means that the chip can shift from a slower clock speed with four cores to a faster mode with two cores active. The turbo mode speed of the Core i5 processor is 3.2 GHz, while the turbo mode speed of the i7 is a whopping 3.46 GHz. What's really incredible is a new feature for the iMacs that allows them to act as external monitors or HDTVs. You'll be able to attach DVD players, Blu-Ray players, gaming consoles, or even other computers, and display them on the bright, clear, iMac display. The last iMacs were released in March of 2009, with a 20" model powered by a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo available at US$1199, and be an iMac that won't be released 24" models with 2.66, 2.93, and until next month -- a $1999 27" 3.06 GHz processors at US$1499, that is powered by a 2.66GHz US$1799, and US$2199. TUAW First Look: New iMacs Intel Core i5 quad-core processor. That model also has a Radeon HD announced, and they're incredible! 4850 video card built in. If you originally appeared on The wish, you can swap out the Core U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g i 5 c h i p f o r t h e e v e n m o r e (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 powerful Core i7 processor. 12:35:00 EST. Please see our The Core i5 is based on the terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Linfield processor, which is part of the same Nehalem family Comments found in the existing Mac Pro

Twitter’s Most Engaging Celebrities [Stats] By Christina Warren (Mashable!)

following/followers ratio? What is the sentiment for tweets involving celebrities? Brian Solis Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:32:55 AM (FutureWorks) and PeopleBrowsr Celebrities using Twitter is not a analyzed this information in his new phenomenon — it’s an Twitter Celebrity Report for increasingly common way for August 2009. celebrities to promote new Some highlights: projects and connect with fans. She may have quit Twitter But how do celebrities use e a r l i e r t h i s m o n t h , b u t T w i t t e r ? W h a t ’ s t h e actress/singer Miley Cyrus led

celebrity Twitter mentions in August 2009, with an impressive

255,938 @mileycyrus mentions Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) had the most followers in August with 3,778,464 — but The Ellen Show (@theellenshow) wasn’t far behind, with just under 3.5 million. Gossip Blogger Perez Hilton led total celebrity tweets in August with 1,488. Britney Spears (@britneyspears)

follows the most users with 432,814. Check out the full study and let us know your thoughts in the comments! ( Photo Courtesy of DominusVobiscum on Flickr) Reviews: Flickr, Twitter Tags: celebrities, twitter, web celebrities

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Red Hat and Google share the CIO love (CNET News.com)

Top 11 ISVs for Value in Software Category(Credit: CIO Insight) For years, Red Hat sat Both Red Hat and Google unopposed at the top of the CIO essentially offer the same thing: Insight Vendor Value study. In great software on a subscription 2008, however, Google pushed basis. While this model often Red Hat aside with its low-cost, offers lower prices than easy-to-use enterprise competitors, it's important to note applications. This year, Red Hat that "free" is not the value has come roaring back to share proposition here. (If it were, for the top ranking with Google. example, Red Hat customers Could this be a sign of CIOs' would be leaving in droves for restive relationships with Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone, traditional vendors and an CentOS. They aren't.) increasingly insatiable appetite for No, the value proposition is the cost and ease-of-use customer control via the advantages of open source and subscription model that enables software as a service/cloud less costly ways to buy into the computing? software, and to turn off The answer is almost certainly with such vendors today because e a s y - t o - u s e s o f t w a r e a t a software. maintenance costs, if desired. This is the heart of the CIO "Yes." It is telling that old-school they have to, but given their c o m p e l l i n g p r i c e . It's a winning formula, one that You know, the very thing that uprising. And it's why low-cost, more vendors should consider vendors like IBM (ranked 20th druthers, they're going to invest overall), Microsoft (25th), Novell more money in Red Hat and Microsoft used to win CIO high-value companies like Intel adopting. Today IBM, Microsoft, plaudits for delivering. ( r a n k e d f i r s t o v e r a l l ) , and Oracle command the majority (29th), and Oracle (35th) are so Google going forward. Red Hat and Google are still From the report: Cisco/WebEx (ranked sixth and of IT dollars, but this survey far down the CIOs' list. CIOs are more likely to try 11th, respectively), and Sun suggests a rebellion is underway. It is equally telling, however, rounding errors in the overall IT that it is with these apparently less spending picture, but CIOs seem software as a service (than (sixth) are climbing the charts. Inertia can only support the For now, however, Google and traditional vendors for so long. -preferred vendors that CIOs to be signaling an appetite for traditional, packaged software), spend the vast majority of their IT more. It's not about reducing lock- which is better understood and Red Hat rule the roost in the This content has passed through budgets. Or perhaps that's the in and other colorful marketing simpler to use and requires no S o f t w a r e c a t e g o r y o f C I O fivefilters.org. point? In other words, CIOs spend phrases, either: it's about great, upfront investment in hardware or I n s i g h t ' s a n n u a l s t u d y : Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:14:50 AM

Twitter hits 5 billion tweets By Caroline McCarthy (Webware.com) Submitted at 10/19/2009 3:47:00 PM

The guy who posted Twitter's 5 billionth tweet.(Credit: Robin Sloan's Facebook profile) Former Current Media executive Robin Sloan appears to have posted Twitter's 5 billionth tweet, in the form of a reply to another user that otherwise read only "Oh lord." A third-party app called

Gigatweet has been measuring the service's total tweet count for some time now, and last week some onlookers picked up on the fact that it was getting awfully close to five billion. That said, Twitter's engineers have bumped up this number at least once or twice, and who knows how many test tweets were sent out in the company's early days. But Sloan's tweet, which he has nicknamed "The Pentagigatweet," does get at least some landmark

status because it actually has the number 5,000,000,000 in the URL. That's because the number at the end of a tweet's URL is apparently the running count of tweets that have been posted until that point. We've e-mailed Twitter co-founder Biz Stone for more information and will update if and when we hear back. It's sort of fitting that Twitter's 5 billionth tweet came not from one of the celebrities or marketers who have flooded the service in

recent months, but from one of the quirky Bay Area dot-com nerds who formed its first loyal pack of users. Sloan, who lives in San Francisco, recently departed his gig at Current--which is headquartered only a few blocks away from Twitter's own home base in the South of Market neighborhood--to write a novel, "Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-FourHour Book Store," which he is funding through creative-

microfinance site Kickstarter. He may have just gotten a convenient leg up in publicity. Meanwhile, some third-party observers have been remarking that Twitter's rapid growth may be slowing down. The company recently raised another round of funding at a valuation somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion. This post was expanded at 10:20 p.m PT. Originally posted at The Social

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CIA to start spying on social media? Nook is Coming: Barnes & (CNET News.com)

Companies tend to be interested in consumer opinions. With Visible Technologies' service, V i s i b l e T e c h n o l o g i e s , a companies can view content from company that monitors online mainstream media, cultivate social activity and packages the information from blogs, check out findings for clients, has forged a open Web 2.0 sites, read tweets, "strategic partnership" with In-Q- and more. Visible Technologies Tel, the CIA's not-for-profit said its goal is to provide clients investment arm, to give the "with actionable insight into organization insight into social social-media conversations." media. Aside from culling real-time, The deal was first reported on raw conversations across the Monday by Wired. Web, Visible Technologies also A c c o r d i n g t o V i s i b l e "scores" its content, helping Technologies, In-Q-Tel is also clients determine the context of investing in the company through each mention and whether the a "technology development tone of the comments are negative agreement." It did not release or not. more details than that. In-Q-Tel apparently sees Visible However, examining Visible Technologies' offering as ideal for Technologies' work may offer monitoring social media overseas. insight into what In-Q-Tel has in The CIA may or may not be mind. interested in what people think Visible Technologies, which is about it, per se. However, In-Qbased in the Seattle area, provides Tel spokesman Donald Tighe told services that allow companies to Wired that the organization plans monitor social-media activity. to use Visible Technologies' Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:07:47 AM

service for "early-warning detection on how issues are playing internationally." He noted that it has no intentions of monitoring activity in the United States. Steven Aftergood, a member of the Federation of American Scientists, told Wired that that contention regarding overseas use only is probably true because "even if information is openly gathered by intelligence agencies, it would still be problematic if it were used for unauthorized domestic investigations or operations." Regardless, In-Q-Tel, and by extension, the CIA, will be monitoring tweets and other social content soon. What do you think of that? Let us know in the comments below. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Noble’s Kindle Killer By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:39:50 AM

We recently covered Barnes & Noble’s e-reader which aims to take some wind out of Amazon Kindle’s sails. Today is the official launch date, and some additional details about the device have surfaced. The Nook, as it’s called, will have a 6-inch monochrome E-Ink panel as the main display, a multitouch color LCD panel right below it, and a price tag of $259 – exactly the same as Amazon’s Kindle. Besides the tech improvements that Nook will supposedly bring over the Kindle, Barnes & Noble has another trick up its sleeve: its physical stores, where customers will probably be able to try out the Nook before purchasing. Its partnership with Google, who’s also launching an electronic book

store, combined with all the above might make Barnes & Noble a worthy adversary to the current king of digital book sales – Amazon. The official Nook event starts today at 4 PM ET; we’ll bring you the rest of the details then. In the meantime, here’s an interview we did with Barnes & Noble about the then-yet-to-be-named Nook earlier this month: Reviews: Google, KIndle Tags: barnes & noble, e-reader, nook

DigitalGlobe's new satellite yields first images By Stephen Shankland (Webware.com) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:53:00 AM

DigitalGlobe has released its first images from the satellite, which will supply high-resolution photography for Google's and Microsoft's online mapping services. The first images are of two locations in San Antonio, Texas, where the company is showing off its work at the GeoInt 2009 Symposium this week, and of Dallas Love Airport. The quality of the images should improve over these first shots, taken Monday. "More refinements to early-stage images

can be expected as the ongoing check-out and calibration continues," DigitaGlobe said. Microsoft and Nokia sponsored the WorldView-2 launch, but the former's Bing and the latter's Navteq won't be the only services to get the imagery. They'll share it with Google, which has been the sole online beneficiary of images from GeoEye-1, a satellite launched last year by DigitalGlobe rival GeoEye. The new satellite is able to capture imagery with a resolution fine enough to detect features as

small as 0.46 meters, or 1 1/2 feet, on the ground, though federal regulations permit DigitalGlobe to offer images with only a maximum resolution of 0.5 meters for general commercial use, the Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe said. Other DigitalGlobe satellites with submeter resolution in orbit already are QuickBird and WorldView-1. "WorldView-2 is expected to improve the speed and rate of imagery delivery to the government and commercial markets with large-scale

collection capacity and daily revisit rates," meaning that the satellite can photograph the same site multiple times during the same day, the company said. The satellite can capture multispectral imagery--eight bands of light, or more than what's visible to humans--though at a lower resolution of 1.8 meters. Dallas Love Airport as photographed by WorldView2.(Credit: DigitalGlobe) Originally posted at Deep Tech

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CIA to start spying on social media? Plastic Logic’s eReader Aims to Tempt Business Professionals By Don Reisinger (Webware.com)

The CIA may or may not be interested in what people think about it, per se. However, In-QSubmitted at 10/20/2009 9:07:47 AM Tel spokesman Donald Tighe told Visible Technologies, a Wired that the organization plans company that monitors online to use Visible Technologies' social activity and packages the service for "early-warning findings for clients, has forged a detection on how issues are "strategic partnership" with In-Qplaying internationally." He noted Tel, the CIA's not-for-profit that it has no intentions of investment arm, to give the Visible Technologies' service, monitoring activity in the United organization insight into social companies can view content from States. media. Steven Aftergood, a member of mainstream media, cultivate The deal was first reported on information from blogs, check out the Federation of American Monday by Wired. open Web 2.0 sites, read tweets, Scientists, told Wired that that A c c o r d i n g t o V i s i b l e and more. Visible Technologies contention regarding overseas use Technologies, In-Q-Tel is also said its goal is to provide clients only is probably true because investing in the company through "with actionable insight into "even if information is openly a "technology development social-media conversations." gathered by intelligence agencies, agreement." It did not release Aside from culling real-time, it would still be problematic if it more details than that. raw conversations across the were used for unauthorized However, examining Visible Web, Visible Technologies also d o m e s t i c i n v e s t i g a t i o n s o r Technologies' work may offer "scores" its content, helping o p e r a t i o n s . " insight into what In-Q-Tel has in clients determine the context of Regardless, In-Q-Tel, and by mind. extension, the CIA, will be each mention and whether the Visible Technologies, which is tone of the comments are negative monitoring tweets and other social based in the Seattle area, provides or not. content soon. What do you think services that allow companies to In-Q-Tel apparently sees Visible of that? Let us know in the monitor social-media activity. Technologies' offering as ideal for comments below. Companies tend to be interested monitoring social media overseas. in consumer opinions. With

Studs and Duds, Week 6: Back to Brady By Shane Bacon (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:00:00 PM

by Shane Bacon Filed under: NFL Fans Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around pointing skyward, while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team here's Studs and Duds. Studs returns one of his three Tom Brady, QB New interceptions for the gamewinning score. With that in mind, England(29 of 34, 380 yards, 6

TDs) -- People were questioning his knee this season. He seemed jittery in the pocket, made throws he didn't used to make, and wasn't leading the Patriots like he had during those three Super Bowl years and undefeated regular season in 2008. Studs and Duds, Week 6: Back to Brady originally appeared on Fanhouse NFL Blog on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:01:57 PM

The eReader market is about to get truly crowded, with lots of competition on deck for Amazon’s flagship Kindle. With the Barnes & Noble eReader slated to hit next year, LG’s solar powered device, and Spring Design’s Alex running Android all coming up to bat very soon, digital book reading is seriously heating up. Now we have more information on another player in this space. We knew a large-format eReader was on the way from a company called Plastic Logic since last CES, when they debuted a prototype of an 8.5 x 11-inch EInk device. Today the device gets a name: the QUE proReader, and an official debutante date: January 7, 2010 — again at the Consumer Electronics Show. What sets the QUE apart from other offerings to date is its target audience: business professionals. We’ve already seen the Kindle DX be first to market with a letter -sized large-format eReader, but the QUE takes that format and aims it squarely at an audience looking for a competitive edge in the business world. Featuring support for typical business document formats including Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF, the QUE will also access a content store tailoring to

the needs of business users. Able to connect either over Wi-Fi or via AT&T’s 3G network, Plastic Logic’s QUE will access a store powered by Barnes & Noble, marking a rather “platform agnostic” approach on the part of B&N, who as mentioned previously will also be launching their own eReader device. Still unknown at this point are an official release date and the allimportant marketplace arbiter: price. We do have new photos of the device now, which feature an attractively sleek and black finish whereas previous prototypes have been a rather unassuming offwhite. Check out a few at the end of this post. Who is your pick for the most interesting upcoming eReader? Do you have your eye on any of the devices forthcoming from Barnes & Noble, LG, Spring Design or Plastic Logic? Or will you hold out and buy your digital books from Google? Plastic Logic QUE proReader Pics Tags: digital books, e-ink, ereader, plastic logic, que, que proreader

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Teen virtual world Meez sees profit EMI Back To Trying To Personally Bankrupt Michael Robertson By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:26:03 AM

It's one thing to try to influence politicians and laws to protect an incredibly obsolete business model. It's another thing to try to shut down innovative companies who are better serving the market than you can. But it's in an entirely different class of evil to go after individuals personally for the actions of companies, in an attempt to bankrupt them. Stand up and take a bow, EMI, for not just doing the latter, but then paying a witness, getting her to change her deposition and get a lawsuit reinstated against an individual after the judge had already tossed it out. EMI has leapfrogged to the front of the line for the most despicable record labels out there. No wonder their artists are jumping ship as fast as possible. You may recall that EMI not

only sued Michael Robertson's most recent company, MP3Tunes, but also sued Robertson personally, which is an intimidation technique that creates tremendous chilling effects for any executive or founder of any company. We thought it was good news a year ago, when the court dismissed the part against Robertson directly. The whole lawsuit seems crazy anyway. MP3Tunes isn't set up for infringement -- it just sets up a way for you to store your own songs online in a music locker for your own personal access. So the whole lawsuit is questionable anyway, but seems to be part of EMI's greater strategy of suing every innovative music startup. However, a new ruling has apparently put Robertson personally back in the firing line, after MP3Tunes' former president gave a new deposition (after she was fired, and well after her

By Caroline McCarthy (Webware.com) Submitted at 10/20/2009 5:00:00 AM

Meez, a start-up that expanded last year from an avatar creation service into a full-out virtual original deposition). The new world for teens, is touting some testimony apparently convinced good news: it's been profitable the judge to reinstate the personal since April and "every month is lawsuit against Robertson, though better than the last month," CEO the judge doesn't seem to discount John Cahill told CNET News. the fact that Emily Richards had Right now, Meez has about 13 been fired by Robertson (so her million registered users, 3 million new testimony should be suspect unique hits per month, and only already) and the rather interesting 20 full-time employees plus about fact that EMI paid Richards 10 contractors. $10,000. That combination of Where's the money coming facts should raise plenty of from? Premium subscriptions, ads c r e d i b i l i t y q u e s t i o n s , b u t on the free version of the site, and apparently did not. virtual goods bought and sold So, once again, we're left with with its internal "Coinz" currencyan incredibly chilling situation, -which includes a mobile virtualwhere execs of companies are gift deal with Verizon. being sued personally -- exactly The company is making this what the entire corporate structure announcement in conjunction is designed to prevent. So, with the debut of its MySpace congrats, EMI, for reaching a new application, which should be live low in misguided copyright- on the News Corp.-owned social related lawsuits. network shortly. It's Meez's first Permalink| Comments| Email integration with a big social This Story network. "The MySpace app is designed to allow people from MySpace to use the Meez virtual world, and people using the virtual world on Meez.com will be able to

integrate with the MySpace users," Cahill explained. So why is the company's first social-network platform product built on MySpace, which has had well-documented drops in traffic? The demographic and culture are a better fit, Cahill said, pointing to MySpace's younger-skewing user base as well as a culture that encourages meeting new people online. "We are working on a Facebook app as well, but every time we surveyed our audience, our audience was very much more MySpace-based than Facebook," Cahill said. "It's about discovery. It's about finding new friends. On Facebook, your friends actually tend to be your (real-life) friends." Getting onto social platforms will mean that Meez is starting to compete for attention (and that other buzzword, "engagement") with social gaming behemoths like Zynga and Playfish. Brushing elbows with the companies that already have come to dominate entertainment on social networks is par for the course, Cahill insisted. "We're all competing for Internet time," he said. Originally posted at The Social

Worker who fell from San Diego Chargers' press box at game dies By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:33:55 AM

SAN DIEGO -- A member of the San Diego Chargers' game-day staff has died after falling out of

the press box before the Denver Broncos played the San Diego Chargers on Monday night. Walt Daniels, 66, died at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday at Sharp Memorial Hospital, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Daniels appeared to sustain a head injury after falling about 25 to 30 feet out of a booth that was to be used by Broncos assistant coaches, and landing on the loge level. He was administered CPR before being taken to the hospital.

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DigitalGlobe's new satellite yields first images (CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:53:00 AM

A first shot from DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite shows the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.(Credit: DigitalGlobe) The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center San Antonio, Texas, where DigitalGlobe is showing off its first images for the GeoInt 2009 conference.(Credit: DigitalGlobe) Twelve days after it launched WorldView-2 into orbit, DigitalGlobe has released its first images from the satellite, which will supply high-resolution photography for Google's and Microsoft's online mapping services. The first images are of two locations in San Antonio, Texas,

where the company is showing off its work at the GeoInt 2009 Symposium this week, and of Dallas Love Airport. The quality of the images should improve over these first shots, taken Monday. "More refinements to early-stage images can be expected as the ongoing check-out and calibration continues," DigitaGlobe said. Microsoft and Nokia sponsored the WorldView-2 launch, but the former's Bing and the latter's Navteq won't be the only services to get the imagery. They'll share it with Google, which has been the sole online beneficiary of images from GeoEye-1, a satellite launched last year by DigitalGlobe rival GeoEye. The new satellite is able to capture imagery with a resolution

fine enough to detect features as small as 0.46 meters, or 1 1/2 feet, on the ground, though federal regulations permit DigitalGlobe to offer images with only a maximum resolution of 0.5 meters for general commercial use, the

Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe said. Other DigitalGlobe satellites with submeter resolution in orbit already are QuickBird and WorldView-1. "WorldView-2 is expected to improve the speed and rate of

IBM and Canonical team up against Windows 7 (CNET News.com)

IBM found that there was strong interest in the U.S. and other markets that had aging PC I B M a n d C a n o n i c a l , t h e infrastructure and little desire for commercial entity behind Ubuntu continued Windows upgrades. Linux, on Tuesday are launching The U.S. version of the package a combined cloud and Linux contains a number of IBM desktop package designed for p r o d u c t s i n c l u d i n g w o r d Netbooks and low-end PCs. processing and spreadsheets via For those of us still waiting for Lotus Symphony, e-mail via Linux to hit the desktop, this type Lotus Notes or LotusLive iNotes, of packaging may be exactly how and collaboration tools from the move from Windows starts to LotusLive.com. As with the pick up steam. previously launched initiative, the The IBM Client for Smart Work package runs on Ubuntu Linux. was first launched in South Africa Bob Sutor, IBM's vice president in September and was initially of Linux and open source, told me geared toward emerging markets. that the target is not a drop-in Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:01:00 AM

replacement scenario, but rather something for IT shops that don't want to be stuck in an endless cycle of upgrading desktop operating systems and applications. This is an interesting development for multiple reasons: • IBM and Canonical are teaming up to bring Linux to the desktop, offering what could be considered a next-generation thinclient that relies on cloud services but remains based on an actual operating system rather than just running in a Web browser. • IBM is targeting Windows installations in the co-opetition

model the company excels in-effectively insulating itself regardless of who wins the desktop. • Canonical is building a channel to deliver solutions rather than depend on individuals and organizations to roll their own. IBM has been making some interesting moves of late, launching a cloud-based e-mail and collaboration suite to rival Google Apps and now a direct attack on Microsoft's operating system footprint. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

imagery delivery to the government and commercial markets with large-scale collection capacity and daily revisit rates," meaning that the satellite can photograph the same site multiple times during the same day, the company said. The satellite can capture multispectral imagery--eight bands of light, or more than what's visible to humans--though at a lower resolution of 1.8 meters. Dallas Love Airport as photographed by WorldView2.(Credit: DigitalGlobe) This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Apple bumps Mac Mini line to add faster processors By Erica Sadun (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:17:00 PM

Filed under: Mac mini The refreshed Mac minis predicted yesterday by John Gruber of Daring Fireball, did indeed debut this morning and with a modest refresh. According to Business Week, the new entry-level mini (still at $599) offers the 2.26 GHz chip that used to be an optional upgrade. The $799 upgrade offers a 2.53 GHz performance boost. I bought my latest mini this past Spring. Introduced last March at the same $599/$799 starting prices, those models have offered excellent performance, a 5th USB Port (I mention this as a confirmed and unrepentant USBaholic), and built in dual monitor support. (You do have to buy a second, mini Display cable

to use that second monitor. I got mine from an Apple Store for about 30 bucks.) At that time, I stuck with the 2.0GHz processor and opted for the 4GB RAM upgrade and larger (320GB) disk drive. And, let me tell you, those choices (for which

I thank all the people at Twitter who offered advice) were excellent. I haven't missed the top processor speed (there was a 2.26GHz option), the extra RAM was awesome, and I didn't have to crack the case to upgrade to a better disk. I recommend you do

the same today: cheapest processor (now the 2.26 GHz chip), 4GB RAM, and the larger (500 GB) disk option. If you're in the mood for extra storage yumminess, consider the dual disk server configuration: an entire Terabyte of disk in a single sweet mini. You can read more about this upgrade at Apple's refreshed Mini features page. And yes, the store is still down at the time this post went live. Maybe someone forgot to feed the hamsters. TUAW Apple bumps Mac Mini line to add faster processors originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Caterpillar plans for quick economic rebound (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:05:54 AM

Caterpillar, the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest maker of earth-moving equipment and heavy-duty engines, gave an upbeat view of the global economy on Tuesday, saying conditions were improving throughout the world and revealing that it was now planning for a quick rebound, as it raised its outlook for this year and issued a bullish forecast for next year. The manufacturer is widely seen as a bellwether of the US and global industrial economy. It was one of the first big US companies to warn, back in 2007, that the US was entering a serious economic downturn. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Zombie Spam Blacklists Return From The Dead To Make A Point By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

addresses and address ranges into their lists, and plenty of giant ISPs relied on the judgment of those I have to admit that I don't spam fighters by simply plugging follow the "spam" world as in their lists. This often resulted in closely as I used to, but I significant collateral damage, as remember back around 2003, one perfectly legitimate emails would of the hot topics was whether or get blocked as coming from a not the various spam blacklists "spam IP." Of course, those lists went too far at times. The anti- needed to change frequently, but spam fighters behind those lists at times, they would just suddenly would often take a rather... disappear. That last link was inclusive attitude to putting IP a b o u t a p o p u l a r a n t i - s p a m Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:20:50 AM

blacklist from Osirusoft that was shut down -- with its owners changing the settings to include all addresses. The idea was to make it clear to ISPs who didn't pay attention, to stop using the list, but in the meantime, think of all the damage? It looks like that same sort of thing may be happening six years later. Michael Scott points us to the news of another longabandoned blackhole list, called

blackholes.us, that was abandoned a couple years ago -- but which some ISPs still rely on. However, whoever now controls the nameservers where blackholes.us used to be, apparently decided to set up a new "list" that (again) includes the entire range of IP addresses-- so every query is returned as being a spammer IP. Again, the idea is to force ISPs to stop using that blacklist -- and perhaps you can make the

argument that (unlike the Osirusoft situation) these ISPs have had two years to stop relying on the "zombie" blacklist, but it still seems unwise to create so much collateral damage, just to force the issue. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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Blogging Faceoff: WordPress vs. Typepad By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)

- Tumblr vs. Posterous - WINNER: Tumblr, 1809 votes Submitted at 10/19/2009 9:56:51 PM (Posterous: 1496 votes, Tie: 256 It’s that time once again: time votes) for another head-to-head in our Week 3: weekly Faceoff series! Last - Pandora vs. Last.fm week’s winner in the exciting - WINNER: Last.fm, 1187 votes T w i t t e r v s . F a c e b o o k w a s tie option for the indecisive (Pandora: 1156 votes, Tie: 122 Facebook, and this week we turn among you. votes) our attention to blogging Week 4: So have at it! And be sure to let platforms. - Twitter vs. Facebook us know why you voted the way Both have their die-hard fans. you did in the comments. - WINNER: Facebook, 2484 Both have robust user Who would win in a fight: votes (Twitter: 2061 votes, Tie: communities and full-featured Wordpress or Typepad?( survey) 588 votes) Reviews: Chrome, blog software. But when it comes Web Faceoff: Overall Results F a c e b o o k , F i r e f o x , G o o g l e right down to it, we want to know Week 1: Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, who would win in a bar room - Mozilla Firefox vs. Google Pandora, Posterous, Tumblr, brawl: WordPress or Typepad? Chrome Twitter, TypePad, WordPress If you’ve been with us in our Tags: blogging, typepad, web - WINNER: Firefox, 4600 votes previous Faceoffs, you’ll know (Chrome: 3310 votes, Tie: 911 faceoff, Wordpress how this works. Just head on votes) down to ye olde poll below and Week 2: cast your vote — there’s even a

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NBA Preview: Dallas Mavericks By Matt Moore (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:00:00 AM

by Matt Moore Filed under: Mavericks, NBA Preseason, NBA Previews FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season. It has become popular nowadays to take a movie or idea that was popular 20 years ago and revitalize it, tweaking it for a more modern touch, in order to attract both new and old audiences. It incorporates the base elements of the original and then features a modern "twist" in order to seem "hip." In a lot of ways, that's the story of the 2009-10 Dallas Mavericks. They're not the same old

Mavericks, but they're not the new Mavericks either. NBA Preview: Dallas Mavericks originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Media Watchers Beginning To Ask Why People Would Pay For Online Journalism By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

What if it's not just the business model of journalism that is broken? What if the way we are Ever since the latest round of doing our journalism is broken, newspaper paywall/micropayment too? How are some of the new suggestions have come up, we've media makers trying to fix that? been asking why none of the rather than go elsewhere. The actually give them a reason to "journalism" these days: In None of this is particularly new, problem, of course, is that readers buy. Mathew Ingram points us to looking to reconstruct journalism, newspapers/reporters pushing but it's great to see CJR finally these plans can explain what have made it clear: if their local a Columbia Journalism Review I'd start not by asking how do we realize that's the issue, rather than added value will make people paper charges for online access, article by Jan Schaffer that finally get money for what we've always how to best structure the paywall. makes this point by saying it's done. I'd ask instead: How do we buy. And that's because almost they'll just go elsewhere. Permalink| Comments| Email The newspapers, like the time to look at the demand side of provide something worth paying This Story none of them are actually thinking a b o u t t h i s . T h e y j u s t k e e p recording industry, seem to be these newspaper business models, f o r ? A s a l o n g - t i m e n e w s thinking that if they add a under the delusion that they're while noting that the problem isn't consumer, I have recoiled at much mechanism to get people to pay, somehow owed money from a lack of paywalls, but a lack of of what we are rendering as that people will magically pay, consumers, rather than needing to i n t e r e s t i n w h a t i s c a l l e d "journalism." Submitted at 10/19/2009 10:38:00 PM

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Rumor: Apple To Refresh iMacs and MacBooks Today? By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/20/2009 5:55:13 AM

Update: As of 6:55AM PT, the Apple store is down pending update. Apple rumors are never clearcut, but they’ve never been as weird as they are today. It all started when Dan Lyons, a.k.a. Fake Steve Jobs, dared Daring Fireball’s John Gruber about a host of new Apple products due to be unveiled today. Gruber quickly replied with a short tongue-in-cheek article, listing some interesting products Apple may or may not have prepared for us, depending on whether you buy into the whole rumor game. The list is as follows: - redesigned plastic MacBooks - redesigned iMacs, - updated Mac Minis, including one that’ll ship with Mac OS X Server - multi touch Magic Mouse

Weird Priorities: Europeans Want To Digitize Books As Quickly As Possible... Just As Long As It's Not Google Doing It By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

to get books digitized. The fastest way to do that is to let Google keep doing what it's doing (and Sometimes you just shake your f e e l f r e e t o d o s e p a r a t e head and wonder what people are digitization projects as well -- but t h i n k i n g . J u s t a s G e r m a n Google has a nice headstart). So, Chancellor Angela Merkel came how is it "moral" to keep more out against the Google Book books offline and unsearchable? - a new multi-touch trackpad settlement, European Commission According to German academic gadget for desktop Macs Information society and media Roland Reuss in that Publishers Although an Apple Tablet is commissioner Viviane Reding Weekly story above about moral nowhere in sight, this list contains declared that Europe needs to rights, "academics have gotten by s o m e p l e a s a n t s u r p r i s e s , speed up digitizing books. Except just fine for the past 500 years especially the multi-touch Magic if Google is doing it. Why? Well, u n d e r t h e o l d s y s t e m o f Mouse (remember Microsoft’s as Copycense points out, it seems publishing." Yes, and people were concept multi-touch mice we’ve that some Europeans are trotting fine having to walk everywhere or written about recently? It seems out the moral rights issue. Moral ride horses before cars came t h a t A p p l e h a s o n e - u p p e d rights on copyright are not along too. Who knew progress Microsoft once again). Is it all accepted under US copyright law, was immoral? Ned Ludd is alive true, or is it just an elaborate pun but are standard in Europe. But, and well apparently. set up by Lyons and Gruber? again, this seems to show the Permalink| Comments| Email We’ll have to wait a couple more problems of bringing morality This Story hours to find out. into copyright law. Europe wants Tags: apple, iMac, macbook, rumor Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:04:00 AM

mobile themes selected by WordPress looks. As we wrote earlier today Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:36:13 AM though, consumers are not happy The millions of blogs on with how the mobile web is WordPress.com will now have a performing. Turning on mobile clean mobile theme turned on by themes by default could be one default, removing most of the small step towards solving that formatting and making the sites problem in the large territory that e a s y t o l o a d o n a p h o n e . is WordPress. WordPress bloggers may want to Sponsor opt-out of the new setting; not One theme, WPTouch, will be everyone likes how the first displayed for iPhone users and

Put Remember the Milk on Mac Desktops with GeekTool [GeekTool] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:00:00 AM

A fan of Remember the Milk's task manager wrote a script that writes a custom list of upcoming to-dos directly on a Mac desktop with GeekTool. He's sharing his script bundle for anyone who'd like to do likewise. RTM forum user dws90 posted the script, which pulls down Atom RSS feeds from your user account, because he mostly saw other RTM-to-GeekTool scripts as "needlessly complex." His script package includes detailed instructions on how to install and use the package, and outputs fairly clean-looking, indented text—which you can modify at will, of course. Want to put some more up-todate text on your Mac desktop? world's defacto light-weight RSS C h e c k o u t G i n a ' s g u i d e t o monitoring your Mac and more, reader, Twitter. From the slow emergence of and skim through our GeekTool another simpler theme will be mobile reading and publishing to tag page for more scripts, tweaks, shown to users of other phones. the unwillingness of carrierers to and impressive desktops that WPTouch is not the only option solve bandwidth problems, it's feature the Mac scripting engine. available if users are instead on clear that the mobile web is still in Bring your tasks to the desktop WordPress.org. Another favorite its very early stages. For now, with GeekTool[Remember the is Carrington Mobile. little things like this make a very Milk Blog] Earlier this month WordPress big difference. Discuss announced that users can now more easily publish links to their new blog posts out into the

Blogs on the Go: WordPress.com Goes Mobile By Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

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Consumers Find Mobile Web Disappointing, Slow to Load By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

reported having one or more issues accessing a site from their mobile phones. Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:35:25 AM No Mobile Web Presence is Bad An independent study by for Business Equation Research found that For businesses who maintain a today's consumers are web presence, the survey's disappointed with the findings highlight the potential performance of the mobile web. consequences of ignoring the Despite the proliferation of mobile web. There are more smartphones with their fullpeople surfing mobile sites than featured web browsers, the ever before - 56.9 million as of majority of mobile web surfers July, according to Nielsen. have encountered issues with Companies who haven't given accessing websites via their consideration to their mobile handsets over the past year. The websites aren't just losing number one issue reported customers for that initial involves websites that are too attempted transaction that goes slow to load, frustrating users to bad - they're possibly losing those the point that over half said they customers for good seeing as how would never return to the site in many of those frustrated users question. claim they won't ever return to the Sponsor site in question. Mobile Web Disappoints Although the survey sample size The research study was was relatively small (just 1001 commissioned by Gomez, Inc., a total respondents) and the company that helps organizations company behind this wants to sell optimize the performance of their or even faster on their mobile regressed to an earlier time...like similar service. web optimization services, the While slow speeds were the findings seem to be believable. web and mobile applications. phones as compared to their PC. there's something wrong with the number one complaint, with 73% Anyone who's spent a good Obviously, that means you have While intellectually, most of us site. When encountering these slow reporting having issues in the past amount of time on the mobile web to take these findings with a grain know that's not going to be the of salt as the company clearly has case - broadband connections at loading sites, half of consumers year, other complaints pointed to can assure you that it truly is in its a vested interest in making the home or work are generally much reported that they were only a lack of well-designed and stable infancy. So many sites are slow, mobile web sound worse off than faster than accessing the web via a willing to wait 6-10 seconds or mobile-ready sites. 51% percent aren't optimized for viewing from mobile handset - there's still a less for the site to load. Longer complained of sites that crashed, m o b i l e h a n d s e t s , a n d i t i s actually is. That being said, in reading feeling of wanting the phone to than that, and they'll give up, froze, or received an error and frustrating when you encounter through the findings, you'll perform the way we've become move on, and probably won't ever a n o t h e r 4 8 % r e p o r t e d t h e them. Hopefully, businesses will probably find yourself agreeing accustomed to...that is to say, return. Sixty-one percent said it's formatting of the site made it begin to realize that if they want with much of what's being said. F A S T . W a i t i n g f o r a n o n - unlikely that they would ever visit difficult to read. Clearly, there is t o c o m p e t e w i t h t h e n e x t For example, the study found that mobilized site to load up in the that site again from their mobile overlap in these numbers as the generation of web surfers, a "web the majority of mobile phone phone's browser reminds us too device while another forty percent survey respondents reported presence" alone isn't enough. users said they expected sites to much of the painful days of dial- said they would seek out a multiple complaints. Overall, Today, you need a "mobile web load as quickly, nearly as quickly, up connections. It feels like we've competitor's site that provided a though, 60% of mobile users presence" too. Discuss

Street Chic: Paris By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/20/2009 4:00:00 AM

Leg-lengthening pumps perfectly

offset a voluminous skirt. Photo: Jean Claude Galli Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could

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

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BookServer: A Plan to Build an Open Web of Books By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:21:29 AM

The Internet Archive has just unveiled their ambitious project called BookServer, which will allow users to find, buy, or borrow digital books from sources all across the web. The system, built on an open architecture and using open book formats, promises that the books housed there will work on any device whether that's a laptop, PC, smartphone, game console, or one of the myriad of e-Readers like Amazon's Kindle. The project's lofty goal is to essentially create an open web of books where anyone can publish their books and make their content available via search. Sponsor Any Book, Open Formats Although still in the early days of development and potentially taking years to complete, the BookServer project will allow search engines to index books from all over the web. What that means for an end user is that you could type a title into a search engine and the engine would return results listing everywhere you could get that book in digital format including online bookstores, libraries, or a direct method from the publisher itself. Depending on your needs, you could borrow the book or purchase it and then download it

to your digital device. While the project isn't exactly a direct effort to take down Amazon's online bookstore or Google's upcoming online eBook store called Google Editions, it will provider book publishers and online libraries with the means to more effectively compete with those companies. By allowing publishers to set their own pricing and manage the distribution of their books, they will be able to take back control from Amazon and Google who would rather dictate those terms for them. An Open Marketplace for eBooks A secondary goal of BookServer's open system is to fight back against the proprietary marketplaces, such as Amazon's Kindle Store, where books are only sold in a copyright-protected format (.AZW) that only works on the company's eReader device, the Kindle. Elsewhere, some book sellers use other proprietary formats, others use the open ePub format, and still others distribute books as Adobe PDFs. For

consumers, this multitude of choices only leads to confusion. People don't know what formats their particular device can read or where to get them. It brings to mind the similar issues consumers have had with digitally distributed music. To this day, many are still confused about whether their iTunes purchased music can play on other devices or whether tunes purchased from other online MP3 stores will play on their iPods. While Google promises its Google Editions store will allow anyone to access digital books as long as they have a web browser and internet access, it's still unknown at this time how the company plans to make the digital content available offline. Will it require the use of special web browser plugins to do so? Until Google reveals more about the technical details, it is not possible to know how truly open their online store will be. And even if their store is 100% open, they are still a company whose ultimate goal is to profit from their work of digitizing books. BookServer's goal, on the other hand, is to provide universal access to book data made available in open formats. Today, a few booksellers have partnered with the BookServer system including Feedbooks, O'Reilly, Adobe, and the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project. Web Of Books Discuss

1,500 Newspapers Could Soon Support the AP's Controversial hNews Microformat By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:17:37 AM

Earlier this year, the Associated Press, together with the Media Standards Trust, introduced hNews, a new microformat for describing news content. HNews allows publishers to easily attach machine-readable news semantics to content on the web. Today, the AP announced the completion of the first draft of hNews. In addition, TownNews, announced that is will support hNews in its BLOX content management system, which is being used by over 1,500 newspapers in the US. Sponsor The hNews Microformat HNews, which is an extension of the hAtom format, only requires content users to specify information about the source organization. In addition, publishers can specify geoinformation, a dateline element, license information and information about the code of ethics that governed the behavior of the author of a given site. At its most basic level, hNews, just like other microformats like hCard or hCalendar, allows search engines spiders to identify and read semantic information that would otherwise be buried within a text and would be hard to identify for search engines. The Good and the Bad

The hNews Schema • source-org. • dateline. optional. Using text or hCard. • geo. optional. Using geo. • item-license. recommended. • principles. recommended. It's interesting that the AP, which has had a rather contemptuous relationship with the Internet, would push this standard, which would only make it easier for search engines and mash-up tools to discover and classify content. At the same time, though, hNews is also a central part of the AP's controversial'news registry' project, which is meant to track AP content across the web and to make sure that it is not misappropriated. While the hNews microformat is definitely an interesting development, we can't help but wonder about its role in the AP registry project. It's interesting to see that today's hNews press release makes no mention of this project(unlike the press release that announced the registry), so there is definitely some hope that the AP has given up on this scheme or is at least trying to downplay hNews' importance in it. Discuss

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Sharepoint Social Features May Be Sufficient for the Enterprise User By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb)

profile you can see tags that are associated with the person who appears in your search results. Submitted at 10/20/2009 1:18:58 AM These are all fairly basic social At the end of his keynote on features that are old-school to Monday at Sharepoint 2009, an many people. But in many ways, interviewer asked Steve Ballmer these features are just right for the about social computing. Ballmer mass-market enterprise user. Plus, recounted a story about a friend of there are some capabilities to his, a CEO for a Fortune 50 make the platform compelling, company. He said the guy is including the ability to make adamant in his opposition to mashups. social computing in his company. We know there are a host of But if he had assurances that other factors that will come into corporate data would be safe, then play and provide some advantage it might be a different story. to companies that provide social Sponsor technologies. But the reality is It was an interesting end to that many of these smaller Ballmer's keynote. It was all companies are working in Ballmer, practically yelling at the Sharepoint to provide an crowd to make his point about the additional social layer. ways the social web will make it NewsGator made an into the enterprise. announcement today about its For many steeped in the social activity stream for each user. integration. Jive Software, which Ballmer sounded like a guy that top management has about rallying his troops. He kissed his social services like Twitter and Web, it's clear that the Sharepoint Team sites are now wiki-oriented. today announced $12 million in fingertips as if he were talking Facebook. But it is also important 2010 features look pretty basic. Users can use wiki editing new funding, integrates, too. about a masterpiece. He then told to look at what Ballmer says and But for the enterprise user, the commands. These companies are important Search has been beefed up for to social computing in the the audience that after the temper it with the reality of the features may be just right. For instance, Sharepoint 2010 people to find experts faster. For enterprise. But it will be the big c o n f e r e n c e t h e y w o u l d b e market. Ballmer said that Sharepoint uses a ribbon interface, which is instance, if you are looking for a players that forge the path. equipped to tell the Sharepoint story. And they will be the ones provides the path for social quite familiar to most people who p e r s o n w i t h p r o d u c t s a l e s The major force is still experience, your search results Microsoft, with Ballmer leading who bring social computing into computing into the enterprise. It work in the corporate world. provides security, information Simple things do matter. People will show the person's profile, the way. the enterprise. This may seem like arrogance to management and compliance, can now upload pictures from including notes, ratings and their Discuss s o m e , b u t w e a r e f u r t h e r along with social features that their computers to a Sharepoint activities. Tagging is unified in convinced that Ballmer's remarks allow people to communicate the site and then re-size them. Sharepoint 2010 includes an Sharepoint. For example, in a do reflect the monumental fears way they want.

Angels beat Yankees in 11th to avoid 3-0 hole By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:05:37 AM

Fast Facts • Jeff Mathis hit a walk-off

double in the 11th to cut the Yankees' ALCS lead to 2-1. This was just the third walk-off hit in Angels' postseason history and the first since Bobby Grich did so in Game 4 of the 1986 ALCS.

• This was the first time consecutive games in a postseason series went extra innings since Boston beat New York in Game 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS. • Ervin Santana, who lost Game

2 in extra innings, won in relief. • The Yankees had four solo homers in a postseason game for only the second time and first time since 1928. • Vladimir Guerrero snapped an

85-AB postseason homerless drought. -- ESPN Stats & Information This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Nimsoft Provides Visibility into the Cloud By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb)

The service is offered in two packages. Customers can purchase a software package that Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:00:00 AM is installed behind the corporate Nimsoft is launching a firewall. Alternatively, customers benchmarking service today for executive officers are starting to can work with one of Nimsoft's enterprise customers that will help ask a lot of questions. They want partners that work on a SaaS them define and measure the to know about using Google for model. actual costs of cloud computing e m a i l a n d o t h e r e n t e r p r i s e Nimsoft does the benchmarks and monitor the performance of functions. The CIO does not by running direct tests, such as IT infrastructure. always have an answer. That sending batches of email to The benchmarking service creates a shift in the relationship, measure how long it takes the monitors the multiple systems of forcing some answers about email to get to its destination. an enterprise and pulls them into a budgets and an examination of the What the benchmark does is help unified view. These include actual costs of cloud-based define the service equation. The internal systems, managed service services to internal systems. c o s t s a r e p r e t t y c l e a r t o providers, and cloud-based and N i m s o f t i s o f f e r i n g understand, but the value of the S o f t w a r e - a s - a - S e r v i c e b e n c h m a r k i n g s e r v i c e s f o r service is another matter. If there investments. visibility into: Google Apps for are three outages in the span of Sponsor Business, Rackspace Cloud, the month, then the email system The service offers visibility on Amazon Web Services (AWS) may not be worth the drop in cost. where to distribute workloads, and EC2, Salesforce.com, and That's some good information to i d e n t i f i e s p r o b l e m s i n t h e other services. have when making a decision infrastructure and looks at Nimsoft also provides similar about a SaaS provider. performance metrics. Discuss services for visibility into Cloud computing is getting so virtualization environments. much hype these days that chief

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

Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship store in NYC has redesigned their cosmetics department—and one of the most bedazzling features of the new beauty floor is the Bb.StylingBar and Shop! Perfect for fashionistas on the go, the hair destination offers no-wash-no-appointment

will be creating runway-ready hairstyles on models in a live styling services and one-on-one window display today at the consultations with Bumble and corner of Lexington Avenue and bumble pros. The interactive 60th Street. Swing by on your station also has touchscreen lunch break or afternoon coffee styling and product menus, and run to catch the action! video tutorials. —Emily Hebert To celebrate the partnership Photo: Courtesy of Bumble and w i t h B l o o m i e ’ s , B b . bumble extraordinaire Rolando Beauchamp (clients include Mary -Kate Olsen and Kim Kardashian)

Manage WordPress Comments from Windows Live Writer [Windows Live Writer] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

day basis. While it's a fairly simple, web-like interface, this small plug-in gets the job done, Windows Live Writer stands out and it makes Live Writer a real among Microsoft's Live Essentials o f f l i n e s u b s t i t u t e f o r t h e pack for being a convenient multi- W o r d P r e s s d a s h b o a r d . platform blogging tool. The Live Live Writer's team also recently Writer team made it even handier released two other plug-ins for for WordPress users by adding WordPress blogs that allow site comment moderation powers to owners to change their blog's title their desktop app with a plug-in. and tag line, and add custom Windows Live Writer already fields to future blog posts. To offered bloggers and site runners install any of the plug-ins, grab a lot of tools to compose offline their .dll files and place them in drafts, manage online posts, and your Live Writer plug-ins folder, o t h e r w i s e e s c a p e t h e i r as detailed at the Digital dependency on browser-based Inspiration link. Windows Live b l o g g i n g t o o l s . C o m m e n t Writer team visits WordCamp in moderation ties together the other Seattle[via Digital Inspiration] major reason you'd head into your administration panel on a day-toSubmitted at 10/20/2009 7:00:00 AM

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Prep Your PC for Windows 7 [How To] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:00:00 AM

When Windows 7 drops this Thursday, you can either spend many, many hours watching a progress bar, or you can boot into a clean, speedy system with that new-OS smell. Let's get your system set up for a proper Windows 7 upgrade. If you're jumping into Windows 7 for the first time this Thursday, or soon after, you won't find yourself facing an entirely newlooking, strange-acting Windows. Most of Windows 7's features are refinements, tweaks, and speedups from Vista. Your Lifehacker editors have been using 7 ever since the Windows 7 Beta dropped in January, and we've found a few things worth noting and, in some cases, crowing about, like these 10 things to look forward to in Windows 7, or Windows 7's underhyped features. Considering that we know that 86% of you are upgrading to Windows 7, we thought it might be worth a little guidance for getting to ready to do just that. Before You Upgrade, Part 1: What You Can Upgrade To Are you running Windows XP? You can upgrade, but you'll have to do a whole-cloth "custom" installation, which will either wipe out your current system or, if you're planning on dualbooting, require some hard drive partitioning. Running Windows Vista? You can do an in-place upgrade from a Vista edition (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate) to an equivalent or lower-scale edition of Windows 7 (Starter, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate), assuming you're not

moving up from 32-bit to 64-bit. Yeah, it's that simple. Ed Bott at ZDNet took a woefully confusing upgrade chart Microsoft prepared and made an easier-to-grasp, plain -English upgrade chart that's definitely worth checking out. Before you buy an upgrade disc, though, you'll want to ensure your system meets the minimum specs for 7. Here they are in table form, stylishly cribbed from Wikipedia's Windows 7 page: Need to double-check one of your system's stats against what Microsoft calls the bare minimum? They offer a free Upgrade Advisor download for Windows systems that will tell you whether your hardware and peripherals can live in the Windows 7 world. Finally, if you're planning on upgrading from the Release Candidate you've been testing out and running happily since what seems like forever, know that it takes a bit more than just popping

anything with the word "partition" involved. The downside? Depending on how "clean" a user you are—in terms of removing unnecessary applications and keeping your media library trim and in one place—and the speed of your hardware, an upgrade to Windows 7 can take a seriously long time. Chris Hernandez charts his extensive testing and finds that a "super user" on mid-range hardware could wait more than 6 hours for a 32-bit upgrade to finish. That's a worst-case scenario, but if you feel like you've got a lot of applications and data that might hold things up, there is a way to get tidy in a jiff. First off, install Revo in a disc. Microsoft doesn't really Windows XP or any system Uninstaller and kill off any w a n t y o u t o p a y o n l y a n without a Windows license, it's an applications, helpers, monitoring "upgrade" price to move up from absolute must. Our readers voted programs, and anything else that a free system, but it can be done. up tools like Cobian Backup, you're not really using in Vista. Our own How-To Geek posted a SyncBack, and Acronis True (Won't it feel nice to have a d e t a i l e d w a l k t h r o u g h o f a Image in our Hive Five for cleaner system when you start up Windows 7 RC to RTM upgrade Windows backup tools, but also Windows 7?) Next, read our stepa t h i s h o m e a w a y f r o m suggested online, auto-monitoring by-step guide to separating your Lifehacker. Basically, you'll need tools like Mozy Home and data from Windows on a standto edit a single file on the Carbonite—which aren't free for alone partition. You'll benefit Windows 7 installation disc, more than token amounts of data, from doing this with any version which requires a disc-to-hard- and probably can't get you backed of Windows, and especially if drive copy and a free extraction up in time if you must jump into 7 you're planning to dual-boot any tool. If that's not your cup of tea, this Thursday. time soon. or you'd rather fulfill your For absolute security in Separating your music, pictures, licensing obligations, you've got k n o w i n g t h a t y o u c o u l d movies, Office documents, and until March 2010 before the completely revive your current other non-application files from Release Candidate starts nagging Windows system if 7 turned into a the stuff Windows needs to run and auto-rebooting on you. Before disaster, do what Gina did by hot- means that Windows 7 only looks You Upgrade, Part 2: Back Up imaging your PC's hard drive with at your core C: drive for an Your Data DriveImage XML. Upgrade upgrade. From a peace of mind Even if things go swimmingly Option 1: In-Place Upgrade from perspective, that also means that if with your upgrade, you'll want to Vista things don't go well with your have a fall-back copy of your This one is the easiest option, upgrade and you decide to run a music, pictures, documents, since all your data files stay in clean install, you're in a better application data, and other place, your just-as-you-like-them position to do so. Best of all, important files. If you're doing a computer settings stay in place, " c u s t o m i n s t a l l a t i o n " f r o m and you don't need to touch PREP page 41

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PREP continued from page 40 Windows 7's "Libraries" features makes it easy to access music, pictures, documents, and videos anywhere on your system, right from the Start menu. Upgrade Option 2: Upgrading from XP or a Clean Hard Drive Windows XP users can still get the Upgrade price discount, but there's no actual "upgrade"—you're doing a whole new install of Windows 7 on a blank hard drive, or at least a blank partition. If there's space enough on your drive, do as we suggest above and create a new partition for just your data, but you'll also want to back up your application data, in this case. Microsoft has posted an official XP-to-Windows-7 migration video guide, and offers a User State Migration Tool that claims to capture desktop and system settings, user accounts, and the files you want and brings them over to your new Windows 7 system. The How-To Geek's partner in blogging, mysticgeek, also details how to use Windows 7's Easy Transfer tool with a USB drive to migrate files and settings. Obvious, but fair, warning: Be sure to run these transfer utilities in XP first, back up their file loads, and then run them in Windows 7, unless you're

planning on dual-booting (detailed just a bit down this page). Concerned about your favorite programs' compatibility in Windows 7? We've run down how to set up and use Virtual XP Mode in Windows 7. An official, final, and free download of XP Mode should arrive this week for Windows 7, possibly at this page. Upgrade Option 3: Dual-Boot Windows XP or Vista with 7 Technically, you could use our guide to dual-booting Windows 7 with XP or Vista to set up a crazy schizo-system with all three Windows versions available, but we're assuming that unless you're a developer, you probably want to at least move on from Vista, given 7's compatibility with, and improvements over, the muchmaligned OS. If you set up dual-booting, you can still use the User State Migration Tool or Windows 7's Easy Transfer tool to save time setting up your accounts over again in Windows 7—you just don't have to worry about putting the horse before the cart this way."Upgrade" Option 4: Boot Camp on a Mac There's nothing too new about installing Windows 7 on a Mac with Boot Camp that hasn't

already been done already with XP and Vista. Stroll over to our Boot Camp how-to guide to read up on how to set up a Windows system right next to OS X, with extra pointers on getting devices like Mac keyboards working properly in Windows. Upgrade Option 5: Load Windows 7 on a Netbook It's entirely possible to load Windows 7 onto netbooks that shipped with XP, Linux, or some other system—it's just not quite easy. If you're up for a little ISO imaging, USB installing, and file compression, our sibling blog Gizmodo can walk you through installing Windows 7 on almost any netbook. You'll need a minimum of 1GB of RAM and 8GB of hard drive space on your netbook, along with a 4GB thumb drive and a valid copy of Windows 7. PC World just posted a guide to getting Windows 7 on your netbook in a half-hour, but we've yet to try out their technique. If you've already gone through an upgrade to Windows 7, be it beta, release candidate, or (*cough*) retail, tell us what made the move easier for you, or what lessons you learned the hard way, in the comments.

Restore Ctrl-Alt-Backspace Behavior in Ubuntu 9.10 [Linux Tip] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

Layouts tab under Keyboard settings, click the "Key sequence to kill the X server" option to Ubuntu 9.04 disabled the semi- expand it, then check "Control + c r u c i a l k e y b o a r d s h o r t c u t , Alt + Backspace" to set it. Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, that used to This might be a general change force the X graphical server to in the latest GNOME desktop restart, and made it wonky to re- software distributed across many enable. Luckily, Ubuntu 9.10, due Linux variants, so if you see a out in nine days, has a single s i m i l a r o p t i o n i n F e d o r a , setting to restore it. openSUSE, or elsewhere, let us The I am a Ubuntu blog pins know in the comments. Enable down a little check box, under the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace in Ubuntu System->Preferences->Keyboard 9.10[I am a Ubuntu via Ubuntu settings, that restores the hard- Weblogs] reset shortcut familiar to longtime Linux users. Head to the Submitted at 10/20/2009 5:30:00 AM

NFL Coaches Fight Club: Andy Reid (3) vs. John Fox (6) By Will Brinson (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:00:00 AM

by Will Brinson Filed under: NFL, Backporch Features

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

More Coverage: Fight Club

Introduction, 1st Round Seeds NFL Coaches Fight Club: Andy Reid (3) vs. John Fox (6) originally appeared on Fanhouse Backporch on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our

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Firefox Headed to Android Phones [Firefox Mobile] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:00:00 AM

Yesterday we heard that an unknown something from Mozilla is headed to iPhones, but Firefox's maker is being a bit more specific about Android: A mobile browser is in the works for the opensource phone. Om Malik details a bit more of an onstage talk held last weekend with Mozilla CEO John Lilly and VP for Mobile Jay Sullivan, the latter of whom we interviewed in August and reported that Mozilla was "looking at" Android development. Malik reports Lilly as saying that "Mozilla will release Firefox for Windows Mobile and then Android," and hears from Sullivan that releases on devices other than Nokia's Maemo tablets are slow coming because the mobile team has worked to get faster JavaScript and page rendering times on mobile ARM processors. As expected, add-ons, desktop synchronization, and AwesomeBar-style navigation are all expected to appear in Fennec,

MacBook Gets New Display, Trackpad, and Built -in Battery for Old Price the code name for Mozilla's mobile browser. Symbian and BlackBerry fans might have to do without, however, as Sullivan has misgivings about developing for either BlackBerry's Java-based app platform or for Symbian's phones. On all platforms, Mozilla is also looking for wider adoption of HTML5 standards for content and multimedia, to avoid the effort and complications of

developing altered browsers for each platform. What would Fennec have to offer on your Windows Mobile or Android device to become a default browser? What features do you hope make the transition from desktop to mobile? Share your strategy suggestions in the comments. On Mobile Phones, Firefox's Big Bet is Nokia & Android[GigaOM]

By Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:46:39 AM

Today Apple announced the release of an updated MacBook and Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller says it best in a press release for the new Macbook. “The new MacBook includes many of the great features found on the innovative MacBook Pro, such as an LED-backlit display, glass Multi-Touch trackpad and built-in long-life battery.” The new MacBook remains priced at $999, which will By ELLE.com (ELLE News shirt-dresses, and high-waist disappoint some hoping Apple Blog) trousers are just the thing for would compete more aggressively day/night/weekend dressing. with netbooks. However, the new Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:29:51 AM Click here for a full roundup of all MacBook does not disappoint on So far for spring 2010, L.A. the shows so far from L.A. specifications or build quality. Fashion Week has delivered a mix Fashion Week. Featuring a unibody, of leather armor, lace dresses, Shop Maxine Dillon's fall polycarbonate enclosure with Goth-inspired separates, redcollection here. magnetic latch, the new MacBook carpet-ready gowns, and surfer- California-casual-meets-polished—Violet Moon Gaynor weighs in at 4.7 lbs, down from girl staples. One collection I can East-coast-chic spring offering. Photo: Volker Corell 5.0 pounds, and is 1.08 inches see myself wearing right off the The sleek jumpsuits, crisp cotton thick. The LED-backlit display is runway is Maxine Dillon’s

L.A. Fashion Week's Chic Standouts

the same as used on the MacBook Pros. Apple is claiming the builtin battery will last up to seven hours. As for specifications, the new MacBook has a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and integrated graphics with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. The two DIMM slots support up to 4GB RAM, available for another $100 from Apple. A 320GB or 500GB hard drive is optional, $50 and $150 extra, respectively. About the only thing missing, besides a price drop, would be the SD card slot included across the MacBook Pro lineup. Nonetheless, even at twice the price of the best netbook, the new MacBook is easily more than twice as fast with double the battery life, and is many times more aesthetically pleasing. In Q3, NewNet focus turns to business models and search. Read the, " NewNet Q3 Wrap-up."

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Dishwasher Detergent Soak Cleans Dishes Overnight [Cleaning] By sarahrae (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:30:00 AM

Hell hath no furry like the staying power of baked on food on your pots and pans. Sometimes a soak overnight is required, but to guarantee things will come clean by morning, try turning to your dishwasher detergent instead. Photo by jessicafm. Like our parents before us, we've left pots and pans out overnight, filled with water and dishsoap to let stuck on food soften for a morning cleaning. It doesn't always work, but it's better

than nothing, right? Maybe not. The folks over at the weblog Parent Hacks suggest using 1 teaspoon of dishwasher detergent (that you would normally use in your dishwasher)

charm—even on the crusty leftover cheese from our baked macaroni dish. It didn't even require a once over with our sponge, just a simple rinse and it all came clean. Best of all, it didn't require any wear and tear to our sponges or additional elbow grease. Have your own have a tip on getting your dishes sparkling without a lot of work? Share your in combination with hot water. thoughts in the comments. Crusty Let it sit in your pan overnight pots and pans come clean with an and the food should rinse clean overnight dishwasher detergent without any scrubbing. We were soak[Parent Hacks] skeptical, so we put it to the test last night and it worked like a

US housing starts growth slows (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/20/2009 6:31:50 AM

New residential construction continued to climb in the US last month, but the increase was smaller than expected as the looming expiration of the firsttime homebuyer tax credit cast a cloud over the market. Separately on Tuesday the labour department said that wholesale prices fell in September, pulled back by a slump in energy prices. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Apple Conference Call: Maybe, Just Maybe Cheaper Macs By Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog)

October 30 with approximately 1,000 points of sale to begin with. Plans will range from the Submitted at 10/19/2009 4:34:36 PM equivalent of $18 to $85 per Capping the most profitable month, the phone being free at the quarter ever with the most Macs higher end. sold in a quarter, the conference • Korea will be getting the call to discuss Apple’s fourth iPhone soon, and there will be fiscal quarter for 2009 may have multiple carriers in Canada and been the most boring ever, too. the UK. The iPhone 3GS shortage However, distilling the tedium over the summer may have been i n t o b u l l e t p o i n t s i s m o r e the result of sales exceeding interesting. iPhone Apple’s expectations. Changing • Total sales for the year were 21 the inventory mix between the 3G million, up 78 percent, average and the 3GS may have caused selling price around $600. There component issues, but those were are more than 85,000 apps in the solved as of early October. App Store, 2 billion downloads, According to Apple, “people are 500 million in the last quarter. trying to catch up with first • The iPhone 3GS, available in iPhone,” so apparently no worries 64 countries last quarter, will about Droid, Storm2, and the Pre. match the iPhone 3G with • In some instances, the benefit availability in 80 countries by of exclusive carrier agreements year’s end. allows for greater levels of • China gets the iPhone on innovation, like visual voicemail,

and in some cases exclusive carriers “invest more.” Apple execs must be using jailbroken phones on carriers besides AT&T. Mac • 3.05 million Macs sold, up 440,000 YOY. For 19 out of the last 20 quarters, the Mac grew faster than the rest of the market. For the quarter, 74 percent of Macs sold were portables, up 35 percent YOY — wow. • Snow Leopard has twice the upgrade rate of Leopard over its first five weeks. In response to a comment about the lower price working for Snow Leopard, the reply was, “yes, it did.” • The Back-to-School promotion was the strongest ever for the Mac. • Due to demand for the new portables last quarter and Snow

Leopard being launched, it wasn’t quite hinted that sales of Macs might be down for the holiday quarter. iPod • The iPod controls over 70 percent of the media player market, and is gaining YOY in every country tracked. • 50 percent of buyers are purchasing their first iPod. • iPod touch sales were up 100 percent YOY — again, wow. Finally, there were two interesting comments, the first being about the Apple Stores and Mac sales. For the first time I can recall, an Apple executive did not say “half or more than half” of Mac buyers were new to the platform. This time it was “about half.” Interpret freely. Besides that, the most interesting comment came regarding expected margin

declines. The rationale included the seasonality of greater iPod sales, fewer Snow Leopard sales than the previous quarter, higher component and other expenses, and this quote: For the new products we have and will announce, we are delivering greater value to our customers, and these products have lower gross margins than their predecessors. That would be in keeping with rumors about price reductions on some Macs, including the Mac mini. Start refreshing your browser window on the Apple Store tomorrow, early. In Q3, NewNet focus turns to business models and search. Read the, " NewNet Q3 Wrap-up."

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New iMacs Feature 21.5 and 27-inch Displays and Available Quad-Core Processors By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:51:43 AM

Well, the Apple Store went down, and we waited with bated breath. And most of what people expected to see came true. One of those expectations was new iMacs, and Apple’s all-in-one desktops did indeed get a nice upgrade and redesign. That means you’re old hat, iMac which I’m typing this up on right now. The new iMacs feature LEDbacklit 21.5 and 27-inch widescreen displays, with a new edge-to-edge glass and seamless aluminum case design. It’s quite the sexy little get up, and it’s sure to turn a few heads. Also sure to turn heads is the introduction of quad-core processors to the iMac line, though the entry level model still sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor by default. In the official Apple press release detailing the new hardware, Phil Schiller focused on the LED-backlighting and the inclusion of the new Magic Mouse when talking up the new all-in-ones: The iMac is widely praised as the best desktop computer in the world and today we are making it even better. With brilliant LED displays and the revolutionary Magic Mouse, the new iMac delivers an amazing desktop experience that we think customers will love. The new displays feature 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution for the 21.5inch, and 2560 x 1440 for the 27inch, which mathematically inclined readers will note makes

the aspect ratio for the screens 16:9. That’s good news for HD movie and TV show watchers, but the changed ratio might not excite web and print professionals quite as much. Still, as Apple points out, the display on the new 27inch screen does provide 60 percent more working area, which is never a bad thing. Graphics computing power also gets a boost in the new line. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated card is still around, but the ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete card is an option on the 21.5- and 27-inch model, while the ATI Radeon HD 4850 is reserved as an option exclusively available for the bigger computer. The new iMacs now have 4GB of 1066

MHz DDR3 RAM standard, and the potential to increase that to up to 16GB. As for storage space, you’ll get 500GB in the base 21.5-inch model, or 1TB in the mid-range 21.5-inch or top-of-the-line 27inch versions. All drives operate at 7200 rpm. Of the four available models, only the most expensive 27-inch 2.66 GHz version offers a Core i5 chip, with an option to upgrade to the Core i7. All three of the other models offer the Intel Core 2 Duo processor operating at 3.06GHz. Four USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800, and a brand new SD card slot are also standard on all models. New iMac owners get a nice bonus when it comes to input

devices, as wireless keyboards and the new Magic Mouse, which only comes in a wireless (Bluetooth) variety, are now standard with every machine. Apple is clearly doing its best to de-clutter your workspace, or at least to add to the perceived value of its machines, since the price points of the new models have not changed as some had suspected. The base models are priced at $1,199, $1,499, $1,699 and $1,999 respectively. So long as you aren’t in the market for the $2,000 quad-core beast, you can order now from the Apple Store and your computer should ship in 1-3 business days. The Core i5 model isn’t shipping until “November,” according to

Apple’s website, which is maddeningly vague. Attempting to upgrade to the Core i7 does nothing to remedy the situation, which doesn’t come as a surprise. Finally, I spotted a new Apple Remote as an add-on option on the ordering screen. Not an iMac exclusive, but the little guy does get an aluminum makeover, with black buttons, and looks much fancier. Is it worth an additional $19 now? Not sure, but at least it matches the machine it works with. Growing mobile data use turned up heat on carriers in Q3. Read the, " Mobile Q3 Wrap-up."

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Rumor Has It: Verizon and Apple Testing iPhone LTE By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

Vodafone announcing their iPhone deals; then Bell and Telus in Canada spoiled the Rogers Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:06:16 AM private party. AT&T is still 3G may be the current standard hanging in there, but everyone in network data communication, besides it, including the but 4G Long Term Evolution Department of Justice, wants to (LTE) networks are just around see that relationship come to an the corner. Verizon is working on end, too. It doesn’t bode well for building its own LTE network as some anecdotal evidence to the AT&T’s primary revenue stream. we speak, and the latest rumors possibility that Verizon could be Here’s what we won’t see: A suggest that Apple is working in talks with Apple, too. 4G iPhone in time for the together with Big Red to develop While that may not sound like June/July refresh that’s become the next generation of iPhone. very solid ground for a rumor of standard practice for Apple’s LTE means more data carried at this magnitude, the possibility of mobile hardware release schedule. higher speeds, which could an iPhone going to Verizon is not The tech is too new, and at this theoretically work out a lot of the at all far-fetched. Big Red does stage of testing, there’s little to no problems AT&T has been having look like it will be the first out the chance of seeing it mature enough with running the data-hungry door with a fully functioning 4G in eight months’ time to allow a iPhone on its 3G network. Video LTE network, and it is the biggest full-fledged launch of one or more streaming, tethering, etc. should wireless company in the U.S. devices for the consumer market. all be tiny drops in the bucket on a Both of those must appeal to We’ll see a new iPhone, but it properly functioning 4G network. Apple’s sense of business and won’t be a 4G device, and it The sources of the rumor, who showmanship, since what could remains to be seen whether or not aren’t revealed by the Mashable help its market share more than a V e r i z o n w i l l s o m e h o w b e a r t i c l e t h a t s t a r t e d t h e showy launch of a cutting-edge i n v o l v e d . whisperings, cite bi-monthly trips device to an all-new subscriber Growing mobile data use turned to Google’s headquarters, which base? up heat on carriers in Q3. Read resulted in an announcement of Exclusivity deals are falling in the, " Mobile Q3 Wrap-up." Verizon getting Android devices. Apple’s major markets like leaves They suggest the proximity to the in the fall. First, the UK opened Apple campus (8.5 miles) lends things up with Orange and

Apple Stores Go Down; Rumors of New Hardware Abound By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:55:54 AM

As I write, online Apple Stores around the world are going down. That yellow post-it is popping up, assuring eager shoppers, “We’ll be back soon.” Why so eager? For weeks, rumors have leaked through the intertubes like lemonade spilled on a MacBook keyboard — in short, they got everywhere. There isn’t a tech news site that failed to report the imminent arrival of refreshed (and entirely new) product lines. With so much noisy consensus, could they all be wrong? John Gruber sums up what he believes we’ll be getting; Redesigned Plastic MacBooks, Redesigned (‘Impressive’) iMacs, Updated Minis (Including One

That Ships With Mac OS X Server), the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse, and, as the Wildcard I’mNot-Sure-I-Really-Believe-ItMyself Out-There Rumor, Maybe Even Some Sort of MentionedNowhere-Else-But-in-This-VeryHeadline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs That Apple Is Set to Release Tomorrow Morning. Fake Steve Jobs, on the other hand, insists Gruber hasn’t a clue. The Apple Store sometimes goes down for nothing more than simple maintenance. In fact, it was down for precisely that reason only four days ago. Only time will tell. Watch this space — we’ll keep you posted. As Q4 begins, online video is now mainstream. Read the, " Connected Consumer Q3 Wrapup."

Darksiders slides release date to Jan. 5, 2010 By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)

January 5, 2010. The game will ride into Europe and Asia on January 7 and 8, respectively. Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:00:00 AM In preparation for the launch on THQ's Darksiders has shifted its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, North American release date from Darksiders has revealed a new New Year's Day to Tuesday, website. Expect to hear more about the game after the Modern

Warfare 2 fallout dissipates a little. We also feel the need to remind you of the key words Darksiders usually evokes: God of War; Legend of Zelda; Evil Horsies. Darksiders slides release date to

Jan. 5, 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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EyeTV Returns to the App Store, Minus 3G Streaming By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

data, and if wireless customers are paying not-insignificant fees in order to be able to use data on Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:10:31 AM their cell phones, they should As we reported just yesterday, have the right to choose the nature Apple didn’t take too kindly to El of that traffic. My plan covers Gato’s “accidental” inclusion of a 6GB per month. Who’s to say I workaround to enable 3G don’t want to use five of that on streaming of live TV on the streaming video? I can see cutting iPhone using its EyeTV app. The me off once I exceed my limit, app, combined with an EyeTV since I might then be causing USB Mac TV tuner, allows users undue strain on your network, but to stream that content from their if you’ve assigned me 6GB, let computer. I say allows, not me use that however I see fit. allowed, because it’s now back in At least Apple is being the App Store for $4.99. relatively understanding about the For those who missed the reason whole thing. It could easily have why the app was pulled in the first barred EyeTV from the app store place, El Gato had “accidentally for an extended period, or left in” a feature whereby if you altogether, in order to punish what click the warning window that could easily be seen an a tells you Wi-Fi is required for live purposeful attempt to side-step TV playback, instead of the “OK” App Store requirements. Instead, button in the window, the dialog it acted quickly when a fix was would close and streaming would issued and reintroduced in the app occur over 3G anyway. with very little delay following its El Gato revealed that it had removal. I think this especially already resubmitted a fixed unlikely, given how easy it was to points to the fact that AT&T is version when the problem was activate), or whether it was just an really still the one to blame in discovered, and that version has accident, the incident reveals that cases like this. today been approved by Apple d e s p i t e A T & T ’ s r e c e n t As Q4 begins, online video is and is available for download. announcement that voice calls now mainstream. Read the, " This time around, clicking the would now be allowed over 3G, Connected Consumer Q3 Wrapdialog box has no effect. that doesn’t mean it’s a free-for- up." Whether it was an Easter egg, all with all types of content. meant to pass undetected through I still think this needs looking Apple’s censors (which seems into by a regulatory body. Data is

What's On Tonight: Shark Tank, NCIS, ECW, Sons of Anarchy By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:06:00 PM

• At 7:30, FOX has Baseball Playoffs, the Yankees vs. the Angels. • At 8, ABC has the season finale of Shark Tank, followed by new episodes of Dancing with the Stars and The Forgotten. • CBS has a new NCIS at 8, then new episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife. • NBC has a new, two-hour Biggest Loser at 8, followed by a new Jay Leno Show. • The CW has new episodes of 90210 and Melrose Place. • PBS has a new Nova at 8, then a new Frontline. • TCM has Mr. Sardonicus at 8. • At 9, Discovery has a new Dirty Jobs, followed by a new Ghost Lab. • BBC America has a new Dragon's Den at 9. • IFC has another installment of Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) at 9. • At 10, FX has a new Sons of Anarchy. • Food Network has a new Chopped at 10. • ESPN has a new World Series of Poker at 10. • Syfy has a new ECW at 10.

Galleon moving assets into cash (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:38:06 AM

Brokers to the Galleon Group – the hedge fund whose founder and

president, Raj Rajaratnam, is at the centre of insider trading charges– report it is rapidly liquidating its investments in anticipation of a wave of investor redemptions.

“They’re selling down their positions and moving to cash – they’ve started liquidating with us this morning,” a senior executive at one of Wall Street’s largest investment banks told the

Financial Times on Tuesday. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

• Bravo has a new Flipping Out at 10. • Travel Channel has a new Bizarre World at 10. • Also at 10: MTV has a new episode of The Hills, followed by a new episode of The City. Check your local TV listings for more. After the jump, the late night talk shows. Continue reading What's On Tonight: Shark Tank, NCIS, ECW, Sons of Anarchy Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis: An interview with Bravo's OCD realtor By Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:02:00 AM

Bravo's resident house flipper, real estate guru and OCD interior designer, Jeff Lewis, is a very complicated guy. When I spoke to him recently, I was actually a little concerned. If you've seen Jeff on Bravo's Flipping Out, you've seen him lose it on occasion. Would he yell at me on the phone if I asked the wrong question? In fact, Jeff Lewis was extremely friendly and funny. We had a great talk and he couldn't have been nicer. He was also really forthcoming about the past seasons of Flipping Out, including this one that's concluding tonight. What has it been like to be turned into a reality TV star? Because of the reaction of the show, some people see me as a villain and that could be the way I do business. I handle my employees in a rather non-

Review: House Brave Heart By Jonathan Toomey (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:31:00 AM

( S06E05)"I've crossed some line and I'm having trouble getting back to the other side." - Chase traditional way. I was concerned Another week, another case that about how people would react in no one cares about... well, almost. public, but it's actually been pretty Ever since House's visit to the positive. Overall, it's been a very Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital, it's positive experience. Many people been tough to get invested in are very nice and complimentary By Kona Gallagher (TV Squad) swimming pool out of gold, so anything other than what he's and supportive. screw that British agent and his going through. Each week, the Continue reading Flipping Out's Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:12:00 AM gadgets," kind of works for me. case du jour has been largely Jeff Lewis: An interview with (S02E05) I'm really glad this However, all things being equal, disposable (save for Dibala) as Bravo's OCD realtor Filed under: Other Reality episode ended the way it did, if Castle had gotten the same offer nothing really relates to anything S h o w s , F o o d / H o m e / D I Y , because I was about to be pissed. and he had been following else. However, it seems like Obviously Castle isn't going to around, say, Esposito instead of David Shore and Co. must've Interviews, Celebrities Permalink| Email this| | stop writing the Nikki Heat books Beckett, I feel like maybe the realized that too because "Brave and leave Beckett, so I was prestige of writing the British spy Heart" made a good attempt at Comments expecting him to make some series may have won out over bringing what's become a very asinine excuse to his book agent more gold doubloons for an segmented story back together. about why he couldn't take over already-rich Castle. Continue reading Review: Continue reading Review: House - Brave Heart Mr Feinberg is due to deliver the James Bo-- er, a "British Filed under: OpEd, House, his verdict in the next few days on secret agent with lots of gadgets" Castle - When the Bough Breaks Filed under: Other Drama Episode Reviews, Reality-Free the remuneration proposals of series. But in the end, the excuse of, Shows, Episode Reviews, RealityPermalink| Email this| | companies that have received "hey, my publishing house is Free Comments government bail-out money, Permalink| Email this| | ranging from General Motors to going to just dump sacks with dollar signs printed on the front of Comments Citigroup. This content has passed through them on my doorstep so I can make a Scrooge McDuck-like fivefilters.org.

Feinberg reluctant to revoke contracts (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:21:20 AM

Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master on pay, on Tuesday said he was struggling with an “incredible gap, the chasm between Wall Street perceptions and Main Street perceptions”.

Review: Castle - When the Bough Breaks

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I remember when the Treehouse of Horror was appointment TV By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)

Review: Lie to Me - Honey By Jonathan Toomey (TV Squad)

Lightman looked embarrassed that he had to be doing it, but it did lead to a very heated Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:30:00 PM discussion between him and ( S02E04)"If we don't do exactly Gillian. It would have been nice what this guys says, he will kill to see them argue a bit more about Cal." - Foster where their income will come Looks like it didn't take long for from, but then a case that Cal's decision to buy out Zoe to guaranteed to not pay anything catch up to The Lightman Group. wandered in the front door. Good Cash poor, Cal has been relegated thing, too, because it turned out to to handling simple, pedestrian be arguably Lie to Me's strongest cases that do nothing more than episode to date. bring in a paycheck. As the Continue reading Review: Lie e p i s o d e o p e n e d , t h e r e w a s to Me - Honey obviously the possibility that Cal Filed under: OpEd, Episode was actually at that singles mixer Reviews, Reality-Free, Lie to Me for himself, but it became clear Permalink| Email this| | pretty quickly what he was up to Comments once he started grilling that blonde about marital fidelity.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, on Tuesday bowed to international pressure and agreed to a run-off presidential election against challenger Abdullah Abdullah. The announcement came in a press conference where Mr Karzai, flanked by US Senator John Kerry, said the run-off was both “legal and constitutional”. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

endings are all stupid. Continue reading I remember when the Treehouse of Horror was appointment TV Filed under: OpEd, The Simpsons, Animation, RealityFree Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:51:47 AM

8:51 AM, PDT: Ahoy everyone! Flickr is experiencing problems at the present time, and our engineers are all in the main engine room, working on resolving the issue. Please hang tight, and we’ll have things back for you as soon as possible. If we

MediaDailyNews: OandM Hire 4 New Senior Execs (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:20:40 AM

Ogilvy & Mather has hired four new senior execs in its New York office: Tim Maleeny joins as head of account planning, Marta La Rock as worldwide planning director on Kraft/GSK, Dan Ng as need to, we’ll post an update for worldwide planning director on American Express/Motorola and you here. 9:18 AM, PDT: Hello! All Magnus Blair as planning director hands are on deck over here and on Dove. Planning at Ogilvy now we’re still working on getting fits within a broader range of things back up for everyone. strategic services, which include Apologies for the disruption! analytics, marketing consulting, This content has passed through digital strategy and ethnographic research. Maleeny will oversee 40 fivefilters.org. planners. He comes to Ogilvy from Hal Riney in San Francisco. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Here thar be dragons… By Kevin Collins (Flickr Blog)

(Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/20/2009 5:44:55 AM

Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:02:00 AM

Even after I'd given up on watching The Simpsons every week many years back, I continued tuning into their annual "Treehouse of Horror" specials, the most recent of which aired Sunday. After a few more years of watching just that one episode each year, I eventually let it go as well. But I've been watching this 20th Anniversary Season of the show, and reviewing it for the site, so I settled in to see what we'd be tackling this year. As always, the special is broken into three parts. This year's batch: a send-up of Alfred Hitchcock films, 28 Days La ter, and Sweeney Todd. That sounded promising enough, and yet ... Maybe I'm too old for the "Treehouse." Or maybe they just try and do too much. Or maybe, as was the case with all three of this year's segments, they have decent enough set-ups, but their

Karzai forced to accept new Afghan poll

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MLB Playoffs Diary: Angels 5, Yankees 4 (11 Innings) (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:44:56 PM

The Journal provides minute-byminute analysis of the Los Angeles Angels’ 5-4, 11-inning victory over the New York Yankees at Angel Stadium to get within 2-1 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. Guest blogger Jonah Keri offers commentary on the game and the Fox telecast. Associated Press Jeff Mathis hits the game-winning double in the bottom of the 11th inning for the Angels. Congratulations to Joe Girardi, who found a way to squander four Yankees’ home runs, a fielding clinic by Mark Teixeira, and a classic Houdini job by Mariano Rivera to lose the game. Credit the Angels for not giving up. Howie Kendrick was huge with three hits, including the winning run-scored. And the unlikely hero was Jeff Mathis, who’s around the Mendoza Line lifetime, but clubbed two ringing doubles in two at-bats for the Angels, the latter winning the game. The Angels still have life. Sabathia’s a beast, but if Good Scott Kazmir shows up, he has a real shot against the lefty-oriented Yankees lineup in Game 4. If Girardi gets involved, the Angels’ chances get even better. Until then, thanks for riding along! 8:36: And Joe Girardi’s decision completely blows up in his face. The light-hitting Jeff Mathis obliterates a ball off the leftcenterfield wall. Kendrick slides in safely. Angels win 5-4. Amazing. Ridiculous. Impossible.

8:33: Girardi’s overmanaging just yielded a single by Kendrick and the absence of anyone but Chad Gaudin in the bullpen. Very weird. Mathis up here with two out, Kendrick on first. 8:30: Not sure if Girardi thinks Robertson is hurt or what, but this is some weird overmanaging. Yanks tap Aceves to face Kendrick with two out and nobody on. 8:28: We apologize for the technical difficulties. You missed me predicting Rivera would get out of the inning after the throwing error, too! 8:25: We’ve been having some technical difficulties. We’ll pick things up as soon as we can.–Editor 8:20: The hopelessly overmatched Cervelli whiffs on a Santana curve in the dirt. Let’s go to the bottom of the 11th. Tied 4-4. 8:16: Santana sets down Cabrera and Jeter. Cervelli in to hit for Rivera, who was hitting in the number-two spot. 8:13:“8:06 Call it a crazy hunch, but I have a feeling Mariano gets out of this.” YUP. Another harmless groundout. Rivera induced more groundouts than he needed; he just made things interesting by chucking one of them into left field. 8:12: Torii Hunter with a historically pathetic display of plate discipline. Swings at ball three. Now 2-2 instead of 3-1. Grounder to Teixeira…to home, gets the force. Bases loaded, two out, it’s up to Vlad. 8:10: Rivera starts Hunter with a trademark cutter, but inside. He wants the double-play grounder

7:56: Another Angels reliever with a big curve. Bulger whiffs Swisher. 1-2-3 go the Yankees as we head to the bottom of the 10th. 7:53: Bulger strikes out Posada and induces a Cano groundout. Two quick outs for the Yankees. 7:50: Future Hall of Famer (if justice is served) Jorge Posada leads off the 10th for the Yanks. Looking to get on for the fourth time today. 7:47: Morales hits a rope, but right into Teixeira’s glove. here. Kendrick pops out on the first And now ball two on the same pitch… pitch, same location. …and we’re going to extras! Did 8:08: Teixeira with a diving stop you expect anything less than allat first! Mathis holds at third, and out drama in a Jonah Keri there’s one out. baseball live blog? See TigersGood point by Buck and Twins tiebreaker for details. McCarver. Why carry three 7:46: Phil Hughes’ curveball is catchers if you’re not going to illegal right now. Started Rivera pinch-run the speedy Reggie with a hammer that froze him, Willits for Mathis? Willits then threw a beauty for strike two probably scores on the Rivera on Morales. error, and the game’s over. 7:44: Rivera hits a grounder to Instead Abreu’s walked short. To the untrained eye, it intentionally, bases loaded, one might look like a routine play. In out, and Hunter’s a strong double- reality, it underscores Derek play candidate. Jeter’s status as the center of our 8:06: Call it a crazy hunch, but I very universe. have a feeling Mariano gets out of 7:43: Hughes stays in, facing this. Rivera, Morales and the red-hot 8:05: Holy cow! Aybar tries to Howie Kendrick. sacrifice Mathis to third. Rivera 7:41: Fuentes fans Hairston to fields, spins, has time to get complete a 1-2-3 inning. Going to Mathis…and chucks the ball in the bottom of the ninth, tied 4-4. the dirt. Everyone’s safe, first and 7:38: How about an intentional third, nobody out. intentional walk?! This has to be 8:02: I’m a big Phil Hughes fan, the coolest IBB in playoff history. but the Yankees bringing in Thanks to Girardi using Gardner Rivera here is exactly the right t o p i n c h - r u n , w e g e t J e r r y move. Hairston instead of Matsui in this 8:00: Jeff Mathis, one of the spot. Hairston can hit lefties, at worst hitters in all of baseball to least. see significant playing time this 7:36: The always shaky Brian season, smashes a double to left- Fuentes sets down Damon and center to lead off the 10th. You Teixeira to start the ninth. Here can’t make thus stuff up. comes A-Rod. Unintentional

intentional walk here? 7:31: Hughes handles the next two batters and down go the Angels. Going to the ninth, tied at 4. 7:30: Derek Jeter is the Brett Favre of baseball players who cause announcers to make me want to punch myself in the face. 7:28: Give credit to Mark Teixeira for hustling to second base to cover while Cano took the cutoff throw. Well done. 7:25: Bobby Abreu smokes a ball into the gap, rounds second, on his way to third, turns around for no good reason, AND IS OUT AT SECOND BY A MILE TRYING TO GET BACK TO THE BASE! I take back what I said. Ken Rosenthal, you were right. Aura and mystique live. Yankees spread fear and incompetence in the heads of their opponents. 7:21: Jepsen induces a grounder back to the mound to end the inning. 4-4 tie, going to the bottom of the eighth! 7:19: After bouncing two sharp breaking balls, Jepsen comes back with a third to get the big strikeout on Cabrera. Here comes Captain Clutch. Jeter is so named for wrecking the clutch on his ‘75 Pinto as a kid, not for his hitting ability, ironically. 7:16: Cano singles, Swisher walks. Two on, one out, Cabrera up, Jepsen still in there. Re: Angels bullpen…just sayin’. 7:13: Let’s just say this right now: We have no way to know if Posada would’ve unleashed the same violent swing that produced that home run if Gardner were MLB page 50

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MLB continued from page 49 still standing at first base. He may have tried to shoot the ball through the vacated right side of the infield and ended up hitting into a double play instead. 7:11: Jorge Posada, unconcerned by trivial matters like a pinch-runner getting caught stealing, crushes the ball over the center-field wall. We’re tied at 4. WOW. 7:10: The Yankees do send Gardner. And Scioscia sees it coming. Calls the pitchout, and Mathis guns Gardner down. That was fun baseball. 7:09: Girardi uses Gardner as a pinch-runner. Fine. But find a runner’s count and run. Girardi’s decision to pinch-run with Gardner and Guzman in the late innings, then not send them, in the process replacing two big bats and severely hurting the team’s lateinning offense, made no sense at all. 7:07: And right on cue, Jepsen walks Matsui to lead off the eighth. 7:05: This isn’t anything close to the great Angels bullpens of a few years ago, when Percival, KRod, Donnelly and company shut everyone down. I wouldn’t feel safe here if I were an Angels fan. 7:02: Marte, in for Chamberlain, gets Figgins to end the threat. 4-3 Angels heading to the eighth. 6:58: Aybar, having a great game, laces a double down the right-field line for a double on a hanging slider. That’s his third time on base. 6:56: Izturis’ deep fly to right cashes Kendrick. 4-3 Angels. Just like that. 6:53: Howie Kendrick is a man possessed! Follows his icebreaking homer last time up by just missing a homer this time up. Ball bounces off the top of the

wall, Kendrick wheels all the way into third with a triple. And then throws in a Joba-style first pump for good measure. 6:49: Nice running catch by Damon after Rivera ran the count full against Pettitte. Make it 6 1/3 innings for Pettitte, Joba coming in. 6:45: Hopefully we’re done with the playoff choker labels on both A-Rod and Vlad, forever. Two terrific players who never deserved the small-sample-size derision they got. 6:43: Nice pickup by Figgins on a hard grounder gets the force. 3-3 going to the bottom of the seventh. 6:42: 2-0. Yikes. 6:40: Oliver walks Teixeira, setting up a potentially nasty spot with A-Rod coming up. Scioscia brings in the righty Jepsen. 6:36: The oddly resurrected and formerly lousy Darren Oliver strikes out Derek Jeter to start the seventh. Not sure how he became an integral part of a playoff team’s bullpen, but gotta love stories like this. Damon flies out to center. Make it 1 2/3 scoreless for Oliver. 6:31: Vlad’s homer, as McCarver notes, came right after Girardi came out to talk to Pettitte and Posada. That didn’t work very well. Rivera pops out to end the inning. But Vlad’s first homer in more than a month sends us into the seventh tied at 3. 6:29: Vladimir Guerrero is no longer overdue to the nth degree. Bye-bye baseball. We got us a tie ballgame. 3-3. 6:27: Joba Chamberlain warming in the bullpen. Pettitte battling Vlad 1-1 now. 6:26: Whatever overdue to the nth degree looks like numerically,

that’s what Vladimir Guerrero is now. 6:25: Fortunately, Torii Hunter is much more aggressive. Popout on first pitch. Two out. 6:24: Abreu, after working the count to 3-2, rips a single to right. Rick Sutcliffe thinks he should have popped out on the first pitch instead. 6:23: One of my ESPN Radiolistening spies tells me that Rick Sutcliffe regaled listeners with the reason the Yankees let Bobby Abreu (he of the All-Star caliber 2009 season) go after last year. Not the big salary, not the suspect defense, not the desire to get Nady in the lineup. No, it was because he took too many pitches in the #3 spot. Do announcers all get a forced brain-ectomy before they’re allowed on the air? Or are they naturally like this? 6:20: Pettitte induces another groundout, as Figgins drops to 2 for 22 in the playoffs. Meaningless stat long term, painful for the Angels right now. 6:16: Buck and McCarver recalling 2004, the last time the Yankees played in an LCS. Every Yankees fan in the world just threw a shoe at their TV. 6:14: Oliver fans Swisher, two out. Cabrera lines out to third to end the threat. Still 3-1 Yanks. 6:12: Left-hander Oliver, in the game to start the inning, does his best Pettitte impression. Looked like he just picked off Cano, but ump ruled him safe… Replay agrees, just beat the throw. 6:10: With one out, Cano hits a sharp grounder to short off new pitcher Darren Oliver, takes a bad hop and handcuffs Aybar. Should be scored a base hit. 6:05: Nope. Swung, one-hopper to third, end of the inning. 3-1 NY

after five. 6:04: Napoli fans on a high fastball. Aybar, who’s seeing the ball better than most of his teammates, follows by working a 3-0 count. He might take twice here. 6:01: The Angels finally offer a taste of their own medicine — one -out home run by Howie Kendrick on a cut fastball, Angels trim the lead back down to two. 3-1 Yankees. 5:59: Weaver strikes out Matsui to end the inning. Three solo shots by the Yankees against Weaver and his lowest in MLB 0.44 groundball/flyball ratio (thanks to ESPN’s @ericneel on Twitter for that stat) has the Yankees up 3-0 after four and a half. If Scioscia ran Weaver out in Yankee Stadium he might not have made it out of the second inning. 5:56: A-Rod nearly adds another homer to the tally, hitting a ball to the track in left. NY Times Yankees beat writer Tyler Kepner on Twitter (@tylerkepner): “ Yanks have hit 11 home runs this postseason. They’ve given up zero.” Wow. 5:54: Ken Rosenthal: “It’s like aura and mystique have made a comeback. Teams are falling apart at the sight of the Yankees.” Or maybe, you know, the Yankees just have a bunch of good baseball players. Why do talking heads have to make simple talent into metaphysical nonsense? 5:51: There’s your lowest FB/GB rate in MLB and vulnerability vs. lefty sluggers. Damon lines a shot into the rightfield bleachers on a change that didn’t break. 3-0 Yankees. 5:49: Jeter hits the ball hard for

a third time, but right at Abreu for the first out of the fifth. 5:46: Vlad took six pitches in a row en route to a walk. These are not your older brother’s Angels. Patience at the plate, combined with baserunning blunders and a total lack of timely hitting. Rivera, on that note, flies out to left to end the inning. Still 2-0 Yanks. 5:42: And THERE’S your Pettitte pickoff, finally. McCarver has a point about a pickoff being terrible down two with a power threat at the plate. Of course Vlad can’t run anymore and swings at everything too, so the double play was a possibility. Pettitte’s messing with minds at this point. 5:38: Abreu flies out to left, Hunter follows with a one-out single to left. Joe Buck points out this is the fourth straight inning in which the Angels have a hit. Two double plays killed them, though. And Vlad’s a big double-play candidate here too. 5:37: Abreu joins Figgins from last inning in trying to work the count and not let Pettitte set up hitters for a worm-burner. 3-2 count here. 5:33: Terrific running catch by Aybar, with Hunter playing unnecessarily deep (big pet peeve of mine), ends the inning and keeps the Angels within two heading to the bottom of the fourth. 5:31: That camera shot of Weaver’s nerve or ligament or whatever that was popping on every pitch is both extremely cool, and extremely unnerving. Think my future major-leaguer kids will be backup catchers instead. MLB page 51

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MLB continued from page 50 5:29: Weaver throws two straight change-ups. He’s got nice velocity differential going from his fastball to his change, more than 10 mph. Swisher now 2-2. And Weaver comes back with a big curve for the strikeout. Two down. 5:26: Cano with his second forceout in identical situations, first and second, one out. Swisher with a chance to redeem his popout his first time up. 5:24: Jorge Posada, who might well be a hitting cyborg from the future given his amazing batting eye and the lack of skills erosion in his late 30s, smacks a single to right to make it two on, none out for the Yanks. 5:23: Matsui reaches for the second time, walking after the Abomb. 5:20: And after a treatise on Yankees postseason homers (Reggie Jackson, etc.), A-Rod hits a ball halfway to San Diego to give New York a 2-0 lead. Weaver, with a career OPS allowed that’s 126 points higher against lefties, has surrendered homers to the only two righty swingers in the New York lineup. 5:16:…but Figgins pops out to end the inning. The wily veteran Pettitte has the Angels scoreless through three. 5:15: And Aybar steals second on a high-outside pitch! As Buck and McCarver noted, makes all kinds of sense with Figgins up, given Figgins’ lack of extra-base power. 5:13: Figgins is at least making Pettitte work, which is more than most other Angels have been able to say, save for those who’ve attracted 712 pickoff attempts at first. Still a 1-2 count here, two out, Aybar on first. 5:10: Pettitte finally flashes his

A-move to first, missed a pickoff by a hair against a leaning Aybar. The Angels can talk all they want about being aggressive on the bases, but Pettitte’s a neutralizer. 5:08: Another broken bat, but Aybar flips the ball into center for a two-out single. 5:07: Kendrick flies out to center to start the bottom of the third. Mike Napoli, one of my picks to click for the Angels, gets sawed off on a nice inside pitch by Pettitte, pops out to right for the second out. 5:04: Sweeping curve fans Teixeira to end the top of the third. No slugfest this, so far. Nothing across since Jeter’s missile to start the game. 5:03: Weaver throwing more change-ups, and doing so effectively. Damon taps out to second on one for the second out. 5:00: Jeter puts a pretty good charge into the ball again, but flies out to right-center to start the third. 4:55: Groundball bonanza by Pettitte. Morales hits into the easiest double play we’ll see this whole postseason. Angels squander another leadoff hit. 1-0 Yankees after two. 4:54: Throws to first with the speedy Chone Figgins on, with a sizable lead, make plenty of sense. When Juan Rivera standing six inches off the bag, you lost me. 4:52: The lead-footed Juan Rivera just does beat the play at first to avoid a double play on a weak grounder up the middle. Two leadoff singles in two innings so far for the Angels; let’s see where this goes. 4:49: Guerrero with a seeingeye single up the middle to start the second. Lots of talk about

replacing Vlad in the cleanup spot, but Mike Scioscia is loath to make changes once a player earns his trust. It’s a funny paradox: Scioscia has done a good job of incorporating some young players into the lineup over the years (Erick Aybar, Kendry Morales, etc.) and an awful job with others (notably Brandon Wood, and Mike Napoli, who’s a much better player than Jeff Mathis). 4:45: Weaver induces a big inning-ending groundout. The Angels should be able to get to Pettitte eventually with their righty-heavy lineup. They just need Weaver and the defense to keep contact. 1-0 Yankees, heading to bottom of the second. 4:43: Swisher’s flyball not deep enough to score a run. Weaver one out away from escaping, Melky Cabrera up. 4:42: This feels like a Lakers game. Joe Buck just pointed out Pat Sajak, Jack Nicholson (in an ugly purple polo shirt and an uglier red Yankees hat) and Adam Sandler at field level. And Scott Boras. Of course. 4:39: TERRIFIC change-up by Weaver on a fastball count (2-1). Darted low and out of the zone against Cano, who’s a free swinger. That was tremendous. With the count even up, Weaver then induces a force at second on a Cano grounder. First and third, one out, the dangerous Nick Swisher up. 4:37: Posada takes strike two. Bill Miller’s call was the most emphatic strike-two call, nonDutch Rennert division, I’ve ever seen. (I miss Dutch Rennert.) And Posada draws a walk. Two on, none out. This feels like a very, very dangerous inning for Weaver. 4:34: Hanging curve from

Weaver laced into right field for a leadoff single by Matsui. Trouble, with lots of lefty swingers coming up. That’s what makes the Yankees so tough. Can’t let up against the bottom of the order like you can against many teams. 4:31: Our first choice selection from the Twitterverse. From the great Yankees blog@ RiverAveBlues: “Andy Pettitte is going to continue to throw over to first while the Yankees hit in the top of the 2nd.” (You can follow me @JonahKeri by the way) 4:28: Hunter chases a high pitch out of the zone and chops into an inning-ending double play. Forget getting cute on the basepaths — laying off bad pitches and waiting for offerings to drive is how the Angels can win this game. 1-0 NY after one. 4:27: Pettitte throws to first four straight times to keep Figgins close. Bobby Abreu then pops out to first, prompting Joe Buck to point out Abreu is now “0 for TEN” in this series, as if a sample of 10 at-bats means anything. Proclaiming someone a good or bad postseason performer is a pointless exercise, unless it’s someone who’s been to the postseason 10-12 times. 4:24: Terrific sign for the Angels, as Chone Figgins jumps on a breaking ball for a leadoff single. Figgins shook off a postseason slump by reaching base four times in Game 2. If Scioscia wants to go nuts on the basepaths, Figgins is the guy to do it, and it’s easier against Posada than Molina. Keep an eye on Pettitte’s pickoff move, though. 4:21: Liked Weaver’s pitch selection against A-Rod. Gets ahead 0-2 then climbs the ladder

on an eye-high pitch to induce an inning-ending popout. The Jeter HR won’t be the last mistake Weaver makes today. But the Angels have a chance against Pettitte, who’s clearly the weakest of their starters this series. We could see a 7-5 type of game here. 1-0 Yankees, heading to the bottom of the first. 4:18: Weaver settles down, strikes out Damon and gets Teixeira on a shallow flyout to left-center. 4:15: Apparently Jered Weaver’s flyball tendencies could prove costly against righties too. Derek Jeter with an absolute blast to left, on a 2-0 fastball on the inside corner. 1-0 Yankees. 4:10 p.m. ET: Mike Scioscia told the media before the game that the Angels have to “expand our game a little bit.” This could end up being a classic case of a manager scrambling to do something, so he can feel like he earned his keep. In fact, under most game situations, the manager is best off eschewing the kind of small-ball tactics Scioscia’s hinting at. Bunting or strategically giving up outs is usually a bad idea, stealing bases is only advised under optimal situations (success rate should be minimum 70%, and ideally 75% or higher), and trying to take the extra base is all well and good, unless it results in an out on the basepaths, which often proves costly. On the other hand, the Angels are down 0-2 and frankly can’t match the Yankees talent-wise. There’s a certain element of “why the heck not” at work here. Pregame: The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels MLB page 56

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

Baseball teams aren’t supposed to just swap a bunch of prospects for a big-name star and ride said star to the World Series. Baseball is complicated, after all, and one player can only do so much and now, it seems, we maybe have an outlier on our hands. The Philadelphia Phillies sent a package of prospects to Cleveland at the trading deadline for 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee. Lee pitched brilliantly down the stretch and has since announced himself as the defining super-ace of the 2009 postseason. Lee struck out 11 10 in a thoroughly dominant eight-inning showing Sunday night as the Phillies claimed an 11-0 win and a 2-1 series lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Reuters Watching Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia dominate this month probably doesn’t comfort Cleveland fans as LeBron James heads into a contract year. “Cliff Lee spent 43 minutes, give or take a few seconds, on the pitchers mound Sunday night,” Yahoo’s Jeff Passan writes. “TBS spent nearly an hour of the National League Championship Series airing commercials. One was far more entertaining than the other.” In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Andy Martino marvels at how the locked-in Lee “impose[d] his patience on the entire game.” Lee’s brilliance — and the antibrilliance of Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda, who allowed six earned runs and got just four outs — did much to conceal the continuing issues with Philadelphia’s ramshackle bullpen. Both managers in the

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

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

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

Bad. Texas? Worse.” Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel wasn’t impressed with either the ‘Horns or the Gators, who pulled out a 23-20 win over Arkansas on a late field goal. Florida’s uninspired and uninspiring effort led voters to move undefeated Alabama into the top spot in the BCS rankings on Sunday. “Technically speaking, it’s all a formality,” Mandel writes. “All three still control their own BCS destinies, since the two SEC powers would ultimately face one another in a conference-title elimination game should they win their preceding games. The question is, do you still believe Florida and Texas will make it to December undefeated?”* * * Dan Snyder, a forward for the Atlanta Thrashers, was killed in a car accident a little over six years ago. On Sunday, his former teammates visited the small Dan Snyder Memorial Arena in Elmira, Ontario, for an open practice. Teams seldom practice after back-to-back games, but as ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun writes, this was much more emotional than an ordinary practice, both for the Thrashers and the 1,500 mostly young fans who came out to watch them.* * * It’s hard to know what to make of the United Football League, which has quietly kicked off its inaugural season. The league’s progenitors — from the doomed meatheadism of the XFL to the fun-but-bankrupt USFL — don’t suggest much reason for optimism. But the UFL has some big-name coaches to its credit, many semi-notable football names CLIFF page 55

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Lawyer: Cops say arrests near in Jasper Howard's death By Associated Press (ESPN.com)

for his arrest," he said. "I'm not sure if I would say that he was in the wrong place at the wrong Submitted at 10/19/2009 8:19:55 PM time, but I could say that he was Randy Edsall: 'Jasper Loved The not involved in the actual stabbing Game' Randy Edsall: 'Jasper of Mr. Howard." Loved The Game' VIDEO It would be the second arrest PLAYLIST connected to the stabbing, which • Randy Edsall: 'Jasper Loved occurred hours after Howard The Game' Randy Edsall: 'Jasper starred in UConn's homecoming Loved The Game' victory over Louisville. • 'Jasper's Always Going To Be Johnny Hood, 21, of Hartford, In Our Hearts''Jasper's Always was arraigned Monday on charges Going To Be In Our Hearts' of interfering with an officer and • D.J. Hernandez: 'Everyone's breach of peace, but he has not Just Shocked' D.J. Hernandez: been charged in Howard's death. 'Everyone's Just Shocked' Authorities said Hood gave a • UConn Community Mourns f a l s e n a m e w h e n h e w a s H o w a r d ' s D e a t h U C o n n questioned. His bond initially was Community Mourns Howard's set at $100,000, but that was Death reduced Monday to $10,000. STORRS, Conn. -- A Hood's attorney, Justin Bloomfield man will be arrested Freeman, said at the arraignment i n t h e s t a b b i n g d e a t h o f a that his client is a full-time dental University of Connecticut football assistant and a part-time student at player, his lawyer said Monday Capitol Community College, who night, as police continued to sort was "at the wrong place at the out what happened during a fight wrong time," and did not even outside a school-sponsored dance know a homicide had occurred. over the weekend. Deron Freeman, who is Justin Attorney Deron Freeman Freeman's brother, declined to say declined to identify his client, but whether his client knows Hood, says the man and several others but he said there were at least a got into a fight "with about six" h a l f - d o z e n U C o n n f o o t b a l l UConn football players early players with Howard at the time Sunday. Freeman says his client of the stabbing. did not stab Jasper Howard, but Hood was pointed out to police was present when Howard was at the scene by another UConn mortally wounded. player, 19-year-old Brian Parker Freeman said police searched of Sarasota, Fla., who also was his client's home in Bloomfield stabbed but sustained minor a n d r e m o v e d s o m e i t e m s . injuries. The sophomore wide Freeman said police told him that receiver, who is academically his client and others will be ineligible to play this season, was arrested. treated and released from a local "[Police] have indicated to me hospital. that they expect to get a warrant Coach Randy Edsall said two

other players tried in vain to save Howard's life. "One had Jasper in his arms and the other was pressuring where the wound went in and had blood on his hands," Edsall said. "And those two young men are pretty deeply affected right now." Sophomore receiver Kashif Moore said he was the player who held Howard until help arrived. He said he did not think his friend was going to die. "He was like in and out [of consciousness]," Moore said. "I didn't have time to be scared." The state's medical examiner's office said Monday that Howard died from a single stab wound to the abdomen. Howard, a junior and starting cornerback, came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown of Miami. He was the first person in his family to go to college. UConn basketball player Kalana Greene said Monday night that Howard was a good person who wanted to help lift his family out of poverty and away from crime. "He's from Little Haiti in Miami, and he talked about doing everything for his mom and his two little sisters, doing something to make it out," Greene said. "He was talking about how, 'I've got to make it out to help my family out. I don't want my family to live the life that I lived. I don't want my kids to live the life that I lived. I want to make it good for them.'" Center Tina Charles said Howard -- nicknamed Jazz -loved to play pickup basketball with the UConn women's team. "He always made the games

fun," she said. "That smile would get probably any girl, that smile that he had." Howard's death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father, Edsall said. Police declined to provide any additional information about the expectant mother, whom Edsall identified as Howard's girlfriend. Police interviewed dozens of witnesses but had made no other arrests late Monday. "We're pursuing active investigative leads," UConn police Maj. Ron Blicher said. Blicher said Howard was mortally wounded during a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The fight broke out just after a fire alarm went off in a student center, forcing around 300 people to evacuate from a party and dance sponsored by the school's West Indian Awareness Organization. The violence came less than 12 hours after UConn's 38-25 homecoming victory over Louisville. Edsall identified Howard's body at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford Sunday morning. Students gathered for two vigils Monday night. Teammates and friends placed candles and flowers at the spot where Howard was killed, along with a poster that included the words "Live 365" next to pictures of Howard playing football and having fun. Outside the team's football complex, dozens of athletes and other students joined hands as punter Desi Cullen, a team captain led them in prayer. "Value the breath you breathe,"

he told the crowd. "Value every day you wake up." Cullen said it had been a tough day for players, as they met with Howard's parents, who had flown up from Florida. Earlier Monday, the campus coop store sold out of T-shirts styled like jerseys with Howard's No. 6. The team will wear a sticker with Howard's initials on its helmets for the rest of the season and will carry Howard's helmet or jersey to away games, Edsall said. The coach said he doesn't know if the two teammates who helped Howard will play when the Huskies visit Big East foe West Virginia on Saturday. "I'll honor whatever decision they want to make," he said. West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said plans are in the works to honor Howard at the game in Morgantown, W.Va. He said he expected the game would be very emotional for both teams. "The youngsters from our Miami area took it very, very, very hard," he said. "Our guys were quite shaken, as they should be and they really, really liked that young man immensely." Edsall said his team will resume practicing on Tuesday. "It'll be good for us to be getting back on the practice field tomorrow and getting a little bit of what in this tragic situation, back to a little bit of normalcy with what we have to do," he said. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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Pair of Walk-Off Doubles Bring Hope, Agony to L.A. (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:02:57 AM

Los Angeles fans lusting for a Freeway Series are about to hit a roadblock now that the Dodgers are one loss from elimination after Monday’s stomach-churning 5-4 victory by the Philadelphia Phillies. At least the Angels, thanks to a pulsating 11-inning, 54 win over the New York Yankees, seem to be a West Coast team with a pulse. Associated Press Jimmy Rollins has the temerity to mess with the preordained World Series meeting between Joe Torre and the Yankees. The Dodgers stood one out from tying the National League Championship Series at 2-2 when Jimmy Rollins crushed a Jonathan Broxton pitch into right-center to score two runs in Philadelphia’s comeback victory. Just like that the Dodgers are in a 3-1 hole they’ll have a hard time escaping against the defending World Series champs, the team that beat them in last year’s NLCS. “This is worse. Than losing 110. Than last year,” Ramona Shelburne fumes in the Los Angeles Daily News. “Worse, because it seemed like the Dodgers had learned their lessons from last season’s meltdown against the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series. Worse, because it seemed like destiny and luck and fortune had all been smiling on them this time around. Worse, because now you wonder whether this group has come as

far as it can go.” Sports Illustrated’s Ted Keith notes that this postseason has been rough on normally reliable closers, like Broxton Monday night. ESPN’s Jayson Stark delves into the history books to find that it’s extremely rare for a team to turn defeat into victory with two outs in the ninth. Also at ESPN, Gene Wojciechowski says Manny must start being Manny if the Dodgers are to have any hope of winning this series. Yahoo Sports’s Jeff Passan writes that L.A. manager Joe Torre is overrated. And the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Phil Sheridan says this postseason is proving a lot more heart-stopping than last year’s playoff run. While the Dodgers are all but finished, the Angels, playing in front of their fans in Anaheim, showed great resilience in bouncing back from an early 3-0 deficit and winning on Jeff Mathis’s two-out double in the 11th. A win Tuesday night and the Angels will tie the ALCS at 22. Besides inexplicably becoming a doubles hitting machine this postseason, Mathis, the normally light-hitting backup catcher, is stifling Yankee rallies with his arm. “He still knows why hes here. Its the part with the glove and the arm and the ball, the part that keeps you from losing games so you can win them,” the Orange County Register’s Mark Whicker writes. “In the eighth inning Jorge Posada homered off Kevin Jepsen to tie it, 4-4. It would have been 5 -4, Yankees, without Mathis. Two

pitches earlier, Mathis got a 1-1 pitchout sign and threw out Brett Gardner, trying to steal with Posada up.” At CBS Sports, Scott Miller writes that while the Angels still aren’t perfect, they’re gotten past their fielding yips in the Bronx. Newsday’s Wallace Matthews blames manager Joe Girardi for the Yankees loss, most notably for replacing a perfectly effective righty, David Robertson, with another righty, Alfredo Aceves, who surrendered the final hit. Not that Girardi was the one hitting 1-for-15 with men on base, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman writes. The StarLedger’s Steve Politi says that by burning through his best relievers, Girardi is forced to rely on his weakest ones in a game’s pivotal moments.* * * Denver fans (this Fixer included) can be forgiven if they thought the trade of strong-armed Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears for Kyle Orton would doom the Broncos to years of mediocrity. Few expected Orton make fans forget John Elway. But so far this season, Orton has thrown for nine touchdowns and only one interception. And Denver stands 6 -0 thanks to its 34-23 victory over

San Diego on Monday Night Football. Eddie Royal became the first Bronco to return both a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns in the same game. “There might be only one thing you can say more shocking about this NFL season than the Broncos are 6-0. Kyle Orton: Pro Bowl quarterback,” the Denver Post’s Mark Kiszla enthuses. “Try that unlikely statement on for size. Did your tongue go numb? See? The Earth did not stop spinning on its axis. And if you haven’t already forgotten Jay Cutler, maybe it’s time to burn that old No. 6 Broncos jersey at the bottom of your closet.” It’s too early to consider the Broncos Super Bowl contenders, but forget about the 2-3 Chargers even going to the playoffs, the San Diego Union Tribune’s Nick Canepa writes. Sports Illustrated’s Jim Trotter breaks down the Bronco-Charger game.* * * Everyone knows the Washington Redskins are a disaster, especially after their 14-6 loss to Kansas City, another terrible team, on Sunday. On Monday, the Redskins (2-4) took play-calling duties from coach Jim Zorn and handed them to Sherman Lewis, all in hopes of reviving a scoring offense ranked 29th in the NFL. In the Washington Post, Tracee Hamilton says the Redskins should make the coaching change everyone knows is coming. “So fire him already,” she writes. “It’s not like you can’t cover the severance check. And if you’re trying to force him to quit, so you

don’t have to pay the full freight on his remaining contract, then shame on you.”* * * A few hours after Jasper Howard and UConn celebrated their 38-25 victory Saturday over Louisville, the junior cornerback was dead from a stab wound he suffered in a fight outside a school dance. In the Hartford Courant, Jeff Jacobs recounts Howard’s life from the inner city of Miami to what should have been a safe, rural campus.* * * South Africa’s national soccer team is in turmoil less than a year before it plays host to the World Cup. The team’s Brazilian coach, Joel Santana, has resigned after a number of losses has sent the team hurtling down to 85th spot in the FIFA world rankings. Santana had been in his position only 16 months. In an editorial, South Africa’s The Times called the move “ vital if our soccer team is to go into 2010 with some credibility.” The Independent’s Enzo Coppola says South Africa’s football association should shoulder the full blame for the team’s problems. – Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline. 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.

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Washington Redskins have Sherman Lewis calling plays By Associated Press (ESPN.com)

meeting with front office chief Vinny Cerrato at the stadium following Sunday's 14-6 loss to Submitted at 10/19/2009 7:53:01 PM the previously winless Kansas Tough Call For Jim Zorn Tough City Chiefs. The Redskins (2-4) C a l l F o r J i m Z o r n V I D E O are averaging 13.2 points and PLAYLIST have failed to score a touchdown • Tough Call For Jim Zorn in two of their home games. Tough Call For Jim Zorn "The reason I can comply with • Schefter On Zorn: 'He Will Get this is simply because of the lack Fired' Schefter On Zorn: 'He Will of scoring," Zorn said. "I want to Get Fired' win, too. If this has to be done this • Schefter: NFL QB Woes week, if this is going to be the Schefter: NFL QB Woes key, I'm certainly willing to give ASHBURN, Va. -- From calling it a try. Because we're 2-4 and to Bingo to calling plays, Sherman not score in the last few weeks, Lewis is taking over the favorite the way we have not scored, is part of Jim Zorn's job. very frustrating." “ Karabell: Limited Production The seriousness of the decision Fantasy owners generally don't t o d o t h i s i s t h a t w e l o s e care who calls plays, but in the cohesiveness in our team. Now Redskins' case, their many where's the cohesiveness in six problems on offense are a cause points a game? See what I mean? for fantasy concern, Eric Karabell So I'm hoping this is a positive.”-- writes. Blog Jim Zorn Barely a fortnight ago, Lewis With a pained expression, was enjoying retirement in Washington Redskins coach Zorn Michigan, calling Bingo games at announced Monday that the front a senior center and delivering office "strongly suggested" that he Meals on Wheels. He previously yield his play-calling duties to a spent 22 years as an NFL assistant consultant hired only two weeks before retiring after the 2004 ago. While he didn't say he was season. The Redskins lured him given an ultimatum, Zorn said he back into football as a consultant would comply with the request for the struggling offense. "because I want to stay here and And now -- Voila! -- he's the win." play caller. "Sometimes we have to do "This is not an easy thing. ... I things that are uncomfortable," feel for Sherm because he's been Zorn said. here for two weeks," Zorn said. Zorn received the news in a "We're going to give him as much

help as we possibly can to get a spark out of our offense. ... My comfort level is somewhere between one and 10. It's not at 10, but it's something that I'm going to have to grow into." Several players were taken aback by the notion of trusting such a vital role to someone not yet thoroughly familiar with the roster. "I don't think it's an ideal situation," quarterback Todd Collins said. "Generally you have some play callers work with a quarterback for years and years. This is going to be a quick change for us, but it seems like drastic measures are called for when we haven't been playing so well on offense." Receiver Antwaan Randle El called the move to Lewis "a little weird." "Some guys weren't even kind of sure who he was," Randle El said. "But that's just because they didn't get around and try to talk to him. But again it just kind of goes back to shaking things up." Zorn noted that the move has the potential to hurt team chemistry. "The seriousness of the decision to do this is that we lose cohesiveness in our team," Zorn said. "Now where's the cohesiveness in six points a game? See what I mean? So I'm hoping this is a positive." Lewis will sit in the upstairs

coaching box to call the plays, starting with next Monday night's game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Zorn will relay Lewis' calls to the quarterback. Zorn said he'll retain control over big decisions -- such as whether to go on fourth down -- but that he won't veto Lewis' play calls. "I wouldn't do that to Sherm," Zorn said. The Redskins weren't offering much more insight Monday. Cerrato declined comment through a team spokesman. The spokesman also said Lewis was in meetings and unavailable for comment. That left Zorn by himself at the podium, looking like a coach twisting in the wind. If the team continues to struggle, a foreseeable next step would be his dismissal, with one of the defensive assistants taking over as head coach and Lewis handling the offense. Zorn, however, said the season is still salvageable. If nothing else, he should be able to focus more on game management. Wasted timeouts and sloppy twominute drills have become a mainstay during his 22 games in Washington. Zorn is the third consecutive Redskins head coach to relinquish play calling because of a stagnant offense, although he's the first to have it essentially stripped by the front office. Steve Spurrier

Don Hartline and fellow Fixer Garey Ris. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at

dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at droth11@gmail.com.

CLIFF continued from page 52 and novelty in its favor. In the Washington Post, Les Carpenter tells the story of another notable UFL name. Paul Pelosi, owner of the California

Redwoods, is a wildly successful Northern California investor and husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. — Tip of the Fix cap to reader

handed the reins to Hue Jackson for a couple of games in 2003, and Joe Gibbs brought in Al Saunders to run the offense after the 2005 season. For Zorn, the move is a particularly harsh blow because he feels he had a knack for calling plays. The chance to take that role for the first time in the NFL was one reason he relished coming to the Redskins in the first place. "I'm sure he's not happy with it," Collins said. "He came here and he wanted to call the plays, and now it's taken away from him." Zorn said he had to do a "soul search" Sunday night before saying yes to Cerrato. Changing the play caller certainly wasn't at the top of his to-do list for the week. "I have confidence in my play calls," Zorn said. Zorn at least still gets to decide who is playing quarterback. He said he hasn't decided whether to go with Jason Campbell or Collins against the Eagles. Collins led two drives that ended in field goals for the Redskins' only points against the Chiefs after Campbell was benched at halftime. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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The Count: Productive Outs Aren’t All That Productive (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

doesn’t count against the batter as an out, nor does a fly ball that Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:42:35 PM allows a runner to tag up from Baseball fans in Washington and third base and score. But other Baltimore could applaud the outs with silver linings — such as brainy, heads-up baseball their grounders and fly balls that teams played this past season. The advance runners as well as bunts, Nationals and Orioles were the or groundouts that drive in runs only two teams to rank in the top — look as bad for a player’s 10 in both making their outs batting average as a strikeout or productive ones and in preventing double play. ESPN’s Buster such outs. And they ranked No. 1 Olney noted in 2004 that the and 2 in the productive-out gap, Tigers emphasized such outs, and defined as their own productive- accompanying his article was a out percentage and their ranking of MLB teams by opponents. Getty Images Andre productive out percentage. Today Ethier’s single in Game One for that’s a fixture of ESPN.com’s t h e D o d g e r s w a s f a r m o r e baseball stats, defined as follows: meaningful than his runner- The total number of productive advancing ground out in Game outs divided by the total number Three. of outs made when productive Unfortunately for their fans, the outs are possible. Productive outs two teams also placed in the either advance a runner with no bottom half of the majors in runs outs, score a runner with one out scored and finished with two of or result from a sacrifice by a t h e t h r e e w o r s t r e c o r d s . (presumably weak-hitting) pitcher (Pittsburgh finished between with one out. them, with the second-worst But the difference between record overall.) That’s because productive outs and unproductive productive outs are at best barely ones is small, and such outs are p r o d u c t i v e a n d a t w o r s e unlikely to compensate for other counterproductive. hitting deficiencies. Consider the Productive outs have long Phillies’ 11-0 pasting of the enjoyed some recognition in the Dodgers Sunday. The Phillies had b o x s c o r e . A b u n t t h a t three productive outs. Two were successfully advances a runner followed later in the inning by

series, it “disgusted” Steven Goldman, who launched a rant on Pinstriped Bible. He pointed out that the runs a team can expect to score in an inning are almost always lower after a productive out than they were before. (That’s based on averages over all scenarios. With a weak hitter at extra-base hits that rendered those the plate that might not always be outs meaningless; the third scored the case.) “Scoring is the result of a run. And the Dodgers had one reaching base and making extraproductive out, moving a runner base hits, not making outs,” from first to second, where he was Goldman wrote. “We used the popular baseball stranded. The Phillies had twice as many extra-base hits as the term ‘productive outs’ once Dodgers had any hits — all during our 13 division series singles — and that mattered a games,” a TBS spokesman said in whole lot more than the edge in response. An ESPN spokesman, asked about the site’s tracking of productive outs. During the regular season, the the stat, said, “We present Nats had 12 more productive outs Productive Out stats along with per 100 out opportunities than the the many other stats that we Red Sox did. Boston, however, present on ESPN.com. We think had five more total bases per 100 they have value as one piece of at bats, and outscored the Nats by the larger picture when analyzing a whole run per game (partly due the game, and we appreciate that to the designated hitter, but also fans’ opinions of any individual because of higher quality analytical measure will be different from person to person. throughout the lineup). Baseball stats analysts have Our goal is to provide a wide pointed this out before. When range of thought-provoking TBS flashed a list of productive analytics, informed opinions and o u t s d u r i n g t h e n e t w o r k ’ s diverse perspectives to fans.” broadcast of the Yankees-Twins

MediaDailyNews: McCann MIA Specializes in Latin American Market (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:01:16 AM

McCann Worldgroup is launching a new Miami-based business unit, McCann MIA, which specializes in the Latin American market. McCann, recognizing the importance of the Latin American region, is catering to clients that conduct business there. The agency has been operating in the region for more than 60 years and is familiar with local markets. Luca Lindner is Latin American and Caribbean regional director for McCann Worldgroup. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

MLB continued from page 51 of Anaheim renew acquaintances today at Angel Stadium with the Yanks leading the best-of-seven series 2-0. The Halos had a golden opportunity to tie the series and wrest home-field advantage from New York on Saturday night. But a boneheaded throwing error by Maicer Izturis in the 13th inning allowed

MediaDailyNews: TV Guide, Young Hollywood Sites Collaborate On Content (MediaPost | Media News)

Under the agreement, Young Hollywood will create weekly video segments that will air on T V G u i d e . c o m a n d TVGuide.com, providing an Y o u n g H o l l y w o o d . c o m a r e inside look at the lives of stars. In collaborating on productions. addition, all celebrity profiles Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:26:23 AM

f e a t u r e d o n YoungHollywood.com will now highlight program listings powered by TVGuide.com. TVGuide.com will syndicate its original editorial content to

YoungHollywood.com. This is the first time a third party has created original content for TVGuide.com, which reaches 20 million unique users per month. This content has passed through

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MLB continued from page 56 Jerry Hairston to race in with the winning run in a 4-3 Bombers victory. The Angels will hope for a carbon copy of Saturday’s pitching performance by Joe Saunders, the crafty lefty who limited New York to two runs over seven innings. Right-hander Jered Weaver, L.A.’s Game 3 starter, could prove to be an easier target for the Yankees, though. Despite Weaver’s dominance in the LDS against Boston and his impressive regular season effort (16-8, 3.75 ERA, 4.04 FIP), Weaver’s a flyball pitcher who’s allowed a fat .775 OPS against lefty hitters in his career (vs. just .649 vs. RH). Even away from Yankee Stadium’s notorious short right-field porch, the likes of

Posada, Damon, Cano, Swisher, Matsui, Teixeira and Cabrera could present major problems for Weaver from the left side. Meanwhile, veteran lefty Andy Pettitte answered concerns about his health with his 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in his first-round start against the Twins. On the plus side for L.A., the Angels hit a solid .286 AVG/.342 OBP/.446 SLG vs. lefty pitchers this season and feature lefty killers like Torii Hunter (.978 OPS vs. LH in 2009), Mike Napoli (1.023 OPS vs. LH) and Juan Rivera (1.030 vs. LH). We’ll have more on some of the key matchups as the game progresses.

Starting 11: When a Wedding Causes a Football Separation By Clay Travis (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/20/2009 5:00:00 AM

by Clay Travis Filed under: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Fans, General CFB Insanity On Saturday, I didn't see a single snap of a single college football game. Not one. This has never happened before in my life. Instead I was an usher at my friend's wedding in Atlanta. This means that this week's ClayNation Starting 11 is going to be a primer on my day in a fall wedding. The wedding featured a bride who had graduated from Auburn and a groom who had graduated from Kentucky. Are the alarm bells going off yet? The two teams played Saturday night. Seven of the 11 groomsmen and ushers graduated from Kentucky, all of the bridesmaids went to

Beatles: Rock Band bests Guitar Hero 5 in U.S. Sept. sales By James Ransom-Wiley (Joystiq) Auburn. The result was a near riot. But that comes in the future. First, the beginning. Starting 11: When a Wedding Causes a Football Separation originally appeared on Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:30:00 PM

The Beatles: Rock Band's initial U.S. tour at retail has proven boast-worthy for its promoters. Following two promising platform appearances in NPD's top 10 software sales chart for September, MTV Games and Harmonix have declared B:RB"the top selling music video

D&D rolls with the changes, ported to Microsoft Surface By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

Surface, which attempts to recreate the D&D experience on an outrageously large touch By the time your average screen. As the Surface currently Dungeons and Dragons player has costs $12,500, the lifetime savings failed his third death save and would be abundant. gone off to that great dungeon in Sure, there's a few kinks to the sky, he or she's spent nearly work out -- the dice roll a little $800,000 on miniatures and slow for our tastes, though this various-sided dice. (Trust us, it w o u l d m a k e s a v i n g t h r o w s adds up.) Keeping that number in infinitely more dramatic. There's mind, we'd like to turn your also the small matter of how attention to an alternative to introducing this technology into t a n g i b l e t a b l e t o p g a m i n g : the game might diminish the Surfacescapes, an in-development whole "role-playing" element. If application for the Microsoft used just for combat encounters, it Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:05:00 AM

could be a powerful streamlining tool. For everything else, it would need to be fitted with an Imagination Manifestation Drive[TM], and those don't exist

yet. Check out a demo of Surfacescape's proof of concept in the video after the jump. [Via Engadget]

Continue reading D&D rolls with the changes, ported to Microsoft Surface D&D rolls with the changes, ported to Microsoft Surface originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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BEATLES: continued from page 57 game in the U.S. for September." The Beatles-only game (released September 9) outsold Guitar Hero 5(released September 1) with 595,000 units to 499,000 units in total U.S. sales for the month, according to IndustryGamers. Additionally, charity-driven purchases of the "All You Need Is Love" DLC track exceeded 100,000 downloads on Xbox 360 in September. The makers of B:RB have also rubbed in a few seemingly noteworthy facts; namely, (1) U.S. purchases of GH5 in September were eligible for a free mail-away copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen, and (2) GH5 is available on one additional platform, PS2. Of course, Van

Halen isn't exactly the American equivalent of The Beatles, and the PS2 is no longer the dominant platform to stage one's acts upon. Still, despite the staggering odds stacked against its success, B:RB managed to capture the mindshare of U.S. gamers. (And we all know that Americans like to speak their minds with their monies.) The sales defeat must feel good for MTV Games and Harmonix -- what with B:RB being burned in the sales competition with GH5 by the kingdom that birthed the band (see: Chart-Track UK September sales rankings posted after the break). What was it? Right: Guitar Hero 5 supposedly outsold The Beatles: Rock Band" 2-to-1 in the

UK." So, score a victory for B:RB in the battle of the bands fought in U.S. retail last month. But let's not forget there's a bigger, "World War of Rock" being waged, as well. And our wallets are the oftunreported collateral damage. Continue reading Beatles: Rock Band bests Guitar Hero 5 in U.S. Sept. sales Beatles: Rock Band bests Guitar Hero 5 in U.S. Sept. sales originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Miyamoto: Wii successor will likely feature motion controls in 'more compact' form By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/20/2009 11:40:00 AM

It sounds like Nintendo's plans for the next console are going to continue largely in the direction they've always been going (you know, the one that has resulted in millions of dollars). Shigeru Miyamoto told Popular Mechanics that, despite not having a solid plan yet for upcoming hardware, motion controls are likely to stick around. "With both the Wii remote itself and Wii MotionPlus, what we've been able to do is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right price for

a broad audience," Miyamoto said."And while we don't have any concrete plans for what we'll be doing with hardware in the future, what I can say is that, my guess is that because we found this interface to be so interesting,

I think it would be likely that we would try to make that same functionality perhaps more compact and perhaps even more cost-efficient." This could result in a single unit that combines the base Wiimote

to look less and less likely that the Wii 2 will be just like its competitors, but with Mario games on it. In much more important news, Miyamoto said that he'd never heard of The Wizard. Bill Trinen's got a night of translating horrible Fred Savage dialogue ahead of him! Miyamoto: Wii successor will functionality with the extra likely feature motion controls in accelerometer of the MotionPlus, 'more compact' form originally which makes sense. Or, more appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 excitingly, Miyamoto could be Oct 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please talking about the system being see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| more "compact" and "costefficient." Either way, it's starting Comments

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World of Goo birthday sale deemed 'huge success' By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)

up by 40 percent from the previous week, at $20 a pop. WiiWare sales increased by nine Submitted at 10/20/2009 12:00:00 PM percent, but the devs aren't sure if 2D Boy seems quite satisfied that was just normal fluctuation. with the results of its " pay what 2D Boy also put up a survey y o u w a n t " W o r l d o f G o o asking why customers decided on experiment. In celebration of the amount they paid. The top Goo's first birthday, developer 2D answer, at 22.7 percent, was Boy allowed people to determine "That's All I can Afford Right the game's price at checkout. The Now." We seriously hope those result: 57,000 sales at an average weren't the penny payers, because price of $2.03. Although a that's just tragic (even in a significant number took the game recession). A close second, at 22.1 at one penny (really, people?!), percent, were people who wanted the developer's graph of purchases to support the pay-what-you-want reveals that almost as many model. bought the game for $1. There World of Goo birthday sale were also sales spikes at $5 and deemed 'huge success' originally $10. appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 W h a t ' s p r o b a b l y m o s t Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please interesting is that while this see our terms for use of feeds. experiment was going on at 2D Read| Permalink| Email this| Boy's site, sales on Valve's digital Comments distribution service, Steam, went

Fans campaigning for President Cat By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/20/2009 10:35:00 AM

Against all odds, a completely random Japanese Wii game starring a cat blogger has become a hot topic among some fans. Sukeban Shachou Rena Wii, published by Jorudan, stars a cat named Rena, from a popular Japanese blog, as the CEO of Cat Queen Inc. You play as a cat going through the initiation into the company, performing various minigames to earn Rena's respect. The Orange Lounge Radio podcast discovered the game, which they have dubbed President Cat, then began Tweeting the Wii game's official account. Fans started sending messages of encouragement and support to the #presidentcat hashtag, and the Rena account has started

responding in both Japanese and English, revealing that the publisher is excited and a little confused about all this sudden attention. It would be hilarious if this grassroots movement resulted in the localization of a weird licensed game. However, it would also be pretty sad if the publisher turned out to lose money on it. It's definitely something we want to play, but we're not exactly representative of the mainstream audience. [Thanks, act_def] Fans campaigning for President Cat originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Emily Thompson's Stunning Floral Designs By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/19/2009 12:17:31 PM

Last Sunday, the plants that event designer Emily Thompson uses to create stunningly original arrangements seemed to be reaching out of her Brooklyn studio, inviting passersby to stop and smell the flowers…and maybe have some wine and cheese, too. Thompson threw a party to show off her redesigned studio and to introduce neighbors to her floral work. Planters on the stairway overflowed with herbs and thunbergia vines; a garland of privet and pinecones fluttered in the breeze; and a wreath draped on the sign that read “FLOWERS” looked like it had been dropped by a low-flying sparrow. The effect echoed the EMILY page 60

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EMILY continued from page 59 concept of a wedding Thompson designed last year: a Berkshires banquet thrown by woodland creatures, with tables strewn with foraged twigs, acorns, feathers and wild berries. Thompson is known for organically beautiful floral designs that look natural and wild yet artfully composed, like some unseen mythical hand had styled them. When creating the décor for weddings, she mixes colors, textures, and historical sensibilities. “I’m inspired by the ancient Romans and classicism, but also by kitsch and camp…and interiors through the ages.” Bucking the trend of supersaturated blooms that overwhelm the senses, Thompson prefers a smart, selective use of color. “Flowers should be used singularly so each one is given respect. I like to let the flowers breathe, to look like they’re nestled in the shrub or bramble they grew in.” Instead of bright bunches of petals, Thompson’s arrangements incorporate green leaves in different shapes and

shades, pieces of fruit, exotic yet understated flowers and other natural delights. The brides she works with tend to prefer pretty, loose assemblages of blooms and stems over tightly-packed nosegays. These women are more feminine than girly; they’re also more likely to take risks. For a Cape Cod beach wedding, Thompson convinced the bride to carry a ten-and-a-half foot bouquet of orchids, beach roses and lots of ferns. The groom later wore the tail of the bouquet like a botanical boa. Thompson started her business in 2006, after helping her siblings’ plan their weddings. She grew up gardening with her mom in northern Vermont, and aside from a one-month stint in a flower shop, her skill with flowers is mostly self-taught. But Thompson brings something fresh to the art of floral arrangement: a sense of form and texture that comes from being a sculptor. Thompson has an MFA from UCLA, and exhibits her ceramic, wax and multimedia pieces internationally.

When asked how her training and talents as a sculptor influence her work with flowers, she explains, “I think I’m more conscious of the contexts we create around ourselves. I like to create both a still-life and a landscape with my flowers, to play off of different types of interiors, and tie the flowers in to the history of the location. I want them to integrate into the space and the event.” Like Thompson’s floral pieces, her transition to event design seemed to happen organically. “I love to cook, and most of my artwork uses themes of display and entertaining. So it’s been natural for me to move to designing other people’s events and creating visual backdrops for them.” At the launch party, guests and other artists mingled among the gigantic arrangements she creates for homes, offices, restaurants and events. These included a vintage urn on a 150-pound concrete pedestal filled with magnolias and mimosas, palm leaves, Australian flannel flowers, and small pears.

Mika’s United Palace Show Was Golden By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/19/2009 2:40:01 PM

The United Palace, an ornate edifice from the 1930s in NYC’s Washington Heights, proved the perfect venue for British pop star Mika’s theatrical stylings; Friday night’s sold-out show involved marionettes and a giant teapot among other whimsical props. The affair began with a televised cameo from Sir Ian McKellen in a newscast about a space launch gone awry. Then Mika paid

homage to Ziggy Stardust, emerging in spaceman regalia before performing a seamless set of material from his 2007 debut album Life in Cartoon Motion and

recent release The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Standout tracks were the cheeky “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” (enhanced by fullfigured background dancers), the

The piece was an asymmetrical eight feet wide and nearly nine feet tall, but seemed natural and balanced, as if it had taken root in the recently refinished wood floor and slowly spread, leaf by leaf, from its core. The studio door will be open to the public on weekend afternoons this fall. When Thompson is not out putting final touches on winter weddings and holiday parties, she’ll be there to point out the unusual plants (Japanese wire vine, nicotania) in her arrangements. She’s also selling a limited selection of cut flowers, like forced bulbs of snowdrops and lily of the valley, lady slippers in vintage humidors, and tree posies wrapped in handprinted paper by the collage artist Melissa Barrett. New York brides -to-be, party-planners and flowerlovers in general should stop by; o u t - o f - t o w n e r s c a n a d m i r e By ELLE.com (ELLE News Emily’s work a t Blog) e m i l y t h o m p s o n f l o w e r s . c o m . Submitted at 10/19/2009 11:34:52 AM —Corrie Pikul, Associate Articles Editor You know what our editors loved from this season's runways, but do you ever wonder what buyers are thinking when they see clothes coming down the falsetto-drenched “Love Today,” catwalk? Erin Mullaney, Buying and buoyant anthem “We Are Director at Browns, shares her Golden.” Band members were insight as to what makes the b e d e c k e d i n c a n d y - c o l o r e d buyer's perspective different from costumes for the encore, which an editor's when looking at high included “Grace Kelly,” the pop fashion. "It's important to remember as a confection that launched him to international stardom two years buyer that, although press and ago, and “Lollipop,” during which editorial help to sell clothes and oversize balloons were unleashed give credibility to trends, a piece on the audience. It was hard not to has to be wearable and good value smile for the rest of the weekend. for the money in order for a customer to want to buy into that —Erin Clements look or trend," she said. "Being a Photo: Retna Follow ELLE on Twitter. BROWNS' page 61

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BROWNS' continued from page 60 buyer is a real balancing act as you have to make sure you are picking up the most exciting new brands at the right time, not too early or too late, or they won’t sell." Erin also has to know which brands will suit which customer. For example, brands like Lanvin, Dior, Jason Wu, and Burberry Prorsum are great for ladylike cocktail dresses with exceptional tailoring, catering to Browns' more sophisticated client, while lines like Alexander Wang, Acne, Mark Fast, and Holly Fulton are great for their younger, more contemporary customer. Then you have brands like Ann Demeulemeester, Junya Watanabe, Rick Owens, Balenciaga and Gareth Pugh, which suit the more avant-garde customer with a very strong personal style, a customer who remains loyal to these designers season after season.

"Each of our designers has to provide something unique and interesting and must serve a different purpose in our store," Mullaney enthused. "Which is why it is so crucial to think of the collections from an overall, strategic point of view. It’s also the most challenging yet most interesting part of my job!" Want to know what Mullaney is looking at right now ? Jump ahead and see what she thinks will satiate the sartorial desires of the ever-discerning Browns client. —Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin Mark Fast: look 24 – long sleeve ‘spiderweb’ knit dress with leather appliqué skirt Gareth Pugh look 28 – dramatic long evening gown in stripes. This was one of the most iconic and memorable looks of Paris fashion week for me! Lanvin look 43 - silk oneshoulder draped jumpsuit in navy and pointy leather shoes with

ankle chains in black Ann Demeulemeester Look 19 – sequin waistcoat in white, wide leather obi belt in black and black leather buckle boots Balenciaga look 19 – drape effect printed dress with leather overlay and belt Balmain look 1 – washed cotton military coat in khaki with tails and chainmail shoulders Burberry Prorsum look 20 – beige sleeveless knit dress with knot detail and belt and beige leather platform knot shoes Christopher Kane look 11 – navy and white gingham long sleeve dress with square neck Hussein Chalayan look 15 – offthe-shoulder striped jersey dress with belt Meadham Kirchoff look 7 – sheer nude polka-dot slip dress Jason Wu look 7 – tweed short playsuit in blue Photos: Imaxtree

Associate of balloon boy's father questioned (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

"obsessed" with trying to land a TV show and become famous. "Heene believes the world is FORT COLLINS, Colo. – An going to end in 2012," she said. i n v e s t i g a t i o n i n t o p o s s i b l e "Because of that, he wanted to criminal charges for a Colorado make money quickly, become rich couple who told authorities their enough to build a bunker or son floated off in a balloon shaped something underground, where he like a flying saucer has spread to c a n b e s a f e f r o m t h e s u n those who worked with them. exploding." Robert Thomas told sheriff's Thomas told the "Today" show investigators about what he on NBC on Tuesday that he had observed between amateur storm nothing to do with the hoax and chasers Richard and Mayumi didn't know about the balloon Heene when he helped record the being launched until he saw it on husband's ideas earlier this year, television. Asked whether he said Thomas' attorney, Linda Lee. should be profiting by selling his Thomas earlier sold his story to story, Thomas, who described the Web site Gawker.com. Lee said Richard Heene was Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:07:19 AM

Honduras crisis talks stall again (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

presidency ahead of November's elections. Mr Zelaya, who slipped back Submitted at 10/20/2009 2:02:42 AM into Honduras in September, is The latest talks on the political insisting he be allowed to serve crisis in Honduras have stalled out his remaining weeks in office with both sides still at odds over before the presidential election on the fate of ousted President 29 November. Manuel Zelaya. The interim government has A spokesman for Mr Zelaya, proposed that the country's who was exiled in June, said the Supreme Court and Congress interim government's proposals should submit official proposals were insulting. to the negotiating commission on Interim leader Roberto M r Z e l a y a ' s p o s s i b l e Micheletti accused Mr Zelaya's r e i n s t a t e m e n t . side of promoting "an agenda of The Supreme Court was the insurrection". body that ordered Mr Zelaya to be The stumbling block is whether removed from office in June, Mr Zelaya can return to the arguing that he had violated the

constitution. Congress overwhelmingly backed this. Curbs lifted Negotiator Victor Meza, speaking for Mr Zelaya, said the interim government was obstructing progress. "We're not going to meet again until we have a constructive and serious proposal [from Micheletti]," Mr Meza said. Talks, while not broken off, were stalled, he said. Meanwhile, the interim government has now lifted an emergency decree that had curbed civil liberties, although it continued to accuse Mr Zelaya of trying to destabilise Honduras.

"Unfortunately, in recent days, ex-President Zelaya and his followers have promoted an agenda of insurrection in the country," a statement from the interim authorities said. A pro-Zelaya television channel and radio station, which had their offices closed and equipment confiscated, went back on air on Monday after the measures were officially rescinded. Mr Zelaya was sent into exile on 28 June after trying to hold a vote on whether a constituent assembly should be set up to look at rewriting the constitution. The vote was deemed in violation of the constitution by the

Supreme Court. Mr Zelaya's opponents accused him of trying to lift the current ban on presidential re-election to remain in office - a charge he has repeatedly denied. Some commentators point out that a new constitution allowing presidential re-election was unlikely to have been ready before January 2010, when Mr Zelaya's term was due to end. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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College tuition rising sharply this fall (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:03:49 AM

Average tuition prices rose sharply again this fall as colleges passed much of the burden of their own financial problems on to recession-battered students and parents. Average tuition at four-year public colleges rose 6.5 percent, or $429, to $7,020 this fall, according to the College Board's annual "Trends in College Pricing" report, released Tuesday. At private colleges, the average list price for a year of coursework rose 4.4 percent to $26,273. Those figures hide wide variations — public college students in California, Florida, New York and Washington have seen double-digit percentage increases, while the University of Maryland used federal stimulus funds to freeze tuition this year. More importantly, the estimated net price — what the average student actually pays after accounting for financial aid — was much lower, at about $1,620 at public four-year colleges, and under $12,000 at private ones. Both figures are higher than last year but still lower than five years ago, thanks to recent increases in financial aid both from the government and from colleges themselves. The figures do not include room, board and other living expenses.

Still, this year's increases were bad news for students who pay full price, and confirm that despite cost-cutting on everything from faculty to cafeterias and sports travel, higher education once again failed to keep its own price increases anywhere near the overall inflation rate. In fact, during the period covered by the College Board report, consumer prices declined by 2.1 percent. So accounting for inflation, the latest increase at public colleges felt closer to a 9percent jump. "Every sector of the American economy is under stress and higher education is no exception," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. "It's regrettable, and it's yet another piece of disappointing economic news that affects families." Hartle said the report showed some good news: a companion report on financial aid documented substantial increases in aid, especially from the government, that ease the price increases for low-income students. And community colleges, home to about 40 percent of college students, remain essentially free to the average student after factoring in financial aid. The reports come as many colleges face their most challenging economic climate in

memory. On the public side, state appropriations to public colleges declined nearly $4 billion in 2008 -2009 from the previous year, even as enrollment grew, and state dollars are falling further this year. Private colleges had fewer students who could afford to pay full freight, forcing schools to offer more financial aid even as their endowments fell by record amounts in the stock market crash. Worst hit is California, whose giant public university and community college systems educate about one in six American college students. Facing unprecedented state funding cuts, public colleges have boosted fees, raised class sizes, furloughed faculty and turned away students. On top of the current year's 9percent fee increase, the University of California system is considering increases of more than 30 percent by next year. The reports also offer a glimpse of what has become a significant expansion of the federal government's role in trying to help students pay for college. In 2008-2009, 65 percent of the $180 billion spent on higher education expenses came via the federal government in the form of grants, loans and work-study programs, up from 58 percent the year before. Overall, the report estimated federal grant aid rose

almost 11 percent last year. That trend will likely continue because the maximum Pell Grant— the government's main college aid program for low-income students — rose by over $600 this year to $5,350. Students also borrowed more to pay for college — but much more from the government and much less from nonfederal lenders such as banks. Estimated private borrowing collapsed from around $24 billion in 2007-2008 to under $12 billion last year, the aid report estimates. That sharp decrease came after years of rapid expansion in student borrowing from the private sector— a trend that worried some experts because private loans generally have higher interest rates and fewer borrower protections than federal ones. But a range of factors have quickly turned the tide: students can get larger Pell Grants and borrow more from the government, and private lenders have become much more selective in making student loans. On average, about two-thirds of bachelor's degree recipients borrow money, and their median debt is about $20,000 by graduation. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

ASSOCIATE continued from page 61 himself as an entrepreneur and a college student, said he was told that people sell their stories to the media and that he was paid "way less than most people think." Larimer County investigators have been poring over e-mails, phone records and financial documents from the Heene home as they ponder charges against the Heenes. The Federal Aviation Administration has opened its own investigation into the balloon flight, spokesman Mike Fergus said Tuesday. He said the inquiry began either Friday or Monday, but he didn't know how long it would take. Fergus said the FAA investigates only civil allegations, rather than criminal ones. He declined to provide details. The balloon landed near Denver International Airport, and some flights had to be changed to a different runway for 20 minutes. The sheriff's office said its findings will be forwarded to prosecutors next week to decide if the Heenes should be charged with falsely reporting that their 6year-old son, Falcon, had drifted away in a large home-built helium balloon to drum up publicity for a reality TV show. The investigation could reach beyond the Heenes. Sheriff Jim Alderden said documents show that a media outlet had agreed to pay the Heenes. However, it was unclear if the outlet was a conspirator. Alderden didn't name the organization. The Heenes apparently wanted to star in a reality show focusing on a range of bizarre experiments, such as trying to attract UFOs ASSOCIATE page 63

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ASSOCIATE continued from page 62 with a weather balloon. Thomas worked with Richard Heene on the idea for the show from March until May. Sheriff's officials interviewed Thomas on Sunday, after he revealed that Heene had been planning a media stunt to promote the show, Lee said. Thomas' notes include Richard Heene discussing a hoax that involved a balloon, Lee said. "Pretty much he wanted to recreate this Roswell effect making it seem like there's a UFO," she said, adding that Thomas opposed the idea. Lee said investigators told her Thomas would not face charges, but she was seeking immunity for him "just to be safe." Thomas has said he had no idea that a possible hoax would involve the Heene children. Richard Heene's attorney, David Lane, declined to say directly whether he believes the incident was a hoax but said the Heenes are innocent until proven guilty. The Heenes didn't comment Monday. If prosecutors "can prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt,

that's one thing," Lane told The Associated Press. "If they can't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, that's another." Mayumi Heene's lawyer, Lee Christian, declined to comment on whether the couple still maintains they thought their son was in the balloon before he emerged at home and told reporters he'd been hiding in the garage. Alderden said the children were still with the parents and that child protective services had been contacted to investigate their wellbeing. Alderden said charges he is seeking against the Heenes include conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities, and attempting to influence a public servant. The most serious charges are felonies and carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Alderden said authorities also would be seeking restitution, though he didn't have an estimate. It's unknown who else may have been working with Heene to launch the reality show. Heene has a profile listed on a

Web site that helps people get cast in reality shows, and the site said he last logged on in late September â&#x20AC;&#x201D; around the time investigators said the hoax was taking root. The site lists his occupation as a research scientist and general contractor with a high school education. The Heenes twice appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap," including a March episode in which they discuss their approach to parenting and talk about their belief that they're the descendants of aliens. The producer of "Wife Swap" had a show in development with the Heenes but said the deal is now off. The TLC cable network also said Heene had pitched a reality show months ago, but it passed on the offer. ___ Associated Press writers Dan Elliott and Colleen Slevin in Denver and Greg Risling in Los Angeles contributed to this report. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:20:50 AM

Howard Barton Unruh, who shot and killed 13 people as he walked the streets of New Jersey 60 years ago, has died at the age of 88. Diagnosed as mentally ill, he never stood trial. He is widely regarded by many as the first single-episode mass murderer in the United States. Unruh, who was confined in a

state psychiatric hospital after the rampage, died on Monday after a long illness. Unruh had planned whom he was going to shoot for up to a year beforehand. Howard Unruh, who was 28 years old at the time of the massacre on the morning of 6 September 1949, openly confessed. Although judged mentally competent he never stood trial, after being diagnosed as a

SC Republican chairmen apologize for Jewish remark (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

"truly in admiration for a method of bettering one's lot in life" and he meant nothing derogatory. COLUMBIA, S.C. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Two Added Merwin, the Bamberg Republican county officials in County chair: "I have always South Carolina have apologized abhorred in the past, and shall after they disparaged Jews in a continue to do so in the future, newspaper op-ed in support of a a n t i - S e m i t i s m i n a n y f o r m fiscally conservative U.S. senator. whatsoever. I ... beg that any and The chairmen, Edwin Merwin all who were offended will accept Jr. and Jim Ulmer, wrote the my deep felt apology." newspaper in backing Republican State GOP Chairwoman Karen Sen. Jim DeMint's opposition to F l o y d c a l l e d t h e c o m m e n t congressional earmarks. absolutely unacceptable, but said "There is a saying that the Jews the apologies should end the who are wealthy got that way not matter. by watching dollars, but instead The executive director of the by taking care of the pennies and Washington-based Republican the dollars taking care of Jewish Coalition said the themselves," according to the c h a i r m e n s h o u l d e d u c a t e piece published Sunday in The themselves about the history of T i m e s a n d D e m o c r a t o f the statement. Orangeburg. They "apparently believed that DeMint called the comment the image of the Jew as pennythoughtless and hurtful Tuesday, pincher was a praise of Jewish and one of South Carolina's two frugality," Matthew Brooks said. Jewish legislators, Democratic "In fact, it dates back to the state Sen. Joel Lourie, said he was c e n t u r i e s o f a n t i - J e w i s h outraged. He called on the persecution in Europe, when Jews chairmen to be removed. were forbidden to own land or "The words of these key conduct any business other than paranoid schizophrenic. Republican leaders are disgusting, money-lending, which was closed Murder journal H e w a s c a t e g o r i s e d a s unconscionable and represent to Christians by Church law. It is criminally insane, becoming prejudice in its purest form," said an image of a kind and of a time Lourie, D-Columbia. with forcing Jews to wear a badge immune from prosecution. Neither chairmen returned on their clothing or enclosing In total Unruh killed five men, five women as well as three telephone messages from The them in ghettos, cutting them off young children in New Jersey's A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s , b u t t h e y f r o m r e l i g i o u s , s o c i a l , a n d released statements through the e c o n o m i c f r e e d o m . " Camden area. This content has passed through An honourably discharged state GOP. Ulmer, the Orangeburg County fivefilters.org. World War II combat veteran and pharmacy student, he had kept a chairman, said the remark was

US' first mass killer dies at 88 (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

US' page 64

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Nicaragua court backs re-election (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

divisive subject in a region which saw long-running military dictatorships hold sway for much Submitted at 10/20/2009 5:54:23 AM of the 20th Century. The Nicaraguan Supreme Court Monday's ruling by the has lifted a constitutional ban on constitutional branch of the re-election, clearing the way for Nicaraguan Supreme Court was in President Daniel Ortega to run response to a petition by Mr again in 2011 elections. Ortega and a group of more than The court's decision followed an 100 mayors. appeal by Mr Ortega and a group Six justices, all regarded as of mayors. supporters of Mr Ortega's In July, Mr Ortega said Sandinista party, determined that publically he favoured allowing the constitutional ban on allowing p e o p l e t h e r i g h t t o s e e k re-election was "unenforceable". consecutive terms. The electoral court indicated it The issue of presidential term would accept the ruling. limits is controversial across Latin Opposition politicians and America, where several nations jurists condemned the Supreme have moved to allow consecutive Court's decision as illegal. terms in office. Popular vote The argument in favour is that, Amid celebrations to mark the in the modern world, continuity 30th anniversary of the Sandinista over more than four years is revolution in July, Mr Ortega said needed if effective policies for that the country should end term change are to be enacted. limits, as "all should have the But ending term limits is a right to stand for re-election and

be rewarded or punished by the popular vote". At the time, it was thought constitutional change would have to be approved by the National Assembly, where Mr Ortega does not have a majority, or be backed in a public referendum. Mr Ortega first came to power in 1979 after his Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) ousted the dictator Anastasio Somoza. He was elected president in 1984 and served until 1990. Mr Ortega returned to the presidency after winning the 2006 elections. A clause from the 1995 constitution bars presidents from running consecutively or serving more than two terms. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

US' continued from page 63 journal of his intended victims for up to a year before the shootings. Those he killed were either intentionally targeted, or were merely unlucky enough to have been in his way. An expert marksman, Unruh executed his massacre plot in the blue-collar neighbourhood with calm precision. Those he gunned down included a cobbler, a barber, some neighbours who had complained about him playing loud music, and a three-year-old boy peeking out of a window. A tailor on Unruh's death-list had left his shop on an errand, so he shot the man's bride of six weeks instead, ignoring her pleas for her life. Unruh - who had been sharing

Uruguay court rules against amnesty

US top court to hear Uighur case (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

when no other country can be found to take them. US President Barack Obama Submitted at 10/20/2009 8:50:55 AM wants to close Guantanamo by The US Supreme Court has said early next year. it will hear a case about the rights An appeals court ruled in of Chinese Muslim detainees at February that federal judges did Guantanamo Bay. not have that power. A number of ethnic Uighurs are The appeals court said that only still being held despite no longer the executive branch, not the being deemed a threat to the US, judiciary, could make decisions after the Pentagon cleared them in on immigration. 2004. China fears The court will decide whether The Obama administration has federal judges have the right to meanwhile been making efforts to order their release into the US find a place for the remaining

Uighur detainees to go. Four were sent to Bermuda in June and the Pacific island nation of Palau has said it will take 12 of the remaining 13. Only one Uighur has not been offered a refuge in another country, his lawyer told the court. But some of the Uighurs who have been invited to go to Palau have expressed concern the island may be too close to China to be safe. China considers the Uighurs to be separatists. Another five went to Albania in 2006.

an apartment with his mother at the time of the massacre - told police he was convinced his neighbours were plotting against him. "[The neighbours] had been making derogatory remarks about my character," Unruh told detectives at the time. He was described as a recluse who liked to read the Bible and had a passion for guns. The pistol used in the shootings was a German Luger, a souvenir Unruh had kept following his time in the US armed services as a tank gunner. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

The group of 22 Chinese Muslims were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001. The US has said it will not send them back to China for fear they will be tortured or executed. Beijing demands their handover, saying the detainees are leading an Islamic separatist movement in western China. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/20/2009 3:26:29 AM

A law shielding officials of the last military government from prosecution for abuses is unconstitutional, the Uruguayan Supreme Court has ruled. The court's ruling came in the case of a young Communist opponent of the military government who was allegedly tortured and killed in 1974. A referendum on Sunday, held alongside the presidential election, will ask voters if they want to scrap the law. URUGUAY page 65

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URUGUAY continued from page 64 Some 200 Uruguayans disappeared during military rule from 1973 to 1985. The Supreme Court's ruling came in the case of Nibia Sabalsagaray. She died 35 years ago in a military barracks. A lawyer representing her family told the Associated Press that while each case was unique, "it's understood that this sets a precedent and that the Supreme Court won't change if presented with a similar case". On Sunday, Uruguayan voters will decide whether the amnesty law should be overturned. So far opinion polls have suggested the measure will fail to win the 50% support required, but the court's ruling could be significant. "If the law is annulled, there

won't be any sense in ruling that it's unconstitutional, but if the referendum doesn't get enough votes, there is the possibility of making this argument in other cases," prosecutor Mirtha Guianze, who brought the Sabalsagaray case to the Supreme Court, told Reuters news agency. Similar amnesty laws were passed in neighbouring South American countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Chile as military rule from the 1970s and 1980s came to an end. Argentina has since scrapped its legislation. Print Sponsor This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Green.view: Letting a thousand flowers wither (The Economist: Daily columns)

Writing in Science last month, Jeffrey Sachs, an economist at Columbia University, and his Submitted at 10/20/2009 3:05:27 AM colleagues stated, “With Green.view increasing global challenges, such Oct 20th 2009 as population growth, climate From Economist.com The world change and overconsumption of will not halt the rate of reduction ecosystem services, we need of biodiversity by 2010 further integration of the povertySEEKING to alleviate poverty, alleviation and biodiversityreduce world hunger and protect conservation agendas.” Such a biodiversity sounds, to your link is, admittedly, complex. Dr c o r r e s p o n d e n t ’ s e a r s , l i k e Sachs called for future efforts something a Miss World hopeful aimed at reducing poverty to be might have pledged in the 1980s. monitored for their effects on In fact, it was what a professor of ecosystems, and thus on the soil quality at a lesser-known “services”, such as water cleaning university in the Netherlands and air purification, that such p r o m i s e d t o a s c i e n t i f i c habitats provide for people. conference that concluded on Another economist, Pavan October 16th. Sukhdev of Deutsche Bank, told Addressing hundreds of the Diversitas meeting that he had biologists, ecologists and social put a price on some of those scientists who were meeting in services. Coral reefs, he reckons, Cape Town under the auspices of provide services such as acting as Diversitas, an interdisciplinary n u r s e r i e s f o r c o m m e r c i a l l y (The Economist: Daily recently told The Economist, that group of researchers, Lijbert important fish that would cost up columns) vampire squids, which really do B r u s s a a r d o f W a g e n i n g e n to $130,000 per hectare per year if exist in the depths of the ocean, University outlined progress made they had to be paid for. The Submitted at 10/20/2009 2:41:00 AM are “small and harmless”. Yet his t o w a r d s t h e M i l l e n n i u m figures for coastal areas and Business.view firm and the industry of which it Development Goals agreed by inland wetlands that, among other Oct 20th 2009 is now the reluctant face have a members of the United Nations in tasks, help filter and purify water, From Economist.com Why Wall real image problem, which they 2001. One of the targets was to were $74,000 and $14,000 per Street needs a new social contract need to deal with before it turns achieve, by 2010, a significant hectare per year respectively. reduction in the rate of loss of Add climate regulation to the EVER since Rolling Stone into something nastier. magazine described Goldman Among the wilder allegations b i o d i v e r s i t y . T h a t h a s n o t list and the sums become even Sachs in July as a “a great the industry is facing is Michael happened. Neither will it do so more interesting. Achim Steiner, the executive director of the vampire squid wrapped around Moore’s claim in his new film, “ next year. One reason why Dr Brussaard United National Environment the face of humanity, relentlessly Capitalism: A Love Story”, that a jamming its blood funnel into deliberate Wall Street conspiracy and his colleagues are concerned Programme, told the assembled anything that smells like money,” resulted in a $700 billion raid by about this is that they believe scientists that the amount of the investment bank has emerged t h e b a n k s o n t h e T r e a s u r y environmental degradation goes carbon dioxide captured and as the favourite piñata for anyone (otherwise known as the Troubled h a n d - i n - h a n d w i t h p o v e r t y . stored by coastal ecosystems such who wants to give Wall Street a Asset Relief Programme). Mr M i s s i n g t h e g o a l f o r t h e as mangroves, salt marshes and mighty thwack. Lloyd Blankfein, Moore’s film includes a stunt in environment thus risks missing it seagrass beds was equivalent to for the people who live in that the half the emissions produced the investment bank’s chief environment. by the world’s mechanised executive, may be right, as he BUSINESS.VIEW: page 66

Business.view: Heads I win, tails you lose

transport. If politicians meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December agree that avoided deforestation counts as a way of mitigating global warming, and so should attract cold, hard cash in order to encourage it, Dr Steiner reckons that they should also encourage payment to protect coastal and marine ecosystems. Doing so, he thinks, might yield the equivalent of a quarter of the emissionsreductions needed to avoid large increases in global temperatures. Meanwhile there is growing support for the creation of a new international body that would “champion” biodiversity. The proposed Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services would work alongside the existing Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Delegates meeting earlier this month at the United Nations Environment Programme conference in Nairobi agreed that the final decision to create such a body would be made in 2010 which, to the embarrassment of some, has already been designated as the International Year of Biodiversity. If the experts are right, such a body would help ensure that the Millennium Development Goals that have deadlines beyond 2010 might yet be achieved. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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BUSINESS.VIEW: continued from page 65 which he attempts a citizen’s arrest of Mr Blankfein over this “crime”. Ironically, investment banking’s image has been further stained by something that would have delighted many panicked observers in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September: the bumper profits announced by Goldman Sachs—$3.2 billion in the most recent quarter—and some other financial giants of late. Rather than being seen as welcome evidence of the recovery of the financial system, these have instead prompted widespread condemnation. It is not the fault of Goldman Sachs that it is now working in (at least temporarily) a less competitive market, thanks to the demise of Lehman and the merging of Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch into JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America respectively. Part of its profits reflect the higher fees its bigger market share allows. Equally, much of the outrage over bonuses is unjustified. People who create wealth are entitled to be rewarded for their efforts. Certainly, bonus schemes need to be redesigned to reflect the fact that the old schemes encouraged too much short-term risk-taking—something that is clearly in the interests of shareholders. Yet Jeffrey Gordon, a professor of law at Columbia University, points out that Goldman set aside 50% of its profits for bonuses, in keeping with previous years. “There is no

evidence that Goldman’s management has overreached shareholders in making this decision, or that bondholders have any basis for objection in light of their covenants or other expectations,” he says. Nonetheless, many things changed when the taxpayer bailed out the financial system last year, including Goldman Sachs (despite its implausible protests that it would have survived without government intervention). As Mr Gordon says, “In a very real sense, Goldman’s profits are attributable to the government’s many actions, meaning taxpayer investment in the financial sector generally and in Goldman specifically.” Even if Goldman has repaid the $10 billion (plus fees and dividends) in TARP money it says it did not want to take in the first place, it continues to benefit from, among other things, the government’s ongoing offer of loans—whether it accepts them or not—and the revival in capital markets sparked by the government’s decision to pump money into the financial system. The shareholders and bondholders of those financial firms that survived last year’s meltdown have been the biggest winners from this government rescue—bigger even than the employees of these firms. Goldman’s share price is over 300% higher than in November last year, for example. It is they who should be the primary focus of taxpayer outrage (even if, thanks to the institutions that own

shares to finance future pensions, these taxpayers and shareholders are to some extent the same people). The best solution would have been for the government to have taken an equity or equity-related stake in every financial firm it helped when it bailed out the system last year. Compared with the dividends and warrants associated with the TARP, this would have given the taxpayer a far greater exposure to the upside to the rescue, and would surely have eased some of the public outrage today. The Treasury was unwilling to be seen taking an equity stake in any bank unless there was absolutely no alternative—as in the case of Citigroup, of which it now owns 30%. Apparently this was because the treasury secretary at the time, Hank Paulson, a former boss of Goldman, did not want to be seen as a nationaliser. As a result, the taxpayer has ended up nationalising both the worst of the banks it helped and some of the system’s most toxic assets, while missing out on much of the profit it could have made from a stake in the better firms that were saved. What would Warren Buffett do? Warren Buffett would not have made such a mistake, as he showed when he invested in Goldman Sachs soon after the government did—negotiating a 10% dividend on $5 billion of preferred stock with warrants giving him the right to invest a further $5 billion in Goldman shares at what now looks like the

bargain price of $115 each. Surely Mr Paulson could have negotiated far better terms than Mr Buffett. No wonder the public feels that Wall Street’s current fortunes are a case of heads I win, tails you lose. The question is, what can be done about it? The opportunity to take an equity position at a bargain price has been missed. A windfallprofit tax is easier to justify in this case than it usually is—though there currently seems little appetite for one in Washington, and such taxes can distort banks’ behaviour in unpredictable and counterproductive ways. The more politically palatable options—regulating bonuses and cracking down on Wall Street’s risk-taking activities—could also make matters worse. Last week Citigroup was forced to sell Phibro, its commodity-trading arm, at an absurdly low price because of the political storm around the $100m bonus paid to its boss, Andrew Hall. This does not look like a good outcome for Citi’s part-owner, the taxpayer. Nonetheless, if public anger continues to grow, politicians in Washington, DC, are more likely to impose burdensome regulation on financial firms. If they are wise, Goldman and its peers will do something soon to try to calm the public mood. Though it will not do much to help taxpayers, the muchdiscussed idea of Goldman and others donating some of their profits to charity would be a start. This would be in keeping with the fine philanthropic tradition of

Goldman in particular, which most recently has been funding an impressive “ 10,000 Women” initiative to send female entrepreneurs in developing countries to business school. Yet to be viewed as a genuine effort to repay the charity investment banks have received, the gifts would need to be large: in the billions of dollars, not the tens of millions. Shareholders would be wise to support such donations, if management proposes them. Shareholders can also play a constructive role in changing the mood by doing a better job of requiring management to ensure that bonuses are better designed, ideally mostly in the form of restricted stock that does not vest for several years. As part of establishing the new “social compact” that Larry Summers, Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, says is urgently needed, Wall Street firms should also stop lobbying against the proposed Consumer Protection Agency, and instead support efforts to ensure it works. As Mr Summers mildly put it, given the help Wall Street firms have received from the taxpayer, some of their behaviour lately has been “a bit rich”. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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The American dollar: Down with the dollar (The Economist: News analysis)

also a sign that other countries are getting nervous about seeing their currencies rise against the dollar. Submitted at 10/20/2009 1:48:02 AM Worries about the dollar are The American dollar hardly new. Well before the credit Oct 20th 2009 crunch some fretted that a From Economist.com Why the collapse in the currency and a dollar is falling jump in Treasury-bond yields, as ON MARCH 5th an index of foreigners balked at funding the value of the American dollar America’s current-account deficit, against six other big currencies would precipitate an economic touched 89.11, its highest point c r i s i s . I n s t e a d s u b - p r i m e this year. Since then, however, it mortgages and over-leveraged has been a steady downward drift financial institutions plunged the for the greenback. On Tuesday world into its worst recession October 20th, for example, the since the Great Depresssion. dollar index had slipped to 75.24, The recession, which reduced its lowest point in more than a America’s imports as consumers year. tightened their belts, has This hardly constitutes an improved its trade imbalance, outright collapse, nor is it shrinking its current-account necessarily cause for concern. deficit. But ironically this has American exporters, whose goods been accompanied by renewed have become more competitive weakness for the dollar. abroad, are happy with their The simplest explanation for the weaker currency. Similarly currency’s decline is based on risk domestic producers may be aversion. On the days when risky cheered that rival, imported goods assets fall, the dollar tends to go a r e m o r e e x p e n s i v e . A n d up. When risky assets rise, the European tourists, who can buy dollar falls. The dollar has fallen more for their euros during fairly steadily since March, a weekend shopping excursions to p e r i o d w h i c h h a s s e e n A m e r i c a , m a y c h e e r t o o . stockmarkets enjoy a phenomenal However, the continued decline of r a l l y . D o m e s t i c A m e r i c a n the dollar does come against a investors may be driving the backdrop of ominous murmurs relationship, repatriating funds in from the likes of China and 2008 when they were nervous Russia, who hold much of their about the state of financial reserves in dollars, about the need markets and sending the money to shift their reserves out of the abroad again this summer because greenback. Brazil's imposition of of a perception that the global a 2% levy on portfolio inflows is economy is reviving.

But although risk aversion may be a factor, describing the dollar as a “safe haven” seems dubious. Indeed, the weakness of American fundamentals has revived the longstanding bearish case against the currency. Some cite the American budget deficit, expected to be 13.5% of GDP this year. There is little sign that the Obama administration has a plan to reduce it, and health-care reform may add to it. But if foreign investors are so concerned, why id the dollar’s decline not accompanied by a sharp rise in bond yields? One reason may be that the Federal Reserve has been buying so much of the year’s debt issuance, as part of its quantitative easing programme. That has helped to keep yields down. A simple dynamic may be at work: supply and demand. Last year the market was short of dollars because investors needed the American currency to meet their liquidity needs. This year QE is creating a surplus of dollars (and pounds) and is thus driving both currencies down. The use of QE also creates a problem for central banks as they contemplate their exit strategies. An early abandonment of the approach could cause bond yields to rise sharply, unless there is an unexpectedly dramatic improvement in the fiscal position. But continuing QE could cause further currency weakness.

It is hard to see what the American authorities could do to bolster their currency even if they wanted to. Low yields offer little support to the dollar. The Fed seems highly unlikely to raise interest rates from their near-zero levels over the next 12 months or so. But it is hard, also, to think of a parallel in history. A country heavily in debt to foreigners, with a government deficit it is making little headway at controlling, is creating vast amounts of additional currency. Yet it is allowed to get away with very low interest rates. Eventually such an arrangement must surely break down, bringing a new currency system into being, just as Bretton Woods emerged in the 1940s. The absence of a credible alternative to the dollar means that, despite its declining value, its status as the world’s reserve currency is not seriously under threat. But the system could change in other ways. A world where currencies traded within bands, or where foreign creditors insist on America issuing some debt in other currencies, are all real possibilities as the world adjusts to a declining dollar. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Afghanistan's flawed election: Not half, Mr Karzai (The Economist: News analysis) Submitted at 10/19/2009 6:39:02 AM

Afghanistan's flawed election Oct 19th 2009 | KABUL From Economist.com Officials, citing massive fraud, deny Hamid Karzai outright victory in Afghanistan's election HAMID KARZAI has been dealt a painful blow as the saga of Afghanistan’s torturous presidential election drags on. An independent investigation has found that nearly one in three of the votes supposedly cast for the Afghan president in August were fraudulent. The results of an audit by the country’s Electoral Complaints Commission(ECC), published on Monday October 19th, put Mr Karzai’s share of the vote a couple of points below the 50% that he required to win another term without facing a runoff against his closest challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. But the UN-backed electoral commission is not the only game in town. Mr Karzai’s supporters immediately questioned the authority of the ECC, which is dominated by Western officials. His supporters claim that the final reckoning can only be delivered by the Independent Election Commission, a body packed with people appointed by—and loyal to—the president. Diplomats in Kabul fear a “car crash” outcome where the IEC, under Mr Karzai’s orders, refuses to accept the results or mounts a legal challenge questioning the ECC’s orders. A weekend of long AFGHANISTAN'S page 69

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Opel, GM and the EU: A spanner in the works (The Economist: News analysis)

business. Magna’s bid was alluring to Germany’s government as the Canadian firm Submitted at 10/19/2009 1:18:23 AM promised to keep open all four of Opel, GM and the EU Opel’s factories in Germany with Oct 19th 2009 minimal job losses, regardless of From Economist.com Magna’s their efficiency. This would look plans to acquire Opel, GM’s appealing at any time but saving E u r o p e a n a r m , m a y f a c e a German jobs was a priority as problem elections loomed at the end of AS THE week commences September. Without a favourable when General Motors is set to deal for Opel Chancellor Angela conclude a deal to sell Opel, its Merkel may have suffered at the European arm, the American car polls and thus found it trickier to giant finds that the European p u l l t o g e t h e r h e r f a v o u r e d Union has thrown a spanner into c o a l i t i o n . the engine bay. Late on Friday Now Mrs Kroes suggests in a October 16th the European letter to Germany’s economy U n i o n ’ s c o m p e t i t i o n minister, Karl-Theodor zu commissioner, Neelie Kroes, Guttenberg, that the bidding t e n t a t i v e l y s u g g e s t e d w h a t process may have been a bit everyone else saw plainly when lopsided. Germany’s government the bidding process for Opel had long made it known that it concluded in early September: the f a v o u r e d t h e M a g n a - l e d winner got a big push from consortium. Other companies with Germany that gave it an unfair an interest in acquiring Opel advantage. Mr Kroes belatedly dropped out as the race went on, has come to the conclusion that including Italy’s Fiat, and GM this might fall foul of the EU’s settled on RHJ, a Belgian privatecompetition rules. equity firm, as its preferred The potential area of dispute is bidder. A deal with RHJ would over €4.5 billion ($6.7 billion) of have allowed GM to buy back German state aid to Opel that was Opel if its fortunes improved. But apparently only available if GM letting Magna take over Opel will chose Magna, a Canadian car- mean that GAZ, a rival car parts maker, and its partners, company, will get its hands on Sberbank, Russia’s largest retail G M ’ s v a l u a b l e s m a l l - c a r bank, and GAZ, Russia’s second- t e c h n o l o g y . largest carmaker, to take over the Late in the bidding battle GM

even emerged as a potential saviour for Opel itself, as rumours swirled that its improving fortunes after emerging from bankruptcy might allow it to keep and restructure its European arm. But Magna had captured the hearts of German politicians with their hands on the purse strings. Magna’s victory prompted immediate complaints from the British, Belgian and Spanish governments, which feared that Opel plants in their countries would be hit disproportionately by the deal. Now the indignation at Germany’s manipulation of the bidding for Opel has sparked some action from the EU. Mrs Kroes has said that there are “significant indications” that the state aid was contingent on Magna’s winning Opel and has asked that Germany reconsider the bidding process. Mr zu Guttenberg insisted on Saturday that any misunderstanding over the state aid would be cleared up swiftly. And indeed on Monday Germany cheerfully said that the money was of course available to all bidders. Confidence was no doubt buoyed by the fact that RHJ is no longer interested in Opel—having found fresh takeover targets. Fiat ruled out a revival of its interest in Opel in September. Even Beijing Automotive, an outsider in the

stakes to acquire Opel, has turned its attentions to Saab, a European cast-off of GM, and will be unlikely to re-enter the fray. It remains to be seen whether the EU’s competition watchdogs are placated by Germany’s assurances and Magna is allowed to finalise its deal to acquire Opel this week. Mrs Kroes rightly wants to shed light on the affair now rather than allow a deal that could become bogged down in a lengthy legal wrangle after the event. But Germany’s convenient claim should not be enough to satisfy Mrs Kroes. Adding to intrigue, rumours have begun to circulate that GM may revive its attempt to hang on to Opel. This would undoubtedly result in far bigger job cuts than those planned by Magna, and Germany would not be spared. And perhaps GM will now be eligible for the German government’s hand-out. Mrs Merkel will at least be grateful that she managed to avoid this mess until after she was safely reelected. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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AFGHANISTAN'S continued from page 67 and acrimonious meetings between officials from the two sides suggests that the IEC will indeed challenge the results. The ECC had hoped to persuade the Afghan election body to accept its findings before making a formal announcement. But a UN source suggests that the commission was eventually forced to publish after failing to make any headway. And there seems little room for negotiation. The UN is adamant that Mr Karzai has no grounds to challenge the result, saying the country’s electoral law makes the ECC decisions final. Mr Karzai may well appeal to Afghanistan’s Supreme Court and there is a fair chance that the judges whom he appointed would side with him. At the least that could cause sufficiently long delays to make it impossible to hold a run-off election before the onset of heavy winter snows, which in turn would make polling impossible in large parts of the country. The latest date for an election is thought to be midNovember. Certainly Mr Karzai shows little sign that he will be shamed into accepting the result of the ECC’s inquest. Yet an analysis of its findings by Democracy

International, an American election-monitoring group, makes for devastating reading for Mr Karzai. Not only has his share of the vote dropped, it also shows that 955,000 votes were fraudulent. That is almost a third of the 3.1m he polled, according to a preliminary tally. Ever since the election on August 20th Mr Karzai has claimed that allegations of massive fraud were the invention of a hostile international press. He remains firmly in denial about the level of cheating, which he still maintains was small and “normal by international standards”. Yet Mr Karzai may have got off lightly: if the ECC had widened the scope of its investigation it would probably have uncovered many more discredited votes. Considerable uncertainty exists over what happens next. UN officials say that ballot papers could be dispatched to polling stations around Afghanistan at a moment’s notice. But there is little appetite for a second round among many of the parties, who fear it would exacerbate political tensions in the country and do little to boost the legitimacy of whoever runs. Turnout was disappointing first time: only 4.3m people cast

RESEARCH continued from page 69 Less TV 19% 68% 13% Radio 12 71 18 Magazines

10 60 30 Newspapers 9 58 33 Internet (information) 42 54

legitimate votes (after 1.3m dodgy ones were excluded). It is likely to be further depressed in a second round where voters would fear more Taliban violence. A run-off would also lack the added attraction of the provincial council election that took place alongside the presidential election in August. Dr Abdullah, a former foreign minister, has seen his share of the votes increase from 28% to 32% (with a mere 192,000 of his 1.6m votes disqualified) according to Democracy International. But, even if he were to run, his chances of upsetting the original result look slender. Election officials also privately admit there is nothing they can do in the short time available to make changes to prevent a repeat of the rampant level of fraud that characterised the first round. “If anything it will just allow the fraudsters to work out how to cheat more subtly,” a UN official admits. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Research Brief: Gender and Age Consumption Differs in Evolving Media Usage Patterns (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/20/2009 7:24:31 AM

According to a new consumer trend report from TargetCast tcm, among American adults between the ages of 18-64, the future of traditional media, particularly newspapers, magazines and radio, is challenged by the rapid migration of hard-to-reach consumer groups to digital alternatives. However, when it comes to purchase influence on consumers, traditional media remains more influential when compared to digital advertising. The study reveals a divide between men and women in how each gender engages with traditional media, and illustrates how a generational divide is affecting purchase influence among adults. Peter Sedlarcik, SVP, Director of Insights and Analytics at TargetCast tcm, says "... marketers must take into account the evolving media preferences of specific target audiences... yet, while many may declare print media is dead... findings show that marketing messages in newspapers and magazines still score well in terms of consumer 4 attentiveness and purchase Internet (entertainment) influence." 28 Key findings: 59 • Men and women are 13 consuming media differently. Source: TargetCast tcm, Men are more likely than women October 2009 to indicate that printed news is a The data reveals a split between less relevant source of news and information • Newspapers and magazines are RESEARCH page 70

not considered as relevant today and are easiest to eliminate from usage, yet score well in terms of attentiveness and purchase influence • The biggest usage declines were found among men and young adults 18-34 in newspapers, magazines and radio • TV and Internet, respectively, identified as most important media, though young adults 18-34 rank the internet as more important than TV 60% of consumers say newspapers need to change the most to stay relevant, compared to 30% for magazines and nearly 20% for radio. Fewer than 10% feel that TV or the Internet needs to change to stay relevant. Nevertheless, those ages 35+ still consider newspaper ads to be more influential in determining their purchase decisions. The majority of adults 18-64 report that they are still using the same amount of each medium today as they were a year ago, however nearly a third say they are using less printed media (newspapers and magazines). Conversely, a third or more also report that they are using the Internet more as both a source of information and entertainment. Compared to a year ago would you say you are currently using the following media more, about the same or less?(Adults 18-64) Media Using More About the Same RESEARCH page 69

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RESEARCH continued from page 69 men and women in terms of the way each gender engages with traditional media and embraces newer media. In general, men are more willing to adapt their usage habits to incorporate more digital and online platforms as replacements for traditional media. On the other hand, women are more likely to hold strong with the traditional media and are more hesitant to embrace newer media. The study also indicated that there is a marked generational difference in attention to digital media between adults ages 18-34 and adults and those older than age 35: • Adults ages 18-34 are more likely to have replaced newspapers and magazines with internet content, while adults older than 25 are more likely to consider magazines and newspapers as valuable sources of information • Adults ages 18-24 are more likely to say radio is not as relevant and that they prefer reading magazines online. This age group also indicates they don't mind watching ads when watching TV programs online • Adults aged 18-34 are more

BOARD: continued from page 70 likely than other consumer groups to consider advertising on the internet influential in their purchase decision 40% of Adults 18-64 say that they prefer the experience of reading printed newspapers over online news sources. Additionally, newspapers score well both in terms of ad attentiveness and purchase influence. However, when asked if they'd rather get news from online sources than from printed newspapers, the percentage of those who agreed vs. disagreed was about the same. And, people do not feel that newspapers are more trustworthy than online sources. 72% of consumers expect that sourcing the newspaper online should be free, and not willing to pay for an online newspaper subscription to replace their printed newspapers subscription. A solid 57% say they prefer the experience of reading a printed magazine over reading a magazine on the Internet. An even stronger 71% would not be willing to pay for an online magazine subscription to replace their printed magazine

subscription. Also, only 15% of respondents overall agree that they'd rather read magazines online. Additionally, printed magazines score well in terms of ad attentiveness and purchase influence. 41% of those surveyed indicate that radio is still relevant in today's media environment. According to respondents, radio provides a great venue to discover new music that cannot be experienced elsewhere. And, respondents overall prefer to listen to music through the radio station vs. Internet stations or on their mp3 player. In summary, the report concludes that m onitoring the pulse of consumer sentiment is a critical component of working toward a better understanding of the future of all media. Understanding the changing nature of how people now consume media may allow the media industry to reclaim the intimate relationship between the reader and their brands. The report notes that: • Newspapers have a legacy of breaking news and uncovering stories of historic proportion, yet they are losing ground to a

generation of consumers embracing digital and mobile alternatives • Established magazines, often iconic brands, have begun to lose advertiser support after years of consistent readership and inspiring content • Over the past 100 years radio has been a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. However, after surviving the challenges of broadcast TV, the emergence of cable and the launch of the Internet, radio is slowly being tuned out by a generation addicted to personal, programmable MP3 players, iPods, iPhones and other multi-media devices • While many will continue to use traditional and new media as much as they have in the past, it is important to understand the shifting relationship between how men and women and different generations will consume media in the future so the industry can evolve these media in a way that is relevant and impactful to consumers For more information about the study, please visit TargetCast here. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

of audience behavior and physiological reactions to content and advertising across multiplatforms. Hulu Kevin McGurn, VP National Advertising Sales, will share learnings on the growth of online premium video, Hulu's ad performance and audience engagement. Also, the Huluian will discuss planning and buying online video as a compliment to television using traditional GRP metrics. NBC Universal Janet Gallent, VP of Consumer Insights & Innovation Research at NBC Universal, will share the results of a biometric research study that demonstrates how and why consumers remember commercials seen in fast-forward mode and offer advertisers suggestions on how to optimize their creative in a fast-forwarding digital video recording/ on demand environ. YCD MULTIMEDIA YCD's Vice President, Business Development & Client Services, Josh Kampel, will demonstrate how new technologies,

Alliance is to help navigate the future of the consumer and advertiser relationship within the evolving televiusal landscape. If you are curious about its evolution or wish to attend our lunchtime gathering (12n-2pm) food for thought and stomach please let me know (mitch.oscar@mpg.com). KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS Disney

ESPN's SVP, Research & Analytics, Artie Bulgrin will provide an overview of the Disney Media and Advertising Lab, which is located in Austin, Texas, and share examples of how the emerging media lab has enhanced the company's approach to studying the emotional drivers

TV Board: The Collaborative Alliance (MediaPost | Media News)

(television, broadband, wireless and out of home). Its mission is to provide media On Dec. 2nd in New York City professionals, advertisers and at The Helen Mills Theater, MPG, their agencies in attendance with M e d i a C o n t a c t s a n d H a v a s the opportunity to make sure they siblings, will stage its quarterly " g e t i t r i g h t " s o t h a t t h e f o r u m , T h e C o l l a b o r a t i v e applications developed meet the Alliance, where content creators, specific needs of marketers in technologists, distributors and their quest to provide the best researchers meet to vet their p o s s i b l e p l a t f o r m f o r t h e i r interactive televisual propositions m e s s a g i n g a n d c o n s u m e r Submitted at 10/20/2009 9:45:56 AM

engagement. The technologists, distributors and researchers contribute engineering time, resources/content and technological wizardry to create prototypical models for the venture. In exchange, they ask that those who attend the forum contribute brainpower (marketing and media) and assets (video and branded). The aim of The Collaborative

BOARD: page 70

Internet News Record

BOARD: continued from page 70 specifically facial recognition, will offer marketers the opportunity to deliver relevant advertising based on demographic information. SET TOP BOX CONSORTIUMS - A MEETING OF DADAISTS The Set Top measurement realm is clicking. Not referring to the zillions of streams daily but rather every couple of weeks for the last few months another company whether researcher, dataminer, technologist, manufacturer, and/or vested third party such as advertisers, advertising agencies, and content providers - is jumping into the fray or what one might have perceived months ago, frolicking with consensual strange bedfellows. This panel will provide some directional guidance that the media community can utilize to move forward to help it

in its quest to eventually standardize digital set top audience measurement and reportage. Participants: • Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement(Colleen Fahey Rush, EVP, Strategic Insights & Research) • Collaborative Alliance Set Top Box Think Tank(Ed DeNicolae, Sheryl Feldinger, Frank Foster, Charlene Weisler and Dave Zarnow) • National Cable Communications(Ken Little, COO) • Nielsen Funded Council of Research Excellence(Patricia Liguori, SVP, Research & Electronic Measurement, ABC Owned TV Stations) This content has passed through fivefilters.org.