Internet News Record
Edition
Obama’s summer holiday reading
list: 2,300 pages
By Patricia Zengerle (Front
Row Washington)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 2:12:39 PM
President Barack Obama is
squeezing some reading into his
week-long Martha’s Vineyard
vacation. OK, a lot more than
“some.”
The brainy president has brought
along a stack of five books– three
novels and two works of non-
fiction — to amuse himself in
between rounds of golf, visits with
friends, activities with his family
and the inescapable business of
running the country while he is on
the Massachusetts island.
Two of the novels are thrillers,
but his reading list is hardly light,
literally or figuratively, with a total
for the five books of more than
2,300 pages.
Here’s what’s on Obama’s
holiday reading list:
“The Way Home” by George
Pelecanos, is a thriller set in
Washington, DC, a city that should
be familiar to a president and
former senator. The crime novel
by the best-selling author explores
the relationship between a father
and his son.
“Hot, Flat and Crowded,” by the
New York Times columnist
24/08/09 - 25/08/09 LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
New chapter on CIA
interrogations:
prosecutor picked
By Tabassum Zakaria (Front Supporters of the investigation
Row Washington) see it as a way for the United
Submitted at 8/24/2009 2:00:07 PM States to regain the moral high
ground on torture issues.
Even Attorney General Eric Opponents say it makes the United
Holder calls it “controversial” — States look weak and will make
his decision to appoint a special the CIA more risk-averse and hurt
prosecutor to look into prisoner national security.
abuse cases involving CIA “It could in the long-term
interrogators and contractors. strengthen the notion that the
He picked career federal United States made some mistakes
prosecutor John Durham, who was but we’ve corrected certain
already investigating the CIA’s p r a c t i c e s , a n d n o w w e ’ r e
destruction of interrogation continuing to combat terrorism in a
videotapes. While he’s not exactly way that’s closer to the principles
a household name, the on which our country is
investigation has only just begun. founded,” Stephen Flanagan of the
Other former special prosecutors C e n t e r f o r S t r a t e g i c a n d
Thomas Friedman, is a non-fiction pages. It is a novel about small were relatively obscure at the start I n t e r n a t i o n a l S t u d i e s s a y s .
book that looks at one of Obama’s town life in Colorado. and then launched into the A former intelligence official
top policy issues — climate And the president’s fifth choice limelight — remember Ken Starr said: “When Osama bin Laden
c h a n g e — a s w e l l a s w h a t is about one of his most distant of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal h e a r s a b o u t i t , h e m a y d i e
Friedman considers the United predecessors, David McCullough’s a n d P a t r i c k F i t z g e r a l d w h o l a u g h i n g . ”
States’ loss of hope and purpose sweeping biography of the second investigated the outing of Valerie What do you think? Is
since the September 11 attacks. U.S. president, “John Adams,” Plame. appointing a special prosecutor a
“Lush Life” by Richard Price is which comes in at 768 pages. The White House says President good idea?
another thriller, this one set on Reuters photos by Jason Reed Barack Obama, who previously Photo credit: Reuters/Larry
Manhattan’s Lower East Side in (Obama waves as he plays golf, said he wanted to look forward not Downing (CIA headquarters
New York City. and a storefront sign welcomes the backward, had left the decision of lobby)
The president’s fourth book, p r e s i d e n t a n d h i s f a m i l y t o going the special prosecutor route
“Plainsong” by Kent Haruf, is the M a r t h a ’ s V i n e y a r d ) totally up to Holder.
shortest of his choices, at just 301
2 Politics/ Top News/ Internet News Record

The First Draft: Bernanke, The First

budget trump vacation - Draft: no rest
for a bit for the weary?
By Ayesha Rascoe (Front Row
By Deborah Charles (Front midyear budget updates. Washington)
Row Washington) The reports are expected to show Submitted at 8/24/2009 7:05:58 AM
Submitted at 8/25/2009 4:50:30 AM the government will spend a record
$1.6 trillion more than it collects The Obamas may be on vacation
Two days after arriving in this year and nearly double its this week, but the news hasn’t
Martha’s Vineyard, President outstanding debt over the next 10 taken a break.
Barack Obama is taking a break years. The Justice Department is
from his vacation to make some The grim fiscal picture could expected to release a report
news: he will announce that he is provide fodder for opponents of Monday disclosing details of
nominating Ben Bernanke to a Obama’s costly plan to overhaul prisoner abuse that were gathered
second term as chairman of the the healthcare system. in 2004 by the CIA’s inspector
Federal Reserve. So why is Obama interrupting general but never before made
Investors have given Bernanke, h i s v a c a t i o n t o a n n o u n c e public. According to published
whose current term expires on Jan. Bernanke’s renomination? Does he
31, 2010, high marks and had hope to inject a sense of continuity A Jonas Brother for reports, the department has
recommended re-opening nearly a
w i d e l y e x p e c t e d h i s and stability by erasing doubt over
reappointment.
But the announcement is
who might lead the Fed?
For more Reuters political news,
President? dozen prisoner-abuse cases.
to
A review of the cases threatens
weigh down the
being made earlier than expected click here. By Lisa Richwine (Front Row kind of say it to get a laugh, it is Obama administration, which is
and comes not just during Photo credit: REUTERS/Jason Washington) somewhat serious. I don’t know if already involved in deeply partisan
Obama’s family vacation but also Reed (Obama and friend Eric Submitted at 8/24/2009 5:35:24 PM it will happen,” he said. battles over healthcare and climate
on the day that the White House Whitaker wave as they golf on If he goes to college, he said he change legislation.
Office of Management and Budget Martha’s Vineyard) Nick Jonas, the youngest of the would “probably study English The healthcare reform debate
and the non-partisan Congressional world famous Jonas Brothers and then political science because r a g e s o n , w i t h R e p u b l i c a n s
Budget Office both release their singing trio, told a National Press I’m interested in it.” At the pushing a healthcare bill of rights
Club audience on Monday he’s moment, he’s touring with his f o r s e n i o r s a n d D e m o c r a t s
Jessica Biel named 'most Fire at Detroit chemical “always had this dream of band and will soon start filming threatening to use congressional
dangerous celebrity' on factory is extinguished becoming president one day.” the movie “Camp Rock 2 with his procedure to bypass the need for
the Web (AP) (AP) The 16-year-old singer, brothers. 60 votes to pass healthcare
songwriter and actor was Jonas has plenty of time to think legislation in the Senate.
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) in Washington to raise awareness about his future. The U.S. Today is also the last day for car
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:41:46 AM Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:46:21 AM about type 1 diabetes, a disease he Constitution requires the president buyers to take advantage of the
was diagnosed with in 2005. be at least 35 years old. popular “Cash for clunkers,” as the
marilyn buzzed up: Obama Shawn buzzed up: Obama breaks Earlier this year, he met President For more Reuters political news, program’s $3 billion budget runs
breaks vacation, keeps Bernanke at vacation, keeps Bernanke at Fed Obama as part of his diabetes click here.
Fed (AP) (AP) out of gas.
work. Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Click here for more Reuters
9 seconds ago 2009-08- 6 seconds ago 2009-08- In an interview with Reuters, Lamarque (Nick Jonas of the Jonas political coverage
25T07:12:25-07:00 25T07:11:43-07:00 Jonas said his own presidential Brothers band speaks at the Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
aspirations were not entirely a National Press Club about juvenile (view of Martha’s Vineyard from
joke. diabetes) Air Force One)
“As much as I joke about it and
Reports: 3 dead after standoff in northeast Tenn. (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) MariaM buzzed up: Young 22 seconds ago 2009-08-
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:17:55 AM Afghan Guantanamo inmate freed, 25T07:15:23-07:00
returns home (Reuters)
Internet News Record Top News/ Gadgets/ 3

Official tells AP Jackson death ruled a homicide (AP)

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) was becoming addicted to the sedated Jackson for about 10 the balance" by depressing leading up to the 911 call, the
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:45:02 AM anesthetic, which is supposed to be minutes, then left for the Jackson's breathing and ultimately document said.
used only in hospitals and other bathroom, the affidavit said. Less stopping his heart. A call to the coroner's office was
LOS ANGELES – The Los advanced medical settings. than two minutes later, Murray The 25 milligrams of propofol not returned Monday. A
Angeles County coroner's finding The affidavit unsealed in returned and found Jackson had "is not a whopping amount," said spokeswoman for the Los Angeles
that the death of Michael Jackson Houston, where Los Angeles stopped breathing. Lee Cantrell, director of the San District Attorney's said no case
was a homicide could mean police took materials from one of Cell phone records show three Diego division of the California had been presented so the office
criminal charges for his doctor, Murray's clinics last month as part separate calls from Murray's phone Poison Control System. It was the had nothing to comment on.
who told investigators that he o f t h e i r m a n s l a u g h t e r for between 11:18 a.m. and 12:05 cocktail of the other sedatives, The line between safe and
administered a mix of powerful investigation, includes a detailed p.m., the affidavit said. It's not known as benzodiazepines, that dangerous doses of propofol is
drugs to treat the pop star's account of what detectives say clear who received the calls. "may have been the trigger that thin, and according to the drug's
insomnia hours before his death. Murray told them. Manslaughter is Murray had told authorities he was pushed him over the edge," guidelines a trained professional
The homicide ruling was based homicide without malice or administering CPR during that Cantrell said. must always stay bedside. Home
on forensic tests that found the premeditation. time. "This is horrible polypharmacy," use of propofol is virtually unheard
anesthetic propofol combined with Murray told detectives that he In a statement posted late he said, referring to the interaction of safe administration requires
at least two sedatives to kill had lowered the propofol dose to Monday on his firm's Web site, among the various drugs. "No one both a specially trained
Jackson, a law enforcement 25 milligrams and added the Murray's attorney Edward will treat an insomniac like this." anesthesiologist and an array of
official told The Associated Press s e d a t i v e s l o r a z e p a m a n d Chernoff questioned the timeline The affidavit, signed by a judge lifesaving equipment. Murray was
on Monday, speaking on condition midazolam two days prior to as depicted in the affidavit, calling July 20, said that the coroner's trained as a heart doctor, not a pain
of anonymity because the findings Jackson's death, a combination that it "police theory." office chief medical examiner told and sedation specialist.
have not been publicly released. succeeded in helping the pop star "Dr. Murray simply never told police his review of preliminary Murray told investigators he
While the finding does not sleep. The next day, Murray said, investigators that he found toxicology results showed "lethal didn't order or buy any propofol,
necessarily mean a crime was he cut off the propofol and Michael Jackson at 11:00 a.m. not levels of propofol." but investigators served a search
committed, it means more likely Jackson fell asleep with just the breathing," Chernoff said. He Besides the propofol and two warrant Aug. 11 at a Las Vegas
that criminal charges will be filed two sedatives. declined to comment on the sedatives, the coroner's toxicology pharmacy and uncovered evidence
against Dr. Conrad Murray, the But on June 25, Murray said he homicide ruling, saying, "We will report found other substances in showing Murray legally purchased
Las Vegas cardiologist who was tried unsuccessfully to make be happy to address the coroner's Jackson's system but they were not from the store the propofol he gave
caring for Jackson when he died Jackson sleep with a series of report when it is officially believed to have been a factor in Jackson on the day he died.
June 25 in a rented Los Angeles drugs that included a 10-milligram released." the singer's death, the official told Jackson's family released a
mansion. tablet of Valium and repeated The coroner's office has withheld the AP. statement Monday, saying it has
Through his lawyer, Murray has injections of two milligrams of its autopsy findings, citing a Murray didn't tell paramedics or "full confidence" in the legal
said he administered nothing that lorazepam and two milligrams of request from police to wait until doctors at the UCLA hospital process and the efforts of
"should have" killed Jackson. midazolam. their investigation is complete. where Jackson was rushed about investigators. It concludes: "The
Murray told investigators that at When they didn't work, he gave It is no surprise that such a any drugs he administered other family looks forward to the day
the time of the King of Pop's i n t o J a c k s o n ' s " r e p e a t e d combination of medications could than lorazepam and flumazenil, a that justice can be served."
death, he had been trying to wean demands/requests" for propofol, kill someone, said Dr. David "rescue drug" to counteract ___
Jackson off propofol. The doctor which the singer called his "milk," Zvara, anesthesia chairman at the problems from too much Contributing to this report were
said he'd been treating Jackson for according to the affidavit. Murray University of North Carolina at lorazepam, according to the AP Medical Writer Marilynn
insomnia for about six weeks with administered 25 milligrams of the Chapel Hill. affidavit. Marchione in Milwaukee and
50 milligrams of the drug every white-colored liquid a relatively "All those drugs act in synergy It was only during a subsequent Associated Press Writers Alicia
night via an intravenous drip, a small dose and finally, Jackson with each other," Zvara said. interview with Los Angeles Police Chang in Los Angeles and Michael
search warrant affidavit said. fell asleep. Adding propofol on top of the detectives that Murray gave a more Gracyzk in Houston.
Murray said he feared Jackson Murray remained with the other sedatives could have "tipped full accounting of the events
Likve at the Sony Daily Edition eReader announcement
By John Biggs (CrunchGear) You’ve sent long, rambling letters Erick Schonfeld is on the scene announcement site. There should
to Jodie Foster about it. You’ve
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:09:23 AM live and we’ll be reporting once be some goodies there.
been calling your local the doors open at 10:30am EDT.
You’ve been waiting for it. Congresswoman about it: It’s the 10:14 - Keep your eye on
You’ve been talking about it. Sony Daily Edition e-reader with built-in wireless.
WordsMoveMe, Sony’s
4 Top News/ Gadgets/ Internet News Record

Government extends deadline for clunkers

paperwork (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) dealers until noon Tuesday to submitted 625,000 vouchers institutions. He estimated that by
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:45:21 AM provide the proper documentation totaling $2.58 billion. Many the sales deadline on Monday,
and ramped up staff to handle the dealerships have worked overnight "there will be 700,000 to 800,000
WASHINGTON – Car dealers influx. But late Monday, it told in recent days to submit each trade cars that have been sold, most of
will have a bit more time to get dealers that the site wouldn't be -in vehicle's 13-page them fuel efficient," replacing gas-
reimbursed for their Cash for fully operational until Tuesday reimbursement application, guzzling cars and trucks. Sony teases Daily
C l u n k e r s d e a l s a f t e r t h e morning. including the title, proof of Dealers so far have only received Edition Reader,
government extended the deadline "We continue to address technical registration and proof of insurance. a fraction of the reimbursement
for filing applications for the $3 problems with the CARS website, They have pressed employees to funds they are owed. Through last
announcement imminent
billion government incentives into and have determined that the double- and triple-check their Thursday, the most recent data By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Tuesday. website will not be fully functional paperwork to ensure that available, the Transportation Submitted at 8/25/2009 9:37:00 AM
All sales under the program before (Tuesday) morning," the applications won't be rejected. Department had reviewed and
ended Monday evening. But after Transportation Department said in "We've spent the better part of the processed more than 150,000 We're actually about to head out
already pushing back the deadline a statement. "Dealers should be last three days trying to hack our reimbursement applications and the door for a Sony Reader
to submit records for the car rebate assured that they will be provided way into their computer program approved just $140 million in announcement of some sort, and
deals to noon Tuesday, the time to submit pending deals that has been down more than it's payments to dealers. At the time, this "Daily Edition" device that
Transportation Department said equivalent to the time that was lost been up," said Alan Starling, who DOT had processed about 30 just popped up on Sony's "Words
late Monday that dealers may have this afternoon while the system owns two General Motors percent of all the applications they Move Me" site sure seems like a
more time to submit pending was down." dealerships in central Florida. had received. prime candidate. Is Sony trying to
claims, due to continued problems The DOT declined to elaborate Cash for Clunkers has been "With the added staff and the mix in a bit of the Kindle's
with its Web site. further. wildly successful in spurring new- better paperwork submitted and wireless-based up-to-date-ness at
Government computers set up to Geoff Pohanka, who heads about car sales and getting gas-guzzling everybody being more comfortable long last? We'll find out in about
handle the filings were deluged by 15 dealerships in Maryland and models off the road, though some with the process, it's like a logjam. an hour.
dealers trying to send in their sales Virginia, said he had submitted energy experts have said the It's going to break through," said [Thanks, Skippy]
agreements at the last minute. about 910 clunker deals to the pollution reduction is too small to Michelle Primm, managing partner Filed under: Handhelds
Before the extension, all the government and had only received be cost-effective. Customers of Cascade Auto Group in Sony teases Daily Edition
paperwork was supposed to be payment for 16. He estimated the received rebates of between $3,500 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Reader, announcement imminent
submitted by Monday night, but government owed his dealership and $4,500, depending on the ___ originally appeared on Engadget
the big rush of submissions shut a b o u t $ 4 m i l l i o n f o r t h e improvement in fuel efficiency AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf in on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:37:00
down the government's computer outstanding claims and was from their old vehicle to their new New York and Associated Press EST. Please see our terms for use
filing system temporarily. That hopeful to get the final 90 voucher one. writer JoAnn Loviglio in of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email
raised concern among dealers that submissions into the system. Transportation Secretary Ray Norristown, Pa., contributed to this this| Comments
they wouldn't be repaid for the "Every 30 seconds, we're going LaHood, speaking to reporters in report.
$3,500 or $4,500 per vehicle back to the computer to see if we Norristown, Pa., said the program
incentives, and prompted them to can get them in," he said. was an unprecedented success and
push for an extension. Transportation officials said that, a boon for car dealers, automakers,
The government agreed to give through early Monday, dealers had scrap yards and financial

US smoker's daughter gets $13.8m

(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 11:07:38 PM
A US jury has ordered tobacco
giant Philip Morris to pay $13.8m
(£8.4m) to the daughter of a
lifelong smoker who died of lung
disease.
The jury in Los Angeles decided
in favour of Jodie Bullock, whose
mother Betty died of lung cancer
in 2003 aged 64. She had smoked
for 47 years.
Philip Morris said she could
have given up smoking at any time
as the harmful effects of cigarettes
were known.
Philip Morris is a part of
Virginia-based tobacco-products
group Altria.
Betty Bullock had sued Philip
Morris in April 2001 on the
grounds of fraud and product
liability. sent the case for a new trial, with
In 2002, a jury recommended Philip Morris arguing that the
that Philip Morris should pay $28m was excessive.
$28bn in punitive damages to Mrs Print Sponsor
Bullock, but a judge later reduced
the award to $28m.
In 2008, the US Court of Appeal
overturned the jury's decision and
Internet News Record Top News/ Gadgets/ Business/ 5

Wikipedia to launch page controls US soldiers killed in

(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 4:57:16 AM
The proposal was first outlined
by Wikipedia founder Jimmy
Wales in January this year. It was
controversial edits or is repeatedly
vandalised, editors can lock a
page, so that it cannot be edited by
Afghanistan
met by a storm of protests from everyone. (BBC News | Americas | World least 63 foreign military personnel
The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia users who claimed the For example, following initial Edition) have been killed this month,
Wikipedia is on the cusp of system had been poorly thought reports of the death of Michael Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:35:10 AM including 37 Americans. A total of
launching a major revamp to how out or would create extra work. Jackson, editors had to lock down 1,340 have died in the country
people contribute to some pages. 'Lock down' two pages to stop speculation Four US soldiers have been killed since 2001.
The site will require that The two-month trial will test a about what had caused his death. by a bomb in southern More than 30,000 extra US
revisions to pages about living system of "flagged revisions" on "For these articles, flagged Afghanistan, a Nato spokesman t r o o p s h a v e b e e n s e n t t o
people and some organisations be the English-language Wikipedia protection will actually make them has said. Afghanistan since President
approved by an editor. site. more open," said Mr Peel. Brig Gen Eric Tremblay said B a r a c k O b a m a o r d e r e d
This would be a radical shift for This would mean any changes The decision had been made to they were struck "while patrolling reinforcements in May, almost
the site, which ostensibly allows made by a new or unknown user focus on the pages of living in one of the most violent areas of doubling his country's contingent
anyone to make changes to almost would have to be approved by one people, he said, because they were Afghanistan", but did not give an and increasing the Western total to
any entry. of the site's editors before the the "most high-profile pages with exact location. about 100,000.
The two-month trial, which has changes were published. the highest probability of causing The deaths bring the number of On Sunday, the chairman of the
proved controversial with some Whilst the changes are being harm". f o r e i g n f o r c e s k i l l e d i n US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral
contributors, will start in the next mulled over, readers will be "[The trial] may also be extended Afghanistan in 2009 to 295, the Mike Mullen, said the security
"couple of weeks", according to a directed to earlier versions of the to organisations which are deadliest year since the US-led situation in Afghanistan was
spokesperson. article. currently operating," he added. invasion to overthrow the Taliban. "serious and deteriorating" and left
"I'm sure it will spark some Wikimedia said the system was The system has already been in The previous deadliest year was open the possibility of further
c o n t r o v e r s y , " M i k e P e e l o f "essentially a buffer, to reduce the operation on the German version 2008, when 294 military personnel reinforcements.
Wikimedia UK, a subsidiary of the visibility and impact of vandalism of Wikipedia for more than a year. died. "Afghanistan is very vulnerable
organisation which operates on these articles". The changes to the English The soldiers whose deaths were in terms of [the] Taliban and
Wikipedia, told BBC News. There have been several high- language site - which now has announced on Tuesday had been extremists taking over again, and I
However, he said, the trial had profile edits to pages that have more than 3m pages - will be operating under the command of don't think that threat's going to go
been approved in an an online poll, g i v e n f a l s e o r m i s l e a d i n g rolled out in the coming weeks, the Nato-led International Security away," he told CNN.
with 80% of 259 users in favour of information about a person. said Mr Peel. Assistance Force (Isaf). "The Taliban insurgency has
the trial. For example, in January this year The changes will be discussed in "It is with great sorrow that I gotten better, more sophisticated."
"The decision to run this trial was the page of US Senator Robert Buenos Aires this week at the learned about this terrible attack The latest casualties come five
made by the users of the English Byrd falsely reported that he had annual Wikimania conference. and I wish to convey my sincere days after Afghanistan held
Wikipedia, rather than being died. Print Sponsor condolences to the families and p r e s i d e n t i a l a n d p r o v i n c i a l
imposed." If a page has a number of l o v e d o n e s o f t h e s e f o u r elections. Partial preliminary
determined Isaf comrades," said results from the presidential poll
Snow Leopard’s secret power Gen Tremblay. are due shortly.
"We shall always be proud of Representatives for the two
By John Biggs (CrunchGear) their courage and sacrifice as they leading candidates, President
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:39:26 AM
ADVERTISEMENT: fell fighting for the good of Hamid Karzai and Abdullah
You’re telling me Snow Leopard (BloggingStocks) Afghans living in the south," he Abdullah, have already claimed to
isn’t a major update? Well affix Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:00:00 AM added. be in the lead.
'Very vulnerable' Print Sponsor
your chapeau to your pate, sir, and US and Nato casualties in
go forthwith on a long walk off of Afghanistan are fast mounting. At
a short fjord! The most important spermatozoa is now standard in OS
feature in Snow Leopard has been X. Will the magicians of Cupertino
David Puddy is a top of the line PC, says Apple
revealed and it’s a doozy. ever stop innovating?
That’s right: something PCs have By Peter Ha (CrunchGear)
been doing since I was still Submitted at 8/24/2009 9:43:05 PM

Heh.
6 Top News/ Business/ Gadgets/ Internet News Record

Uncertainty over GM sale of Opel Options Update: Clinical

(BBC News | Americas | World a suitor of Opel. Germany - one for Berlin and one biotechnology stocks volatility
Edition) However, Magna has publicly delegate for the four federal states
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:42:24 AM promised to cut fewer jobs in in which Opel has a plant. near average
Germany, where 25,000 people are There is a fifth "neutral" board By Paul Foster $12.09. SGEN October and March
US carmaker General Motors currently employed in the division. member - Fred Irwin, president of
could be set to reverse its decision The German government said the American Chamber of (BloggingStocks) 2010 option implied volatility of
to sell its struggling European car GM's chief negotiator, John Smith, Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:00:00 AM 60 is near its 26-week average
Commerce in Germany - but he according to Track Data,
firm Opel, according to media was due to have talks with deputy has no vote. He may, however, be Filed under: Options
reports. suggesting non-directional price
economy minister Jochen Homann forced to try to broker a deal, Theravance(NASDAQ: THRX) movement.
Last week, the German and other members of the analysts say. biotechnology company closed at
government said it would lend government's "Opel task force" in Option Update is provided by
GM, once the world's largest $ 1 5 . 2 2 . T H R X S e p t e m b e r Stock Specialist Paul Foster of
Opel 4.5bn euros ($6.4bn; £3.9bn) Berlin on Tuesday. carmaker, struck an outline deal volatility is at 65, October is at 72, theflyonthewall.com.
if its favoured suitor, Magna, was The carmaker has not with Magna in May, days ahead of December is at 78 verses its 26-
chosen to take it over. Options Update: Clinical
commented on the fate of Opel, seeking bankruptcy protection. week average of 78 according to biotechnology stocks volatility
The bid from the Canadian car but the German government has In July, GM emerged from Track Data, suggesting decreasing near average originally appeared
parts maker is backed by Russia's called on the US government, Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a near term price movement.
Sberbank. on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25
which owns more than 60% of number of new US government- Seattle Genetics(NASDAQ: Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please
But reports in the UK and US GM, to try to speed up the Opel appointed board members. S G E N ) a c l i n i c a l s t a g e see our terms for use of feeds.
say GM is trying to raise rescue sale process. On Monday, the White House biotechnology company, closed at Permalink| Email this| Comments
funds for Opel from the US and Broker? said that President Barack Obama's
European governments. When GM filed for bankruptcy "view is that decisions made about
At the weekend, GM postponed protection on 1 June, it handed the day-to-day operations at
making a decision on who should over control of Opel to a German- General Motors should be made by
buy the Opel division, which led trust., which will have to the folks at General Motors".
includes Vauxhall in the UK. approve any solution. Print Sponsor
As well as Magna, Belgian The Opel Trust board has two
financial group RHJ has also been GM representatives and two for

Bernanke named for new Fed term Daily Crunch:

(BBC News | Americas | World 'Price stability' Mr Bernanke said that the the White House chief economic
Edition) Mr Obama said Mr Bernanke Federal Reserve had "been adviser. Gallery Edition
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:02:22 AM had helped prevent a repeat of the challenged by the unprecedented But that would have gone down
Great Depression. events of the past few years". very badly with the financial By Bryce Durbin (CrunchGear)
President Obama has confirmed "Ben approached a financial And he vowed that, if confirmed markets, who see Mr Bernanke as Submitted at 8/25/2009 12:00:59 AM
t h a t h e h a s n o m i n a t e d B e n system on the verge of collapse in his post by the Senate, to work the person who almost single-
Bernanke for another term as with calm and wisdom, with bold with his fellow Fed members handedly staved off a meltdown, This guy is building Top Gear’s
chairman of the US central bank, a c t i o n a n d o u t s i d e - t h e - b o x towards "growth and prosperity in says the BBC's Greg Wood in James May a Lego house
the Federal Reserve. thinking that has helped put the an era of price stability". Washington. Office Kid: Fake child, real
The president took a break from brakes on our economic free-fall," Market support Mr Bernanke was named as excuse to leave work
his summer holiday to make the the president said. The Fed, along with the US Federal Reserve chairman by Mr Video: How to finally eliminate
announcement. "Our auto industry is showing Treasury, organised the $700bn Obama's predecessor, George W the scourge of tangled headphone
Mr Bernanke has been praised signs of life. Business investment (£496bn) bank bail-out plan in Bush, in 2005. wires
for taking action to bail out failing is showing signs of stabilising. Our October 2008, and has since spent His re-appointment must be This mouse is made from a sheep
banks, which Mr Obama believes housing market and credit markets an additional $3 trillion propping confirmed by the Senate. skull
has limited the effects of the have been saved from collapse. up the credit markets and trying to Print Sponsor Butane lighter looks like a
economic crisis. "Taken together, all of these steps boost the economy. cigarette
Mr Bernanke's initial four-year have brought our economy back There had been speculation that WiFi detecting cap detects WiFi,
tenure is to come up for renewal in from the brink. They are steps that Mr Bernanke would be replaced, deflects funny, attractive people
January. are working," the president said. perhaps by Larry Summers, who is
Internet News Record
Acer Veriton Z280G all-in-one business nettop announced
By Doug Aamoth
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:29:01 AM
Acer’s birthed a $499 all-in-one
nettop aimed at cubicle dwellers
featuring an 18.5-inch screen and
an Intel Atom CPU. The Veriton
Z280G is, according to Acer,
“perfect for reception areas, hotel
lobbies, executive suites, cube
environments and any office that
requires an integrated, space-
saving design.”
The screen has a 1366×768
resolution and there’s a 160GB
hard drive and 2GB of RAM on
board. The machine comes
preloaded with Windows XP,
although there’s a Windows Vista
Business recovery CD included
just in case you want to slow
things down a bit.
Aside from that you get pretty
standard netbook features with the
exception of an included DVD
burner and five USB ports. The
whole setup is fanless, so you’ll
easily be able to hear the girl seven
cubicles over arguing with her
boyfriend on the phone all day.
Available now(ish) from various
business resellers.
Full press release:
Acer Delivers Veriton All-in-
One Desktop PC to the U.S.
Professional Market – High on
Style, Low on Price
The Veriton Z280G, a Practical
Blend of Style and Functionality
for Just $499
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS
WIRE)–Acer, the world’s third
largest vendor in the PC market,(1)
today announced the new Acer
Veriton Z280G-EA271CP all-in-
one PC for the U.S. commercial
market. It delivers energy-efficient
performance in a picture-perfect
design. It’s available via Acer’s
authorized resellers with prices
Gadgets/ 7
of digital data. Conveniently
located on the right side of the
display, the Super Multi Double-
Layer drive can quickly and easily
load software, back-up critical data
as well as read, playback and copy
optical disks. Built-in 802.11b/g
wireless allows for quick, cable-
less connection to the Internet. The
system also comes with Windows
XP, integrated speakers and a
matching keyboard and mouse.
Practical Management and
Security Software
The sleek system boasts an
excellent software package for
protecting and managing important
data. In addition to Adobe Reader
and Cyberlink DVD, it offers Acer
eRecovery Management for
creating system back-ups, copying
configurations and burning factory
default images. This management
software also restores user created
HDD images or optical disks,
original system configurations as
well as reinstalls Acer applications
and drivers. Acer Client Manager
enables IT managers to deploy
software and control user’s
systems remotely, while Acer
Security Suite keeps digital data
safe.
Pricing, Availability and
beginning at just $499. office productivity and Internet- The system is as easy on the eyes Specifications
Boasting a brilliant 18.5-inch based applications. as it is to set up and use. The high- The Acer Veriton Z280G-
widescreen LCD monitor and “Generous with style, yet definition LCD display provides a EA271CP all-in-one desktop PC is
measuring just 19-inches (W) by conservative with space and price, superb viewing experience with its available in North America via
15-inches (H) by 2.14-inches (D), the Veriton Z280G is an asset to 16:9 aspect ratio, 1000:1 contrast Acer’s authorized resellers with
this sleek all-in-one is perfect for any home office or corporate ratio and 1366×768 resolution, prices beginning at just $499.
reception areas, hotel lobbies, setting,” said Leila Axelle Robert, making it ideal for viewing graphs, Acer Veriton Z280G-EA271CP
e x e c u t i v e s u i t e s , c u b e A c e r C o m m e r c i a l S y s t e m s charts, videos and more in crisp All-in-One Desktop
environments and any office that Business Manager. “Users are sure detail and vibrant color. • Windows® XP Professional,
requires an integrated, space- to enjoy the brilliant display that The Veriton Z280G helps Recovery CD with Windows
saving design. s h o w c a s e s p r e s e n t a t i o n s , organize, create and share digital Vista® Business
Featuring an Intel® Atom™ spreadsheets and Internet content data. Using the Multi-in-1 Digital • Intel® Atom™ N270
ultra-low-voltage processor and in vivid clarity, while business Media Card Reader, users can (1.60GHz, 512KB Cache, L2,
fan-less operation, the Veriton owners and IT specialists will quickly transfer presentations and 533MHz FSB)
Z280G is cool, quiet and Energy appreciate the system’s excellent other documents from one PC to • Intel® Graphics Media
Star® qualified. This practical value and energy savings.” another. A 160GB hard drive is
platform easily manages basic Easy Set-Up, Brilliant Viewing large enough to store a vast library
ACER page 8
8 Gadgets/ * Internet News Record

ASUS doesn’t see a clear

market for smartbooks
By Doug Aamoth
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:01:38 AM

Despite being one of the first

companies to bring the idea of
small, cheap, no-frills computers
to market, ASUS doesn’t think the
Hitachi announces 5
whole smartbook idea is going to full HD TVs with
take off. As such, we’ll see no
smartbooks from ASUS anytime built-in 500GB HDD
soon. By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear)
Sony S and E Series Walkman Company CEO Jerry Shen told
investors recently, “Currently, I
Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:59:14 AM

players start officially rocking still don’t see a clear market for
smartbooks.” He’s referring to
has some pretty big deals with
both Intel and Microsoft, so it’d be
There is a clear trend in Japan,
where all the relevant new TVs
Qualcomm-powered 8- to 10-inch interesting to know if the come from, and that’s building
the tunes next month subnotebooks that run Android,
promise all-day battery life, and
company’s getting pressured to
stay away from competing
devices to store programs into the
hardware itself, i.e. HDDs or Blu-
By Tim Stevens (Engadget) p a l e t t e o f c o l o r f u l o p t i o n s would theoretically sell for around platforms. ray recorders. Mitsubishi appears
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:51:00 AM including black, pink, violet, and $200. Whatever the case, ASUS has to be especially radical in this
red will be available, with an 8GB If any company’s in a good cited limited resources as the respect, announcing a TV with
We've been seeing Sony's S model going for $110 and 16GB position to push smartbooks, it’s
Series Walkman around the town for $130. If that's a bit too rich for ASUS, seeing that it’s got plenty reason behind putting Android- both a built-in Blu-ray recorder
based smartbook projects on hold. and HDD just last week. And
since July, and Sony's finally seen you there's the 2-inch E Series, of experience with tiny notebooks. PC World does point out, however, today Hitachi followed up by
fit to make it official, also sporting a slightly smaller chassis, You’d think it’d be relatively that the company “could use some adding a total of two new LCDs
introducing the slightly lower-rent slightly lower battery life (30 straightforward to take one of the
E Series. Specs on the former are hours music and 4 hours video), older 7- or 9-inch Eee designs, of the smartbooks made by and three plasmas[JP] to their
c o m p l e t e l y i n - l i n e w i t h and a slightly lower price of $80 update the form factor slightly, and contract manufacturer Pegatron, Wooo TV series, with all models
the company’s subsidiary.” featuring a built-in 500GB HDD.
expectations, including a 2.4-inch for 8GB and $100 for 16. Both switch out the Intel chipset for a [via PC World] The three plasma TVs will be
QVGA LCD, FM tuning and ship next month. Qualcomm one. However, ASUS available as 42/46 and 50-inchers
recording, along with support for a Gallery: Sony S-Series Walkman (prices: $3,000/$3,500 and $4,000
suite of formats including MP3, Filed under: Portable Audio, ACER - the picture above shows the
protected WMA, AAC, H.264, and Portable Video continued from page 7
biggest model). The two LCDs
WMV. Again as expected it offers Sony S and E Series Walkman Accelerator 950 • One Year Limited Warranty will be available in 37-inch and 42
battery life of 42 hour hours when players start officially rocking the • 2GB Memory Display Specifications -inch versions (prices: $2,500 and
playing music through headphones tunes next month originally • 160GB Hard Drive(2) • 1366 x 768 Native Resolution
and 6.5 hours of video, but what appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 $3,000). All of these TVs have the
• SuperMulti Drive • 16:9 Aspect Ratio 500GB HDD on board, are full
we didn't know was that when Aug 2009 06:51:00 EST. Please • Five USB 2.0 Ports • 1000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio HD, can handle DLNA and have
you're rocking it out boom box see our terms for use of feeds. • Multi-in-One Card Reader • 250 cd/m2 Brightness an iVDR slot. The plasma models
style through the integrated Read| Permalink| Email this| • 18.5-inch Widescreen LCD • 5ms Response Time boast a contrast ratio of 40,000:1.
speakers that drops to 17 hours and Comments Display
five hours oh so respectively. A Hitachi plans to ship the plasma
• Gigabit LAN and WiFi 802.11 TVs to Japanese stores starting
b/g WLAN September 10, while the LCDs
(see the smaller model above) are
Aug. 25, 1991: Kid From Helsinki Foments Linux Revolution scheduled for release in October.
By Michael Calore (Wired Top Linus Torvalds posts a note to a operating system is born. International sales plans haven’t
Stories) Usenet group, and a new, free been announced yet.
Internet News Record
BlackBerry Storm 2's voodoo-powered
screen torn apart, raises more questions
By Chris Ziegler (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:59:00 AM
If the Storm 2 seriously uses
newfangled piezoelectrics to
provide localized tactile response
on its display -- something the
original Storm lacked with just a
single clicky button mounted
underneath the screen's center
point -- then how come we're
coming to find out we've got four
buttons mounted near the corners
this time around? At this point, this
picture posted of the Storm 2's
sensitive innards probably raises
more questions than it answers --
we're clearly looking at four
buttons here, which as CrackBerry
says would facilitate the "multi-
press" necessary to engage key
modifiers like Alt just as you
would on a regular keyboard. The
problem is that this doesn't even
being to explain how or why the
screen hardens up like a rock when
the phone is off, because the four
buttons plus traditional capacitive
touch sensitivity would
realistically get the job done
without alien technology. We're
looking forward to a thorough
briefing from RIM once the phone
gains some official recognition,
but until then, let the theories fly.
[Thanks, Doughy]
Filed under: Cellphones,
Handhelds
BlackBerry Storm 2's voodoo-
powered screen torn apart, raises
more questions originally appeared
on Engadget on Tue, 25 Aug 2009
08:59:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds. Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Ryan Couture, Son
of Randy Couture,
Wins MMA Fight
By Michael David Smith
(FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:43:00 AM
by Michael David Smith
Filed under: MMA Videos, UFC
Ryan Couture, the 26-year-old
son of UFC legend Randy
Couture, looked like a chip off the
old block in winning an amateur
mixed martial arts fight on
Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Ryan Couture, Son of Randy
Couture, Wins MMA Fight
originally appeared on Fanhouse
MMA Blog on Tue, 25 Aug 2009
06:43:00 EST . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Gadgets/ * 9
Windows 7 upgrade
options will be available
in Europe after all
By Vladislav Savov (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:25:00 AM
This seems as good a time as any
to try and summarize the impact of
Windows 7 E getting EUthanized.
Without the Europe-specific
browserless version clouding
things up, Microsoft was freed to
offer in-place upgrades to current
Vista users, and it has sagely done
exactly that. The October 22
release date will see both full and

New Xbox 360 Arcade and Elite boxes shot once again upgrade versions available on
European shelves, and the UK
Home Premium upgrade has been
in the wild, spelling doom for the middle sibling priced at £79.99 (MSRP), which is
set to jump to £99.99 on January 1.
By Paul Miller (Engadget) snapped some shots, while that and Elite boxes shot once again in If you're quick, you can currently
new white-boxed Elite is still out the wild pre-order the full version for the
Submitted at 8/25/2009 10:05:00 AM
there in his Reno store, confusing Filed under: Gaming lower price from the MS online
Come on Microsoft, just fess up. customers and blue shirts alike. New Xbox 360 Arcade and Elite store. The Family Pack option also
We know you're killing off your I n t e r e s t i n g l y , M i c r o s o f t ' s boxes shot once again in the wild, makes a welcome appearance,
middle Xbox SKU, you know announcement "pattern" was quite spelling doom for the middle costing £149.99 to upgrade three
you're killing off your middle similar when the Arcade was sibling originally appeared on machines, but it too will be a
SKU, so let's drop this pretense of o r i g i n a l l y i n t r o d u c e d - - w e Engadget on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 limited time offer.
secrecy, alright? The latest in this actually had an unboxing of a store 10:05:00 EST. Please see our [Via TG Daily]
overwhelming heap of proof -bought system before it became terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Filed under: Software
comes from tipster David R., official -- and most other 360 price Email this| Comments Windows 7 upgrade options will
whose local Best Buy had the two cuts have been widely publicized drop the official word on us be available in Europe after all
new Xbox 360 Arcade and Xbox before Microsoft gives in. At what already? originally appeared on Engadget
360 Elite SKUs in stock. He point will this company just admit Gallery: New Xbox 360 Arcade on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:25:00
brought home the Arcade SKU and it's licked this time around and EST. Please see our terms for use
of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email
Calling All Amateur Astronomers: Help Solve a Mystery this| Comments
By Hadley Leggett (Wired Top This fall, the super-bright star why. Because the star is visible to eyes.
Stories) epsilon Aurigae is starting to dim, the naked eye even in the most
Submitted at 8/24/2009 3:53:00 PM and astronomers are asking citizen light-polluted cities, scientists say
scientists to help them find out all it takes to help is a good pair of
10 Gadgets/ Business/ * Internet News Record

Is the Dow's
rise another
false signal?
Sony Alpha 380 gets lukewarm By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
reviews, must be someone's ASUS EeeTop PC ET20 and Submitted at 8/24/2009 6:00:00 PM

perfect bowl of porridge ET22 now official, ready for a Filed under: Forecasts, Economic
data, DJIA, Recession Are U.S.
By Vladislav Savov (Engadget) N i k o n D 5 0 0 0 , i t s n e a r e s t touch of Windows 7 stock markets flashing another
false signal regarding the U.S.
competitors) and unsatisfying
Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:02:00 AM
v i e w f i n d e r e r g o n o m i c s . By Vladislav Savov (Engadget) between T4300 and T6400 Core 2 economic
recovery?
T h e l e a d i n g m o d e l o f Conclusion? If you were looking Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:37:00 AM Duos. All can be used as Recent U.S. factory and housing
Sony's"upper entry level" trifecta for a point-and-shoot on steroids, standalone displays for consoles data indicates signs of firming in
of Alpha-branded shooters, the your search is at an end, young We've been anticipating these and the like via a handy HDMI-in. each hard-hit sector, but my
14.2 megapixel DSLR-A380, has h o b b i t - - b u t p h o t o g r a p h y ION-infused EeeTops since CeBIT Most importantly though, with DailyFinance colleague Peter
been hitting test benches lately and enthusiasts should probably look and, after a few leaks along the Windows 7 upgradability, these Cohan noted that a recent report on
we've rounded up the results for elsewhere. way, ASUS has finally made s h o u l d b e a m o n g t h e f i r s t year-over-year U.S. rail traffic by
your perusal. The consensus Read- DP Review things official. The 20-inch machines to receive the coveted The Association of American
appears to be that Sony has Read- CNET review ET2002 and ET2002T (guess Windows Touch sticker. Wear it Railroads indicates otherwise: it
focused on bringing fans of Read- Camera Labs review w h i c h o n e c o m e s w i t h t h e proudly, ASUS. suggests companies are cutting
compact cams up to the big time, touchscreen) get an Atom 330 Filed under: Desktops back inventories rather than
Read- Photo Review
with its uniquely responsive Live Filed under: Digital Cameras riding that ION chipset with ASUS EeeTop PC ET20 and building them -- definitely not a
Sony Alpha 380 gets lukewarm integrated graphics, 2GB of ET22 now official, ready for a bullish
View and straightforward sign for economic activity.
usability. Alas, ease of use is not reviews, must be someone's DDR2, 320GB storage, WiFi, a touch of Windows 7 originally Continue reading Is the Dow's
the only thing brought up from the perfect bowl of porridge originally DVD rewriter and stereo speakers. appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 rise another false signal?
little leagues, with comparatively appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 The 22-inch ET2203T matches the Aug 2009 08:37:00 EST. Please Is the Dow's rise another false
poor output at ISO 400 and above, Aug 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please memory and connectivity options, see our terms for use of feeds. signal? originally appeared on
lack of any video recording (as see our terms for use of feeds. but adds more spacious HDDs, a Read| Permalink| Email this| BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Aug
with the Canon EOS 500D and Permalink| Email this| Comments Blu-ray option, ATI Radeon Comments 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our
HD4570 graphics, and a choice terms for use of feeds. Permalink|
Email this| Comments
Yahoo Demos Tech Upgrades, Despite Looming Microsoft Takeover
By Michael Calore (Wired Top Yahoo announces new features in despite a pending deal that will technology to Microsoft.
Stories) its search and mail products, t u r n o v e r Y a h o o ' s s e a r c h
Internet News Record Gadgets/ Business/ * 11
'Twilight' & 'True
Facebook App Developer To ASUS puts Snapdragon Blood' Actors Team Up
Apple: Tear Down This App smartbook on hold, breaks for New Vampire Film
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Store Wall hearts of Androids everywhere Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:48:00 AM

By MG Siegler (CrunchGear) By Tim Stevens (Engadget) The sexy vamps of the wildly
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:43:27 AM
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:47:00 AM popular 'Twilight' and "True
It was but a few months ago that Blood" series are reportedly
Apple has been working overtime starring in a new vampire movie.
recently to right some of the App we were lusting after a svelte little
Stephen Moyer of HBO's "True
Store wrongs, led by none other fanless Snapdragon Eee PC Blood" and Cam Gigandet of
than Senior VP Phil Schiller. And running Android and being demo'd 'Twilight' have taken on roles in
having exposed some App Store at Computex. Now, ASUS is
letting us all down softly, saying the thriller movie 'Priest' but this
approval process secrets in its time Moyer plays the mortal,
letter to the FCC, everything that project has been put on the
Variety reports.
should be all hunky dory in the shelf -- presumably to make room Based on the TokyoPop comic
App Store now, right? Wrong. It's for another string of cookie-cutter book, the movie is set in a
hard to remember an app in recent netbooks. CEO Jerry Shen says "I
don't see a clear market for turbulent time period, ravaged by
memory that has been anticipated wars between vampires and
more than Facebook's new 3.0 smartbooks," which is true enough,
humans. The film follows a priest (
version of its iPhone app. How do but we're guessing the big laptop Paul Bettany) who rebels against
players didn't see a clear market A S U S p u t s S n a p d r a g o n
I know? You should see my smartbook on hold, breaks hearts the church to avenge a group of
Facebook inbox from people who for netbooks at first, either. So, not
frustration is not only getting to exactly great news for those of Androids everywhere originally murderous vampires who have
have hunted me down knowing kidnapped his niece. Gigandet's
appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25
that I have it since I reviewed it. the users, but to Hewitt himself, as looking for even cheaper and even Aug 2009 07:47:00 EST. Please character helps the priest because
Unfortunately, I can't give it to he made clear in a blog post more portable portables, but don't
our terms for use of feeds. he is in love with his niece, while
anyone because it's a version tied tonight. Simply put, Hewitt's post lose all hope: it wasn't that long see Read| Permalink| Email this| Moyer plays the brother of the
specifically to my iPhone (so stop is a must-read because he makes a ago that Western Digital said the Comments clergyman.
emailing!). It's been a week and a range of excellent points in a fairly SSD market didn't exist, and now
half since Facebook engineer Joe condensed space. We'll simply look at 'em.
Hewitt submitted the app to the highlight some of the larger ones. Filed under: Laptops
App Store, and the wait time

Dell gets upgraded ahead of earnings report: What should

investors make of this?
By Steven Mallas
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 9:00:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst upgrades
and downgrades, Apple Inc
(AAPL), Dell (DELL), Hewlett-
Packard (HPQ), Technology
Dell(NASDAQ: DELL), a PC
maker that competes with Hewlett-
Packard(NYSE: HPQ) and
Apple(NASDAQ: APPL), received
an upgrade on Monday. According
to Marketwatch, an analyst at
Broadpoint AmTech is bullish on
the company because of the
possibility that corporations will
perceive a need to invest in
technologies to replace older
systems. The analyst thinks Dell
shares are a buy.
Well, Dell's stock sure has
experienced a high amount of
momentum this year, no question
about it. The market is clearly
discounting an end to the
recession. If such an event is
essentially in place, then it's easy
to see why investors would buy
Dell. Not only will businesses put
cash to work to make their
operations more competitively
efficient, but consumers will
likewise get out there and replace
t h
laptops/desktops/printers/whatever
that they've held onto for longer
than usual because the effect of
declining Wall Street indexes
made them fearful of any big-
ticket purchases. Dell should
theoretically benefit from a macro
recovery, since the company's
brand still resonates with the PC-
buying crowd.
Continue reading Dell gets
e upgraded ahead of earnings report:
What should investors make of
this?
Dell gets upgraded ahead of
earnings report: What should
investors make of this? originally
appeared on BloggingStocks on
Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of
feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
12 Business/ * Internet News Record

Before the Bell: Futures Winn-Dixie improves its

steady on news of Bernanke's
reappointment
By James Cullen
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:30:00 AM
Filed under: Before the bell,
Indices, Federal Reserve
U.S. market futures were
fractionally higher in pre-market
trading this morning, with the S&P
500 and Nasdaq contracts trading
about one point above fair value.
Case-Shiller Home
President Barack Obama is set to
renominate Federal Reserve both of which will be released later one penny ahead of estimates.
this morning.
Chairman Ben Bernanke to
another term, and will announce
fortunes in Q4
By Steven Mallas
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:30:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports,
Wal-Mart (WMT)
Winn-Dixie Stores(NASDAQ:
WINN), a grocery chain that
competes with Wal-Mart(NYSE:
WMT), reported Q4 earnings on
Goldman Sachs'
Monday after the bell.
Shareholders should appreciate the
trade tips under
Price Index,
net-income turnaround. The
business produced a profit of 17
scrutiny
cents per share, a figure that was By Mark Fightmaster
month frame wasn't bad.
Continue reading Winn-Dixie (BloggingStocks)
James Cullen edits and writes at Winn-Dixie was dealing with a improves its fortunes in Q4 Submitted at 8/25/2009 9:30:00 AM

his decision this morning. Fed CollegeAnalysts.com. loss of 10 cents per share a year Winn-Dixie improves its
Before the Bell: Futures steady ago. fortunes in Q4 originally appeared Filed under: Goldman Sachs
watchers believe continuity in that Same-store sales weren't terribly Group (GS) According to The
office will help markets remain o n n e w s o f B e r n a n k e ' s exciting. on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25
Wall Street Journal, securities
calm, as more questions are raised reappointment originally appeared (they were They
advanced 1.6% Aug 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please
regulators will be heading over to
about the Fed's ability to withdraw on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 the Easter driven by the timing of see our terms for use of feeds.
Goldman Sachs( GS) to examine
its numerous programs aimed at Aug 2009 07:30:00 EST. Please holiday, it should be Read| Permalink| Email this|
see our terms for use of feeds. noted). Gross margin, however, Comments weekly meetings where research
restarting the economy before analysts give tips to traders and big
inflation becomes a problem. Permalink| Email this| Comments did
increase. And cash flow from
operating activities for the twelve- clients.
The market also awaits data on The problem, as regulators may
Consumer Confidence and the Queen Latifah Revs view it, is that financial firms are
not treating all clients equally.
Cramer on BloggingStocks: Bernanke halted the Up Her 'Fast Car' Should there be an expectation for
equal treatment? Theoretically,
wipeout (ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 12:02:00 AM
yes. But do I expect GS to share
trading tips with me for free?
By Jim Cramer the jaw-dropping appointment of Nope.
(BloggingStocks) Denis Hughes, the president of the Ladies and gents, start your
engines! ET is on the set of Queen Continue reading Goldman
Submitted at 8/25/2009 10:00:00 AM New York AFL-CIO, named as Sachs' trade tips under scrutiny
chairman of the New York Federal Latifah's new video, "Fast Car"...
"I am at home on the racetrack; I Goldman Sachs' trade tips under
Filed under: JPMorgan Chase Reserve. scrutiny originally appeared on
(JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Continue reading Cramer on love driving," says Latifah. "I'm a
Mustang girl." BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Aug
(GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), BloggingStocks: Bernanke halted 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our
Federal Reserve, Cramer on the wipeout Common, Cool& Dre, Robin
Thicke and other friends also get terms for use of feeds. Permalink|
BloggingStocks Cramer on BloggingStocks: Email this| Comments
From TheStreet.com Network Bernanke halted the wipeout in on the act on the racetrack. "Fast
• Bernanke to Get Second Term originally appeared on Car," featuring Missy Elliott, is
• Citi's No. 1 Investor Not Selling BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Aug from her new album Persona, out
Now from being brought down. 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our today, which explores directions in
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the Fed chairman saw we were in Hey, it wasn't such a given, Email this| Comments also marks a return to her hip-hop
extreme deflation and prevented us especially on the day when we had and R&B roots.
Internet News Record
U.S. Economy: Getting There from Here
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:32:13 AM
While America's one-party media
strive to convince the population
that a new and wonderful
economic dawn is about to break,
many economic observers are
more inclined to see twilight. The
awful truth is that the so-called
mainstream media is so hopelessly
corrupt they cannot even be trusted
to tell the truth about the time of
day. This is the result of the left's
relentless efforts to politicise every
aspect of American life. That this
situation is a threat to democracy
should go without saying. It is the
free flow of information that
makes for an informed public.
Where the public has been badly
informed — or even deceived —
the results can have disastrous
political and economic
consequences. Fortunately the
emergence of the net has gone a
long way to countering the statist
propaganda that the so-called
media try to pass off as news.
More and more Americans are
coming to realise that there is no
quick fix for the economy.
Furthermore, they instinctively
feel that the Obama
administration's policy of greater
spending, borrowing and massive
interventionism is not going to put
the country on the road to
prosperity. But what people need
to learn right now is not just how
America, but also the rest of the
world, got into this mess. Unless
the lesson is learnt, the process
will repeat itself. In this sense the
old joke about not being able "to
get there from here" has some
substance in that most of the
economic commentariat have yet
to discover where "here" is.
The following chart was sent to
me by a reader who wanted to
know whether it has any
significance from an Austrian
perspective. It most certainly has.
In May of this year Andrew
Haldane, Executive Director for
Financial Stability at the Bank of
England, addressed the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago's Annual
Conference. ( Small Lessons from
a Big Crisis) (.pdf).
Haldane asked his audience to
imagine having put a £100 hedged
bet in 1900 on UK financial sector
equities along with a £100 short
bet on UK equities. By 1985 the
investor would have received a
capital sum of £500, an annual
average return of about 2 per cent.
For the period 1986 to 2006 he
would have received a capital sum
of more than £10,000, an annual
average return of over 16 per cent.
Haldane gave seven lessons that
needed to be learnt. Missing from
the seven was the correct one.
It is evident from the chart that it
was not until 1960 that returns to
the banks began to pick up. So
what happened in that year?
Nothing. We actually need to go
back to the 1940s. The UK is the
home of Keynesianism and no one
was more Keynesian than British
governments, Labour or Tory —
and full-blooded Keynesianism is
what the country got. In 1948 the
bank rate was 2 per cent. Ten years
later it was 7 per cent, thanks to
Keynesian policies. During the
1950s the same policies also
produced the stop-go cycle. First
the Bank of England would put its
foot down on the monetary
accelerator only to quickly slap on
the monetary brakes.
After "13 years of Tory misrule"
the UK got a Labour government
in 1964 under the leadership of
Harold Wilson, a Keynesian who
gave us — yes, I was there —
Economy/ 13
national budget impossible for
years. . . it destroyed incalculable
moral and intellectual values. It
provoked a serious revolution in
social classes, a few people
accumulating wealth and forming
a class of usurpers of national
property, whilst millions of
individuals were thrown into
poverty. . . . it poisoned the
German people by spreading
among all classes the spirit of
speculation and by diverting them
from proper and regular work, and
it was the cause of incessant
political and moral disturbance.
(The Economics of Inflation: A
Study of Currency Depreciation in
Post-War Germany, John Dickens
& Co LTD, 1968, p. 404).
The increase in financial
activities caused the number of
bank employees to jump from
100,000 in 1913 to 375,000 in
autumn 1923. (Ibid. 216). As
Bresciano-Turroni observed:
The increase in banking business
was not the consequence of a more
intense economic activity. The
another Keynesian boom that of credit expansion, changes the work was increased because the
culminated in the devaluation of pattern of production, not only in banks were overloaded with orders
the pound in 1967. Labour lost the manufacturing but also in the for buying and selling shares and
1970 election to Ted Heath whose financial sector, a fact that is foreign exchange, proceeding from
Keynesian-inspired "dash for completely overlooked by the the public which, in increasing
growth" policy gave the country a economic commentariat. The numbers, took part in speculations
25 per cent inflation rate. In short, effect of ever-increasing doses of on the Bourse. The banks did not
the country was flooded with bank bank credit is to artificially inflate help in the production of new
-created credit. The election of the number financial transactions. wealth; but the same claims to
Margaret Thatcher did not put an Moreover, not only do the number wealth continually passed from
end to this destructive policy. of these transactions rise but newer hand to hand. (Ibid. 216).
Under the next Labour government f i n a n c i a l a c t i v i t i e s a n d I believe we have experienced a
the situation has deteriorated to the intermediaries also emerge to s i m i l a r p h e n o m e n o n w h e r e
point where some observers now exploit the abundance of credit massive credit expansion over
think the UK is on the brink of created by the banking system. several decades created excessive
financial ruin. (Think of this as part of the expansion not only in the financial
Sound economic reasoning as Cantillon effect). The Weimar sector but also in services at the
taught by the Austrians tells us that inflation provides a vivid example expense of manufacturing. This is
money is not neutral, a fact of this process. why the chart shows returns to
recognised by some of the classical At first inflation stimulated banking starting to increase in
economists. As such, monetary production . . . [then it] annihilated
expansion, particularly in the form thrift; it made reform of the U.S. page 15
14 Economy/ *
Fremont Michigan: A Case Study in Board Structure and Risk
Control Oversight
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:52:19 AM
This past year, many of us have
asked ourselves how corporations
could practice such lax risk
control. Often, in order to
understand a board's effectiveness
at risk control, it is wise to
examine a board's makeup and the
structure of incentives between
board members. While corporate
strategy is often complex, board
members' incentives are often
quite obvious after a thorough
analysis of footnotes in company
filings, such as 10-Ks and Proxy
Statements.
Indeed, while many boards meet
stock exchange and legal standards
of independence, that does not
mean that they are free from
management influence.
Fremont Michigan Insuracorp is
an interesting case study in the
structure of board incentives.
• There are familial relationships
between board members and
company officers. Michael
Dekuiper, a board member, is the
father-in-law of CFO Kevin
Kaastra. I do not believe that
familial relationships are
conducive to board independence.
• Three board members
(including Michael Dekuiper) are
independent agents of the
company, receiving hundreds of
thousand of dollars, in aggregate,
from the company in commissions.
I am confident these payments are
proper. However, in my opinion,
these payments may create
Do Not Search For Jessica Biel
By Belinda Goldsmith (Wired
Top Stories)
incentives that make it hard for
directors to be truly independent.
If I were an agent on Fremont's
board, I would not want to do
anything that would upset
executives, since I would be afraid
that would jeopardize my business
and commissions from the
company. Therefore, no
independent agent of the company
should be sitting on its board. I
feel that their presence entrenches
management.
For example:
Three nonemployee directors of
the Company are also owners of
independent insurance agencies.
These individuals are currently
appointed as agents with and write
insurance for the Company. The
terms and conditions of the agency
agreements between these agencies
and the Company are similar in all
material respects to agency
agreements with other agents of
the Company. The Company pays
all agencies commissions on
business produced. All agencies
are also able to earn profit sharing
commissions based on the profit
margins of the business produced.
Total regular and profit sharing
commissions earned by these
agencies approximated $545,000,
$526,000 and $484,000 in 2008,
2007 and 2006, respectively. The
commission rates, including profit
sharing commission opportunity,
are the same as other agents of the
Company. The agencies are
independent agents and also write
with regional and national insurers
that may be competitors of the
Company.
Actress Jessica Biel has
overtaken Brad Pitt as the most
(Quoted from Fremont's latest 10-
K, page 80)
• In order to assure shareholders
and agents that business is being
placed with agents on the basis of
merit, not familial relationships, or
membership on the company's
board, the company should
publicly disclose the loss ratio of
business generated by board
members who serve as
independent agents in relation to
the average loss ratio for the
company, broken out by each of
the company's business lines, not
only each year, but on average for
the past 5 years.
• One board member, Jack A.
Siebers, is employed as a principal
of Siebers Mohney PLC, a law
firm that receives legal fees from
the company. I would argue that
such legal fees might incentivize
him not to jeopardize business for
his firm. Similarly to the three
agents on the board, I believe his
presence entrenches management.
Whether or not board members
pass stock exchange definitions of
independence, the most important
thing is that they are independent
of any conflicts of interest or
incentives which would run
counter to their representing
shareholders' interests.
For example:
A nonemployee director of the
Company is a partner in a law
firm. The Company has retained
this law firm for certain legal
matters in the past and plans to
continue to do so in the future.
Legal fees paid by the Company to
the law firm were approximately
dangerous celebrity to search in
cyberspace, according to Internet
$69,000 in 2008, $74,000 in 2007
and $35,000 in 2006.
(Quoted from Fremont's latest 10-
K, page 80)
• The board is staggered. This
prevents shareholders from being
able to elect a majority of board
members in any individual year. A
non-staggered board is
shareholders' best check on
management. As we have seen in
America, we need stronger board
oversight, not weaker oversight of
management, to prevent breaches
in corporate governance and
irresponsible risk-taking. Being
able to replace the entire board at
one annual meeting is an excellent
check on management.
• The company needs to be far
more diligent in its public filings.
For instance, in its 2008 proxy
statement, it stated the wrong
deadline for the nomination of
directors. The deadline in the
proxy, disturbingly, contradicted
the date stated in its Articles of
Incorporation.
• Fremont's personal lines have
gone from a 2006 underwriting
gain of $4,129,003 to a 2008 loss
of $806,725. Simultaneously, net
premiums earned in personal lines
have grown tremendously. This
growth has continued in the latest
quarter reported at a high rate.
Why is management growing a
line with profitability that has
declined for years and has now
gone negative? If management and
directors really understand that this
is a grave problem, why haven't
they stopped and indeed contracted
the growth in premiums in this line
security company McAfee.
Internet News Record
until the issue of losses has been
shown to be successfully remedied
for at least two years?
• Management must be open to
suggestions on how to improve the
situation and publicly articulate a
plan to ALL shareholders. This
plan must include a provision not
to grow personal lines until the
underwriting situation is fully
remedied, with a strong combined
ratio in the line of below 95, for at
least 2 years. I believe that
management's failure to do so
already violates the tenets of
conservative underwriting. In
addition, I believe that the board's
failure to insist on such a plan is
clear evidence that the board is not
overseeing risk properly.
As we have seen in America, at
financial institutions, board
oversight of risk control is a key
function of good corporate
governance, and indeed, corporate
survival. Board members with
incentives which are potentially
not aligned with shareholders must
resign.
-----------------------------
Disclosure: Harry Long owns
FMMH shares directly, through
partnerships, and through trusts.
To the best of his knowledge,
certain of his family members own
FMMH shares through
partnerships and trusts. Such
ownership may change at any
time.
Internet News Record Economy/ * 15
U.S.
CIA and torture: In the cold light of day continued from page 13
1960 and then accelerating until
(The Economist: News officer blew cigarette smoke into policymakers from the Bush what information). Opinion polls they collapsed. But this was
analysis) prisoners’ faces for minutes on administration should also be held suggest that many Americans predicted in 1932 by Friedrich von
Submitted at 8/25/2009 12:19:30 AM end, inducing them to vomit. accountable for giving orders that remain ambivalent about, or even Hayek* in his article Capital
Another put a detainee in a sanctioned other brutal tactics, cautiously supportive of, Mr Consumption (See Money, Capital
CIA and torture pressure-hold, blocking the arteries including the use of Cheney’s position. and Fluctuations: Early Essays,
Aug 25th 2009 to his brain, repeatedly making “waterboarding” (making a Mr Obama has tried to balance Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984,
From Economist.com Details are him pass out. prisoner believe that he is the pro- and anti-prosecution pp. 150-2).
published of abusive interrogations Threats were also common. Mr drowning), sleep deprivation, stances, but he risks looking as if Therefore the idea that economic
by CIA staff. Prosecutions could Nashiri was told that “We can stress positions and slamming he wants to have it both ways. On growth has been stymied because
follow bring your family in here”, prisoners into walls. By focusing Monday his spokesman, Bill the banks have tied up the supply
BARACK OBAMA has said that speaking the Arabic dialect of a on the illegal activity of officers Burton, continued to insist that the of credit is a false one. It was
he does not want to dwell on country, the name of which is who were under pressure in the president wants to focus on the massive bank credit expansion that
whether the CIA previously censored, to encourage him to field, prosecutors are neglecting future. But he also stressed that Mr created the mess in the first place.
t o r t u r e d p r i s o n e r s d u r i n g believe that interrogators would what was declared to be legal by Obama had always expected that Growth comes out of real savings,
interrogations in secret prisons sexually abuse his female relatives policymakers in Washington. Mr Holder would be independent. not phony bank deposits. And real
overseas. The Department of in front of him. Khalid Sheikh Human-rights activists and the The latter’s job is a politically savings always equal forgone
Justice, however, is proposing to Muhammad, the man thought to be CIA, in an unusual alignment of ticklish one. He is a presidential consumption. Savings that exceed
do just that. On Monday August the mastermind of the September interests, suggest it would be appointee, but is also the country’s investment always equal inflation
24th it released a report on the 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, was unfair if only lower-level most senior law-enforcement because they are obviously the
agency’s “interrogation activities” similarly told that his children personnel were punished. official, not the president’s lawyer. product of credit creation.
that was written by the CIA’s would be killed if another attack Another set of critics, He says that the clarity of the law *The eighteenth century Anglo-
internal watchdog in 2004. In took place in the United States. conservatives who do not consider and the nature of the abuses legally Irish banker Richard Cantillon
addition the attorney-general, Eric These and other abuses described that the techniques used by forced him to act. wrote a brilliant analysis of how
Holder, announced that a special in the report are illegal under interrogators amount to torture, say If torture trials were to go ahead, inflation distorts the price structure
prosecutor will decide whether a American law, and were not it is inappropriate in any case to re- they would provide a noisy and and the pattern of production."
full criminal investigation is authorised. Mr Holder said that a open the possibility of sensational scene as there has (Richard Cantillon, Essay on the
warranted into the activities of special prosecutor, John Durham, prosecutions. Dick Cheney, the never before been a federal torture Nature of Commerce in General,
CIA staff and contractors. who has also been investigating former vice-president who was prosecution in the country. Such Transaction Publishers, 2001,
The CIA report includes some the destruction of interrogation involved in the creation of what prosecutions would risk becoming written about 1734 and first
unpleasant new details. Ever since tapes by the CIA, will now the administration called a big distraction from Mr Obama’s published in 1752).
photographs emerged in 2004 consider whether prosecutions of “enhanced interrogation attempts to focus energy on reform
showing the abuse of inmates by interrogators would be appropriate. techniques”, has said flatly that of health-care provision and other
American guards in Abu Ghraib Mr Obama, despite his wish to they provided valuable intelligence domestic policy. But as details of
prison in Iraq, fresh revelations look forward, has said that he against potential terrorist attacks. abuses continue to come out, the
have lost some of their ability to would support the prosecution of The agency released two other need for a proper reckoning with
shock. But the report includes officers who clearly went beyond reports, from 2004 and 2005, the past will only grow.
examples of unedifying behaviour. what they were told to do. describing the intelligence Back to top ^^ Readers'
Interrogators threatened one That could mean that only lower- gathered and the terrorists captured comments
prisoner, Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri, level CIA staff, and perhaps as a result of the interrogation The Economist welcomes your
with a pistol and power-drill, as civilian contractors, would appear programme (although the reports views.
they accused him of being part of in the dock. That would infuriate did not specify which techniques,
the bombing of the American many critics of CIA activity in including non-abusive question-
destroyer USS Cole, in 2000. One r e c e n t y e a r s , w h o s a y t h a t and-answer sessions, had produced

Glitter, Spray Tans and Tantrums! The Little Divas of 'Toddlers & Tiaras' Are Back!
(ETonline - Breaking News) its second season with 13 all-new meltdowns at America's top stop at nothing to win ultimate crown and take home the cash?
Submitted at 8/25/2009 3:01:00 AM episodes. The second season children's beauty pageants. pageant glory. Tune in each Wednesday, when
showcases even more overzealous "Toddlers and Tiaras" chronicles This time around, the pageants, 'Toddlers and Tiaras"' airs on TLC
Last month, TLC's wild series pageant moms and dads, little the lives of these tiny beauties and the hair and the meltdowns are all at 10 p.m.
"Toddlers and Tiaras" returned for divas in the making and massive their passionate parents as they bigger. Who will win the biggest
16 Economy/ Social Net/ * World/ Internet News Record

CIA and torture: In the cold light of day

(The Economist: News officer blew cigarette smoke into policymakers from the Bush what information). Opinion polls
analysis) prisoners’ faces for minutes on administration should also be held suggest that many Americans
Submitted at 8/25/2009 12:19:30 AM end, inducing them to vomit.
Another put a detainee in a
accountable for giving orders that
sanctioned other brutal tactics,
remain ambivalent about, or even
cautiously supportive of, Mr
Yahoo
CIA and torture
Aug 25th 2009
pressure-hold, blocking the arteries
to his brain, repeatedly making
including the use of
“waterboarding” (making a
Cheney’s position.
Mr Obama has tried to balance
Acquires Arab
From Economist.com Details are him pass out.
published of abusive interrogations Threats were also common. Mr
prisoner believe that he is
drowning), sleep deprivation,
the pro- and anti-prosecution
stances, but he risks looking as if
Portal Maktoob
by CIA staff. Prosecutions could Nashiri was told that “We can stress positions and slamming he wants to have it both ways. On By Stan Schroeder
follow bring your family in here”, prisoners into walls. By focusing Monday his spokesman, Bill (Mashable!)
BARACK OBAMA has said that speaking the Arabic dialect of a on the illegal activity of officers Burton, continued to insist that the Submitted at 8/25/2009 2:05:34 AM
he does not want to dwell on country, the name of which is who were under pressure in the president wants to focus on the
whether the CIA previously censored, to encourage him to field, prosecutors are neglecting future. But he also stressed that Mr Now that the dust around
t o r t u r e d p r i s o n e r s d u r i n g believe that interrogators would what was declared to be legal by Obama had always expected that Yahoo’s search business has
interrogations in secret prisons sexually abuse his female relatives policymakers in Washington. Mr Holder would be independent. subsided, Yahoo can once again
overseas. The Department of in front of him. Khalid Sheikh Human-rights activists and the The latter’s job is a politically focus on the thing it does well: its
Justice, however, is proposing to Muhammad, the man thought to be CIA, in an unusual alignment of ticklish one. He is a presidential portal business. They’ve officially
do just that. On Monday August the mastermind of the September interests, suggest it would be appointee, but is also the country’s announced they will be acquiring
24th it released a report on the 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, was unfair if only lower-level most senior law-enforcement Arabic internet portal Maktoob,
agency’s “interrogation activities” similarly told that his children personnel were punished. official, not the president’s lawyer. extending their influence over
that was written by the CIA’s would be killed if another attack Another set of critics, He says that the clarity of the law some 16.5 million people; Yahoo
internal watchdog in 2004. In took place in the United States. conservatives who do not consider and the nature of the abuses legally calls this its “biggest geographic
addition the attorney-general, Eric These and other abuses described that the techniques used by forced him to act. expansion in years.”
Holder, announced that a special in the report are illegal under interrogators amount to torture, say If torture trials were to go ahead, This is not just an acquisition of
prosecutor will decide whether a American law, and were not it is inappropriate in any case to re- they would provide a noisy and another web portal; it’s Yahoo
full criminal investigation is authorised. Mr Holder said that a open the possibility of sensational scene as there has moving into a completely different
warranted into the activities of special prosecutor, John Durham, prosecutions. Dick Cheney, the never before been a federal torture and new market, which means
CIA staff and contractors. who has also been investigating former vice-president who was prosecution in the country. Such translating Yahoo’s services into
The CIA report includes some the destruction of interrogation involved in the creation of what prosecutions would risk becoming Arabic. From the official Yahoo
unpleasant new details. Ever since tapes by the CIA, will now the administration called a big distraction from Mr Obama’s corporate blog:
photographs emerged in 2004 consider whether prosecutions of “enhanced interrogation attempts to focus energy on reform “Initially, we’ll plan to introduce
showing the abuse of inmates by interrogators would be appropriate. techniques”, has said flatly that of health-care provision and other Arabic versions of Yahoo! Mail,
American guards in Abu Ghraib Mr Obama, despite his wish to they provided valuable intelligence domestic policy. But as details of Messenger, Search, and our
prison in Iraq, fresh revelations look forward, has said that he against potential terrorist attacks. abuses continue to come out, the homepage and then eventually
have lost some of their ability to would support the prosecution of The agency released two other need for a proper reckoning with local versions of properties like
shock. But the report includes officers who clearly went beyond reports, from 2004 and 2005, the past will only grow. News, Sports, and Finance. We’ll
examples of unedifying behaviour. what they were told to do. describing the intelligence Back to top ^^ Readers' also focus on creating content and
Interrogators threatened one That could mean that only lower- gathered and the terrorists captured comments services tailored to the region. No
prisoner, Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri, level CIA staff, and perhaps as a result of the interrogation The Economist welcomes your other global company has made
with a pistol and power-drill, as civilian contractors, would appear programme (although the reports views. this kind of investment in local
they accused him of being part of in the dock. That would infuriate did not specify which techniques, relevance for the Arab world.”
the bombing of the American many critics of CIA activity in including non-abusive question- The financial terms of the
destroyer USS Cole, in 2000. One r e c e n t y e a r s , w h o s a y t h a t and-answer sessions, had produced transaction, which are to be
Interactive guide: A new reality completed in the fourth quarter of
Unbrand, Demonetize, Uncompete 2009, were not disclosed. Read the
By Gary Wolf (Wired Top when the editors asked me a By Paddy Allen, Christine How Israel has expanded its official press release here.
Stories) pointed question: How can a site Oliver (World news and presence in the West Bank since Reviews: news
Submitted at 8/24/2009 4:40:00 PM that's so good be so bad? This comment from the Guardian | 1967 Paddy Allen Christine Oliver Tags: acquisition, Maktoob,
starts a series of additional posts guardian.co.uk) Yahoo
This month's Wired magazine with more about one of the most
cover story about craigslist started unusual businesses in the world.
Internet News Record Economy/ Social Net/ * 17

Signs of life
(The Economist: News second quarter, while imports crisis, a solid recovery will require for developed nations. There will Opera 10 RC is Here,
analysis) plummeted by more than 25.3%. both positive developments at be a moderate improvement in
Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:54:01 AM Investment fell by 10.1%, with a home and abroad. Broadly exports in 2010, but growth will be Final Version Coming
Aug 25th 2009
9.6% rise in public investment, speaking, there are three crucial slow. September 1st
primarily in infrastructure factors to consider. The third factor is the possibility
From the Economist Intelligence construction, outweighed by a 16% The first is government that political tensions will smother By Stan Schroeder
Unit ViewsWire The recession fall in private investment. spending. The government has Thailand's green shoots. Although (Mashable!)
may be ending in Thailand, but The main bright spot was already ploughed Bt117bn the political scene has been Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:47:53 AM
political instability could cause government spending, which rose (US$3.4bn) into the economy relatively calm since April, both
more economic damage by 5.9%. Although government during the first half of 2009 as part sides in a political struggle pitting Opera has just released a release
Thailand's economy contracted consumption is a relatively small of an emergency stimulus package. supporters and opponents of candidate for the next major
at a slower pace in the second component of total GDP (thus the On August 18th the cabinet Thaksin Shinawatra, a former version of its web browser, Opera
quarter, suggesting that an end is positive growth did not contribute approved a new three-year prime minister, have repeatedly 10. This time, however, we
in sight to the country's first much to the overall change in spending package worth Bt1.1trn, staged massive, destabilising suggest you wait; the list of new
recession in over a decade. Real G D P ) , t h e g o v e r n m e n t ' s much of which will be spent on protests. With the root causes of features isn’t all that different from
GDP fell by 4.9% year on year in e x p a n s i o n a r y f i s c a l p o l i c y infrastructure, healthcare and the political struggle still those in the last iteration, Opera 10
April-June, compared with a drop ( t h r o u g h v a r i o u s s t i m u l u s education. However, the unresolved, there is a real threat beta. More importantly, according
of 7.1% in the previous quarter. programmes) played a role in government's growing budget that tensions will flare up again, to Opera, the final version should
But in seasonally adjusted, quarter- ensuring that private consumption deficits will limit its ability to paralysing the government's come in a couple of days, on
on-quarter terms, the economy declined by only 2.3%. As well as continue to prop up the economy policymaking efforts. Outlook September 1st.
grew by 2.3%. Like many other supporting disposable incomes by through greater public spending. If the current relative political Of course, Opera wouldn’t
export-dependent economies in the s u b s i d i s i n g e l e c t r i c i t y a n d The second factor is whether calm persists, the NESDB expects mention a date for the final version
region, however, the outlook transport fares, the government has exports will stage a recovery. This Thailand's to record a GDP if they weren’t quite sure that the
remains uncertain, with future distributed several instalments of looks unlikely, given the continued contraction of around 3% in 2009, version they currently have is
prospects depending on external "Save the Nation" cheques worth weakness of most developed followed by a return to growth in polished enough for mass
demand picking up again before Bt2,000 (around US$60) each for economies. The Economist the range of 2-3% in 2010. We consumption. Here’s a quick
the effects of government stimulus around 9m low-income earners. Intelligence Unit expects have a slightly more pessimistic rundown of the new features:
spending wear off. Thailand's The picture looks a bit brighter Thailand's merchandise export view. We are currently forecasting - fresh look and feel
simmering political tensions will in quarter-on-quarter comparisons, revenue to contract in 2009, that the economy will contract by - enhanced speed and
also continue to threaten the which are better for pin-pointing bringing to an end a period of six 4.3% in 2009 as a whole; although performance, especially when it
nascent recovery. economic turning points. In years of double-digit annual export the economy's performance in the comes to resource intensive pages
In year-on-year terms, Thailand's seasonally adjusted, quarter-on- growth, although the import bill second half of the year will such as Gmail and Facebook
second-quarter economic data quarter terms, the economy will fall at an even faster pace, continue to improve, there will be - Opera Turbo, bandwidth booster
continue to paint a fairly e x p a n d e d b y 2 . 3 % a f t e r reflecting sluggish domestic no rapid recovery. However, we for folks with slow internet
depressing picture. According to contracting by 5.9% in the fourth consumption and investment and forecast growth of 3.3% in 2010, connections
figures released on August 24th by quarter of 2008 and by 1.8% in the reduced global commodity prices. owing to positive changes to our - an improved Opera Mail
the National Economic and Social first quarter of 2009. This suggests Thailand's poor export global forecasts. - resizable, thumbnail tabs
Development Board (NESDB), that the recession has ended. performance will partly reflect the Back to top ^^ Readers' - inline spelling checker
exports of goods and services (on a However, just as Thailand's extent to which the country is part comments - auto updating
national-accounts basis) dropped recession was caused by domestic of a global manufacturing chain The Economist welcomes your - a new, personalized Speed Dial
by 21.8% year on year in the problems as well as the global producing goods that are destined views. You can get the Opera 10
Release Candidate here. Reviews:
Plaxico Burress: 'I Was Reckless; I Made A Very Bad Decision' Facebook, Gmail, Opera
Tags: Opera 10, release
By Michael David Smith Former New York Giants wide he has himself to blame for the two Fanhouse NFL Blog on Tue, 25 candidate
(FanHouse) receiver Plaxico Burress says in an -year prison sentence he expects to Aug 2009 08:22:00 EST . Please
Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:22:00 AM interview to be aired Tuesday receive after pleading guilty to see our terms for use of feeds.
night on ESPN's E:60 that he felony weapons charges. Permalink| Email this| Linking
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Filed under: Giants, NFL Police a loaded gun into a nightclub in Reckless; I Made A Very Bad
Blotter, NFL Media Watch New York City, and that he knows Decision' originally appeared on
18 Economy/
Paychex: A Growth Machine
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:26:50 AM
As I discussed in my last article
there are a number of signs
pointing to economic recovery.
While western economies are
recovering slowly from the
recession, emerging economies
like China and India are growing
at a modest pace. Germany, the
biggest economy in Europe, grew
1.3% last quarter and French GDP
has grown 1.4%. Inventories are
low, savings rates are catching up,
housing prices healthier and
affordable to many. Interestingly,
China and Germany are the largest
global exporters and their GDP is
closely tied to exports. Positive
growth in the German GDP is a
clear sign of global consumption.
Historically, markets rebound in
the middle of the recession or are
about to end with the anticipation
of recovery. Here I plotted a graph
of the S&P 500 and historical
unemployment since 1948. The
grey vertical lines are recession
periods. If you observe closely
unemployment (Red line) peaks
right after the end of the recession
and the market (Black line)
rebounds in the middle of the
recession with anticipation of good
days. Unemployment decreases
soon after a recession, and the
market rebounds ahead of the
recession.
During 1970, 1975 and 1982 -
recession periods - unemployment
started declining two months after
the end of the recession period; in
the 1991 and 2001 recessions it
took 15 months for unemployment
to start declining.
Internet News Record
$1.24 dividend a year makes it a
4.5% dividend yield. Once revenue
starts growing as employment
rebounds, profit percentages make
the big difference in the bottom
line.
Paychex versus ADP:
ADP is a well established firm
and competes head on with
Paychex, however their market
segmentation is concentrated in
different business sizes. So are
their margins and growth rates.
ADP also has a healthy balance
sheet with negligible long term
debt, Paychex has clear advantage
in terms of margins. As the past
four years of annual statements
analyzed Paychex has 65 percent
gross margin compared to 52
percent ADP gross margin and
Paychex profit margin is twice
While we anticipate employment employers with less than 100 even during tough economic time more than ADP. Cash conversion
numbers to pickup, employment employees in their pay roll where their base revenue continued to is only 10 days, which is order to
s e r v i c e p r o v i d e r s , p a y r o l l Paychex does its business, and grow. In 2009 their service cash three times better than ADP.
p r o c e s s o r s , r e t i r e m e n t f u n d only 10 to 15 percent of them use revenue grew to $2 billion from This could be due to the nature of
managers see their businesses turn payroll processors. This leaves an $1.93 in 2008. Although there is the business and type of customers
around. One of the companies abundant untapped market for slight decrease in interest income they have or able management at
Paychex, ( PAYX) a payroll Paychex business expansion in from client finds, from $132 Paychex.
processor, should benefit as our both down and up markets. million to $75 million due to low With higher margins, consistent
economy comes out of the Paychex revenue stream comes interest rates, the portion of this r e v e n u e g r o w t h a n d p r o v e n
recession while businesses start from multiple clients with short- revenue fluctuates from 4 to 7 management Paychex will rebound
hiring people. term service agreements, and percent. faster than the economy in coming
Rochester based Paychex, Inc maintains 77 percent client Robust Growth and Higher months due to its rehiring process.
has more than 100 offices, 554,000 retention rate despite downturn Margins: So far Paychex's performance is
clients in U.S. and 11,600 in and competition from local payroll Paychex exhibited on average synchronous with the market since
Germany had 12,500 employees. providers. Although Paychex 9.7% revenue growth for the past March 2009, but this equity has a
Paychex's primary business is competes with multiple local four years and even in a tough lot more potential to grow better
running payroll business to very service providers, ADP(Automatic market like last year sales grew than the market in the future.
small to mid size companies. Data Processing) is the single close to 1% year over year. Disclosure: Long on Paychex.
Many businesses outsource their largest competitor in this duopoly Paychex has 65 percent of gross
payroll and human resource tasks market. However, Paychex holds margin and 41% of operating
to corporations like Paychex to more than 40 percent of market margin and makes more than 27%
minimize tax compliance risks and share for businesses under 20 of profit margins. Paychex has
focus on their core-business employees while ADP focuses on virtually no debt and its return on
competencies. bigger employers. equity is 35 percent on average for
There are more than 11.5 million Paychex is a growth machine, the last four years and paying a
Internet News Record
Bernanke news bolsters mood on Wall Street
(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:59:27 AM
US stocks looked set to shake off
a dip in Asian equities markets on
Tuesday, supported by the news
that Ben Bernanke would be
reappointed as chairman of the
Federal Reserve.
Many experts predicted Mr
Bernanke would be reappointed,
although some thought President
Barack Obama might hand the job
to someone politically closer to
him, perhaps selecting Larry
Summers, director of the
president’s National Economic
Council.
But most market analysts
welcomed the news on Tuesday,
saying the decision would give
some much-needed clarity to how
the Fed might exit from its
quantitative easing programme.
“The market wants continuity
right now,” said Doug Roberts,
chief investment strategist at
Channelcapitalresearch.com.
“With Bernanke they know what
they are getting, and futures are up
slighty as a result of this.”
Despite overnight falls in Asia,
futures for the benchmark S&P
500 index less than an hour before
the open were up 4.9 points at
1,029.4. Those for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average rose 45 points
to 9,538 and those for the Nasdaq
Composite index improved 7
points to 1,641. All were higher
than fair value levels, which take
into account dividends, interest
rates and time to expiration on the
contract.
Investors were also waiting for
signs on the housing market, as
both Case-Shiller and the Federal
Housing Finance Agency were due
to release data on home prices later
in the morning.
Financials and commodity
stocks, which have led the recent
rally, continued to improve before
the market opened. Citigroup,
which said it had “substantially”
increased its offers to change the
terms on existing mortgages this
month after the government called
for banks to loosen credit lines,
rose 1.2 per cent to $4.88. Bank of
America gained 1.4 per cent to
$17.59.
Meanwhile stronger metal prices
lifted miners, with Freeport-
McMoRan, the gold and copper
company, rising 0.9 per cent to
$66 and Alcoa, the aluminium
producer, climbing 1.1 per cent to
$12.55. Gold was trading $0.94
higher at $951.42 per troy ounce.
There were concerns on the
outlook for consumer spending
heading into the important back-to
-school season after Staples
refused to give any outlook on
sales or earnings following its
quarterly results. The company
made as much profit as analysts
had expected, but investors reacted
to the lack of certainty on future
performance by selling the shares,
which dipped 1.8 per cent to
$21.80.
There was a similar message
from fast food outlet Burger King,
which also said a lack of clarity on
the health of the consumer meant it
could not issue 2010 guidance. But
a rise in profits during the last
quarter saw the shares pick up 5.3
per cent to $18.59 before the bell.
There was more certainty
elsewhere in the sector as home
improvement chain Lowe’s rose
2.3 per cent to $21.20. Don
Stallings, president of Lowe’s
Canada, said on Monday night that
he saw recovery beginning in the
first quarter of next year. This was
followed on Tuesday by an
upgrade by Morgan Stanley, as
well as the news that the company
would open stores in Australia in
partnership with the Australian
Woolworths.
Fellow retailer Big Lots also saw
pre-market gains, after bargain
hunting shoppers boosted profits
beyond Wall Street estimates. The
company’s low-cost items helped
Economy/ Social Net/ *
keep expenses low and revenues
relatively stable, and enabled it to
forecast better full-year profits
than analysts currently expect. The
shares climbed 4 per cent to $25.
Elsewhere, Medtronic, which
makes medical devices, reported
improved quarterly revenues and
profits marginally ahead of Wall
Street estimates. But after the
company said this would not boost
full year earnings beyond the range
currently expected by analysts, the
shares fell 2.6 per cent to $37.02.
European stocks were up ahead
of the open on Wall Street, with
the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index
rising 0.2 per cent to 976.98. Asian
equity markets were mainly lower,
led by a 3.4 per cent drop in the
Shanghai Composite index to
2,893.03.
Bond yields were higher. The
yields on the two-year and 10-year
Treasury notes were both 2 basis
points up at 1.033 per cent and
3.496 per cent, respectively.
The dollar was mixed against
major currencies early in New
York, gaining 0.3 per cent against
the yen to $0.0106.
Oil prices were unchanged, with
the price of US crude at $74.37 per
barrel.
19
Ryan Jenkins' Father:
My Boy 'Would Faint
at the Sight of Blood'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 3:17:00 AM
The father of reality TV star
Ryan Jenkins is speaking out on
the tragic circumstances of the last
week in which Jenkins was
accused of murdering ex-wife
Jasmine Fiore and then apparently
hung himself in a British Columbia
motel room.
Dan Jenkins, an architect in
Calgary, tells the Los Angeles
Times, "If my son was guilty, he
was crazy. He was not the boy we
knew. The boy we knew was not
capable of anything remotely close
to this act."
"Megan Wants a Millionaire"
contender Ryan Jenkins was
wanted last weekend in an
international manhunt after Fiore's
body was found in a Buena Park,
CA dumpster stuffed in a suitcase,
strangled, her fingers and teeth
removed. Police say her breast
implants helped them identify the
body. Jenkins reportedly made a
run for the Canadian border and
was later discovered Sunday
hanged in the motel room.

Maybe Chrome OS Did Kill Android Netbooks After All

By Stan Schroeder
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:18:40 AM
Remember when Chrome OS was
announced? The first thing
everyone asked was, wait, if this is
Google’s operating system aimed
primarily at netbooks, what
happens with all those fabled
Android-based netbooks we were
supposed to see this year?
Well, it seems we just got an
answer, at least a part of it, as Asus
has all but given up on developing
an Android-based netbook. After
showing off such a device at the
Computex Taipei electronics show
in June, Asus went oddly silent
about it. Now, it got just a wee bit
fronts is rarely a good thing. operating system – into something
Recently, we wrote about it’s not?
more official: “Currently, I still Microsoft’s dual Windows Mobile We’ll see if other companies,
don’t see a clear market for strategy, noting that it’s probably such as Acer, follow suit; as
smartbooks,” said Jerry Shen, confusing
for both developers and Chrome OS nears finalization, our
CEO of Asustek Computer, at an users. The same principle applies guess is that they might. Reviews:
here: if Google wants to create a Android, Google
investors’ conference in Taipei.
It’s not a bad thing, really. great
OS for netbooks, it’s going to Tags: android, Chrome OS
be Chrome OS, so why bother
Fighting the same war on two turning Android
– a solid mobile
20 Economy/ Social Net/ Internet News Record

Last throw?
(The Economist: News presidential and provincial Renamo, the presidential election until near the end of his term in
analysis) elections scheduled to take place in could therefore prove to be Mr order to avoid undermining his
Submitted at 8/24/2009 3:43:25 AM October. According to the local Dhlakama's political swansong, as leadership—a fate that befell his
press, Mr Dhlakama was re-elected a fourth successive defeat in the predecessor, Joaquim Chissano.
Aug 24th 2009 with a convincing 296 votes, easily presidential poll, and a possible After five years in power, Mr
From the Economist Intelligence seeing off a token challenge by third-place finish behind Mr Guebuza has consolidated his
Unit ViewsWire The long-standing Renamo's information chief for Simango, would relegate him and authority to a far greater extent
l e a d e r o f t h e o p p o s i t i o n Inhambane province, Rogério the rump Renamo to political than was thought possible, and
movement, Renamo, is re-elected Francisco João Vicente, who insignificance. Nonetheless, wields near total control over his
in Mozambique secured just ten votes. emerging opposition parties have a party and the country.
Afonso Dhlakama has been re- However, the wide margin of Mr poor record of delivering the vote There have not been any
elected as leader of the main Dhlakama's victory did little to despite strong prospects, while suggestions that Mr Guebuza is
opposition party, Resistência disguise the fact that he was re- Renamo's core rural support base-- contemplating a third term; Apple Censored the
N a c i o n a l d e M o ç a m b i q u e elected by what was in effect a which does not follow the national however, centralisation of power
(Renamo), at a hastily convened rump congress. Nearly all of the press--could come out in support in the presidency and Mr Snow Leopard: Now
congress in the northern town of 350 delegates who attended were of the party's historical leader. A Guebuza's micro-management With 100% Less Blood
N a m p u l a . S i n c e R e n a m o ' s from Nampula, Mr Dhlakama's third term? have all but extinguished the
drubbing in the November 2008 key stronghold, while the timing of Mr Dhlakama has urged tradition of internal debate and By Stan Schroeder
municipal elections, the party has the congress—which took place Mozambican voters to prevent the discussion inside Frelimo (Mashable!)
been in the grip of a damaging while the National Assembly was ruling Frente de Libertação de (prompting concern that this is Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:45:42 AM
internal struggle, which has still sitting—ensured that many Moçambique (Frelimo) from undermining the efficiency and
resulted in many of its most Renamo members were unable to securing an absolute majority in Snow Leopard: it’s the next
effectiveness of decision-making).
talented members defecting to a attend, including dissidents who the National Assembly. According iteration of Apple’s Mac OS X,
In such an environment Renamo
n e w g r o u p i n g , M o v i m e n t o had threatened to defect to the to the Renamo leader, this would and it’s also a beast that hunts cute
may find it easy to foster
Democrático de Moçambique MDM. With Renamo's support enable Frelimo to change the little snow bunnies (no, not young
suspicions that Mr Guebuza is
(MDM), headed by the mayor of visibly seeping away, the haste constitution and let the current women who spend a great deal of
planning to alter the constitution to
Beira, Daviz Simango. With with which the congress was president, Armando Guebuza, time skiing) and *gasp* eats them.
stand again. However, it seems
criticism of Mr Dhlakama's convened has underlined Mr stand for a third consecutive term. Hence, it sometimes has blood
unlikely that this will be a
authoritarian leadership style Dhlakama's desperation to reassert Despite this call, the Economist around its mouth, and sure enough,
sufficiently pressing issue for a
m o u n t i n g , t h e l o n g - s e r v i n g his legitimacy as leader, a role he Intelligence Unit expects Frelimo the snow leopard pictured on the
sufficient number of voters to
Renamo leader tried to regain the has held since 1979, as well as to reaffirm its dominance at the desktop you get when you install
erode Frelimo's electoral
initiative by announcing—at very Renamo's organisational disarray October elections, and for Mr the latest version of Mac OS X,
dominance in October.
short notice—a party congress that after repeated postponements of Guebuza to win re-election had something alive for breakfast
Back to top ^^ Readers'
w o u l d i n c l u d e a l e a d e r s h i p the party congress over the past comfortably. The president is comments the morning the picture was taken.
election and discussion of the three years. With the MDM likely to seek to keep the battle Alas, this version of the snow
The Economist welcomes your
party's strategy for the legislative, drawing support away from over his succession in abeyance views. leopard was a tad too bloodthirsty
for Apple, so the version found on
The Final Curtain Falls for The Pirate Bay the actual cover of Mac OS X has
been slightly photoshopped, with
By Stan Schroeder nearly defunct site, while the new changed as far as piracy goes; all the traces of blood removed.
(Mashable!) owner-to-be tried to secure the when it comes to the sense of See the two images compared
Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:46:36 AM funding to actually purchase it, the a c t u a l d e f i a n c e t o c e r t a i n below.
story is now at its end: The Pirate established ideas of how copyright What gives, Apple? You want to
We knew it, you knew it, Bay has been shut down by its ISP. laws and regulations should be be cool and bad and all, but you
everyone knew it: as soon as news And as much as this piece of upheld, unfortunately, The Pirate don’t want the world to know that
of the sale broke, it was obvious information would have caused a Bay will be sorely missed. snow leopards feast on animal
that the Pirate Bay as we knew it huge upset a couple of months ago, Tags: lawsuit, piracy, the pirate flesh? Well, if you thought it was
would be no more. now it is likely to go fairly quietly, bay going to go unnoticed, you were
And after a convoluted game of as most users have already moved myself, have seen this before: wrong. Hat tip to Gizmodo for
cat and mouse, in which big on to other BitTorrent trackers. noticing this minute difference.
Napster, OiNK, Suprnova.
studios continued to sue the now Internet dinosaurs, such as Essentially, nothing has really Tags: apple, Snow Leopard
Internet News Record Economy/ * 21
Jason Bateman and Mila
Car-scrappage schemes: Bangers and cash Kunis 'Extract' Laughs
at L.A. Premiere
(The Economist: News car showrooms over the weekend At the beginning of this month vehicle, beyond the sticker price.
analysis) testified to the scheme’s apparent some 45% of cars were bought Early figures showed that over (ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 2:11:21 AM success. So did the fact that buyers under the scheme: by last week 80% of the vehicles traded in were Submitted at 8/24/2009 11:00:00 PM
happily took up all of the $1 that had slipped to about 20%. A trucks and SUVs and that 59% of
Car-scrappage schemes billion that Congress set aside for bigger worry is that the slowdown the vehicles bought were cars. Jason Bateman and Mila Kunis
Aug 24th 2009 the programme in the week after is a foretaste of a slump in demand That may be a sign of more trouble co-star with Ben Affleck in the
From Economist.com Has the its introduction in July. At the start when the scheme ends. for American carmakers which are new Mike Judge workplace
“ c a s h - f o r - c l u n k e r s ” s c h e m e of August Congress cheerfully Rebate schemes like this tend to particularly reliant on sales of comedy, 'Extract,' and we're with
d e l i v e r e d a n y t h i n g u s e f u l ? approved another $2 billion to encourage buyers to advance SUVs and trucks and which have the stars at the film's fun
IN ANY love affair the offering ensure that even more old bangers purchases that they would have been bailed out at huge cost to Hollywood premiere!
of gifts helps to sustain the ardour. were laid up in favour of shiny made anyway, thus cannibalising taxpayers. The top ten clunkers In 'Extract,' in theaters
But such are the favours showered new models. The result was a future sales. The termination of a traded in are all products of September 4, Jason plays Joel
by the American government on bump in car sales of 2.4% in July car-scrappage scheme in France in Detroit’s big three and the greater Reynold, a small business owner
carmakers over recent months, it compared with June, an impressive the 1990s led to sales plunging by gains have come for foreign car and blue-collar boss who employs
seems as if politicians have been figure after a year of dismal ones. 20%. Nor is it certain that the companies (mainly American-built a motley crew of losers, loners and
atoning for a dalliance with Such was the popularity of the scheme provides a more general vehicles at non-unionised outcasts in his culinary flavor
another industry (banks, perhaps). s c h e m e , o r p e r h a p s t h e boost to the economy, as buyers factories). extract factory. A success at
Now the giving is at an end. On b u r e a u c r a t i c f a i l u r e o f a may have been put off other Only Ford, which did not seek a business with an imminent buyout
the heels of multi-billion-dollar programme that was rapidly purchases in order to afford a new government bail-out, partly by a Fortune 500 company around
bail-outs for General Motors and introduced, that some dealers vehicle. That said, there is a case because it was making and selling the corner, Joel is a failure at home
Chrysler and brief government- stopped doing clunker deals early. to be made that, given the depth of cars more in tune with America’s -- and sexually frustrated to boot.
assisted bankruptcies, America’s This was partly because stocks of the crisis a few months ago, the new tastes, features in the top five With the help of his barkeep
car-scrappage scheme ends on suitable vehicles were exhausted. boost to total demand prompted by of models bought under the buddy Dean (Affleck), Joel comes
Monday August 24th. But other factors might also have the scrappage scheme did at least programme. GM and Chrysler, up with a convoluted scheme to
“Cash-for-clunkers” was intended slowed things: some dealers help to avert a Keynsian “liquidity hoping to reinvent themselves as make his wife Suzie ("SNL" star
to give a boost to the car industry complained of tardy payment from trap”, leading to a depression. greener car firms, may find that Kristen Wiig) cheat on him so he
and the environment by offering the government; rumours spread The green benefits are also hotly cash-for-clunkers, by turning more can pursue his beautiful new
i n c e n t i v e s t o g e t b u y e r s t o that a backlog of claims might contested. The scheme should help American heads towards Asia’s employee Cindy (Kunis) guilt-free
exchange their old gas guzzlers for mean the money would run out for to make America’s car fleet carmakers, is a present they regret -- until a bottleneck on the
s o m e t h i n g m o r e f r u g a l . I t later customers. slightly less fuel inefficient, but receiving. assembly line creates a chain of
promised Americans up to $4,500 As of last week, some 457,000 there are significant environmental Back to top ^^ Readers' hilarious, unfortunate events....
to trade in a vehicle that returns 18 clunker purchases worth some $1.9 costs in scrapping perfectly good comments
miles per gallon (8km per litre) or billion had been registered. Many cars and building new ones. The Economist welcomes your
less for a new one that goes at least more may be in the pipeline, At least the scheme may have views.
22 miles to the gallon. although the rate of purchase persuaded Americans to consider
The presence of crowds in many probably declined in recent days. the whole cost of owning a

Starting Five: Rockies Hand Giants Crushing Defeat in 14th

By Jeff Fletcher (FanHouse) That most of you probably Adam Eaton with the bases loaded. Giants Crushing Defeat in 14th
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:00:00 AM missed one of the biggest, most With the victory, the Rockies originally appeared on Fanhouse
entertaining baseball games of the took a four-game lead in the wild- MLB Blog on Tue, 25 Aug 2009
by Jeff Fletcher season late Monday night. The card race, their biggest of the 06:00:00 EST . Please see our
Filed under: Giants, Mariners, Rockies and Giants, the top two season, and also pulled within terms for use of feeds.
Phillies, Rockies, White Sox, teams in the NL wild-card race, three of the first-place Dodgers, Permalink| Email this| Linking
Starting Five Starting Five is our played deep into the night, with the just before Los Angeles comes to Blogs| Comments
wrapup of the previous day's Rockies scoring five runs in the Denver to start a three-game set on
baseball action with a quick nod to bottom of the 14th to win 6-4. -- came just after Giants reliever Tuesday. More Coverage:
what is ahead. Ryan Spilborghs' walk-off grand Justin Miller had walked pitcher Scoreboard| Standings| Statistics
You Oughta Know ... slam -- the first in Rockies history Starting Five: Rockies Hand
22 Economy/ * Internet News Record

Iran slows down uranium enrichment

(Financial Times - US sensitivities. to enrich,” said David Albright, last-ditch military action to pre- SmarterFox packs
homepage) Some diplomats and analysts head of Washington’s Institute for empt a nuclear Iran.
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:02:47 AM said the slowed enrichment growth Science and International Security “In the meantime,” Mr a productivity
was more likely a technical than which tracks nuclear proliferation. Fitzpatrick said, “what’s most
VIENNA, August 25 – Iran has political issue. They noted Iranian The Islamic republic is at odds important for Iran is to increase the wallop
not expanded the number of officials had renewed defiant with major powers which suspect number of installed centrifuges, in By Jessica Dolcourt
centrifuges enriching uranium at refusals to curb the programme it is secretly pursuing nuclear case it ever enters negotiations that (Webware.com)
its Natanz nuclear site since the despite the threat of harsher weapons capability. require a freeze on their number.
Submitted at 8/24/2009 6:32:00 PM
end of May after increasing sanctions. It denies this, saying it is refining Adding to the numbers now
capacity steadily over the previous They also said Iran could swiftly uranium only for electricity so it creates additional ‘facts on the I've been using the SmarterFox
three years, diplomats said. resume expansion since, in can export more oil, though it has ground’ that it will later argue can Firefox add-on for awhile now. It's
The reason for the slowdown addition to just under 5,000 no nuclear power plants to use the never be rolled back.” by far one of the most varied
was unclear. The International centrifuges refining uranium as low-enriched material it is An IAEA spokesman declined to productivity add-ons for Firefox
Atomic Energy Agency is due to reported by UN inspectors on May stockpiling. comment on Iran’s centrifuge that I've seen. Its clever tricks to
issue a report later this week that 31, it had already installed many Some analysts say Iran now has activity. There was no immediate speed up searching, browsing,
will influence big-power talks due more in preparation for entering enough low-enriched uranium to comment from Iranian officials. downloading, and even copy and
to consider harsher sanctions on the production chain. convert into the high-enriched The US, Britain, France and paste is good news for just about
Iran over its disputed nuclear The senior diplomat said the version (HEU) needed for a Germany are expected to urge anyone whose job description
campaign. number of Iranian centrifuges – nuclear bomb if it wants. But there Russia and China in talks on contains the word "Web."
Since May, Iran has been hit by cylindrical machines that whirl at is disagreement over how soon September 2 to weigh a fourth I've put together a SmarterFox
unrest over alleged election fraud s u p e r s o n i c s p e e d i n l i n k e d Tehran could “weaponise” the round of UN sanctions, possibly slideshow to walk you through the
t h a t h a s s p l i t t h e p o l i t i c a l networks – now enriching uranium enrichment process. targeting Iran’s lifeblood oil substantial features. Without
establishment, a relative moderate was slightly lower because some US national intelligence chief sector. The new IAEA report will giving away too much, SmarterFox
has become head of its nuclear had been taken down for repair Dennis Blair has said Iran is underpin those discussions. facilitates faster search through
authority, and western powers and maintenance. unlikely to be able to produce Earlier this month, Iran agreed to multiple channels, including the
have said they will pursue harsh But the number that has been HEU before 2013, but Israel fears IAEA demands for upgraded Firefox Awesome Bar, the context
sanctions against Iran if it does not installed, though not yet brought the timeline could prove shorter. monitoring at Natanz, and restored menu, and Wikipedia
accept talks on its nuclear work by on stream, has risen from about Iran may be slowing enrichment access to a heavy water reactor enhancements. It also helps launch
the end of September. 2,100 in May, diplomats said. growth believing its uranium fuel under construction after blocking Web sites faster, and has a novel
”There has been no increase in T h e s e c o u l d b e a d d e d t o stockpile is “perilously close to visits for a year. way of dealing with pagination for
t h e n u m b e r o f c e n t r i f u g e s production lines within a few crossing an Israeli red line”, said Tehran has been sending mixed sites with multipage articles, and
enriching uranium since the end of weeks, if desired, according to Mark Fitzpatrick, senior non- signals since unrest broke out over for shopping sites displaying pages
May,” a senior Vienna diplomat nuclear analysts. proliferation fellow at London’s alleged fraud in its June of results. Check out the gallery to
familiar with the issue said, “Once they’re installed, it only International Institute for Strategic presidential election. see exactly how these features
s p e a k i n g o n c o n d i t i o n o f takes a few weeks to test-run them Studies. work.
anonymity because of political under vacuum before they’re ready Israel has hinted at the idea of Originally posted at The
Download Blog
Dr. Conrad Murray Responds to Jackson Homicide Claim
(ETonline - Breaking News) In a statement to ET, Murray's affidavit. Dr. Murray simply never "We will not comment on the
Submitted at 8/25/2009 3:48:00 AM attorney, Edward Chernoff, says, told investigators that he found 'anonymous' law enforcement
"Much of what was in the search Michael Jackson at 11:00 am not source that claims that Michael
The attorney for Dr. Conrad warrant affidavit is factual. breathing. He also never said that Jackson's death will be ruled a
Murray is responding to the However, unfortunately, much is he waited a mere ten minutes homicide. Most of the reports by
Houston search warrant affidavit police theory. Most egregiously, before leaving to make several 'anonymous' sources have been
released today as well as the news the timeline reported by law phone calls. In fact, Dr. Murray proven wrong. We will be happy
that a source claimed that Michael enforcement was not obtained never said that he left Michael to address the Coroner's report
Jackson's death will be ruled a through interviews with Dr. Jackson's room to make phone when it is officially released."
homicide. Murray, as was implied by the calls at all.
Internet News Record Economy/ Social Net/ * 23

Yahoo buys Arabic language portal Brazen Careerist: The

(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:40:13 AM
everyday life and with the very
young population, this is just the
beginning.”
term prospects for significant
growth are surer than in more
mature markets.
Job Site for Gen Y?
“This deal puts the Arab web on That is not to say that Ms Bartz By Ben Parr (Mashable!)
Yahoo on Tuesday bought the the map and tells everyone that is enamoured of all things Submitted at 8/24/2009 10:26:16 PM
largest Arabic-language web portal investing in knowledge-based overseas. Yahoo’s international
in what executives said reflected industries is lucrative – it’s not all technology has been a sprawling Brazen Careerist has quietly been
the company’s intention to bet big about oil and real estate,” said Fadi mess, with the front page built on a great place to connect with
on a more wired future for the Ghandour, one of Maktoob’s other top of 33 different code bases that young Generation Y adults who as it sounds: a version of your
developing world. founders, who now runs Aramex, a vary by region. Major countries care about changing the world, resume with your work history,
The world’s most popular regional logistics company. have had their own development turning their passions into careers, education, and summary.
network of destination internet Fewer than 50m of the world’s teams for each big Yahoo and advancing themselves. It was For the professional, it makes
s i t e s s a i d i t w a s a c q u i r i n g 320m Arabic speakers are online, property, such as mail, sports and co-founded by Penelope Trunk, a sense: it’s a great way to connect
Maktoob, which has grown from but that figure is growing much Yahoo News. well-known author and columnist with other professionals, learn
i t s f o u n d i n g b y A n d e r s e n more rapidly than the global Ms Bartz has been cutting costs in the area of careers, along with about your industry, and ask others
Consulting veterans in 2000 as a f i g u r e , s a i d Y a h o o ’ s K e i t h and trying to make the company Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh. for advice. For the company or the
free email service in Jordan to Nilsson, the senior vice-president more nimble, and part of that drive Primarily the Brazen Careerist headhunter looking to find raw
i n c l u d e n e w s , f i n a n c i a l for emerging markets. The deal has been to consolidate the big website was focused on articles talent, it may be a bit difficult to
information and other consumer will allow Yahoo to offer its mail customer-facing services onto and blog posts from the sift through all the potential hires,
services, reaching a combined and other key functions in Arabic, global platforms that can be community (a blog network), but as detailed filtering is not yet
16.5m monthly users in the Middle even to those who do not access updated more quickly. that all changed an hour ago when implemented.
East. Maktoob. Yahoo Mail already has The developing markets division, the website transformed from a Brazen Careerist has been one of
Terms were not disclosed, but 20m users in the region. based in Singapore, has been community website into an all-out our favorite Generation Y
sources said it was Yahoo’s largest Ms Bartz has stepped back from spared from most of the cutbacks. social network, focused on flipping websites. But while the old site
purchase under Chief Executive pouring money into a technology Ms Bartz has also adopted the the conventional wisdom was really just a blog network, the
Carol Bartz, who took the helm of arms race with Google over view that the company is generally surrounding the resume by new one really is “a career
the Silicon Valley firm in January. search, last month striking a best served in less wired focusing on “idea feeds.” management tool for next-
Internet advertising currently critical alliance to get indexed web geographies by buying locally Brazen Careerist now focuses on generation professionals,” even if
accounts for a tiny fraction of results from Microsoft. Instead, owned and locally managed the social aspects, and the profiles it does not introduce anything
overall ad spending in the Middle she has committed to increasing websites that overlap with Yahoo’s are the center of this new universe. groundbreaking.
East but Yahoo and Maktoob said Yahoo’s world audience and core functions, as Maktoob does, While you’ll find general It’s an intellect’s version of
the potential was significant, citing keeping them on the company’s rather than partnering building information – followers, following, LinkedIn, though it will need to
a forecast of 30-40 per cent growth pages as long as possible. The plan from scratch. The idea is to groups, interests, social media implement a lot more social and
this year compared with a sharp is that as the economy recovers, become a part of the routine for accounts, etc. – what makes organizational features before it
fall in traditional media because of the advertising dollars will flow to early adopters, who will spread the Brazen Career different is the can realize its potential. It also
the financial crisis. it. word as broadband get more Ideas Stream and the Resume faces the uphill battle of
“When we started, the internet Emerging markets and new widely available. section. convincing busy Gen Yers that
barely existed in the region, but languages are a key part of that “Strategy is now to go the wholly Idea Stream essentially is a news spending time building a profile is
now growth rates are tremendous,” strategy. Acquisition costs are -owned route in relatively new feed, but focuses on career-related worth their time. Reviews:
Samih Toukan, one of Maktoob's m o d e s t , a n d w h i l e o n l i n e marketplaces,” an executive said. ideas, updates from your groups LinkedIn
founders, told the Financial Times. advertising spending is too low for (i.e. New York professionals, Tags: Brazen Careerist
“The internet is now part of immediate payback, the medium- Bloggers, etc.). Resume is exactly

'The Biggest Loser': Abby's Personal Tragedy

(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 2:56:00 AM
"The Biggest Loser"'s Abby Rike
is on a mission to lose enough
weight to fit into size 10 jeans. She
knows the road back to health
from her 247-pound starting
weight will be a hard one, but not
harder than the personal tragedy
she survived.
It was in October 2006 that Rike
lost her husband, her 5-1/2-year-
old daughter and her 2-1/2-week-
old son in a fatal car collision. The
34-year-old widow from Mabank,
TX decided to forge ahead with
her life, but used food as a way of
coping with her loss. Now, "The "The Biggest Loser" ranch.
Biggest Loser" is helping her to
get her life back on a healthy track.
ET spoke to the theater/speech
teacher and debate coach as she
got ready to face the hard work at
24 Economy/ Social Net/ *
Green.view: Computing climate
change
(The Economist: Daily
columns)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 4:33:15 AM
Green.view
Aug 24th 2009
From Economist.com How much
carbon dioxide do computers emit?
AVIATION has long been
blamed for its share of
anthropogenic global warming.
Indeed, some travellers now ask
themselves whether their flight is
strictly necessary and, if they
decide it is, salve their consciences
by paying for the planting of trees.
These, so they hope, will absorb
the equivalent of their sinful
emissions. But you, dear reader,
are indulging right now in activity
that is equally as polluting as air
travel: using a computer.
According to a report published
by the Climate Group, a think-tank
based in London, computers,
printers, mobile phones and the
widgets that accompany them
account for the emission of 830m
tonnes of carbon dioxide around
the world in 2007. That is about
2% of the estimated total of
emissions from human activity.
And that is the same as the
aviation industry’s contribution.
According to the report, about a
quarter of the emissions in
Tony Dungy Addresses Michael Vick Drinking Photo: 'You Can't Do That'
By Tom Herrera (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:45:00 AM
by Tom Herrera
Filed under: Eagles, NFL
Quarterbacks Under normal
circumstances, a photo of an
athlete drinking is not news. But
question are generated by the
manufacture of computers and so
forth. The rest come from their
use.
The same report estimates that
the spread of computers will
increase these associated emissions
by about 6% a year until 2020,
when one person in three will own
a personal computer, half will have
a mobile phone and one household
in 20 will have a broadband
internet connection. Yet
computing can also be used to
tackle climate change. For
example, domestic consumption
could be cut by the large-scale
employment of smart meters in
houses and flats. Households are
the biggest users of electricity after
manufacturing and transport. In
Britain, they accounted for 29% of
consumption in 2004, according to
a government report.
Small and medium-sized
businesses, meanwhile, could save
electricity by switching to
distributed computing, rather than
running their own servers. The
delivery of computer services over
the internet, from vast warehouses
of shared machines, enables firms
to hand over the running of their e-
mail, customer databases and
accounting systems to someone
else. Companies that do so use
Michael Vick isn't just an athlete
anymore, he's the most scrutinized
one in sports today.
So when Vick appeared in a New
York Post photo sipping a vodka
and pineapple juice, the discussion
turned to whether Vick violated
conditions mandated by NFL
computers more efficiently and
thus reduce not only their costs but
also their carbon footprints.
Another way to improve the
situation is virtualisation—the
creation of “virtual” machines (ie,
software emulations of separate
computers) so that multiple
operating systems and applications
can run on the same piece of
physical kit. Sun Microsystems, a
maker of servers, reckons that 70%
of the servers in most
organisations have only one
application running on them.
Consolidating these applications
onto fewer and fewer machines,
courtesy of virtualisation, would
be more efficient and thus greener.
Ironically, of course,
environmental research itself relies
heavily on computers. So, perhaps
the best thing the home user can do
is donate his inefficiencies to the
cause by signing up to
climateprediction.net, which uses
the idle capacity of home
computers to test the accuracy of
various computer models of the
climate.
Back to top ^^ Readers'
comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
commissioner Roger Goodell.
Tony Dungy, the former NFL
Internet News Record
Whatever You Do,
Please, PLEASE Don’t
Search for Jessica Biel
By Stan Schroeder
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:26:31 AM
You think you know danger?
You don’t know danger. The
internet’s biggest perils are hidden
beneath a pretty face; a simple
Google search for Jessica Biel
might result in a site filled with
viruses, trojans, and spyware.
Erm, yep: that’s pretty much
how the internet works. A popular
The rest of the list looks like
term will always be exploited by
malicious hackers (or hacker this: Beyonce is in the second
wannabes) who’ll set up pages place, with “Beyonce ringtones”
being a particularly dangerous
which aren’t what they appear,
with the purpose of infecting your term to search, Jennifer Aniston
came in third place (don’t search
computer, extracting your personal
data, or worse. The most popular for “Jennifer Aniston
targets for these cybervillains, screensavers”), followed by Tom
Brady, Jessica Simpson, Gisele
however, change over time; last
year it was Brad Pitt, and this year, Bundchen, Miley Cyrus, Megan
Fox, Angelina Jolie, and Ashley
according to McAfee, it’s Jessica
Biel. Tisdale. Brad Pitt came in 10th
More precisely, if you Google place this year; sorry Brad, it looks
like you’re getting old.
Jessica Biel, you have a one-in-
five chance of landing at a website [img courtesy of Wikipedia]
Reviews: Google, Wikipedia
that contains some sort of online
threat: spyware, phishing, viruses, Tags: Jessica Biel, malware,
trojans, spam, and the like. McAfee
coach who has served as Vick's Aug 2009 01:45:00 EST . Please
mentor, felt the need to address the see our terms for use of feeds.
photo, according to Peter King's Permalink| Email this| Linking
column on SI.com. Blogs| Comments
Tony Dungy Addresses Michael
Vick Drinking Photo: 'You Can't
Do That' originally appeared on
Fanhouse NFL Blog on Tue, 25
Internet News Record
GM looks at shelving Opel plan
(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 4:19:30 AM
General Motors is looking at
shelving a German-backed bail-out
of its Opel European car arm amid
growing fears that long-running
talks on the deal will end in
failure.
The US carmaker and its
advisers are studying a scenario
that would see GM abandon the
German plan and instead raise
roughly €3bn ($4.3bn) of rescue
funds for Opel and its British
Vauxhall brand from the US and
other European governments,
including the UK and Spain.
GM agreed to spin off the Opel
division before the troubled
company went into bankruptcy
earlier this year.
Germany, keen to protect its
thousands of Opel workers, agreed
to bankroll a bid, and lined up
behind Canadian parts maker
Magna International and Russia’s
Sberbank. The management of
GM, which emerged from
bankruptcy in July, believes that
the terms of the Magna bid are too
onerous, and a rival bid from RHJ,
a Brussels-based industrial group,
ScreenTunes IDs songs from movies, TV shows
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 1:09:00 PM
(Credit: CNET)
ScreenTunes is a free search tool
that helps users find where a song
has been played in any piece of
professionally-produced video
content. You just type in the name
of the song and it tells you all the
films and TV shows in which it's
would be easier to implement.
On Tuesday German foreign
minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
told news agencies that General
Motors’ top negotiator on the Opel
deal, John Smith, would meet the
government’s Opel Taskforce in
Berlin. Mr Steinmeier added that
he hoped that some points could be
cleared up in the talks.
“Germany have expressed
interest in having Magna, but there
might be other [financing]
sources,” a person with knowledge
of GM’s plans said on Monday.
“This is what we are currently
exploring.”
This person said that GM’s
board had made no final decision,
but had expressed interest in
studying what was described as an
“extreme solution” to the German
rescue of Opel/Vauxhall, which
employs about 55,000 people and
has plants in five European
countries.
A second person familiar with
GM’s plans described the option as
“feasible if complex”.
Were GM to abandon the
German-backed sale process, it
would be an embarrassment for
Angela Merkel’s government.
However, it is unclear whether
appeared. You can then listen to
the track right from the results
(using Grooveshark), or purchase
the track on iTunes or Amazon's
online stores.
Along with acting as a search
tool for individual songs,
ScreenTunes can be used to look
up a track by its lyrics. This also
works on entire movie titles, so
you can type the name to get a or miss, but when it works it's
quick track list.
GM would succeed in raising the
funds needed to keep Opel afloat
from the UK government and
others.
John Smith, GM’s chief
negotiator, is due to hold further
talks with government officials in
Berlin this week.
GM’s new board last week
refused to endorse Magna’s bid
with Russian Sberbank to buy 55
per cent of Opel, angering Angela
Merkel’s government and Opel’s
unions, which support the bid.
Klaus Franz, Opel’s union chief,
on Monday warned that employees
could take “spectacular measures”
if GM made no decision on the
sale by the end of this week.
Germany favours Magna’s bid
over RHJ International because it
thinks it would entail fewer job
losses and has hinted that it would
offer loan guarantees only for
Magna’s bid.
GM sees Magna’s bid as
untenable because it would give
the Canadian supplier and its
partners unfettered access to its
global intellectual property and
Russian operations.
GM declined to comment on the
sale on Monday.
I found the service to be a bit hit
Economy/ * 25
Wikipedia to add editing
safeguard for the living
By Michelle Meyers
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 4:59:08 PM
Wikipedia will soon be adding a
feature to its English-language site
that assigns an experienced editor
to sign off on any changes to
articles on living people, according
to Wikimedia Foundation, the
nonprofit that runs the user-written
online encyclopedia. inaugural luncheon in January.
It's intended to provide some
Confirming a story reported
Monday by The New York Times, additional "protection" and to
"prevent vandals" from messing
Wikimedia Foundation spokesman
Jay Walsh said the "flagged with living-person articles, Walsh
said. Until approved by the
revisions" feature is already active
on the German site, but needs volunteer editor, any changes to
such articles will sit invisible to
some fleshing out before it goes
live to the public on the English the public on Wikipedia's servers.
This is a big job, Walsh added,
site.
The plan is to deploy the feature and ultimately the community will
decide whether to make it a
on a test wiki soon so the
Wikipedia community can play permanent feature. It's bound to be
controversial for those who
around with before it goes public.
The test wiki is expected to go live passionately believe in the site's
motto as "the free encyclopedia
soon, but no specific time frame
has been established, Walsh said. anyone can edit."
Staff writer Daniel Terdiman
The feature was debated earlier
this year in the aftermath of a false contributed to this story
Originally posted at News -
entry that was posted by a user,
saying Sens. Ted Kennedy and Digital Media
Robert Byrd had died after an
quite neat. Many test searches I did
came up with zero results, often
times because I had either left a
word off the title of the song, or it
simply wasn't in the database.
Clearly you get better results if it's
a mainstream track, but it's
surprising to see how many places
any one song can end up.
Originally posted at Web
Crawler
26 Economy/ *
Bernanke reappointed for second
term
(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:59:32 AM
Ben Bernanke was reappointed
on Tuesday by President Barack
Obama for a second four-year term
as chairman of the Federal
Reserve.
Mr Obama made the
announcement in Martha’s
Vineyard, Massachusetts, where he
is on holiday with his family.
Mr Obama appeared with the
Fed chief at his side at 9 am local
time (1300 GMT) and praised the
central bank governor’s handling
of the financial crisis of the past
year. ”Ben approached a financial
system on the verge of collapse
with calm and wisdom; with bold
action and outside-the-box
thinking that has helped put the
brakes on our economic freefall,”
Mr Obama said
The president also hit back at Mr
Bernanke’s critics, defending the
central bank chief’s actions – and
policies put in place by his own
administration – as ”steps of
necessity, not choice”.
”Taken together, all of these steps
have brought our economy back
101 Years of Futility and Counting? Boycott, Cubs Fans
By Jay Mariotti (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 10:45:00 PM
by Jay Mariotti
Filed under: MLB
CHICAGO -- Tuesday night, in
keeping with masochistic tradition,
40,000 fans will file into an
ancient ballpark, ignore the reality
of the standings and root for the
Cubs to beat the Washington
Nationals. They'll do so even
from the brink. They are steps that
are working,” Mr Obama said.
Mr Bernanke said: “I will work
to the utmost of my abilities to
help provide a solid foundation for
growth and prosperity in an
environment of price stability.”
Tuesday’s announcement could
deflect attention from other less
market-friendly news. The White
House is set to raise its 10-year
budget deficit projection by
$2,000bn to approximately
$9,000bn, and the non-partisan
Congressional Budget Office will
release new forecasts as well.
The decision is the ultimate seal
of approval for the Fed chairman,
who was originally appointed by
George W. Bush, the Republican
former president, and whose
reappointment was seen as far
from guaranteed.
It follows Mr Bernanke’s
extraordinarily aggressive efforts
to fight the economic crisis,
including radical interest rate cuts,
loans to non-bank financial
institutions, Fed-led bail-outs of
AIG and Bear Stearns and and
gigantic asset purchases –
exploiting the Fed’s powers to
their legal limits in an effort to
though the Nationals, I dare say,
might be better than the Cubs these
days. This would be the ideal
evening to boycott the one sports
prevent a second Great
Depression.
Economists, investors and fellow
central bankers overwhelmingly
favour Mr Bernanke’s
reappointment. However, disquiet
in Congress over the exercise of
extraordinary Fed powers has
raised a cloud over his future.
The Fed chairman’s
reappointment still has to be
approved by the Senate, but his
prospects look good. Chris Dodd,
chairman of the Senate banking
committee, on Monday said that
“reappointing chairman Bernanke
is probably the right choice”,
though he promised a “thorough
and comprehensive confirmation
hearing”
Mr Obama is said to credit Mr
Bernanke with a leading role in
helping to avert economic
catastrophe. By reappointing Mr
Bernanke, who worked in the Bush
White House, Mr Obama can also
emphasise his bipartisan
credentials at a time when he is
embroiled in a fiercely partisan
battle over healthcare reform.
team in America that never, ever
gives its diehards a reward for
their loyalty, a franchise headed
toward a 101st consecutive season
Internet News Record
Keith Jardine Talks Thiago Silva
Fight, Brock Lesnar, and Techno
Viking
By Ariel Helwani (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:58:00 AM
by Ariel Helwani
Filed under: UFC No one can
confidently say Keith Jardine's
UFC 102 fight against Thiago
Silva is a must-win situation for
"The Dean of Mean." Sure, he's
coming off a unanimous decision
loss to Rampage Jackson at UFC
96, but he also seemed to raise his
stock in standing toe-to-toe with
the hard-hitting Jackson for three
full rounds.
FanHouse spoke to Jardine about Fight, Brock Lesnar, and Techno
reinventing his game for his fight Viking originally appeared on
against Silva and the balancing act Fanhouse MMA Blog on Tue, 25
when it comes to marketing Aug 2009 07:58:00 EST . Please
oneself to the fans. The full see our terms for use of feeds.
interview is below. Permalink| Email this| Linking
Keith Jardine Talks Thiago Silva Blogs| Comments
Reach Out and Touch
the Web With Firefox's
Coming Multitouch
Support
By Scott Gilbertson (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 1:45:00 PM
Mozilla plans to add a new set of
multitouch capabilities to Firefox
3.6, due later this year. The new
without a World Series title. browser tech would spur touch-
101 Years of Futility and sensitive web apps people could
Counting? Boycott, Cubs Fans access on desktops, netbooks,
originally appeared on Fanhouse - mobiles and embedded devices
Jay Mariotti on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 with touchscreens.
22:45:00 EST . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Internet News Record Economy/ Gizmos/ 27

Small Cap Banks: The Final Frontier for Bears
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:37:44 AM
If you have been following the
banking ETF KBE you may be
thinking that the banking sector as
a whole is in the midst of a bull
trend. On the surface you would be
right.
However if you pause and look
at the performance of the S&P 500
Bank Index along with the S&P
600 Bank Index, which is a much
broader view of the market, the
story is somewhat different.
Looking at the charts below, we
can see that the small cap side of
banking has yet to show any
meaningful technical breakout.
When we see divergence of
behaviour between the small cap
and large cap stocks of any
particular sector, we start to look
more closely as we believe that
problems in a market tend to show
up first in the riskier small caps.
S&P 500 Bank Index
S&P 600 Bank Index
We do think that the S&P 600
bank index will break out above
250. Why? The homebuilder and
morgtage finance sectors suffered
terribly under the force of the
recent economic downturn and the
banking sector in turn. If we
review the index MFX, we can see
what looks like a bottoming
process and a slightly upward
curve.
KBW Mortgage Finance Index
We can all find a zillion reasons
as to why the banking,
homebuilding, mortgage finance
Hilarious Video Shows
and REIT sectors will be in the
doldrums for a long period. Perfect Office
However the market is telling a
decidedly more upbeat story. Camouflage Techniques
Successful trading involves [Office]
seeking the best risk/reward ratios
for your own circumstance. We are By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)
contrarian traders at heart and are Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:50:00 AM
comfortable allocating a portion of
our funds to long term high risk I don't know Russian, and I don't
positions. This often takes have a clue about what they are
considerable nerve and sometimes saying in this video, but you don't
sheer bloodymindedness. need it to laugh at these people's
We take some heart from office camouflage act. The guy in
Napoleon's words: the copier is priceless. [ DRB]
The torment of precautions often
exceeds the dangers to be avoided.
It is sometimes better to abandon
one's self to destiny.
Contrarian traders such as we
have already taken our positions
and accept the consequences.
Disclosure: Long XLF & XHB
Call Options

S&P Downgrades American Capital

(Financial Sector and Stocks quarter compared with a loss of 34 finance to small and mid-sized
Analysis from Seeking Alpha) cents in the year-ago period. businesses and competes with
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:02:48 AM Realized loss per share was $1.41 companies such as MCG Capital
in the quarter compared with a Corp. ( MCGC), CapitalSource
Standard and Poor’s Rating gain of 95 cents a year earlier. It Inc. ( CSE) and Allied Capital
S e r v i c e s ( S & P ) r e c e n t l y also defaulted on $2.3 billion of Corp. ( ALD). It has been severely
downgraded American Capital’s ( debt repayments. hurt by the draining value of
ACAS) long-term counterparty On an operating basis, American company portfolios in which it
credit rating to "B-" from "BB-". Capital earned 9 cents per share in invests. However, the recent
The outlook is negative. S&P the second quarter compared to the capital-bolstering initiatives
expressed concern about the rapid Zacks Consensus Estimate of 20 coupled with other cost-
decline in the company’s realized cents. containment measures should
earnings, debts and the According to S&P, American provide some relief to the
deteriorating performance of its Capital’s balance sheet will take recently disclosed in a filing with time. Net proceeds will be used for company.
portfolio companies. time to recover after the severe the Securities Exchange general corporate purposes that
American Capital has been impact. During this period, the Commission that it may offer up to include debt repayment,
significantly hurt by the financial company will also face difficulties $1.5 billion aggregate of common acquisitions and other general
downturn. It reported a loss of in negotiating with lenders. stock, preferred stock and debt in corporate purposes.
$2.52 per share in the second However, American Capital one or more offerings from time to American Capital provides
28 Social Net/ *
From Facebook to Apple: How to Fix the iPhone
App Store
By Ben Parr (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 12:30:43 AM
The Apple iPhone App Store has
been a lightning rod for criticism
and controversy: a race to the
bottom for app prices, FCC
investigations, and strange app
bannings just to start. It’s gotten so
bad that Apple VP Phil Schiller
has been doing damage control.
Now an important figure has
entered the debate: the developer
of Facebook’s iPhone application.
Joe Hewitt in a blog post makes
the assertion that iPhone app store
review process “needs to be
eliminated completely. ”
All of this comes as we enter the
second week of waiting for the
Facebook 3.0 iPhone App to even
be approved by Apple. Guilty
Before You’re Innocent?
If you’re unfamiliar with the
Apple iPhone App approval
process, it goes like this:
developers create an app and then
submit it to Apple. Before any app
hits the app store, it must go
through a review process where it
is either accepted or denied.
Typically, this takes about two
weeks.
The process has caused serious
controversy as multiple unfair app
bannings have made headlines.
And with a major update to the
most popular app on Facebook still
in limbo, Joe Hewitt had to say
something:
“I have only one major complaint
with the App Store, and I can state
it quite simply: the review process
needs to be eliminated
completely.”
Hewitt then goes into detail
about why he believes that the
iPhone app platform should be
open, just like the web or even the
Google Android platform. First, he
addresses the argument that letting
anyone create or download an
iPhone app could create chaos or
security issues:
“Oh, but you say that iPhone apps
are different [than the web],
because they run native code and
can do scary things that web pages
can’t? Again, you’re wrong,
because iPhone apps are
sandboxed and have scarcely any
more privileges than a web app.
About the only scary thing they
can do outside the sandbox is
access your address book, but
Apple can easily fix that by
requiring they ask permission first,
just like they must do to track your
location.”
He then rails into Apple for
employing a “guilty until proven
innocent” system. Specifically, he
claims that the app store process is
about Apple’s Terms of Service,
not about quality assurance:
“The fact is this: Apple does not
have the means to perform
thorough quality assurance on any
app. This is up to the developer.
We have our own product
managers and quality assurance
testers, and we are liable to our
users and the courts if we do
anything evil or stupid. Apple may
catch a few shallow bugs in the
review process, but let’s face it,
Internet News Record
Facebook 3.0 is ridiculous, and the
many unjust app bannings prove
the real things they are looking for t h a t t h e c u r r e n t s y s t e m i s
are not bugs, but violations of the fundamentally flawed. We doubt
terms of service. This is all about Apple will remove the review
lawyers, not quality, and it shows system, so here’s what we suggest
that the model of Apple’s justice as a compromise:
system is guilty until proven 1. Beef up the review staff. Titans Lose Nate
innocent. They don’t trust us, and I Apple must double or triple what it
resent that, because the vast has currently. There are simply too Washington to
majority of us are trustworthy.” m a n y a p p s a n d n o t e n o u g h
How to Fix the App Store reviewers for the system in place Injury
The clear comparison for the currently. By JJ Cooper (FanHouse)
iPhone app platform is the Google 2. Create a “trusted developer”
Android platform. Joe Hewitt status. Whenever these developers Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:34:00 AM
refers to successful platforms that release or update apps, they bypass
by JJ Cooper
allow developers to publish review and immediately appear in Filed under: Titans Nate
a n y t h i n g a n d o n l y r e c e i v e the app store. It is embarrassing
Washington, the Titans' biggest
punishment after they have done that Apple doesn’t trust Facebook free agent acquisition of the
something wrong. enough to publish the 3.0 update
offseason, will miss the rest of the
This is exactly what is done with immediately. preseason and could miss the early
the Android platform, and so far, 3. Give developers the benefit of
the doubt. This is really what Joe part of the season after injuring his
the sky has not fallen. In fact, there hamstring at Monday's practice.
are amazing apps like augmented Hewitt is complaining about.
If he misses the rest of the
reality app Layar already on These developers are what make preseason, it's not that big of a deal
Android, while Apple has yet to the iPhone so great. Treating them
-- it gives rookie first-round pick
approve any of these innovative with greater respect and better Kenny Britt more reps with Kerry
apps. explaining any app denials will not
Collins this week. But apparently
Let’s be fair, though. We cannot only go a long way, but hopefully Washington's injury could cause
blame Apple for wanting to keep will make reviewers realize when
him to miss the season opener
control over the look, feel, and an app is banned for a good reason against the Steelers, which would
f u n c t i o n a l i t y o f i t s i P h o n e and when one is denied for an
be bad news for a team with only
platform. They don’t want to deal arbitrary issue. one other established veteran
with a PR disaster if an app gets Hopefully Apple will begin to
receiver.
popular and then suddenly starts make changes as more and more Titans Lose Nate Washington to
stealing data. Apple, unlike critics pile on. If the recent FCC
Injury originally appeared on
Android, wants to give every user investigation and actions by Apple Fanhouse NFL Blog on Tue, 25
a specific experience when they V P P h i l S c h i l l e r a r e a n y
Aug 2009 07:34:00 EST . Please
use an iPhone. There are some indication, those changes are see our terms for use of feeds.
benefits to an app store approval coming sooner rather than later.
Reviews: Android, Facebook Permalink| Email this| Linking
process. Blogs| Comments
Still, a two week wait for Tags: apple, facebook, iphone
Internet News Record * Tech Games/ 29

Why Craigslist
Extreme Makeover:
Is Such
Craigslist
a MessEdition
By Mathew
Gary Wolf
Honan
(Wired
(Wired
Top Top director Khoi Vinh and his sorts listings
later. Only after by Iprice
have or spent
date. every
His
Stories) colleagues gave this function more spare hour
design displays
on craigslist—browsing
images in the
Submitted at 8/24/2009 9:00:00 PM real estate and placed it at the top the ads, tracking
category pages, so theyouspam, don'treading
have
of the page. They moved the all- theclick
to help through
forums, to thecontacting
individual
The craigslist
Internet’steam greatisn't
promise
interested
is to important Post to Classifieds link users—do
listings to Isee
finally
them. begin
Thumbnails
to grasp
in updating
make the world's
the site, information
so Wired to the right side of the page and something
load rapidlyofand hisblowsituation.
up to The full
universally
asked leading accessible
designersand to giveuseful.
it a increased its visibility by bumping truthwith
size is athat mouseclick.
a lot ofApeople button
So how comelift.
user-interface when Craigslist
you arrive Today at up the type size. They made room c o m p l Add
called a i n to a b oWatchlist
u t c r a i gmarks
slist.
theVisitors
most popular
arrivingdatingat craigslist
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are for white space and eliminated the Buckmaster
favorites, while
is correct
the Sharethat fewbuttonof
cUoSn f ryoonut e fdi nbdy aa sctor enaf ums i nogf gray backgrounds, which they them complain
emails listings toabout friendstheordesign.
posts
anonymous cluttered
homepage come-ons with intermixed
links thought weighed down the site. "It They to
them complain
social networks.
about spam, Make theyIt
with insults,
most people will ads never
for prostitutes,
click on. feels more open, more nimble," c o m p l a i nLuke
Personal a b oHayman
u t f r a uand d , tLisa
hey
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Overall, the user interfaceand obvious
is in dire Vinh says. Information complain about
Strausfeld, Pentagram
the posting rules,
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need of Inana organizing
design straight principle
from architecture Anh Dang, Design theyThink
complainthe current
about the homepage
search,
the guides
that earliestyou daysto theof details
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lacks personality? about
"We uploading
decided to
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seek while filtering postsoutcompete
extraneous for In the design created by Vinh images.
do something They about complain the cult aboutof
attention on page after page of
information. and his team, the listings every way
Craig," Lisa a classified
Strausfeldtransaction
says. She
blue It'slinks,
hard undifferentiated
to know even where by tags to themselves don't stand alone but can Luke
and go wrong.
Hayman They highlighted seldom the
or ratings
begin: Shouldoryou even
startusernames.
your career are framed by navigational aids complain about
contradiction between amazing
Newmark's new
Millions
search under
of people
Jobs or apparently
Gigs? The that let you jump immediately to features in
interest theygrassroots
imagine democracy
they might
believe
right sidethatoflove
the awaits
screen here,
is devoted
but it other parts of the site. Buttons up possibly
and the reality
want to thatuse,thebecause
site is, well,
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to an exhaustive
hidden. Islistthis of really
cities andthe top lead to the major sections (the are list.
his too busy
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do? most users care current one always appears front simple
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features random;they depend
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line after viewed most recently and the craigslist's
longer textprogrammers
strings form havefacial
cut
another,Locations
maze. without recommendations
aren't sorted in sections you browse most often, out all the
features. Newmark
cushioning is always
layersinthatthe
or networking
sufficient detail, features
imagesor aren'teven transforming Craig's list into your separate them fromversion
background—this the users brings
they
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you clickduplicate
through to list. The calendar, fixed at the serve,
him to and
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any right they Howhave Would to
apostings.
listing, andSubject
items can't to bea flagged
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teachRedesign
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unpredictable
for side-by-side filtering
comparison.
system And that page. Make It Simple steps easily. Displaying the site on functions available at all times. YourcomesOwn fromMakeover
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Vote on of
produces
that's just thedaily
desktop
outrageversion.among On SimpleScott a mobile browser, however, Make It Beautiful Matt Willey, Reader runningContributions
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apeople
mobilewhose browser, help-wanted
craigslist isads an "Craigslist is working," says presents bigger challenges. Studio8 Design subservient
Submit youronly redesign.to the public.
have been roll
interminable removed
of links without
rendered SimpleScott, former design SimpleScott met them by dividing "Craigslist is frustrating and Here's (No the more lesson:
than The one public
every is30a
explanation,
in eye-crossingly this site minuscule
not only beatstext. d i r e c t o r o f the pages into a series of screens. claustrophobic," Matt Willey says. minutes.
motherfucker. No HTML allowed.)
i t s c oItmapWeb
Make e t i t oApp
r s —Khoi
M o nVinh,
ster, BarackObama.com—why fix what A hierarchical menu makes it easy His layout has a contemporary Vote Craig
on designs
Newmark submitted
says that by
CareerBuilder, Yahoo's
NYTimes.com isn't broken? Instead, he focused to navigate without accidentally look, a Web 2.0 feel, and plenty of other
craigslistreaders.
works because people are
HotJobs—but
The NYTimes.com garnersteam moreretained
traffic on making the site easier on the clicking the wrong link. A map breathing room. He eliminated good, Show andentries
he hasthat stuck are:
to hot|
this point
new|
than all of them
craigslist's basic combined.
look and Arefeelour eyes. On the front page, he aligned page lets you browse listings by long lists in favor of two pulldown top-rated.
o f v i e w Submitw i t h o your
u t wredesign.
avering.
standards
while making
reallythe so low?
site work more rows and columns in a uniform location. Ads and photos each get menus: one that lets you jump to Whether Back toyou top accept it as true will
likeButanifapp.you Since
really wantsearchto issee thea grid so they're clearer at a glance. their own screens. Buttons along various sections and another that depend on your standard of
mess, important
most go visit the feature,
nation's greatest
design Links you've already visited leap goodness.
apartment-hunting site, the first Sometimes entire categories of
More pro skaters heap praise on Tony Hawk Ride
likely choice of anybody searching
for a rental or a roommate. On this
craigslist are rendered nearly
unusable by spam. Con artists
By
site,David
contrary Hinkle (Joystiq)
to every principle of bunch of pro skaters who were Well, consider this video the love it? We. Are. Shocked. see
prowlourtheterms for usepaying
listings, of feeds. sellers
usabilityatand
Submitted common
8/25/2009 sense,
2:00:00 AM you falling over each other to proclaim sequel, as it brings even more pro More pro skaters heap praise on with Pfake e r m acashier's
link| Em a i l t hand
checks is|
can't easily browse pictures of the the game's brilliance (it couldn't skaters in to offer their very valid, Tony Hawk Ride originally C o m mbuyers
luring e n t s to share their credit
The last timefor
apartments werent.
saw TonyCustomerHawk have anything to do with the fact objective feelings on the game. appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 25 card numbers. Other evils are more
Ride,
support? it Visit
was being
the helpplayed
desk ifby youa they're all in the game, right?). Can you believe they absolutely Aug 2009 02:00:00 EST. Please subtle. Business owners whose
enjoy being insulted. How much judgment is distorted by self-
market share does this housing site interest fail to understand the rules
have? In many cities, a huge and put the same item in multiple
30 * Internet News Record
Go social with these Wordpress plug-ins
By Don Reisinger
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:00:00 AM
With the help of plug-ins, you
can extend the functionality of
your Wordpress blog far beyond
what's available to you when you
add it to your server.
One of the best ways to get the
most out of your blogs is through
social plug-ins. These simple plug-
ins can be added to your blog to
help you connect socially with
both your readers and their friends.
They offer a fine way to build
traffic to your site.
Go social with your blog
Add to Facebook If you want to
make it easy for readers to
syndicate your content to
Facebook, Add to Facebook is the
plug-in for you.
The plug-in provides a simple
option at the bottom of each post,
called "Share on Facebook." When
the reader clicks on that link,
they're immediately delivered to
their Facebook page, showing a
thumbnail of the image in your
blog post, as well as the beginning
of your post. If Facebook
followers click on that link, they'll
be delivered to your page. It's a
neat utility. And it's a great way to
share content through social
channels.
Add to Facebook makes it easy
for readers to syndicate your
content.(Credit: Screenshot by
Don Reisinger/CNET)
Digg Digg Although its name
might suggest that Digg Digg is a
way to get readers to share your
content with the popular social
news site, it's much more than that.
Digg Digg allows you to add
voting buttons to your blog. You
can add a TweetMeme retweet
button, a Yahoo Buzz button, and
a "Submit to Reddit" option, along
with your Digg button. The plug-in
also allows you to decide where to
place those buttons. You can
choose the top, bottom, left, or
right of your post.
Digg Digg is a great way to
syndicate your content around the
Web.(Credit: Screenshot by Don
Reisinger/CNET)
FriendFeed Comments If you're
a FriendFeed user, you know that
it's a great site to discuss
interesting stories. FriendFeed
Comments helps you bring those
discussions to your blog.
When you activate FriendFeed
some readers. But if your readers
like it, the plug-in could
significantly improve your chances
of getting your posts on social
networks. Test it out to see what
your readers think before you
commit to Instant Highlighter.
Instant Highlighter is a test
case.(Credit: Screenshot by Don
Reisinger/CNET)
Social Bookmarks Sharing your
content on different social
networks is extremely important as
you try to build your blog. Social
Bookmarks will help you do just
that.
When you activate Social
Bookmarks, it automatically adds
several social-networking icons to
the bottom of each of your blog
posts. When the reader chooses
one of those options, they can send
your post's link to their social
profile. The list includes Delicious,
Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Buzz,
Digg, and more. Adding content to
the profile is quick and easy. It's a
really nice app. Check it out.
Social Bookmarks is a great way
to get readers to share
content.(Credit: Screenshot by
Don Reisinger/CNET)
Twitter for Wordpress Twitter
for Wordpress allows you to place
your Wordpress updates into your
Comments, you need only to input Reisinger/CNET) sidebar for all your readers to see.
your FriendFeed username, tweak Instant Highlighter Instant After it's activated, Twitter for
a couple of settings, and watch all Highlighter provides readers with Wordpress won't automatically
the comments about your blog post the option to highlight different work. Instead, you'll need to either
get added to your site. Any portions of your blog posts and drag-and-drop a Twitter widget
comment placed on FriendFeed share that with Twitter, Facebook, into your sidebar or you'll need to
will be displayed on your blog. Yahoo, and other social sites. They add some simple PHP code to the
You can see the discussions made can also save portions of your blog sidebar to have it display your
between different people on the p o s t f o r t h e i r o w n f u t u r e Twitter updates. The Twitter
social network. Even better, all c o n s u m p t i o n . widgets make it look nicer, but if
those comments are placed in-line But to do that, they'll be brought you want a simple status message
with comments made on your to the plug-in's developer page, on your sidebar, the second option
blog. giving them a variety of options to is fine. Twitter for Wordpress is a
FriendFeed Comments will choose from. It's a little confusing nice plug-in if you want something
display comments from the social at first and I'm not quite sold on
site.(Credit: Screenshot by Don the implementation. It might annoy
SOCIAL page 31
Internet News Record * 31
SOCIAL
With backlog cleared, Yahoo can get back on continued from page 30
simple.

track Twitter for Wordpress is OK, but

not great.(Credit: Screenshot by
Don Reisinger/CNET)
By Tom Krazit (Webware.com) the right direction. There's a fine Twitter Friendly Links Since
Submitted at 8/24/2009 5:01:00 PM line that Yahoo has to walk many Wordpress blogs don't
between keeping up with advances provide the most Twitter-friendly
Has Yahoo finally gotten to the i n c o m m u n i c a t i o n , s o c i a l links, Twitter Friendly Links helps
point where it's exchanging peanut networking, and Web technology s o l v e t h a t p r o b l e m b y
butter for WD-40? and the risk of alienating the automatically shortening your
Yahoo chief marketing officer millions of users who like things blog's URLs.
Elisa Steele can focus the company just the way they are, people who When readers share a blog post
on the future now that long- Yahoo is increasingly reliant upon with their Twitter followers, the
awaited updates to core products for advertising revenue. link won't show the full post URL.
are finally ready.(Credit: Tom Either way, Yahoo has to make Instead, the Twitter link will
Krazit/CNET) sure those people stay within its d i s p l a y y o u r s i t e ' s d o m a i n ,
Three years ago, Yahoo network, the catalyst for several of followed by a unique identifier. It's
executive Brad Garlinghouse the features showcased Monday. similar to TinyURL or Bit.ly, but
wrote the famous"Peanut Butter Those searching for YouTube instead of those domains, you'll
Manifesto," designed as a wake-up videos can watch them right in the see your own. It's a simple feature,
call to a sluggish Yahoo that didn't s e a r c h r e s u l t s p a g e . S o c i a l for sure, but it's extremely useful
really seem to know what to do butterflies can deliver the latest for those who don't want to lose
with itself. With the peanut butter breathless update to their friends Twitter-based traffic due to a long
analogy, Garlinghouse was right from their inboxes or IM URL.
referring Yahoo's tendency to the launch of Yahoo's new home sure the basics are new enough to windows, perhaps one day posting Twitter Friendly Links makes
spread itself thin across too many page last month. Some might attract the digerati but simple
snicker at the notion that Yahoo is enough for the masses is no small directly to networks like Facebook your URLs much nicer.(Credit:
projects, but he may as well also and Twitter without going through Kovshenin.com)
have been referring to how now an execution company: undertaking. Delivering on what a Web application. My top 3
projects could be become mired in Yahoo first unveiled an"open" has long been promised is the first
plan to redesign the page in step. The slick redesigns that Yahoo 1. Digg Digg: Getting your
Yahoo's famous bureaucracy. trotted out Monday are long content added to important content
Fast forward to 2009, with O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7 . A n d t h e New leadership seems to have
overdue. While the delay may -syndication platforms is made
Yahoo finally having chosen a enhancements described Monday helped. The half-dozen vice prompt some to wonder exactly simple with Digg Digg.
course for its search business and were the central part of former p r e s i d e n t s i n a t t e n d a n c e a t
what has been going on in 2. FriendFeed Comments:
turning its attention to its core CEO Jerry Yang's January 2008 Monday's meeting kept joking Sunnyvale over the past two years, FriendFeed is a great discussion
properties, and all of the sudden speech at CES. about how new some of them were
Yahoo is making the ideas and And indeed, several of the to the company, and the overall the fire that Bartz lit under Yahoo platform. It's even better when it's
concepts it has discussed for years features demonstrated Monday are impact was not lost that Yahoo earlier this year is starting to on your blog.
produce results. 3. Twitter Friendly Links:
come to life. It has taken quite either in beta or in bucket testing. CEO Carol Bartz has really shaken If the next revision to Yahoo's There's something simple, yet
some time but it's becoming clear In the consumer electronics world, u p t h e r a n k s o f Y a h o o ' s
home page or Mail client arrives in compelling about Twitter Friendly
that Yahoo is putting a higher that's called a "paper launch," engineering and marketing culture. 2011, however, all the changes this Links.
priority on getting things done. although standards are different on Now the question for Yahoo is
The MBAs call it "execution," a the Web. whether the changes it is making year will have been for naught.
But now that Yahoo is placing a to the core properties that drive a Originally posted at Relevant
term trotted out by Chief Results
Marketing Officer Elisa Steele long-term bet on the attractiveness huge proportion of its traffic are
during Monday's event to describe of its services and content, making enough to get the ship moving in
32 * TechTips/ Internet News Record

DriverSide: World's least sexy (but Jon Gosselin Says He Wants To

Quit Reality Show
useful) car site (ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:00:00 AM
home. "I don't even want to do
taping for the show anymore."
By Rafe Needleman referrals and leads (to repair shops He laments that he's locked into
(Webware.com) and auto parts stores) as well as In a new interview, Jon Gosselin his contract commitments, making
Submitted at 8/24/2009 5:20:00 PM from advertising. The site will also says he no longer wants to be a promotional appearances to make
contract with repair chains to give part of the reality show that made ends meet. Us estimates that he
A year ago, I covered DriverSide, series of questions and it will give them co-branded versions of the him famous. and wife Kate make $75,000 per
then in beta, a site designed to help you a diagnosis as well as a list of site. This could be a good way for The "Jon & Kate Plus 8" dad episode. It seems Jon doesn't think
people own cars--not buy new repair shops nearby, with reviews dealers and shops to stay engaged tells Us magazine that he'd rather that's enough to support his
ones or fetishize the ones they from DriverSide users (integration with their customers, and that's have a normal life. "I wish I had a lifestyle. "I have two houses and
can't afford. Since then, with the with Yelp's reviews may come in important for the auto dealers. As 9 to 5 job instead of the nightmare eight children to take care of and I
crisis in the U.S. economy, the the future). As before, you can get new car sales slow, it's going to be I'm living. This is 24/7," he told need to work," he told Us.
automobile market has changed a price estimate on DriverSide if their repair arms that keep them in reporters outside his $1.1 million
dramatically, making the boring you know exactly what work you business.
utility of DriverSide likely even need.
more attractive than it was when it
The biggest challenge for Could the Hawks Be Sold?
Sadly, the feature I want--the DriverSide is that it's just not very By Tom Ziller (FanHouse)
launched. ability to just hold an iPhone up to sexy, nor is it a site that most users
The site is coming out of beta a car making a strange noise to get will visit frequently. People who Submitted at 8/25/2009 9:35:00 AM
now and it has a few new features a d i a g n o s i s - - h a s y e t t o b e have used the site in the past (I'm
designed for people who don't feel d e v e l o p e d . H o w e v e r , I d i d o n e ) , a n d w h o c o u l d t a k e by Tom Ziller
their cars are disposable items. recommend that Traina call the advantage of it when they have an Filed under: Hawks, NBA
"Car awareness is different today," team over audio recognition issue with their car may simply Rumors Pardon my speculation,
founder Trevor Traina says. He company Melodis, so maybe we'll forget it's there when it could be of but Sports Business
quotes a statistic: 82 percent of get that eventually. the most help to them. Journal(subscription required)
people now intend to keep their Some clever features, like the followed up on the latest
DriverSide also now employs its corkscrew in the Hawks'
cars longer than they did before own panel of mechanics to answer service's new specific Twitter
the recession hit. So DriverSide's questions from users. I found this feeds for ownership news related ownership roller coaster by adding
mission--"teaching people to feature more useful than the rather to the top 50 cars its users own, this loop: the Atlanta Spirit group NBA Blog on Tue, 25 Aug 2009
maintain and own cars"--seems to broad diagnostic utility, since in could help users to remember the which bought the Hawks, NHL 09:35:00 EST . Please see our
be right for the time. Thrashers and Philips Arena in
the questions I read, the mechanics site when they need it. And if 2004 could sell the whole shebang
terms for use of feeds.
DriverSide isn't quite the seemed not only to know cars but Traina can keep DriverSide front Permalink| Email this| Linking
WebMD of car sites, but its know what particular repairs of mind when it's needed, it could amid heavy losses. Blogs| Comments
diagnostic tool does give you a should cost. It's nice to take a car capture enough of what Traina Could the Hawks Be Sold?
sense of what's likely wrong with into a shop with that information. says is the $34 billion annual originally appeared on Fanhouse
your car.(Credit: Screenshot by DriverSide's mechanics answer "ownership" market for the car
Rafe Needleman/CNET) user questions.(Credit: Screenshot i n d u s t r y - - f o r s e r v i c e , p a r t s ,
As the site leaves beta, it's by Rafe Needleman/CNET) insurance, and so on. It's a good
getting a few new features. There's DriverSide makes money from model for the times.
a diagnostic utility: you answer a Originally posted at Rafe's Radar

Get Better Black and White Conversions from Your Shots [Photoshop Tip]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Photoshop tinkerer Helen Bradley or how the newly limited hue will Photo gurus, what steps do you
Submitted at 8/25/2009 4:30:00 AM explains which sliders to pull on. look in certain corners of the always take when you're
Bradley points out that when image. By setting up a bottom converting a shot to black and
Converting to black and white simply converting to black and layer of the image and tweaking its white? Share the knowledge in the
can be a saving grace for concert white in Photoshop or Photoshop saturation, shadows and highlights, comments. An Adjustable Black
shots and other photos, but you can E l e m e n t s , y o u g e t a v e r y and other elements, you'll get a lot and White Conversion[Helen
get better, crisper results by thumbnailed view of your picture, look at how sharp it will turn out, more control over how good your Bradley via Lifehacker AU]
veering off the default options. one that doesn't grant you a good finished product turns out.
Internet News Record * TechTips/ Entertainment/ 33

CommuTweet uses Twitter to fend

off traffic jams
By Josh Lowensohn state with many different
(Webware.com) transportation mediums. In most
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:27:00 AM cases I'm better served simply
erry and r ail. When completed, subscribing to the news feeds of
Twitter's usefulness can most this leaves users with around 125 the public transit services I use, or
often be measured during times of letters to type any additional logging into their sites to see if
disaster, when the quick spread of information about what's gone there are any alerts. That's where
important information can really wrong.(Credit: CNET) this tool really impressed me
make a difference. And guess what To access all of this information, though--it's already subscribed to
--that works for traffic jams too. users can either view and sort it these feeds. As long as the
CommuTweet is proof of that, from CommuTweet's site, or transportation service has a Twitter
with a new service that lets those through Twitter's search tool. f e e d i t ' l l s h o w u p o n
who are unfortunate enough to get However, the benefit of using CommuTweet. This solves one of
stuck in traffic, or a long-delayed CommuTweet is that you can log- the biggest problems with these
bus or train line to share that in using your Twitter credentials crowd-sourced solutions, which is
Brazen Careerist Makes
information with others. and get it to automatically add the seeding any lapse of user-created
The service revolves around the hash tag and location to your data with a constant stream of
use of a specially formatted tweet outgoing messages--that is as long information from the source.
Professional Networking
that can be localized to whatever a s t h e y ' r e d o n e f r o m i t s See also TrafficTweet, which
state you're in, and what kind of composition tool. It can also post lets users tweet traffic alerts for
transportation you plan on riding. the message just to CommuTweet specific cities. It also has a mobile
Less Painful [Job Search]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) certain posts from your feed, in
To get things narrowed down to and not your public timeline, as app which can add exact location case there's just a few items you
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:00:00 AM
this level, users have to construct well as filter the tweets you see and show you where jams are didn't necessarily want to share on
their outgoing messages in a from others to just your state and happening, which CommuTweet Brazen Careerist, formerly a blog a pointedly career-minded site
special format. This starts with a y o u r p r e f e r r e d f o r m o f cannot currently do. network headed by the oft-linked ("My new kitten is OMG SO
#CommuTweet hash tag, followed t r a n s p o r t a t i o n . Related: Who owns transit data? Penelope Trunk, launched today as CUTE"), rather than asking you
by the abbreviated name of the Using CommuTweet I was able (via KillerStartups) a professional network that aims to "contact the community manager."
state, followed by a one letter short to set up my commute parameters Originally posted at Web help Generation Y share their ideas Aside from a blog feed, you can
code that tells other users what in about a minute. The problem, at Crawler and interests, but maybe also land post other "ideas" and materials to
part of the transit system is down least for California, is that it's a big a job while doing so. your feed, ideally the kind of
or backed up, be it b us, s ubway, f For a social/professional pieces that bolster and prove what
Network, Brazen Careerist is you've claimed in your resume, or
The stupidest (but funniest) thing you'll see on TV remarkably easy to get into, aided
in large part by its Facebook
just show what's on your mind in a
non-meme-ish way.
all week Connect integration. Assuming
you've already got a Facebook
Any new social network that
opens always has a wait-and-see
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) awful and forgettable it's actually possible so people don't know account, Brazen Careerist's home quality to it, though Brazen
Submitted at 8/25/2009 10:00:00 AM mesmerizing. It's like an audition you're lip-synching!" She's really page quickly walks you through a Careerist already has dedicated
for America's Got Talent. A bad painfully clueless.To quote Bugs few ideas on filling out your followers among its bloggers and
Yesterday I asked if The Miss audition. Maybe Spencer really is Bunny, what a maroon. presence. Completing a web contributors. We'll have to see if
Universe Pageant (or any pageant) the talented one of the *duo. Is she * I'm kidding. resume form is, well, a pretty employers and online organizers
was even worth it anymore, but I introduced with the words "she's a Filed under: Video, Music and familiar experience, but we like follow suit, but, in the meantime,
didn't realize until last night what I celebrity"?!? Variety, Celebrities, Reality-Free how the site lets you import your signing up is a free and pretty
had missed during the Sunday I think her team just said to her Permalink| Email this| | own blog's feed to fill in, or painless way to expand your
night broadcast: Heidi Montag "wear something skimpy and put Comments augment, your "Ideas" area, since personal/professional exposure.
"singing" a "song." The song is so as much hair in your face as we're all about having independent Brazen Careerist
alternatives to the cloud. It'd be
nice if the site let you delete
34 * TechTips/ Internet News Record

Coder shows Firefox with multitouch

Web apps
By Stephen Shankland
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 1:03:00 PM

In this screenshot from Gomes'

video, the programmer shrinks and
enlarges icons using a multitouch
interface for an application
running within Firefox.(Credit:
Screenshot by Stephen
Shankland/CNET)
Multitouch interfaces are all the
rage, for good reason, and a
Mozilla programmer has been
working to enable the technology
for Web applications in the Firefox
browser.
Firefox today can be controlled
with multitouch gestures--a three-
finger sweep up and down to go to
the top or bottom of a Web page,
for example, or two-finger pinch
gestures to zoom out. But Felipe
Gomes, a Brazilian computer
science student who just finished a
stint as a Mozilla intern, has
demonstrated how Web-based
applications, not just Firefox, can
use multitouch.
His demonstration shows
multitouch controls to shrink and
enlarge icons, paint, select a region
of a photo, and play Pong.
Multitouch interfaces, for
example on the iPhone and
Hewlett-Packard TouchSmart PCs,
let the computer interpret the
contact and motion of multiple
fingers on the screen. And Apple
MacBooks are equipped with
multitouch trackpads.
One issue for multitouch,
though, is standardizing the
meaning of various gestures.
Firefox and Safari on a Mac both
move forward and backward in
browsing history with three-finger
sweeps right and left, respectively,
but Safari doesn't follow Mozilla's
example of three-finger sweeps up
and down.
This issue gets even more
complicated if Web applications
get multitouch interfaces. What
touch actions are controlling
Firefox or the Web application?
Or, for that matter, the operating
system? The same two-finger
gesture that draws a selection box
to crop a photo in a Web app could
also be a Firefox multitouch
command to zoom in or out on the
Web page.
Before we get to the conflicts
and issues of interface
standardization, though, we need
more computers and applications
that can take advantage of
multitouch. Even I, who has yet to
find a rival for keyboard controls
when it comes to speed for most
operations, am a fan of multitouch.
So I look forward to seeing its
potential realized even if that
means a bit of chaos in the
meantime.
Originally posted at Deep Tech
Remains of the Day: So
Long, Pirate Bay Edition
[For What It's Worth]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker) in a Windows-only world with a
Submitted at 8/24/2009 4:00:00 PM Mac. [Digital Inspiration]
• Movement: Easy Way To
Rhapsody's looking to get its O r g a n i z e i P h o n e A p p s M a c
iPhone application approved, application that helps you organize
Firefox gets more support for your iPhone apps, requires a
multitouch, and the infamous jailbroken phone. [MakeUseOf]
BitTorrent The Pirate Bay goes •
offline. • Coder shows Firefox with
• Introducing Rhapsody on the multitouch Web apps A Brazilian
i P h o n e R e a l N e t w o r k s h a s computer scientist demonstrates
submitted Rhapsody for the how webapps can use multitouch
iPhone. Now we wait to see if in Firefox. [CNET]
Apple will make the right or • The Pirate Bay Taken Offline
wrong choice in approving it. By Swedish Authorities (Updated)
[Real Networks Blog] The infamous BitTorrent tracker
• So What's the Real Final g o e s c o m p l e t e l y o f f l i n e .
Version of Snow Leopard? [ T o r r e n t F r e a k ]
According to ZDNet, it's the • Firefox gets accelerometer
10A432 build. [Gizmodo] support Like multitouch? Firefox
• Use Your Macbook In a is also supporting accelerometers
C o r p o r a t e ( W i n d o w s - o n l y ) in recent builds. [Mozilla Links]
Environment Tips for making due
Internet News Record TechTips/ Tech Games/ 35

Get a Better Android Keyboard, No Rooting Astro Boy voice

acting gets real
Required [Downloads] with Kristen Bell
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:30:00 AM Submitted at 8/25/2009 3:00:00 AM

We listed a reconfigured HTC You'll remember Kristen Bell

Hero virtual/"soft" keyboard as
one of five great reasons to root
your Android phone, but reader
Dana points out a way to get that
easier-to-type keyboard without
having to lightly hack your phone.
Fire up the Android Market
browser on pretty much any
Android phone—Dana succeeded
on her Rogers (Canadian) HTC
Dream, while I pulled it off on a T-
Mobile G1—and search for a
program called eoeAppInstaller().
There will be quite a few apps
listed as starting with eoe, but you
want the one with "AppInstaller"
directly following those three
letters. Download and install the
app, then connect your phone to
your computer for a file transfer.
Grab this htc_ime.zip package
from DroidDeveloper.com, un-zip
the two files in that package, then
place them on your phone's SD
card by turning on "USB Mount"
from the drop-down notification
on your phone and opening up the
removable disk that should pop up
on your system. Disconnect the
phone by ejecting it on both your
computer software and by turning
off USB storage in the phone's
notification area.
Finally, pull up your applications
window from the bottom of your
home screen, fire up the
eoeAppInstaller application, and it
should search your phone's SD
card and report back all the .apk
files it finds there. Click and hold
on the HTC_IME.apk file and
select Install. Approve whatever
concerns pop up about input
collection and the like, and you've
got the new keyboard installed.
How do you use it? Head to your
phone's Settings menu, select
Locale & Text, then turn off
Android keyboard and turn on
Touch Input, and click the Touch
Input settings menu to set
autocorrect and spelling options
for portrait and landscape modes.
If you only want to occasionally
try out the Touch Input soft
keyboard, you can keep both the
Android and Touch Input
keyboards enabled, then click and
hold on any text input box to select
your keyboard.
Thanks for the rundown, Dana!
If you know of a similar means of
getting the features of a
customized Android ROM without
having to actually, you know,
install it, tell us in the comments.
from her less-than-endearing
performance as Lucy in Assassin's
Creed a couple years ago (and you
should remember her from TV's
Veronica Mars). Bell's back in the
sound booth to record another
game voice, playing Cora in Astro
Boy, the upcoming movie-based
adaptation. According to the video
interview above, her character is a
"17-year-old, edgy girl,"
immediately demonstrated by her
declaration, "Sorry, we don't need
any newbies." Good to know! (We
were worried.)
Astro Boy voice acting gets real
with Kristen Bell originally
appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 25
Aug 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please
see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this|
Comments

Tiny Twitter Brings Twitter to Your Windows Mobile and Java-Enabled

Phones [Downloads]
By Jason Fitzpatrick tweets without overage charges. When actually reading and Tiny Twitter is free and available
(Lifehacker) Tiny Twitter is just customizable sending messages you can retweet, for Windows Mobile and as a Java
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:30:00 AM enough to make using a Twitter direct reply, and perform any of -based client for java-enabled
client on your mobile phone the standard functions like phones like the Blackberry. Tiny
Windows Mobile/Blackberry: If c o m f o r t a b l e w i t h o u t b e i n g following and unfollowing. In Twitter
you have a data plan with your overwhelmed with unnecessary addition you can temporarily hide
phone and want to avoid using up settings and options. a user—not unfollowing them, just
your SMS quota updating Twitter, You can adjust how frequently alerts, and adjust the size of the temporarily hiding incoming
Tiny Twitter will help you keep Tiny Twitter will check for new client's tweet buffer. messages from them in the event
tabs on your friends and send out tweets, toggle sound and popup of excessive chattiness.
36 TechTips/
Tech Support Cheat Sheet Reveals the Secrets of
Troubleshooting [Tech Support]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 6:30:00 PM
If you read Lifehacker, chances
are you've been designated as your
family's de facto IT person, and
you've probably spent more than
your fair share of hours
troubleshooting applications you
know no better than the person
asking. How do you do it?!
(Click the image above for a
closer look.)
Popular webcomic xkcd hits the
nail on the head with 90 percent of
the troubleshooting most of us end
up doing with this spot-on Tech
Support Cheat Sheet. The only
thing missing is the "If you haven't
already, restart your computer and
try again" entry, though that's
probably more fitting for a "Why
won't my computer do X?" rather
than "How can I do X on my
computer?" flowchart. The chart's
a little on the passive-aggressive,
Let Me Google that For You side,
but it's also a fairly accurate guide.
Tech Support Cheat Sheet[xkcd]
Internet News Record
Icon-Only PermaTabs Collection
Streamlines Your Minimal Gmail,
Google Reader Tabs [Tip Testers]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker) extensions for one quick and easy
Submitted at 8/24/2009 3:00:00 PM install. So just head over to the
Icon-only PermaTabs collection,
F i r e f o x o n l y install the necessary extensions
(Windows/Mac/Linux): Last week (they're all really solid extensions
we showed you how to set up in their own right, so you won't
space-saving, permanent Gmail necessarily only be installing them
and Google Reader tabs in Firefox, for this purpose), and head back to
a process requiring four Firefox our original post if you need help
extensions to get up and running. setting it up from there. Icon-Only
Now it's a touch easier. Perma-Tabs for Gmail and Google
Our industrious Gina Trapani put Reader[Mozilla Add-ons via
Mozilla's previously mentioned Smarterware]
Collections feature to good use to
pull together all of the necessary
Internet News Record
Facebook Snags Open Web
Community Leader Recordon
By Marshall Kirkpatrick
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 5:20:47 PM
David Recordon, an outspoken
young advocate for Open Source
and Open Web technologies, is
leaving blog software company
SixApart to join Facebook.
He confirmed to us that he'll be
starting on Monday with the title
Senior Open Programs Manager.
The move was first reported by
PigSpigot Offers Wiki-Style, Anti Spencer E. Ante this afternoon in
BusinessWeek.
-Hallmark E-cards [Gifts] Sponsor
Additional Facebook hires
By Azadeh Ensha (Lifehacker) Tweet cards, as well as greetings reported by BusinessWeek today
Submitted at 8/24/2009 5:00:00 PM sent via snail mail for $3.99. include top Yahoo Engineer
If you don't like what you see, Arturo Bejar, former Genentech
If Hallmark cards and other you can always design and upload Chief Financial Officer David
mainstream greeting companies your own card. Browse the full Ebersman, and senior Google
are too unoriginal with their link for all the e-card selections, engineer Greg Badros. As close
wording for your taste, try Wiki- a n d i f y o u s t i l l c a n ' t f i n d observers of the movement to
style e-card web site PigSpigot for something you like, check out develop open technology standards
witty e-cards that cover birthdays, previously mentioned e-card site for the social web, we find the
holidays, and more. someecards to help get your hiring of Recordon to be of
Touting themselves as the "anti- message across. (Note: PigSpigot greatest interest.
Hallmark with a wiki twist," contains some potentially NSFW David Recordon traveled all over
PigSpigot lets you search and send cards.) PigSpigot[via PSFK] the world advocating open
e-cards for free. The site also standards apparently in the belief
offers the option to send free that an open web would ultimately
benefit SixApart. By the same
logic that more web use and thus
more search is good for Google, so
too is more blogging and more
online activity good for an activity
stream-savvy SixApart. But the
company's activity stream products
don't appear to have flowered as
much as its blogging software, and
Recordon's international advocacy
must have been expensive.
Facebook, on the other hand,
may have a clearer interest in
fostering increased activity and
syndication of that activity data.
While some critics, including this
site, have noted Facebook's
tendency to both horde user data
and push definitions of privacy in
directions most users are unlikely
to approve of, the company has
also been an active participant in
standards discussions concerning
both data syndication and privacy.
(We worry that users are being
pushed to open up data that
developers will only be able to
access in aggregate for a high
price.)
Recordon has been a key leader
in the movement to advance
standards-based technology
concerning identity and activity.
We hope that he will help usher in
future developments at Facebook
TechTips/ Web/ 37
that will both make user data
available to as many developers as
possible to build on and help users
stay in control of their privacy in
ways they are comfortable with.
That's not going to be an easy job.
Just like when open source
advocates take jobs at Microsoft,
it's hard to know to what degree
they are changing the nature of the
company and to what degree they
are being co-opted.
Meanwhile back at SixApart,
long-time team member Anil Dash
has greatly increased his public
profile in recent weeks with big
posts about what he calls the Push-
button Web.
Key questions then seem to be
these: can Dash and others at
SixApart keep pushing the Open
Web agenda by bringing new
technologies to market effectively?
Can Recordon help the part of
Facebook that favors open
innovation and not just put a happy
face on what departed Forrester
marketing analyst Jeremiah
Owyang recently predicted would
be a future of big social networks "
colonizing the rest of the web."
Facebook recently announced
that it will be expanding its staff
by as much as 50% this year, and
blogger Robert Scoble notes that
he was told by Google employees
today while visiting that they are
being recruited hard by Facebook
as well.
Photo by Joi Ito. Discuss
38 Web/ Internet News Record

Augmented Reality: 5 Barriers to a Web That's Everywhere

By Marshall Kirkpatrick
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 1:42:40 PM

Fifty years after its invention by

the British Royal Navy for use by
fighter pilots, the technology of
layering information on top of our
naked view of the world may cross
over the line between science
fiction and mass consumer
experience as soon as next month.
It's widely believed that the
operating system for the iPhone
3Gs will be updated this Fall,
possibly in September, to allow
developers to use the phone's
location awareness and internal
compass to orient displays of
information and imagery placed on
top of the view through the
camera.
"The internet smeared all over
everything." An "enchanted
window" that turns contextual
information hidden all around us
inside out. A platform that will be
bigger than the Web. Those are the
kinds of phrases being used to
describe the future of what's called
Augmented Reality (AR), by
specialists developing the
technology to enable it. Big another version of the web; a web displays collaboratively edited Augmented Reality. Spam and turned off in a big way. Social and
questions remain unanswered, applied, through novel interfaces, information about locations when Security Real-Time vs. Solitary and Cached
though, about the viability of what in reference to the physical world, you point your phone's camera at a Sci-fi author Bruce Sterling gave If AR experiences can be
could be a radical next step in instead of floating documents tied place. a keynote talk at Layar's global designed for people to experience
humanity's use of computers. only to each other as the web is • Acrossair's Nearest Subway launch event this month. His hour- them together, and if people in
Sponsor today. Early Examples App long discussion of potentials and different places can touch each
Let's set aside for now questions Early examples that Google Not all work in Augmented pitfalls included in-depth warnings other's experiences in real time,
about the desirability of Android phone owners can use Reality is going on in mobile that security and spam will be then AR is going to be a whole lot
Augmented Reality. Some people now and that all iPhone 3Gs phones. There are webcam marker- major issues. Imagine being stickier. That presents serious
will be wary of its consequences owners will probably be able to based implementations like drowned in swarming icons for technical challenges.
for social interaction - even for use very soon include: ARSights and projector-powered porn or pharmaceuticals! Imagine So will being able to show users
spiritual practices already based on • Layar, a browser for layers of experiments as well, but AR having your view of reality not just rich information about things they
engaging with other layers of the information about things like coming to the iPhone will be a key augmented but hacked and point their phones at. Visions of
world around us. Those questions restaurant reviews and Wikipedia turning point in popularizing the controlled by ill-intentioned rich AR are tempered by
deserve exploration, but the entries and Brightkite social technology. people. imagining the buffer time
potential of AR is exciting enough network entries for places you It's very exciting to think about, Sterling says it's not a matter of whenever a widely-used AR app is
that obstacles are worth discussing point your phone at. Here's the list but it might not work. Here are if, but of when. If AR companies launched.
aside from objections. Augmented so far. five of the challenges faced by the don't prepare for this, they will be
Reality is in some ways just • Wikitude, an AR wiki that small but fast-growing industry of caught unaware and users will be AUGMENTED page 39
Internet News Record
AUGMENTED
continued from page 38
UX
The User Experience (UX) of
AR presents no end of challenges
as well. Social conventions are one
factor. Why are you pointing your
phone at me while we're
talking?"Because I want to see if a
link to your Twitter profile will
hover above your head." Maybe
not.
Joe Lamantia wrote a long post
about UX design considerations
for the future of AR and argues
that the two primary questions at
hand are: what information will we
turn inside out from hidden context
to presented interface layer? And
can we find any better interfaces
for viewing that information than
we have today in the models that
are available so far?
Interoperability
Right now you cannot see
information from the Wikitude AR
environment if you're looking
through the Layar AR browser.
This could be the coming of a new
browser war just like that of the
1990s. It may not be obvious and it
may not even be true that users
have a right to view any layer of
Augmented Reality through any
Augmented Reality browser.
Interoperability, standards and
openness have been what has let
the Web scale and flourish beyond
the suffocating walled gardens of
its early days. The same is true of
telephones, railroads and countless
other networked technologies.
Logically then, a lack of
interoperability between AR
environments would be a tragedy
of the same type as if the web had
remained defined by the islands of
AOL and Compuserve or Internet
Explorer, forever. (A lack of data
portability when it comes to
Augmented Reality could cause
substantial psychological distress!)
Layar, the most high-profile AR
consumer company on the market,
says it's in full support of
interoperability. It has published
its documentation publicly and co-
founder Maarten Lens-FitzGerald
told us the following by phone
today:
"I think it's going to be very
important. We're open to talking to
anybody and seeing what we can
make happen. Anyone who creates
a service on our platform can
publish elsewhere. Our reach will
be in installations and content and
making sure other parties are on
there. We don't do negative things.
The lock-ins and exclusivity won't
work. Openness and
interoperability are where it's
going; we're going to discover how
exactly with other people. I used to
work with VRM and Doc Searls.
That's where it's going: control to
the user."
Those are encouraging words,
but Lens-FitzGerald says that no
legal work has been done by his
company to encourage an open
development standard free of legal
fears for developers. Openness
The most exciting AR programs
will be platforms that encourage
other people to develop layers of
content they then display. That's
the Layar model. Hundreds of
companies are developing layers
for that system on the Android
mobile phone. Layar has said that
content developers will be able to
sell layers to users in the future - a
Lonely Planet layer is something
travelers might buy, for example.
What kind of standards will AR
platforms have in deciding which
layers their users can see? Is that
the right question? Will we have
Augmented Reality Neutrality? Or
will we have an AR version of the
fickle, anachronistic, tiny despots
of the iPhone App Store? I have a
right to Augment my Reality with
whatever information I want!"Not
while you're using our AR
browser/network/handset/etc.!" It's
not hard to imagine the coming of
a Firefox for AR.
Layar says it will be that open
platform. It may not remain the
leader of this very young market,
though.
AppleBlog/ Gizmos/
Added value, social experiences,
real-time information delivery,
user experience, interoperability
and openness - those are the
problems of the web! So too goes
the development of Augmented
Reality, the web of everywhere.
It's a lot of Wow and skepticism
right now, but in the future it could
be a thriving ecosystem of rich
information about the world
around us. Or it could be a closed,
proprietary (literal) lens through
which we view the world - unable
to change the way we view that
world or see it as others do
because our accumulated
knowledge is trapped inside one
platform and inaccessible from
others. Or there could be a plague
of spam that overwhelms our view
-finder into our physical
surroundings.
The future is being built now and
smart people are tackling these
problems.
This post is heavily indebted to
GamesAlfresco, a great blog we
just discovered that's closely
tracking AR. That's where we
found the title image, many of the
links here and several of the
videos. Big thanks to site authors
Ori Inbar and Rouli Nir. Discuss
39
Next Week's Target Ad
Confirms $250 Xbox
360 Pro? [Rumor]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:19:00 AM
We've already seen
Walmart's$300 Xbox 360 Elite.
But according to what looks to be
a leaked Target ad that will hit
distribution this Sunday (the 30th),
a $250 Xbox Pro will be joining
the system.
It's all been rumored for a while,
but seeing those numbers captured
with some sort of sub-cellphone-
quality camera really makes the
price reduction hit home. (Plus, the
extra controller Target's offering is
a pretty tempting cherry on top.)
This is happening, folks. And the
feeling is more intense than I'd
ever imagined. [ Engadget]

Apple Store 5th Ave continues to defy gravity, macroeconomics

By Michael Rose (The Apple's 5th Avenue store should store stands out; while Apple did good business.
Unofficial Apple Weblog replace that glowing Apple with a not release store-by-store numbers, TUAW Apple Store 5th Ave
(TUAW)) big ol' dollar sign, according to a Bloomberg quoted an estimate of continues to defy gravity,
Submitted at 8/24/2009 9:00:00 PM report from Bloomberg News. about $350 million in annual sales; macroeconomics originally
The story says that while overall that's $35K per square foot of the appeared on The Unofficial Apple
Filed under: Retail While the retail sales in New York have 10,000-sf store. By comparison, Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Aug
entire retail sector is in the fallen between 8 and 10% since high-end jeweler Tiffany & Co. 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our
doldrums of recession and reduced 2008, and US retail sales for the does only about $18K per square terms for use of feeds.
consumer demand, there's a shiny first half of 2009 are down 9.2% foot. That $350M number is lower Read| Permalink| Email this|
spot in midtown NYC with a big from the same six months of 2008, holding steady. than the New York Post's $440M Comments
glass cube sitting on top of it. Apple's retail operations are still In particular, the 5th Avenue estimate, but still astonishingly
40 Web/ AppleBlog/ Sports/ Internet News Record

Yahoo Updates Yahoo Mail, Messenger &

Search: Still Commited to Improving Search
Technology
By Frederic Lardinois Yahoo Mail homepage (and also in seen how many of Yahoo's search Apple airs two new Get
(ReadWriteWeb) Yahoo Messenger). tools will actually survive the
a Mac ads: "Surprise"
Submitted at 8/24/2009 1:41:50 PM Yahoo also now allows users to transition. During today's
attach up to 25MB of photos to presentation, Larry Cornett, and "Top of the Line"
During a press conference today, messages and has improved its Interestingly, Yahoo also Yahoo's VP of Search Products
Yahoo announced a large number tools to attach and view these decided to preview an updated and Design, stressed that the By Joachim Bean (The
of updates to Yahoo Mail, Search, images. To make sharing photos look and feel of Yahoo Search. company will continue to invest in Unofficial Apple Weblog
and Messenger. Yahoo Mail, for easier, Yahoo has integrated The new look will feature a three- search technologies. During the (TUAW))
example, will now feature status Xoopit's'MyPhotos' application column layout, similar to the Q&A session after today's Submitted at 8/25/2009 12:45:00 AM
updates from a user's friends on its into Yahoo Mail. Yahoo acquired Yahoo homepage. While most of presentation, Yahoo also focused
homepage. Yahoo Search will also Xoopit last month. In addition, Yahoo's own search engine on the fact that it will continue to Filed under: Apple
receive a major redesign in the Yahoo will also integrate Evite technology will obviously soon control how search results are With all of the other Apple news
near future. Even though Yahoo into Yahoo Mail, which makes it disappear in favor of Microsoft displayed, even if those results surrounding Snow Leopard
will obviously switch to Microsoft easier to create invitations based Bing, Yahoo wants to align the come from Bing. Yahoo will also yesterday, Apple starting airing
Bing soon, Yahoo wants to align on a user's address book. layout of its search engine with the continue to be able to add on to two new "Get a Mac" ads last
the look and feel of its homepage In addition, Yahoo has also rest of its services. The new layout Bing's results, which sounds as if night on TV and has also posted
and search application. In the updated its mobile, web-based brings services like Search programs like Search Monkey them on the company website.
process, Yahoo will now also version of Yahoo Mail. The site is Monkey and data filters into a could survive the transition. Yahoo The first ad,"Surprise," shows a
highlight more of its search now a lot cleaner and allows users column on the left side. None of Messenger woman talking to Mac; she wants
services, including Search to read Word, Excel, and these are new services, though Yahoo also announced updates to purchase a "great computer",
Monkey, right on its search results PowerPoint attachments right from they do bring old services that to Yahoo Messenger. The new but Mac seems to be
pages. within the web application. were often underutilized to the beta of Messenger 10 will launch recommending something
Sponsor Some of these updates are quite foreground. People Search in 25 countries and will feature unexpected.
Yahoo Mail Adds Status reminiscent of what Microsoft is Yahoo will also give its users a support for status updates, similar The other ad,"Top of the Line,"
Updates, MyPhotos, Evite doing with its Live products. On better way to search for people. to Yahoo Mail. None of these shows another another woman
Yahoo Mail has been improved Windows Live, for example, users Once these updates go live, updates are extremely exciting, wanting a "great computer" -- and
with the idea of making it focus can also aggregate their updates whenever somebody uses Yahoo though it is important to remember PC introduces her to a fine high-
more on the social connections that from other services and see what Search to find information about a that Yahoo Messenger has a lot of end PC played by Seinfeld alum
are already implicit in users' email their friends are doing online. person, Yahoo will display data users, both in the US and Patrick Warburton.
exchanges. The Yahoo Mail While Yahoo is integrating all from LinkedIn, Twitter, worldwide. Many of these users Thanks Ethan for sending this in!
homepage will now display status these services into Yahoo Mail, FriendFeed, and Facebook. Nice, will surely appreciate these TUAW Apple airs two new Get
updates from a user's friends on Microsoft Live splits all these tools But What About Bing? updates, which, among others, a Mac ads: "Surprise" and "Top of
the service. If a contact uploads up into separate applications. All of these updates are quite include support for high-quality the Line" originally appeared on
new images to Flickr, for example, D e s p i t e B i n g D e a l , Y a h o o nice, though once Yahoo switches video calls. Discuss The Unofficial Apple Weblog
these updates will appear on the R e d e s i g n s S e a r c h over to Bing, it will remain to be (TUAW) on Tue, 25 Aug 2009
00:45:00 EST. Please see our
Rockies top Giants with walk-off slam in 14th terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
By Associated Press 17, 2002. history. eight while the Giants have lost Comments
(ESPN.com) • Ryan Spilborghs launched his • Jason Marquis (8 IP, 1 ER) and three straight and are now four
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:46:32 AM first career walk-off HR and his Barry Zito (6 IP, 0 ER) had their games behind the Rockies for the
second career grand slam to turn a strong outings overshadowed, NL wild card.
Fast Facts 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 win. It was though Zito now has a 2.17 ERA -- ESPN Stats & Information
• The Rockies won on the latest the fourth walk-off grand slam this in August this season.
grand slam in baseball since May season and the first in Colorado • The Rockies have won seven of
Internet News Record Web/ 41

Four Tools for Crowdsourced Opera Mini Is Most

Funding Downloaded Mobile
By Dana Oshiro the pre-recording phase. The
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:00:00 AM
service offsets the high costs of
studio time and sound engineering.
App
A number of the SellABand artist By Dana Oshiro
If you're familiar with the albums are available on Amazon (ReadWriteWeb)
overseas micro-lending space, then UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Submitted at 8/24/2009 10:00:00 PM
you're familiar with Kiva. In 2008 US and Dutch-based Bol.com.
ReadWriteWeb readers chose Kiva 4. Contenture: Contenture is a The Opera Mini application is
as one of their favorite web 2.0 micropayment service that allows now considered not only the
apps. In 2009, the company content creators to monetize their world's most popular mobile
continues to thrive. sites. Users pay a monthly fee and browser, but also the world's most
Kiva initially allowed users to their money is distributed to the downloaded app. According to
lend to entrepreneurs in sites they visit the most. Groups independent applications sure it'll be in the lead for long.
developing countries. However, like Silicon Florist and marketplace GetJar, the browser Recently, Mozilla released
due to the American financial Hashtags.org use Contenture has been downloaded more than 25 Fennec 3, the third beta version of
crisis, the company recently 2. Spot.Us: Spot.Us harnesses simply by adding a line of code to million times from its store. "The the company's open-source touch
extended its mandate to help US "community-powered reporting" their sites. In this way the most fact that Opera Mini is the most mobile browser. In January 2008,
entrepreneurs gain access to b y a l l o w i n g t h e p u b l i c t o popular service members earn cash downloaded app on an open app ReadWriteWeb compared Opera
micropayment loans. As millions c o m m i s s i o n n e w s s t o r i e s . for their traffic. TipJoy also store like GetJar makes us proud," Mini to the promises of the much
struggle to execute on their dream Filmmakers and reporters pitch the offered a micropayment tipping said Opera's Chief Strategy Officer anticipated Firefox mobile
projects, a number of crowd based public on stories and public donors service to content producers; Rolf Assev. "It proves that our browser. A year later, Mozilla fans
funding options have emerged. commission their favorite story h o w e v e r , t h e c o m p a n y vision of providing a browser that are still waiting and Opera Mini
Below are a few of those tools: ideas. In this way, environmental unfortunately announced plans to works on almost all phones will users continue to enjoy synced
Sponsor organizations and under funded close a few days ago. give millions a better way to bookmarks and notes, skinning
1. Kickstarter: Launched in April a d v o c a c y g r o u p s p o o l t h e i r In addition to our 4 examples, access the Web." features, relatively fast downloads
2009 by Upcoming founder Andy resources to collectively fund we know there are a number of Sponsor and increased video capabilities.
Baio, Kickstarter offers artists and issues-based investigations. If a p r o f e s s i o n a l s w h o a r e According to StatCounter, Opera From more than 1500 votes within
designers the opportunity to raise group wants exclusive rights to a crowdsourcing their funding currently holds a 25% share of the the GetJar community, Opera Mini
funding from multiple donation story, they must fund at least 50% efforts. From TwitPay to Tipit, let mobile browser market, with the 4.2 has earned an 8.1 out of 10
sources. Manhattan-based Kevin of that story's production costs. us know your favorite tools and iPhone's Safari browser hot on its user rating. But it will be
Fey raised more than $3000 to 3. SellABand: SellABand helps what you're working on in the heels. GetJar credits much of interesting to see if die-hard
install a summer wedding chapel musicians crowdsource funding for comments below. Opera's success to the fact that the Mozilla fans will sing the praises
in his storefront gallery. After t h e i r n e x t a l b u m s . W h i l e Photo Credit: Lead image app is being downloaded across of Fennec.
donations from 49 backers, Fey Bandcamp, Amie Street and courtesy of Bradley Gordon Java, Android, Blackberry and To read GetJar's Opera Mini
has already transformed his space MixMatchMusic allow fans to Discuss Windows Mobile platforms. Given reviews or to download the app,
and married 12 couples since his donate after tracks have been laid the limited capabilities of many of visit the community's browser
July art opening. down, SellABand specializes in the current mobile browsers, a page. Or if you've got a Nokia
good portion of these downloads N810 Internet Tablet and would
can be attributed to the quest for a like to test Fennec, download it
better experience. And while here. Discuss
Opera is clearly winning, we're not
42 Web/
Top 50 U.S. Web Properties:
Facebook Enters Top 5 For The First Cisco's Collaboration
Time
By Richard MacManus
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 10:58:22 PM
Annual changes of note:
Facebook #5 with a rocket; Twitter
entered Top 50 in June; Demand
Media, Answers.com and Break
Media sites to watch.
comScore has just released their
latest Media Metrix rankings for
the Top 50 U.S. Web Properties. If
we compare the top 50 to one year
ago, we see that the top 4 is still
the same: Google, Yahoo,
Microsoft, AOL. But there's one
notable entrant to the top 5:
Facebook. Last year the same list
by comScore had Facebook ranked
number 16. As of July 2009, it is
number 5; Facebook's highest
ranking yet. What's more, guess
who Facebook displaced at
number 5? That's right, Fox
Interactive, owners of increasingly
untrendy MySpace.
Sponsor
Top 10 U.S. Sites, July 2009;
source: comScore
Top 10 U.S. Sites, July 2008;
source: comScore
Our Analysis
Salesforce Poaches
Guru
Facebook is the only new entrant
to the top 10 since one year ago,
moving CBS out of that esteemed
company.
It's a little surprising to see that
Yahoo is still very competitive
with Google, showing that Yahoo's
portal approach is still paying off,
even in this late stage of 'web 2.0.'
A scan of the top 50 reveals
some other big moves over the
past year:
• Twitter has entered the top 50,
in at number 42 with an estimated
21.2 Million monthly uniques.
Twitter first entered comScore's
Top 50 in June '09. Note that
comScore probably undercounts
Twitter's audience by a lot,
because many Twitter users don't
visit twitter.com but use third party
clients. We reported last week that
an estimated 65% of Twitter users
still use twitter.com, so it may be
undercounted by as much as a
third (but it's hard to know for
sure, as many people use both the
Web and third party apps).
• Demand Media has risen from
#36 to #24. The company
proclaims itself to be "the leader in
social media solutions."
• Answers.com Sites is a new
entrant to the top 50 from a year
ago, at #26 in July '09. It's a
dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia
- amongst other things.
• Wordpress is up to #29, from
#38 last year.
• Mozilla is up to #30, from #42
last year.
• Break Media is a new entrant at
#35. It's a site for "Funny Videos
& Funny Pictures".
These statistics show some
relatively obvious trends:
Facebook is a major major player
now, Twitter is hot stuff, and
Wordpress and Mozilla continue to
make waves.
Also interesting though are the
less 'glamorous' sites which are
making impressive progress up the
charts: Demand Media,
Answers.com, Break Media to
mention a few of the more
significant movers. Discuss
By Steven Walling
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 5:10:00 PM
Doug Dennerline spent ten years
at Cisco and was most recently
Senior Vice President and General
Manager of the Collaboration
Software Group, making him the
man in charge of WebEx and other
popular offerings. He was also the
one spearheading a rumored move
by Cisco to make an online
competitor to Microsoft Office and
other Web-based collaboration
suites.
But today Dennerline is
departing the company for CRM-
and platform-as-a-service
company Salesforce, where he's
becoming its head of enterprise
sales in the Americas. Before
heading up the SaaS wing at Cisco,
he was a senior VP at the
commercial and enterprise sales
groups.
Sponsor
Dennerline will become the
Salesforce executive vice president
of enterprise sales in the Americas,
meaning that he'll be moving
further away from the kind of
product strategy work he did as VP
at Cisco's Collaboration Group.
Salesforce recently posted a 20%
increase in revenue for its second
quarter, bumping it up to $316.1
million. But in the long term, the
company is still facing some
Internet News Record
competition from both Microsoft
and Oracle in the CRM space
despite its current dominance. It
has also moved into different
territory with its Force.com cloud
platform for both applications and
sites. For both areas, bringing in a
leader in sales from Cisco who
really groks cloud computing and
collaborative software is a serious
win for Salesforce.
As for the "why" of the matter
for Dennerline, there's been no
comment so far from either
Salesforce or Cisco. Whether it
was just a case of better
opportunities and compensation or
something more cultural, it's
unclear at the moment. What is
clear is that Cisco is losing a real
veteran in a rapidly evolving and
lucrative space.
Image credit: Cisco Discuss
Internet News Record Web/ World/ 43

Fourth Iran opposition trial begins

By Mark Tran (World news and leaving him partially paralysed. He Mir Hossein Mousavi, the
comment from the Guardian | uses a wheelchair and has leading reformist candidate in the
guardian.co.uk) difficulty speaking. June election, said confessions by
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:28:58 AM Two people supported him on some of the accused in past trials
his way into the courtroom, had been made under duress.
Saeed Hajjarian, a close aide to carrying him by the arms, the state Others who appeared in court
f o r m e r r e f o r m i s t p r e s i d e n t IRNA news agency said. today included the former deputy
Mohammad Khatami, could Hajjarian identified himself to interior minister Mostafa
potentially face death penalty the court before asking another Tajzadeh, the former deputy
An Iranian prosecutor today defendant, Saeed Shariati, to read a foreign minister Mohsen
demanded the "full punishment" text of his confessions on his Aminzadeh and Abdollah
for a senior reformist figure in the behalf because of his inability to Ramezanzadeh, an ex-government
latest mass trial of government speak fluently. spokesman, all prominent
opponents and protesters – "I've committed grave mistakes reformists.
potentially meaning the death by offering incorrect analysis The defendants are charged with
penalty. during the election ... I apologise fomenting riots and attempting to
The Iranian state cast Saeed to the dear Iranian nation because overthrow the ruling system with a
Hajjarian, a key figure in the pro- of my incorrect analysis that was "velvet revolution" similar to
democracy reform programme the basis for many wrong actions," uprisings in eastern Europe.
Box.net Unites with u n d e r t h e f o r m e r p r e s i d e n t IRNA reported the text as saying.
Mohammad Khatami, as the main
villain at the trial.
The opposition has said
defendants have been forced to
Hundreds of protesters,
opposition politicians and activists
have been arrested in the
Fuze Meeting A prosecutor read out a long list make confessions, denouncing the
of charges against him and other proceedings as a "show trial"
crackdown on the opposition,
which accuses Mahmoud
By Steven Walling personal versions are free, while defendants, including acting aimed at smearing the opposition Ahmadinejad of stealing the
(ReadWriteWeb) real enterprise use will require an a g a i n s t n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y , movement in the public eye. election from Mousavi.
Submitted at 8/24/2009 2:52:51 PM annual fee. Using Fuze as part of fomenting unrest, having contacts This is the fourth mass trial as A French teaching assistant and
your Box account will allow you with British intelligence and the government cracks down on two Iranians working for the
Box.net has partnered with Fuze to conduct meetings, share your insulting Iran's supreme leader, the opposition movement, which British and French embassies were
Meeting to add real-time online d e s k t o p ( w h i c h r e q u i r e s a Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. sprang up after June's disputed among those tried earlier. No
meetings and screen sharing. Now download), and upload your Box The prosecutor called for the presidential election. sentences have been announced.
t h e S a a S f i l e - s h a r i n g a n d files to a Fuze collaboration space. "full punishment" to be brought State TV showed the accused The Iranian government has tried
collaboration suite, which is going Box has added the Fuze Meeting a g a i n s t H a j j a r i a n , a l t h o u g h sitting in rows in the courtroom, to blame foreign powers for the
after SharePoint head on, has the support as part of its OpenBox officials have not clarified what w e a r i n g p r i s o n c l o t h e s a n d unrest, which has exposed serious
a d d e d c o m p o n e n t o f W e b system, which allows users to that could entail. slippers, listening as charges were rifts within the hardline regime.
conferencing. share their files with a plethora of In theory it could mean a death read out. • Iran
For those unfamiliar with it, services. Everything from Gmail to sentence, but that would risk a IRNA said Hajjarian had • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Fuze Meeting is a fairly slick Zoho and beyond can be connected public backlash because he is announced his resignation from Mark Tran
alternative to popular options like to a Box account, so this is really revered as a hero of the reform M o s h a r e k a t , I r a n ' s l e a d i n g guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
G o T o M e e t i n g , D i m d i m a n d just another addition to the movement. reformist party. & Media Limited 2009 | Use of
WebEx. The company — formerly ecosystem for Box. Hajjarian was shot in the head It said a prosecutor had called for this content is subject to our Terms
a public one listed as Callwave — But Fuze is competing against f r o m c l o s e r a n g e i n a n Mosharekat and another reformist & Conditions| More Feeds
was recently revitalized and now s o m e e x t r e m e l y e n t r e n c h e d assassination attempt in 2000, party to be dissolved.
revolves around its online software services, namely WebEx and
service. GoToMeeting. To draw in Box
Sponsor account holders, an enterprise user
Both software as a service base that is naturally more open to
offerings are on a freemium basis, new SaaS tools, might be a big
so there's a complete spectrum of boost in its quest to gain market
payment options. The limited share. Discuss
44 World/ Internet News Record

SNP faces censure in Lockerbie row

By Severin Carrell (World claiming he was required to meet BBC: "This is probably the right It also emerged that MacAskill "defining characteristics" of being
news and comment from the Megrahi in person earlier this decision made for the right had formally asked the US Scottish, he said, and outweighed
Guardian | guardian.co.uk) month under a prisoner transfer reasons." embassy in London for permission the atrocity Megrahi had been
Submitted at 8/24/2009 6:14:32 PM treaty signed by the UK and And in the Holyrood exchanges, to release a letter written earlier convicted for. "The perpetration of
Libyan governments. Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm this month, which said the US an atrocity and outrage cannot and
• Kenny MacAskill accused of Jack Straw, the UK justice commended a "courageous government believed that giving should not be a basis for losing
taking 'deeply flawed' decision secretary, had confirmed yesterday decision which is entirely Megrahi compassionate release sight of who we are," he said.
• Alex Salmond agrees to fresh that this was not true, Gray said. consistent with both the principles was "far preferable" to transferring One of Megrahi's leading
debate on affair next week MacAskill was only required to of Scots law and Christian him to serve the rest of his supporters at Holyrood, the SNP
Alex Salmond's Scottish take written representations from morality". sentence in a Libyan jail under the MSP for South of Scotland,
g o v e r n m e n t i s f a c i n g a n Megrahi. "MacAskill has been The Megrahi decision has seen prisoner transfer agreement ratified Christine Grahame, is planning to
embarrassing vote of censure after caught out misleading parliament Salmond's administration enduring by the UK government in April. use next week's debate to name a
the crisis over its controversial over his claim he was duty-bound the most intense criticisms and Informed government sources Syrian exile living under US
decision to free the Lockerbie to meet Megrahi in person," Gray attacks since it came to power, said the US embassy letter still protection in Washington DC as
bomber deepened yesterday. added. after Robert Mueller, the FBI firmly rejected sending Megrahi the true mastermind of the
Furious opposition leaders have Annabel Goldie, the Scottish director, described it as "making a home to his family: the US wanted Lockerbie bombing, under
f o r c e d S a l m o n d t o h o l d a Tory leader, said the "disturbing" mockery of the rule of law". Megrahi to stay in Scotland, parliamentary privilege.
parliamentary vote next week – decision to release Megrahi "was The US president, Barack effectively under house arrest. Grahame said the man – who
which his government is expected not done in the name of Scotland, Obama, also joined US relatives of They knew in advance that works as a cleansing engineer –
to lose heavily – over the decision or in the name of this parliament, the 270 people killed in the releasing Megrahi would prove had been named in Megrahi's
to send Abdelbaset al-Megrahi or in my name." Keeping Megrahi bombing by criticising the deeply controversial. appeal documents as a relative of
home to a hero's welcome in in a secure house or hospice in decision. But MacAskill told MSPs one of the first leading suspects for
Tripoli last Thursday. Scotland would have served justice But MacAskill's "brave" decision yesterday that allowing Megrahi to the attack, the Syrian terrorist
The first minister agreed to a better "than a convicted terrorist had earlier been supported by remain in Scotland would have Ahmed Jibril of the pro-Palestinian
fresh debate on the Lockerbie being feted as a hero in Libya to a prominent religious figures. "The been unnecessarily expensive: Popular Front for the Liberation of
affair after MSPs were recalled to backdrop of waving saltires". showing of mercy in any situation Strathclyde police had said it Palestine – General Command.
the Scottish parliament yesterday Freeing Megrahi would now be is not a sign of weakness," said would take at least 48 officers to • Lockerbie plane bombing
for an emergency session to hear the "defining image" of the Archbishop Mario Conti, Roman provide round-the-clock security. • Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
the Scottish justice secretary, Scottish National party's four years Catholic archbishop of Glasgow. He also said that putting Megrahi • Scottish politics
Kenny MacAskill, explain his in government, said Tavish Scott, "In this situation, with the into a hospice to die would be • Scotland
decision to release Megrahi on the Scottish Liberal Democrat pressures and circumstances of the "ludicrous" and would be deeply • Alex Salmond
compassionate grounds. leader. "What the first minister and case, it seemed to me a sign of offensive to ordinary people living • Scottish National Party (SNP)
The Scottish Labour leader, Iain his government have done is to manifest strength." there. He said its patients "would • Libya
Gray, led the attacks by accusing split Scotland, split our country In an open letter sent to all MSPs have seen a travelling circus which • United States
MacAskill of a "deeply flawed" within itself and split our nation before the debate yesterday, Rev would degrade them". Severin Carrell
decision that had "damaged from many international friends." Ian Galloway, from the protestant The minister repeated that his guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
Scotland's reputation from start to Despite yesterday's criticism, Church of Scotland, said decision to free Megrahi was based & Media Limited 2009 | Use of
finish". The minister had been two Labour voices spoke up for compassionate release was a on clear medical advice that he had this content is subject to our Terms
"mishandling the whole affair from MacAskill. Christian and moral act. "It was less than three months to live, and & Conditions| More Feeds
start to finish", he added. The former first minister Henry about what it is to believe in the views of the governor of
MacAskill's discomfort grew M c L e i s h b e c a m e t h e f i r s t justice, what it is to believe in Greenock prison, prison social
after Gray later claimed the prominent Labour politician to mercy, what it is to be truly workers and the parole board.
minister had misled parliament by back the decision when he told the human," he said. Justice and humanity were
Internet News Record World/ Gizmos/ Entertainment/ 45

Jackson body contained lethal drug dose

By Daniel Nasaw, Sam Jones Martinez said the Los Angeles Jackson for less than two minutes manslaughter investigation.
(World news and comment County chief coroner, Dr to use the bathroom, and that For the first few weeks after
from the Guardian | Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, Jackson was not breathing when he Jackson's death, Murray declined
guardian.co.uk) had found Jackson to have a lethal returned. He began CPR and to offer any public comment,
Submitted at 8/25/2009 2:32:21 AM level of Propofol in his blood. injected more drugs, and another making all statements through his
The LA County coroner's office aide summoned help. lawyer.
• Toxicology test finds deadly has refused to comment on reports Murray's lawyer, Ed Chernoff, But last week he issued a direct
level of Propofol in star's body by the Associated Press that declined to comment on the message to his supporters via Weeds: Glue
• Coroner refuses to confirm Jackson's death is being treated as anonymous reports that Jackson's YouTube. In the short video, he
reports case being treated as a homicide. death had been ruled a homicide. thanked friends and patients for
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 2:43:00 AM
homicide "We have not released any "Most of the reports by letters of support.
Michael Jackson had a lethal information on the Jackson case," 'anonymous' sources have been Murray said: "Your messages (S05E12) "I could use a little
dose of a powerful sedative drug in said a spokesman. "We do not proven wrong," he said. "We will give me strength and courage and more snakebite on my lips." -
his body when he died, a coroner's know where this information is be happy to address the coroner's keep me going. They mean the Dean
report has revealed. coming from." report when it is officially world to me. Hmmm ... what to say about this
According to some reports, the Under US law, homicide can released." "Please don't worry. As long as I episode? I kept waiting for
Los Angeles County coroner has refer to murder or to negligent or The physician has increasingly keep God in my heart and you in something to jump out at me.
now ruled that the singer's death reckless manslaughter. become the focus of police efforts my life, I will be fine. Some fun witticism from Andy or
was a homicide, meaning criminal Murray, a cardiologist who was to establish the cause of Jackson's "I have done all I can do. I told Doug, or anything really. But it
charges could be brought. treating Jackson for insomnia, told death. the truth and I have faith that truth just wasn't there. At this point, I'm
News of the toxicology results police he had used Propofol to To date, two offices and a will prevail." just glad there's only one episode
came after it emerged Jackson's help Jackson sleep but become pharmacy connected to Murray In a statement, the Jackson left, and hopefully, they can do a
p e r s o n a l p h y s i c i a n , C o n r a d worried the singer had become have been searched by police, as family said it had "full confidence major reboot and gain back a lot of
Murray, injected him with a addicted to it. has his home. in the legal process, and the viewers who've left. As many
powerful cocktail of drugs, He said he had tried to wean Earlier this month, officials from commends the ongoing efforts of of you have commented this
including the sedative Propofol, Jackson off the drug. Murray said the Drug Enforcement the LA county coroner, the LA season, what's really lacking is any
hours before he died, on 25 June. Jackson had injection marks on his Administration walked away from district attorney and the LA police sort of empathy for Nancy. She
In a sworn affidavit, the Los hands and feet. a raided Las Vegas pharmacy with department". just seems lost and twisting in the
Angeles detective Orlando He told investigators he had evidence that Jackson's personal The statement added: "The wind.
M a r t i n e z s a i d M u r r a y h a d monitored Jackson's pulse and physician had purchased Propofol family looks forward to the day Continue reading Weeds: Glue
admitted giving the 50-year-old oxygen levels as he administered there. that justice can be served." Filed under: OpEd, Episode
singer a number of different drugs the sedatives during the night, and In the two months since the • Michael Jackson Reviews, Weeds, Reality-Free
to help him sleep the night before that Jackson remained awake singer's death, Murray has been • United States Permalink| Email this| |
he died. despite several injections of drugs. interviewed twice by officers Daniel Nasaw Sam Jones Comments
Murray had been Jackson's He said Jackson had requested, involved in the case. guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
personal physician for about six and demanded, an injection of The doctor has not been named & Media Limited 2009 | Use of
weeks. He told investigators that Propofol. as an official suspect, but court this content is subject to our Terms
another doctor had introduced Murray told investigators that at records have identified the 51-year & Conditions| More Feeds
Jackson to Propofol. about 10.30am on 25 June, he left -old physician as the subject of a

Original Snow Leopard Was Too Blood Thirsty for Mac OS X Box [Apple]
By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) serious blood thirsty beast who ships inside Mac OS X Snow Windows 7. And all its
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:10:00 AM was censored by Apple. Spot the Leopard, as a desktop background. development team. A two zoo
difference: It seems that our Windows 7 guides. And six babies and their
Yes, I'm obsessed with the new The first one is the Snow killing Snow Leopard and eating it moms. BAD CAT!
Mac OS X box. But I treated the Leopard that comes in the box and report was greatly exaggerated.
poor snow leopard badly. This is Apple's site. The second one, around his mouth, is the one that It was totally wrong in fact. It is
not a clipart pussy cat. This is one which shows clear traces of blood Snow Leopard who killed
46 World/ AppleBlog/ TechNews/ Internet News Record
Switzerland Tells
Semenya given rapturous welcome home Google To Take
By David Smith (World news Officials from Athletics South humiliate an honest professional Chuene said: "Arbeit was not in
and comment from the Africa dismissed the gender and competent athlete," he added. the picture. Arbeit does not work Down Street View
Guardian | guardian.co.uk) investigation, prompted by When asked what he would do if with these girls. Arbeit was never
Semenya's deep voice, masculine the IAAF ruled to revoke part and parcel of this little girl, so By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 7:10:16 AM
physique and dramatically Semenya's medal, he said: there was no way Arbeit was going Submitted at 8/24/2009 7:26:54 PM

'Traumatised' gold medallist i m p r o v e d p e r f o r m a n c e s . "They're not going to remove the to be injecting her."
remains silent but South African They denied that the team's head gold medal. She won it. So that Asked whether he would respect Following a bunch of other
officials hit out those questioning coach, Dr Ekkart Arbeit – a former question does not arise." the outcome of the gender test countries, it looks like Switzerland
her gender East German coach linked to past Semenya was greeted by ordered by the IAAF, Chuene said: is the latest to freak out over
The world champion athlete at drugs controversies – had ever hundreds of singing and dancing "Let's cross that bridge when we Google Street View and to ban it,
the centre of a gender testing row given the 18-year-old an injection. supporters on the airport concourse come to it." just a week after it was introduced.
made a triumphant return to South Semenya later spoke very briefly in a patriotic show of defiance that He added that the best judges of Google is apparently surprised by
Africa today but was said to be too at the presidential guest house in was described as a "heroine's Semenya's gender were her mother this move, noting that it had been
"traumatised" to talk about on the Pretoria after the South African welcome". and father. "The only scientist I talking to the Swiss gov't and had
controversy. president, Jacob Zuma, gave a Madikizela-Mandela attacked the know, the only scientist I believe a bunch of privacy safeguards in
Caster Semenya did not say a speech celebrating the return of the sceptics who have questioned in is the parents of the child," he place, which seemed to be
word during a press conference at country's athletes. Semenya's gender since her victory said. working. Of course, you have to
the OR Tambo airport, in She said that, before her final in the world championships in "Show me a scientist who knows ask, are there surveillance cameras
Johannesburg. 800-metre race in Berlin, her Berlin. "They can stuff their her better than her mother, who in Switzerland? If so, why is that
The 800 metres gold medallist, coach had told her: "Last 200, kill insults. This is our little girl and raised her for 18 years. okay when Google's Street View is
who looked uncomfortable for them". nobody's going to perform tests on "For a long time in this country not? Surveillance cameras are real-
long periods under the She added: "I did what he said, her ... don't touch us. Don't touch we let people set the agenda for us. time. Street View is not.
international media spotlight, was but I took a lead in the last 400. I us." Let us set the agenda for ourselves. Surveillance cameras do not blur
embraced by Winnie Madikizela- celebrated the last 200. It was Julius Malema, the president of We are not going to allow faces/license plates. Street View
Mandela, the ex-wife of the former great." the ANC youth league, said: "This Europeans to describe and defeat does. Why is one allowed and the
president Nelson Mandela, as "my Zuma said the South African victory must be added to the long our children." other not? Of course, given how
grandchild". minister of sport and recreation list of victories of women in South • South Africa many local gov'ts have freaked out
"She's not going to talk to you. had written to the International Africa. Why can't we celebrate one • Gender about Street View, it does make
She has been traumatised," A s s o c i a t i o n o f A t h l e t i c s of our own?" • Caster Semenya you wonder why Google would
Leonard Chuene, the president of Federations (IAAF) to express Officials brushed aside recent • Athletics launch it these days without first
Athletics South Africa, said. "our disappointment at the manner reports that Arbeit had been • World Athletics Championships having assurances from the gov't
"Can you imagine ... she has in which the body has dealt with accused by a female athlete of David Smith that it would be okay.
faced a hostile media. I am the matter". giving her so many anabolic guardian.co.uk© Guardian News Permalink| Comments| Email
traumatised myself." "It is one thing to seek to steroids that she was forced to & Media Limited 2009 | Use of This Story
The athlete's father and ascertain whether or not an athlete undergo a sex-change operation this content is subject to our Terms
grandmother were also present at has an unfair advantage over and live the rest of her life as a & Conditions| More Feeds
the press conference. others, but it is another to publicly man.

Snow Leopard set for release on August 28th

By Joachim Bean (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 8/24/2009 9:00:00 AM
Filed under: OS, Retail, Snow
Leopard Amid the leaks and
speculation, the online Apple Store
went down this morning, only to
return with Snow Leopard release
information-- August 28th. It also single user or $229 for a Family TUAW Snow Leopard set for
turns out that the box photo that Pack. release on August 28th originally
was leaked last weekend was legit, Before you install, check out our appeared on The Unofficial Apple
showing the Snow Leopard on the upgrade guide. Also, note that If Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Aug
front. you purchased a qualifying Mac on 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our
The pricing remains at $29US or after June 8, 2009, that does not terms for use of feeds.
for a single user upgrade, or $49 include Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Read| Permalink| Email this|
for a Family Pack upgrade. You you can upgrade for $9.95. Comments
can only install the upgrade edition not, you'll need to buy the Mac Thanks to everyone who sent
if you're using Leopard. If you're Box Set, available for $169 for a this in!
Internet News Record
Netanyahu in London to meet Brown US deaths make it
By Mark Tran (World news and
comment from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)
deadliest year for Nato
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:14:56 AM
Europe and US expected to
in Afghanistan
underline concerns about Israeli
settlements amid hopes peace talks
will resume
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli
prime minister, will today hold
talks with Gordon Brown amid
reports that Israel and the
Palestinians will resume
negotiations within months.
Netanyahu will meet the prime
minister this afternoon before
holding talks with the US Middle
East envoy, George Mitchell,
tomorrow, and the German
chancellor Angela Merkel in
Berlin on Thursday. While
Netanyahu will want to emphasise
the potential threat from Iran if it
acquires nuclear weapons,
European leaders are expected to
underline their concerns about the
spread of Israeli settlements on
occupied Palestinian land.
The Palestinians say they will
not resume talks before the Israelis
freeze settlement construction.
Netanyahu's spokesman, Nir
Hefetz, said there was no
expectation that the settlement
issue would be resolved at
tomorrow's meeting with Mitchell,
perhaps the most important of
Netanyahu's meetings this week.
But Hefetz told reporters travelling
with the Israeli prime minister that
there was likely to be "certain
progress".
In Washington, the state
department spokesman, Ian Kelly,
said the US and Israel were
"getting closer" to agreement on
the resumption of talks.
"I don't want to go into the details
of exactly why, but just to say that
we are we're hopeful that we can
resume very soon," Kelly said.
Hefetz said Israel believed talks
could be resumed within two
months. Israeli government
officials say a compromise under
discussion could see Israel freeze
building for nine to 12 months, but
this will not include East
Jerusalem or building that has
already begun. To placate the
Americans, Netanyahu has taken
steps to improve life for
Palestinians in the West Bank.
With the territory enjoying a
period of calm, some Israeli
military checkpoints have been
lifted and permits for importing
raw materials are being granted.
The halt in approvals for new
building was dismissed by
Netanyahu's critics. The settlement
watchdog group Peace Now has
said that there had been no real
slowdown in construction and that
settlers could keep building
indefinitely, using plans that have
already been approved. In a new
report, Peace Now said Israeli
defence ministry figures showed
existing government approval to
build more than 40,000 housing
units in West Bank settlements.
In his meeting with Mitchell,
Netanyahu is expected to stress
that Israel will not accept limits on
its sovereignty in Jerusalem, in
particular in relation to building
new housing units in the city, the
Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz
reported.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
president, has said he would
resume peace talks with Israel,
suspended since December, on
condition of a freeze on settlement
activity. Some 500,000 Jews live
in the West Bank and Arab East
Jerusalem, territory Israel captured
in the 1967 war and which is home
home to 2.5 million Palestinians.
• Israel
• Palestinian territories
• United States
• Middle East
• Germany
• Gordon Brown
• Angela Merkel
Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
& Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our Terms
& Conditions| More Feeds
World/ 47
By Alexandra Topping (World troops sent to Afghanistan by the
news and comment from the Obama administration. The total
Guardian | guardian.co.uk) number of US soldiers and marines
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:12:46 AM in Afghanistan stands at about
57,000.
Number of coalition deaths rises Speaking to veterans in the US
to 295, compared with 294 in recently, the president said: "There
whole of 2008 will be more difficult days ahead.
Four US soldiers with the Nato- The insurgency in Afghanistan
l e d I n t e r n a t i o n a l S e c u r i t y didn't just happen overnight and
Assistance Force were killed today we won't defeat it overnight. This
in Afghanistan, making 2009 the will not be quick, this will not be
deadliest year for coalition troops easy."
since operations began. Figures released today show the
These latest deaths bring the number of British troops wounded
number of Nato soldiers killed in Afghanistan requiring treatment
since the start of the year to 295. In at home has risen sharply. In 2008,
2008, there were 294 coalition 254 patients with Afghanistan
deaths. battle injuries were treated at either
The news comes after a senior the Royal Centre for Defence
US military official warned of M e d i c i n e a t S e l l y O a k i n
worsening security conditions in Birmingham or the Defence
Afghanistan. Admiral Michael Medical Rehabilitation Centre at
Mullen, chairman of the joint Headley Court in Surrey. Between
chiefs of staff, told CNN on 1 January and 31 July this year,
Sunday the situation was "serious there were 299 patients, according
and deteriorating". He said: "The to Defence Analytical Services and
Taliban insurgency has gotten Advice, an official source of
better, more sophisticated." defence statistics for the Ministry
President Barack Obama's of Defence.
special representative to the Some 206 British soldiers have
region, Richard Holbrooke, met been killed in the country since the
commanders in Afghanistan at the invasion in 2001.
weekend, who told him there were • Nato
insufficient ground troops to fight • United States
the Taliban insurgency, the New • Afghanistan
York Times reported. • Global terrorism
Earlier this month, General Alexandra Topping
Stanley McChrystal, the US's top guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
c o m m a n d e r i n t h e r e g i o n , & Media Limited 2009 | Use of
suggested in an interview that the this content is subject to our Terms
insurgency was winning. & Conditions| More Feeds
It comes despite the recent
addition of 17,000 American
48 World/ AppleBlog/ Entertainment/ Internet News Record

Swedish court pulls plug on Pirate What Snow Leopard

Bay feature are you
By Kevin Anderson (World court order and told the online forward.
news and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
edition of the Dagens Nyheter
newspaper: "There are laws and
The Swedish stock market halted
trading in GCF, and market
anticipating the most?
Submitted at 8/25/2009 4:52:59 AM rules in society and they should be officials are investigating whether By Steven Sande (The
respected." the company has the funds Unofficial Apple Weblog
The Pirate Bay's largest internet The site's operators, Gottfrid necessary to complete the deal. (TUAW))
service provider has cut service to Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Adding to the uncertainty, GCF Submitted at 8/24/2009 11:45:00 AM
the filesharing site in compliance Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundström, chairman Magnus Bergman has
with a court order who was accused of funding it, reportedly resigned. Filed under: Software, Snow
The music and movie industries were found guilty in April after a In an interview with the BBC, Leopard Now that we have the
have scored another victory copyright trial in Sweden. GCF chief Hans Pandeya insisted actual ship date for Mac OS X
against filesharing site The Pirate Despite the conviction, the site the deal will go through on 27 10.6 Snow Leopard (August 28th
Bay. A Swedish court has ordered continued to operate, leading more August to buy the site and turn it for those who haven't yet had a
its largest internet service provider than a dozen movie studios to sue into a legal business, by charging cup of coffee to wake them up), it's
to cut its connection or face fines. to take the site offline. users and paying copyright time to start thinking about what
Stockholm district court handed Former Pirate Bay spokesman holders. benefits you can gain from the
down the ruling on 21 August, Peter Sunde said on Twitter: "A • File sharing newest member of Apple's cat
threatening Black Internet with a Swedish court apparently decided • P2P family. in support for Exchange should
500,000 kronor (£43,188) fine for it is illegal to be an ISP." • Piracy Apple has told us from the start make life much simpler.
failure to comply. The internet Black Internet was one of several • Digital media that Snow Leopard is TUAW would like to know what
company must comply with the ISPs providing bandwidth for the Kevin Anderson predominantly about streamlining Snow Leopard feature you're
order until the ongoing case site, but it is the largest. The site guardian.co.uk© Guardian News both the size and speed of the anticipating the most, so we've
between Pirate Bay and the has been up and down since then. & Media Limited 2009 | Use of operating system. Installing Snow come up with a short list for you to
entertainment industry is over, In other developments, further this content is subject to our TermsLeopard should take about half the choose from in a poll. We'll use
according to the ruling. doubts have emerged whether a & Conditions| More Feeds time of performing a Mac OS X these results to provide you with
Black Internet's chief executive, proposed sale of the site to 10.5 Leopard install, and it's detailed coverage about those
Victor Moeller, said it lacked the Swedish software company Global expected that you'll gain about 7 features. If your favorite
financial means to the fight the Gaming Factory X AB will go GB of space back on your hard improvement or feature isn't on the
disk. list, leave a comment and tell us
Nurse Jackie: Health Care and Cinema Snow Leopard is also bringing
some new features to the table,
what you're excited about.
View Poll
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad) all mopey after getting sacked including 64-bit support, Grand TUAW What Snow Leopard
Submitted at 8/25/2009 4:20:00 AM from dealing with patients. I was Central Dispatch's multicore feature are you anticipating the
glad when she put on the bunny support, and OpenCL, all of which most? originally appeared on The
(S01E12) "I've never been a fan scrubs again, but things don't look can provide better performance for Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
of movies where idiots talk to good for movie critic guy losing applications. There are amazing on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:45:00
people in comas." - Mrs. Akalitus his memory. "Oh my god, I broke improvements to the Mac OS X EST. Please see our terms for use
to a comatose Mr. Nutterman him," she says. Universal Access features, of feeds.
Well, things didn't go as wrong Continue reading Nurse Jackie: p a r t i c u l a r l y f o r t h e v i s i o n - Read| Permalink| Email this|
as I thought they might have, with Health Care and Cinema impaired. For those who use their Comments
the whole Eddie hanging with Filed under: OpEd, Episode Macs in a predominantly Windows
Kevin at the bar business. Yeah, it Reviews, Reality-Free, Nurse office environment, the full built-
wasn't good, and Jackie downing numb the pain from everything? Jackie
three vials of morphine was just ... My favorite part of the episode Permalink| Email this| |
not sure what to think of it. Was was Zoey and her sweetness at Comments
she trying to kill herself, or just wearing the gray scrubs and being
Internet News Record
Parallels makes switching to Mac
easier than ever
By Brett Terpstra (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 8/25/2009 10:00:00 AM
Filed under: Software, Switchers
What's that whooshing sound?
It's the collective sight of relief
from all of the Mac-lovers who've
been wrangled into providing
unofficial tech support for friends
and family switching to Mac.
Parallels today announced their
latest offering, Parallels Desktop
"Switch to Mac" Edition. It's a
three-part tool that makes the
switch from XP or Vista to OS X
so easy that it hurts to think about
the last time you tried to show a
recent convert where their Start
menu went.
The first tool Parallels is offering
is a set of interactive tutorials
which cater to any learning style.
"Watch Saied" is a collection of
over 2 hours of video
walkthroughs, narrated by Saied
Ghaffari of Parallels. The tutorials
are viewable in a non-linear
fashion to allow the user to learn
what they need -- or want -- to
know at any given point in their
transition. These are accompanied
by a full simulation of the OS X
environment, with tools which
allow you to click anything on the
screen to find out what it is, what it
does, and/or how it works. The
"YouTry" feature is perfect for
tactile learners (those who "learn
by doing"), allowing you to put
lessons into practice within the
simulation -- without the
possibility of "breaking" anything
in your working environment.
Once you complete a lesson, it's
starred and you can move on...
following a lesson plan, or
skipping to whatever is intriguing
or vital at the moment.
The second tool is a new version
of Parallels' Transporter tool,
appropriately dubbed the
"Enhanced Parallels Transporter."
The bundle comes with a high-
speed USB cable, and the
Transporter automates the
transition of PC data to a Mac,
including your bookmarks, your
photos, your documents, even your
applications. The process is
simple, but it's documented and
simulated in the tutorials, so you
really can't go wrong. Mom won't
even have to call you to figure out
where to plug in the cable.
Lastly, the bundle includes a full
version of Parallels Desktop for
Mac, an excellent means of
running Windows applications on
your Mac. Many users find
comfort in being able to run their
old applications while they make
the switch, and in some cases you
have to run Windows to maintain
some vital applications with no
Mac counterpart. The whole setup
is, of course, also included in the
tutorials; an ibuprofen for the
headaches of running Windows on
a Mac.
This is exciting news for
switchers, but especially exciting
for me as the family go-to guy for
Mac questions. My wife's parents
just bought their first Mac, and
we'll be putting "Switch to Mac"
through it's paces. If things go as
planned, I'll be gleefully sitting
back and letting them report back,
gushing about how great their new
Mac is, instead of frantically
calling to find out what happened
to their vacation photos. I'll be
looking forward to doing a follow
up post and letting you know how
it goes.
Parallels Desktop Switch to Mac
Edition will be available as a retail
box edition in the Apple Store, and
available for purchase online (as a
boxed bundle), with a suggested
retail price of $99.99US.
TUAW Parallels makes
switching to Mac easier than ever
originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:00:00
EST. Please see our terms for use
of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Real Networks submitting
Rhapsody music service
for iPhone. Duck!
By Mel Martin (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 8/24/2009 2:30:00 PM
Filed under: Audio, iPhone, App
Store, iPod touch Now this will be
interesting to watch.
RealNetworks, not always best of
friends with Apple, is submitting
an iPhone app so subscribers can
access the Rhapsody music
service.
The app is designed to be full-
featured, and will let Rhapsody
subscribers get easy control of the
on-demand music service. Real
Networks has described the app's
operation on its Rhapsody blog:
You'll see a menu bar across the
bottom of the screen, as is found in
many apps. You'll have the option
to check out the queue, your
library, browse the Rhapsody
library (ahem, all 8 million +
songs of it), search, and settings.
The app has all the functionality of
the client, or Rhapsody.com, only
super portable. The Rhapsody app
is designed to stream music over
3G, EDGE or Wi-Fi networks. If
approved, it will require a
Rhapsody To Go account, which is
US$15.00 per month. Spotify, a
similar European music service,
also has an app awaiting approval
AppleBlog/ 49
for the iPhone.
Apple already allows the
Sirius/XM app, which is a
different, but still a paid
subscription service, and of course
Pandora, Last.fm and other
streaming music services.
All these apps are competition to
iTunes, so the world will be
watching to see if Apple draws the
line with RealNetworks, or
keeping a careful eye on the FCC,
approves it.
TUAW Real Networks
submitting Rhapsody music
service for iPhone. Duck!
originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:30:00
EST. Please see our terms for use
of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
50 AppleBlog/
PicPosterous for the iPhone is nearly
perfect
By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 8/24/2009 1:30:00 PM
Filed under: Multimedia,
Software, Internet Tools, iPhone,
App Store, App Review
I've spent the last few weeks
with Posterous, a blogging
platform from Sachin Agarwal and
Garry Tan. The result is both a
modest record of my travels and a
powerful enthusiasm for the
service.
Posterous is going to be huge.
Even Andy says so.
Over the years, I've used every
blogging platform I've found,
including (but not limited to)
WordPress, Typepad,
MovableType, Squarespace, Vox,
Livejournal, Blogger and
Textpattern. The easiest among
those are the hosted solutions, like
Typepad, Livejournal, Blogger,
Squarespace and Vox (note that
Typepad, Livejournal and Vox are
all products of Six Apart).
WordPress and MovableType are
(usually) self-hosted and require
the blogger* to create and link to a
database.
After installation is complete,
they all require some degree of
fiddling. Customizing the layout,
design, colors, graphics etc. takes
time. Adding something like an
image gallery is even more time
consuming, and often requires a
plug-in which you must find,
upload, configure and test on your
they already know; the client that's
always available via a laptop,
phone or iPod. Additionally,
Posterous can notify your other
accounts, like Facebook and
Twitter, each time an update is
posted.
The only drawback I found was
in updating a gallery throughout
the day. Let's say I want to
document a trip with multiple
photos added to a single post as the
day progressed. How can I do that?
PicPosterous[ App Store link] is
the answer. I spent the last couple
of weeks using a beta of
PicPosterous and spoke with
Sachin about it. Click below to
read my reaction and conversation
with Sachin.
Gallery: PicPosterous
own. Screenshots
By contrast, here's how you *Some web hosting companies
create a complete blog with provide a one-click install for
Posterous: WordPress and MovableType.
Send an email message to Wordpress.com also provides free
post@posterous.com. and premium plans for WordPress
That's it. users.
Here's how you create a full- Continue reading PicPosterous
featured, thumbnailed photo for the iPhone is nearly perfect
gallery with built-in navigation on TUAW PicPosterous for the
Posterous: Email your photos to iPhone is nearly perfect originally
post@posterous.com. appeared on The Unofficial Apple
Want to post a video? Same Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Aug
thing. It'll even encode it for you. 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our
Send nearly any codec you want. terms for use of feeds.
It's brilliant because there's Read| Permalink| Email this|
nothing to learn. Everyone knows Comments
how to send an email message and
customers can use the email client
Internet News Record
Hacking in a second hard
drive in a MacBook Pro
By Tim Wasson (The Unofficial faster boot time and
Apple Weblog (TUAW)) responsiveness, and plenty of
Submitted at 8/24/2009 10:00:00 AM space available for movies and
music.
Filed under: Hardware, Hacks,
He posted several pictures and
Odds and ends, Macbook Pro instructions if you're ready to take
Need more hard drive space in the plunge into a dual-hard-drive
your MacBook Pro? Well, if you're notebook. There is some harsh
not scared to get your hands dirty language in the post, so you may
with a little hacking, and not too not want to open this at work.
attached to your DVD drive, you
Any hacks like this should be
can hack your way to twice the performed only by skilled users.
hard drives.
This will void your warranty,
This particular user faced a folks, so proceed at your own risk.
dilemma when purchasing his new
[via Hack A Day]
MacBook Pro: get the faster SSD TUAW Hacking in a second
hard drive or the larger capacity hard drive in a MacBook Pro
rotational drive. Instead of settling o r i g i n a l l y a p p e a r e d o n T h e
on either of those options, he Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
removed his DVD drive, hacked on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:00:00
together an adapter to interface EST. Please see our terms for use
w i t h t h e p r o p r i e t a r y A p p l e of feeds.
connector, and installed a second Read| Permalink| Email this|
hard drive. The result is a "best of Comments
both worlds" scenario for him; a
Internet News Record
The Alinea Challenge: Help Us (Really) Flatten
Food [Restaurants]
By Nick Kokonas (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:20:00 AM
Help! We want to flatten food. I
mean, really flatten it. Maybe even
fuse foods together in the process.
And to do it, we'll need your ideas.
Many culinary innovations come
out of the Alinea kitchen after
asking basic questions: How can
we create a temperature contrast in
the diner's mouth? How can we
transform maple syrup texturally?
How can we remind a patron of
their childhood? What does
"winter" mean to you?
One of the ideas that Chef
Achatz had was to significantly
flatten or fuse foodstuffs using a
very high-pressure press. The goal
would be much like that of
tenderizing meat by pounding it,
but in a far more controlled yet
extreme manner. For example,
what would happen to asparagus if
you could smoothly press it
between two sheets of steel,
flattening it into a thin pasta-like
noodle? Could sufficient pressure
fuse meats together?
The answer, of course, might be
that we just create a mess. But
really there are only a few ways
you can manipulate food—you can
heat it or cool it, or cut it or beat it
in some manner, or perform basic
chemistry by combining
ingredients that act upon each
other. Chef Achatz posits that by
applying significant pressure to
foods, he can create unexpected
textures and combinations.
But we don't know for sure,
because we haven't built the rig
yet. We would like Gizmodo's
readers to help us out on this one.
In return, we are prepared to serve
the maker of a successful entry the
feast of a lifetime, on us, at Alinea.
Here is what we need:
1) A table-top method to press
foods with greater force than a
typical manual vise or wine press
(note: we have already tried both
of those)
2) It needs to be safe,
measurable, controllable and
relatively fast, as we need to serve
85 to 90 portions of its results each
night
Gizmos/ 51
Sony S and E Series
Walkmans Hit Stores
Next Month [PMPs]
By Danny Allen (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 4:55:49 AM
We already knew a bunch about
the S Series, but Sony has now
confirmed the 2.4-inch (QVGA)
LCD player will be $110 (8GB)
and $130 (16GB). Less expected:
A cheaper E Series Walkman will
arrive at the same time.
The S Series also has a
recordable FM tuner (with 30
presets), and a Lithium Ion battery
rated for a 42 hours of audio, or
6.4 hours of video playback. That's
pretty decent...unless you use the
3) It needs to press the food finance guy and web-oriented built-in stereo speakers. Rocking
withing a contained six-sided box angel investor by trade, Kokonas out loud will drop music listening
so that the food doesn't go all over got his start back in his teen years to 17 hours, and video playback to
the place—ideally, the box itself writing business software on an 5 hours.
could be adjustable Apple II. You can grab the As expected, format support
Build it, test it and take some gorgeous Alinea cookbook here, or i n c l u d e s J P G p h o t o s ,
p i c t u r e s a n d s e n d i t t o just visit Alinea's home page. MP3/WMA/AAC audio and
tips@gizmodo.com with " Alinea Taste Test is our weeklong H264/MP4/WMV 30fps video.
Challenge" in the subject line. tribute to the leaps that occur when Though the E-Series has a
Don't worry about tasty yet... our t e c h n o l o g y m e e t s c u i s i n e , similar design, it ditches speakers,
chefs can handle that. spanning everything from the and the screen has been shrunk to
Nick Kokonas co-founded historic breakthroughs that made 2-inches (still QVGA). It also has
Alinea with Grant Achatz in 2005, food tastier and safer to the Earl- most of the same file format
and works with the chef on Alinea- Grey-friendly replicators we support but H.264 is noticeably
r e l a t e d p r o j e c t s , r e c r u i t i n g impatiently await in the future. absent. It does do 30fps WMV
innovators to challenge and video, though. How much will
improve every aspect of the these cut backs save you? The
cooking and eating experience. A 8GB model is $80; the 16GB is
$100.
Both Walkmans have a variety
of color options, and support
iTunes 8.1 and Windows Media
player. [ PR Newswire]
52 Gizmos/ Internet News Record

New Sony Reader Daily Edition Kindle Fighter

Coming Like, Now [Sony Reader]
By matt buchanan (Gizmodo) deals left and right, we wouldn't be
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:30:41 AM real shocked if some Barnes &
Noble was in the cards to go with
We're at a press event for a new that Kindle-like wireless promise
Sony Reader something. Sony just from a weeks ago:
announced impressive pocket "As announced earlier, we will be Sony Still Losing
readers(and a new format) a few bringing a wireless product to
weeks ago, so we're guessing market. The particulars of 'when'
Money on Every PS3
they're gonna make good on and 'how much' will come later. Slim, But Not the
finally going wireless. Update: Oh Wireless is important and wireless "Platform" [PS3]
look. is coming from Sony."
Update: Sony's not holding back I mean, Sony has its own store, By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
too much pre-conference—we can but if Sony and Barnes & Noble Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:30:00 AM
see a picture of the device—so we are serious about taking on
can make a few solid guesses. Amazon—and oh, presumably Sure, Sony shrank the PS3 Slim's
First, it's called the "Daily Edition" like we thought. are 5 and 6 inches, we're guessing they both are—a team-up makes processor to the 45nm production
so some kind of newsreading Since it's called "Daily Edition," Daily is 7-9 inches.) RSS maybe the most sense to us. Some sexy process, making the console
abilities seem like a given. And we're guessing there's some too? Either way, it looks like it new hardware wouldn't hurt, cheaper to produce. But it's still
Sony's strategically showing just newspaper action going on as well, could be the first Sony Reader to either. not that cheap.
the back of the device, which just and a bigger size than "pocket" to take on Kindle where it's strongest, The event kicks off at 10:30, so Because after a $100 price
happens to have a fair few make it more "newspaper-y." wireless content delivery. stay tuned. reduction, Sony exec Kaz Hirai
markings, including a telltale FCC (Which you can kinda tell by the Earlier: Aaaaaand, since Barnes revealed that PS3 "hardware
certification, that implies some photo—since the pocket readers and Noble's inking ebook store
kind of wireless connectivity. Just SONY page 53

The Classic iPhone Face Wallpaper Collection [IPhone]

By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) where they can get the • While the image appears, right-
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:50:00 AM background. click in the center of the image and
I always point them to the select "Save Image As..."
This classic 19 wallpaper original iPhone wallpaper post, (alternatively, you can drag to your
collection is probably unknown to and they always come back desktop if you are using Safari).
the majority of iPhone owners marvelled: "How didn't I know • Add them to an album in
because it was released with the about these?" is their most iPhoto, and synchronize it with the
1st generation. It contains the common phrase. Recently, a iPhone. Once synchronized, go to
original iPhone smiley face—so fellow Gizmodo editor and I were the albums in your iPhone and set
c u t e — a s w e l l a s f a m o u s talking about them too, and one as your desktop background.
characters, from Mario to Vader. unknowingly, another designer up again, so every iPhone their favorites. From the iPhone:
From time to time, people send contacted me, mentioning that it user—and anyone with a phone To get them with a computer: • If you are reading this on the
me emails asking about the smiley was too bad most people didn't iPhone, just select the image and
face that appears in iPhone know about these. using a 320 x 480 screen—can • Click on the background you
have the opportunity to download want to get. save it as your background.
photomontages everywhere, asking So that's why I'm putting them
Internet News Record
SONY
continued from page 52
alone" is still losing money.
However, he claims that when you
look at the whole PlayStation
platform (from consoles to
peripherals to software to avatar
clothing in Home), it's reached a
"gross profit" threshold.
Besides, while we could mock
What's in the next release of River2
(Scripting News)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 10:18:54 AM
The first release of the River2
aggregator was all about CSS. I
wanted to be sure this new
aggregator would be buzzword
compliant and user-configurable. I
wanted the design community to
have their way with this tool.
The second release has a
completely different set of goals,
they relate to the subscription
engine, realtime processing of
updates, and podcast support.
Specifically...
1. Dynamic reading list support.
A reading list is an OPML file that
contains a subscription list that is
read every time the aggregator
scans its feeds. Any new feeds are
subscribed to, and any feeds that
are no longer in the list are
unsubbed, assuming they aren't in
another reading list or were
independently subscribed to. This
feature has been in my aggregators
but not in most others. Google
Reader, for example, does not
support this feature, but imho it
Sony's difficulties producing
budget-friendly hardware, we've
all seen what happens when a
console—even a great console—is
produced a bit too much on the
cheap. [ TimesOnline via Kotaku]
should. I'm putting this out there to
help lead the market.
2. Fully rssCloud compliant. If
you subscribe to a feed that has a
cloud element, and you aren't
behind a firewall or NAT, River2
will request notification, so that
updates are received in realtime.
3. A podcatcher that's not from
Apple. The market needs more
Tech Musings/ Entertainment/ 53
Urgently need an Intel
build of OPML
Editor/Mac
(Scripting News) did was with THINK C on the Mac
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:15:51 AM in the mid-90s. I've tried to build
the Mac app on XCode, but I
I thought about writing a more always hit a problem that I don't
creative headline, but opted instead know how to work around, and
for a direct request for help. honestly I don't want to struggle at
1. Yesterday I pre-ordered a this level. I'm going to stick to
than one podcatcher. So if you
subscribe to a feed that has family pack of Snow Leopard. As I d e v e l o p i n g i n t h e O P M L
enclosures, it will download them understand it, the new version of environment. When I can do a
into a folder of your choosing. the Mac OS will run PPC apps kernel build on both Mac and
This works for photo feeds as well only with special software loaded, Windows, I may look at working
as feeds with audio and video. the way earlier versions of the OS inside the C codebase.
Tying it all together, here's a ran Mac Classic apps. 5. I need someone to get a build
reading list that contains podcast 2. The OPML Editor for the Mac of the Mac OPML Editor together
feeds, one of which is cloud- is a PPC app. asap and to do some basic testing
enabled. 3. It is also an instance of the to be sure it works with the current
This release is not ready for GPL'd Frontier kernel, which I opml.root.
download yet. Because I got a bad understand has been converted to Resources: The Frontier Kernel
cold, and was sidelined last week, be an Intel app. project website. Source download
the project was set back by a week. 4. I can build the Windows of the OPML Editor from August
But developers are moving ahead version of the OPML Editor. 2008.
with their r s s C l o u d However, I cannot build the Mac Thanks in advance!
implementations, and will need version. It's been a long time since
something to test against. That's I worked at the C level, last time I
one important role of River2, it
represents a reference
implementation of the client side
of the rssCloud protocol.
What's next after this River2
release? More cloud-enabled
feeds. An editorial tool that
produces cloud-enabled feeds.

Are you 18 to 49 and aware of the new TV shows?

By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 8:00:00 AM
Networks and advertisers love the
18 to 49 demographic. If you're
not in that demo, then just sell
your TV right now, OK? Nielsen
even creates an "awareness"
survey every year and sends it to
the networks so they know which
new shows have made it into the
public consciousness, and Nikki
Finke has the list.
ABC's Flash Forward and The
while Hank has the lowest (every
time I hear the name of this show I
forget that Kelsey Grammer is in it
- it sounds like the name of an
animated show).
Cougar have the most awareness, Continue reading Are you 18 to
49 and aware of the new TV
shows?
Filed under: Industry,
Programming, Reality-Free
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
54 Entertainment/ Tech Games/
Bryan Elsley is bringing the Guess who might volunteer to
amazing Skins stateside play Susan Boyle in a biopic?
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad) By Brad Trechak (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 9:03:00 AM
I was a huge fan of Skins long
before it came to the US. When
you follow television like I do, you
sometimes become aware of shows
from other countries that the U.S.
isn't keen to yet. Which is how I
found Skins when it was first
making waves in the U.K.
Immediately, I was drawn to it as
something I'd never seen before in
a teen show.
The show worked so well
because of its authenticity,
achieved by having a group of real
teens write the stories. All the
actors were little known real teens,
as well. No young-looking 35-year
-olds faking it here. To keep it
fresh, they rotate out virtually the
entire cast every two years.
Now co-creator Bryan Elsley is
looking to apply that same formula
to an all new U.S.-based Skins,
and after a tense bidding war,
The Closer: Waivers of Extradition (summer
season finale)
By Allison Waldman (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:34:00 AM
(S05E12) Kind of like the
summer season finale for Burn
Notice, it seemed like they saved
the best for last with The Closer.
There was an interesting case, a
colorful new character to go nose
to nose with Brenda, and an up
tick in the action, including a chase
that was top notch. Kudos to Kevin and Major Crimes were on the trail
Bacon who directed the episode of a ninja. No, not a real ninja, but
and brought it all together.
Submitted at 8/24/2009 9:03:00 PM
According to the UK Telegraph
(and I always have trouble
believing anything from the British
media, but bear with me), none
other than Robin Williams has
offered himself up to play Susan
Boyle in any planned movie of her
life. Apparently, he's been doing
MTV has secured the rights. I am impressions of the breakout singer
glad it's on cable, as the original for celebrity friends.
has some racy content. I just hope This could very well lead to
MTV doesn't get tempted to turn it Robin's second Oscar (his first for
into The Real World: Scripted. a non-supporting role). If he pulls
Even the fake kids of Skins are this off, he could be as impressive
more real than those bozos. as Meryl Streep playing Julia
Continue reading Bryan Elsley is Child. Of course, if he can't pull it
bringing the amazing Skins off, it would look like a sad
stateside attempt at repeating Mrs.
Filed under: Other Drama D o u b t f i r e .
Shows, Pickups and Renewals, However, unless they start work
Reality-Free on the movie tomorrow, this will
Permalink| Email this| | l i k e l y b e c h a l k e d u p a s a n
Comments interesting and amusing rumor.
of looked like a ninja. He used a
blade, albeit a knife, and he was a
stone cold killer who showed no
mercy and seemed to take pleasure
in the kill.
Continue reading The Closer:
Waivers of Extradition (summer
season finale)
Filed under: Other Drama
Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews,
Reality-Free
For a time, it looked like Brenda Permalink| Email this| | Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:00:00 AM
Comments
a guy dressed all in black who kind
While her story is interesting,
Susan Boyle's star has been
dimming somewhat and it wouldn't
surprise me if she was relegated to
Celebrity Big Brother in the near
future.
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities,
Casting, Reality-Free
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
Ubisoft wants
to know why
you kill people
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Ubisoft's new community site for
Assassin's Creed II fans is asking
UBISOFT page 55
Internet News Record
Eric Northman as
Mr. January in the
Fangtasia calendar
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 8:09:00 PM
I just got off the phone with Alan
Ball, and have I got some good
stuff for all you True Blood fans!
Look for that interview on TV
Squad in the next day or so. I'm
trying to wrap my head around all
the fun stuff Alan told me about
season three.
Until then, I offer you this eye
candy: Eric Northman as Mr.
January on the Fangtasia calendar.
I couldn't find an actual Fangtasia
calendar on the official True Blood
site, so let me know if you know
where to get this. I believe this is
fan art by "Bloody Mistress" from
the True Blood Wiki. If you want
to look at Eric while listening to
the True Blood theme song, check
it out on Cast TV.
Continue reading Eric Northman
as Mr. January in the Fangtasia
calendar
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free,
True Blood
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
Internet News Record Tech Games/ TechNews/ 55
UBISOFT
continued from page 54
members to submit YouTube directly to that audience. Unless
videos explaining their own there's some new definition of
personal "Assassin's Creeds." "assassin" in use these days that
"Write your own version of 'The we aren't aware of. Is "assassin"
Assassin's Creed,'" the website just a way of describing a really
entreats fans. "Tell us what it cool guy who believes in himself?
means to be an Assassin, what you Gallery: Assassin's Creed II
stand for, and why you have (GamesCom 2009)
chosen this path. Create a 1-2
minute video reciting your Creed."
[Thanks, Ed]
Ubisoft wants to know why you
GameStop pre-
Isn't that basically asking people to
explain why they are, you know,
kill people originally appeared on
Joystiq on Tue, 25 Aug 2009
orders new
assassins?
We weren't aware that Ubisoft's
01:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds. CFO
stealth action series was so popular
among the real-life killer-for-hire
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments Unannounced 'Pinnacle By Randy Nelson (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 11:59:00 PM
community ... or even that there
was such a "community," but
Ubisoft's marketing is catering
Station' Mass Effect DLC now GameStop practices what it
preaches -- even when it comes to
available appointing new company
Crowdsourced, Cloud-Based By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)
executives. The video game
brawling through 13 new "combat r e t a i l e r k n o w n f o r a s k i n g
scenarios," and adding 2 to 3 hours consumers to "guarantee" a copy
Anti-Virus? Lots Of Buzzwords, Submitted at 8/25/2009 10:00:00 AM
of play time to the soon-to-be- of their games ahead of time has
As we all know, the first and sequeled space opera. We plan on itself pre-ordered a new executive
But How Does It Work? second rules of Fight Club are that picking it up ASAP, if only to see vice president slash chief financial
you do not talk about Fight Club. if Meat Loaf and spliced-in images officer. Catherine R. Smith, a
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) through the company's website, Appropriately, Microsoft and of genitalia make an appearance. former GameStop exec, has a
Submitted at 8/24/2009 4:22:00 PM and it seems to just skip right over BioWare haven't talked much (We're thinking no.) release full-time start date of
the question of actually detecting about their Palahniuk-inspired [Thanks to everyone who sent March 1, 2010. (That's when
W e ' v e s e e n p l e n t y o f the virus. It makes fun of the Mass Effect DLC, Pinnacle this curious item in!]
crowdsourced anti-spam apps, but established anti-virus providers for Station; despite the fact that it current EVP and CFO David W.
Unannounced 'Pinnacle Station'
Jesse points us to a company taking too long in examining h a s n ' t e v e n b e e n f o r m a l l y Mass Effect DLC now available Carlson
goes in the bargain bin
called Immunet that claims to be suspected viruses in their lab, but announced, it's now available on originally appeared on Joystiq on retires.) Fun fact: Ms. Smith formerly
launching a free "cloud-based, never explains how the detection X b o x L i v e M a r k e t p l a c e f o r Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST. served
collaborative anti-virus" solution. occurs otherwise. In fact, about the 4 0 0 ( $ 5 ) . as CFO of Raytheon, one of
Please see our terms for use of A m e r i c a ' s l a r g e s t d e f e n s e
The idea is that people install it, only thing I can figure out from the According to the DLC's online feeds. contractors. It makes -- among
and as soon as anyone detects a company's own language is that it's description, Pinnacle Station will Read| Permalink| Email this| other things -- systems used to
virus problem, that info is shared going to simply use the virus force you to "test the limits of your Comments remotely operate UAV drones.
with all of the other users, thereby definitions found in those other combat prowess aboard a remote,
(in theory) working much faster products installed on people's top-secret Alliance space station," Perhaps she can use her
than today's brand-name anti-virus computers. If that's true, then it connections to wrangle up some
Predators for a new platinum tier,
products. However, I have to admit won't actually be any better or same-day shipping service?
I can't figure out how this works. faster than those companies it was GameStop pre-orders new CFO
For anti-spam stuff it makes sense making fun of earlier. The whole
-- since anyone can recognize thing sounds full of buzzwords and originally appeared on Joystiq on
spam. But how can it work for anti hype, but appears to have little Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:59:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of
-virus? Who's determining what substance.
the actual virus is? How is it feeds.
Permalink| Comments| Email Read| Permalink| Email this|
protected against false positives? This Story
Comments
None of that's clear. I went
56 Tech Games/ TechNews/ Internet News Record

Tales of Monkey Island

available at Amazon in
one-tale increments
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 11:00:00 PM

Telltale Games is selling the

Rumor: Xbox 360 Elite, Pro Sins of a Solar Empire entire season of Tales of Monkey
Island-- buy it now and get each
deals revealed by Target 'Diplomacy' beta begins fall,
chapter as it's released. But what if
you're interested in only one Tale
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) manager who stated that because of Monkey Island? And you don't
Submitted at 8/25/2009 9:30:00 AM of the Halo 3 Elite bundle
available there (which is no longer
releases winter 2010 want to play it on Wii? The
company announced today that
Adding to the growing pile of on The Source's website -- we By Alexander Sliwinski j u m p i n g i n t o t h e d i g i t a l individual episodes of the
evidence indicating an upcoming guess that retailer jumped the gun), (Joystiq) distribution galaxy. A third micro- a d v e n t u r e g a m e r e v i v a l a r e
Xbox 360 Elite price drop, a reader current Elite bundles have been Submitted at 8/25/2009 9:03:00 AM expansion for Sins was previously available for purchase from
has sent in a picture he claims is a marked down to $349.99. A quick announced, so the full 4X RTS Amazon.com's Game Downloads
snap of next week's Target ad, look at The Source and Amazon The second micro-expansion for space opera experience should be shop, for $8.95 each.
showing a new price of $299 for verifies this claim. PC sleeper hit Sins of a Solar completed sometime next year -- The availability of the games on
the system. In addition, the ad Rumor: Xbox 360 Elite, Pro Empire will release in winter 2010. unless there are more delays, of Amazon will help expose them to
advertises Pro systems for $249.99 deals revealed by Target originally The Diplomacy add-on will course. a wider audience, and will also
-- and both systems will have an appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 25 i n c r e a s e t h e n u m b e r o f Gallery: Sins of a Solar Empire serve to offer a low-risk trial to
extra controller thrown in. If this is Aug 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please ambassadorial options to players in S i n s o f a S o l a r E m p i r e potential adventure game fans who
real, it'll be in effect August 30. see our terms for use of feeds. their conquest of the galaxy. You 'Diplomacy' beta begins fall, will almost immediately wish
Engadget has a clearer shot of the P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | know, sometimes it helps to talk releases winter 2010 originally they'd just purchased the whole
ad. Comments through the issues. Ironclad and appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 25 season.
In addition, we received a tip Stardock plan to have a beta for Aug 2009 09:03:00 EST. Please Gallery: Tales of Monkey Island
from a Canadian game store the expansion this fall in order to see our terms for use of feeds. Tales of Monkey Island available
work out any Vasarian bugs. Read| Permalink| Email this| at Amazon in one-tale increments
Entrenchment and Diplomacy Comments
have both suffered delays while

If Newspapers Claim They're Serving The Public... Why Are They Working So
Hard To Limit Who Sees The Content?
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) to the changing market in front of Yelvington points us to a good In other words, in their zeal to lock the public willing to pay -- which
Submitted at 8/24/2009 11:28:00 PM them, they need to be kept alive, point made by Rick Edmonds, up the content, they're proving that doesn't quite have that same noble
because of their civic duty of noting that if it's so important for they don't mean what they say civic duty feel to it, now does it?
One of the common refrains from serving the public and preserving the newspapers to serve the public, when they talk about just serving Permalink| Comments| Email
folks in the newspaper industry is democracy. At least that's how the doesn't it make it much harder for the public. They really only mean This Story
that, despite their inability to react argument goes. However, Steve them to do that behind a paywall. that they're serving the segment of
Internet News Record
TALES
continued from page 56
originally appeared on Joystiq on
U.K. government eyes sanctions for file sharers
Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:00:00 EST. (CNET News.com)
Please see our terms for use of Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:34:30 AM
feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this| The U.K. government has made
Comments new proposals that would see
Internet users disconnected if they
are suspected of illicit file-sharing.
The proposals (PDF) were
announced on Tuesday by Lord
Mandelson's Department of
Business, Innovation and Skills
(BIS). They arrive in the middle of
the department's own public
consultation on legislation on the
misuse of peer-to-peer (P2P)
technology, which is scheduled to
end in September.
"Our thinking on the process
supporting the objectives and the
obligations [of the consultation]
has developed, and we thought it
would be helpful to share these
thoughts with stakeholders at this
point, so that they can take them
into account when responding to
the consultation," the government
said in a statement.
The new proposals make two
major additions to the initial plans.
The first is a new sanction against
illicit file sharers, which calls on
the ISP to suspend the suspected
subscriber's account. Lord Carter
discounted this measure as
unnecessarily harsh in his Digital
Britain report, which kicked off
the P2P consultation in June.
However, the government now
says it is "considering the case for
adding suspension of accounts into
the list of measures that could be
imposed."
The second addresses the amount
of time it will take for the ISP
industry to start cracking down on
file sharers. The original
consultation set out a year-long
trial of a scheme under which ISPs
send letters to suspected file
sharers, asking them to stop their
activities. At the end of the trial, if
at least 70 percent of these people
had not complied, technical
measures would be introduced.
The government said on
Tuesday, referring to the year-long
trial, that "the previous proposals,
whilst robust, would take an
unacceptable amount of time to
complete in a situation that calls
for urgent action."
A spokesperson for BIS said that
responses to its consultation
indicated that "rights holders, ISPs
and consumer groups" are among
the many respondents who had
found the trial period to be
unacceptable.
However, the ISP Association
(ISPA) said in a statement that it
was "concerned that amendments
have been proposed without
consultation with the Internet
Industry and that the decision was
made to publish changes to the
consultation before stakeholders
had been given the opportunity to
respond."
"ISPA intends to raise these
concerns with the Government and
is currently considering the
appropriate action," the industry
body added.
BIS's spokesperson denied that
the government was pre-empting
the results of the department's
consultation, which was initially
scheduled to end on Sept. 15, but
has now been extended to Sept. 29
to allow for response to the new
proposals. The government is
bringing out new proposals
because it wants "those who didn't
think of these ideas" to have a
chance to consider them before
they submit a response to the
consultation, the department's
spokesperson said.
In the Digital Britain report,
Lord Carter put forward a variety
of technical measures, such as
bandwidth throttling and protocol
blocking, that could be used to
address piracy. In its statement on
Tuesday, the government said that
"since the issue of the consultation,
some stakeholders have argued
strongly that none of those
technical measures is powerful
enough to have a significant
deterrent effect on infringing
behavior."
Asked to identify the
stakeholders in question, the BIS
spokesperson said it was "safe to
assume they would be rights-
holders."
The government acknowledged
the need to make sure that
innocent people, such as those
TechNews/ 57
sharing an Internet connection
with suspected copyright
infringers, were not affected by
any technical sanctions. If
disconnection is introduced, for
example, "it would be important to
ensure as far as possible that
innocent people... would retain
access to the Internet services they
need, including online public
services," BIS said in its statement.
Asked how this could be done,
BIS's spokesperson declined to
give details, but said the
government "wouldn't put
something in the statement unless
we knew it was possible."
The government also said it
wanted to make accommodation
for any developments in P2P, such
as when one file-sharing site is
closed down and another
automatically replaces it. "We
cannot know how P2P technology
might develop in the short to
medium term, and we want to
ensure that [the regulator] Ofcom
has a full tool-kit from which to
select the most appropriate
measure should technical measures
be deemed necessary," BIS said in
its statement.
"It's very possible the technology
will change again," the BIS
spokesperson said.
David Meyer of ZDNet UK
reported from London.
58 TechNews/
Go social with these Wordpress plug-ins
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:00:00 AM
With the help of plug-ins, you
can extend the functionality of
your Wordpress blog far beyond
what's available to you when you
add it to your server.
One of the best ways to get the
most out of your blogs is through
social plug-ins. These simple plug-
ins can be added to your blog to
help you connect socially with
both your readers and their friends.
They offer a fine way to build
traffic to your site.
Go social with your blog
Add to Facebook If you want to
make it easy for readers to
syndicate your content to
Facebook, Add to Facebook is the
plug-in for you.
The plug-in provides a simple
option at the bottom of each post,
called "Share on Facebook." When
the reader clicks on that link,
they're immediately delivered to
their Facebook page, showing a
thumbnail of the image in your
blog post, as well as the beginning
of your post. If Facebook
followers click on that link, they'll
be delivered to your page. It's a
neat utility. And it's a great way to
share content through social
channels.
Add to Facebook makes it easy
for readers to syndicate your
content.(Credit: Screenshot by
Don Reisinger/CNET)
Digg Digg Although its name
might suggest that Digg Digg is a
way to get readers to share your
content with the popular social
news site, it's much more than that.
Digg Digg allows you to add
voting buttons to your blog. You
can add a TweetMeme retweet
button, a Yahoo Buzz button, and
a "Submit to Reddit" option, along
with your Digg button. The plug-in
also allows you to decide where to
place those buttons. You can
choose the top, bottom, left, or
right of your post.
Digg Digg is a great way to
syndicate your content around the
Web.(Credit: Screenshot by Don
Reisinger/CNET)
FriendFeed Comments If you're
a FriendFeed user, you know that
it's a great site to discuss
interesting stories. FriendFeed
Comments helps you bring those
discussions to your blog.
When you activate FriendFeed
Comments, you need only to input
Internet News Record
like it, the plug-in could
significantly improve your chances
of getting your posts on social
networks. Test it out to see what
your readers think before you
commit to Instant Highlighter.
Instant Highlighter is a test
case.(Credit: Screenshot by Don
Reisinger/CNET)
Social Bookmarks Sharing your
content on different social
networks is extremely important as
you try to build your blog. Social
Bookmarks will help you do just
that.
When you activate Social
Bookmarks, it automatically adds
several social-networking icons to
the bottom of each of your blog
posts. When the reader chooses
one of those options, they can send
your post's link to their social
profile. The list includes Delicious,
Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Buzz,
Digg, and more. Adding content to
the profile is quick and easy. It's a
really nice app. Check it out.
Social Bookmarks is a great way
to get readers to share
content.(Credit: Screenshot by
Don Reisinger/CNET)
Twitter for Wordpress Twitter
for Wordpress allows you to place
your Wordpress updates into your
sidebar for all your readers to see.
your FriendFeed username, tweak Instant Highlighter Instant After it's activated, Twitter for
a couple of settings, and watch all Highlighter provides readers with Wordpress won't automatically
the comments about your blog post the option to highlight different work. Instead, you'll need to either
get added to your site. Any portions of your blog posts and drag-and-drop a Twitter widget
comment placed on FriendFeed share that with Twitter, Facebook, into your sidebar or you'll need to
will be displayed on your blog. Yahoo, and other social sites. They add some simple PHP code to the
You can see the discussions made can also save portions of your blog sidebar to have it display your
between different people on the p o s t f o r t h e i r o w n f u t u r e Twitter updates. The Twitter
social network. Even better, all c o n s u m p t i o n . widgets make it look nicer, but if
those comments are placed in-line But to do that, they'll be brought you want a simple status message
with comments made on your to the plug-in's developer page, on your sidebar, the second option
blog. giving them a variety of options to is fine. Twitter for Wordpress is a
FriendFeed Comments will choose from. It's a little confusing nice plug-in if you want something
display comments from the social at first and I'm not quite sold on simple.
site.(Credit: Screenshot by Don the implementation. It might annoy
Reisinger/CNET) some readers. But if your readers
SOCIAL page 60
Internet News Record
Fine, Let Newspapers Collude
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 3:46:54 AM
We've heard from more than a
few journalists over the last few
months, thinking that the best way
to save the newspaper business is
for newspapers to get a special
antitrust exemption from Congress
that would allow them to collude
and all agree to put up paywalls.
The latest to join the chorus is Tim
Rutten at the LA Times, and it's
basically more of the same. For
people who are supposed to be
great journalists, you'd think they
could think more than one move
out, and realize what the inevitable
response would be to newspapers
all ganging up and putting up a
paywall. The problem that Rutten,
and the others before him, have
made is assuming (incorrectly) that
if they put up paywalls, people will
suddenly, magically, want to pay.
This sort of conceit is seen in a
poll put together by a Canadian
TV producer by the name of
Wodek Szemberg. Over the
weekend he set up a poll asking
people how much they would pay
per month for the news they read...
and the price starts at $10. As
Mathew Ingram pointed out,
Szemberg's post is missing zero as
an option (I'd argue it's also
missing a lot of other numbers --
starting at $10 is incredibly
presumptuous). Szemberg
responded to this criticism by
saying that zero isn't an option
because zero will not exist for
access to sites. Trust me, for many
people, zero will absolutely exist
as an option.
It's difficult to think of anything
to say to people who think these
ways, other than " good luck." The
real world doesn't believe in such
limitations. If the newspapers
collude and come up with a pricing
scheme where the lowest option
starts at $10 per month -- fine. Just
go do it, and then let's see what
happens. Because talking about it
is getting pretty silly.
But here's my guess as to what
happens:
• Smart news publications break
off from the "charge 'em" pack and
remain free and/or experiment
with more creative business
models.
• Traffic to the paywall sites
drops to ridiculously low levels.
• Those sites realize that the
revenue from subscriptions is a
blip and barely noticeable.
• In removing much of the
audience, those sites also lose
pretty much all leverage with
advertisers, and discover that their
online ad revenue drops quite a lot
as well.
• Meanwhile, remember those
smart publications that didn't join
in the suicide party? They're
soaking up plenty of traffic, and
working hard to provide more
value to readers.
• On top of that, newer startups
spring up to fill in the void left by
the paywall crew.
• Smart journalists start jumping
ship from the legacy papers behind
the paywall to those who actually
get them some public recognition
(which are a lot more fun anyway).
• Without competition from, or
the legacy business structures of,
the paywall newspapers, the
smarter publications start bringing
in both audience and revenue (not
all of it advertising).
• The paywall crew goes back to
complaining to the gov't, though
people start to wonder why they're
still around, when there's so much
useful journalism going out
without paywalls.
So, go ahead. Just get it over
with, so we can stop writing this
post over and over again, and you
guys can clear the field for the real
innovators.
Permalink| Comments| Email
This Story
CommuTweet uses
Twitter to fend off
traffic jams
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:27:00 AM
Twitter's usefulness can most
often be measured during times of
disaster, when the quick spread of
important information can really
make a difference. And guess what
--that works for traffic jams too.
CommuTweet is proof of that,
with a new service that lets those
who are unfortunate enough to get
stuck in traffic, or a long-delayed
bus or train line to share that
information with others.
The service revolves around the
use of a specially formatted tweet
that can be localized to whatever
state you're in, and what kind of
transportation you plan on riding.
To get things narrowed down to
this level, users have to construct
their outgoing messages in a
special format. This starts with a
#CommuTweet hash tag, followed
by the abbreviated name of the
state, followed by a one letter short
code that tells other users what
part of the transit system is down
or backed up, be it b us, s ubway, f
erry and r ail. When completed,
this leaves users with around 125
letters to type any additional
information about what's gone
wrong.
To access all of this information,
users can either view and sort it
from CommuTweet's site, or
through Twitter's search tool.
However, the benefit of using
CommuTweet is that you can log-
in using your Twitter credentials
and get it to automatically add the
TechNews/ 59
hash tag and location to your
outgoing messages--that is as long
as they're done from its
composition tool. It can also post
the message just to CommuTweet
and not your public timeline, as
well as filter the tweets you see
from others to just your state and
your preferred form of
transportation.
Using CommuTweet I was able
to set up my commute parameters
in about a minute. The problem, at
least for California, is that it's a big
state with many different
transportation mediums. In most
cases I'm better served simply
subscribing to the news feeds of
the public transit services I use, or
logging into their sites to see if
there are any alerts. That's where
this tool really impressed me
though--it's already subscribed to
these feeds. As long as the
transportation service has a Twitter
feed it'll show up on
CommuTweet. This solves one of
the biggest problems with these
crowd-sourced solutions, which is
seeding any lapse of user-created
data with a constant stream of
information from the source.
See also TrafficTweet, which
lets users tweet traffic alerts for
specific cities. It also has a mobile
app which can add exact location
and show you where jams are
happening, which CommuTweet
cannot currently do.
Related: Who owns transit data?
(via KillerStartups)
60 TechNews/ Internet News Record

Not Learning When To Give In: Yahoo reaches Arab

Sedgwick Decides To Appeal world with acquisition
(CNET News.com) Maktoob.com and our investment
Decision Against Griper Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:47:00 AM in the region, the Arab world will
soon get a Yahoo experience in
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) the use of the photos, noting that it defended pro se. Despite the long Yahoo has signed an agreement Arabic with relevant local
Submitted at 8/24/2009 5:56:04 PM was certainly a case of fair use. odds, Delsman nevertheless got a to buy Maktoob.com, the leading language content, programming
Most impressive? The guy fighting rousing dismissal of the claims. online community in the Arab and services."
Remember that discussion a few Sedgwick and its big law firm won The court held the use of the world with more than 16.5 million The two companies are also
months ago about how most the case defending himself (pro headshots was a fair use (a clearly users. touting the purchase as an
lawyers apparently understood the se). correct ruling, IMO), and the court Through the acquisition opportunity for advertisers to
Streisand Effect, and knew better Perhaps because of the pro se casually tossed all of the other announced Tuesday, Yahoo will access a new market. Yahoo cited
than to file bogus lawsuits against nature of defense, Sedgwick has claims using California's anti- join its own services with statistics from Madar Research,
individuals putting up "gripes" decided to appeal, but Eric SLAPP law. Maktoob.com's local content, which predicts that online
sites about their business? We've Goldman can't figure out what That should have been the end of providing people with Arabic- advertising will rise by 35 to 40
already seen that's not quite true, they're thinking as all it does is call it. Instead, surprisingly, Sedgwick specific information and Arabic percent in the Arab region this
but it takes a special level of more attention to the complaints has decided to appeal the ruling to versions of Yahoo Messenger and year.
thoughtlessness to lose such a against the company: Put this one the Ninth Circuit. This sets up a Yahoo Mail. "Internet users in the Arab world
bogus lawsuit (badly) and then file in the "Are you kidding me?" file. potentially important Ninth Circuit Popular in such countries as the will have access to Yahoo's vast
an appeal. We recently wrote Last month I blogged about showdown over how copyright fair United Arab Emirates, Jordan, content portfolio, as well as world-
about lawsuit filed by Sedgwick Sedgwick Claims Management v. use and anti-SLAPP doctrines Kuwait, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, class communications products,
Claims Management against a guy Delsman involving a small-time apply to Internet gripers. It also Maktoob.com says it reaches one- which will be available in Arabic
who was upset with the company. griper who had the temerity to cut- gives Sedgwick extra time to bask third of those online in the Arab for the first time," Ahmed Nassef,
Part of his griping, involved taking a n d - p a s t e s o m e c o m p a n y in the glow of the Streisand effect. world. general manager of Maktoob.com,
photos of Sedgwick execs and executive headshots to create his Some people apparently never And there is room to grow. said in a statement. "In addition,
p u t t i n g t h e m o n a f a k e griping material. Sedgwick went learn. Citing figures from the World advertisers will be able to leverage
"WANTED" poster. The judge, after Delsman in a big way, hiring Permalink| Comments| Email Bank, Yahoo noted that more than the vast reach of the newly
correctly, threw out most of the a big national firm (Lord Locke) to This Story 320 million people worldwide combined audiences to effectively
lawsuit as being a SLAPP and take Delsman down, apparently speak Arabic, but less than 1 market to consumers across the
t o s s e d o u t t h e r i d i c u l o u s unaware of or unconcerned about percent of all online content is in region."
"copyright infringement" claim on the Streisand effect. Delsman Arabic. The acquisition is expected to be
"Access to information and completed in the fourth quarter,
communications tools can after which Maktoob.com will
positively impact people's lives in become a wholly owned subsidiary
many ways," Yahoo CEO Carol of Yahoo. Financial terms of the
Bartz said in a statement, "and acquisition were not disclosed.
with the acquisition of
SOCIAL
continued from page 58
Twitter for Wordpress is OK, but When readers share a blog post for those who don't want to lose simple with Digg Digg.
not great.(Credit: Screenshot by with their Twitter followers, the Twitter-based traffic due to a long 2. FriendFeed Comments:
Don Reisinger/CNET) link won't show the full post URL. URL. FriendFeed is a great discussion
Twitter Friendly Links Since Instead, the Twitter link will Twitter Friendly Links makes platform. It's even better when it's
many Wordpress blogs don't display your site's domain, your URLs much nicer.(Credit: on your blog.
provide the most Twitter-friendly followed by a unique identifier. It's Kovshenin.com) 3. Twitter Friendly Links:
links, Twitter Friendly Links helps similar to TinyURL or Bit.ly, but My top 3 There's something simple, yet
solve that problem by instead of those domains, you'll 1. Digg Digg: Getting your compelling about Twitter Friendly
automatically shortening your see your own. It's a simple feature, content added to important content Links.
blog's URLs. for sure, but it's extremely useful -syndication platforms is made
Internet News Record
Report: Steve Jobs concentrating on
tablet
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:17:00 AM
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been
focusing intensely on a tablet
device since returning to work in
June, according to The Wall Street
Journal.
Jobs, who came back following a
liver transplant and six-month
medical leave, is overseeing every
aspect of the new tablet, especially
its advertising and marketing
strategy, the Journal said Tuesday.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, last
October.(Credit: James
Martin/CNET)
Apple staffers have faced Jobs'
scrutiny after a period of freedom
over product strategy during his
leave. "People have had to
readjust" to his presence, noted the
Journal, quoting a person familiar
with the matter.
The rumor mill has been abuzz
with stories of a possible Apple
tablet, Netbook, or giant iPod. But
those familiar with the device
declined to reveal details about it
or disclose its release date, the
Journal noted.
Still, many industry watchers
expect that it will be a multimedia
device that will let people surf the
Web, watch movies, play games,
and possibly read e-books. And
they expect it to debut later this
year or in early 2010.
Jobs' attention to the tablet is a
sign of how important the new
device is to Apple, the Journal
said. Since unveiling the iPhone in
2007, the company hasn't released
a new product category, choosing
instead to enhance its existing line
of MacBooks, iPods, and iPhones.
A tablet has been in the works
for some time. Apple was granted
a patent on such a device last year.
But the design process apparently
hasn't been a smooth one. Jobs
halted the project twice, once
because of poor battery life and
again because of insufficient
memory, a person familiar with the
matter told the Journal.
In an e-mail to the Journal, Jobs
said that "much of your
information is incorrect," but he
didn't provide specifics. An Apple
representative declined to
comment further.
TechNews/ 61
SCO... Not Dead Yet...
Appeals Court Reverses
Novell Ruling; Trial Likely
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) owns the copyright. Oddly, the
Submitted at 8/25/2009 1:29:35 AM court did not overturn the part
where SCO has to pay Novell $2.5
And you thought the insane million -- which could push the
nightmare was over. Two years company over the final edge. If,
ago it seemed like the long however, SCO can stay alive, and
national nightmare that was SCO's it does go to trial, the company
claims of copyright infringement could (and likely will) still lose
in Linux were over. A judge ruled that trial (and, we're still twiddling
that SCO did not actually own the our thumbs and waiting for any
copyrights it claimed it did, and evidence from SCO that IBM
that they still belonged to Novell. actually infringed on the UNIX
While SCO received a slap on the copyrights... but that's another
wrist($2.5 million) for this, it story and another lawsuit). SCO's
basically wiped out the key part of Darl McBride (how he's still
SCO's lawsuit against IBM, and running the show is beyond me) is
led SCO to file for bankruptcy. claiming this is a validation for
S o m e i n v e s t o r s s u p p o s e d l y SCO, but that's not even close to
pumped some money into SCO to true. All the court is saying is that
keep it breathing, but later details there wasn't enough for the
on that made the whole deal seem s u m m a r y j u d g m e n t o n t h e
very, very sketchy. However, now copyright ownership, and the issue
SCO might have a very slight should be taken up in a full jury
chance to turn things around. trial. That's not a "validation" of
A judge has overturned part of SCO's position -- it's a small, and
the lower court's original ruling on likely temporary, lifeline.
who owns the copyrights to Unix, Permalink| Comments| Email
and ordered a full jury trial take This Story
place to determine who actually
62 TechNews/ Sports/ Internet News Record

Fewer Foreigners Coming

To US Grad Schools: This
Is A Problem Breaking News:
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) be competing with US companies, Yankees, Red Sox
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:57:04 AM who were hindered in hiring the
best employees. Getting beat in the
Microsoft The Latest To Play Each Other
I still cannot understand the market by a foreign competitor
antagonism that many seem to feel isn't good for US jobs. It's terrible
towards skill foreigners getting for US jobs.
Try To Patent An Entire (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 8:49:34 AM

jobs in the US. The job market is And yet, thanks to the economy
not a zero-sum game, and there are and our own immigration policies,
two important things to understand guess what's happening? Not only
Bio Industry It’s easy not to notice when the
Yankees and Red Sox are squaring
off, but only if you don’t ever
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
when it comes to these foreigners: is it incredibly difficult for skilled However, now it seems that watch television nor look at tabloid
• Studies have shown, repeatedly, foreign workers to get jobs, many Submitted at 8/24/2009 9:27:00 PM Microsoft may be trying to newspapers in the Northeast nor
that bringing in such skilled foreigners aren't even trying to go stockpile outside of its core leave your apartment. Baseball’s
foreigners helps create new jobs by to US grad schools any more, Microsoft's Bill Gates once industries, and it has some folks up most-hyped — and perhaps also
expanding the economy. In fact, knowing how difficult it is to get famously pointed out that if in arms. A bunch of folks sent in best — rivalry went another three
25% of all tech startups these days visas and jobs in the US. As many software patents had been used the story about how Microsoft is rounds last weekend in Boston,
are done by foreign-born workers, are noticing, this is undeniably bad b a c k i n t h e e a r l y d a y s o f t r y i n g t o p a t e n t c l u s t e r i n g with the final result being a TKO
and in Silicon Valley that number for Silicon Valley and bad for Microsoft, the personal computer phylogenetics methods(here's the for the Yankees. After taking two
is over 50%. revolution almost certainly never application) that supposedly are of three at Fenway, the Yankees
innovation. Can someone please
• The even bigger point: it's not explain why it's somehow better to would have occurred. But, over the quite common in the evolutionary a r e 7 1 / 2 g a m e s u p i n t h e
last few years, Microsoft has biology industry. Of course, it's American League East, and the
a s i f t h e s e s k i l l e d w o r k e r s let those people compete with US
suddenly disappear if they're not in companies, rather than work with become quite aggressive in the just an application -- so one would Red Sox are effectively playing for
the US. Instead, they remain in US companies to grow them? patent space, not just working hard hope that, if it's so widely used, the wild card. EPA In case you
their home countries (or other to acquire as many patents as that the examiner will knock it out hadn’t heard, CC Sabathia and the
Permalink| Comments| Email
countries) where they're still just This Story possible, but also waving them with plenty of prior art. But, the Yankees played three baseball
as skilled and now more likely to around at times and threatening Patent Office isn't always known games in Boston this weekend.
other companies with them. Now, for doing such a good job on these Both teams scored runs at a
BREAKING
continued from page 62
some will point out that, in the sorts of things. And just the fact crazy clip — the two teams
software space at least, many feel that such a patent is being finished with 29 runs each, which
against Red Sox ace Josh Beckett. candid after serving up five the need to stockpile patents, just attempted should be troubling is an average week for a couple of
“He hasn’t always looked like an homers on Sunday — the words for the sake of having something enough. National League West teams —
ace this season, but the proof is in “ass-whupping” were used — the to use to threaten those who Permalink| Comments| Email but the Yankees came out on top
Sabathia’s 15 wins, a total that Red Sox haven’t officially given t h r e a t e n y o u w i t h p a t e n t This Story thanks to a starting rotation that is
leads the majors,” Harper writes. up on catching the Yankees, at i n f r i n g e m e n t ( t h e n u c l e a r coming together just as Boston’s
“His stuff isn’t as dazzling as least in the press. The same, s t o c k p i l i n g t h e o r y ) . seems to be blowing apart. In the
[fellow Yankees starter A.J.] though, cannot be said of the New York Daily News, John
Burnett’s can be, but he’s strong Boston press. “The Red Sox are Harper applauds well-compensated
and steady, and where Burnett has frequently correct about the media Yankees ace CC Sabathia, who
let situations rattle him at Fenway, and fans whipping the Yankees- gutted out a successful-if-
Sabathia doesn’t let the Red Sox or Red Sox rivalry into far more of a unspectacular win on Sunday
anyone else see him sweat.”
While Boston’s Beckett was BREAKING page 63 BREAKING page 62
Internet News Record
BREAKING
continued from page 62
frenzy than its reality,” the Boston
Herald’s Michael Silverman
writes. “Maybe that’s the best
thing to come out of this series:
Everyone can push the Yankees
out of the picture now … The way
[to the playoffs] for the Red Sox is
clear now. There is one path and
three teams stand in their way: The
Rays, Rangers and especially
themselves.”
In the NL, the Philadelphia
Phillies are pulling away with the
division, and put more distance
between themselves and their
erstwhile rivals, the New York
Mets, who found a new way to
lose Sunday. The Mets’ attempt at
a ninth-inning comeback ended in
a game-ending, unassisted triple
play by the Phillies’ Eric Bruntlett.
In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ray
Parrillo details the exceedingly
rare event, which had only
happened to end a game once
before in baseball history.* * *
Boxing has a narrative problem.
Other problems too, of course, all
of which make it harder to get over
that basic narrative issue —
basically everything written about
boxing somehow comes back to,
“… and that’s why boxing is
doomed/dying/dead.” In truth, the
sport itself is fairly healthy —
most divisions have at least a few
really excellent fighters, and pay-
per-view and gate receipts remain
strong. But it’s hard to get past that
narrative issue. This is especially
true when, on a big showcase such
as HBO’s “Boxing After Dark,” a
bunch of homer judges essentially
steal a fight. This happened on
Saturday, when Brooklyn-born
Paulie Malignaggi lost a
controversial unanimous decision
— and his bid for the vacant
NABO Junior Welterweight belt
— to hometown favorite Juan Diaz
in Houston.
“After a terrible performance
against Ricky Hatton last year,
Malignaggi redeemed himself with
a tactful, hard-fought effort against
Diaz that should have earned him a
victory — or at least a moral
victory in a close loss,” Mitch
Abramson writes in the New York
Daily News. “Instead, fighting in
Diaz’s hometown, Malignaggi
dropped a unanimous decision by a
wide margin that should call into
question the integrity of the
judging and further alienate fans
from the sport.”
It all ended with Malignaggi
ranting to HBO’s Max Kellerman
about the “politics” of fighting in
Texas and claiming that the sport’s
loss of integrity is “why nobody
watches this [curse-word-referring
-to-boxing] anymore.” At the blog
Queensberry Rules, David Schraub
thinks Malignaggi both had a
legitimate beef and highlighted a
real, if little-discussed, problem in
the sport.
“The fact that we all knew this
was likely to happen in Texas, the
fact that it’s become so woven into
the fabric of the sport that it hardly
even stirs emotion, is a sign of
complacency,” Schraub writes.
“Sure, there are lots of people who
will write angry posts about this
decision. But there is no real
indication that there is a systematic
problem worth addressing. We
don’t question whether Houston or
Montreal really is a good fight
town; sure, the crowds are loud
and excited, but what is it exactly
they’re watching?”
For all boxing’s problems,
though, there are still some
fascinating fighters out there. In
the heavyweight division, the
Klitschko brothers — Wladimir
and Vitali — dominate the scene.
In anticipation of Vitali’s
September 26 WBC title defense
against Chris Arreola, Bill Dwyre
offers a nice profile of the
Ukrainian renaissance man in the
Los Angeles Times.* * *
College phenom Stephen
Strasburg didn’t get the outlandish
money super-agent Scott Boras
initially discussed, but the deal the
first overall pick of Major League
Baseball’s June draft received
from the Washington Nationals
last week still set a new record.
That in itself isn’t really a
problem. Neither, Erik Manning
writes at the stat-oriented website
FanGraphs, is it even out of
keeping with Strasburg’s likely
worth.
In the New York Times, Dan
Rosenheck argues that it does
reflect a serious structural problem
with the way in which baseball
does — or more accurately,
doesn’t — pay its young players.
“As a vehicle to promote
competitive balance, the draft is
severely flawed; small-market
clubs routinely pass over top
players because of their bonus
demands,” Rosenheck reports. “Its
true purpose is to keep a lid on
amateur salaries — in other words,
to allow tight-fisted corporate
multimillionaires to steal money
from teenagers.” Rosenheck
postulates a fascinating solution to
this problem that’s at once
libertarian and redistributionist.* *
* — Tip of the Fix cap to reader
Lance Allred’s life story is
almost implausibly complicated.
The seven-footer has only 25% of
his hearing and obsessive-
compulsive disorder, and grew up
in a polygamist Mormon sect in
Montana. Oh, and he claims to
have been bullied brutally by
former Utah coach Rick Majerus
during his time there before
becoming an All-Star in the NBA
D-League and finally making it to
the NBA with the Cleveland
Cavaliers last season.
His wry and inevitably dramatic
autobiography was released in
May. Allred’s basketball story is
still in progress; Yahoo’s Adrian
Wojnarowski reports that Allred is
giving up on the NBA and
pursuing a hoops career in Europe.
“Allred is a European history
major dying to see Italy,”
Wojnarowski writes. “He’ll keep
playing and keep writing.
Eventually, he’ll go back to
school, get his Ph.D. and teach
college history in a small town.
He’s always gathering material,
always finding his voice.”* * *
No trophy or garish blazer or jug
is handed over to the golfer who
claims the CBS Sports Summative
Slam, but it’s an impressive
accomplishment nonetheless.
Writer Steve Elling compiles the
total scores of every player to
make the cut in all four majors,
with the lowest scorer claiming the
summa. This year’s surprise
winner is a 28-year-old
Englishman named Ross Fisher,
who finished at five-over for the
four events. That the names behind
Fisher are a parade of middling-to-
obscure, mostly European golfers
is just one of the strange things
revealed in Elling’s entertainingly
dorky Summa recap.
Don Hartline and the Journal’s
Tim Carroll.
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.
Sports/ 63
Reports: Miami Heat
forward Michael Beasley
checks into Houston
rehab
By ESPN.com news services
(ESPN.com)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 6:46:28 PM
Beasley Checks Into Rehab
Facility Beasley Checks Into
Rehab Facility
MIAMI -- Michael Beasley told
his personal manager several days
ago that he was working out in
Houston because it brought "a
change of scenery" from Miami
and Washington.
What happened next is a
mystery, even to those who know
Beasley best.
The Miami Heat forward
checked into a Houston
rehabilitation facility for treatment
last week, two people briefed on
the situation told The Associated
Press on Monday. Each spoke on
condition of anonymity because of
privacy concerns; one said part of
Beasley's treatment revolved
around some stress-related issues,
and both declined to say if Beasley
was receiving drug or alcohol
counseling.
"Based on what I'm getting right
now, there's a bit of concern,"
Bruce Shingler, Beasley's
manager, told The AP in a
telephone interview. "I don't really
know what's going on. I just know
his mom is on her way to go see
him in Houston. That's it. I'm still
collecting a lot of information."
It's unknown how long Beasley
will remain at the facility, or
whether he will be available when
the Heat open training camp on
Sept. 28.
Shingler also said he wasn't sure
how long Beasley has been in
Houston, or specifically why that
REPORTS: page 66
64 Sports/ Internet News Record

Injury to New York Mets' Johan Santana a concern; right

fielder Jeff Francoeur has torn ligament
By ESPN.com news services Philadelphia. Rose gets reinstated. afterward and he went to the "I'm really itching to get back out
(ESPN.com) "I'm terribly concerned," Manuel More Podcasts » hospital Monday for an MRI, there," said Wright, who has been
Submitted at 8/25/2009 6:52:37 AM told Newsday. "No question about Santana is 13-9 with a 3.13 ERA which revealed the tear. taking batting practice indoors.
it." in 25 starts during his second Since joining the Mets on July Wright said he isn't experiencing
Buster Blog: Johan Santana Francoeur told MLB.com that he season with the Mets. He was 11, Francoeur has been the team's any post-concussion symptoms
Buster Blog: Johan Santana spoke with Santana about the acquired in a February 2008 trade most productive hitter. He is and he hopes to take BP on the
NEW YORK -- Johan Santana likelihood of surgery. He told the with Minnesota. batting .305 with six homers and field Tuesday -- but he won't travel
and Jeff Francoeur are the latest Web site Santana "can get it Santana was unavailable for 24 RBIs in 39 games. He also has with the Mets during the first part
Mets players to be sidelined with looked at now and be two months comment after Monday's game. eight doubles and two triples. of their upcoming road trip.
injuries. ahead by Spring Training," New York catcher Brian Schneider "Hopefully, the swelling goes New York plays three games in
Santana was scratched Monday indicating a need for surgery in the said the pitcher's stuff hasn't been down quick and I can get back in Florida beginning Tuesday, then
from his next scheduled start immediate future. up to par lately. there. I've been fortunate that in three at the Chicago Cubs before
because of discomfort in his Mike Pelfrey, Santana's fellow "What I'm looking at is his four or 4 1/2 years I have never opening a series at Coors Field on
pitching elbow. Francoeur has a starter, added, "I don't think location, which, like I said, hasn't missed a game because of injury," Sept. 1.
torn ligament in his left thumb, anyone expects good news." been as sharp as it had been," Francoeur said. "It felt good to go out there and
leaving New York without its right Santana had been slated to pitch Schneider said. Cory Sullivan started in right finally put the spikes back on,"
fielder and top hitter. Tuesday night in Florida. Instead, New York also learned Monday field Monday against Philadelphia Wright said. "Still on schedule.
Santana's Struggles the left-hander will be examined that Francoeur has a torn ligament lefty Cliff Lee. Still on track."
Johan Santana threw 120 pitches by Mets medical director Dr. in the thumb on his non-throwing Francoeur lined into an The Mets also recalled left-
in his 10th start of the 2009 David Altchek and undergo an hand. He is day to day, the club unassisted triple play by Phillies hander Ken Takahashi from Triple
season, a season-high, against the MRI, according to multiple media said, but is expected to miss at second baseman Eric Bruntlett on -A Buffalo and optioned lefty Pat
Nationals. Since then, the numbers reports. least a handful of games. Sunday, ending New York's 9-7 Misch to their top farm club.
have not been good. "I hope to have some definitive "The right thing now is to let the loss. It was the second time in Takahashi, a 40-year-old rookie
The setback involving Santana is word for you tomorrow," Manuel swelling go down. It's kind of big," major league history a game ended from Japan, was 0-1 with a 3.00
particularly alarming for the fourth said. Francoeur said. "I'm going to try to on an unassisted triple play -- ERA in 15 relief appearances for
-place Mets, who are counting on Right-hander Nelson Figueroa play through it to the end of the Detroit first baseman Johnny Neun the Mets earlier this season. He
the two-time Cy Young Award will start against the Marlins. season. If I can rest it for two or also turned the trick in 1927. relieved starter Bobby Parnell in
winner to lead their rotation for The Mets have 11 players on the three days and then play, I'm going In other news, Wright took the sixth inning Monday and
years to come. disabled list, including David to do it. You might say, 'Why grounders on the field before the tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
"He has not been throwing Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose bother? We only have 38 games game and said he still expects to Information from The
between starts for quite awhile. I Reyes, Carlos Delgado, J.J. Putz left.' But I came here to play and I come off the disabled list Sept. 1 Associated Press contributed to
would say since before the All-Star and John Maine. want to play." in Colorado. this report.
break. He has been pitching with AllNight Acquired last month in a trade The All-Star third baseman has
this problem, but not with the level Jayson Stark senses an ominous with Atlanta, Francoeur was been sidelined with a concussion
of discomfort he has now," New vibe coming out of Mets' camp injured Sunday while making a since getting hit in the head with a
York manager Jerry Manuel said regarding Johan Santana's injury. diving catch. X-rays were fastball from San Francisco pitcher
Monday after his team's 6-2 loss to Stark doesn't see any way Pete negative, but his thumb swelled up Matt Cain on Aug. 15.
Internet News Record Sports/ 65
Reports: New York
San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers agrees to 6- Mets' Billy Wagner
invoking no-trade clause
year extension By ESPN.com news services
(ESPN.com)
By Len Pasquarelli quarterback for the Chargers and • Blog network: NFL Nation driving force that can make me
Submitted at 8/25/2009 5:58:56 AM
(ESPN.com) short term, to be able to just do all He has started all 16 games in want to win any worse than I do.
Submitted at 8/24/2009 9:22:58 PM I can to lead us to a each of the past three seasons, and I've always hated losing and don't Reports: Wagner Invoking No-
championship." the former North Carolina State know if I can hate it any more, so Trade Clause Reports: Wagner
Rivers Agrees To Extension With It is not yet known what altered star is coming off a career year in there's really nothing that can give Invoking No-Trade Clause
C h a r g e r s R i v e r s A g r e e s T o the tenor of contract discussions, which he led the league in passer me any extra drive." New York Mets reliever Billy
Extension With Chargers but it's believed that Rivers rating (105.5) and touchdown He has solidified his standing Wagner will invoke his no-trade
San Diego Chargers quarterback became personally involved in the passes (34), and was fourth in the with his teammates because of his clause rather than accept a deal to
Philip Rivers, who has thrown for talks. NFL in passing yardage (4,009 toughness and ability to play the Boston Red Sox, according to
more than 10,000 yards over the "This is a great day for the yards). He completed 312 of 478 through pain. multiple media reports.
past three seasons, has agreed to a Chargers and Chargers fans," attempts last season, with only 11 Two years ago, Rivers played in Wagner, through his agent, Bean
new contract extension with the Chargers president Dean Spanos interceptions. the AFC championship game at Stringfellow, told the Red Sox
club. said. "Philip has proven he has all For his career, Rivers has New England despite a knee injury they had to guarantee they would
Rivers Flows In Fourth of the necessary qualities to be a completed 890 of 1,428 passes for that kept him out of practice for decline his contract option for
San Diego's Philip Rivers was successful quarterback in the NFL. 10,697 yards, with 78 touchdown much of the pregame preparations. 2010 before he would approve a
the second-best quarterback in the He's a proven winner and an passes, 36 interceptions, and a It was subsequently revealed that potential trade. Stringfellow also
f o u r t h q u a r t e r l a s t s e a s o n unquestioned leader for this passer rating of 92.9. Most of that Rivers played with a damaged wanted the Red Sox to guarantee
(minimum 80 attempts). football team." production has come in the past anterior cruciate ligament that later they won't offer Wagner salary
-- ESPN Stats and Information Without the deal, Rivers would three seasons, with Rivers seeing required surgery. arbitration this offseason, thus
The extension is for six years have been eligible for unrestricted only limited action in 2004 and "He's a good dude, man, and I'm making him more attractive to
and is worth $92 million, a source free agency next spring, with or 2005. Before 2006, he had yet to happy for him and I'm happy that potential suitors on the open
told ESPN.com. About $38-39 without an agreement between the start a game. he's here long term," said tight end market, because those teams
million is guaranteed. More league and union on an extension Rivers was the fourth overall Antonio Gates, who has his locker wouldn't have to give up high draft
importantly, the deal will keep of the collective bargaining choice in the 2004 draft, selected next to Rivers. picks as compensation for signing
Rivers off the free-agent market agreement. San Diego would by the New York Giants. Within Gates said the Chargers had fun him.
next spring, and will preclude the almost certainly have retained an hour of that choice, however, he kidding Rivers at practice about “
Chargers from having to exercise a Rivers by naming him a franchise was traded to San Diego for his big deal, but knows the money I don't want to end my career as
franchise designation to retain him. player, but at a cost believed to be quarterback Eli Manning, the first won't change him. a setup man. I'd like to have that
The extension comes amid reports about $16 million for a one-year pick in that year's lottery. Manning "At the end of the day I know option.”-- Billy Wagner
that the Chargers would have a tender. recently signed a six-year, $97.5 what it means for him to go out According to FoxSports.com, a
difficult time reaching an Rivers, 27, was entering the final million extension to his deal. here and play football and know source late Monday said the Red
extension accord with Rivers, a year of the six-year, $40.5 million An extremely accurate passer the passion he has for us to win," Sox agreed to one of those
first-round choice in the 2004 rookie contract he signed in 2004 despite a somewhat Gates said. "I think that's the conditions, promising they would
draft. after a lengthy and sometimes unconventional delivery, Rivers biggest thing about him. The thing decline Wagner's $8 million club
But the negotiating climate acrimonious negotiation. has emerged as a leader for the I'm going to remember when I'm option for 2010. Wagner has a no-
turned over the weekend, and After sitting behind Drew Brees Chargers, who many feel possess done playing ain't going to be the trade clause in his contract, which
keeping Rivers for the long term his first two seasons in the NFL, the most talented roster in the big contracts, it ain't going to be includes the option for next year
with the extension is a coup for Rivers became the San Diego league. the money, it ain't going to be the with a $1 million buyout. If his
general manager A.J. Smith, who starter in 2006, when Brees "I don't think there can be any cars. It's going to be the person I option is declined, he can become
has done an exemplary job in departed for New Orleans as a free more pressure added, commitment had the chance to sit next to." a free agent in the offseason and
keeping the nucleus of his roster agent. added, determination from my side Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL sign with any team.
intact with contract extensions. AFC West blog or from anybody in that locker writer for ESPN.com. Information However, a source told
Rivers said he was "thankful to ESPN.com's Bill Williamson room to want to go win a from The Associated Press was FoxSports.com late Monday the
have many more opportunities to writes about all things AFC West championship," Rivers said. used in this report. Red Sox were less willing to
suit up and go out there and be the in his division blog. "There's no outside or monetary guarantee that they would decline
to offer Wagner salary arbitration,

REPORTS: page 66
66 Sports/
REPORTS:
continued from page 63
was his destination.
Yahoo! Sports first reported that
Beasley had entered a rehab
facility.
"From what I know, he was just
getting ready for the upcoming
season," Shingler said. "The last
time I talked to him, everything
was going well. All this rehab and
all that, I was totally unaware. It
all started as he wanted to go work
out in a different place because he
wanted to get away. Now this, I
don't know what's going on."
The spiral appears to have
started in earnest Friday, when a
photo of the No. 2 pick in the 2008
NBA draft was posted to his
Twitter account. In the photo
Beasley displayed a new tattoo
across his shoulders, and the image
also captured what appeared to be
a small plastic bag on an adjacent
table. The contents of the bag were
unclear.
Under the NBA's anti-drug rules,
there are some instances in which
a player who comes forward
voluntarily to request help with a
substance-abuse issue is not
penalized as harshly as a player
who randomly tests positive and is
thereby forced to enter the
treatment program. The NBA
never discloses who is in its drug
REPORTS:
continued from page 65
making him a free agent without
draft-pick compensation.
Wagner confirmed Monday that
Boston, which already has an All-
Star closer in Jonathan Papelbon,
placed a waiver claim on him
Friday. The fourth-place Mets
have until Tuesday to pull him
back off waivers or assign him to
Boston for nothing in return.
If the Mets pull Wagner back,
they can't trade him for the rest of
the season. If they let him go to
treatment program.
But that punishment mitigation
does not extend to players who are
already in the program, as Beasley
was widely assumed to be after his
expulsion from the rookie
orientation program.
Beasley was already getting
treatment when the photograph --
and several comments, including
"Feelin like it's not worth
livin!!!!!!! I'm done" and "I feel
like the whole world is against me
I can't win for losin" -- were
posted on the feed.
Beasley's account has since been
closed. Another account he used
was shut down July 27.
Adande: Beasley's Troubled
Course
This sad Michael Beasley case
demonstrates that a forced year of
college isn't the magical solution
to the league's youthful problems,
writes J.A. Adande. Story
"What Michael Jr. is going
[through] is just a bump on the
road we call life," said a posting
Monday on Michael Beasley Sr.'s
Twitter feed. "Please pray for him,
he needs it."
A phone call to Beasley Sr.'s
home in Bowie, Md., went
unanswered.
Beasley finished his rookie
Boston, the Red Sox would be
responsible for the nearly $3.5
million owed to Wagner under his
current contract.
After the Mets' 6-2 loss to
Philadelphia on Monday, Wagner
said he was set to travel with the
team to Florida. New York begins
a three-game series against the
Marlins on Tuesday night.
"Right now I'm going to Florida.
Unless something changes in
Boston, I'm going to be a Met," he
season as Miami's second-leading
scorer behind Dwyane Wade,
averaging 13.9 points and 5.4
rebounds. He spent much of the
year as a reserve, and both Heat
coach Erik Spoelstra and team
president Pat Riley talked often
this summer about utilizing
Beasley more this coming season
at small forward and power
forward.
"Beas, we hope that we're going
to see a lot of him at the 3 spot,"
Riley said in a conference call with
the team's beat writers earlier this
month.
At times this past season,
Beasley's immaturity was of some
concern to teammates. He typically
laughed off such criticism, saying
he was young and acting
accordingly.
"The guy's got a lot of talent,"
Wade told The AP during a July
conversation on a number of
topics, including Beasley's
potential. "I can't wait to see what
he does with it. He's 20 years old.
I'd love to see it all come together
this year."
Beasley's second season, much
like his first pro year, is off to an
ominous start.
Beasley was fined $50,000 by
the NBA in September after
said. "They want me to set up. I'm
too old to set up. I'd like to end my
career as a closer."
The 38-year-old Wagner is sixth
on the career list with 385 saves.
He said he would like to reach 400
and then pass John Franco(424) for
the most by a left-handed pitcher.
"I'd like to get at that level,"
Wagner said. "There's not many
people in that 400 club."
Wagner wants to be a closer next
season, regardless of which team
security officers at the league's
rookie symposium detected the
scent of marijuana in a hotel room
occupied by Beasley, Mario
Chalmers, Darrell Arthur and two
women. Chalmers and Arthur were
fined $20,000; Beasley drew the
stiffer fine for at first trying to hide
his presence from NBA officials.
Beasley told The AP in January
that there were times during his
first six months as a professional
that he felt "everyone was against
me" and that many things "get
blown out of proportion" --
referring specifically to the rookie
symposium incident.
He spent one season at Kansas
State before entering the draft,
averaging 26.2 points and 12.4
rebounds in his lone college year.
"As a rule, I do not comment
about the private lives of my
student-athletes, either current or
former," Kansas State coach Frank
Martin said in a statement.
"However, Michael, like every
student-athlete I've coached, will
always have my undying support."
Information from The
Associated Press and ESPN.com
NBA writer Chris Sheridan was
used in this report.
he's on.
"I don't want to end my career as
a set-up man," Wagner said. "I'd
like to have that option."
Wagner was expected to miss the
entire season following elbow
ligament replacement surgery in
September. He made a quick
recovery and returned to the Mets
on Thursday night, when he struck
out two in a perfect inning against
Atlanta and reached 96 mph with
his fastball.
Internet News Record
The Count: Turning
Opportunity Into
Baseball History
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 8/24/2009 11:33:41 AM
Eric Bruntlett is a 31-year-old
journeyman for Philadelphia who,
in seven major-league seasons,
hasn’t amassed even 800 at bats
and has hit just 11 home runs. That
résumé makes him entirely typical
in the small fraternity he joined on
Sunday against the New York
Mets when he snared a line drive
in the ninth inning, stepped on
second base to force a second out
and tagged a runner coming from
first base for the third out. He’s the
15th player to notch an unassisted
triple play, and the prior 14 aren’t
a remarkable bunch. Associated
He pitched another scoreless
inning against the Phillies on
Monday.
In conversations with ESPN The
Magazine's Buster Olney on
Sunday evening, sources raised the
question of whether Wagner is at
100 percent.
A source told FoxSports.com on
Monday, Wagner, coming off
Tommy John surgery, also was
REPORTS: page 67
Internet News Record
COUNT:
continued from page 66
Press
Eric Bruntlett made the most of
his opportunity by turning a Mets’
ninth-inning rally into a game-
clinching triple play.
None won a Most Valuable
Player Award, or even finished in
the top three in voting. No one hit
more than 27 home runs in a
season, and just two drove in more
than 100 runs even once. None
was inducted into the Hall of
Fame. Only George Burns finished
with 1,000 runs scored, and no one
with 1,000 RBIs. (Among active
players, the Dodgers’ Rafael
Furcal has a good shot at the runs
plateau, and the Rockies’ Troy
Tulowitzki could reach both
milestones.)
The feat is about fielding, not
hitting, so perhaps these players
shined with their gloves if not their
bats. Given the embryonic state of
fielding statistics, it’s difficult to
say for sure how good the 15
perpetrators of unassisted triple
plays were. But what evidence is
available suggests they were a
pretty average bunch. Four of them
— Bruntlett, Furcal, Tulowitzki
and Cleveland’s Asdrubal
Cabrera— have played recently
enough to be evaluated using the
modern stat of ultimate zone
rating, which uses information
about batted balls. And all but
Tulowitzki have been, over their
careers, slightly below average at
the position at which they turned
the triple play.
Another four played too long ago
for UZR, but have enough
defensive data to be analyzed
using fielding runs above average
from Baseball Reference, and two
of them were below average at the
position in question. The other
seven can only be evaluated with
range factor, an indicator of how
many balls they fielded
successfully and suggestive of
their aptitude at reaching balls
such as the ones they turned into
triple plays. And three of those
seven players had a range factor
below the league average for their
career at the position. None of the
15 won a Golden Glove award in
his career.
Turning an unassisted triple play
is slightly rarer than throwing a
perfect game, and slightly more
common than hitting two grand
slams in one game. But more than
both those feats, it’s a reflection
more of opportunity than ability.
Still, its rarity alone makes it
worth savoring when it occurs.
Larry Granillo of wezen-ball.com
notes that the year has been full of
rare feats, one of just four years in
history where at least four of the
following five rare feats has
occurred: A perfect game, another
no-hitter in addition, an unassisted
triple play, hitting for the cycle and
hitting four home runs in one game
— the one feat this year is missing.
Incidentally, Granillo didn’t
include the feat of hitting two
grand slams in one game. This
year is one of three in which five
of those six feats have been
accomplished, along with 1968
and 2003. Like Granillo, I’m
rooting for someone to hit four
homers in a game before season’s
end, and make this the year of the
feat.
REPORTS:
continued from page 66
concerned about his health.
"It's not about the option or
arbitration. It's about his desire to
end the year healthy for the
future," the source said.
"He feels he has a better chance
lasting a month in a less
competitive environment than
perhaps two months in a pennant
race and playoffs."
Wagner is interested in ending
the season with a playoff
contender, but he's also looking
farther down the road. He said he
hasn't committed to pitching
beyond next season.
"We haven't made any real plans.
It's not going to be much longer,"
he said. "I kind of enjoy being
around my family and my kids and
coaching them, so it's not going to
be very much longer. I mean,
they've sacrificed enough."
Wagner doesn't expect to remain
with the Mets next year. New York
signed All-Star closer Francisco
Rodriguez to a $37 million, three-
67
year contract last offseason.
"They're not going to pay $8
million to have me set up Frankie
and they know that I wouldn't be
satisfied," Wagner said. "They've
expressed to me that they want
what's best for me and they would
like to help me out. They have a
closer. They'd like to help me
reach that goal. We just have to
see if that comes to pass.
"I've enjoyed New York
tremendously. I've had a blast
playing here. It's just, I think my
role is as a closer," he added. "Me
getting hurt last year and them
picking up Frankie, that just puts
me in an odd situation and it's one
of those that it's best to maybe
move on."
Information from The
Associated Press and ESPN The
Magazine's Buster Olney was used
in this report.