Internet News Record
Edition
The First Draft: Deja vu - it’s China
and healthcare again
By Deborah Charles (Front Row
Washington)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:04:13 AM
Presidents are never afraid of
beating the same drum twice.
Today, President Barack Obama
continues his quest to boost support
for healthcare reform with a “tele-
town hall” at AARP. Then he talks
about relations with China, just like
on Monday.
With Obama’s drive for healthcare
reform stalled in the Senate and the
House — even though both chambers
are controlled by his fellow
Democrats — the president is
looking to ordinary Americans to
push harder for an overhaul of the
system.
Democrats have backed away from
a vow to take a vote on the
legislation before the month-long
August recess but lawmakers in both
chambers are still working on the
bill. This afternoon, Obama heads to
AARP headquarters to take questions
from senior citizens about health
insurance and his proposed reforms.
Then he heads back to the White
Suspect in Kan. abortion provider killing in court (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:09:04 AM
Learn2turn buzzed up: Sgt.
Crowley, a Cop in Full (Pat
House for talks with the leaders of
the U.S.-China Strategic Economic
Dialogue.
Obama is expected to talk with the
top Chinese officials about the need
for the two economic powers to work
together for global economic
recovery and also discuss issues like
North Korea and global climate
change.
After meeting with Obama the top
U.S. and Chinese officials will hold
Buchanan)
9 seconds ago 2009-07-
28T07:50:03-07:00
27/07/09 - 28/07/09
back-to-back news conferences to
give their own versions of what
happened.
Will they announce similar results?
For more Reuters political news,
click here.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Larry
Downing (Obama shakes hands with
Chinese State Councillor Dai
Bingguo (c) and Vice Premier Wang
Qishan on Monday)
TV to DVD & Blu-Ray: July
28, 2009
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 12:03:00 AM
LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
EU to renew US bank
scrutiny deal
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 3:04:02 AM
The EU plans to renew an
agreement allowing US officials to
scrutinise European citizens' banking
activities under US anti-terrorism
laws.
EU member states have agreed to
let the European Commission
negotiate new conditions under
which the US will get access to
private banking data.
US officials currently monitor
transactions handled by Swift, a huge
inter-bank network based in
Belgium.
German politicians have voiced
concern about the scope of US bank
scrutiny.
The US wants to have access to a
new European database that Swift is
setting up in Switzerland. The US
Treasury already has access to
Swift's American database.
Tracking the funding of terror
groups globally has been a priority
for Washington since the 11
September 2001 attacks on the US.
Swift handles millions of
transactions daily between banks and
other financial institutions
worldwide. It holds the data of some
8,000 banks and operates in 200
countries.
Privacy concerns
Swift's co-operation with US anti-
terrorism investigators first came to
light in 2006. The data-sharing
agreement was struck in 2007 after
European data protection authorities
demanded guarantees that European
privacy laws would not be violated.
Speaking on Monday, EU Justice
Commissioner Jacques Barrot said "it
would be extremely dangerous at this
stage to stop the surveillance and the
monitoring of information flows".
A senior member of Germany's
ruling Christian Democrats (CDU),
Wolfgang Bosbach, said any new
agreement had to provide "certainty
about data protection and ensure that
the personal data of respectable
people is promptly erased".
The leader of the liberal Free
Democrats (FDP), Guido
Westerwelle, said the proposal for
data-sharing with the US "must be
stopped".
The co-chairmen of the Greens in
the European Parliament, Rebecca
Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit,
meanwhile accused EU foreign
ministers of bypassing the assembly.
Mr Barrot said it was not a
"question of giving the US a blank
cheque".
"The US authorities would continue
to temporarily access the relevant
data only after legal verification and
under strict judicial control," he
added.
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2 Politics/ Top News/
Drink orders in for Obama meet with policeman, professor
By David Alexander (Front Row
Washington)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 3:12:21 PM
President Barack Obama’s
peacemaking efforts with a Harvard
professor and a Massachusetts police
sergeant are still up in the air, but the
drink orders are in.
Obama invited Cambridge Police
Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard
scholar Henry Louis Gates to the
White House for a beer last week as
he tried to make amends for
inflaming a dispute between the two
Ala. police use Taser on deaf and disabled man (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
men.
Crowley, who is white, arrested
Gates, a prominent black scholar and
documentary filmmaker, after going
to the professor’s home on a report of
a possible burglary in progress.
Gates had arrived home from a trip
to China to find his door jammed and
had difficulty entering. The two men
got into a dispute and Crowley
arrested Gates on a charge of
disorderly conduct – touching off a
debate over whether the incident
involved racial profiling. The charge
was later dropped.
st buzzed up: Panel to vote on
Sotomayor, confirmation likely (AP)
Obama inflamed the situation at his
news conference last week by saying
he thought the police “acted
stupidly” by arresting in his own
home his friend Gates, a 58-year-old
man who uses a cane to walk because
of childhood injury.
Obama called Crowley and Gates
last week to try to calm tempers. At
Crowley’s suggestion, he agreed to
invite the two to the White House for
a beer.
Spokesman Robert Gibbs said on
Monday the White House was trying
to organize the meeting for this
12 seconds ago 2009-07-
28T07:52:44-07:00
week, but it hadn’t been set yet.
The timing may be up in the air,
but the drink orders are apparently
known.
Asked what beer the president
might have, Gibbs observed that
Obama drank a Budweiser at the
baseball All-Star Game a couple of
weeks ago.
“Sgt. Crowley mentioned when the
president offered this on the phone
Friday that he likes Blue Moon,” said
Gibbs. Blue Moon is a Belgian-style
white beer brewed by Molson Coors.
Gates told the Boston Globe he was
Internet News Record
a fan of Red Stripe, a Jamaican lager,
and Beck’s, a German lager.
For more Reuters political news,
click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young
(Obama at White House Friday after
calling St. Crowley); Reuters/Brian
Snyder (Crowley and Sgt. Leon
Lashley, who was present when
Gates was arrested, at a news
conference July 24)
Internet News Record
The First Draft: China
and healthcare
By Deborah Charles (Front Row
Washington)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:16:22 AM
Topics of the day today: more
healthcare and U.S.-Chinese relations
President Barack Obama speaks at
the beginning of a two-day U.S.-
Strategic and Economic Dialogue in
Washington, then top Chinese and
U.S. officials will work on
developing a new framework for
U.S.-Chinese relations.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
and Secretary of Treasury Timothy
Geithner are among the high-level
officials taking part in the meeting.
The duo wrote an opinion piece
published in the Wall Street Journal
talking about the need for working
with China.
Congress is still working on
healthcare reform, although Obama
has eased up on his August deadline
for working out a deal. Democratic
lawmakers will be working on
ironing out differences within their
own party. Obama has learned that
although both the House and the
Senate have big Democratic
majorities, that’s not always enough
to get legislation passed.
Democratic Senator Kent Conrad, a
key player in bipartisan Senate
Finance Committee negotiations on
healthcare, said on Sunday Senate
Democrats don’t have the votes to
pass healthcare reform without
Republican support and would not
predict whether the panel would be
able to produce a bill before the
August recess.
But Obama spokesman Robert
Gibbs said he is confident a bill will
pass by the end of the year.
For more Reuters political news,
click here.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Carey
Gillam (Healthcare reform supporters
rally in Overland Park, Kansas)
Confucius? No, Yao Ming
By Deborah Charles (Front Row
Washington)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:17:40 AM
Instead of a cultural icon, well-
known author or scholar, President
Barack Obama sought the advice of
… a basketball player as he talked of
the importance of strong U.S.-
Chinese economic ties.
In a speech opening the Strategic
Economic Dialogue between the
United States and China, Obama —
an avid basketball fan and player —
quoted China’s most popular sports
star and Houston Rockets center, Yao
Ming.
Obama said he and Chinese
President Hu Jintao both agreed the
Divorce 'health scars permanent'
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 4:21:31 PM
Divorce has a lingering, detrimental
impact on health that even remarriage
cannot fully repair, a study suggests.
A Chicago study involving 8,652
people aged 51 to 61 found divorced
people have 20% more chronic
illnesses such as cancer than those
who never marry.
The figure only drops to 12% for
those who remarry, researchers write
in the Journal of Health and Social
Behaviour.
They say we start adulthood with a
"health stock" that is kept or eroded
depending on our marital experience.
Only those who are continuously
married can expect the same rate of
chronic health problems as the never-
wedded, the study suggests.
Although people who remarry after
a divorce or being widowed do tend
to be happier as a result - being no
more depressed than those
continuously married and less
depressed than those who never
married - they gain little in terms of
Politics/ Top News/
two nations needed to hold
“sustained dialogue to enhance our
shared interests.”
Then he went for the analogy.
“As a new President and also as a
chronic health conditions.
People who remarried had 12%
more chronic health conditions than
those continuously married, which
was slightly less than the 20% for the
divorced or widowed who did not
remarry.
Researcher Dr Linda Waite, a
sociologist at the University of
Chicago, said divorce or widowhood
undermines health because incomes
drop and stress develops over issues
such as shared child care.
Stresses and strains
Whereas marriage tends to bring an
immediate health benefit, in that it
improves health behaviours for men
and financial well-being for women.
But remarriage does not heal all.
She said: "Some health situations,
like depression, seem to respond both
quickly and strongly to changes in
current conditions.
"In contrast, conditions such as
diabetes and heart disease develop
slowly over a substantial period and
show the impact of past experiences,
which is why health is undermined
by divorce or widowhood, even when
a person remarries."
3
basketball fan, I have learned from
the words of Yao Ming, who said,
‘No matter whether you are new or
an old team member, you need time
to adjust to one another.’”
“Well, through the constructive
meetings that we’ve already had, and
through this dialogue, I’m confident
that we will meet Yao’s standard.”
Wonder if it makes a difference
that the seven-time All Star just had
foot surgery which will rule him out
for the whole next NBA season?
For more Reuters political news,
click here
Photo credit: REUTERS/Danny
Moloshok (Yao plays in basketball
game in May)
Anastasia de Waal, of the think
tank Civitas, said: "This research
highlights the fact that whilst divorce
has become much more common, it
can take not just a tremendous
emotional and financial toll, but also
a heavy health one."
Christine Northan, a counsellor for
Relate, said: "I'm not surprised by the
findings. It's another reason to work
hard to make marriages last, unless it
is a very destructive relationship.
"It's a good idea if you can use a
messy divorce to understand both
yourself better and why the
relationship did not work.
"If you do that, you will be in a
better place to go into a second
successful marriage.
"But if you are drawn to people who
are toxic for you, then you may be
better off staying single."
She said a surprising number of
people unconsciously look for
someone like their first wife or
husband and that the chance of a
second marriage ending in divorce
was two-fold.
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4 Top News/
US-Israeli talks make 'progress'
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 3:28:52 AM
Please turn on JavaScript. Media
requires JavaScript to play.
US-Israeli relations have soured
over US demands to stop settlement
expansion
US Middle East envoy George
Mitchell and Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu say talks about reviving
the regional peace process have made
"good progress".
There was no mention of Israel
agreeing to halt settlement
construction, a key demand the US
has made of its ally.
Mr Netanyahu has previously
rejected such a freeze, saying
"natural growth" of settlements must
be allowed.
Mr Mitchell is one of several senior
US officials in the region pushing for
a comprehensive Middle East peace
deal.
The Palestinians have said all
Israeli settlement building on
occupied territory must cease before
talks can resume.
Relations soured
After a nearly three-hour meeting
that was expected to focus on the
settlements issue, the men spoke
briefly to reporters. There was no
mention of settlements.
"Good progress" was made, said Mr
Mitchell, an experienced diplomat
who negotiated the Northern Ireland
peace agreement.
The Israelis are also being
circumspect. A senior official said
that "settlements" (ie their continued
construction in occupied territory)
was only one element of the "whole
kaleidoscope". They do not want to
be drawn on the speculation about
having the US say-so to finish
building 2,000 apartments just inside
the West Bank.
The informed view is that both
sides are groping for a common
ground that will allow the Americans
to say they have forced a freeze in
settlement building and for the
Israelis to say that normal life
continues.
Officials from the Palestinian
Authority say they are frustrated.
There was a vague hope, in some
quarters, that the PA might have won
some fresh political ground from
Israel ahead of the long-delayed
Fatah conference, which is due to
start a week today.
All that we do know is that George
Mitchell is due back, for more talks,
some time next month. And August -
as one official hoping to sound
optimistic, put it - "is only days
away".
"We look forward to continuing our
discussions to reach a point that we
can all move forward to reach a
comprehensive peace," he said.
Mr Netanyahu said they were
making progress "toward achieving
the understanding that will enable us
to continue and complete the peace
process established between us and
Palestinian neighbours and the
countries in the entire region".
Relations between the two allies
have soured in recent weeks over US
demands that the settlement
construction halt.
The US is making a major
diplomatic push in pursuit of a
comprehensive Middle East peace
deal.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates is
in Iraq after stops in Israel and
Jordan and President Barack Obama's
National Security Adviser James
Jones and veteran diplomat Dennis
Ross are also to arrive in the region
to join the effort.
'Roadmap obligations'
In earlier meetings in the region,
Mr Mitchell urged all countries to
make the difficult choices needed for
peace.
"That includes between Israel and
Palestinians, between Syrians and
Israelis, between Israel and Lebanon
and the normalisation of relations
between Israel and all of the
countries in the region," Mr Mitchell
said late on Monday after a meeting
with Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas.
Earlier, he told Israeli President
Shimon Peres that Israel could
improve the climate by "dealing with
difficult issues like settlements and
outposts".
All settlements are illegal under
international law, though Israel
disputes this. Israel has settled more
than 450,000 Jews in the occupied
West Bank, including East
Jerusalem.
Although the Israelis are reluctant
to agree to demands that they stop
settlement building, there may be a
compromise brewing whereby the
Israelis agree to finish the building of
2,000 new apartments a short
distance inside the West Bank, but
freeze all other construction, says the
BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem.
The Palestinians have previously
said nothing short of a complete and
immediate end to settlement building
will do.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat
accused Israel of failing "to fulfill
any of its roadmap obligations,
Internet News Record
including a settlement freeze, the
reopening of Palestinian institutions
in East Jerusalem, removal of
outposts, the release of Palestinian
prisoners", reports AFP news agency.
He was speaking after the meeting
between Mr Mitchell and Mr Abbas
in the West Bank town of Ramallah
late on Monday.
Mr Mitchell said the Palestinians
should "take action against
incitement and... refrain from any
words or deeds that may make it
more difficult to move quickly
toward successful negotiations".
Earlier on Monday Mr Mitchell
also met President Hosni Mubarak in
Cairo.
The Egyptians are currently
brokering reconciliation talks
between the deeply divided
Palestinian factions of Fatah and
Hamas.
Despite several rounds of talks, the
two Palestinian factions are still at
odds on the most sensitive issues,
such as the shape of a future unity
government, the remit of the joint
security force and the system that
would be implemented for any
upcoming elections.
Iran options
Despite the US concern for
movement on an Israeli-Palestinian
peace agreement, Israel says its
number one priority remains Iran's
nuclear programme.
Israeli officials have said military
action remains an option on Iran.
Iran denies claims it wants to build
nuclear weapons, saying it is
enriching uranium for a civilian
energy programme.
In Israel on Monday, US Defence
Secretary Robert Gates said recent
US overtures to Tehran were "not
open-ended".
He was referring to a statement Mr
Obama made in January, shortly after
taking office, when he said if Iran
and countries like it were "willing to
unclench their fists, they will find an
Internet News Record
7 NC men charged as international "jihad" group
(AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:45:02 AM
RALEIGH, N.C. – A North
Carolina father who led an
unobtrusive rural life as a drywall
contractor had militant roots dating
back to 1980s Afghanistan and
Pakistan and secretly led a U.S.
group plotting international
terrorism, federal prosecutors said.
Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, was
arrested Monday with his two sons
and four other North Carolina men.
Prosecutors accused them of military
-style training at home and plotting
"violent jihad" through a series of
terror attacks abroad.
Authorities believe Boyd's roots in
terrorism run deep. They said when
he was in Pakistan and Afghanistan
from 1989 through 1992, he had
military-style training in terrorist
camps and fought the Soviets, who
were ending their occupation of
Afghanistan.
Prosecutors say Boyd's time in
Pakistan also included terrorist
training that he brought back to
North Carolina, where over the past
three years he recruited followers
willing to die as martyrs waging
jihad the Arabic word for holy war.
Prosecutors would not detail what
the group was targeting overseas. An
indictment said they provided
money, training, transportation and
men to help terrorists. Boyd and
some of the others traveled to Israel
in June 2007 intending to wage
"violent jihad," but returned home
without success, the document said.
Sons Zakariya Boyd, 20, and Dylan
Boyd, 22, were named in the
indictment. Another son, Luqman,
died two years ago in a car accident.
The others charged are Anes
Subasic, 33; Mohammad Omar Aly
Hassan, 22; and Ziyad Yaghi, 21.
Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo
and a U.S. legal permanent resident
was also charged in the case. He was
the only person arrested who was not
a U.S. citizen.
The seven men made their first
court appearances in Raleigh on
Monday, charged with providing
material support to terrorism and
"conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim
and injure persons abroad." They're
scheduled to appear in court again on
Thursday for a detention hearing.
No attorneys for the men were
listed in court records. If convicted,
they could face life in prison.
Boyd lived at an unassuming
lakeside home in a rural area south of
Raleigh, where he and his family
operated a drywall business.
Jim Stephenson, a neighbor in
Willow Spring, said he often saw the
Boyd family walking their dog. The
indictment shocked neighbors.
"We never saw anything to give any
clues that something like that could
be going on in their family,"
Stephenson said.
In 1991, Boyd and his brother were
convicted of bank robbery in
Pakistan. They were also accused of
carrying identification showing they
belonged to the radical Afghan
guerrilla group, Hezb-e-Islami, or
Party of Islam. Each was sentenced
to have a foot and a hand cut off for
the robbery, but the decision was
later overturned.
Their wives told The Associated
Press in an interview at the time that
the couples had U.S. roots but the
United States was a country of
"kafirs" Arabic for heathens.
It is unclear when Boyd and his
family returned to the U.S., but in
March 2006, Boyd traveled to Gaza
and attempted to introduce his son to
individuals who also believed that
violent jihad was a personal religious
obligation, the indictment said. The
document did not say which son
Boyd took to Gaza.
Reached at her home in Silver
Spring, Md., Daniel Boyd's mother
said she knew nothing about the
current case.
"It certainly sounds weird to me,"
Pat Saddler said.
Hassan's father declined to
comment, and other families did not
have listed numbers or did not return
calls.
In 1991 in Pakistan, Daniel Boyd
and his older brother denied they
were guilty of stealing $3,200 from
the bank. When the sentence was
imposed, Boyd shouted: "This isn't
an Islamic court. It's a court of
infidels!"
When the brothers were arrested,
they were accused of carrying
identification showing they belonged
to the radical Afghan guerrilla group,
Hezb-e-Islami, or Party of Islam.
They had become the first foreigners
to be convicted and sentenced by
special Islamic courts set up by the
conservative federal government to
impose speedy trials for so-called
"heinous" crimes.
The men's wives, also Americans,
said in an interview at the time that
the couples had come to Pakistan in
1989. The wives refused to answer
questions about their husbands' links
to the Afghan mujahedeen, or Islamic
holy warriors, though they did say
their husbands embraced Islam nine
years earlier.
Boyd's wife, Sabrina, had three
sons with her in Pakistan at the time
of the sentencing: 3-year-old
Zakariya, 1-year-old Luqman and 5-
year-old Mohammed. The indictment
filed in North Carolina says Dylan
Top News/ Gadgets/
Boyd is also known as Mohammed.
It's unclear how U.S. authorities
learned of the allegations of the past
three years, although court
documents indicate that prosecutors
will introduce evidence gathered
under the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act.
Several of the defendants,
including Boyd and his sons, also
face firearms charges. The indictment
says they had obtained a variety of
weapons from handguns to rifles.
In July 2008, Sherifi left for
Kosovo to engage in violent jihad,
but it's unclear if he did any actual
fighting. He returned to North
Carolina in April 2009 to solicit
funds and warriors to support the
mujahedeen, but again the indictment
did not give details. In October 2006,
Yaghi went to Jordan to engage in
violent jihad, according to the
indictment.
Boyd's beliefs about Islam did not
concur with his Raleigh-area
moderate mosque, which he stopped
attending this year and instead began
meeting for Friday prayers in his
home, U.S. Attorney George E.B.
Holding said in an interview. He did
not say whether any or all the
defendants met with him.
"This is not an indictment of the
entire Muslim community," Holding
said. "These people had broken away
because their local mosque did not
follow their vision of being a good
Muslim."
___
Associated Press Writers Devlin
Barrett contributed to this report
from Washington; Meg Kinnard
contributed from Columbia, S.C.;
Alysia Patterson and Tom Foreman
Jr. contributed from Raleigh.
5
US-ISRAELI
continued from page 4
extended hand from us".
Print Sponsor
Finally, a portable
ATSC tuner, now if it
will only work well
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:30:30 AM
Expect to starting seeing ATSC
tuners in notebooks, netbooks, and
UMPCs soon. MaxLinear
and Hauppauge Digital are working
on a minicard that should tune in
ATSC, QAM, DVB-T, DVB-H, and
DTMB signals. The small card also
consumes 50% less power than other
tuner cards, and the small size means
that it can make its way into more
packages. Sounds great, right? I’m
just doubtful that it will pull in ATSC
signals without a large antenna and
therefore killing the any portability.
What makes you think that this
small tuner will pull in ATSC signals
better than your HDTV with just a
tiny antenna? Go try it. I’ll wait. Just
hook up a small wire to your COAX
tuner and see what happens. Nothing,
right? Yeah, the same thing is going
to happen with these tuners. It sounds
great on paper, and will probably
work great with DVB-type signals
that aren’t used here in the States, but
ATSC is notoriously hard to pull in
without a good antenna. And a little
cell phone-ish expandable antenna
isn’t a good antenna.
6 Top News/ Gadgets/
Pregnancy likely to be swine flu shot priority
(AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:30:48 AM
ATLANTA – Swine flu has been
hitting pregnant women unusually
hard, so they are likely to be among
the first group advised to get a new
swine flu shot this fall.
Pregnant women account for 6
percent of U.S. swine flu deaths since
the pandemic began in April, even
though they make up just 1 percent
of the U.S. population.
On Wednesday a federal vaccine
advisory panel is meeting to take up
the question of who should be first to
get swine flu shots when there aren't
enough for everyone. At the top of
the list are health care workers, who
would be crucial to society during a
bad pandemic.
But pregnant women may be near
the top of the list because they have
suffered and died from swine flu at
disproportionately high rates.
"Are they more at risk for severe
disease? That's the issue," and it
appears they are, said Dr. Denise
Jamieson, an epidemiologist with the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Pregnant women's risk from swine
flu has been a raging topic in Europe,
following the contentious suggestion
this month by British and Swiss
health officials that women should
consider delaying pregnancy if they
can.
Most health officials call that
advice unwarranted, but have agreed
that the health risks are significant. In
Verizon Uses Twitter To Trash Talk AT&T Too
By MG Siegler (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:23:50 AM
Twitter is great for a lot of things,
but I think my favorite use of it is
public smack-talking. Just read what
Lance Armstrong has to say about his
a recent report, World Health
Organization experts found that
pregnant women appear to be "at
increased risk for severe disease,
potentially resulting in spontaneous
abortion and/or death, especially
during the second and third
trimesters of pregnancy."
However, so far, WHO has not
recommended that pregnant women
get priority vaccinations.
Now doctors are waiting to see
what's decided by the Advisory
Committee on Immunization
Practices, whose guidance usually is
accepted by the CDC and influences
doctors and insurance coverage.
For more than a decade, the
committee has recommended that
pregnant women get vaccinated for
seasonal flu, which is considered a
serious threat even to pregnant
women who are young and healthy.
Pregnant women are unusually
vulnerable especially in the third
trimester due to changes in the lungs
and immune system that make it
harder for them to shake off
respiratory infections, said Dr. Kevin
Ault, an Emory University
obstetrician.
CDC data indicate swine flu is at
least as dangerous. Of 302 U.S.
deaths attributed to swine flu to date,
the CDC has detailed information on
266 of them. The agency has found
that 15 of the 266 were pregnant
women or about 6 percent.
The first American with swine flu
to die was a pregnant woman in
Texas. Judy Trunnell, 33, died May 5
Tour de France-winning teammate,
Alberto Contador. And in the tech
world, we have some good smack
talking from Verizon directed at rival
AT&T today. John Czwartacki, who
is the policy blog editor for Verizon,
sent the following public message on
after slipping into a coma and giving
birth to a healthy baby girl, delivered
by Cesarean section.
Some infected pregnant women
have other health problems. Trunnell,
for example, also had asthma and the
skin condition psoriasis. But many of
the pregnant women who died were
considered relatively healthy,
suggesting pregnancy itself is a
significant risk, Jamieson said.
"I think the whole concept that this
flu only affects pregnant women with
underlying medical conditions is
incorrect," Jamieson said.
Experts believe an effective
vaccine would benefit not only a
pregnant woman but also her unborn
child.
Infants, whose immune systems are
weak, should not get a flu shot until
they are at least 6 months old. So
whatever immunity they have is
passed on to them by their mothers,
doctors say.
The belief in the protective powers
of a mother's vaccination on their
unborn children was demonstrated in
a study of women in Bangladesh
published last year in the New
England Journal of Medicine. It
found that flu shots given to pregnant
women reduced flu in infants by 63
percent.
Only about 15 percent of pregnant
women get seasonal flu shots, experts
noted, so it's not clear how many will
get the new shot.
Some women avoid regular flu
shots, worried about possible risks to
the fetus, but studies have not shown
Twitter, " This what USA's most
reliable wireless network sends
any increased dangers from the shot.
Until recently, many obstetricians
haven't offered them, choosing to
avoid the expense of buying and
storing vaccine and the hassle of
trying to convince reluctant patients,
said Dr. William Schaffner, a
Vanderbilt University flu expert.
"Obstetricians are only now getting
with the program and are growing
comfortable with administering flu
vaccine," he said.
It's not clear that the demand for
swine flu shots would be much
greater. Pregnant patients haven't
expressed much concern about swine
flu, said the CDC's Jamieson, who is
also an obstetrician seeing inner-city
patients at Atlanta's Grady Memorial
Hospital.
"It hasn't been a major concern,"
viewed as a relatively mild illness.
They worry more about economic
concerns "how to take care of the
baby, how to get food to eat and how
to get safe and secure housing,"
Jamieson said.
So far, swine flu has likely infected
more than 1 million Americans, the
CDC believes, with at least 300
deaths.
The United States expects to begin
testing swine flu vaccines on some
volunteers in August, and predicts
160 million doses may be ready by
October.
___
On the Net:
CDC swine flu web site:
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
BEFORE a conference. #VDC"—
complete with a TwitPic(below) of a
giant Verizon truck parked outside
the conference to bolster signal.
Internet News Record
MIT's Bokode tech calls
out zebra stripes, QR
codes for battle of
barcode supremacy
By Tim Stevens (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 9:24:00 AM
Since barcodes are the sign of the
devil (must be true, we read it on the
interwebs) it's no surprise that
everyone wants to replace 'em. QR
codes have been quite popular,
allowing people and companies to
tag their stuff with colorful decals
filled with bits and bytes, and of
course RFID tags are still going
strong, but a team of researchers at
MIT has come up with something
better: Bokode. It's effectively a tiny
little retroreflective holograph that is
just 3mm wide but, when a camera
focused to infinity sweeps across it,
the Bokodes become clear and
appear much larger, captured in the
video below. In this way they can
contain "thousands of bits" of data
and, interestingly, show positional
information too, meaning the camera
knows where in 3D space it is in
relation to the tag. This, of course,
has hundreds of potential
applications ranging from grocery
shopping to augmented reality, and
should lead to new and exciting ways
for scholars to interpret/misinterpret
Revelations.
[Via BBC]
Continue reading MIT's Bokode
tech calls out zebra stripes, QR codes
for battle of barcode supremacy
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
MIT's Bokode tech calls out zebra
stripes, QR codes for battle of
barcode supremacy originally
appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 09:24:00 EST. Please see our
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Permalink| Email this| Comments
Internet News Record
AP source: Jackson doc gave him
drug before death (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:51:35 AM
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson
had been using a powerful anesthetic
to help him sleep, and authorities are
working under the theory that a dose
of it administered by his personal
physician killed him, a law
enforcement official told The
Associated Press.
The official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because the
investigation is ongoing, said
Jackson regularly received the
anesthetic propofol and relied on it
like an alarm clock. A doctor would
administer it when Jackson went to
sleep, then stop the IV drip when the
singer wanted to wake up.
On June 25, the day Jackson died,
Dr. Conrad Murray gave him the
drug through an IV sometime after
midnight, the official said.
Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff,
has said the doctor "didn't prescribe
or administer anything that should
have killed Michael Jackson." When
asked Monday about the law
enforcement official's statements he
said: "We will not be commenting on
rumors, innuendo or unnamed
sources."
In a more detailed statement posted
online late Monday, Chernoff added
that "things tend to shake out when
all the facts are made known, and I'm
Greenpeace action targets HP over ‘Hazardous Products’
By Nicholas Deleon
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:40:43 AM
Indie rock band Greenpeace has a
problem with HP, specifically its
broken promises vis–à-vis toxic
chemicals in its products. The band’s
frontman, Casey Harrell, says that
“HP continues to put hazardous
sure that will happen here as well."
Toxicology reports are still
pending, but investigators are
working under the theory that
propofol caused Jackson's heart to
stop, the official said. Jackson is
believed to have been using the drug
for about two years and investigators
are trying to determine how many
other doctors administered it, the
official said.
Murray, 51, has been identified in
court papers as the subject of a
manslaughter investigation, and
authorities last week raided his office
and a storage unit in Houston. Police
say Murray is cooperating and have
not labeled him a suspect.
Murray became Jackson's personal
physician in May and was to
accompany him to London for a
series of concerts starting in July.
He was staying with Jackson in the
Los Angeles mansion and, according
to Chernoff, "happened to find" an
unconscious Jackson in the pop star's
bedroom the morning of June 25.
Murray tried to revive him by
compressing his chest with one hand
while supporting Jackson's back with
the other.
The official also provided a
glimpse into how the pop star was
living in the weeks before he died,
describing the room in which
Jackson slept in his rented Beverly
Hills mansion as outfitted with
products on the market despite
promises made years ago to phase
out these toxic compounds.” So, to
get back at HP, Greenpeace members
“climbed to the top of HP’s global
headquarters and painted the message
‘Hazardous Products’ in big, bold
letters on the roof.”
I could find a photo of the protest,
so we’ll have to make due with the
oxygen tanks and an IV drip.
Another of Jackson's bedrooms was a
shambles, with clothes and other
items strewn about and handwritten
notes stuck on the walls. One read:
"children are sweet and innocent."
The temperature upstairs was
stiflingly hot when authorities arrived
at the singer's house after his death.
Gas fireplaces and the heating system
were on high because Jackson always
complained of feeling cold, the
official said.
A porcelain girl doll wearing a
dress was found on top of the covers
of the bed where he slept, the official
said.
Police found propofol and other
drugs in the home. An IV line and
three tanks of oxygen were in the
room where Jackson slept and 15
more oxygen tanks were in a security
guard's shack, the official said.
Using propofol to sleep exceeds the
drug's intended purpose. The drug
can depress breathing and lower
heart rates and blood pressure.
Because of the risks, propofol is
supposed to be administered only in
medical settings by trained
personnel.
___
Contributing to this report were
Associated Press writers Lynn Elber
in Tustin, Calif., Marilynn
Marchione in Milwaukee, and Justin
Pritchard in Los Angeles.
artist’s rendering:
It comes down to this: HP said a
few years ago that it would eliminate
harmful products, including
brominated flame retardants (BFRs)
and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
plastics, from its products. (When
Top News/ Gadgets/
Dozens missing as Haiti
boat sinks
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 2:19:24 AM
A boat carrying up to 200 Haitian
migrants has capsized off the coast of
the Caribbean islands of Turks and
Caicos, the US Coast Guard says.
A spokesman said 113 people had
been rescued from the sea, mostly by
the Turks and Caicos authorities, but
that at least two bodies had been
found.
Some of the injured were taken to
hospital on the Caribbean islands.
Haitians often travel through the
islands in overcrowded boats, hoping
to find work in the Bahamas or
Florida.
Lt-Cdr Matthew Moorlag of the US
Coast Guard told the BBC his team
had rescued 113 people who had
been stranded on reefs and was
helping local authorities in the search
for those still missing.
At least two bodies have been
pulled from the water - earlier reports
suggested that four had been found.
"We're hopeful that we will be able
to find survivors, however it has been
a night and we have not located any
additional people," said Lt-Cdr
Moorlag.
"We do have searches that are on
going right now and we will have
some aircraft up at first light."
US officials earlier said a
burned, PVCs release a known
carcinogen into the air.) Well, it’s
2009 (and well into 2009 at that) and
these products are still in HP’s
products.
Apparently Greenpeace set it up so
that William Shatner called HP
employees to remind them about
HP’s awful behavior.
We’ve contacted HP to see what
7
helicopter was on the scene and a
cutter was making its way there.
Unsafe crossing
The boat had been at sea for three
days when it accidentally steered into
a reef as it tried to avoid being
spotted by a police patrol vessel, one
survivor, Alces Julien, told the
Associated Press from hospital.
Lt-Cdr Morlag said the migrants
had been undertaking "a very
dangerous journey".
"Unfortunately many people lose
their lives trying to reach the United
States illegally, anywhere of 100 or
more per year," he said, adding that
the heavy loss of life was mostly due
to overcrowding of vessels.
"They don't have enough life-saving
gear or signalling gear to ensure that
they are able to survive if they do
have any problems at sea," he said.
At least nine people, including a
pregnant woman, died in May this
year when a boat carrying nearly 30
people, mostly Haitians, sank off the
Florida coast.
In May 2007, at least 61 Haitian
migrants died when a boat carrying
150 people sank off the Turks and
Caicos.
Some of the survivors said the boat
had been rammed by a patrol boat
from the Turks and Caicos, then
towed out to sea.
Print Sponsor
they have to say about all this. Still
no word from it, though.
And for those keeping score at
home, Apple is not on Greenpeace’s
blacklist.
8 Top News/ Gadgets/
US turns off Havana
news ticker
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 7:57:13 PM
Please turn on JavaScript. Media
requires JavaScript to play.
The giant electronic ticker in
Havana
The US has turned off a giant
electronic billboard at its diplomatic
mission in the Cuban capital,
Havana.
The screen, put up during the Bush
administration, scrolled news and
messages in 1.5m (five-foot) high
letters, angering the Cuban
government.
Cuban authorities had tried to block
it from view with placards and flags.
The decision to turn off the ticker
comes as the US seeks to improve
relations with Cuba.
'Billboard battle'
The ticker, set up in 2006, streamed
news and political messages to the
Cuban people from the fifth floor of
the US Interest Section in Havana.
It prompted what came to be
known as "the battle of the
billboards".
Cuba's then-leader Fidel Castro
accused the US mission of becoming
the "headquarters of the counter-
revolution".
He also ordered a million people to
march around the mission in protest.
The ticker was turned off in June,
but correspondents say that because
of the obstructions erected by Cuban
authorities, no-one seems to have
noticed.
A US state department spokesman,
Ian Kelly, confirmed on Monday that
the ticker was no longer operating, as
it was "really not very effective as a
means of delivering information to
the Cuban people".
He added that President Barack
Obama's decision to allow US
communications companies to do
business with Cuba would bolster the
flow of information to the island.
Earlier in July, US and Cuban
officials held their first talks since
2003 on Cuban migration to the US.
Print Sponsor
Creative debuts Android
-powered Zii EGG for
developers and OEMs
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:03:00 AM
It's hard to know where to begin
with this, but Creative has confirmed
that Zii EGG handheld we saw pass
through the FCC a few weeks ago,
and proceeded to slap every odd
marketing term the company has
come up with over the past few years
on it. The Zii EGG runs the new
"Plaszma" platform, which has
something to do with " StemCell
Computing" and allows developers to
simultaneously develop for Plaszma
and Android. Since for now the Zii
EGG is aimed at developers and
OEMs, it runs fairly vanilla Android
on top of Creative's ZMS-05 chip.
The hardware itself is rather
impressive, with front and rear facing
cameras, HD playback, 1080p video
output, OpenGL ES support, X-Fi
audio processing, 32GB of built-in
memory and a full SD slot. Other
more "run of the mill" features
include WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth
2.1+EDR, and a 3-axis
accelerometer. The 320 x 480 screen
sounds strictly ordinary, but on top is
some 10-point multitouch capacitive
input -- Synaptics' new ClearPad
3000 if we had to guess.
The big drawback here is the lack
of cellular data, but hopefully
somebody can solve that before long.
The Zii EGG is a developer platform,
after all, but Creative says the
platform is "market-ready" for
picking up by OEMs for production -
- hopefully they aren't far removed
from shoehorning a 3G chipset in
there somewhere as well. The Zii
Plaszma Starter Kit bundled with the
Zii EGG can be had for $400. A
video demo is after the break.
[Via DAP Review]
Continue reading Creative debuts
Android-powered Zii EGG for
developers and OEMs
Filed under: Handhelds, Portable
Audio, Portable Video
Creative debuts Android-powered
Zii EGG for developers and OEMs
originally appeared on Engadget on
Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:03:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments
Internet News Record
hField Technologies
intros revamped Wi-Fire
long-range WiFi adapter
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 8:04:00 AM
Evidently hField Technologies has a
good thing going with this inelegant
Wi-Fire thingamajig, as it has just
followed up versions one and two
with the latest and greatest third
iteration. The revamped Wi-Fire,
which is more formally known as the
HFWFG200, is said to be some 40
percent smaller and 30 percent
lighter than the previous incarnation,
yet it promises to maintain a solid
WiFi signal while up to 1,000 feet
away from the source. In one of those
classic "two steps forward, three
leaps back" moments, the company
has added in support for Linux and
OS X-based systems, though the
device only works with 802.11b/g
devices. In other words, you won't
see 802.11n speeds out of this thing,
and you'll still get looked at funny
with it affixed atop your laptop's
display. If you're willing to swap
dignity for connectivity, you can get
one headed your way today for $59.
[Via HotHardware]
Gallery: hField Technologies intros
revamped Wi-Fire long-range WiFi
adapter
Filed under: Wireless, Networking
hField Technologies intros
revamped Wi-Fire long-range WiFi
adapter originally appeared on
Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Read| Permalink|
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Internet News Record
The Song of the PowerSquid: The Inside Story of the Life of
an Invention Part 6
By Guest Author (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:32:37 AM
Hello, my name is Christopher
Hawker. I am a professional
inventor, specializing in innovative
consumer products. My company is
called Trident Design, LLC. I have
developed many products in
numerous industries and have over
20 products on the market. My most
famous invention is the PowerSquid,
a cephalopod-inspired power strip
with outlets situated at the end of
short cords, thereby eliminating the
problem of losing outlets to bulky
transformer plugs. John Biggs, editor
-in-chief of this blog, has asked me to
write the story of the birth of the
PowerSquid and its development and
journey to market. This is the Song
of the PowerSquid.
This is part 6 of a 6 part series.
Read them all here.
Part 6: Philips Enters the Picture
In the summer of 2006, I got a call
from the president of Power Sentry to
tell me that they were being bought
by Philips, the Netherlands-based
consumer electronics giant. My
initial instinct was that this would be
a mixed bag. They were just too
large. He reassured that it would be
great for the PowerSquid, with the
awesome brand and marketing power
of this giant, worldwide corporation
suddenly behind our product. What
really ended up happening was that
the huge corporation barley noticed
that it sold PowerSquid, since it had
thousands and thousands of other
products. The lack of focus quickly
became evident as the relationship
began to unfold. Most notably in
their responsiveness to our needs as
Flexity, which usually amounted to,
“bad news delivered late.”
Nevertheless, we continued to push
Flexity. Philips agreed to let us
distribute their other power products
to our customers, so we became a
distributor of the original non-surge
PowerSquid, as well as their lower-
end (UL Listed) surge protectors.
We successfully sold the Calamari
into Dell’s and Apple’s online stores,
which were two of our major targets
all along. Unfortunately, they both
sequestered them to the last page of
their surge protector sections. We
had no “pay-to-play” money to get
higher placement. With no special
attention drawn to them and
backwoods positioning, neither
venue proved as successful as our
own site.
We went to the CES show in
January 2007 with a bigger, fancier
exhibit booth and hoped we would
renew interest in our products. It was
a huge expense for us, but one we
felt would pay off. We were wrong.
Our booth was in an awkward spot
where traffic flowed all around us,
but very little came to us. We were
hidden in plain sight. We emerged
with only one promising lead – a
satellite dish installer company with
a fleet of 6,000 vans that was willing
to sell the PowerSquid out of their
vans. They placed several large
orders, but then they were purchased
by a private equity firm which
immediately ended the practice of
selling stuff to customers. They
wanted to refocus on their core
business, installations. We suddenly
lost our one big client and we were
devastated. We spent the next year
trying to get more major customers to
no avail and adjusting expectations to
the new reality that Flexity was going
to be a much more modest company
than we had imagined.
On the other hand, Philips’ sales of
PowerSquid were still going strong.
The initial agreement we had
negotiated with Power Sentry was
ending, so I was in position to
renegotiate terms of the license or go
elsewhere. Working with a brilliant
negotiation expert I had met, I
approached other industry players
and received significant interest, but,
in the end, Philips made an offer we
couldn’t refuse and we extended the
agreement for the life of the patent.
For no apparent reason, Philips
waited six months to send me the
signed renewal contract, leaving me
in an agonizingly stressful limbo.
When it finally did arrive, however,
the new deal was lucrative.
So that brings us to today. I moved
back to Columbus in 2007 and
restarted my design consultancy,
funded by PowerSquid royalties. We
have been busy developing a line of
gourmet cooking gadgets in
partnership with RSVP, a small
company based in Seattle run by a
dear friend of mine. Our Onion
Goggles have been a hit (they were
reviewed here on CrunchGear not
that long ago). We launched six more
gourmet products with RSVP this
year. I have just recently started
manufacturing and marketing another
Gadgets/ 9
one of my inventions, the Thirsty
Light, a device that goes in
houseplant soil and blinks when the
plant needs water. And there is more
on the way: a star clock, a new
innovative power strip, and a
glowing rock. We still operate
Flexity, which is now building
slowly into a nice business.
Anticlimactically, MET Lab finally
passed the six-armed Squid in 2008,
but the specs were changing in 2009
so the certification was only good for
six months. Philips still sells a lot of
PowerSquid and sends us a royalty
check every month.
The PowerSquid has been a long,
amazing journey full of excitement,
opportunity, disappointments,
struggles, failures, and successes. It
has been the best learning experience
of my life and the greatest
opportunity. It has opened doors and
made me fairly well-known in the
invention industry, giving me enough
credibility to earn an audience with
most manufacturers. I am thankful
for the journey’s experience and
rewards.
Stay tuned for the next exciting
innovation from… the amazing
SQUIDBOY!!
Christopher Hawker, an inventor
specializing in innovative consumer
products, is founder of Trident
Design, LLC in Columbus, Ohio. He
is the author of “Inventor’s Mind: 10
Steps to Making Money From your
Inventions”, a free e-book available
at Invent-Shop.com. He will be
hosting his first InventShop
Inventor’s Workshop in October
2009 for serious inventors who want
to learn his inventing system.
This is part 6 of a 6 part series.
Read them all here.
Want a PowerSquid? Leave a
comment below (including your
email) and we’ll pick one commenter
at random per day.
10 Gadgets/
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35
superzoom reviewed: crème de la crème
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:16:00 AM
If you're in the market for a
superzoom, and you've already
decided that none of those Micro
Four Thirds options will sway you, it
looks as if you'll be hard pressed to
find a superior alternative to
Panasonic's minty fresh Lumix DMC
-FZ35(FZ38 in some regions). Both
TrustedReviews and
PhotographyBLOG managed to score
a unit for review, and both outlets
came away generally impressed. The
former concluded that the outfit's
newest 18x zoomer was only
marginally changed from its
predecessor, but those who skipped
on over the FZ28 should certainly
give this one a look. In fact, it
straight up confessed that to "get
anything better than this, you'll have
to move up to a DSLR." You may
notice that this bugger doesn't offer
the greatest zoom nor the most
megapixels in its class, but the stellar
image quality and even more stirring
video mode kept critics from
suggesting any of those more
marketable rivals. Don't believe us?
Check the read links below for all the
proof you can handle.
[Thanks, TheLostSwede]
Read- TrustedReviews' take
Read- PhotographyBLOG review
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35
superzoom reviewed: crème de la
crème originally appeared on
Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
07:16:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
CSR debuts SiRFstarIV
location-aware architecture,
kisses slow fixes goodbye
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 8:27:00 AM
Nary half a year after snapping up
SiRF, CSR is already tooting its horn
about an all new SiRFstar
architecture. The predictably titled
SiRFstarIV technology takes quite
the leap over its three-pronged
predecessor, all but promising to nix
those annoyingly long location fixes
that are all too common on existing
PNDs. The new location-aware, self-
assisted, micro-power tech enables
devices to be continually aware of
location without requiring network
aide; furthermore, there's hardly any
power drain to speak of, which ought
to please smartphone owners who
can literally watch their battery meter
Internet News Record
drop with GPS enabled. CSR's first
SiRFstarIV product is the GSD4t
receiver, which is optimized for
mobile phones and "other space and
power-sensitive consumer devices."
We're told that samples of the chip
are shipping out now, with mass
production slated for October and
device integration happening shortly
thereafter.
Filed under: GPS
CSR debuts SiRFstarIV location-
aware architecture, kisses slow fixes
goodbye originally appeared on
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08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms
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Internet News Record
Verizon Wireless and
AT&T engage in legal
fisticuffs over ad slogans
By Tim Stevens (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 9:01:00 AM
Which North American wireless
provider do you think is telling the
truth in its advertising? If you
answered "none of 'em," you're
probably right, but that's not stopping
Verizon Wireless from going to court
to uphold its commercial honor,
having been called out by AT&T
earlier this month. VZW took the A
train down to US District Court in
Manhattan asking that its slogans like
"America's Most Reliable 3G
Network" be validated, claims AT&T
earlier said were false. We're not
quite sure why 'ol Blue and White is
getting feisty, since if all advertising
Sprint set to acquire Virgin Mobile
By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:32:31 AM
Sprint and Virgin Mobile sitting in a
tree, m-e-r-g-i-n-g. Well, not
merging per se. More like Sprint is
acquiring Virgin Mobile. Seems as
though this whole "pre-paid, no
contract" thing is a hit and Sprint,
were truthful it would have to call
itself " America's Least Reliable 3G
Network," but maybe this is just
some attempt to make the two look
like they hate each other in public
while exchanging sweet nothings and
text messaging price hikes in private.
All we know is this isn't the first time
carriers have battled over such
claims, and it sure won't be the last.
Filed under: Cellphones
Verizon Wireless and AT&T
engage in legal fisticuffs over ad
slogans originally appeared on
Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Read| Permalink|
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looking to gain some ground in the
mobile arms race, wants in on the
action.
Sprint acquires Virgin
Mobile USA for a cool
$483m
By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 8:39:00 AM
Remember Virgin Mobile? Sure
you do -- not long ago the last-man-
standing MVNO snapped up Helio,
and seemed ready to take its place as
one of the few boutique prepaid
operations still... er, operating. Well
that appears to be all but done and
done, as Sprint has just announced a
"definitive agreement" to purchase
the company for $483 million worth
of sweet, succulent stock (which
looks to be right about what it was
valued at to begin with). It looks like
Sprint will pair the acquisition with
its Boost Mobile brand, which till
Four hot chicks and a naked dude
By Peter Ha (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:33:36 AM
No, I’m not posting this for the fun
of it, but I can’t tell you why I’m
now was in direct competition with
VM. It's not quite rival city, however,
Virgin Mobile USA was launched as
a joint venture with Sprint, and the
MVNO glides on Dan Hesse's
network as it is. Still, it does seem to
be another indicator that the days of
the MVNO are certainly on the wane,
though Sprint now looks to own the
space -- what little there is.
Filed under: Cellphones
Sprint acquires Virgin Mobile USA
for a cool $483m originally appeared
on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
08:39:00 EST. Please see our terms
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doing it either. Just watch the video
and I’m sure you can figure it out.
Sound off in comments if you think
you know.
Gadgets/ 11
Novatel Wireless
launches MiFi 2372 with
North American-loving,
3G WiFi goodness
By Laura June (Engadget)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:25:00 AM
Novatel's just announced its North
American-friendly MiFi 2372 router
with GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA.
The Mifi 2372 will offer 7.2Mbps
HSDPA sharing for up to five
connections via WiFi. If you recall,
the European, 900/1900/2100MHz
version launched back in June, so
we're happy to see it make its way to
our shores at long last. The 2372 also
boasts a GPS receiver and microSD
card slot, and while there's no word
on pricing or definite date of
availability, we can assume it'll be
offered on subsidy from AT&T and
Rogers, and we hope that happens
soon. The full PR is after the break.
Continue reading Novatel Wireless
launches MiFi 2372 with North
American-loving, 3G WiFi goodness
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless,
Networking
Novatel Wireless launches MiFi
2372 with North American-loving,
3G WiFi goodness originally
appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 10:25:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds. Permalink|
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12 Gadgets/ Business/ *
CrunchDeals: Loaded 11.6-inch
Acer netbook for $350
By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:00:22 AM
Here’s a nice little deal on the 11.6-
inch Acer Aspire One 751h (see our
review here) over at B&H. You can
get the fully-loaded (loaded as far as
netbooks go) version with 2GB of
RAM, 250GB hard drive, and six-
cell battery for just $350 after a
$54.10 instant rebate and with free
shipping to boot.
Full specs:
• 1.2GHz Intel Atom Processor
Z520
Alt Text: Sam Raimi's 'Warcraft' Movie Production Diary
By Lore Sjoberg (Wired Top
Stories)
• 2GB RAM
• 250GB Hard Drive
• Intel GMA 500 Graphics
• 11.6 LED Backlit Widescreen
Display (1366×768)
• Integrated Webcam and
Microphone
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• 6-Cell Battery
• 2.75 lb
Acer Aspire One AO751h-1893
Netbook Computer (Black)[B&H
Photo via dealnews]
Time travel offers a sneak peek into
the director's secret chronicle, which
captures the daily dilemmas
Linux Foundation Launches
Branded Credit Card. Yes, It
Features Tux.
By Robin Wauters (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:18:55 AM
The Linux Foundation, the non-
profit that supports the growth of the
Linux kernel, is today announcing an
affinity Visa Platinum credit card for
people who want to contribute to
advancing the OS through the
organization's initiatives. Reading the
press release announcing the new
credit card made me raise my
eyebrows, but after giving it a bit of
thought I think that this is actually
not that bad an idea. Jim Zemlin,
executive director of The Linux
Foundation in a statement says
people can contribute to Linux in a
Before the bell: Futures edge lower
ahead of housing data, more earnings
By Melly Alazraki
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:40:00 AM
Filed under: Before the bell,
International markets, Earnings
reports, Market matters, Viacom
(VIA), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), U.S.
Steel (X), Valero Energy (VLO),
Economic data, Teva Pharm Indus
ADR (TEVA), Commodities, Oil,
Housing U.S. stock futures declined
Tuesday morning after managing to
close higher on Monday to extend the
remarkable rally in the markets in the
last two weeks. Today, more
earnings are on tap, and investors
will also focus on housing data
coming out before the opening bell.
Finally, there is a hearing about the
encountered in turning the massively
multiplayer online game into a
feature film -- using real gamers as
variety of ways (writing code,
marketing, etc.) but now have a
convenient way of identifying
themselves as supporters of the
community "by carrying Tux in their
pocket". And then of course there's
the financial incentive.
energy trading that would be of
interest to investors.
What on many investors' minds
these past recent days is how long
will the rally continue. The market,
on Monday, on the one hand showed
resilience following some
disappointing earnings and pressures
extras.
Internet News Record
Ben Affleck & Jon
Hamm Square off in
'The Town'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:22:00 PM
Hollywood hunks Jon Hamm, and
Ben Affleck are set to star in 'The
Town,' -- read on for more movie
details.
The film is based on the novel by
Chuck Hogan, about a bank robber
(Affleck) who falls for an employee (
Rebecca Hall) that works in one of
the banks he robs, Variety reports.
Jon Hamm will play an FBI agent
who while in pursuit of the bank
robber, also finds himself smitten by
the bank teller.
from sellers trying to cash in profits.
On the other hand, the surprise climb
in housing sales perhaps should have
triggered a more convincing positive
performance. While no doubt some
would want to take some profit of the
table in the coming days, more
positive news from corporate results
to economic data indicating a better
third quarter could sustain markets.
Continue reading Before the bell:
Futures edge lower ahead of housing
data, more earnings
Before the bell: Futures edge lower
ahead of housing data, more earnings
originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Internet News Record
Cramer on BloggingStocks: Time Warner's Q2 is
First Niagara -- the model coming up: What should
stock to own we look for?
By Jim Cramer (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:00:00 AM
Filed under: Market matters, Stocks
to Buy, Cramer on BloggingStocks
From TheStreet.com Network
• Cramer's 'Stop Trading!': Merger
Mania
• UBS Suspends Buying of
Leveraged ETFs
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says
its acquisition of Harleysville could
make it a great regional player in the
East.
When we look back at the coming
great banking consolidation making a
host of new colossuses, we will think
about First Niagara's (NASDAQ:
FNFG) ( Cramer's Take) acquisition
of Harleysville National(NASDAQ:
HNBC) ( Cramer's Take) announced
on a sleepy Monday near the end of
July 2009.
First Niagara, a Lockport, N.Y.,
bank, earlier this year received a gift
from the FDIC -- a big chunk of PNC
Financial(NYSE: PNC) ( Cramer's
Take) branches -- made necessary
because PNC had too much market
power courtesy of its now seemingly
disastrous acquisition of National
City. That move gave First Niagara a
foothold in western Pennsylvania to
RadioShack tops estimates, but market not impressed
By Steven Mallas
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 8:00:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports, Best
Buy (BBY), RadioShack Corp (RSH)
Electronics retailer RadioShack
Corporation(NYSE: RSH) sold off
on Monday. The market wasn't
impressed by the earnings beat that
management delivered. According to
complement its New York base.
Continue reading Cramer on
BloggingStocks: First Niagara -- the
model stock to own
Cramer on BloggingStocks: First
Niagara -- the model stock to own
originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Reuters, the 39 cents per share that
RadioShack booked for the second
quarter went 10 cents beyond analyst
expectations.
That sounds pretty good on the
surface. And, to be honest, I bet
shares of RadioShack would have
rallied had conditions been different.
The major indexes have seen a lot of
bullish action as we all know, and I
think a fair amount of stocks now
By Steven Mallas
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 9:30:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports,
Forecasts, Google (GOOG), General
Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX),
Walt Disney (DIS), Viacom (VIA),
News Corp'B' (NWS), Media World
Time Warner(NYSE: TWX), a
media company that competes with
Disney(NYSE: DIS),
Viacom(NYSE: VIA), News
Corp.(NASDAQ: NWS), and
General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC
Universal, will report second-quarter
earnings on Wednesday, July 29. The
call is for 37 cents per share,
according to Earnings.com.
It will be interesting to see if Time
Warner beats estimates, but I'm going
to be more interested in reading
about a few other things in the
upcoming press release. First, I want
to know how cash flow is doing -- is
Time Warner generating enough of
the green stuff to ensure strategic
flexibility? Second, I'll be noting
what management says about AOL
might run the risk of selling off on a
decent bottom-line report just
because of worries in the system.
When you think about it, this rally
has to end some time. And if you
take a look at RadioShack's stock
performance since early March, you
have to wonder how much more
(parent company of BloggingStocks).
Recently, Google(NASDAQ:
GOOG) sold its investment in the
online portal back to Time Warner.
Continue reading Time Warner's
Q2 is coming up: What should we
look for?
Time Warner's Q2 is coming up:
What should we look for? originally
appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue,
28 Jul 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds. Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
buying interest is left at this point.
Continue reading RadioShack tops
estimates, but market not impressed
RadioShack tops estimates, but
market not impressed originally
appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue,
28 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds. Read|
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Business/ 13
Amgen's second
-quarter earnings
increase 40%
By Mark Fightmaster
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:20:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports,
Amgen Inc (AMGN) After the
closing bell rang yesterday,
Amgen(NASDAQ: AMGN)
announced a second-quarter profit
that increased 40% compared to a
year ago. The company earned $1.29
per share compared to 84 cents per
share a year ago. Not only did the
pharmaceutical firm top its previous-
year results, but it also outpaced the
Street's estimated earnings of $1.16
per share.
Quarterly revenue dropped to $3.71
billion from $3.76 billion a year ago,
but AMGN still topped the consensus
revenue estimate of $3.58 billion.
Total product sales for AMGN
increased 1% when taking the impact
of foreign exchange out of the
equation. Looking ahead, AMGN
forecast full-year adjusted earnings
between $4.80 and $4.95 per share,
far better than its earlier forecast of
$4.55 to $4.75 per share and the
Street's expected $4.57 per share.
Continue reading Amgen's second-
quarter earnings increase 40%
Amgen's second-quarter earnings
increase 40% originally appeared on
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for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
14 Business/ Social Net/ *
Options Update: InterDigital
Aug volatility at 62; Sept at 53
into EPS
By Paul Foster (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 8:30:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports,
Options
InterDigital(NASDAQ: IDCC)
closed at $27.96. IDCC is scheduled
to report Q2 EPS after the market
close on July 28. August option
implied volatility is at 62; September
is at 53; near its 26-week average of
58; according to Track Data,
suggesting decreasing price
movement after EPS.
Rockwell(NYSE: ROK) closed at
$39.61. ROK is expected to report
Q3 EPS before the market open on
Nexen has an energy source the
world needs
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 6:00:00 PM
Filed under: Stocks to Buy
Alternative fuels and renewable
energy are gaining market share as
energy sources, but oil will
nevertheless remain a dominant fuel
for at least the next 15-20 years,
which is why Nexen Inc.(NYSE:
NXY) is worth a review.
Nexen, an independent, Canada-
based global energy company,
explores, develops and produces
crude oil, natural gas, and related
products in the U.K.'s North Sea,
Gulf of Mexico, Western Canada,
Yemen, Colombia, offshore West
Africa and Norway.
July 30. ROK August option implied
volatility is at 57, October is at 45;
below 26-week of 59 according to
Track Data, suggesting decreasing
price movement after EPS.
Option Update is provided by
Stock Specialist Paul Foster of
theflyonthewall.com
Options Update: InterDigital Aug
volatility at 62; Sept at 53 into EPS
originally appeared on
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08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
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Continue reading Nexen has an
energy source the world needs
Nexen has an energy source the
world needs originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Jul 2009
18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Under the radar: Libor's dip
below 0.50% indicates further
credit thaw
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 9:00:00 AM
Filed under: International markets,
Financial Crisis Some trends are
obvious enough and visible to all
investors. Others are more subtle, but
are just as potent, and these often slip
"under the radar."
Case in point: The 3-month Libor,
or London interbank offered rate,
dipped below 0.50% to 0.496% for
the first time since the financial crisis
began last fall, providing additional
evidence that central banks' efforts to
loosen credit markets are working,
Bloomberg News reported Monday.
Continue reading Under the radar:
Libor's dip below 0.50% indicates
further credit thaw
iPhone (Maybe) Finally Coming to
China
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 3:41:42 AM
China, the world’s most populous
country has been iPhone-less for far
too long, and now one of China’s
biggest mobile operators, Unicom, is
poised to fix this. According to
Shanghai Securities News, which
quoted unnamed sources, Unicom
got a three year deal to be the sole
supplier of iPhones in China.
The same source has some details
about the deal. Apparently, Unicom
has agreed to let Apple pre-install the
App Store on the iPhone, which gave
it the upper hand over China Mobile,
which wouldn’t accept this condition
from Apple. If the deal goes through,
Unicom should start selling iPhones
Under the radar: Libor's dip below
0.50% indicates further credit thaw
originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
at the end of September, at a price of
up to 440 dollars, and has guaranteed
to sell two million units a year. It
would only be a modest beginning
for Apple, which sold 5.2 million
iPhones in the last fiscal quarter, but
China’s huge market (which had 687
million mobile phone users in May)
is perhaps the most important one for
Apple in the long run.
Internet News Record
'Julie & Julia' Stars
Share Food For
Thought with ET
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:12:00 AM
ET cooked up some fun Monday in
Los Angeles with Meryl Streep, Amy
Adams, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and
more stars of 'Julie & Julia,' the film
about the culinary legend, Julia
Child.
Meryl Streep, who plays Child in
the film, tells ET’s Lawrence Zarian
about her own favorite delicacies.
"I have cereal sort of fanaticism,”
she says. "I'll have wheat berry salad
with mint, feta cheese, parsley,
pomegranate, and a little bit of olive
oil. It's very refreshing in the
summer. I haven't found a thing that I
didn't like, that's my problem. I don’t
know, I don't have a favorite thing."
The deal is not yet done, however.
As a Unicom spokesman put it, “We
have made progress but there are still
some problems to be resolved. Both
sides have their own timeframe for
an agreement but essentially it
depends on the practical progress of
the negotiations.”
If the iPhone finally comes to
China, it will be a huge booster for
Apple, but it will also raise a number
of interesting questions. How will
China’s strict censorship laws reflect
on the iPhone and its myriad of
applications? Apple already has
double standards when it comes to
iPhone apps; in China, it might be
forced to make it triple.
Tags: china, iphone
Internet News Record
Green.view: The price of glitz
(The Economist: Daily columns)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 3:28:21 AM
Green.view
Jul 27th 2009
From Economist.com All that
glisters is not green
GOLD is prized because it is both
beautiful and scarce. Just 161,000
tonnes of it has been mined in the
history of the world: barely enough
to fill two Olympic-sized swimming
pools. And because it is so scarce, it
is worth digging out a lot of rock to
get at it, and using poisonous
chemicals to extract it from that rock.
This often results in huge holes in the
ground, noxious spoil-heaps and
polluted watercourses.
Freelance goldminers in areas such
as the Amazonian rainforest are often
careless of the rights of local
tribesmen. Larger mining companies,
too, are often accused of exploiting
local workers. It is not a pretty sight.
So, in imitation of the campaign that
has raised awareness of “blood
diamonds” over the past decade or
so, No Dirty Gold, a campaigning
organisation based in Washington,
DC, is trying to do something similar
for gold.
The days are gone when most gold
was gathered by people like the
Yahoo Explains New Homepage to
Your Momma [Video]
By Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:21:41 AM
It’s no secret that Yahoo caters to a
general web audience, and a
significant one at that – it reached
330 million unique visitors
worldwide in May, according to
ComScore. Yahoo refers to these
users as the “nerd-impaired”, while
we call them “mom”.
In a work of self-parody that
affectionately embraces the
company’s less tech-savvy audience,
Yahoo has released a video from its
“49ers” of California’s gold rush,
who merely sifted water to remove
nuggets. Such easy—and
environmentally benign—pickings
have mostly been taken, and harsher
practises are now employed.
Where abundant capital is
available, the preferred method is
open-pit mining. Three-quarters of
the world’s gold now comes from
these pits. Mining gold, however,
produces more waste per unit
extracted than any other metal.
Extracting a single ounce of gold
requires the removal of at least 60
tonnes of rock, leaving a scar on the
landscape. And extracting it from this
rock often means leaching it out with
cyanide.
At the other end of the scale, an
estimated 12m to 15m individual
miners—today’s equivalent of the
49ers—smash rocks by hand and use
mercury to separate the gold from the
crushed result. They then vaporise
the mercury using a blowtorch,
leaving gold behind. It is effective,
but mercury vapour is extremely
toxic.
No Dirty Gold has drawn up a list
of what, inevitably, it calls “golden
rules” for miners. These are all to do
either with respecting the rights of
local people in the area of gold mines
engineers explaining the new Yahoo
Homepage…with captioning that
translates the nerd-speak into
English.
The take away? Yahoo’s new
homepage is fast, simple and
customizable…for those adorable
dolts who still use it.
Geek speak for what went into our
new homepage@ Yahoo! Video
Tags: homepage, Yahoo
or with protecting the environment.
The campaign is now trying to get
mining companies to sign up to these
rules, and jewellers to eschew gold
that has come from unacceptable
sources.
Given the amounts of money
involved, an initial reaction of
scepticism might be forgiven. But
both No Dirty Gold and the
campaign against blood diamonds
have one important thing in their
favour. Jewellery is about showing
off, or it is about nothing. And
showing off comes in many forms. A
synthetic gemstone, even though it is
a more perfect crystal than its natural
counterpart, is worth less because the
bragging rights associated with
owning it are lower. Similarly, those
who can brag that their gold is clean
and their diamonds bloodless can
pull moral rank on those who cannot.
If a trustworthy system of
certification can be put in place, then,
the market might persuade people to
do the right thing anyway. It seems
worth a try.
Back to top ^^ Readers' comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
July 28, 1907:
Tupperware's First Burp
By Randy Alfred (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:00:00 PM
The inventor of Tupperware takes
his first breath. He'll achieve fame
and fortune, but not enough of the
first to suit him.
Sneak a Peek at New Pics of 'Iron Man 2'!
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 2:46:00 AM
Take a look at brand-new, behind-
the-scenes stills of Robert Downey
Economy/ Social Net/ * 15
Google Voice Thoroughly
Banned From the iPhone; So
Much for an Open Platform
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 2:43:48 AM
We’ve seen Apple ban applications
from the App Store for all sorts of Apple’s app rejection reasons, this
one rings phony as well. If nothing
ridiculous reasons. This time, it’s
different; all Google Voice related that’s similar to functions and
features iPhone already has can get
apps were banned from the app store,
and this time Apple – or, more likely, approval, then no VoIP apps should
be allowed. Also no camera-related
AT&T – has a very good reason to
ban them: it’s scared of them. apps, like Pro Camera. Fring? It lets
you place calls, and send free
Google Voice lets you do a lot of
stuff for free that the AT&T charges messages, which is similar to SMS,
right? Why is that OK, then?
for; you can place free calls in the
US, you can send and receive free Let’s call a spade a spade here.
There can only be one reason for
SMS messages. The application is
still in beta, invite only stage, but thoroughly banning Google Voice
from the iPhone: AT&T, like every
several cool applications that use the
service already exist for the iPhone. mobile operator, is scared of apps
that replicate their own services. But
Sean Kovacs, the developer of GV
Mobile, has said on his site that by banning an app such as Google
Voice from the iPhone, Apple and its
Apple has rejected the application.
From his site: partner are setting a dangerous
precedent. If the developers cannot
“Richard Chipman from Apple just
called – he told me they’re removing be certain that Apple will provide
them a fair, free marketplace, they
GV Mobile from the App Store due
to it duplicating features that the will move elsewhere: to Android and
Pre. After all, why create for a locked
iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS,
etc). He didn’t actually specify which -down platform where the owners
take the cake and all you’re allowed
features, although I assume the whole
app in general.” to get is leftovers?
Other similar applications, such as Apple and AT&T need to make a
decision: is the iPhone their
VoiceCentral and GVDialer, have
also been banned. And Google only playground, or everyone’s
has an official Google Voice app for playground? If it’s the former, that’s
OK, but they shouldn’t get upset if
the Android and BlackBerry; now,
they’ve admitted that they don’t have no one wants to play with them.
an iPhone app because Apple said Reviews: Android, Fring, Google
“no”. Voice
The reason? The application(s) is Tags: Google Voice, iphone
too similar to iPhone’s own
functionality. Like so many other
Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth
Paltrow and the rest of the cast of
'Iron Man 2.'
The action-packed sequel is slated
to burst into theaters on May 7, 2010.
16 Social Net/ *
Apple iTablet: Will You Buy One?
By Ben Parr (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 7:48:30 PM
The fabled Apple Tablet – it’s a
rumor that has been around for years.
Yet it’s looking more and more like
the Apple iTablet is no joke. A 10-
inch portable movie-playing, book-
reading iPod Touch on steroids? Oh
yeah.
Yet while the Tablet may drop in
stores in September, that doesn’t
mean that it’ll be a success. Yes,
Apple has an incredible track record
with its Macbooks, iPods, and the
iPhone, but a ten inch tablet that’s
something between an iPhone and a
Macbook leaves a lot of questions –
and a lot of possible flaws. So will
you, the consumer, grab one of these
tablets? We want to know. But first,
here are the likely pros and cons of
the device to help you decide: Pros:
The rumored Apple iTablet
features highlighted in two articles
by the Financial Times provide the
best insight into what we’re likely
looking to see in Apple stores come
September. Here are some of the best
features that we’ve been able to
dissect:
- 10 inch screen
- Internet connectivity
- The ability to run iPhone apps
- Book-reading abilities
Okay, so we really know almost
nothing about this fabled device. But
the essential point is that it’s a slim
touch-screen device that could
compete in the Netbook space. They
are rising in popularity and are
surprisingly useful (I’ll admit that I
love my HP netbook), but an Apple
tablet could blow away any netbook
in speed and functionality. Make it
Exclusive Interview: Pirate on When to Negotiate,
Kill Hostages
By Noah Shachtman (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:49:00 AM
Wired contributing editor Scott
portable and include Apple’s take on
design and you could have a winner.
Cons:
All of the criticism volleyed
towards the still-unreleased Apple
tablet can be summed up in one
scathing article by PCWorld’s
Michael Scalisi. I’m just going to
quote him on some of his many
points:
- “There are lots of things that
tablets are not good at. Take
watching movies, for example. Since
a tablet is designed for lying flat, you
have to be looking straight down to
view the computer. Actually, that
makes it suck for most things.”
- “While I think a multi-touch
display is a great idea, using it to host
a virtual keyboard takes too much
real estate on a petite 10-inch
display.”
- “While the iPhone OS might seem
like an obvious choice due to its
small footprint and contribution
toward long battery life, it has
glaring limitations on a larger
device.”
- “Bundling it with wireless
broadband service would find a
limited audience.”
Really, there’s not much more we
can add to the con side. Our Take
Let’s get two simple truths out of
Carney raps with a Somali pirate
about how to negotiate a ransom,
when to kill a hostage, and how to
avoid the Navy.
the way first:
1. All of this is rumor. We really
have no idea what the iTablet will
look like, how it will work, or what
features it will offer. In fact, we can’t
even be sure at all it exists. Steve
Jobs could be laughing his ass off in
a comfy chair at Apple HQ for all we
know.
2. As a rule, Apple does its
research. They perform intensive
testing, undergo multiple iterations,
and push the boundaries of usability
and design. There is a reason that its
products have been hits since Steve
Jobs returned to the helm.
While we think Scalisi’s points are
all valid, they’re all towards a
product none of us have ever seen. It
is unfathomable to us that Apple
wouldn’t realize that a tablet can’t be
seen at a flat angle and wouldn’t take
measures to fix it. We’d be shocked
if they didn’t modify the iPhone OS
to perform admirably on a tablet.
These are things Apple tests and
tweaks constantly.
We’re going to wait until the tablet
is in our hands until we give it a
review, but we’re going to repeat our
very simple point: Apple doesn’t
build crappy products. What do you
think?
We voiced our opinion, so now it’s
time for yours. From what you know
about the Apple iTablet now, would
you buy it? Do you think it’s a smart
move by Apple? Or will it flop? Vote
on our poll, and then leave all of your
thoughts in the comments.
Will you buy the Apple iTablet?(
online surveys)
Top right image by PC World
Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, iTablet
Internet News Record
UK Government Writes a
Twitter Guide … in 20
Pages
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:45:05 AM
A tweet can have a maximum of
140 characters. A guide on how to
use Twitter, well, that’s another
matter. The UK government has one, like the one from Wall Street Journal,
it’s not focused on forbidding things
and it took its author, Neil Williams,
20 pages and 36,215 characters to and telling employees what NOT to
do, which is a good example of how
create it.
The guide, embedded below, is these types of guides should be done.
While we’re at on the subject of
actually quite an interesting read.
Besides giving a clear cut very long Twitter guides, you might
want to check Mashable’s Twitter
explanation of what Twitter is and
how (and why) the UK government Guide Book, a collection of resources
which helps you understand what
should go about using it, it
enumerates a number of third party Twitter is and how to make the best
of it.
tools (for example, bit.ly is to be
used for links because it offers traffic Template Twitter Strategy for
Government Departments Reviews:
analysis), talks about risks of using
Twitter (for example, publishing Twitter, bit.ly
Tags: Guide, twitter
embargoed news too early), and
discusses the value of retweeting.
Unlike some other Twitter guides,
Mark Buehrle's Perfect Game
Lands Him Coveted Letterman
'Top 10' Spot
By Will Brinson (FanHouse) accomplishment. Mark Buehrle,
fresh off a perfect game, did just that
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:30:00 AM
recently, with a pretty funny list (it
by Will Brinson made him laugh while reading it, so
Filed under: White Sox, MLB clearly he practiced) of "Things That
Fans, MLB Media Watch, MLB Went Through Mark Buehrle's Mind
Video, MLB Satire Reading the "Top During His Perfect Game."
10" on the Late Show with David Mark Buehrle's Perfect Game
Letterman is one of those things that Lands Him Coveted Letterman 'Top
celebrities strive for -- it's truly an 10' Spot originally appeared on
honor, yada-yada-yada. Well, thing Fanhouse MLB Blog on Tue, 28 Jul
is, if you pull off something 2009 10:30:00 EDT . Please see our
awesome in the sports world -- terms for use of feeds.
winning the British Open, throwing a Permalink| Email this| Linking
perfect game -- you'll probably get to Blogs| Comments
appear on television and read off
some Top 10 list related to your
Internet News Record
Wi-Fi Allergy is Going to Kill Us All Love Bacon? Need Soap?
By Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:37:42 AM
Run out of things to be scared of?
No matter: the tabloids have got you
covered. A story in the UK’s Sun
newspaper today repeats the claims
of Cornish club DJ Steve Miller, who
says he’s allergic to Wi-Fi – an
allergy so crippling that he can barely
leave his house.
Steve says of his illness: “I feel like
an exile on my own planet. It’s
almost impossible to find somewhere
without wi-fi nowadays. If I fancy a
pint I have to travel three miles to the
only pub in my area that doesn’t have
it. I can’t just go to the shops because
huge parts of the High Street affect
me. If I go somewhere, I can
instantly sense the wi-fi and have to
leg it.”
The piece adds that Steve has been
forced to turn down work because he
can’t find trains or hotels without wi-
fi, and airports are off limits. His
symptoms include headaches,
dizziness and difficulty
concentrating, Steve says, and he
carries a wi-fi detector everywhere he
goes. His only refuge is his detached
house in Falmouth, Cornwall, with
its 18in-thick walls.
Separately, Fox News is said to be
working on a story about Wi-Fi
allergy and is looking for people who
think they have symptoms.
Wi-Fi Allergy: Improbable
While on the surface an allergy to
new technology might sound almost
feasible, The Telegraph responded
with a debunking of the claims. Ian
Douglas points out that the radiation
levels we’re exposed to in everyday
life are significantly higher than
those we’d experience from having
wi-fi in the vicinity:
Wifi consists of electromagnetic
waves, just like light or radio waves,
with a frequency of 2.4GHz, giving it
a wavelength of around 12.5cm.
There is some variation but not
enough of a range to make any
difference. 2.4GHz is on the long end
of microwave, getting close to radio,
rather similar to mobile phone
signals. It transmits at much lower
power than a mobile phone mast, so
even if those signals were harmful,
Wifi would be less so.
Mr Miller makes no mention of
mobile phones, he is only bothered
by Wifi. If it is electromagnetic
radiation in general he’s sensitive to,
he’s in real trouble as radio waves
and visible light flood our
atmosphere every minute of every
day.
To be clear: The Telegraph doesn’t
comment on devices that are in
contact with the body– phones and
laptops – but merely that being in a
place with wi-fi is unlikely to be
hazardous.
But I’ll quote our last line from The
Sun, which reports with no apparent
irony: Steve’s new Afterlife album,
Electrosensitive, is out now on
Defected Records.
Tags: allergy, wifi
Now There’s Reddit Bacon
Soap
By Ben Parr (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 7:08:56 PM
Yes, you read that title right. No,
I’m dead serious.
Sure, we know that owning
products and apparel with the logos
of your favorite social media
companies (aka schwag) is a hot
trend – I mean, who doesn’t want his
or her own Twitter T-shirt or
Mashable mug? We thought so. But
the new Reddit schwag available
today raises the bar on schwag to
new levels. The soap bar, that is.
Reddit and Soapier have teamed up
to sell…bacon soap. Specifically,
they’re selling Reddit Alien Soap in
two varieties: Orange and, you
guessed right, Bacon. It features their
Social Net/ 17
cute little alien logo and costs $9 per
bar.
Okay, so we know that Reddit
loves bacon soap, but seriously, who
in their right mind would lather up
with bacon soap? Wouldn’t you just
be too tempted to eat it? Would you
date someone who smelled like
bacon? It’s one of the strangest
pieces of schwag we’ve ever seen.
Perhaps bacon soap will pave the
way towards social media
monetization? In any case, if you
need Reddit bacon soap right now,
here’s how to order. Be sure to tell us
about your experience int he
comments. Reviews: reddit.com
Tags: Bacon, Bacon soap, reddit
18 Social Net/ *
Firefox 4: Removing the Parts We No Longer
Need
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:47:01 AM
Here’s a little test you can try: take
a good look at your web browser,
whichever flavor you’re using, and
name all the parts (outside of the
actual web site you’re viewing) you
don’t really need.
I’m using Firefox, and for me, it’s
the home button and the title bar;
furthermore, some elements, such as
the status bar on the bottom, while
useful, could probably be taking less
space. Sure, I don’t mind having
those elements, but I’d rather have
more space for the actual web page.
The dev team that’s working on
Firefox 4 seems to be thinking along
the same lines. Recently, we’ve
discussed a new set of screenshots
which are depicting possible
interface designs for the upcoming
Firefox 4. These are likely to change
before that version is released, but
they’re a good indication that Firefox
is about to shed its skin and remove
or redesign everything that’s not an
absolutely necessary part of your
browsing experience.
In the designs, we see Firefox
taking a cue from Google Chrome,
placing the tab bar on top. Yes, it
means that the title will be truncated
to fit the length of the individual tabs,
but how many users will actually
miss having the full title?
There are some other clever
decisions in these mockups. Besides
compressing the stop/go/refresh
button into one, it turns the page
loading progress indicator (currently
placed in the status bar at the bottom
of Firefox) into a thin green line
below the address bar. Although it’s
not shown in the screenshot, without
the progress indicator, the status bar
could perhaps be completely hidden
by default, left as an option aimed
only at advanced users.
What do you think? Which parts of
the browser you no longer use?
Would you miss the title bar, the
separate go/stop/refresh buttons, the
large progress indicator or the status
bar where they completely removed?
Please state your opinion in the
comments. Reviews: Firefox, Google
Chrome
Internet News Record
Hotseat: The Creator of
Facebook's Most
Annoying App Explains
Himself
By Douglas Quenqua (Wired
Top Stories)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:00:00 PM
By now, you probably know your
Facebook friends' five favorite
albums, TV stars, and sodas. Blame
Tim O'Shaughnessy, creator of
LivingSocial, the site's most-used
and most-annoying application ever.
We asked him to explain himself.
What inspired the app?
We heard rumors about Facebook's
redesign and were thinking of ways
to tap into the new stream concept.
We wanted something that made it
really, really easy for people to form
opinions and then share them with
everyone.
Do you think people hate you a
little for that?
If LivingSocial is showing up in
your stream, it's because your friends
want you to know more about them.
Talk to them, not us.
What do you do with all the data?
We go to marketers and say, "Here
are a couple million people into
music, and here are a couple million
into movies." We're working with
American Idol, Green Day, TNT, a
lot of large brands.
Do you think folks realize you're
making money off their confessions?
I think people understand that if
something's free, there's some form
of monetization involved.
List your least favorite things about
Facebook.
One, apps aren't a part of Facebook
on the iPhone, even though they're an
integral part of the Facebook
experience. Two, I wish Facebook
would figure out news. And three, I
wish Facebook would just hurry up
and buy Twitter so there'd be less
noise in the world.
Internet News Record
The Future of Cyber Security: What Are the Rules of
Engagement?
By Kim Zetter (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:00:00 PM
The fireworks weren't only in the
sky this past Fourth of July but were
seemingly in the Intertubes, too,
when U.S. and South Korean
government websites were struck by
a series of cyber sorties that knocked
a few sites off line and left some
people seeing red — as in the
crimson Communist hue.
Anonymous South Korean
intelligence agents blamed North
Korea for the attacks — despite
presenting no evidence to back the
claim. U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-
Michigan) even called on the
administration to retaliate with a
"show of force" against the
Communist regime.
The congressman's extreme
reaction to a minor web attack is a
stark reminder that we've entered the
age of the cyber wars. It's also a
reminder that there are numerous
questions — ethical, legal and even
bureaucratic — that need to be sorted
out about the rules of engagement
before the U.S. launches any cyber
volleys in retaliation for an attack or
otherwise. The most basic being,
what constitutes an attack, how do
we identify its source and what's an
acceptable response?
In a battle where the militarized
zone exists solely in the ether(net)
and where anyone can wield the
cyber-equivalent of a 10-ton bomb,
how do we fight, let alone find, the
enemy? What standard of proof will
be used to determine the origin of an
anonymous attack?
And how do we know if the
Free Spirit: NASA Recreates Mars Surface to Liberate Rover
By Dave Bullock (Wired Top
Stories)
anonymous cyberwarrior attacking us
is a soldier from the Red Army or
just a Jolt-guzzling teen in his
mother's basement. Or, perhaps, a
Jolt-guzzling teen who's also a covert
mercenary for the Red Army. Should
the U.S. take action against a band of
student hackers in China suspected of
working for their government if
Chinese authorities deny
responsibility for their aggression?
Furthermore, if computers running
NASDAQ trades are brought to a halt
in a cyber attack, is that a criminal
offense for the FBI to investigate or a
national security incident worthy of a
counterstrike? And how will the U.S.
respond to freelance cyber warriors
who sell their services to any
adversary who pays the highest bid?
If U.S. leaders have pondered any
of these questions, there's little
available evidence of it. Last year,
President Bush signed the
Comprehensive National
Cybersecurity Initiative, which
reportedly addresses some of these
questions, but most of the report is
classified.
"The U.S government's view of this
has been completely shrouded in
silence, and there has never been any
public discussion about this. We
think that's a bad thing," says Herbert
Lin, director of a 322-page National
Research Council study published in
April, which concluded that the
current U.S. policy and legal
framework addressing cyber warfare
is "ill-formed, undeveloped and
highly uncertain."
"I think there ought to be
congressional hearings on the
subject," Lin says.
Marcus Sachs, who helped build
Earthbound engineers work
furiously to free the Martian rover
currently stuck in mud up to its
the military's first cyber warfare unit
in 1998 and helped produce a report
last year with recommendations for
the president on cybersecurity, agrees
with Lin.
"Since the nuclear age started,
we've been open to public debate
about the use and deployment of our
nukes, and that's the conversation we
need to have in the world of
cyberspace," he says.
Last month, the Defense
Department launched a new unified
cyber command center that will
reside at the National Security
Agency and be headed by NSA
director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander.
The command, expected to be in full
force by October 2010, won't only
defend military networks from attack
but will also advise the government
on defending non-military
government networks and private-
sector critical infrastructures and will
be responsible for developing
offensive cyber warfare weapons and
strategies.
There's little agreement in cyber
security circles about what cyber
warfare actually means, but the latter
could involve anything from
surreptitiously infiltrating adversarial
computers to siphon intelligence, to
full-on cyber assaults against a power
grid or air-traffic control network. It
might also involve planting
disinformation, manipulating the
hubcaps.
electronic results of an election or
sabotaging financial markets through
computer networks.
Lin and his researchers cite a case
in 1982 in which a rounding off error
in software used in the Vancouver
stock exchange resulted in a slight
devaluation of the stock index that
over many months added up to a 48
percent loss. Instead of the index's
true value of 1009.811, it was
calculated as 524.881. The glitch was
unintentional, but it's not hard to
imagine an intentional software
tweak that could go unnoticed for
months and collapse a market already
under strain.
But no one should think that a U.S.
response to cyber attacks would be
limited to an assault on enemy
networks. Defense officials told The
New York Times earlier this year
that the U.S. government reserved
the right to respond to a cyber attack
in any way it chose, including a
nuclear strike, with the caveat that
this likely wouldn't be the optimal
choice they'd select.
No one knows to what extent the
U.S. has already engaged in cyber
offensive attacks. In 2007, the
Department of Homeland Security
grabbed headlines when it released a
video to raise alarm about
vulnerabilities in the U.S. power grid.
The video showed a simulated
remote hacker attack against an
electrical turbine which caused the
turbine to spin out of control and
collapse in a cloud of smoke.
The performance might easily have
been inspired by a 1982 incident, in
which the U.S. sabotaged the
Siberian pipeline. After the U.S.
learned from a Russian scientist that
* 19
the Soviets were stealing data on
U.S. technology, the CIA hatched a
plot to insert a logic bomb into
software it knew was headed to
Russia to operate pumps, valves and
turbines on the Siberian natural gas
pipeline. The equipment worked fine
initially, but at a pre-programmed
time caused excessive gas pressure to
build on the valves. The resulting
explosion was captured by orbiting
satellites and was "the most
monumental non-nuclear explosion
and fire ever seen from space,"
according to a former U.S. official
who disclosed the incident in his
2004 memoir. Although there were
no human casualties, the story might
easily have had a different ending.
The situation raises all kinds of
legal questions and concerns, says
Sachs. "What is the law of war, and
how does the Geneva Convention
apply in cyberspace? If we poison
some software as part of a conflict, is
that [considered] a weapon system?"
The National Research Council
argues in its report that without a
cyber policy established well before
it's really needed, we're vulnerable to
being swayed by hastily-formed
arguments in favor of a counterattack
the minute a crisis occurs. The July
Fourth finger pointing is a minor
illustration of this.
Both Lin and Sachs say that the
line between a minor cyber incident
and an all-out kinetic war is thin and
one that we could easily cross if we
don't tread carefully. The first step,
they say, is to open the topic to
public debate and establish a clear
policy to guide us. Future of Cyber
Security:
Wired reports: Read More
20 * World/
Thanks for giving my pixels back, browser makers
By Stephen Shankland
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:00:00 AM
I'd personally like to offer browser
makers my gratitude for realizing
that my screen isn't big enough.
I'm one of those people who wants
every bit of display real estate I can
get. The more I can see of the
document I'm writing, the in-box I'm
scanning, and the photo I'm editing,
the happier and more productive I
am.
The maximize button is my friend.
Toolbars are my enemies.
So I'm happy to report that browser
makers are paying new attention to
the issue. It's important to me for
reading Web sites, but it's really
important to me for the new
generation of Web applications. A
row of pixels saved once in the
browser is returned again with each
Web-based application.
Mozilla's ultimate goal is to make
the user interface step into the
background as much as possible--
indeed, the mobile-phone version of
Firefox now under development has
no visible user interface until it's
needed. "Every time a user has to
think about how to do something,
instead of what we want to do, we as
software creators have failed," said
Aza Raskin, Mozilla's leader of user
interface work.
But it's not simple to redesign the
browsers. Users can be confused
when interfaces change, some
controls are essential, and hiding
them can cause problems.
"The challenge to reducing UI (user
interface) is in recognition versus
recall. People generally use what
they see," Raskin said. "How can we
provide one-click access to
everything possible on the Web
without also cluttering the screen?
'We hope to break down stereotypes'
By Lars Eriksen (World news
and comment from the Guardian
That's a question we are still
answering."
Microsoft's case is illuminating. Its
Internet Explorer 7 hid the menu bar,
though it could be revealed by
pressing the Alt key, but IE 8 shows
menus by default. (It can be hidden
again by default if people choose,
and I do.)
Reclaiming real estate
There's been some work in this area
for years. For example, hitting the
F11 key in Windows puts Firefox
into a full-screen mode, hiding title,
menu, address, and tab bars. And
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 hid
the menu bar, though it could be
revealed by pressing the Alt key; IE
8 shows menus by default again,
though it can be hidden again by
default if people choose, and I do.
But now the pixel reclamation
effort is taking off in earnest. The big
statement came in September 2008,
when Google revealed its Chrome
browser--ironically named because it
aims to move the user interface
elements, called chrome, as much
into the background as possible.
Chrome wiped out the title bar
altogether and arrayed its browser
tabs in the newly freed space. It also
wiped out the menu strip and tucked
the options into two drop-down menu
buttons to the right of the address
bar. Information that would show in
a status bar, such as the actual URL
of a Web address you're hovering
your mouse over, appear in a
From swimmers to ballroom
dancers, competitors at the 'gay
Olympics' in Copenhagen say it is the
temporary box that appears on the
lower left. When you search a Web
page, another small window appears
in the upper right. (Chrome looks
somewhat different on Mac OS X,
which always uses a menu bar at the
top of the screen that's detached from
the browser Window itself.)
An example of Chrome's latest
interface on Windows.(Credit:
Screenshot by Stephen
Shankland/CNET)
Chrome on the Mac can't free up
the menu bar real estate, so it looks
different than on Windows.(Credit:
Screenshot by Josh
Lowensohn/CNET)
Missing at launch was a full-screen
mode, but Google rapidly filled in
that gap. This max-screen ethos is
one reason that Chrome, at present at
least, is my default browser.
Another change came with Safari 4
from Apple. Like Chrome, it added
the two-button menu icons toward
the upper right. Unlike Chrome, it
sports a traditional menu bar as well,
though with the Windows version it
can be hidden to free up some real
estate.
Safari 4 lets you hide the menu bar-
-but between the beta and final
versions, Apple moved the tabs to the
more conservative position
immediately above the browser Web
page.(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen
Shankland/CNET)
Unfortunately, in my opinion,
Apple backed off from another
taking part that matters
change between the Safari 4 beta and
final version. Initially, the browser
sported tabs in the title bar, like
Chrome, but Apple later moved them
into the more conservative position
immediately above the Web page.
The next move comes from
Mozilla, which leads development of
the Firefox browser.
With the dash to release Firefox 3.5
now over, developer attention again
focuses on the future. Last week,
mock-ups of Firefox 3.7 arrived to
trigger discussions of what the final
interface should look like. On display
were two Chrome-like
characteristics: the two menu icons
and the missing menu bar.
Shortly afterward came the Firefox
4.0 mock-ups, moving the tabs to the
title bar in one option that's even
more Chrome-esque.
This Firefox 4.0 mock-up shows a
very Chrome-like interface.(Credit:
Mozilla)
One of the big assets Firefox has is
its extensions system, which can be
used to customize the browser. One I
like is autoHideStatusbar, which
reclaims the status bar real estate
except when I need it in order to see
where a link on a Web site leads. I
also use Tree Style Tab to move tabs
off to the left; I typically need
vertical space more than horizontal.
In the same vein, those who were
enamored of the Firefox 3.7 mock-up
look can try it themselves in the real
world with a three-step change
Internet News Record
LifeHacker put together.
The Web app era
How all these changes will shake
out isn't clear yet. But what is clear is
that influential developers believe
thin frames are better than thickets of
icons, menus, bars, and boxes.
The Web application trend is one
reason this trend is important.
Consider for a moment Microsoft
Word. Especially when the newer
version's ribbon of icons is active, it
requires a fair amount of area to
house its controls.
Now consider Google Docs, which
must add its word-processing user
interface elements with those already
present for the browser itself. Those
using the application must bear a
double burden. It's like going back to
the era of 800x600-pixel displays.
Now factor in the Web application
future--Picnik for photo editing,
Zoho for office productivity, Bespin
for programming, even Microsoft
Office soon. These applications are
increasing in number, sophistication,
and importance, even if they aren't
replacing desktop applications as
soon as Google Chrome OS
developers might hope.
A little bit of screen real estate
saved in the browser is multiplied
many times over across this range of
applications. And of course,
conventional Web browsing can
benefit, too, offering the possibility
of more information and less
scrolling to get to it.
It takes real work to pare back a
user interface without impairing
software's utility. But until the day
arrives when my screen is displayed
on an entire office wall or directly on
my retina, I'll hoard every pixel that
browser developers can give me.
Internet News Record
The Future of Cyber Security: Hackers Have
Grown Up
By Kevin Poulsen (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:00:00 PM
Late last year, the software
engineers developing a new
Windows-based networking client
confronted an all-too-common
problem in today's hostile internet
environment: How would they make
their software resistant to the legions
of enemies waiting to attack it?
Particularly worrisome was a key
feature of their code, a mechanism to
accept updates online. If it were
subverted, an attacker could slip his
own program into an installed base of
millions of machines.
The coders decided to fortify their
software with MIT's brand-new, high
-security cryptographic hashing
algorithm called MD-6. It was an
ambitious choice: MD-6 had been
released just two months before, and
hadn't yet faced the rigors of real-life
deployment. Sure enough, the move
seemed to backfire when a security
hole was found in MD-6's reference
implementation not long after the
launch. But the coders rallied, and
pushed out a corrected version in a
new release of their software just
weeks later.
It would be a model for secure
software development, except for one
detail: The "Windows-based
networking client" in the example
above is the B-variant of the spam-
spewing Conficker worm; the
corrected version is Conficker C, and
the hard-working security-minded
coders and software engineers? A
criminal gang of anonymous
malware writers, likely based in
Ukraine. The very first real-world
use of MD-6, an important new
security algorithm, was by the bad
guys.
This is the future of hacking:
professional, smart, and above-all
well-funded. In the old days, hackers
were mostly kids and college-age
acolytes sowing their wild oats
before joining the establishment.
Today, the best hackers have the skill
and discipline of the best legitimate
programmers and security gurus.
They're using mind-bending
obfuscation techniques to deliver
malicious code from hacked websites
undetected. They're writing malware
for mobile phones and PDAs. The
underground has even embraced the
next-generation internet protocol
IPv6, according to research by IBM -
- setting up IPv6 chat rooms, file
stores and websites, even as
legitimate adoption lags. Ten years
ago, an oft-repeated aphorism held
that hackers were unskilled vandals:
Just because they can break a
window, doesn't mean they could
build one. Today's bad guys could
handcraft the stained glass in the
Sainte-Chapelle.
Money is the catalyst for this
change: Computer criminals are
scooping in millions through various
scams and attacks. The best hackers
are growing up in Russia and former
Soviet satellite states, where there are
fewer legitimate opportunities for
smart coders. "If you're a
sophisticated team of software
developers, but you happen to be in
Eastern Europe, what's your way of
raising a lot of money?" says Phillip
Porras, the cyber threat expert at SRI
International who dissected
Conficker. "Maybe we're dealing
with business models that work for
countries where it's more difficult for
them to sell mainstream software."
One result is hacking-as-a-service.
Want your custom code installed in a
botnet of hacked machines? It'll cost
you $23 for a 1,000 computers, $130
if you want them exclusively, says
Uri Rivner, head of new technologies
at security company RSA. Or you
can pay for a custom Trojan horse
that will sneak past anti-virus
software, or a toolkit that will let you
craft your own. "They actually have a
testing lab where they test their
malicious code against the latest anti-
virus companies," says Rivner,
whose group closely monitors the
underground. While most computer
criminals are "thugs," the
programmers and software
entrepreneurs supplying them are
scary-smart, he says.
Particularly disturbing to security
experts is the speed with which the
bad guys are jumping on newly
disclosed vulnerabilities. "Even one
year ago, a lot of these web exploit
toolkits were using vulnerabilities
that had been discovered one or two
years prior," says Holly Stewart,
Threat Response Manager at IBM's
X-Force. "They were really, really
old.... That has really changed,
especially this year. We're seeing
more and more current exploits go
into these toolkits. And we're seeing
exploits come out that are even just a
couple days after the vulnerability
announcement."
Even worse, hackers are finding or
purchasing their own vulnerabilities,
called "zero day" exploits, for which
no security patch exists. With real
money to be had, there's evidence
that legitimate security workers are
being tempted themselves. In April,
federal prosecutors filed a
misdemeanor conspiracy charge
against security consultant Jeremy
Jethro for allegedly selling a "zero
day" Internet Explorer exploit to
accused TJ Maxx hacker Albert
Gonzales. The price tag: $60,000. It
could take a lot of consulting gigs to
make that kind of money performing
penetration tests.
The change is being felt at every
level of the cyber security world.
When SRI's Porras dug into the
Conficker worm -- which still
controls an estimated 5 million
machines, mostly in China and Brazil
-- the update mechanism initially
baffled him and his team. "I know a
lot of people stared at that segment of
code and couldn't figure out what it
was," he says. It wasn't until crypto
experts analyzed it that they realized
it was MD-6, which at the time was
available only from the websites of
MIT and the U.S. National Institute
of Standards and Technologies.
Other portions of Conficker were
equally impressive: the way it
doggedly hunts for anti-virus
software on a victim's machine, and
disables it; or the peer-to-peer
mechanism. "There were points
where it was pretty clear that certain
major threads inside Conficker C
seemed to be written by different
people," he says. "It left us feeling
that we had a more organized team
that brought different skills to bear....
They aren't people who have day
jobs."
Looking back, the first 20 years in
the war between hackers and security
defenders was pretty laid back for
both sides. The hackers were tricky,
sometimes even ingenious, but rarely
organized. A wealthy anti-virus
industry rose on the simple counter-
measure of checking computer files
for signatures of known attacks.
Hackers and security researchers
mixed amiably at DefCon every year,
seamlessly switching sides without
anyone really caring. From now on,
it's serious. In the future, there won't
be many amateurs. Future of Cyber
Security:
Wired reports: Read More
* 21
'Bachelorette' Shocker:
Emotions Fly as Jillian
Harris is Forced to
Choose One Guy
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 11:00:00 PM
A shocking turn of events on
Monday night's season finale of "The
Bachelorette" left Jillian Harris
stunned and emotional before she
made her final decision on which
man won her heart. Read on to see
what twist jolted Jillian -- and see
who she ultimately picked!
Jillian, 29, chose Ed, a 29-year-old
technology consultant -- but not
before a stunning whirlwind swept
her up until the last moment of her
decision.
The finale kicked off with the two
finalists, Kiptyn and Ed, meeting
Jilllian's family. After talking and
sorting through an awkward time
spent previously on their fantasy
date, Jillian brought Ed over to meet
her parents, her grandmother and her
cousin. Ed explained to Jillian’s
family his prior decision to leave her
and then return, saying: "I knew that
I let her down, and I let myself
down." Jillian's mom, Peggy, grilled
Ed with a list of 66 questions, and it
appeared as though he passed with
flying colors. "I just think that he's
crazy over you," Jillian’s mother
observed of her time with Ed. Ed
asked Jillian's father how he would
feel if he popped the big question, to
which her father replied: "I think I’m
reading you the right way, and I like
what I see in you…I would be really
quite happy to see that take place. I'd
be doing summersaults."
22 * Internet News Record
Professional social networks that take on LinkedIn
By Don Reisinger
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:32:58 PM
You might be using LinkedIn to
stay connected with your business
contacts, but there are alternatives on
the Web that will help you network
and enjoy some extra features while
you're at it. Whether you want to
hang out at some professional parties
or you're more interested in sharing
best practices, there are some really
neat business-centric social networks
on the Web you'll want to visit.
Go pro with these social networks
Focus If you're looking for answers
to important business decisions,
Focus is the social network for you.
After signing up for Focus, you can
immediately start researching topics
that have some relevance to your
business. From finance to customer
service, the site is filled with
professionals both asking and
answering questions on topics that
impact business. To push its social
element, Focus allows you to write a
blog, connect with others in groups,
or simply post comments to
discussion boards. If you're looking
to learn more about your industry and
you want peers to help you do it,
Focus is for you.
Focus will give you some insight
on important business topics.(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)
Netparty If you're a young
professional, networking is one of the
most important elements of your
career. If you don't know colleagues,
you might lose a competitive
advantage over others vying for the
same job. That's where Netparty
comes in.
Netparty's goal is to connect young
professionals in a party atmosphere.
The site arranges networking events
for young professionals in several
cities across the U.S., Canada,
Europe, and even South America. It
sets up parties at different places
around the city you live in, charges
an admission fee, and even gives you
directions on getting there. From the
site, you can buy tickets and get on
the V.I.P. list, so you don't need to
wait in line. It's a great service. More
young professionals should be using
it.
Netparty connects young
professionals in local hot
spots.(Credit: Screenshot by Don
Reisinger/CNET)
Plaxo Although Plaxo isn't
designed specifically for business
professionals, the social site's My
Career option is a fine LinkedIn
alternative.
Plaxo's My Career feature allows
you to fill out your professional
history. You can input your past and
current employers, where you went
to college, and more. Once that
information is populated, Plaxo helps
you find colleagues at all those firms,
as well as old classmates. It's similar
to LinkedIn, but since there aren't as
many users, you won't find as many
colleagues. Regardless, you can
communicate with those people
through direct messages or by joining
groups. It's not the best social career
service, but Plaxo's My Career isn't
bad either.
Plaxo's My Career page might help
you in your professional
networking.(Credit: Screenshot by
Don Reisinger/CNET)
Ryze Ryze is a social network that
helps you communicate with others
in your industry.
After you sign up for Ryze, you'll
be able to create a full profile that
includes your company's address,
where you live, and more. After that,
you need to decide if you want to use
the Basic, free version of Ryze or
paid versions that cost $10 or $20 per
month for a Gold or Platinum
membership, respectively. The paid
versions allow you to create your
own groups on the site.
If you don't want to create your
own, Ryze gives you the option to
join groups. You can also
communicate with others via
message boards and direct messages.
The site's events page is a great way
to network with other professionals.
That said, the site is poorly designed
and its paid memberships do detract
from the service.
Ryze has a slew of great
events.(Credit: Screenshot by Don
Reisinger/CNET)
Talkbiznow Talkbiznow is a fine
social network that will give you the
chance to discuss important topics
with colleagues in a social setting.
After you sign up for Talkbiznow, I
think you'll be impressed by the site's
profile-creation tool. From adding a
simple biography to populating your
profile with a career history and
contacts, your colleagues should be
happy with what they find.
Perhaps the best feature
Talkbiznow offers is its Services
pane, which lists several options for
you to enhance your Talkbiznow
standing. You can host a Webinar,
upload documents to your profile,
hold a video conference call, or
manage your calendar. Those four
features make Talkbiznow a unique
service that stands apart from some
of its competition. With a bigger
community, Talkbiznow could easily
compete with LinkedIn.
Talkbiznow is the social network
for those who want more than
connections.(Credit: Screenshot by
Don Reisinger/CNET)
Xing Xing is a professional social
network that competes well against
LinkedIn.
After you sign up for Xing, you'll
find that it's big on features. You can
fill out your profile with in-depth
information about yourself. Once
complete, you can start connecting
with colleagues at companies all over
the world. You can send them
messages, meet up with them at
events that can be publicized on the
Xing site, or just search for them.
Although there are still some U.S.-
based members, there are far more
people from Europe and Asia on the
Internet News Record
Microsoft kicks off Windows Mobile
app store challenge
By Jessica Dolcourt
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 3:40:00 PM
At long last, Microsoft is publicly
getting its Windows Mobile
application storefront under way. On
Monday, Microsoft opened the door
to submissions from developers in 29
countries. To sweeten the deal and to
drum up excitement, Microsoft has
also announced the Race to Market
Challenge, a contest of superlatives
that will end with Redmond doling
out four touch-screen Microsoft
Surface tables to four winning
developers.
All applications, games, and
widgets certified in the Windows
Marketplace for Mobile before
December 31 will be eligible to win
one of four categories: most
downloaded freeware, most
moneymaking app (calculated by the
number of downloads times price),
the most useful product, and the most
playful. Microsoft will determine the
last two subjective awards by a panel
decision.
The winners' spoils are paltry in
terms of quantity and heft when
compared to Google's first Android
Developer Challenge, which gave 10
teams a $275,000 award, 10 teams a
$100,000 check, and each of the top
50 finalists $25,000 as an incentive
Jason & Janette on Their 'SYTYCD' Exit
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:05:00 AM
Jason Glover and Janette Manrara
made the Top Eight on "So You
Think You Can Dance," but last
week, despite some excellent
comments from the judges, America
sent them home. Now, the two voted-
off dancers talk about getting the
boot.
to program the "best" of the first-ever
Android applications.
Indeed, we were hoping to see
more lucrative prizes from a
company whose mobile operating
system long ago lost its gleam to the
iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and
now even the Palm Pre. With such a
modest purse, it's doubtful that the
contest will lure important
developers more than the promise of
sustained profit and saturating the
mobile market on all platforms
would. It might attract the smaller
fish, whose success could likely be
eclipsed by fast-acting bigger
players.
Still, for the hopeful winners, odds
clearly favor the free and premium
applications that are promoted in the
app store the longest, and among
them, apps already popular on earlier
Windows Mobile builds and on other
mobile and desktop platforms
(Google Mobile App might be one
example).
The backdrop to Microsoft's
challenge is its submission process,
which Microsoft estimates will take
10 business days from start to finish.
Developers will be able to chart their
apps' progress on a dashboard, and
access a report if Microsoft denies
the submission for breaching content
Jason, both of your routines were
great this week, especially the hip-
hop number. Do you think there's
anything you could have done
differently to stay in the competition?
Jason Glover: I don't think that I
could have done anything better. I
think that certain things could have
been done differently, definitely
performance-wise with certain dance
routines, but I was pleased with the
policies (PDF), prohibitions (PDF),
and submission guidelines (PDF).
Microsoft's Windows Marketplace
for Mobile application storefront will
premier on Windows Mobile phones
running the upcoming version 6.5 of
the mobile operating system. It will
be the distribution nexus for free and
premium Windows Mobile
applications that is similar in concept
--and likely in form--to Apple's
iTunes App Store, Google's Android
Market, and RIM's BlackBerry App
World.
Windows Mobile 6.5 phones are
expected to hit shelves in early
autumn.
Interested developers can access
everything from the developer toolkit
to the marketplace registration here.
Microsoft is accepting submissions
from developers in Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hong Kong SAR, India,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg,
Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Singapore, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Taiwan, United
Kingdom, and the United States.
Originally posted at The Download
Blog
whole process. It did stink staying in
the bottom as many times as I was,
but I think that just proves how much
I wanted to stay, fighting every week
to stay in the competition. Overall,
it's been a great experience and I
couldn't have asked for more. I didn't
even think that I would get to this
point, so I'm just really happy right
now.
Time.com brings news
to BlackBerry
By Jessica Dolcourt
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 12:49:00 PM
(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by
Jessica Dolcourt)
Time.com news content has never
been farther away on a BlackBerry
phone than a good RSS reader like
Viigo. On Monday, Time launched
its own reader, for the brand's content
alone. Time.com for BlackBerry is a
free, ad-supported application that
mimics Time.com's Web experience,
albeit through a wisely pared-down
interface.
The graphics-rich application
shines in Time's signature carmine
hue. Buttons along the top strip
navigate to top stories, popular
stories, lists (including 50 Essential
Travel Tips and 10 Big Recession
Surprises), and photo galleries. Keep
scrolling to the right to pick up a
fifth, hidden button--More--from
which you're able to browse
categories that have been condensed
in the interest of saving space. For
now, video isn't supported.
* 23
Time.com's straightforward
application is easy to navigate by
scrolling and clicking stories. Text
loads quickly, but if you're in data
and Wi-Fi dead zones, thumbnails
make a scattered appearance. You
can switch to a lighter text view,
which strips out the thumbnails, but
retains the red border and graphical
navigation buttons.
When you're done reading, four
buttons at the bottom of each page let
you send the article to yourself or to
a friend, post on Delicious, or share
via Twitter.
Personalizing the feed is the
Time.com reader's best feature.
Scroll through the list to approve or
nix categories you'd like promoted in
the Top Stories home screen.
Swampland, pass. Nerd World,
check.
Time.com's application for
BlackBerry is available by pointing
the mobile browser to app.time.com.
Originally posted at The Download
Blog
24 * Internet News Record
Design ideas show Firefox 4.0 with a Chrome
look
By Stephen Shankland
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 1:37:00 PM
This Firefox 4.0 mockup shows a
very Chrome-like interface.(Credit:
Mozilla)
Mozilla has released mockups that
show how Firefox 4.0 conceivably
might look, and two words spring to
my mind: Google Chrome.
Last week, Mozilla showed some
mockups for the nearer-term Firefox
3.7 that eliminated the browser's title
bar, replacing it with two drop-down
menu buttons on the right, just like
Chrome has had since its September
2008 debut. The Firefox 4.0 mockups
show two options, one similar to the
3.7 ideas, and the other taking
another step in the Chrome direction.
Specifically, the second Firefox 4.0
mockup shows the browser tabs on
top where once there was a window
title bar. That's the same approach
that Google picked with Chrome, a
view of which you can see below.
Mozilla is looking for comment on
the designs, which, the browser
developer takes pains to note, are
"for brainstorming/exploration" and
aren't final.
Of the "more contentious Tabs-on-
Top concept," Mozilla says
advantages include that it saves
vertical space and removes visual
complexity. On the flip side, it's
different, and moving user interface
elements confuses people. Also on
the negative side, the missing title
bar means people see only a
truncated Web page title in the tab.
For Firefox, putting tabs on top
meshes conceptually with
Electrolysis, aka Content Processes,
an under-the-covers change that will
make each tab a separate computing
process. That carries potential
performance, stability, and security
advantages, but requires more
memory.
The Firefox 4.0 mockups also show
a combination button to the right of
the address bar that changes behavior
depending on what the browser is up
to. The button can be used to start
loading a page whose address has
been typed, to stop loading if it's in
the process of doing so, and to reload
it if it's finished loading.
An example of Chrome's latest
interface.(Credit: Screenshot by
Stephen Shankland/CNET)
Skyfire halts
BlackBerry
browsing alpha
By Jessica Dolcourt
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:43:00 PM
On Monday afternoon, Skyfire
announced it would put a temporary
halt on its alpha program for
BlackBerry. The makers of a popular
alternative mobile browser for
Symbian and Windows Mobile
phones pulled the private testing
program when they discovered
earlier today that a non-disclosure
agreement had been broken and the
program had been leaked.
Co-founder Nitin Bhandari wrote
on Skyfire's blog, "During the time it
was leaked, there were many
BlackBerry users trying the alpha
release on Curves, Storms, and other
BlackBerry models--it was not
intended for these devices."
This statement suggests the
company might fear the possibility
that negative press could plague the
product before its sanctioned beta
release.
This alpha photo was leaked last
April.
This is not the first time Skyfire has
had problems with overenthusiastic
alpha testers. In April, screenshots of
an even earlier-stage alpha build for
BlackBerry hit the Web, much to
Skyfire's consternation.
Skyfire has not said when it will
reinstate the alpha testing program
for its BlackBerry browser.
Originally posted at The Download
Blog
Internet News Record
Super Search brings search overkill
to Firefox
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:29:00 PM
If you're the type of person who
uses a lot of search engines and
doesn't mind having a toolbar
installed, you might want to check
out Firefox Super Search. This
Firefox-only add-on puts the power
of 160 search engines in one toolbar,
with about 70 that can be searched
right from the toolbar itself.
If you're used to Firefox's built-in
search box, this is a pretty big step up
both from selecting one engine at a
time and having to add additional
engine tools from Mozilla's catalog.
It's also laid out in a really
straightforward manner, putting
search engines with which you can
search (from within the toolbar) in
drop-down menus on the right side of
the query box. There's also a
directory of the other 90 or so
engines that require a visit before
beginning a new search.
Super Search is set up to let you
search from nearly 70 search engines
right from the blue options on the
right of the search box. And the
green button on the left is a directory
of ones where you have to begin the
search from that particular site.
(Note, this screenshot has been edited
to show off all of the toolbar's
features at once).(Credit: CNET)
My only qualm is that you cannot
reorganize the order of the engines or
make a shortlist of your favorites. It's
also missing out on modern search
box niceties like auto-complete and
search-as-you-type suggestions--two
things that require the search box to
know which engine you're searching
with first. On the plus side, though,
the curation and organization of the
engines is spot-on.
Note: This add-on is experimental,
which means that it may not work
perfectly in your browser. We used
Super Search on Firefox version
3.5.1 without issues.
Originally posted at Web Crawler
* 25
The Full Report on Tiger
Woods
By Shane Bacon (FanHouse)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:00:00 AM
by Shane Bacon
Filed under: PGA, PGA
Championship So it has come to this.
The man who awed us for years in
the golf world has been relegated to a
sourpuss on the links that can't win
the big tournament. Sure, he has
claimed three big events this year,
but his missed cut at the British Open
on a course that some felt he could
dominant has the golf world abuzz.
The Tiger Woods Conundrum is a
tricky one. See, the biggest problem
with it lies in the fact that Tiger has
molded our expectations of him. He
burst onto the scene a major
championship winner at 21. He never
seemed to miss the big shot or the big
moment, echoing these words by Earl
Woods in the old Nike commercial, certain times, and miles off at others.
"I promise you, that you'll never meet With three tournaments in a row
another person as mentally tough as coming for Woods, a few questions
you in your entire life, and he hasn't, are in order.
and he never will." He was a golfing The Full Report on Tiger Woods
machine.
Now, some might argue that he has
fallen off. He hasn't won the Masters
originally appeared on Fanhouse
Golf Blog on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
10:00:00 EDT . Please see our terms
since 2005 on a course he should
dominate. It has been five majors
since Tiger last hoisted a trophy. His
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
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golf swing seems to be a light switch
at this point in his career; on at
PROFESSIONAL
continued from page 22
site. That might discourage some you know just as much as what you
from joining, since the majority of know. Netparty helps you meet other
their U.S.-based colleagues are on important people.
other social networks, but if you're 2. Talkbiznow: With so many great
doing business internationally, Xing features, Talkbiznow is worth
is the social network for you. checking out.
Xing is the place to go if you're 3. Focus: Being a professional is
running an international about continuing to learn. Focus
business.(Credit: Screenshot by Don helps you in that endeavor.
Reisinger/CNET)
My top 3
1. Netparty: Business is about who
26 * Internet News Record
Steelers' 'Tank' Has a Special Greg Norman Thinks Chris
Advantage Evert Is Good for His Golf
By JJ Cooper (FanHouse)
Game; Ex-Wife, Not So Much
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:24:00 AM
by JJ Cooper
Filed under: Steelers, AFC North
Steelers fans love big running backs.
From Franco Harris to Frank Pollard
to Barry Foster to Jerome Bettis,
there's always been a place in
Pittsburgh for a big bruising back
who is comfortable running over a
linebacker on a snowy December day
for a key yard.
But since Bettis retired after Super
Bowl XL, the Steelers have been
lacking a back who gives out more
bruises than he takes. That's why
there's such an interest in fifth-round
pick Frank "the Tank" Summers. A 5
-foot-10, 243-pound bowling ball
who won't outrun many cornerbacks,
but can make a linebacker think
twice of lowering his shoulder.
As he gets ready to head to camp,
the Las Vegas Review-Journal
AMC lets you 'Mad Men' yourself
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 3:51:00 PM
In preparation for the third season
of its hit series "Mad Men," cable
network AMC has put out a new
marketing tool called"Mad Men
Yourself." It lets fans of the show
No Football Camp for 'U' Men
By Brian Grummell (FanHouse)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:20:00 AM
by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Florida, University of
Miami, Sun Belt, Tennessee, Texas,
Conference USA, Heisman Every
week during college football's
endless offseason, The FanHouse
caught up with the former UNLV star
and found that he seems to have a
pretty good idea of what to expect.
Fantasy Football Spin: Summers
Among Deep Sleepers
Steelers' 'Tank' Has a Special
Advantage originally appeared on
Fanhouse NFL Blog on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 10:24:00 EDT . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
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create themselves (or their friends) as
early-1960s cartoon characters using
a variety of costumes, props, and
body parts that are loosely tied to the
world within the show.
Set to rhythmic lounge lizard
music, you can assemble your virtual
self piece by piece. When done, you
can then download and export your
Walk will put last week's stories to
bed and deliver the essentials to
bridge that agonizing space between
now and September.
U've Been Bad-- It seemed dormant
for a while with the mediocrity
coming from Tallahassee and Coral
Gables, but perhaps rivalry football
in Florida is back. A University of
By Ryan Wilson (FanHouse)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 9:15:00 AM
by Ryan Wilson
Filed under: Golf Odds and Ends
Loren Roberts won the Senior British
Open earlier this week, outlasting
Greg Norman who, a year ago,
finished fifth in the event a week
after an improbable third-place
showing at the Young Peoples
British Open.
This time around, Norman, the 54-
hole leader, carded a Sunday 71 (1-
over), good for sixth. Perhaps not the
final 18 holes of golf he was looking
for, but not bad given that he spends
more time on his various off-course
business ventures than he does
preparing for tournaments.
And as long as we're making
excuses, here's one for why he didn't
win more during his prime: his ex-
wife. That's sorta the one he used in a
creation in sizes ready for Twitter,
Facebook, and as desktop wallpapers.
Miami commit was kicked out of a
Florida-run football camp last week
recent television interview. At least
according to The Australian:
Greg Norman Thinks Chris Evert Is
Good for His Golf Game; Ex-Wife,
Not So Much originally appeared on
Fanhouse Golf Blog on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 09:15:00 EDT . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
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It's not nearly as fun as the one Fox
did for "The Simpsons Movie" back
in mid-2007(nor is there a 7-11 tie-
in), but there are a wealth of options
to make yourself look as similar, or
"out there" as you wish.
The closest I could get was looking
like Kevin Spacey with a mean five
o'clock shadow. See if you can do
for supposedly flashing Miami's
famous "The U" hand signal after
several drills. Its unraveled into a he-
said he-said drama concerning
Florida's handling of his alleged
actions, and his right as a paying
participant.
No Football Camp for 'U' Men
originally appeared on Fanhouse
Jason Bateman
Brings New Comedy
to Comic-Con
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:05:00 PM
ET caught up with Jason Bateman
this weekend at Comic-Con in San
Diego, and the star opened up about
his new big screen comedy, 'Extract.'
"It was fun, it's a pleasure to talk
about this film because I'm really so
proud of it," Bateman says about the
'Extract' film panel at Comic-Con. "I
feel really comfortable and confident
talking about this film in front of this
crowd. These are people that are
fairly sophisticated and kind of
snobby when it comes to comedy.
Mike Judge is a super hero to them.
I’m really happy to be a part of a
Mike Judge film."
In the new comedy, Bateman plays
Joel, the owner of an Extract
company who is down on his luck
both personally and professionally.
better.
Put your virtual 1960s self together
in style. Or just ditch the suit and
grab a donut and an eye
patch.(Credit: CNET)
Originally posted at Web Crawler
NCAA Football Blog on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 10:20:00 EDT . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Internet News Record
Kevin Durant on His Summer
Plans and Talking to Fans on
Twitter
By Elie Seckbach (FanHouse)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:30:00 AM
by Elie Seckbach
Filed under: NBA Videos,
Thunder, Interviews, NBA Twitter,
FanHouse Exclusive Elie Seckbach,
the Embedded Correspondent, brings
his exclusive video reporting to
FanHouse. Check back regularly for
more videos.
Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma
Thunder is one of the brightest stars
in the NBA. In this FanHouse
exclusive, we talk to him about his
summer and what he does when he's
not playing ball. We also ask Kevin
who in the NBA he thinks can beat
him one-on-one, how often he's on
Twitter and what question his fans
ask the most in 140 characters or
less.
Mark Cuban: Affliction Did Right
Thing
By Ariel Helwani (FanHouse)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:00:00 AM
by Ariel Helwani
Filed under: Affliction, UFC The
demise of Affliction Entertainment
will not simply go away after one
press release. The fact of the matter
is that they had a lot of partners
involved. One of those partners was
Mark Cuban's HDNet television
network, which was scheduled to air
the undercard of the now-canceled
"Affliction: Trilogy."
FanHouse spoke to Cuban via e-
mail about the fall of Affliction and
his current relationship with the
UFC. Check out the interview below.
Mark Cuban: Affliction Did Right
Check out the video after the jump.
Kevin Durant on His Summer
Plans and Talking to Fans on Twitter
originally appeared on Fanhouse
NBA Blog on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
10:30:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
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Thing originally appeared on
Fanhouse MMA Blog on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 10:00:00 EDT . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Josh Barnett to Wrestle in Japan
By Ariel Helwani (FanHouse)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:30:00 AM
by Ariel Helwani
Filed under: Affliction Josh
Barnett's MMA career may be on
brief hold, but his pro wrestling one
isn't. "The Baby-Faced Assassin,"
very much in the news these days
after it was announced last week that
he tested positive for an anabolic
steroid, which led to Affliction
Entertainment canceling its
upcoming event, will wrestle on Aug.
9 for Inoki Genome Federation in
Japan. Barnett's manager, Shannon
Hooper, confirmed the news with
FanHouse on Tuesday.
Barnett is one of the few athletes
who has been able to enjoy success
in MMA and pro wrestling.
Report: Dr. Conrad Murray Gave
Jackson Powerful Drug Before His
Death
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:15:00 AM
Dr. Conrad Murray gave the late
Michael Jackson the powerful drug
that authorities believe killed him,
claims a new report.
The Associated Press, citing an
unnamed official, reports that Dr.
Conrad Murray allegedly gave
Hot air balloon festival
takes off
By Laurence Topham (World
news and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:46:37 AM
More than 300 hot air balloons set a
new world record above eastern
France
Josh Barnett to Wrestle in Japan
originally appeared on Fanhouse
MMA Blog on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
10:30:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Jackson the anesthetic propofol on
the night before his death.
A law enforcement official tells the
AP that Jackson had come to rely on
the drug for sleep, and that a doctor
would administer it intravenously to
help him fall asleep -- and later stop
the IV drip when he wanted to wake
up.
* World/ 27
Ask a Flowchart:
How Do I Make a
Single-Serving Site?
By Mathew Honan (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:00:00 PM
So-called single-serving Web sites
— standalone pages that accomplish
only one task — are popping up all
over the Net. For example:
islostarepeat.com offers Lost rerun
alerts; d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com is a
guide to spelling the word correctly;
and amiawesome.com assures you
yes, very. The URLs are clever and
fun, but why let someone else's
obsession become your time suck?
You can set up your own self-, er,
single-serving site in just 10 minutes
— and possibly become Internet
famous. Our patent-pending
SingleServing SiteGenerator walks
you through it.
28 TechTips/ AppleBlog/
How Bill Gates Uses Office and
Three Monitors [Multiple Monitors]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:30:00 AM
Bill Gates drops a lengthy blog post
explaining how he gets things done,
Microsoft style, using three monitors
to watch an inbox, read or write
documents, and browse the web.
Spoiler: He also digs SharePoint,
LiveMeeting, and other MS apps.
Photo by batmoo.
Gates writes that he gets at least
100 emails per day from Microsoft
employees, and "many more" from
customers and partners. How does he
filter all that information across three
large flat-screen displays?
I keep my Outlook 2007 Inbox
open on the screen to the left so I can
see new messages as they come in. I
usually have the message or
document that I'm currently reading
or writing in the center screen. The
screen on the right is where I have
room to open up a browser or look at
a document that someone has sent me
in e-mail.
That's not so atypical from the
standard three-monitor setup, but it is
Found Footage: Why we use a Mac
By Christina Warren (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 7/27/2009 8:00:00 PM
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Found
Footage
I'm sure it's not going to be to
everyone's taste, but I think this
video is really cute and it made me
smile. Happy Monday!
interesting how he devotes two entire
screens to message streams and the
messages themselves. A lot of the
rest of the post reads like
endorsement copy for Office
products like SharePoint,
LiveMeeting, and other peripheral
Office apps, but we don't doubt that
Gates truly does appreciate the
"unified communications
technology" that puts everything into
one Outlook bin. Next time you're up
YouTuber CBGFilms put together
a great compilation of why his
generation uses a Mac. Interestingly,
these are the same reasons I use a
Mac. Stability, usability, tight
product integration and elegant
design are reasons why Mac users of
all all ages drink the Kool-Aid (or the
unicorn tears, as it were).
Great job, Charlie!
So why do you use a Mac?
for blogging, though, Bill? Post
screenshots.
Do you get things done like Gates,
or do you find his methods a bit too
integrated? Read through his work
routine description, then tell us your
thoughts in the comments. Office
Hours: How Bill Gates uses
Office[Inside Office Online blog via
Lifehacker Australia]
[H/T Chris Pirillo]
TUAW Found Footage: Why we
use a Mac originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
How to Buy a Mattress:
Advice from a Mattress
Salesman [Household]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:30:00 AM
Mattress shopping, as we've
previously highlighted, can be quite a
confusing experience. Take some off
-the-clock advice from a mattress
salesman on how to get the best
value. Photo by caterina.
There are dozens, if not hundreds,
of variables when it comes to
mattress shopping. Help cut through
the thicket of choices and potential
rip-offs by taking the advice offered
by an insider at Get Rich Slowly.
They have advice directly from a guy
who has been part of his family's
mattress business his whole life. He's
full of industry-related wisdom,
including useful negotiation tips like
this one:
If a store is willing to negotiate
mattress prices, then they are
overpriced, so make sure you get
Internet News Record
them down a considerable amount.
Mattress manufactures contractually
set minimum prices that they allow
retailers to sell their mattresses at, so
they either have to price them at that
minimum or overprice them and
negotiate. Most of the larger chains
just price them at the minimum right
away.
Other important tips? Don't take
advice from a salesman talking about
coil counts as he likely doesn't know
what he's talking about. Always ask
if the innerspring mattress you're
looking at has edge support to keep
the edges firm and keep it comfy for
you getting in and out of bed.
For more tips check out the full
article at the link below. Have a
mattress shopping tip of your own?
Scoff at this "coil count" business
because you rock it out on a foam
mattress? Let's hear about it in the
comments. How to Buy a
Mattress[GetRichSlowly]
Internet News Record TechTips/ AppleBlog/ Gizmos/ 29
Apple posts iPhone OS 3.1 Beta 3 for
Skip Showing Up Super Early for Job developers
Interviews [Job Search] By Joachim Bean (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) (TUAW))
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:10:00 AM Submitted at 7/27/2009 3:45:00 PM

One might think that showing up
notably early to a job interview
shows potential bosses punctuality,
seriousness, and organization.
Actually, according to resume
consultant Adam Sterlin, it implies
you're a type that disrupts other
people's work schedules.
Photo by°Florian.
Sterling suggests a sweet spot of
showing up just five minutes early to
an interview, as "not arriving late"
isn't quite enough, but more than that
leaves the interviewer, their
secretary, and other folks in the
office off their guard and
inconvenienced:
To understand this, consider what
occurs when you arrive early. The
people with whom you are meeting
will be notified that you have arrived.
From a cultural perspective, most
people don't feel comfortable making
someone wait for them as it is
SuperF4 Truly Kills Faltering Windows Apps
considered rude-so the person you
are meeting now has two options: a)
they can interrupt their schedule to
meet with you early, or b) wait for
the scheduled time and be made to
feel anxious about making you wait.
In either case, you have made a bad
first impression.
From experience, many of us can
likely relate to being the underling/co
-worker who has to "tend" to a super-
early, go-get-'em interviewee, and
that can definitely leave a less-than-
optimal impression around the office.
On that note, share your own timing
tips, or horror stories, in the
comments. We can all use a good
laugh over (anonymous) failed
candidates now and then. Common
mistakes. Easy fixes. (part
two)[getpickd via Consumerist]
Filed under: iPhone, SDK, iPod
touch Apple has just released Beta 3
of iPhone OS 3.1 for iPhone
developers. As this remains under
NDA, I cannot post any details about
changes to the OS. The updates
include the OS for the device, as well
as the SDK used to develop iPhone
applications. If you're a registered Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 27 Jul
iPhone developer, head on over to 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our
the iPhone Dev Center to download terms for use of feeds.
your updates. Read| Permalink| Email this|
TUAW Apple posts iPhone OS 3.1 Comments
Beta 3 for developers originally
appeared on The Unofficial Apple
This Robot Has an
iPhone For a Head
[Robots]
By Adam Frucci (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:10:00 AM

This is a robot, named Robocna,

[Downloads]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:00:00 AM
Windows: There's a certain
hierarchy to how you can close
Windows apps, including the polite
"File->Quit" menu option and the
more thorough "End Process" in
Windows' task manager. SuperF4,
however, is like DDT for apps you
want gone right away.
What's the advantage over the
reliable Task Manager method? For
one, SuperF4, which resides in
memory as a background application,
is quicker to fire off, especially if
your system is herky-jerky and
getting to Task Manager is slow
going. Secondly, it doesn't ask you to
confirm that you really want to end
this program or process—hit
Ctrl+Alt+F4, and the currently
focused program just gets terminated,
no questions asked. Hit the Windows
key and F4, and you get a familiar
skull and crossbones icon to click on
a specific app to kill out. Finally, the
developer notes that his app actually
itself what to do."
SuperF4 is a free download for
Windows systems only. Looking for
a no-software solution to unsteady
applications? Try a previously
mentioned script shortcut. Want to
beef up your Task Manager with real
program-killing power? Try
Lifehacker favorite Process Manager.
SuperF4[via freewaregenius.com]
pull the plug on most apps, whereas
Task Manager "only asks the
program to quit, and lets it decide for
that uses an iPhone for its brain.
Better hope Apple doesn't reject your
brain from the App Store, you poor
bastard.
The body is a Kondo KHR-2HV
humanoid kit, but its controlled by
the iPhone, which connects via the
dock connector at the neck. The
screen shows the facial expression
while also letting you control the
robots weird, leek-based dance
moves. [ Pink Tentacle]
30 TechTips/ Gizmos/
Remains of the Day: An
Apple Tablet in September
Edition [For What It's Worth]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 4:00:00 PM
The elusive Apple tablet churns out
more rumors, the music industry tries
to make the digital album appealing,
and augmented reality iPhone apps
won't hit your phone until September.
• FT Claims Apple Tablet, Possible
September Launch Oh Apple tablet,
you seem as mystical but as
inevitable as the iPhone once was.
[Gizmodo]
• Apple and Labels Hope to
Reinvent Digital Album as
Something People Buy Apple and
music labels are finally thinking
about taking advantage of the digital
realm for turning the digital album
into something new and better.
[Wired]
Novatel MiFi 2372 Makes Portable 3G Wi-Fi Hotspot Awesomeness Possible on AT&T and T-
Mobile [Wireless]
By matt buchanan (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:26:39 AM
We partly loved Novatel's MiFi 3G
• Apple won't let you use cool
augmented reality iPhone apps — yet
Looks like anyone interested in
augmented reality iPhone apps will
need to wait until at least September.
[LA Times]
• Android Donut Build Out: Full
Multitouch, Universal Search,
Automated Backups AND Better
Performance The next update to the
Android OS promises better multi-
touch, search, backups, and
performance. Sounds like our kind of
update. [Gizmodo]
• Do You Bing? Yahooers May
Soon Search With Microsoft Bing
keeps on marching forward. [AdAge]
• Fix Printer Queue Glitches Some
smart fixes for your troubled Mac
printing. [PC World]
portable Wi-Fi hotspot because it
was on the less-cramped networks of
Verizon (and Sprint), but this HSPA
version for AT&T or T-Mobile will
Wine Chart Recommends
Proper Temperatures and
Chilling Times [Wine]
By Azadeh Ensha (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:00:00 PM
Whether you can't tell your
Chardonnays from your Pinots or
you consider yourself something of
an aficionado, it's important to store
and chill wine at its proper
temperature. This simple wine chart
can help.
(Click the image above for a closer
look.)
Consumer Reports' guide to wine
temperatures and chilling times
includes a handy chart divided
according to the type of wine
(heavier versus lighter whites, and
heavier versus lighter reds) being
served, and provides examples of
still have its 3G-to-Wi-Fi powers,
each as well as their corresponding
recommended temperatures and
chilling times. A heavier
Chardonnay, for example, should be
kept in the mid-50s Fahrenheit range
and refrigerated for two hours before
serving. If you don't have two hours,
you can also chill it in ice and water
for five minutes or leave it in the
freezer for fifteen.
For more ways to boost your wine
enjoyment, take a look at our
previous post on how to select the
proper wine glasses. Tip of the Day:
Find the Proper Temperature for
Serving Wine and Learn About Wine
Cellars[Consumer Reports]
which border on marvelous. [
BusinessWire]
Internet News Record
First Look at
Firefox 4.0 Design
Mockups [Firefox]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 3:30:00 PM
Last week we took a look at initial
design mockups for Firefox 3.7, and
now the busy designers at Mozilla
are back with some theme mockups
for the even-further-into-the-future
Firefox 4.0.
(Click any of the images for a closer
look.)
As you can see in the screenshot
above, the Firefox folks are toying
with the idea of a Google Chrome-
like tabs-on-top interface.
They're also looking at
consolidating the Stop, Refresh, and
Go buttons to save a little extra space
in the toolbar—similar to a user
chrome tweak we've been using for
quite a while.
Keep in mind that all of the
changes you see here are not
final—they're just exploring different
ideas for upcoming releases of
Firefox. Similarly, it'll be quite some
time before either Firefox 4.0 or
Firefox 3.7 hits servers, so if you like
the basic look but want to get it now,
here's how to make Firefox 3.5 look
like Firefox 3.7. Firefox/4.0
Windows Theme Mockups[Mozilla
Wiki]
Internet News Record
Grab the Best Picks from 1,000
Free ReverbNation MP3s [Free]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:30:00 AM
Microsoft has teamed up with music
site ReverbNation to hand out more
than 1,000 MP3 and M4A files. You
won't know most of them, but there
are likely a few keepers worth an
extra click.
Still, among the thousands of single
artist/song choices, you'll likely find
a few tracks you wouldn't mind
hearing. I spotted the Lemonheads,
Los Lonely Boys, Pepper, DJ Vadim,
BlackBerry Curve 8520
Will Be Only $50 at
Walmart [BlackBerry]
By matt buchanan (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:32:14 AM
If you're willing to swallow your
crippling elitism and buy your
gadgets from Walmart, you can pick
up the trackball-less BlackBerry
Curve 8520 for $48.88, which is
$100 less than it'll cost you at a T-
Mobile store. [ RIM]
and a few other intriguing choices
inside the massive free bin. Each
track can be previewed in full by
streaming, or downloaded in either
M4A or MP3 formats.
The comments are a great place to
let others know about killer tracks
you've scoped out in such collections,
so let us know what you've found
t h e r e . S o n g
Downloads[ReverbNation via
Download Squad]
Barnes & Noble Catches Up to 2006 With Free Wi-Fi [Barnes And Noble]
By matt buchanan (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:10:19 AM
Barnes & Noble's finally catching
Internet Fridges: State of the Market
By Richard MacManus
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 2:23:44 AM
The Internet fridge is probably the
most oft-quoted example of what the
Internet of Things - when everyday
objects are connected to the Internet -
will enable. Imagine a refrigerator
(so the story goes) that monitors the
food inside it and notifies you when
you're low on, for example, milk. It
also perhaps monitors all of the best
food websites, gathering recipes for
your dinners and adding the
ingredients automatically to your
shopping list. This fridge knows what
kinds of foods you like to eat, based
on the ratings you have given to your
dinners. Indeed the fridge helps you
take care of your health, because it
knows which foods are good for you
and which clash with medical
conditions you have. And that's just
part of the sci-fi story of the Internet
fridge.
Sponsor
This type of 'smart home' fridge has
actually been attempted before, in the
dot com era, and flopped. Has there
been much progress since then in the
Internet fridge market? Let's find out.
This is What We Want...
This video shows a prototype of a
fridge that uses RFID tags to
automatically notify you when milk
needs to be bought. Designer Kim
Otto took a Siemens refrigerator and
replaced the existing flat screen with
a touch screen panel PC, then added
an RFID tag reader.
...But, Let's Tack a Computer and
TV onto The Fridge For Now
The reality is less exciting than
what Otto presented. It turns out that
the appliance market isn't quite ready
for internet fridges that go beyond
mere entertainment.
up to 2006 with free Wi-Fi as a part
of its "hey look, we get technology,
we have an ebook store and an
iPhone app" deal. Before, it charged
TechTips/ Web/ Gizmos/
The Electrolux Cyber fridge was
released in 2006 and it pretty much
sums up the current state of the
market for Internet fridges. As the
Appliancist website noted: "The
Screenfridge is equipped with a
computer and a touch screen so you
can surf the Internet, send e-mails
and buy and order food for your
home without leaving the kitchen
[...]"
In other words, it's just a computer
tacked onto a fridge. No automation,
no RFID tags, none of the 'Internet of
Things' functionality we're all
looking forward to.
Samsung's Wireless ICE Pad
refrigerator is another of this ilk. Its
main feature is a detachable LCD
touch pad computer. It also features
an "entertainment center" (i.e. a TV);
along with a calendar, scheduler,
message board for "smart food
management."
The most recent I found was
reviewed by Webware earlier this
year: a fridge by Whirlpool featuring
a detachable tablet computer made by
Data Evolution.
It's not just computers and TVs
being tacked onto fridges either. Last
year Gorenje released a "Made for
iPod" refrigerator, which as the name
people for AT&T Wi-Fi. [
31
suggests is a fridge with an iPod on
it. The fridge freezer features an iPod
docking station, wireless LAN for
Internet connection, and built-in
speakers. One of the suggested use
cases is watching video recipes.
Wait, There Are Some Good Uses
for Internet Fridges
Perhaps the most interesting
innovation we're seeing with Internet
-connected fridges right now are ones
that use Web technology to save
power and optimize themselves.
A good example is GE's demand-
response refrigerator, which can
adjust its settings and reduce power
consumption based on pricing signals
from the electricity company. As
Greentech Media reported earlier this
month, GE has partnered with energy
technology company Tendril to
"develop algorithms and other
technology that will essentially allow
utilities employing Tendril's TREE
platform [Tendril Residential Energy
Ecosystem] to turn GE [...]
appliances off or on to curb power
consumption." This is done either via
the Internet or special sensor meters.
It's estimated that demand-response
systems like this save between 10-
30% in electricity consumption in
homes. The Time is Still Nigh
Clearly the age of the Internet
fridge hasn't yet arrived. Adding
computers and TVs to fridges has
been tried by many of the main
fridge manufacturers, but those
efforts were half baked.
Until RFID tags that connect to the
cloud become more common place
on food items, the Internet fridge is
yet another product looking for a
solution. We'll check back in a
couple of years! Discuss
Macworld]
32 Web/
Looking for a Reason to Jailbreak?
How about Spotify and Google
Voice?
By Sarah Perez
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:40:30 AM
Yesterday, Swedish music service
Spotify announced their application's
submission to Apple iTunes App
Store. Spotify, which already boasts
over 6 million users in Europe, is
somewhat of an iTunes alternative -
albeit with streaming tracks instead
of downloads. However, the
similarity between the two services
leads some believe that Apple,
notorious for booting apps that
duplicate iTunes functionality, won't
approve the new Spotify iPhone
application. And in another example
of Apple's totalitarianism, the
company also just pulled Google
Voice and other third-party Google
Voice applications from the App
Store.
Luckily for jailbreakers, problems
like those above are less of an issue.
There's currently an open source
Spotify client app available for
download and the third-party GV
Mobile app for Google Voice is
coming soon.
Sponsor
Spotify for iPhone Jailbreakers
Like the official Spotify iPhone
client, the third party client app
called Spot, available from Cydia,
also requires a Premium account in
order to work. Also like the official
app, Spot lets you search for songs
and build playlists. However, where
the official client will let you cache
playlists to listen to when the AT&T
network fails or you lose your
connection, the Spot application has
yet to implement this type of feature
according to a forum posting. That's
a big drawback, unfortunately, since
the caching ability is precisely what
makes Spotify feel less like a
streaming service and more like a
real iTunes alternative.
There's also another major issue for
jailbreakers here in the U.S. looking
to get on board with Spotify - the
premium account. In order to run
Spot, you need a premium account to
sign into the app. However, in order
to get a premium account, you have
to sign up at Spotify.com, a site
which currently prevents you from
doing so because Spotify is not
available in this country yet. So what
good is an open source app if you
don't have a premium account, right?
Fortunately, there are a few
workarounds for this issue. For one,
you could access the Spotify web site
using a UK-based (or other European
country-based) proxy server. A quick
Google search presented us with
several options for doing so, although
we won't point to any exact resources
since this isn't exactly the most legal
way of going about things. Let's just
say this: we got to the sign up page
and it was only a matter of putting in
our name and account details.
Another option is to purchase an
account from an overseas friend who
has access to the service in their
country. Have them purchase the
account and you pay them back after
they give you the
username/password.(Obviously,
you'd want to go with a real friend
you trust here, not some random
stranger from the internet.)
Either way, getting access to
Spotify via Spot is a bit more
difficult than we hoped it would be,
but it's not impossible if you're really
motivated. GV Mobile Coming to
Cydia
Although there aren't any Google
Voice alternatives available just yet,
we hear that one in particular is
coming soon. The third-party client
application GV Mobile was among
the Google Voice apps just pulled
from the App Store. According to a
tweet from the developer Sean
Kovacs, he plans to upload the latest
version of the application to Cydia
("or similar"...perhaps referring to
Icy) soon. You may want to follow
his Twitter account for more details
as to when that occurs.
For more details on jailbreaking,
check out our how-to guide here.
Discuss
Backup Your Google
Docs With LTech's New
Tool
By Steven Walling
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 1:00:00 PM
Are you backing up your Google
Docs? If not, it's better to be safe
than sorry, especially when it comes
to the cloud. For customers of the
enterprise and education versions of
the document software as a service,
LTech's new tool lets administrators
do comprehensive or selective
backups.
There have been options before to
backup your Docs, but LTech seems
to be the first official enterprise
partner of Google to offer such a
software package. Currently there's a
single user demo available for free,
with an enterprise license for the
domain version (of Apps).
Sponsor
LTech has been an enterprise
partner of Google for quite some
time, 2001 to be exact. Their flagship
products have focused on Google
Apps specifically, providing
management and single sign on
capabilities.
Older options for backing up your
Google Docs were fairly hit and
miss. For personal backups, there
have been utilities available on
Google Code, or a Greasemonkey
script for Firefox users. But neither
of these are well-suited to heavy use
by enterprises.
The Google Docs Backup from
LTech currently only works in
Windows, which is natural for an
Internet News Record
enterprise tool. However, in a phone
call with LTech, it became clear that
OSX and perhaps even Linux
compatibility is in their roadmap.
The Google Docs API(and others)
that are the primary driver for the
tool are not actually tied to a
Windows architecture of course.
In terms of usability, the backup
system is pretty simple. The default
mode to interact with your Docs is
through a GUI, but there is support
for working from the command line.
Authentication with both your admin
credentials and OAuth key are
required. Once you're in, you can
backup Docs to your local drive
either in bulk or filtered by folder.
Output file types include, but aren't
limited to, Microsoft Office, PDF,
rich text and HTML. Once you're
done, there's a plain text report issued
that keeps track of all your stats.
The system automatically separates
out users in to their own folders, and
you can do basically whatever you
want with the files once they've been
synced to your machine. Primary
motivators for those with an
enterprise license are related to
sharing with those without Docs
access and for compliance. For those
purposes, LTech's tools is a solid
choice. Discuss
Internet News Record
Will Apple's "Interactive Album"
Cocktail Inspire Better Bands?
By Dana Oshiro
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 2:01:22 PM
In an unsurprising move, Apple is
said to be working with major record
labels to provide an "interactive
album" to consumers. The company
is rumored to be working with EMI,
Sony, Warner and Universal to
bundle photos, lyric sheets, liner
notes and videos with album
purchases in the iTunes store.
According to the FInancial Times,
the move is meant to increase album
sales. Nevertheless, a number of
critics have already argued that the
attempt will be ill-fated. While it's
true that "interactive" music material
has already been executed in various
iterations, Apple's move may have a
extremely positive affect on the
music industry as a whole.
Sponsor
A number of bands already offer
"interactive material" to their fans
and while not many offer it through
downloads, materials like band
backgrounders and liner notes are
readily available through a number of
services including the following 3:
1. Bandcamp: RWW reviewed
Bandcamp earlier and dubbed this
service the"MySpace Music Killer".
The company offers bands the
chance to upload liner notes, album
arts and links to their materials
through an online DIY store. In this
case, interactivity is not bundled with
the album downloads, but rather
found in a link on the site.
2. Songbird: Songbird is the open-
source Mozilla-based music player
that offers users a chance to listen to
albums while also viewing
information about artists through
various in-browser plugins. Songbird
offers the basic functionality of an
"interactive album" with lyrics and
album art; however, fans can also
add extensions to trade mix tapes,
publish their playback histories to
Last.FM and publish their listening
history to Twitter.
3. Songkick: Songkick is a concert
recommendation engine with a music
history component. The site allows
users to upload concert-related
photos, liner notes, poster art, videos
and even ticket stubs. The
community is a live music wiki
updated by those die hard fans
who've not only attended the
concerts, but also documented the
experience. For Bob Dylan alone, the
community has uploaded information
on 2788 past concerts in 767 cities.
Apart from their interactivity and
great social components, one thing
that BandCamp, Songbird and
Songkick have in common is the fact
that they are not Apple. While each
of the services are wonderful in their
own right, Apple's potential
commitment to interactive albums
can set an industry-wide precedent
on how albums are released. By
providing listeners with liner notes,
videos and background information,
fans may find themselves connecting
with their music on a whole new
level.
Band history, politics and cultural
context can affect whether or not we
part with our money. I'm going to
take a wild guess that Hasidic Jewish
reggae artist Matisyahu's highest
download numbers don't come from
Muslim music fans. And do you
think Radiohead's name-your-own-
price In Rainbows album would have
made as much money if the group
wasn't known for its activism?
The interactive album tells us
where artists have come from and
how they're using their voices outside
of the music. A number of services
provide the delivery framework for
the information, but only Apple
provides direct access to mainstream
audiences. Regardless of whether or
not the independent labels follow
suit, these new band dossiers give us
the social narrative we need to make
informed choices as consumers.
Discuss
Web/ 33
Code.Intuit.com -
Partner Platform Gets a
Dash of Open Source
By Steven Walling
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 3:28:00 PM
Intuit launched code.intuit.com
today, an open source community
that functions as an extension of their
partner platform. The new site is
designed to give partner companies a which is providing the software to
free resource with code, toolkits, and run the community side of
documentation for building SaaS code.intuit.com. How Open is Your
apps. Source? The site may be out of beta,
Code.intuit.com has been released but exactly how welcoming it will be
as a complement to the federated is unclear. Intuit comments:
applications program, which lets "The initial Intuit-sponsored open
developers use any programming source projects are designed to
expand a shared infrastructure to
language and cloud infrastructure
they like. Though it was public, the make it easier for developers to
integrate their applications with the
platform has been taken out of beta
and is released under the Common Intuit Partner Platform. In the future,
Intuit will sponsor additional projects
Public License.
Sponsor and encourage involved developers
and organizations to create and run
Big Names Intuit has worked with
some initial partners to create their own Intuit Partner Platform-
related projects." [Emphasis added]
flagship applications during the
public beta: standout examples of the Intuit is creating an interesting mix
of open and proprietary systems for
Federated Apps include those from
VerticalResponse, DimDim, and development around its small
business platform. No actual Intuit
Rypple.
Intuit has also gathered an advisory products are being open sourced, but
with code.intuit.com, they're clearly
board of fairly big names in the open
source community: Jay Sullivan, VP hoping to capitalize on the
advantages of being open by letting
of mobile at Mozilla, Michael Coté
of Redmonk, and Jason van Zyl of third parties participate in a
moderated way. Discuss
the Apache Maven project. Also C.
Michael Pilato from CollabNet,
34 Web/ Gizmos/
Five Video Apps That Play Nicely
With Twitter
By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:22:52 PM
Video apps that cater to Twitter
users are all the rage at the moment,
but this particular bandwagon is
filled to overflowing with apps that
rock jostling for mindshare with apps
that barely function.
We've spent the past couple of days
testing and retesting a slew of these
sites, and we are ready to present our
top five picks for sharing video
content on Twitter. Read on to find
out which app comes out on top and
which ones didn't make the cut.
Sponsor
5. TweeTube is currently available
only for Mac OS X and requires a
download, but it allows users to share
webcam videos, images, YouTube
videos, and links via Twitter. The
video component reminded us a bit
of 12seconds.tv or Seesmic's video
offering from back in the day, i.e.,
last month. It wasn't our favorite app
to play with, and the limitations seem
to outstrip the benefits.
Type: Twenty-five second webcam
uploads that are embeddable and
linkable with Twitter-enabled
comments.
Test Video
4. BubbleTweet is a service we've
been trying and testing for several
months with mixed results. However,
the premise is great for Twitter. The
site lets users upload a simple, 30-
second webcam recording, which
then shows up on Twitter as a small,
unobtrusive "bubble" of video over
the web interface. BubbleTweet also
Averatec N3400 Laptop: Cheap, Light and Aluminum [Laptops]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:10:00 AM
If Apple released a 13-inch, 3.8lb
aluminum laptop for $799, we'd all
be going freaking nuts. Just check
lets users upload prerecorded video
content.
Type: Thirty-second webcam
recordings or video uploads that
appear in a video bubble over the
Twitter web interface.
Test Video
3. TwitVid.io is the Twitter-
friendly video recording and
uploading tool from video website-
creating service Fliggo. It allows
users to record up to ten minutes of
video from a webcam or upload
videos they've already created and
tweet a URL. Co-founder Chrys
Bader also tells us they're getting
out the specs:
• 2.16GHz Intel dual-core
• 13.3-inch WXGA, 3.8lbs, .4-.98
inches thick
• 250GB hard drive
• 3GB of memory
ready to launch an iPhone app soon.
Type: Single-user webcam
recordings of up to 10 minutes or
video uploads from a drive.
Test Video
2. Twitcam is a pared-down
offering of parent company
LiveStream. It runs a Twitter-based
chat program alongside the video
itself, and videos are archived for
linking and embedding after the fact.
Unfortunately, the tweet/chat module
only allows users to send out one
tweet every 30 seconds, which
minimizes the real-time fun to be
had. Still, it's been one of the easier,
more fun apps we've tried today.
Type: Single-webcam live-
streamed video with Twitter-based
chat module and post-stream archive
of video and chat.
Test Video
1. TwitVid is a great little app we
wrote about recently that allows
users to record and upload video
from a webcam or any video-enabled
mobile device or to upload
prerecorded video. They also have a
nifty iPhone app that works like a
charm. The site also lets users auto-
post their TwitVids to other sites
such as Facebook and YouTube. Best
of all, each video has its own "like"
and "retweet" buttons as well as
Meebo-powered chat, all of which
feed back into the Twitter stream. As
far as Twitter integration with video,
we tend to think TwitVid does it best.
Type: Single-user webcam/mobile
recordings with retweet, chat, "buzz,"
and other Twitter options.
Test Video Discuss
• Intel GMA X4500HD (OK, forget
Google Giving Away
eReaders at Google Books
- What Took So Long?
By Marshall Kirkpatrick
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 11:02:06 AM
Google announced today that it is
running a contest for the next ten
days where visitors to the
controversial and under-loved
Google Books site can win a Sony
Reader eBook device. Literature-
related trivia will now be hunted for
using the site's new search inside the
book feature and people who find the
right answers will be entered into a
drawing to win a Sony Reader
device.
The contest is the kind of
traditional marketing that more web
applications could benefit from and
will no doubt introduce many new
people to the features of the service.
Our question, though, is this: why not
do this every day of the year? At
under $300 retail price (and you
know Google could get a deal) it
would cost around $100k to give one
away every day. How much do you
think the Google Books team has
spent on legal defense in the last
year? Millions of dollars, we're sure.
Sponsor
Our guess is, in as much as people
that part)
• External USB 8x DVD optical
drive
• 3 USBs and memory card reader
• 802.11n and ethernet
• Microsoft Vista Home Premium
Internet News Record
know anything about Google Books,
it's that the service is in a protracted
legal battle with the publishers of the
books it's indexing.
We'd guess almost no one knows
about the service's new magazine
search or the excellent mobile
version of the site.
Last month we reported that
Google plans to go into the eBook
sales business by allowing vendors to
sell eBook copies through Google
Books.
Why not give away a free reader
every day and bring all the people to
the site that a promotion like that
surely would? Heck, give away three
every day. At this point the project
has to be bleeding money and yet
how often do you hear people talk
about it? If eBooks are really a big
part of the future, a few hundred
thousand dollars spent by Google to
promote their offering in this market
sure would be money well spent.
Discuss
(forget that part, too)
All-in-all, not a horrible looking
little system for the price. Has
anyone out there owned an Averatec
rig before? [ Press Release]
Internet News Record
IPhone Augmented
Reality Apps Expected
in September
By Marshall Kirkpatrick
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 7:33:44 PM
The dazzling new trend of
"augmented reality" mobile
applications, software that puts layers
of information on top of a mobile
device's camera viewer, is something
that's left iPhone owners feeling out
of luck. Now one company
developing such an app says Apple
has said the technology required will
be officially enabled in the next
version of the iPhone OS - which is
expected out in September.
Developers are able to access the
necessary controls in the phone
illicitly, but when Apple offers a
stable and official Application
Programming Interface (API) for
layering data over the camera viewer
- that's going to be game changing.
The particular app in question is a
subway route finder that shows route
signs when you point your phone one
direction or another. The list of
possibilities is long, though, so we
hope this September date is for real.
Sponsor
The rumor was first unearthed on
Friday by Mark Milian of the LA
Times:
Apple told Acrossair, developer of
Creative Zii Egg Plaszma: Android-Wielding iPod Touch [PMP]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:23:58 AM
Spotted in a recent FCC filing, the
now-revealed Creative Zii Egg
Plaszma boasts some of the world's
first " flexible StemCell architecture"
that uses 24 floating-point
processors. But you may care more
because it's basically an open source
the Nearest Tube train finder, that the
app will be approved for distribution
after Apple releases version 3.1 of
the iPhone software, which the
developer expects will land in early
September.
The availability of the requisite
official tech hooks in September
remains for now a rumor. It's a little
hard to imagine Apple telling one
particular vendor about a major
platform change, and it's a little hard
to imagine a vendor genuinely
trusted with that kind of information
telling the LA Times about it.
Anything is possible, though.
We've written extensively about
Augmented Reality before. Here's
our wishlist of apps we hope that
someone builds. Cross your fingers,
some of these crazy apps could be
coming as early as this Fall. Discuss
iPod Touch.
Being seeded to developers as part
of a $399 SDK (final units are
expected to ship in bulk at $199), the
Zii Egg Plaszma is an Android-
friendly "handheld computer" that's
like an iPod touch beefed up with
more than a few popular requests.
You navigate the platform through
a 3.5" 320x480, 10-point capacitive
China restores limited internet access
By Tania Branigan (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:49:13 AM
Block on calls from China to
overseas numbers and on most text
messages remains in place
Normal internet access in China's
troubled north-western region of
Xinjiang may not be resumed for
months, it has emerged, as officials
begin to allow users to visit a small
number of sites.
The internet was blocked across the
region three weeks ago after inter-
ethnic violence in Urumqi killed at
least 197 people. Authorities also
shut down text message services.
Mobile phone users are now
receiving texts again – but only in the
form of a daily update from the
authorities and weather reports. The
first, on Sunday, told them the
security situation had improved and
urged them not to believe rumours.
A block on calls to overseas
numbers – from any phone – also
remains in place.
Authorities told the official
newspaper, China Daily, that there
was now access to a small number of
sites including internet banking, the
online stock exchange and university
enrolment services.
A statement from the
Telecommunications Administration
this weekend said that business and
government-related sites would also
multitouch screen. From there, you
can access the rear facing HD video
Web/ World/ Gizmos/
reopen, although it did not indicate
when.
"We have received no instruction on
when to fully resume the public
internet connection in Xinjiang,"
Haimiti Mijiti, vice-president of
China Telecom's Xinjiang branch,
told China Daily yesterday.
Asked about rumours that normal
access would not be restored until
after 1 October – the 60th
anniversary of the founding of the
People's Republic of China – Mijiti
said: "There is no set time given yet."
An official in Urumqi told the
Guardian that controls "might be"
lifted after that date.
Nuer Baikeli, the governor of
Xinjiang, told reporters recently:
"Internet control was necessary ... It
became a tool to spread false
information."
The authorities said yesterday that
false rumours were still circulating in
the city – such as claims that people
had taken hostage pensioners,
women and children, demanding the
release of suspects detained after the
unrest.
Violent riots broke out on 5 July,
after an initially peaceful protest by
Uighurs angry at the killing of two
Uighur workers by Han Chinese
colleagues in Guangdong, southern
China. Witnesses reported
indiscriminate attacks on Han,
mainly by young Uighur men.
Two days later Han revenge
attackers targeted Uighurs. Text
camera, front facing live chat VGA
camera, 32GB of integrated storage
with SDHC card expansion, Flash
Lite support, GPS, Wi-Fi and, oh
right, it's powerful enough to output
1080P video.
Of course, its greatest assets, the
option for the open Android OS (the
company offers its own Plaszma OS
but that's a bit less exciting), means
35
messaging services were suspended
hours later.
The government says the dead
included 137 Han and 46 Uighurs.
Another 1,700 were injured.
China yesterday condemned Japan
for allowing a visit by the exiled
Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, whom
it accuses of instigating the violence.
She denies the claim and alleges
Chinese security forces killed
peaceful protesters.
"We are extremely dissatisfied that
the Japanese government ignored the
Chinese side's repeated, stern
representations and insisted on letting
Rebiya visit Japan to engage in anti-
Chinese, splittist activities," the
foreign ministry said on its website.
Beijing routinely criticises
international trips by the exiled
Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, but
has rarely commented on Kadeer's
travels.
Details of her trip are unclear,
although she will give a press
conference tomorrow. A Japanese
foreign ministry spokeswoman said
there were no plans for official
meetings with her.
• China
• Rebiya Kadeer
• Xinjiang
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News &
Media Limited 2009 | Use of this
content is subject to our Terms &
Conditions| More Feeds
that the hardware begins to resemble
a smartphone without the phone. And
I'm surprised on a daily basis that
anyone is still buying big iPods that
can't make phone calls. [ ZiiLabs via
GeekyGadgets]
36 World/ Gizmos/
China's big three power firms 'emit more carbon
than UK'
By Tania Branigan (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:29:03 AM
Greenpeace report names top three
polluters and calls for tax on coal to
improve efficiency and encourage
switch to renewables
China's three biggest power firms
produced more greenhouse gas
emissions last year than the whole of
Britain, according to a Greenpeace
report published today.
The group warned that inefficient
plants and the country's heavy
reliance on coal are hindering efforts
to tackle climate change. While
China's emissions per capita remain
far below those of developed
countries, the country as a whole has
surpassed the United States to
become the world's largest emitter.
Greenpeace said the top 10
companies, which provided almost
60% of China's total electricity last
year, burned 20% of China's coal —
590m tonnes — and emitted the
equivalent of 1.44 billion tonnes of
carbon dioxide.
The efficiency of Chinese power
generation compares unfavourably
with other countries. In Japan, 418
grams of carbon dioxide are emitted
per kilowatt hour and in the US, the
equivalent figure is 625 grams. But
most of the top 10 firms in China
produce 752 grams of CO2.
"China is suffering the pains of
Brando Tells Apple TV to Suck on this HD Media Player [Home Theater]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:50:00 AM
Seamless white boxes? Pfft. Brando
doesn't need any of white plastic's
pomp and circumstance. Instead,
their Darwinian hard drive dock gets
extreme weather events such as
droughts, heat waves, typhoons and
floods, worsened by climate change.
These power companies can and
must help China to prevent climate
disaster by rapidly increasing
efficiency and the share of renewable
energy such as wind and solar," said
Yang Ailun, Greenpeace's climate
campaign manager, at the launch in
Beijing of the Greenpeace report,
Polluting Power: Ranking China's
Biggest Power Companies.
The report says that in 2008,
Huaneng, Datang and Guodian — the
top three firms — emitted more
greenhouse gases than the whole of
the United Kingdom.
But Yang added: "China is ideally
placed to…[become] the world's
superpower in terms of smart energy
and renewable energy."
The group said China closed down
54.07 gigawatt of the least efficient
coal-fired plants over the last three
and a half years — more than the
total electricity installed capacity of
Australia.
It urged power firms to phase out
all inefficient coal-fired plants under
100 megawatt by 2012, saving 90m
tonnes of coal consumption and
220m tonnes of carbon dioxide
annually.
Firms are already turning to
renewable energy and by the end of
last year Guodian had installed 2.88
gigawatt of wind power; almost 24%
of China's total and enough to make
another upgrade. Now it's an HD
media player.
Accepting 2.5 and 3.5-inch SATA
drives through a cartridge-like
loading system, the $200 player
streams 1080P content (H.264,
MPEG1/2/4, DIVX, XVID, TS,
it the biggest wind energy firm in
Asia.
But Greenpeace said only three of
the top 10 produced 10% or more of
their energy from renewable sources.
The vast majority relied heavily on
hydropower — with eight of the
firms not even halfway to their legal
obligation to produce 3% of energy
from other renewable sources by
2010.
Greenpeace urged the Chinese
government to impose energy and
environment taxes on coal,
encouraging increased efficiency and
a move to renewable sources.
It also called for a doubling of the
national renewable energy target to
30% by 2020 and for stricter
efficiency standards for coal-fired
power stations.
The State Council, China's cabinet,
is currently drawing up plans for a
massive"new energy" programme to
cut emissions and ensure energy
security. Reports in the domestic
media and from foreign diplomats
suggest the next decade could see
between 1.4 trillion (US$200 bn) and
4.5 trillion yuan (US$600bn)
investment in projects ranging from
nuclear power, low carbon transport
and clean coal technology to super-
efficient electric grids.
This huge expansion is already
causing problems. Manufacturing
capacity is outstripping supply and
the country's under-invested power
grid networks were not ready for
MKV, RM/RMVB, TP, AVI, M2TS,
large-scale wind power input. Some
wind farms have been unable to start
operating because of a lack of grid
connection or were operating at
levels lower than planned.
But experts warn that de-
carbonising the energy supply must
happen fast, given the massive toll on
China's environment. State news
agency Xinhua reported yesterday
that the country's largest desert lake
could vanish in decades due to
climate change and human activities.
"Just 10 years ago, one couldn't see
the other bank of the Hongjiannao
even through a telescope. Today, it's
visible with the naked eye," said He
Fenqi, a researcher with the Chinese
Academy of Sciences.
The Hongjiannao, sandwiched
between the Muus Desert in Shaanxi
Province and the Erdos Plateau in
Inner Mongolia, has shrunk by at
least 30% in the past two decades,
Xinhua reported. It now covers 4,600
hectares and its water level is
declining by 20 centimetres annually.
• Carbon emissions
• Fossil fuels
• Coal
• Climate change
• Energy
• Greenpeace
• China
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News &
Media Limited 2009 | Use of this
content is subject to our Terms &
Conditions| More Feeds
VOB, DAT, MPG, MPEG and
MOV) through HDMI and
component outputs. If hard drives
and movies aren't enough, it also
reads SD, SDHC, MMC and MS
cards and supports e-books and
music.
Internet News Record
BedBunker: Sleep
Soundly with WWIII
Under Your Pillow
[Furniture]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:50:00 AM
I can't speak for everyone here, but
if I could sleep every night atop my
32 rifles or 70 handguns, I'd just
worry that the Boogie Man would
find a way to arm himself.
The BedBunker is a 1300lb 10
gauge steel strongbox that locks your
arsenal away safely with a hydraulic
gas-assist piston—even in a fire.
Withstanding up to 1533 degrees for
2 hours, the BedBunker keeps your
guns safe from your extensive
napalm collection, making $2,200+ a
small price to pay for a good night of
your guns' sleep. [ BedBunker via
Uncrate via OhGizmo!]
So what's up next for Brando's
infamous hard drive dock? Let's just
say that if there's no laser or disco
ball involvement we'll be vastly
disappointed. [ Brando]
Internet News Record
Jackson 'depended on propofol for
sleep'
By Helen Pidd (World news and
comment from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 6:05:30 AM
Doctor gave Michael Jackson
propofol by intravenous drip on night
of star's death, anonymous
investigator alleges
Michael Jackson could only sleep
by being hooked up to an intravenous
drip, according to a US official
investigating his death. The drip
contained propofol, the powerful
anaesthetic that authorities believe
killed him.
The singer relied on the drug like
an alarm clock, according to the
official, who spoke to the Associated
Press on condition of anonymity.
When Jackson wanted to sleep, his
personal doctor would hook him up
to the drip, which he would turn off
when the singer wanted to wake up.
On 25 June, the day Jackson died,
Dr Conrad Murray gave him the drug
through a drip some time after
midnight, the official said.
Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff,
has said the doctor "didn't prescribe
or administer anything that should
have killed Michael Jackson". When
asked yesterday about the law
enforcement official's statements, he
said: "We will not be commenting on
rumours, innuendo or unnamed
sources."
In a statement posted online late
last, Chernoff added: "Things tend to
Taser Drops Misguided Lawsuit Against Second Life
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 10:58:02 PM
Back in April, we had a story about
how Taser was suing Second Life's
parent company Linden Lab because
some users in the game had created
fake Taser-like virtual stun guns.
shake out when all the facts are made
known, and I'm sure that will happen
here as well".
Toxicology reports are still
pending, but investigators are
working under the theory that
propofol caused Jackson's heart to
stop, the official said. Jackson is
believed to have been using the drug
for about two years, and investigators
are trying to determine how many
other doctors administered it, the
official said.
Using propofol to sleep is said to
exceed the drug's intended purpose.
The drug can depress breathing and
lower heart rates and blood pressure.
Because of the risks, propofol is
meant to be administered only in
medical settings by trained
personnel.
Murray, 51, has been identified in
court papers as the subject of a
manslaughter investigation, and
authorities raided his office and a
storage unit in Houston last week.
Police say Murray is co-operating
and have not labelled him a suspect.
Murray became Jackson's personal
physician in May and was to
accompany him to London for a
series of concerts starting in July. He
was staying with Jackson in the Los
Angeles mansion where, according to
Chernoff, he "happened to find" an
unconscious Jackson in the pop star's
bedroom on the morning of 25 June.
Murray tried to revive him by
compressing his chest with one hand
Yes, seriously. It was hard to see
how Linden Lab would be
responsible for the actions of its
users, but Taser has a long history of
being ridiculously overaggressive in
trying to protect its brand. However,
perhaps someone explained how
unlikely its chances were in court,
while supporting Jackson's back with
the other.
The official provided a glimpse
into how the pop star was living in
the weeks before he died, describing
the room in which Jackson slept in
his rented Beverly Hills mansion as
outfitted with oxygen tanks and an
IV drip. Another of Jackson's
bedrooms was a shambles, with
clothes and other items strewn about
and handwritten notes stuck on the
walls. One read: "Children are sweet
and innocent."
The temperature upstairs was
stiflingly hot when authorities arrived
at the singer's house after his death.
Gas fireplaces and the heating system
were on high because Jackson always
complained of feeling cold, the
official said. A porcelain girl doll
wearing a dress was found on top of
the covers of the bed where he slept,
they said.
Police found propofol and other
drugs in the home. An IV line and
three tanks of oxygen were in the
room where Jackson slept, and 15
more oxygen tanks were in a security
guard's shack, the official said.
• Michael Jackson
• United States
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because the company has dropped
the lawsuit. Anyone know if Taser-
like devices are still around in
Second Life?
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Story
Cambodia accused over
'Aids colony'
By Justin McCurry (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 3:18:01 AM
Open letter from human rights
groups condemns 'life-threatening'
conditions at settlement outside
Phnom Penh
Aids campaigners and human
rights groups today accused the
Cambodian government of herding
HIV-affected families into an "Aids
colony" outside the capital, Phnom
Penh.
In an open letter to the country's
prime minister, Hun Sen, and the
health minister, Mam Bunheng, more
than 100 international and domestic
pressure groups said they were
deeply disturbed by the "life-
threatening" conditions in the
settlement.
Forty families are forced to live in
sheet-metal sheds without running
water or proper sanitation.
The government has spent the past
two months moving people with
HIV/Aids from the Borei Keila
district of Phnom Penh to Tuol
Sambo, a flood-prone area 15 miles
(25km) away.
"By bundling people living with
HIV together in second-rate housing,
far from medical facilities, support
services and jobs, the government
has created a de facto Aids colony,"
Shiba Phurailatpam, of the Asia-
Pacific Network of People Living
with HIV/Aids, said.
Rebecca Schleifer, a Human Rights
Watch spokeswoman, said conditions
at Tuol Sambo posed "serious risks"
to people who were already
vulnerable to illness.
"People living with HIV have
compromised immune systems and
are especially vulnerable," she added.
"For them, these substandard
World/ TechNews/ 37
conditions can mean a death sentence
or a ticket to a hospital."
According to Médecins sans
Frontières, conditions at Tuol Sambo
do not meet the minimum
international standards for temporary
housing.
The families were evicted from
Borei Keila to make way for a
commercial development, which was
reportedly granted government
approval on the understanding that
the developer would place the
residents, including those with
HIV/Aids, into new housing.
The evictions continued despite
protests from UN agencies, and the
campaigners' letter said: "We have
reason to fear that relocations of HIV
-affected families are continuing
even as we sign this letter."
They urged the government to stop
moving families to Tuol Sambo,
urgently improve living conditions
there and ensure that people with
HIV have access to antiretroviral
drugs.
Local officials said they were
aware of the concerns over the
settlement and were trying to
improve conditions.
"We are trying to find clean water
for them," Phnom Penh's deputy
governor, Mann Chhoeun, told the
Phnom Penh Post, adding that plans
had been made to distribute free
medicine via the Centre of Hope
mission.
In 2008, according to UNAids, an
estimated 67,200 adults and 3,800
children in Cambodia were living
with HIV/Aids.
• Cambodia
• Aids and HIV
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38 World/ AppleBlog/
Scores feared dead as boat capsizes
(World news and comment from
the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:31:19 AM
Survivor says vessel hit reef near
Turks and Caicos Islands as it
attempted to avoid police boat
Up to 85 people are missing after
an overloaded sailboat carrying about
200 Haitian migrants sank off Turks
and Caicos Islands, the US
coastguard said today.
The boat struck a reef as it tried to
elude police yesterday afternoon, a
survivor said.
Rescuers found 113 migrants
stranded on two reefs about two
miles south-east of West Caicos
island. Most of them were ferried to
land by authorities. Two bodies were
also recovered, said Lieutenant
Commander Matt Moorlag, a
coastguard spokesman.
The boat had been at sea for three
days when those aboard saw a police
Baghdad robbers kill eight in £4m
raid
(World news and comment from
the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:07:02 AM
Police say insurgents trying to get
cash to fund their operations were
behind robbery
Gunmen killed eight security
guards and made off with more than
£4m today in an early morning
robbery at a bank in central Baghdad.
The gunmen broke into the state-
run Rafidain Bank at about 4am,
killing three on-duty guards and five
others who were either on a break or
asleep, an Iraqi police official said.
It was the second deadly robbery in
a week in Baghdad's commercial
Karradah district. Police said it was
the work of insurgents attempting to
finance their operations.
A special committee made up of
vessel and accidentally steered the
boat on to a reef as they tried to hide,
said Alces Julien, a survivor.
Moorlag said information from
those who were aboard the boat
indicated that it set off from Haiti
with about 160 passengers. It then
stopped at an unknown location and
picked up 40 others.
Petty Officer First Class Jennifer
Johnson said overloading appeared to
be a factor in the accident. "These
vessels, they are grossly overloaded.
Two hundred people on a sailboat is
astronomical," she said.
The coastguard team was using a
helicopter, a jet and the cutter
Valiant, which was sending smaller
search vessels, Johnson added. A C-
130 aircraft was expected to join the
search.
Turks and Caicos authorities
reported the accident to the US
coastguard, which patrols the region
for drug traffickers and illegal
Iraqi army, police and bank officials
was formed to investigate the raid,
which netted 8bn Iraqi dinars, an
interior ministry official said.
Investigators believe the gunmen
used silencer-fitted weapons, because
witnesses and neighbours did not
hear any gunshots. It was not clear
how many gunmen were involved.
"While I cannot confirm that the
attacks were terrorist-related, it does
fit past trends of terrorist groups in
Iraq of financing their operations
through crimes – like kidnappings for
ransom, robberies and black
marketeering," David Shoupe, a US
military spokesman, told the
Associated Press.
Insurgents in Afghanistan are also
believed to have staged bank
robberies, kidnappings for ransom
and other criminal activities to raise
migrants and often helps in search
and rescue efforts.
Haitians routinely take to the seas
in rickety, overcrowded boats to try
to escape poverty in the western
hemisphere's poorest nation.
In May 2007, an overcrowded
sloop carrying more than 160
migrants capsized off Turks and
Caicos Islands. Some of the
passengers were eaten by sharks. The
78 survivors accused an official
patrol boat of ramming their vessel as
they approached shore and towing
them into deeper water.
A boat carrying about 30 mainly
Haitian migrants capsized off the
Florida coast in May this year, killing
at least nine people, including a
pregnant woman.
• Haiti
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funds.
Five people were killed on Sunday
when gunmen broke into the al-Nibal
money exchange office in Karradah,
east Baghdad, shortly before noon,
killing three employees and two
customers and wounding 12 others,
including eight employees.
In April, gunmen armed with
silenced weapons killed at least
seven people during a daylight raid
of jewellery stores in Baghdad. In the
same month, gunmen used similar
tactics, killing two, during the
robbery of a currency exchange in
the southern city of Basra.
• Iraq
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Booyah releases Booyah
Society, an app/game that
tracks "life achievements"
By Mike Schramm (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 7/27/2009 4:15:00 PM
Filed under: Gaming, Software,
Developer, iPhone, App Store
Booyah is a company I've had my
eye on for a while -- they're a couple
of veterans from Blizzard
Entertainment (makers of the popular
Diablo and World of Warcraft
games, two of my favorites) who
have been teasing a big-time iPhone
app. Just today, they've finally
showed their cards, and have released
Booyah Society, a 3D, interactive,
social network-connected
"achievement system for life." If that
sounds like an idea that's pretty
floaty, you probably heard it right.
Basically it's a game system that
more or less overlays on what you're
already posting to Facebook and
Twitter. If you do anything from
conquering a new videogame to
doing a new exercise to visiting a
new restaurant, you can earn
achievements and points for an
ingame avatar and scoreboard. In
essence, they're aiming to take the
things we already tell each other
we're doing, and put this
game/scoring system on top of that.
There are plans to use the iPhone's
hardware to do some self-reporting
Internet News Record
(GPS to track where you've been),
but for now, everything's basically on
the honor system.
Will it work? Who knows. The app
is available for free right now, and
they're planning to include
microtransactions in the future to let
you buy things to dress up your
avatar with, as well as looking at
partnerships with other businesses
(i.e., you can get a certain
achievement by going to Wendy's
and ordering some fries). Very
interesting -- as with most social app
ideas, this one seems like it'll make
or break it based on who chooses to
play it faithfully. They've got quite a
pedigree with the Blizzard
background, and built-in audiences
with Facebook and Twitter
integration, but whether or not people
will find themselves invested in
tracking these achievements and
scoring points for their avatars, only
time will tell.
TUAW Booyah releases Booyah
Society, an app/game that tracks "life
achievements" originally appeared on
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Mon, 27 Jul 2009
16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
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Internet News Record
Is AT&T behind the rejection and removal of
Google Voice apps?
By Chris Rawson (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 7/28/2009 12:45:00 AM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion,
Wireless, Bad Apple, iPhone, App
Store In the wake of TJ Luoma's
report earlier tonight that the two
independent Google Voice
applications have been removed from
the App Store, Jason Kincaid at
TechCrunch says that the official
Google Voice app has also been
given the shaft. He theorizes that,
despite the official Apple line that the
apps "duplicate features that come
with the iPhone," the real reason the
apps were removed was because of
squawking from AT&T.
While TechCrunch doesn't offer
any definitive proof that AT&T is
behind the Google Voice blockage,
they do cite GV Mobile developer
Sean Kovacs' point that Phil Schiller
himself, who you may remember
from Apple events like Macworld '09
and WWDC, personally approved the
GV Mobile app last April. In fact,
Kovacs says that Schiller called him
to apologize for the delays in getting
the app approved.
Given that high-level support for
the app, it's not hard to follow
TechCrunch's logic and set sights on
AT&T when looking for reasons for
its removal. While few people would
argue that Apple's app approval
process is pretty broken right now,
it's hard to believe that an application
that was approved by Apple's VP of
marketing was somehow magically
unapproved because it "duplicates
functionality."
As TJ said in his post, it's difficult
to believe that Apple truly thinks
users will be confused by an
application that does the same thing
as the built-in Phone app when they
went out of their way to purchase and
download it. Even setting that aside,
it's not at all clear exactly what
functionality is supposedly being
duplicated. If it's the dialer, then
that's a poor excuse; lots of other
approved apps include dialers,
including Skype. If it's the SMS
functionality, again, poor excuse, as
other apps provide SMS functionality
as well.
It's true that Google Voice isn't
necessarily as "scary" to AT&T as a
true VoIP app like Skype, but some
of the Google Voice functions that
TechCrunch describes, like free SMS
messages and cheaper long distance,
certainly do sound like something
that would rattle AT&T's cage.
Take into consideration that Skype
was approved because it will only
work over Wi-Fi, even though there's
no technical reason it shouldn't run
over 3G. Look at how crippled
SlingPlayer is compared to the same
AppleBlog/ Entertainment/
app on other phones. Now, Google
Voice is dead in the water on the
iPhone. What we have is a very clear
and disturbing pattern. Applications
that provide innovative solutions to
users, but which fall outside the
bounds of what a traditionally-
minded telecommunications
company like AT&T considers
acceptable, are being either hobbled
by arbitrary restrictions like Skype
and Sling or blasted out of existence
like Google Voice.
Whether it's Apple's fault or
AT&T's, it's getting tiresome to see
innovative applications like Skype or
Google Voice constantly kicked to
the curb or kneecapped. Are we
headed for an App Store with nothing
in it except fart apps? Those, at the
very least, don't duplicate any built-in
iPhone functionality that I've heard
of.
One more thing: who else thinks
it's ironic that a company started by a
couple of guys who spent lots of time
phone phreaking in a garage in the
1970s now kowtows to AT&T and
kills apps that help people make
cheaper calls?
TUAW Is AT&T behind the
rejection and removal of Google
Voice apps? originally appeared on
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
00:45:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
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39
Family Guy may have
gone too far with a
planned abortion
episode
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 8:03:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, Animation,
Reality-Free, Comic-Con It looks
like an episode produced for the
upcoming season of FOX's Family
Guy may be too much for the
network too handle. I can only
imagine what a Family Guy episode
about abortion would consist of. And
in my imagination, none of it would
survive the FCC. So what does that
mean? It means more incentive for
fans to pick up the DVD set where it
will inevitably land.
FOX, however, says the decision
isn't final on what to do with the
episode (UPDATE: It is now!). I
could see creator Seth MacFarlane
actually being disappointed if FOX
airs it. On a show that prides itself on
pushing the envelope as far as he can,
it's gotta feel good to take it too far
from time to time.
He's already blasted religion, gay
marriage, and plays with pedophelia
almost constantly. Maybe abortion is
the one topic you just can't lampoon.
At the same time, I'd love to see what
he comes up with. Really, all of this
just raises awareness of the show and
reminds us that it's supposed to be
edgy. It's all for the ratings, baby!
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40 AppleBlog/
GV Mobile and Voice Central pulled Livescribe for Mac gets
from App Store handwriting recognition
By TJ Luoma (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 7/27/2009 7:00:00 PM
thanks to Vision Objects
Filed under: App Store
Update: The official Google app is
apparently not going to be released
either.
Earlier today, iPhone developer
Sean Kovacs posted on his blog that
his Google Voice client, GV Mobile,
is getting pulled from the App Store
due to "duplicating features that the
iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS,
etc)." Kovacs says he received a call
from an Apple staffer, who "wouldn't
send a confirmation email either - too
scared I would post it."
The app still appears in the App
Store, but when you attempt to
purchase it you will be told "The
item you tried to buy is no longer
available." We've also heard that
Voice Central(another Google Voice
application) is similarly no longer
available for purchase.
There has been speculation that
Google is preparing its own iPhone
app for Google Voice, however, in
light of the news that Apple
'requested' that Google make
Latitude a web app instead of a
native app"in order to avoid
confusion with Maps on the iPhone,"
I wonder if we are unlikely to see
such an application from Google.
MailWrangler, a native Gmail
client for the iPhone was also
rejected from the App Store because
the "application duplicates the
functionality of the built-in iPhone
application Mail without providing
sufficient differentiation or added
functionality, which will lead to user
confusion." As a heavy duty user of
Gmail, I've wished for MailWrangler
from the beginning. Sure you can use
Gmail through Mobile Safari -- as
you can use Google Voice -- but as
Apple soon learned after trying to
convince users and developers that
web apps were all we needed, there
are certain things which a native
application makes much easier.
GV Mobile is a very popular
application for using Google Voice
on the iPhone. Apple's own phone
application is great, but for Google
Voice users, a native application was
a nice thing to have.
I'm not sure why Apple keeps
insisting that users would be
confused by apps which do similar
things (How many different
applications are there which
duplicate "Notes" functionality?), but
a greater concern is the idea that a
developer can work on an
application, have it released to huge
success, and then have Apple turn
around and yank it from the App
Store.
This in loco parentis attitude from
Apple hurts iPhone users and
developers alike. Developers like
Fraser Speirs have stopped
developing new applications for the
iPhone and he's not the only one. (
Fraser's post on Twitter was how I
heard how I heard about GV Mobile
being pulled from the App Store.)
I hope these are growing pains that
Apple and the App Store will leave
behind. Users who seek out, find,
download, and install 3rd party
applications are unlikely to be
"confused" by the "duplication" of
functionality. The fact that they
sought them out is evidence that they
found something lacking from the
applications that Apple offers.
The App Store is wonderful, except
for the parts of it which are terrible;
namely, the review process (which
takes too long and rejects too many
apps) and the removal of applications
which do no harm and which have
been released for some time to great
success.
TUAW GV Mobile and Voice
Central pulled from App Store
originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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By Steven Sande (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 7/27/2009 6:00:00 PM
Filed under: Accessories, Hardware,
Peripherals, Software, Odds and
ends, Leopard When it comes to cool
tools for the Mac, the Livescribe
Pulse smartpen is one of the most
innovative. It's a pen that works with
special dot paper to capture your
handwriting and drawings, and links
what you write to what you hear
since it also records every word
within earshot. All of that
information is transferred to your
Mac for future reference.
The Mac software that comes with
the Pulse has been lacking in
comparison to its Windows sibling in
that it couldn't convert handwriting to
editable computer text. Livescribe
and Vision Objects today announced
the Mac version of MyScript for
Livescribe, handwriting-recognition
software that converts handwritten
notes from Livescribe into editable
text.
Owners of the Pulse smartpen can
create their own dictionaries of
commonly used words,
abbreviations, names, or terms for
even better conversion accuracy.
MyScript can directly receive
Internet News Record
handwritten notes from Livescribe
Desktop, convert shapes, tables, and
drawings from the pen into editable
images, and send converted text from
MyScript to Microsoft Word for
further editing or to Apple Mail.
A 30-day free trial for Pulse
smartpen owners is available here,
and the program can be purchased for
US$29.95 at any time. MyScript
requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher on
an Intel processor.
TUAW Livescribe for Mac gets
handwriting recognition thanks to
Vision Objects originally appeared
on The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Mon, 27 Jul 2009
18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
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Internet News Record
Retrospect 8.1 brings back PowerPC Hackintosh netbook
support, improves performance compatibility updated
By Robert Palmer (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 7/28/2009 12:01:00 AM
Filed under: Enterprise, Software
EMC announced today an update to
its popular Retrospect network
backup software; version 8.1 brings
back support for PowerPC-based
workstations and improves
performance for Intel-based Macs.
Eric Ullman, director of project
management for Retrospect, said that
while older G4-based Macs will run
significantly slower than their Intel-
based counterparts, Retrospect 8.1
can at least back them up (a
capability that was lost in the move
from the legacy 6.1 version). G5s
with multiple processors, however,
can see performance gains of 10 to
15 percent compared to Retrospect
6.1.
Intel-based workstations will also
see performance increases of 10 to 15
percent compared to 8.0, and 30 to
35 percent compared to Retrospect
6.1. Other improvements, including
updates to the user interface based on
feedback from early adopters, are
also included in the update.
Ullman said that with Retrospect 8,
EMC had "recommitted itself to the
Mac market" and this update was the
second part of a three-phase
deployment of the completely-rebuilt
Psych totally disses The Mentalist
By Kona Gallagher (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:00:00 PM
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows,
Video, Watercooler Talk, Reality-
Free, The Mentalist I've been hearing
about this for a couple of days, but
today USA just posted Psych's new
promo on the show's official Twitter
Retrospect 8. Phase one was the
initial release, supporting Intel
processors; phase two now supports
PowerPC processors. Phase three,
according to Ullman, is slated for
release "in the Snow Leopard
timeframe," and is expected to
include support for importing
Retrospect 6.1 sets and
configurations, among other
feed. In it, they make the not-so-
subtle point that The Mentalist kind
of ripped them off.
To be fair, when I first heard of
The Mentalist, the exact way it was
described to me was, "It's like Psych,
but a drama." So I can see where The
Mentalist's ridiculously high ratings
and Emmy noms may rub some
improvements to performance and
the client software.
As Steve Sande mentioned,
Retrospect's update comes on the
heels of BRU Server 2.0, which
added a new user interface and
performance improvements. Ullman
noted that BRU Server and
Retrospect are fundamentally
different, with Retrospect scanning
more closely to prevent file
duplication and save time copying
files. Retrospect is generally less
expensive than BRU Server, though
their pricing structures and trim
levels are a little different.
The update is available now on the
Retrospect website. It's free for
Retrospect 8 users and Retrospect 6.1
users who purchased the product
after January 14, 2008. For new
users, Retrospect 8 comes in a
variety of flavors ranging in price
from $129 to $1,669, depending on
the size of the network.
TUAW Retrospect 8.1 brings back
PowerPC support, improves
performance originally appeared on
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
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people associated with Psych the
wrong way.
AppleBlog/ Entertainment/ 41
By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 7/27/2009 5:00:00 PM
Filed under: Hardware, OS, Hacks
Boing Boing's gadget blog has
updated the list of potential
hackintosh netbooks. You can ponder
the whole thing or cut to the chase:
"...get a HP Mini 1000 or a Dell Mini
9/Vostro A90." While the Mini 9 has
been discontinued, the Vostro A90 is
apparently a rebadged version of the
highly hackable Dell and it works
just as well as the original.
The Eee 1000H also scored highly.
There are 21 machines on the chart,
each scored across 10 items like
working Wi-Fi, Ethernet, sound
board and so on.
Our own Steven Sande wrote about
enough for a daily ride in my
his experiences with turning a Dell backpack and is a genuine Mac. But
Mini 9 into a hackintosh. His
as my hacker friends would say,
experience was less than optimal, but "Where's the fun in that?"
your own may differ (those Windows
[Via Gizmodo]
and Intel stickers sure do look TUAW Hackintosh netbook
sweet).
compatibility updated originally
In related news, the fabled and still appeared on The Unofficial Apple
non-existent "iTablet" is rumored to
Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 27 Jul
be coming this year or next, 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our
depending on whom you choose to
terms for use of feeds.
believe. As for me, I'd be happy Read| Permalink| Email this|
enough to pick up a 13" MacBook
Comments
Pro and call it a day. It's small
However, Psych's assertion is kind common. Regardless, the promo is
of like Scrubs saying that Grey's pretty funny, and I've helpfully
Anatomy ripped them off because embedded it below.
they're both shows that follow PSYCH on USA Network - The
hospital interns who transition into Mentalist Spoof- Click here for
residents. Granted, the "fake psychic" funny video clips
genre is slightly more specific, but Permalink| Email this| | Comments
other than that, Psych and The
Mentalist don't have a whole lot in
42 Entertainment/
Star Wars was the first ever
Comic-Con panel televised,
but was it good TV?
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 9:03:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free,
Comic-Con Star Wars is a big deal. I
tell you this in case you are
unfamiliar with the property (hey, it's
possible!). So if you're going to
choose which panel from this
weekend's Comic-Con to become the
first ever televised convention panel,
why not go with Star Wars? You've
got a rabid fan-base, half of them
probably dressed up like their
favorite characters from the saga. Get
two of your most popular on-air
personalities to host it and you
should have television gold.
That was G4's plan going in. Kevin
Pereira and Olivia Munn host the
nightly live Attack of the Show,
where they're topical, geeky and
funny. I thought they brought much
of that same energy to their hosting
here. So what went wrong?
For one, it seemed like somebody
slipped the audience some Xanax
Nurse Jackie: Pupil
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 4:16:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Episode
Reviews, Reality-Free, Nurse Jackie
(S01E08) "Honey, I know I'm
pretty, but you just wasted 30
seconds staring at me." - Mo-Mo, to
a male nurse who needs to get back
to work
Mythbuster Adam Savage goes undercover at Comic-Con
By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:02:00 AM
Filed under: Reality-Free, Comic-
Con I imagine a lot of stalkers must
love a place like Comic-Con. All of
while they were waiting in line or
something, because they didn't get
excited about anything. It didn't help
that the majority of the panel was
incredibly boring.
Continue reading Star Wars was
the first ever Comic-Con panel
televised, but was it good TV?
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Well, there are certain things about
Nurse Jackie that you just know are
going to come into play. Like the
assisted suicide story we had
recently, and tonight's chilling
opening scene where Jackie's
daughter accidentally gets Jackie's
drugs mixed into the sprinkles on her
doughnut (loved that slo-mo camera
work, though).
their most sought after celebrities are
together in one place for easy
pickings. It must be their Costco.
One star, however, decided to turn
the tables on his fans and used his
own costume to stalk and hunt down
Weeds: A Distinctive Horn
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:06:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Episode
Reviews, Weeds, Reality-
Free(S05E08) "I've come to reclaim
my territory, Superfly." - Nancy to
Andy, who's turned her room into a
1960s crash pad
First of all, for some reason, I find
Alanis Morissette completely
annoying as the doctor. I don't know
if she's just boring or whether it's
because she was mean to Andy:
"You're unemployed, you're closer to
40 than 30, you drive a car from a
TV show, and your greatest recent
accomplishment was beating the
upside-down kill screen in Ms.
Pacman."
The only upside of her and Andy's
date is that it got him to shave that
ridiculous Geico caveman beard off.
I really appreciate seeing his face
again.
I also love the little vignettes at the
beginning of each ep with the
Sooner or later, Jackie's not going
to catch stuff like that, and it'll be
a few of his fans on the floor of this
opening credits. Tonight's featured a
file drawer with a "Weeds" file and a
"Jenji Kohan" file. I also picked out a
"Power of Attorney" file, which
came into play later in the episode.
Continue reading Weeds: A
Distinctive Horn
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
disastrous. I know we've talked about
this before, but you have to wonder
how she can function so well doing
all those drugs. And what would
happen if she suddenly didn't have
access to them.
Continue reading Nurse Jackie:
Pupil
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
year's convention.
To make it even creepier, he
dressed up like a clown. That
slurping sound you hear is my spine
falling out of its socket from
uncontrollable shivering.
Internet News Record
The Closer:
Elysian Fields
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 12:20:00 AM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows,
CSI, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E08) When I say that a lot of
this episode of The Closer felt like a
CSI episode, with the emphasis on
the gory and gruesome aspects of
original murder, I'm not being
critical. And when I mention there
were also elements that reminded of
Cold Case, that's also not a diss
because Cold Case is an underrated
show.
But unlike Cold Case, which brings
the past to life, The Closer remained
very much in the present. Generally
speaking, this was a pretty strong
episode that played up Brenda's
vulnerability.
Continue reading The Closer:
Elysian Fields
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Continue reading Mythbuster
Adam Savage goes undercover at
Comic-Con
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Internet News Record
The Bachelorette: Season Finale - open
thread
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 8:08:00 AM
Filed under: Other Reality Shows,
Watercooler Talk
The ABC.com promo for the
season finale of The Bachelorette
proclaimed "Trust us, you won't
believe what happens." So what
happened? Did Jillian turn out to be a
NBA Live 10 gameplay footage
hits the hardwood
By Randy Nelson (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 10:25:00 PM
You were probably expecting the
first gameplay footage of NBA Live
10 to feature a reenactment of the
2009 NBA Finals match-up between
the LA Lakers and the Orlando
Magic, but it doesn't.
It seems at first glance to be the
Eastern Conference Finals between
the Magic and the Cleveland
Cavaliers. But wait -- Shaq's in the
game! He wasn't traded to the Cavs
until after the Finals, so we can only
robot? Did she kill the last couple of
bachelor contestants? Did Bobby
Ewing show up in the shower alive?
What a stupid show this is, on so
many levels. But I'm just glad that
Jillian has found TRUE LOVE.
What did you think?
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
guess this is one of those crazy
"What If?" scenarios. (Or, more
likely, EA wanted the game's debut
video to include the power couple of
Shaq and LeBron James.)
Time-traveling Shaq aside, it looks
good to us. What's your first
impression of EA's latest hoops sim?
NBA Live 10 gameplay footage
hits the hardwood originally
appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 27 Jul
2009 22:25:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
64K signature petition
delays German govt's
game-banning bill
By Majed Athab (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 2:00:00 AM
There has been a string of unrest in
Germany over violence in video
games as of late, which is why the
government there is working on a bill
to ban violent games from the
country. While the man in the
Bundestag has plans of censorship,
German gamers are fighting back
with a petition. And not just any old
petition, mind you; the one already
submitted contains 64,824 signatures,
which means there's enough cause
(by German law) for the government
to open a public hearing.
In specifics, the government is
looking to ban any software "where
the main part is to realistically play
the killing of people or other cruel or
un-human acts of violence against
humans or manlike characters."
Basically, kiss all those lovely
shooters goodbye -- that is, if the
Entertainment/ Tech Games/
delay spurred by the petition won't
change the government's mind.
Considering Germany is a place
that enjoys the sound of the
banhammer falling (examples: coked
up Red Bull, genetically modified
corn products and even 26 years of
its own history have all been
outlawed), there's no guarantee the
bill will be deterred. In fact, the
source Gamezine notes Germany
passed the internet censorship
bill(which was a similar case that had
double the petitioners) earlier this
year.
[Via Game Politics]
64K signature petition delays
German govt's game-banning bill
originally appeared on Joystiq on
Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comments
43
Gears of War 2 'All
Fronts' and 'Dark
Corners' DLC available
now
By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:00:00 AM
Attention, COG lovers and Locust
loathers, the new Gears of War 2
DLC is now available for download
on Xbox Live Marketplace. For the
truly hardcore Marcus fans out there
-- the ones who have already bought
all the previous multiplayer maps --
you'll want to look for the Dark
Corners Multiplayer Map Pack. It
contains seven new multiplayer maps
and the single-player level "Road to
Ruin" and will set you back
1200($15).
For those who are new to Gears of
War 2-- or those who have avoided
all the DLC thus far -- you'll be better
served by the All Fronts Collection,
which contains every single
multiplayer map released and"Road
to Ruin" for 1600($20).
For a detailed look at all the new
multiplayer maps, check out our
video walkthrough above. Find our
take on "Road to Ruin" after the
break.
Add Dark Corners to your Xbox
360 download queue
Add All Fronts to your Xbox 360
download queue
Continue reading Gears of War 2
'All Fronts' and 'Dark Corners' DLC
available now
Gears of War 2 'All Fronts' and
'Dark Corners' DLC available now
originally appeared on Joystiq on
Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
44 Tech Games/ TechNews/
The ECA wants you to tell
Obama how cool video
games are
By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 11:25:00 PM
Video games are totally cool, right?
The Entertainment Consumers
Association thinks so, and wants you
to let the US President know how
you feel about video games and their
effect on your life, via an email form
on its website. Specifically, the folks
at the ECA want you to "point out
some ways that video games have
empowered and educated you." Like
that time you were empowered by
GTA IV to rob someone, right?
(That's a joke, Mr. Thompson.) The
political lobbying group is of course
responding to the continuing message
from President Obama during
speeches to "put the video games
away."
While we're sure Mr. President
would love to read all about how
World of Warcraft taught you about
time (mis)management or how Drop7
makes you see things in groups of
seven or less everywhere you go (is
that just us?), we're thinking the
"intellectual stimulation" and
"problem solving" routes might be a
bit more advantageous.
[Thanks, Jack!]
The ECA wants you to tell Obama
how cool video games are originally
appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 27 Jul
2009 23:25:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Trion World Network hiring
for PS3 MMO development
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 9:17:00 AM
Whenever we post about MMO
developer Trion World Network, two
facts inevitably come up:
• It's working on some mysterious
TV show/MMO for (ugh) SyFy
• It raised$100 million
We mostly like mentioning the
$100 million because we enjoy
thinking about the possibility of just
convincing people to give us a bunch
of money, but both of these facts are
entirely relevant to the latest
development out of the company.
Trion is using some of that money,
according to job listings on its site,
Is The AP Even Relevant Any More?
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 8:57:13 PM
The original purpose of the
Associated Press was to pool
together resources of various
newspapers in order to be able to
cover and share reporting on
different events around the world.
Otherwise, it simply wasn't practical
for every local newspaper to have a
Washington DC bureau or a London
bureau or a Moscow bureau or
whatever other location needed news
reporting. And then, the idea was that
by collectively teaming up, each of
for PlayStation 3 developers,
including Senior Programmer, Senior
Graphics Programmer, and Interface
Designer. All of these new hires will
be working on the SyFy project,
meaning that Trion is planning to
bring the MMO to PS3.
Now all we need to know is
anything at all about this game.
[Via Massively]
Trion World Network hiring for
PS3 MMO development originally
appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 09:17:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
the local newspapers could reprint
the works from others (and from the
AP's own reporters) and have a
complete newspaper on their own.
But does that even make any sense in
an internet era? The NewsFuturist
blog notes that the internet has
basically done away with the two key
reasons that explain the AP's very
existence, which probably explains
why they're trying out questionable
ideas designed to hold back the
power of the internet, rather than
embracing it. Could there be a place
for a modern Associated Press?
Absolutely. But its core purpose
Internet News Record
Apple Says No
To Google Voice
On The iPhone
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 3:15:31 AM
As we wait to hear if Spotify's
mobile app gets approved(I heard a
rumor that it was, but have seen no
proof yet), we hear of another
questionable Apple iPhone rejection:
the Google Voice iPhone app has
been forbidden from the iPhone,
though the reasons aren't entirely
clear. Still, it does show that Apple
doesn't care who you are, or how big
a name. If it doesn't like your app,
too bad. Once again, this seems like
an argument for why more open
solutions will win out in the end. Not
only do users not have to worry
about arbitrary rejections like this,
but innovation will happen much
faster on open platforms where each
innovation doesn't need to be
approved by a mercurial secret cabal.
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needs to be entirely different from
what it's been for most of the AP's
history. Each newspaper doesn't need
to copy the same report from the
White House briefing room.
Everyone can just link to different
reports (including more than just one
to give multiple perspectives). The
whole reason for the AP's very
charter makes little sense these days,
and it's time for the AP to come to
terms with that, and adapt... or go
away.
Permalink| Comments| Email This
Story
Internet News Record
Reminder: The Matrix Online
shuts down this week
By David Hinkle (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 12:00:00 AM
We've been locked in this hellish
war against the machines for years
now, but word has just come in from
Morpheus that Neo is close to
striking up a deal with those metallic
monstrosities. Neo has been trying to
negotiate a treaty for some time now
and, if what we're hearing is true, the
machines will finally shut down the
Matrix on July 31 and let our
brothers and sisters go. Now, we
didn't get everything we wanted
'New THQ' hires old Midway exec to head Darksiders marketing
By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 10:30:00 AM
THQ has hired, as MCV puts it,
"popular Midway exec Mark Cook"
as marketing manager for UK and
Europe. Cook will head the
(mostly our robotic slaves returned),
but, in the end, it'll be for everyone's
benefit. We can finally get back to
those ridiculous dance parties we all
love so much!
[Via Massively]
Reminder: The Matrix Online shuts
down this week originally appeared
on Joystiq on Tue, 28 Jul 2009
00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
marketing campaign for Darksiders,
which will cover seven months and
form part of the company's new
strategy to get the word out about its
games earlier.
The " new THQ" has been on a roll
recently with hits like UFC:
Sonic Universe #6: The Unofficial
Sonic Fandom Test
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 1:00:00 AM
Not sure just how much of a Sonic
the Hedgehog fan you are? Read
through the preview of Issue #6 of
Archie Comics' Sonic Universe, in
which Silver the Hedgehog visits a
future Sonic and Sally Acorn to
prevent a disaster.
If that made any sense at all, you're
a pretty serious Sonic fan. If you read
the comic excerpt we posted at the
top, and then decided to continue
Undisputed and Red Faction:
Guerrilla. With a January 2010
Tech Games/ 45
reading the comic, you're a really
serious Sonic fan. And if you read
the entire comic, and then felt
anything but disgust ... how's that Big
the Cat costume coming along?
Sonic Universe #6: The Unofficial
Sonic Fandom Test originally
appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 28 Jul
2009 01:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
release planned, Darksiders has Please see our terms for use of feeds.
plenty of time to build hype -- and Read| Permalink| Email this|
believers. Comments
'New THQ' hires old Midway exec
to head Darksiders marketing
originally appeared on Joystiq on
Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:30:00 EST.
46 TechNews/
Examining Fact And (Gov't Crafted) Fiction On The Number
Of Chinese Web Surfers
By Ian Bell (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 4:59:11 PM
Statistics lauding the growth of the
Internet in China have become so
commonplace as to inspire yawns,
despite breathless press reports of
hundreds of millions of Chinese
going online and signing up for the
'net. With the Chinese Government
declaring that their internet
population surpassed the US last
year, it would seem that the real
opportunity for expansion and
growth online is not in the West, but
somewhere behind the Great Firewall
of China. Cue the ads for Chinese
Web Hosting, Chinese Industry
Liaisons, and the omnipresent
legions of Chinese business agents.
Many Western technology
companies have heeded that call, but
have found themselves cast onto the
rocks of Chinese shores including
companies like Microsoft, Google,
Cisco, eBay, and Yahoo! The
massive markets just never seem to
have materialized in the Orient for
these giants, or when success has
loomed on the horizon the murky
Chinese bureaucracy has stepped in
to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. Partnerships have vaporized
overnight, and ( particularly in the
case of Cisco) core Intellectual
Property has been outright stolen,
reverse-engineered, or redistributed.
Perilous waters, indeed.
So it was with this skepticism that
my friend Gersham viewed the latest
piece of propaganda emerging from
our friends in China that we have
now reached the new height of 338
million Chinese Internet users; a 13
percent increase since the end of
2008, and just about exactly one
quarter of the country's population.
All of this, of course, seems to have
been tabulated and distributed by the
slightly inaccurately-acronymed
Chinese Internet Network
Information Centre ( CNNIC) which,
by its own admission, takes orders
from the Ministry of Information
Industry (MII) to conduct daily
business. In fact, google Chinese
Internet Traffic and you'd be hard-
pressed to find data that did NOT
originate from the CNNIC. Hmm.
Call me a cynic.
It is likely difficult for most (any)
of us to corroborate or even
conceptualize these high numbers,
but it seems suspicious nonetheless,
particularly from a country whose
median income is around $3400 and
whose Per-Capita GDP is ranked
104th, right behind Armenia. In
trying to substantiate this, once can
point to Alexa's site rankings which
currently reveal that 3 Chinese-
language web sites rank in the Top
20: Search Engine Baidu(#9), IM
chat and portal QQ(#14), and portal
Sina.com.cn(#18). Sounds good,
right? But look closely at the
rankings. Baidu, an undisputed leader
in Search for China, reaches 5.73%
of the internet populace, whereas
Google.DE (#13) reaches roughly
3% of global internet users while
servicing German, Swiss and
Austrian users exclusively. Combine
the populations of these three
countries and they don't even add up
to 100 million people.
Gersham pointed me toward the
Firefox Download Stats, where, as of
this writing, Germans have made
4,948,666 downloads of various
Firefox versions compared to only
672,972 for China. Again, Germany
has a population of 82Million vs.
1.3Billion in China. As a control,
Americans have downloaded Firefox
7,959,727 times as of this writing.
Do the Chinese really just prefer
Internet Explorer?
In January 2009, Comscore
measured the Chinese internet
audience at closer to 180 Million
users, still an impressive 18% of the
Internet population. This site quotes
murky Nielsen Online data pegging
Chinese Internet Users at roughly
300 Million. Beyond these hearsay
reports, empirical measurements are
difficult to come by.
So, let’s throw up our hands and try
to reverse-engineer the data using
published stats. According to June
2009 data from Comscore, Google
has captured 65% or so of US Search
Traffic. This made it the #1 web site
in the world, with 157 Million US
Visitors in June, according to
Comscore. In the Chinese Market,
Baidu has captured 73% of Chinese
search, with Google in the Number
Two spot. Yet Baidu.com barely
moves the needle by comparison,
according to compete.com,
alexa.com, and others, hitting
roughly 600,000 unique visitors per
month globally. High-side estimates
of the Internet's penetration in the US
peg it at 72.5% of the populace, or
about 220 million. This makes the
data on Google's penetration vs the
addressable market reasonably
accurate (71% if you do the math).
Following this logic, if Baidu in fact
has 73% of China's purported 338
Million users, it should be ranking as
the #1 web site by far, with 246
Million unique visitors per month. In
fact if any of this data were true, then
Chinese sites should occupy at least 4
of the Top Ten global web sites.
Whatever your opinion of
Compete's and Alexa's relative
methodologies, it's impossible to
Internet News Record
reconcile anything even close to the
numbers coming from the Chinese
Government. If that isn't good
enough for you, let's turn to profits.
While serving what was allegedly the
world's largest internet audience,
Baidu appears to be tracking to earn
about $500 Million in revenue this
year. Google's revenue appears to be
tracking to about $23 Billion for
2009 with its pithy 157 Million
unique visitors. Any way you slice it,
if China's internet userbase is as large
as Beijing says it is, and if Baidu's
market share of that audience is what
it's widely purported to be, then both
the number of uniques reported by
external traffic sites and the revenues
reported by the public company that
owns Baidu should be exponentially
greater.
These stats seem to either indicate
that Chinese do not use search very
often, or that there just aren't too
many of them heading out into the
wilds of the Internet. Either way,
statistics emanating exclusively from
bureaucratic sources within Beijing,
particularly those which seem to fly
in the face of all other external
metrics, are not to be believed. The
thesis of this post is not to suggest
that China is NOT a massive
opportunity for online properties and
other technology purveyors, it is
simply an attempt to point out that,
like in a lot of cases in dealing with
the People's Republic of China,
things are not what they may seem.
Pay no attention to the man behind
the curtain. Cross-posted from
IanBell.com.
Ian Bell is an expert at the Insight
Community. To get insight and
analysis from Ian Bell and other
experts on challenges your company
faces, click here.
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Internet News Record
No Surprise: Fair Use Rejected As
Tenenbaum Defense
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 1:13:40 AM
We've been careful to avoid
covering most of the insanity around
the Joel Tenenbaum trial from the
last few months, as it became
increasingly clear that the whole
thing was a giant mess -- culminating
in the plan to try to defend Joel's file
sharing as "fair use." Pretty much
everyone told the legal team that
such a defense would never fly and it
was a huge mistake. It's entirely
unclear why Charlie Nesson kept
pushing it. It should come as no
surprise, then, to find out that the
judge has rejected a fair use defense.
One can hope that Nesson and crew
actually have a better defense ready,
but with the judge rejecting the
planned fair use defense just hours
before the trial began, you have to
wonder if "Team Tenenbaum" has a
real strategy at all. Hopefully it's just
been hidden from all of us, because
there are significant legal points that
can be attacked, but to date Nesson
seems to have focused on long shots,
rather than the real legal questions at
play.
Not only that, but it appears that
even Judge Gertner (who originally
approached Nesson about
representing Tenenbaum, but had to
Russian Telcos: Skype Is Hurting Our Business And Must Be Stopped
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 6:40:03 PM
Usually, these days, when
companies beg the gov't for
protectionist policies against upstart
competitors, they at least work out a
convoluted story about some sort of
real harm (i.e., beyond the bottom
line of those asking for protection)
caused by the upstart. So, you get the
scold him multiple times and threaten
sanctions) seems to recognize that if
Nesson and Tenenbaum had thought
it out, there might actually have been
ways to make a fair use claim stick.
But, instead they failed to make a
compelling case and (as Gertner
says): "propose[d] a fair use defense
so broad that it would swallow the
copyright protections that Congress
has created." So what would such a
fair use defense entail? To be sure,
this Court can envision certain
circumstances in which a defendant
sued for file-sharing could assert a
plausible fair use defense. Indeed, an
amicus brief previously filed in this
consolidated action by the Berkman
Center at the Harvard Law School
(on which Defendant's counsel was a
signatory) outlined some of those
circumstances--for example, the
defendant who 'deleted the MP3 files
after sampling them, or created MP3
files exclusively for space-shifting
purposes from audio CDs they had
previously purchased.' The Court can
also envision a fair use defense for a
defendant who shared files during a
period of time before the law
concerning file-sharing was clear and
paid outlets were readily available.
The advent of the internet in the
late 1990s threw a number of norms
into disarray, offering sudden access
record companies claiming that
music will stop being made, or
perhaps food companies complaining
about the safety standards of foreign
food products. There may even be
to a wealth of digitized media and
giving the veneer of privacy or
anonymity to acts that had public
consequences. At the beginning of
this period, both law and technology
were unsettled. A defendant who
shared files online during this
interregnum but later shifted to paid
outlets once the law became clear
and authorized sources available
would present a strong case for fair
use. It might matter, too, who the
defendant shared files with--his
friends, or the world--as well as how
many copyrighted works, and for
how long.
But the Defendant has offered no
facts to suggest that he fits within
these categories. He is accused of
sharing hundreds of songs over a
number of years, far beyond the
infancy of this new technology or
any legal uncertainty. As with the
Jammie Thomas case, it makes you
wonder how things would have been
different with better legal counsel.
Either way, unless there are any
major developments, we're unlikely
to talk about the day-to-day events of
this trial until a ruling is made.
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some truth to those stories (or not),
but the real reason is to avoid
competition. Over in Russia, for
example, it appears that a bunch of
telco execs are complaining about
Why Is The
Administration Fighting
Transparency On TARP?
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 5:52:03 AM
We haven't written that much about
the economy lately, as others seem to
be doing a great job on it, but back
when the TARP program first came
about, we were quite concerned with
the nature of the program, and
specifically the lack of transparency.
With the change in administrations --
especially to one that insisted
transparency was a key factor, we
hoped that things would get better.
Now, it's no secret that we've been
upset about some of the new
administration's failure to live up to
its own transparency promises. But
there had been some evidence lately
that it really was becoming
increasingly transparent with how
some taxpayer funds are being spent.
Apparently, that doesn't apply to
the bailout, though.
Here's a disturbing story about the
guy who's in responsible for being
the independent watchdog over how
the TARP money is being spent.
While he's a long-term Democrat and
Obama supporter (so his views aren't
political), he's been quite critical of
how the administration is not being at
all transparent concerning how
TARP is being used. He wanted the
Skype. They at least try to pass off a
plausible non-save-our-asses reason:
mentioning security, but they don't
do a very good job hiding the truth.
Repeatedly they seem to plead that
TechNews/ 47
administration to force the banks to
explain what they were doing -- and
was told that was impossible. So he
did it himself -- and asked the banks
to let him know how the funds were
being used, which they did. He used
that and some other info to put out a
report, suggesting that the funds
aren't being used as was expected.
That sounds exactly like what the
independent watchdog should be
doing.
But the administration (mainly the
Treasury Department) has been
fighting him, and is now trying to
have it declared that the independent
watchdog actually is under the
control of the Treasury Department --
which would basically take away the
whole "independent" part. That
seems to go against the very concept
of the transparency we were
promised. It's great that this guy and
his very small team of folks are
actually monitoring what's happening
with our taxpayer money (whether
you agree with how it was used or
not). It's not a good sign that the
Obama administration is now trying
to muzzle him. That's not
transparency people can believe in.
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Skype is evil because it makes it
difficult for the old guard telcos to
charge super high fees. Competition
is such a pain sometimes...
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48 TechNews/ Sports/
Student Files Lawsuit After Teacher
Demands Facebook Password, Logs Into
Account & Distributes Private Messages
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 7/28/2009 7:30:00 AM
Remember the story recently about
how Bozeman, Montana was asking
all applicants for city jobs to hand
over their social networking
passwords so city officials could log
into their accounts? After some
widespread complaints, the city
smartly backed down, but apparently
they're not the only ones demanding
passwords. CitMediaLaw points us to
a lawsuit filed in Mississippi,
concerning a high school student
who turned over her Facebook
password at the demand of a teacher
at the school. The teacher proceeded
to log into her account, read her
private messages and then send them
around to others at the school,
causing a lot of problems for the girl.
Apparently, the teacher had
originally demanded usernames and
passwords to Facebook from a bunch
Contador Makes It Official in Celebratory Final Ride
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 9:32:25 AM
The final outcome of the Tour de
France wasn’t really in doubt, and
Alberto Contador had sealed his
resounding victory long before the
Champs Elysees came into view
Sunday. But that did nothing to sap
the drama from an exciting Tour that
saw Contador stake a compelling
claim to being the best racer in the
world and marked a successful
comeback to the sport by 37-year-old
Lance Armstrong, who finished in
of students to see if they were doing
anything illegal (drugs, drinking,
etc.), which is already pretty
questionable from a privacy
standpoint (and violates Facebooks'
terms of service). But to then use the
contents of private communication to
publicly humiliate the girl and punish
her for her private messages seems to
go way beyond what is both right and
legal. Other students at the school
had quickly deleted their Facebook
profiles when the teacher demanded
their passwords, but this girl chose
not to, but certainly never expected
what followed. It's amazing that any
teacher would think that they have a
right to demand access to private
social networking accounts and then
to make use of the content of private
messages in that manner.
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third place. AFP/Getty Images
Alberto Contador drank champagne
with teammate Sergio Paulinho while
he solidified his claim to the yellow
jersey.
Contador raced brilliantly both
before, during and after his famed
mountain surge, but his rivalry with
Armstrong — his teammate on the
Astana squad — was a bigger media
story than Contador’s dominance. In
the Times of London, Jeremy Whittle
suggests that the rivalry was a big
deal to Contador, too. “The
American chiseled away at
EXAMINING
continued from page 46
The Count: Armstrong’s
Unique Longevity at Top
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 7/27/2009 1:47:08 PM
Lance Armstrong and casual
cycling fans may have been
disappointed with his third-place
finish at the Tour de France that
ended Sunday, after he’d won his
seven prior Tours, from 1999 to
2005. But his showing was good
enough for the podium — he’s the
second-oldest cyclist to finish in the
top three — and it was a testament to
his remarkable staying power. Getty
Images
Lance Armstrong is practically the
only common thread between the
2005 Tour (pictured) and this year’s.
One way to quantify Armstrong’s
remarkable comeback is to compare
the final standings for this Tour with
that of his prior one, in 2005. He’s
the only rider to finish in the top 10
in both. And fellow American
George Hincapie is the only other
cyclist to finish in the top 25 in each
race (14th in 2005 and 19th this
Contador’s self-esteem, both on and
off the road, but failed to deter the
Spaniard from taking him on,”
Whittle writes. “In fact if anything, it
seemed to fuel Contador’s growing
year). Overall, just 14 riders finished
in the top 50 of each race, and just 19
of this year’s top 50 finished the
2005 race at all. The rest of the best
of 2005 either trailed the pack this
year, have retired, or missed the Tour
due to injury or a doping suspension.
By 2005, though, Armstrong’s
seven-year reign was over. There is
almost no overlap between this
year’s standings and 1999’s.
Christophe Moreau (27th in 1999 and
29th this year) is the only other rider
to finish in the top 50 of both races,
and just four other cyclists who
finished in the top 50 this year placed
in the 1999 standings at all.
indignation at his treatment. That
resentment showed in his racing,
both in Andorra and in the Alps.”
Norway’s Thor Hushovd claimed a
disputed green jersey, which goes to
the overall points winner, but British
rider Mark Cavendish’s jaw-
dropping victory in the final stage,
his sixth in the Tour, capped
Cavendish’s time-trial tour de force,
perhaps the biggest non-
Contador/Armstrong story of the
race. “His dominance in such
circumstances is so absolute that it
may never have been matched,” the
Internet News Record
CONTADOR
continued from page 48
steps beneath Contador, and one
below Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck
— the Miami Herald’s Linda
Robertson thinks Armstrong is a long
way from finished. “He’s got big
plans, for his LiveStrong foundation,
for cancer patients and researchers,
for his new team, for himself,”
Robertson writes. “He’s always got
something to prove or disprove, and
that keeps those legs spinning, in that
signature cadence. No. 3 is
wonderful. But he’s used to being
No. 1.”
In USA Today, Vicki Michaelis
reveals that Armstrong is staking out
a loftier spot on the podium in 2010.
In the New York Times, Juliet Macur
examines French cyclists’ ongoing
struggle to win on their home turf.* *
*
Four more former hardball mortals
ascended over the weekend to what
2008 Baseball Hall of Fame
broadcasting inductee Dave Niehaus
— among others — calls “baseball
heaven.” No one is challenging the
worthiness of inductees Rickey
Henderson, Goose Gossage and Joe
Gordon (or 2009 broadcasting
inductee Tony Kubek), but Larry
Stone of the Seattle Times wonders
what will happen when Hall of Fame
voters have to decide on the tainted
CONTADOR page 49
Guardian’s Richard Williams writes.
“For the Manxman [ from the Isle of
Man -- Ed.] now to lose in such
circumstances would provoke
inquests. And in winning the final
charge up in front of an immense
crowd, he wrote his name into the
history of the Tour de France.”
Armstrong’s name is already all
over that book, which made a third-
place finish less satisfying. But while
he was clearly unhappy with his
place on the podium — a couple
Internet News Record
CONTADOR
continued from page 48
stars of the steroid era.
In the end, though, Stone declares
his intention to “watch the Hall of
Fame induction ceremony, enjoy the
speeches, and not think about
steroids.” That’s decent advice in
general, but doubly good when
dangerously verbose, third-person-
singular aficionado Rickey
Henderson is among the inductees.
Resplendent in a white three-piece
suit, Rickey delivered one of the best
-received induction speeches in
recent memory. “As Henderson said
recently, ‘Speech and me don’t get
along sometimes,’ ” ESPN’s Jerry
Crasnick writes. “Would he resurrect
the whole third person thing, or talk
so fast the crowd would need to
employ a slide step to keep up? Not
to worry. With a national TV
audience looking on and 50 Hall of
Famers breathing down the back of
his neck, Rickey slayed.”
At Yahoo, Jeff Passan argues that
Rickey’s speech revealed a Yogi-an
(as in Berra, not yoga-practitioner)
understanding of language — one
that’s both instinctual and
endearingly weird. “For the past few
weeks, Henderson honed his speech
with students at a public-speaking
course in the Bay Area,” Passan
writes. “He didn’t need any help. If
anyone understands the key to a
successful speech — an ever-present
element of surprise — it’s the man
who frustrated more pitchers and
catchers than anyone.” You can see
the speech for yourself here.* * *
If there were an actual belt reading
“Best Fighter, Pound-for-Pound,”
Vernon Forrest likely would’ve worn
it for awhile in the early portion of
this decade. There isn’t, though,
which was probably fine with
Forrest. He won plenty of actual
belts, for one thing — beating Shane
Mosley for the WBC Welterweight
title back in 2002, and beating Sergio
Mora in September ‘08 for the WBC
Super Welterweight belt. But while
Forrest was near-universally
considered one of boxing’s best all-
around fighters at any size, he was
not into the sport’s self-promotion or
self-aggrandizement. You’ll notice
all the past tense here. Forrest was
killed in a botched car-jacking in his
adopted hometown of Atlanta on
Saturday.
Those who saw Forrest fight
remember a long-armed, cerebral
boxer who was a unique combination
of methodical and thrilling. “Forrest
was a fighter’s fighter, a self-
described purist, who embraced the
sport’s nuances and geometry,”
Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim
writes. “Though lanky and wiry
strong, he was much more likely to
win a fight by outflanking his
opponent than by beating the crap out
of him. ‘The goal of boxing,’ he
explained, ‘isn’t just to bust the other
guy up.’ ”
And the goal of Forrest’s life, in
turn, was more than winning boxing
matches. “Forrest was one of the
most engaging athletes I’ve ever
come across,” the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution’s Jeff Schulz writes.
“He did charity work. He started a
foundation, ‘Destiny’s Child,’ which
benefited people with mental
disabilities. He was a guy you pulled
for. Boxing needed more like him.”
At AOL’s FanHouse, Kevin
Blackistone explains that Destiny’s
Child — which was home to 30
mentally challenged adults and
became a million-dollar business —
was more than a foundation. It was,
Blackistone writes, the defining
pursuit of Forrest’s life.* * *
Six world records changed hands at
swimming’s world championships on
Sunday, including the previously
unassailable-seeming women’s 100-
meter butterfly and men’s 400-meter
freestyle. But all these records fell to
swimmers wearing the sport’s
controversial suits, which are
scheduled for a mothballing in 2010.
“The controversial high-tech suits
will be put in dry dock — but not
until 2010,” Lisa Dillman writes in
the Los Angeles Times. “For now,
it’s a frenzied grab-fest of records at
the swim bazaar. Get these records
while you still can.”
While the Michael Phelps-led
American team won the 400-meter
freestyle relay at the championships,
Phelps wasn’t pleased with his
individual time and is, Dillman
blogs, ending his experiment with a
49
new arm stroke.* * *
The soccer teams from the U.S. and
Mexico both played without many of
their most-recognizable stars in the
Gold Cup finals on Sunday. It
showed but only for the U.S. Both
Mexico’s 11-game winless streak
against the U.S. and the U.S.’s 58-
game undefeated streak at home
against rivals from its regional
federation, CONCACAF, ended
when Mexico claimed a resounding 5
-0 victory before 79,156 fans at
Giants Stadium. It likely didn’t help
the U.S. team that the crowd was
largely pro-Mexico, but the Mexican
team didn’t really need much
assistance in dispatching a U.S. team
that was missing Landon Donovan
and Tim Howard, among other stars.
In the New York Times, Jere
Longman details Mexico’s emotional
victory. In the New York Daily
News, Michael Lewis reveals that the
Americans are offering no excuses
for the blowout. The two teams will
meet again in Mexico — likely with
very different lineups — on August
12.
— Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don
Hartline and fellow Fixer Garey Ris.
Found a good column from the
world of sports? Don’t keep it to
yourself — write to us at
dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider
your find for inclusion in the Daily
Fix. You can email David at
droth11@gmail.com.