E-reader News Edition
com
Smart power meets smart phones
By Andrew Quinn (Front Row
Washington)
Submitted at 12/17/2009 1:39:15 PM
The State Department is
accelerating its push into the
Internet, hoping to use web sites,
blogs and mobile phones to
deliver the U.S. message around
the world.
The State Department itself
unveiled a new-look web site on
Thursday, including a video clip
greeting from Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and one-click
“share” options to deliver the
message over Facebook, Twitter,
and other sites.
“No one person or country has a
monopoly on good ideas. So I
hope this website will be a forum
for learning, discussion and
collaboration,” Clinton said in
the clip.
Clinton’s “innovation” advisor,
Alec Ross, told a think-tank
audience on Thursday that U.S.
This Fifth Grader Can Type Faster Than You. [Super Kid]
By Rosa Golijan (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:22:37 PM
This cute fifth grader is named
statecraft would increasingly take
place in cyberspace, with special
attention paid to messages
deliverable over cellphones —
which are now the way many
people in developing countries
access information.
“The times have changed, and
these changes require pivots in
our statecraft,” Ross said, noting
that worldwide the total number
of cellphone handsets had
jumped by about 500 million to
4.6 billion during the eight
months he has been in office.
“Seventy percent of those are in
the developing world,” he said.
The new importance of
technology, which include the
use of Twitter and social
networking tools such as
Facebook by young Iranians to
coordinate protests and report on
demonstrations after disputed
June presidential elections, are
drawing scrutiny across
Washington as an element of the
Mackenzie. She types at a rapid
119 words per minute and makes
the rest of us look pathetic.
I'd be happy to just plain stop
17/12/09 - 19/12/09 http://www.LibertyNewsprint.
Video: Terry Pratchett
on religion: 'I'd rather be
for U.S. diplomacy: after all, who a rising ape than a fallen
in the end will control the angel'
message if everyone is able to
have a say? By John Mullan, Andy
Gallagher (World news and
But he said that the new comment from the Guardian |
technologies would only become guardian.co.uk)
more important both for the
United States and for its enemies Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:07:20 PM
such as al Qaeda, which already
“smart power” strategy that uses the Internet to deliver At the Guardian Book Club,
elevates diplomacy and propaganda and recruit bestselling author Terry Pratchett
development alongside defense v o l u n t e e r s . gives his views on science and
as key elements of U.S. strategy. “The world’s not changing. It has religion John Mullan Andy
Ross said U.S. policy would changed,” Ross said, adding that Gallagher
increasingly focus on promoting it was critically important that the
communications infrastructure — U.S. stay at the very forefront of
citing the SEACOM undersea technological innovation. “We GOP Link Shortener
fibre optic cable which links East are past the tipping point.” Aims to Prank the
Africa to Europe and Asia — as For more Reuters political news,
well as on “apps” such as mobile click here. Pranksters
banking or mobile healthcare Photo credit: Reuters/Mark By Eliot Van Buskirk (Wired
monitoring which can really Blinch (Person poses with a Top Stories)
make a difference in people’s new Blackberry)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:30:00 PM
lives.
Ross conceded that the very Republicans caught up in a link
interactivity of the Internet made battle with liberals may yet have
it a potentially worrisome vehicle the last laugh.
making typos and maybe type a Geez, these overachieving kids
little bit faster, but Mackenzie nowadays. [ Mashable via Boing
won't rest until she reaches a 200 Boing]
WPM pace.
2 Top News/ World/ Tech/
Healthcare critic Lieberman silenced 2,000 people trapped
in Senate
By Thomas Ferraro (Front
Row Washington)
Submitted at 12/17/2009 5:18:32 PM
Senator Joe Lieberman, who has
forced Democrats to jump
through hoops on healthcare
reform in recent weeks, was
effectively told to be quiet and sit
down on Thursday.
Comedian turned freshman
Senator Al Franken gave the
order while presiding over the
Senate to a surprised Lieberman.
“I object,” Franken said, denying
Lieberman the unanimous
consent that he needed for “an
additional moment” to complete
his floor speech on healthcare.
“Really? Okay,” Lieberman told
Franken sheepishly. “I don’t take
it personally.”
Unanimous consent is routinely
given to senators so that they can
have a few more minutes to wrap
up their remarks. But many
Democrats have apparently
wanted to tell Lieberman to hush
in recent weeks.
That’s because the former
Democrat turned independent has
repeatedly forced them to change
a healthcare bill to conform with
his wishes.
Democrats need Lieberman’s
vote to get to the 60 required to
clear Republican procedural
roadblocks and pass major
healthcare legislation designed to
inside Channel tunnel
bring down costs and provide
insurance to millions of
Americans.
Lieberman has said he favors
overhauling healthcare, but he
and others have made Democrats
drop a number of provisions
favored by their liberal base.
The biggest was a proposed
government insurance program to
compete with private insurers.
Another was a call to expand the
Medicare health insurance
program for the elderly to those
ages 55 to 64. Medicare is now
for those 65 and older.
Lieberman has also riled liberal
groups, including MoveOn.org,
which announced on Thursday it
has raised $1 million to fund a
campaign against him and to
oppose the senator if he runs for
a fifth term in 2012.
“Joe Lieberman’s behavior over
the last few weeks has been
outrageous,” MoveOn.org wrote
in a fundraising letter to
members. “But too many people
still don’t realize how destructive
Lieberman has been to the cause
of health care reform.”
Click here for more Reuters
political coverage
Photo credit: Reuters/stringer
(Lieberman walking in U.S.
Capitol)
(World news and comment
from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:06:45 PM
Four Eurostar trains break down
due to wintry weather in France
More than 2,000 people are
trapped inside the Channel tunnel
this morning after four Eurostar
trains broke down due to wintry
weather.
It is thought the trains failed as
they left the cold air in northern
France and entered the warmer
air inside the tunnel, Eurostar
said.
All passengers are thought to be
safe - emergency lighting inside
the trains has meant passengers
have not been in darkness while
rescue efforts are being made.
Passengers from two of the
trains - the 9053 and 9057
services - are being evacuated
onto a Eurotunnel shuttle, and the
9059 and 9055 trains are due to
be pushed to Folkestone the train
So, is it safe to tweet now?
By Caroline McCarthy
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:56:00 AM
In the "Iranian Cyber Army"
incident, Twitter has once again
proven embarrassingly
E-reader News Edition
company reports.
The tunnel is currently closed
and many more passengers are
stranded at terminals at either
end, waiting to make their
crossing.
Severe weather conditions are
adding to the difficulties and
police say there is no parking for
drivers who are being turned
away from the tunnel.
A spokesman for Kent Police
said: "We would urge all drivers
to avoid this area of the M20 in
Kent."
The Eurostar trains affected
were all going from Paris to
London.
• Channel Tunnel
• Transport
• Weather
• France
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
& Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our
Terms & Conditions| More Feeds
vulnerable. The good news? It
doesn't look like user accounts
were compromised--not that
Twitter stores a whole lot of
personal information.
Originally posted at The Social
E-reader News Edition
Muddy manse
By Corbett B. Daly (Front Row
Washington)
Submitted at 12/17/2009 12:37:27 PM
Selling your house? Worried
about having to lower the price to
get it to move?
How about a $1.275 million
price reduction? That’s how
much former Fannie Mae CEO
Daniel H. Mudd had to cut the
asking price on his 11,500 square
foot, six bedroom, six full bath
(plus three half baths) mansion to
find a buyer. Originally listed for
$8.9 million on September 11,
the transaction closed on
December 11 for $7.625 million.
Don’t worry too much for Mr.
Mudd, though. He paid $5.15
million for the place in June
2000, leaving him with a 48
percent return on his investment,
excluding any renovation costs.
And even though he was booted
from Fannie Mae when the
government took over the
housing giant in September 2008
and reportedly wasn’t paid his
multi-million dollar severance
Top News/ Finance/ 3
Saab Runs
out of Gas
By Tom Taulli
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:30:00 PM
Filed under: General Motors
(GM) When it comes to selling
companies, General Motors has
had some bad luck lately. The
company pulled its deal for Opel
off the market. Then its proposed
sale of Saturn failed (the
company is in the process of
being liquidated).
As for this week, there was
another dead deal: the sale of
Saab to Spyker Cars. And yes,
Saab will now be unwound.
What happened here? So far,
GM and Spyker have not
provided any details. Basically,
package, he’s landed on his feet. entertaining spaces which all exit there were some "issues" that
New York’s Fortress Investment thru French drs to lvl terrace. couldn't be resolved.
Group named him CEO in Luxurious Mstr Ste, 5 addt Continue reading Saab Runs out
August. BRms, 6 full/3 half BAs. .94 of Gas
Wondering what you could have Acre lot with pool, gated drive & Saab Runs out of Gas originally
bought from the son of the carriage house w/3car Gar.” appeared on BloggingStocks on
former NBC News anchor Roger Not mentioned: The place is on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:30:00 EST.
Mudd? Here’s the listing agent’s the same tony street in DC’s Please see our terms for use of
description: Cleveland Park neighborhood as feeds. Permalink| Email this|
“Completely restored prewar another former Fannie Mae boss: Comments
Georgian estate as it should be. Franklin Raines.
Sits on 1+/- acres of meticulous Photo Credit: Corbett B. Daly
& mature landscaping
overlooking Rosedale Park.
Residence feat spectacular
4 Top News/ Finance/ Tech/ E-reader News Edition

Closing Bell: Market finishes

up slightly (JPM, PALM, NKE,
FNM, V, RIMM, ORCL)
By Jon Ogg (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:00:00 PM

Filed under: JPMorgan Chase

Tweets to Tackle Health Care
By susan.heavey (Front Row
Washington)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:46:31 PM
Public anger boiled over at some
highly publicized town hall
meetings during the summer as
U.S. lawmakers weighed health
reform plans — but what
happens when the debate moves
online?
New Jersey Representative
Frank Pallone will find out
Monday.
He’s holding a three-hour online
Town Hall meeting to discuss
healthcare reform on Twitter, the
micro-blogging website known
for its short 140-character text
messages.
Pallone, a Democrat and one of
the authors of the House of
Representatives health bill that
passed Nov. 7, will use the time
to help answer questions about
the roughly 2,000-page measure.
A number of other lawmakers
have adopted Twitter, Facebook
and other websites as part their
media machines.
But Pallone’s move online
comes as Democrat colleagues in
the Senate struggle to pass their
health bill by Christmas despite
Republican attempts to stall a
vote.
National polls show public
support for health reform
sagging, but Pallone sees his
Twitter Town Hall as new way to
spur support.
“I want you all to stay engaged in
this issue,” he wrote in a
statement posted on a New Jersey
political website.
For more Reuters political news,
click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Mario
Anzuoni (A Twitter page on a Expect mostly positive reviews
computer screen in October)
(JPM), Research in Motion
(RIMM), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE),
Oracle Corp (ORCL), Palm Inc
(PALM) Today had little
economic data to boost or quell
markets. Asian stocks were weak
but European market gave the US
a boost on German business
confidence. Today's gainers were
mostly on earnings and oil and
gold both rallied off lows after
Iran's military supposedly raised
an Iranian flag over an Iraqi oil
well in a disputed area now part
of Iraq. Gold may still be dead or
range bound the rest of 2009.
The closing bell on this Triple
Witching expiration date was not
certain on the direction
throughout most of the late
morning and through most of the
afternoon.
Here were today's unofficial
closing bell levels:
Dow 10,310.23 +1.97 (0.02%)
S&P 500 1,102.73 +6.65
Why Google may want Yelp
By Tom Krazit
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:32:00 PM
of Google's potential interest in
(0.61%)
Nasdaq 2,211.69 +31.64
(1.45%)
Top Day Trader Alerts
T o p A n a l y s t
Upgrades/Downgrades
Continue reading Closing Bell:
Market finishes up slightly (JPM,
PALM, NKE, FNM, V, RIMM,
ORCL)
Closing Bell: Market finishes up
slightly (JPM, PALM, NKE,
FNM, V, RIMM, ORCL)
originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec
2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Yelp, one of the best sources of
information about local
businesses on the Internet.
Originally posted at Relevant
Results
E-reader News Edition
Copenhagen summiteers talked for two weeks – then the
deadline passed
By Suzanne Goldenberg,
Allegra Stratton (World news
and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:28:21 PM
Wen Jiabao and Barack Obama
thrash out accord as Brown
reaches out to developing nations
The world leaders invited to dine
by Queen Margrethe supped on
turkey and mushy peas, and were
serenaded by the Danish Royal
Life Guards bands playing
George Harrison's Here Comes
the Sun.
But the bands also played Here's
That Rainy Day – which, by the
end, began to seem more apt.
By 10pm on Thursday, leaders
from about two dozen of the
world's biggest economies had
left the dinner to return to the
hangar-like convention centre to
try to strike a deal on climate
change which their negotiators
had been chasing unsuccessfully
for nearly two weeks.
It was not what any of them had
planned. The Copenhagen
summit had been meticulously
conceived by its Danish hosts to
produce a streamlined agreement.
By the time the prime ministers
and presidents began arriving,
negotiators were supposed to
have produced a draft agreement.
All the leaders were meant to do
was give their assent. Instead,
they walked into an epic struggle
over the shape of a future world
economic order.
Would rapidly emerging powers
such as China see their growth
stunted by controls on
greenhouse gas emissions?
Would African countries and low
-lying states, who say they face
annihilation if global warming
exceeds 2C, get the technology
and financial assistance they need
to safeguard their future?
The battle was fuelled by
Denmark's strategy of putting the
bigger countries in charge of
shepherding the rest of the world
to a deal – a departure from the
United Nations consensus-based
process.
The tensions were heightened
even further with the leak of a
Danish draft text which
suggested the major economies
were trying to circumvent the
Kyoto protocol – with its
important protections for poor
countries – in favour of a new
action plan. African countries
and small island states accused
industrialised countries of trying
to hijack the talks.
Denmark accused the poor
countries of being deliberately
obstructive.
China and America, the two
biggest greenhouse gas emitters,
were in a stand-off about
demands that they give a full
accounting of emissions cuts.
The arriving leaders soon
learned they would have to roll
up their sleeves. This would
require much more than a
signature.
"I should say, a little bluntly, to
all of you that I am a little bit
frustrated," Brazil's president
Lula da Silva told the summit.
He complained that prime
ministers and presidents were
stuck in the convention centre
until 2am, and said that the
marathon negotiating session –
joined by major economies
including Britain, China, India
and Japan, with the least
developed countries represented
by Ethiopia and Grenada –
reminded him of the long nights
of bargaining with business
executives when he had been a
union leader.
It was even worse for
environment ministers and
negotiators from industrialised
countries who stayed on, but
were kept waiting for several
hours while negotiators from
developing countries talked
among themselves. By 7.30am
yesterday, with negotiators still
stuck on the first page of a draft
text, they too decided to call it a
night.
Enter Barack Obama. All week
long, negotiators at Copenhagen
have been expressing hope that
he would harness his personal
charm and authority as leader of
the world's biggest economy to
ease the divisions between rich
and poor, and old and new
superpowers. Air Force One
touched down in Copenhagen at
around 9am yesterday, and
Obama immediately went into a
huddle with 18 other world
leaders.
Amid a sense of rising dread, the
UN machinery moved ahead,
opening the gathering of world
leaders which was supposed to be
a showcase for a global action
plan to keep the world from
warming beyond 2C.
The air of desperation was
palpable. "I implore you," said
Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary
general, pleading with world
leaders to find a way out of the
chaos. Exercise your conscience,
he said. They held the fate of
future generations in their hands.
"It will be your legacy for all
time."
But the leaders seemed
incapable of thinking of the
global good.
Instead, the second fissure of
this summit – China v the
industrialised countries – opened
up even further. China's premier,
Wen Jiabao, defended its record
in trying to limit pollution, and
accused the industrialised
countries of not doing enough.
Obama declared: "The time for
talk is over." He acknowledged
that the leaders were still far from
a deal. "At this point, the
question is whether we will move
forward together, or split apart;
whether we prefer posturing to
action."
World/ 5
The atmosphere was so tense
that the world leaders decided to
skip the scheduled "family
photograph".
The break between the
industrialised world and
developing countries seemed
complete. And then Obama and
Wen stepped back from the
brink.
Soon after their combative
public speeches, the two men sat
down for a 55-minute meeting.
The White House said the talks
were "constructive" and – in a
departure from usual protocol –
released a photo of the two men.
Gordon Brown and other leaders
began conducting their own
outreach efforts to the developing
countries. Lower level
negotiations continued, including
a round between US and Chinese
officials.
Meanwhile, negotiators who for
nearly two weeks had failed to
produce a suitable working draft
went into overdrive, spinning out
six different versions of a text by
6pm. They ranged in scale of
ambition from the very weak,
with all pledges wreathed in
conditionals, to the expansive,
with a commitment to put an
even stricter cap on warming, a
limit of 1.5C.
"It's an uphill struggle. It always
has been," said Ed Miliband, the
climate change secretary. "We
COPENHAGEN page 9
6 World/ Finance/
Copenhagen climate summit ends in failure
By John Vidal, Suzanne
Goldenberg, Allegra Stratton
(World news and comment
from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:59:40 PM
Deal thrashed out at talks
condemned as climate change
scepticism in action
The UN climate summit reached
a weak outline of a global
agreement last night in
Copenhagen, falling far short of
what Britain and many poor
countries were seeking and
leaving months of tough
negotiations to come.
After eight draft texts and all-
day talks between 115 world
leaders, it was left to Barack
Obama and Wen Jiabao, the
Chinese premier, to broker a
political agreement. The so-
called Copenhagen accord
"recognises" the scientific case
for keeping temperature rises to
no more than 2C but did not
contain commitments to
emissions reductions to achieve
that goal.
American officials spun the deal
as a "meaningful agreement", but
even Obama said: "This progress
is not enough."
"We have come a long way, but
we have much further to go," he
added.
The deal was brokered between
China, South Africa, India, Brazil
and the US, but late last night it
was still unclear whether it would
be adopted by all 192 countries
in the full plenary session.
The agreement aims to provide
$30bn in funding for poor
countries to adapt to climate
change from next year to 2012,
and $100bn a year after 2020.
But it disappointed African and
other vulnerable countries who
had been holding out for far
deeper emission cuts to hold the
global temperature rise to 1.5C
this century. As widely expected,
all references to 1.5C in previous
drafts were removed at the last
minute, but more surprisingly,
the earlier 2050 goal of reducing
global CO 2 emissions by 80%
was also dropped.
The agreement also set up a
forestry deal which is hoped
would significantly reduce
deforestation in return for cash. It
lacked the kind of independent
verification of emission
reductions by developing
countries that the US and others
demanded.
Obama hinted that China was to
blame for the lack of a substantial
deal. In a press conference he
condemned the insistence of
some countries to look
backwards to previous
environmental agreements. He
said developing countries should
be "getting out of that mindset,
and moving towards the position
where everybody recognises that
we all need to move together".
This was a not-so-veiled
reference to the epic row over
whether to ditch the Kyoto
protocol and its legal distinction
between developed and
developing nations. Developing
nations saw this as an attempt by
the rich world to wriggle out of
its responsibility for climate
change. Many observers blamed
the US for coming to the talks
with an offer of just 4%
emissions cuts on 1990 levels.
The final text made no
obligations on developing
countries to make cuts.
Negotiators will now work on
individual agreements such as
forests, technology, and finance –
but, without strong leadership,
the chances are that it will take
years to complete.
Obama cast his trip as a sign of
renewed US global leadership.
"The time has come for us to get
off the sidelines and shape the
future that we seek; that is why I
came to Copenhagen," he said.
But he said he would not be
staying for the final vote
"because of weather constraints
in Washington".
Lumumba Di-Aping, chief
negotiator for the G77 group of
130 developing countries, was
scathing: "This deal will
definitely result in massive
devastation in Africa and small
island states. It has the lowest
level of ambition you can
imagine. It's nothing short of
climate change scepticism in
action.
"It locks countries into a cycle of
poverty for ever. Obama has
eliminated any difference
between him and Bush."
John Sauven, executive director
of Greenpeace UK, said: "The
city of Copenhagen is a crime
scene tonight, with the guilty
men and women fleeing to the
airport. Ed Miliband [UK climate
change secretary] is among the
very few that come out of this
summit with any credit. It is now
evident that beating global
warming will require a radically
different model of politics than
the one on display here in
Copenhagen."
Lydia Baker, Save the Children's
policy adviser said: "By signing a
sub-standard deal, world leaders
have effectively signed a death
warrant for many of the world's
poorest children. Up to 250,000
children from poor communities
could die before the next major
meeting in Mexico at the end of
next year."
• Copenhagen climate change
conference 2009
• Carbon emissions
• Climate change
• United States
• China
John Vidal Suzanne Goldenberg
Allegra Stratton
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
& Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our
Terms & Conditions| More Feeds
E-reader News Edition
Syngenta Is
in an
Uptrend
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:00:00 PM
Filed under: Industry,
Agriculture Just call December a
break-out month for Syngenta Ag
( SYT), and that's a major reason
why I'm reiterating my buy rating
for the company's shares, first
recommended on June 16, 2009,
at a price of $47.28.
Syngenta's stock did revisit and
break through the
psychologically-significant $50
level and shortly later removed a
possible double-top-- a bearish
pattern, from a technical analysis
standpoint.
Continue reading Syngenta Is in
an Uptrend
Syngenta Is in an Uptrend
originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec
2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
E-reader News Edition World/ Finance/ Tech Blog/ 7

Obama emerges from climate talks with slender Palm Inc:

pact and bruised stature
By Suzanne Goldenberg
(World news and comment
from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:18:26 PM
negotiations began immediately
on his arrival in Copenhagen,
when he encountered what he
described as a "fundamental
deadlock" between rich and
developing countries.
divide. Obama's eight-minute
speech to the summit was viewed
as a huge disappointment.
Although he called for bold and
decisive action, Obama – who
had been skittish at going to
Close
leaders, to reach an ambitious
deal.
But by the end of the day, after
Position
Obama spent hours closeted with By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Chinese, Indian, South African
and Brazilian officials, he Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:30:00 PM

US president urges decisive Much of that was a product of Copenhagen in the first place – managed to pull the situation
action on climate change, but the deep resentment at America offered no sign that Washington back from the brink. Filed under: Palm Inc (PALM)
shows no sign that Washington for its emissions reductions was willing to take such steps In his press conference, Obama An update on the buy call for
will take such steps itself target: a 17% reduction over itself. held up the results of his deal- Palm Inc. ( PALM), first
Barack Obama emerged from 2005 levels by 2020. That offer There were no further making as a sign that the era of recommended on June 15, 2009
the chaotic final hours of the too was conditional on Congress commitments on reducing American isolation under George at a price of $14.12: Close
Copenhagen summit last night p a s s i n g c l i m a t e c h a n g e emissions, or on finance for poor Bush was over, and that he had Position.
having salvaged an agreement for legislation. In the final days of countries, beyond Hillary returned the country to a position They don't all work out. Among
action on global warming – and the summit, a more vexing issue Clinton's announcement that the of leadership. other factors, a delay in the
his own reputation as a politician emerged over America's demands US would support a $100bn The day of diplomacy also release of Palm's Treo Pro, along
w h o c a n b r i d g e t h e m o s t that China and other rapidly global fund to help developing allowed him to reassert the with several, strong new handsets
challenging of political divides. emerging countries offer an nations adapt to climate change. political skills which have not from competitors, and
After 15 hours of negotiations, accounting of their actions to He did not press the Senate to been seen to best advantage in macroeconomic headwinds,
an exhausted looking Obama said curb the growth of greenhouse move ahead on climate change the US during the struggles over creates an uncertain outlook for
he managed to secure a deal on gas emissions. legislation, which environmental health care and Afghanistan. the company.
climate change incorporating Obama emerged last night organisations have been urging "The time has come for us to get Continue reading Palm Inc:
America's three main goals of claiming to have wrung an for months. Obama did say off the sidelines and shape the Close Position
emissions cuts, financial aid for important concession from China America would follow through future that we seek. That is why I Palm Inc: Close Position
the poorest countries, and a and India to offer a fuller on his administration's clean came to Copenhagen today," he originally appeared on
measure of accountability for accounting of its emissions energy agenda, and would live up said. "I believe that what we BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec
e m i s s i o n s p l e d g e s f r o m reductions. to its pledges. achieved in Copenhagen is not 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see
developing countries. "The truth is that we can actually But in the absence of any going to be the end, but rather the our terms for use of feeds.
But he acknowledged the monitor a lot of what takes place evidence of that commitment the beginning." Permalink| Email this| Comments
skimpy 2.5 page draft produced through satellite imagery and so words rang hollow and there was • Climate change
at the end of his effort was not forth," he said. a palpable sense of • Copenhagen climate change Health reform politics in
the comprehensive agreement he The reassurances are crucial for disappointment in the audience. conference 2009 106 chars
had come to Copenhagen for. American domestic political He warned African and island
"I think it is important that consumption, where there is countries that the alternative – of Suzanne Goldenberg (Scripting News)
instead of setting up a bunch of concern about losing economic no agreement – was worse. guardian.co.uk© Guardian News Submitted at 12/17/2009 3:04:36 PM
goals that just end up not being ground to China and India in the Obama's lacklustre speech & Media Limited 2009 | Use of
met, that we get moving," he transition to a clean energy proved a frustration to a summit this content is subject to our Just like there are no atheists in
said. "We just keep moving economy. It did not seem at first that had been looking to him to Terms & Conditions| More Feeds foxholes there are no
forward." that the president would be use his stature on the world stage, Republicans who are uninsured
O b a m a ' s h e c t i c d a y o f capable of breaking down the and his following among African and critically ill.
8 World/ Gadgets/
How the Copenhagen text was changed
By Jonathan Watts (World
news and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:37:48 PM
National leaders and sleep-
deprived negotiators thrashed out
a text late last night that could
determine the balance of power
in the world and possibly the
future of our species. The list
below gives a breakdown of the
key points:
Temperature
"The increase in global
temperature should be below two
degrees."
This will disappoint the 100-plus
nations who wanted a lower
maximum of 1.5C, including
many small island states who fear
that even at this level their homes
may be submerged.
Peak date for carbon emissions
"We should co-operate in
achieving the peaking of global
and national emissions as soon as
possible, recognising that the
time frame for peaking will be
longer in developing countries
…" This vague phrase is a
disappointment to those who
want nations to set a date for
Now that is a special edition
By Devin Coldewey
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:14:35 PM
Wow. I thought Modern Warfare
2’s night vision goggles made for
a pretty special edition, but this
edition of Enemy Zero, a
emissions to fall, but will please
developing countries who want
to put the economy first.
Emissions cuts
"Parties commit to implement
individually or jointly the
quantified economy-wide
emissions targets for 2020 as
listed in appendix 1 before 1
February 2010."
This phrase commits developed
nations to start work almost
immediately on reaching their
mid-term targets. For the US, this
is a weak 14-17% reduction on
2005 levels; for the EU, a still-to-
be-determined goal of 20-30% on
1990 levels; for Japan, 25% and
Russia 15-25% on 1990 levels.
The accord makes no mention of
2050 targets, which dropped out
of the text over the course of the
day.
Forests
"Substantial finance to prevent
deforestation; adaptation,
technology development and
transfer and capacity."
This is crucial because more
than 15% of emissions are
attributed to the clearing of
forests. Conservation groups are
concerned that this phrase lacks
mediocre Sega Saturn game, is
the specialest of them all. The
crate it comes in? Not a novelty
crate! It’s the smallest container
they could find that would hold
all the wonderful things they
wanted to give you.
So what exactly is in this
safeguards.
Money
"The collective commitment by
developed countries is to provide
new and additional resources
amounting to $30bn for 2010-12
… Developed countries set a goal
of mobilising jointly $100bn a
year by 2020 to address needs of
developing countries."
This is the cash that oils the deal.
The first section is a quick
financial injection from rich
nations to support developing
countries' efforts. Longer term, a
far larger sum of money will be
committed to a Copenhagen
Green Climate Fund. But the
agreement leaves open the
questions of where the money
will come from, and how it will
be used.
Key elements of earlier drafts
dropped during yesterday's
negotiations:
An attempt to replace Kyoto
"Affirming our firm resolve to
adopt one or more legal
instruments …"
This preamble, killed off during
the day, was the biggest obstacle
for negotiators. It left open the
question of whether to continue a
cornucopia of survival horror
twin-track process that maintains
Kyoto, or whether to adopt a
single agreement. Europe, Japan,
Australia and Canada are
desperate to move to a one-track
approach, but developing nations
refused to kill off the protocol.
Deadline for a treaty
"… as soon as possible and no
later than COP16 …"
This appeared in the morning
draft and disappeared during the
day; it set a December 2010 date
for the conclusion of a legally
binding treaty. The final text
drops this date, but small print
suggests it will still be next year.
• Copenhagen climate change
conference 2009
• Climate change
• Kyoto protocol
• United Nations
• Denmark
Jonathan Watts
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
& Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our
Terms & Conditions| More Feeds
ephemera? Well, in addition to
the “normal” special edition of
the game, you get shirts, a
promotional costume they used at
shows, a replica of the gun from
the game, a VHS tape of the
game’s music (?!), and about 500
other things.
E-reader News Edition
Google Guys Lose to
President Bush in
Weirdest Bracket Ever
[Wtf]
By Dan Nosowitz (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:40:00 PM
The Washington Post has this
bizarre Final-Four style bracket
to determine the " most
influential person of the decade,"
and with President Bush's defeat
of Sergey Brin and Larry Page,
all the tech figures are now out of
the race. Lame.
Previously, Osama Bin Laden
knocked out Facebook's Mark
Zuckerberg, and President
Obama defeated Steve Jobs, but
the Google Duo held out until the
semifinals, when President Bush
liberated them. That is officially
the oddest sentence I have ever
written. Way to go, Washington
Post. This is incredibly weird. [
Washington Post via Wonkette]
It was put up on Yahoo!
Auctions in Japan, and sold for…
are you ready for this? It was
sold for 300,000¥, or around
$3300. Mother of god! Even a
mint copy of Radiant Silvergun
will only go for a few hundred!
E-reader News Edition
US tabloid 'buried 2007 scoop' on
Tiger Woods affair
By Jo Adetunji (World news
and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:38:56 PM
US golfer gave exclusive
interview to sister paper of
National Enquirer in return for
tabloid's silence
Representatives acting on behalf
of Tiger Woods brokered a deal
two years ago to bury a tabloid
story of an extramarital affair, the
Wall Street Journal reported
yesterday. It said representatives
for the golfer acted after the
National Enquirer threatened to
publish pictures of Woods taken
in a parked car with Mindy
Lawton, a Florida waitress.
The alleged deal, which the Wall
Street Journal claims was made
in August 2007, saw Woods give
an exclusive cover interview and
photo spread to a sister magazine
of the Enquirer, Men's Fitness.
It is the second such claim to be
made after the publication of a
similar story in the New York
Post earlier this month.
American Media, owner of the
Enquirer and Men's Fitness, said
descriptions of such a deal were
"inaccurate, false" and
"misinformed". It claimed the
Google's top antitrust defender: 'It's fun'
By Tom Krazit
(Webware.com)
interview, headlined Tiger!, and
in which a beaming Woods
appeared on the cover, was a
result of the golfer's previous link
with the interviewer, Roy
Johnson.
But Neal Boulton, former editor
in chief of Men's Fitness at the
time of the alleged deal, fuelled
further speculation after claiming
that he left his post because of
the incident. "[American Media
CEO] David Pecker knew about
Tiger Woods' infidelity a long
time ago … He traded silence for
a Men's Fitness cover," Boulton
told the New York Post.
The claim that there was a cover
-up of Woods's infidelity is the
latest twist to a story that began
to unravel last month after the 14
-time champion's car hit a fire
hydrant near his Florida home.
Official statements from the
golfer sought to end speculation
that he had been involved in an
argument with his wife, Elin
Nordegren, at the time of the
accident. She was found
clutching a golf club after the
accident and claimed she had
used it to smash the vehicle's rear
window in a bid to rescue her
husband from his car.
Since then a series of women,
Life at Google is certainly
different than government service
for senior competition counsel
including a New York nightclub
promoter and two Las Vegas
cocktail waitresses, have claimed
to have had affairs with the
golfer. Reports that the 33-year-
old billionaire also gave out
financial gifts have tarnished a
hitherto squeaky-clean image. In
a statement this month, Woods
said he regretted his
"transgressions" and said: "I have
let my family down". He has
since withdrawn from golfing
commitments, amid reports of a
possible divorce.
Woods's commercial interests
are also under pressure after the
watch brand Tag Heuer
confirmed that it would not be
using him in US publicity until
further notice, saying it had to
"take account of the sensitivity of
some consumers in relation to
recent events".
• Tiger Woods
• United States
• Golf
Jo Adetunji
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
& Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our
Terms & Conditions| More Feeds
Dana Wagner, but his past and
present collide on a daily basis at
the search giant.
COPENHAGEN
continued from page 5
are at a critical stage and are
happy to keep going. It's a very
important moment for the world."
But the president thought he
should have another go himself
with Wen. Unfortunately, it
seemed as if the Chinese leader
was on the way out of the
building, having given up on the
summit.
At 4pm, White House officials
were told that the Chinese
delegation had already started
leaving for the airport, and that
India's prime minister,
Manmohan Singh, had also left
the Bella Centre.
But Wen was still in the building
however, and Obama called a
meeting for 5pm. After much
shuffling, it was finally
scheduled for 7pm.
Obama walked in the room
calling out from the door, "Mr
Premier, are you ready to see
me? Are you ready?"
Wen was – and so it transpires –
were the leaders of India, South
Africa, and Brazil who had also
decided to sit in on the meeting.
"I think it's safe to say they did
not intend to have that meeting
with four of them, they intended
to have that meeting with one,"
White House officials briefing
Originally posted at Relevant
Results
World/ Tech/ 9
reporters travelling on Air Force
One said.
Ninety minutes later, the leaders
began emerging. India's
environment minister, Jairam
Ramesh, waved to reporters, and
said: "We've got a deal."
Obama with Hillary Clinton, the
secretary of state, by his side
walked quickly past the row of
waiting television cameras. "Do
we have a deal?" a cameraman
shouted. Obama did not answer,
but Hillary Clinton bared her
teeth in a grin.
• Copenhagen climate change
conference 2009
• Climate change
• Barack Obama
• Gordon Brown
Suzanne Goldenberg Allegra
Stratton
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
& Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our
Terms & Conditions| More Feeds
10 Finance/ Gadgets/
Users and Advocates
Question Facebook
Privacy Changes
By Trey Thoelcke
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:00:00 PM
Filed under: Consumer
experience, Internet, Google
(GOOG)
Social networking giant
Facebook, the largest such site in
the U.S., recently has been
urging users to update their
privacy settings in connection
with ongoing changes to the
service. The changes coincide
with the recent deal between
Facebook and Internet search
giant Google Inc. ( GOOG) to
bring data from the social
network into the search engine as
real-time data.
Many Facebook users are
finding that parts of their profiles
are now public, whether or not
they want them to be. Facebook
may share public information
with software developers who
build services for Facebook
Psystar to shut down 'immediately,' world shrugs
By Joseph L. Flatley
(Engadget)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:51:00 PM
Has the saga finally come to an
end? Dow Jones is reporting that
Psystar will be firing its eight
users. Concerns over privacy
have prompted 10 privacy
organizations, lead by the
Electronic Privacy Information
Center (EPIC), to file a complaint
with the Federal Trade
Commission(FTC).
Continue reading Users and
Advocates Question Facebook
Privacy Changes
Users and Advocates Question
Facebook Privacy Changes
originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec
2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
employees and then "shutting
things down immediately," in the
words of the company's attorney
with the bad-ass name, Eugene
Action. Besides, after the latest
round of losses at the hands of
Apple, this should come as a
Natural Gas: The USA's
Next Primary Fuel?
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:00:00 PM
Filed under: Exxon Mobil
(XOM) Could natural gas
become the new, primary fuel for
the United States in the 21st
century?
It's possible, if new drilling
techniques that have the potential
to vastly increase the U.S.'s
natural gas supplies are deemed
safe by regulators.
Exxon-Mobil ( XOM) jolted the
energy world with its decision to
buy natural gas giant XTO
Energy ( XTO) for $41 billion.
The deal brings Exxon's
enormous financial resources to
XTO, which has made a name for
itself via its expertise in the new
technique of hydraulic fracturing,
which enables companies to
shock to nobody. Now that we've
profitably access much more
natural gas from current fields,
and access gas at previously cost-
prohibitive fields.
Continue reading Natural Gas:
The USA's Next Primary Fuel?
Natural Gas: The USA's Next
Primary Fuel? originally
appeared on BloggingStocks on
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of
feeds. Permalink| Email this|
Comments
put all that behind us, can we
concentrate on something of
importance -- like Tweeting
swears from the Zune HD
Twitter app?
Psystar to shut down
'immediately,' world shrugs
E-reader News Edition
These Nuclear Reactor
Charts Will Help You
Take Over the World
[Nuclear Reactors]
By Rosa Golijan (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:54:56 PM
Once upon a time, I wanted to be
an evil mastermind and take over
the world. My plans were foiled
because I knew nothing about the
inner workings of nuclear
reactors. Oh, if only io9 linked
these charts back then.
You can click on the image
above for a slightly bigger
version or just follow the links
along to io9 for all the charts an
evil mastermind could ever need.
I only ask that you give me a
cozy cabin somewhere peaceful
when you use this knowledge to
succeed where I've failed. [
Flickr via Bibliodyssey via io9]
originally appeared on Engadget
on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:51:00
EST. Please see our terms for
use of feeds. Permalink| Dow
Jones| Email this| Comments
E-reader News Edition Finance/ Gadgets/ Tech/ 11
Now France Fines
Rite Aid defeats analysts DECAF, the anti-Microsoft Google For Scanning
in Q3, but investors COFEE, pulled. It was a French Books
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
should be careful stunt designed to rally y’all. Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:35:01 PM

By Nicholas Deleon the software in order to raise

By Steven Mallas (CrunchGear) With France gearing up to dump
awareness vis-a-vis security. The another billion dollars at its own
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:00:21 PM
idea was to get DECAF out there, anti-Google book scanning
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:30:00 PM stir up some media hype (hi!), project, it shouldn't come as
Ladies and gentlemen: we were then WAM! you with the real much of a surprise that a French
Filed under: Earnings reports, worked. The other I mentioned deal.
Walgreen Co (WAG), CVS Corp court has ruled that Google's
DECAF, which was promoted as Basically, the DECAF guys book scanning project violates
(CVS), Rite Aid Corp (RAD) the anti Microsoft-COFEE. want you to help. They want
Rite Aid ( RAD), whose copyright law. It's also fining
While I still don’t understand want you to help bring awareness Google 10,000 euros per day
colleagues include CVS people’s fascination with the to the vast field of security and
Caremark ( CVS) and Walgreen ( until it removes the books in
forensics tool, DECAF promised forensics. question. Better solution: just
WAG), reported third-quarter to protect users against whatever DECAF was put together by two
results on Thursday. Although cents per share. block people from French IPs
Continue reading Rite Aid the hell COFEE does. Only it people, and yet the idea (an “anti- from accessing Google Books.
they did show improvement, I doesn’t: DECAF is a scam. Well, COFEE”) ricocheted around the
think most investors would be defeats analysts in Q3, but “scam” is a harsh word, more Internet. If you can tap into the Permalink| Comments| Email
better off staying away from the investors should be careful This Story
stock. Rite Aid defeats analysts in Q3, like “and let this be a lesson to people who believed in DECAF
you.” I believe those are called and tun their energies into
According to this summary at but investors should be careful “teachable moments” in politics something constructive and
Reuters, top-line sales decreased o r i g i n a l l y a p p e a r e d o n
circles these days. (See: that beer positive, then all of this would
a little under 2%, and the loss per BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec summit from a few months have been worth it.
share came in at 10 cents. This 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see back.) via Seattle P-I’s Mircosoft Blog
was a lot better than the 30 cents our terms for use of feeds. Read| Anyhow, here’s what’s up: the
per share lost in the comparable Permalink| Email this| Comments
people behind DECAF created
quarter. Expectations were for
the red ink to be closer to 18

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 catches FCC on a good day

By Chris Ziegler (Engadget) an arm's length through a little WIND's spectrum, by the bye), so if you think this might be your
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:35:00 PM
portal we know as the FCC WiFi, and Bluetooth, so even if T phone of choice come 2010, have
Office of Engineering and -Mobile ultimately chooses not to a look.
Oh, to live the life of an FCC Technology, where gems like the offer it on contract, you should Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10
certification lab employee: X 1 0 o c c a s i o n a l l y p o p u p be able to score it one way or catches FCC on a good day
setting up test benches, writing complete with pretty in-the-wild another N900-style. The user's originally appeared on Engadget
reports, playing with devices that pictures, teardowns, and user manual is basically just 40 pages on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:35:00
won't be released for months or manuals. What we're looking at of good stuff plus a bunch of EST. Please see our terms for
years. Instead, we're stuck here are test results for EDGE IV (that'd be T-Mobile's and conformity statement mumbo use of feeds. Permalink| FCC|
enjoying their fun vicariously at 850 / 1900 plus WCDMA Band jumbo, but it's still a good read -- Email this| Comments
12 Gadgets/
Orson Welles and His Brief Passionate Betacam Love Affair
[Filmmaking]
By Frank Beacham (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:00:00 PM
In January 1985, the phone rang.
The caller announced that he was
Orson Welles and that he wanted
to have lunch with me. Thus
began one of the most
extraordinary and bittersweet
adventures of my life.
Sometimes the journeys we take
through this life begin and end in
the most unexpected ways. My
encounter with Welles in the last
days of his life centered on a
common interest: Sony's new one
-piece camcorder, the Betacam. It
had just come to market and
Welles, always the genius
filmmaker, had big ideas for what
he could do with one. With
Welles there were no limits.
"You can't do that" wasn't in his
vocabulary. This was a short, but
very passionate story.
At the time I was running
Television Matrix, a small video
production facility in the Sunset-
Gower Studios in Hollywood. I
had been in California only a
short time, having moved from
Miami the previous summer. I
had started in video production in
1975 and had been shooting
mostly news for the networks
throughout Latin America.
Business was good because the
networks were switching from
film to tape in this period and
they were short of video crews.
In late 1982, I purchased
something totally new—one of
the first Sony Betacams delivered
in the United States. Beta Goes
To Hollywood
One of our clients in Miami had
been Entertainment Tonight.
During a lull in a location shoot
with Robin Leach, then an ET
correspondent, I'd shown him the
new Betacam. Leach had been
offered a chance to do his own
television show, but could find
no one in the mid-1980s who
could bring in a one-hour episode
for his very low budget of
$100,000. The Betacam, Leach
thought, might be the answer.
"Could this work?" he asked me
at the time. "Maybe," I
responded. Only the Sony
Betacam camcorder—the first
one-piece camera and recorder
ever made—and a standalone
player existed. To edit, one
would need to connect the player
to another format to finish the
work. That would mean
integration with a one-inch Type
C format system.
Leach made me an offer. If I
could figure out how to make all
the technology work, he would
E-reader News Edition
would make it a "first" that they'd
advertise and show to others in
Hollywood. The Hottest Video
Editing Suite in Town
The prospects were exciting for
everyone. An elated Robin Leach
began to plan for the new show,
and I, along with several
freelance crew members that I
had worked with, moved to Los
Angeles in the summer of 1984.
One of the reasons we picked the
Sunset-Gower lot (the old
Columbia Pictures Studios) was
it housed the broadcast center for
the 1994 Olympics in LA that
summer. When the Olympics
ended, the networks would have
a huge fire sale of their used
broadcast equipment on the same
lot. I had targeted the pieces we
needed in advance, bought the
gear, and moved it to our new
edit bay days after the games
ended.
We were lucky enough to hire
move me and my crews to LA to Jim Fancher, now chief science
do the production on his new o f f i c e r a t T e c h n i c o l o r i n
reality show. That motivated me Hollywood, to build the facility.
to call Charles Felder, then the He was far more than a brilliant
president of the tiny Sony engineer. As a hands-on "can do"
Broadcast office in New York. guy, he was also a natural-born
My timing couldn't have been negotiator who could coordinate
better. It turns out that Sony had the different technical approaches
the same thoughts about how to of companies whose gear would
extend the Betacam and I had not work together. I will always
brought them the right project at picture Jim lying on his back
the right moment. In a flash, we under a rack of gear talking with
made a deal. In exchange for a tech support at some company
small financial investment on my
part, Sony would build an ORSON page 13
experimental facility in LA. They
E-reader News Edition
ORSON
continued from page 12
about why their product wouldn't
work.
Somehow, thanks to Jim, it all
came together on time and on
budget. By fall, we were ready.
The show, now called Lifestyles
of the Rich and Famous, went on
the air. To be honest, I thought it
was dumb idea that would last
for one season if we were lucky.
All I really cared about was that
we had moved to Los Angeles
and that Leach had paid for
everything. I was ready for
whatever came next. I can
honestly say it was one of the
great shocks of my life when the
show became a major hit. I was
totally unready for it.
We had built the first interformat
edit bay in the nation (Betacam to
one-inch), and Lifestyles was the
first major magazine show to be
shot using the new format. We
had made history. The cost of
television production had come
down—way down. At least by
half. Word spread fast and we
were running facility tours in no
time. Sony even hired Milton
Berle to do a two-page ad for the
facility and the technology
concept behind it.
Enter Orson
A freelance editor for our show,
Paul Hunt, also did some sound
work for the legendary
actor/director/producer/genius
Orson Welles. He told Welles
about our Betacam facility, now
running almost around the clock,
and from that moment on the
great man's insatiable curiosity
about every new sound and
imaging technology took over.
Welles wanted to meet me, and
thus came a lunch invitation
many film buffs would have died
for.
To be honest, I knew very little
about Welles. I had majored in
television and radio at the
University of South Carolina in
the 1960s and it was hard to
escape the many contributions
Welles made to the broadcast and
film industries. From audio
special effects to remarkable
moving dolly shots, Welles was a
genius of the first order. But
outside of having seen Citizen
Kane, I didn't know the details of
his career nor did I pretend to.
Our first lunch at Welles'
favorite haunt, Ma Maison, was a
roaring success. For reasons I
still don't fully understand, we hit
it off. Welles was curious about
all things video, especially the
Betacam, a device he envisioned
to be an Arriflex camera that
didn't need film. As our first
meeting continued, Welles' small
dog, who was seated at the table
next to me, kept nipping at my
leg. It was annoying, but I didn't
dare take a swat at Orson Welles'
beloved dog!
That lunch led to many others
throughout 1985. In the earlier
days of our relationship, he tested
me in strange ways. One night,
after midnight, Orson (he insisted
that everyone call him Orson)
called to ask for help in solving a
sound problem he claimed to be
having. He was recording and
editing some narration on his
Nagra tape recorder in his
bedroom in the hills above
Hollywood Blvd.
"Frank, after I do a splice with a
razor blade, I get a bump in the
sound when I play back the tape.
What should I do?" he asked.
This was a very strange question
from the man who had practically
invented modern sound
recording. He had scared the
nation with War of the Worlds
and was asking me such a basic
question about audio editing.
Though half asleep, I knew he
had to know the answer and
instantly recognized it as some
sort of test.
"Orson, your razor blade is
magnetized. Get another one," I
answered. "Oh, OK," he
responded, apologizing for
waking me and then promptly
said goodbye. I went back to
sleep and never heard of the issue
again."Call Sony. Make It
Work!"
As he learned more about video
camcorders and nonlinear
editing, Orson became
determined to do a video project
of his own. We visited New
England Digital for a demo of
nonlinear sound editing on the
Synclavier. As for video, Orson
wasn't content with just renting a
Montage, one of the first non-
linear video editors. He wanted
his own, and he wanted it to sit
next to his flatbed film editor at
home.
As the talk turned to money (it
always did in Orson's case), I
offered to contribute video
facilities and help him raise
money for a one-man show to be
called Orson Welles Solo. The
production would be a
retrospective of Orson's favorite
theatrical material along with a
big dose of magic—both new
tricks and archival footage from
Orson's glory days as a working
magician. Our facility was
already booked around the clock,
but it didn't stop me from
promising Orson anything he
wanted.
Through a long and convoluted
series of events (and with the
help of the late Paul Rothchild,
producer of The Doors, the Paul
Butterfield Blues Band and Janis
Joplin), the money was raised
and the production was set to
begin. Now Orson focused on
how he'd use the two Betacams
we'd secured to shoot the show.
Just as he had accepted no
conventional technical limitations
when he made Citizen Kane in
1940, Orson approached video in
the same unrelenting way. In
1985, Betacams had Saticon
tubes—not CCD sensors—and
their ability to sync to one
another via time code was, to put
it mildly, a bit crude. Orson
didn't care. He demanded that the
handheld Betacams float around
the set wirelessly and always be
in perfect sync. He also directed
that we shoot directly into bright
lights and he didn't want to hear
about any problems with lag.
"Call Sony and tell them to make
it work," Orson demanded,
slamming his fist on a table at
one point. "Don't ever tell me
'No.'" I called Sony, and Sony
responded by sending two expert
engineers to help Orson push the
13
video envelope on the project.
The day before the shoot was to
begin in November, 1985, the
Betacams were tweaked to the
max. The jury-rigs—and there
were a lot of them—were tested
and re-tested. Every engineer and
crew member that was to be in
Orson's field of view was told
that the words "you can't do that"
were to be stricken from their
vocabulary. With this project, I
demanded, we will find a way to
do any and everything Orson
wants to do. All the old excuses
about the limits of video will be
left at the front door. On the
Evening Before the Big Shoot
As technical preparations for the
shoot continued, Orson taped an
appearance in the late afternoon
on Merv Griffin's syndicated talk
show. Normally, Orson disdained
conversations about his past.
He'd always say he wanted to
talk about the future, not "go
down memory lane." But,
uncharacteristically, he did go
down memory lane that afternoon
with his old friend, Merv. Orson
charmed the audience, both with
stories and card tricks.
After the show, Orson had
dinner at Ma Maison and then
headed home to finish writing the
script for our first taping, now
only hours away. Our first day of
shooting was to be in auditorium
on the UCLA campus. Orson
would call when he was ready for
us to go to the location.
The next morning, as I awaited
those instructions from Orson in
ORSON page 14
14 Gadgets/ E-reader News Edition
ORSON
continued from page 13

my office, the phone rang. It was
Paul Rothchild.
"Did you hear the news," he
asked gently.
"What news?" I replied.
"Orson Welles is dead."
Orson had died of a heart attack
during the night. He was found
slumped over his typewriter,
working on our script. Minutes
later, a Welles assistant called
and said bluntly: "Frank, the
project has been canceled."
Welles' Legacy and Love of New
Technology
I drove home—numb and unable
to function. After the initial days
of despair, my incredible year
working with Orson Welles took
on a new dimension. A new
journey would begin. Those same
Betacams were used to record
Orson's memorial service a few
weeks later and that event, in
turn, introduced me to the
remarkable men and women who
had been associated with Welles
from his days with the Mercury
Theater. The film critic Leonard
Maltin and I did a documentary
with these fascinating people,
and I later produced, with
Mercury Theater actor Richard
Wilson, a retrospective of
Orson's best radio work from his
personal tape collection.
A couple of weeks after Orson's
death, his cinematographer, the
late Gary Graver, came by my
office for a visit. Gary said
something I will never forget.
"I've been driving around for two
weeks with Orson's ashes in the
truck of my car," he said, matter
of factly.
"What?" I responded, quickly
envisioning a fender bender with
the Hollywood legend's ashes
being scattered across an LA
freeway.
"I'm not going to take them into
my house," Graver said, almost
fearing the prospect. "What
should I do?"
I thought for a minute, looked a
Graver, and said, "I don't know."
Some months later, Welles' ashes
were buried in Ronda, Spain, on
the property of a longtime friend,
retired bullfighter Antonio
Ordóñez.
The demise of our video project
left me yearning to do some kind
of major Welles project to fill the
void. As I reviewed our time
together, I recalled an
extraordinary story that Welles
had taken nearly two hours to tell
me on a leisurely Saturday
afternoon a few months earlier. It
was about the events surrounding
his production of Marc
Blitzstein's musical, The Cradle
Will Rock, in 1937. It was,
Welles told me, the only time in
U.S. history that the military was
sent out to shut down a
Broadway play. He wanted to
make a movie about it, but had
failed to raise the money.
That was it. I would try to get
the film made. It took the support
of many of Welles' original
Mercury colleagues—including
the late actor/producer John
Houseman—and a lot of crazy
investors to keep the project alive
over the years. Most importantly,
it took Tim Robbins, who
recognized the power of the story
early on and spent most of 1990s
writing and directing the film that
eventually came to the screen.
Houseman once said that it's rare
in this life to be touched by real
genius. Welles, said Houseman,
was the real thing—perhaps the
only real genius he'd ever known.
Now, I understand what he
meant. Welles, long before most
filmmakers, saw the powerful
potential of small format video.
Yet, he was perhaps 20 years too
early to enjoy the real fruits of
the video revolution in his own
work.
Whenever I see a tiny new
camcorder introduced, or see
Apple upgrade a revolutionary
application like iMovie, I think of
Orson. Oh, how excited he'd be.
The pure magic of it all! If he
were alive today, he'd be making
his movies without regard to
raising huge amounts of money.
That, for both Orson and his
audience, would be an
achievement that we'll never be
able to enjoy.
Frank Beacham is a New York
City-based independent writer at
www.beachamjournal.com.
Beacham was executive producer
of the 1999 Touchstone Films
release of Tim Robbins film,
Cradle Will Rock. He and
George Demas have written
Maverick, a new play based on
the events described in this story.
Top CC image from Scary
Cow/Flickr; shot of Orson with
camera from MovieMail, which
sells the brilliant latter-day
Welles documentary F for Fake.
Toy Story 3 to
hit IMAX 3D on
June 18, 2010
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:45:45 PM
Be honest, you kind of want to
see Toy Story 3. I mean, even
though the film doesn’t natively
support IMAX 3D and will have
to be remastered, it should still be
amazing on the huge screens.
Plus the whole cast is back: Tom
Hanks, Tim Allen, Michael
Keaton, Don Rickles, R. Lee
Emey. Even Timothy Dalton is in
the new one. If Avatar doesn’t
convince the general public that
IMAX 3D movies are awesome,
Toy Story 3 definitely will.
Everyone enjoys a good Pixar
film. [ CNNMoney& SlashFilm]

Mini-Moscow on Sale for Just $3 Million [Travel]

By Rosa Golijan (Gizmodo) Today you can buy that super- simulate day and night time. I Oh, if only I had the space and
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:20:00 PM
detailed, scaled-down version of guess that it's not surprising that money to spare. I could be a
Moscow for a mere $ 3 million. the electricity costs alone are Russian Godzilla. [ Atlas
It took 300 people to construct a Stunning, isn't it? Apparently making mini-Moscow enough of Obscura]
400 square foot model of the every single of the itty-bitty an expense to get pushed onto the
USSR's capital city back in 1977. windows in the model can be lit up and there are effects to
auction block.
E-reader News Edition Gadgets/ 15

Aibo and the Days of Hot Dog-on-Robot Action [Y2k10]

By Anna Jane Grossman
(Gizmodo)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:20:00 PM
In 1999, the world met Aibo, the
$2,500 robotic dog from Sony.
The following year brought quite
the litter of less expensive
mechanized pups. Real dogs,
however, had mixed feelings
about their cyber counterparts.
There was the immobile singing
Poo-chi by Tiger Electronics, a
company that also made the i-
Cybie, which could lift its leg
and roll over. The $99 Fisher-
Price Rocket the Wonder Dog,
which was operated via infrared
headset, could burp and scratch
itself. There was also Tekno by
Manley Toy Quest, Big Scratch
and Lil' Scratch by Trendmasters,
Puppy Magic by Toy Biz and
more.
Many people who had both real
dogs and fake dogs decided to
see what would happen when the
two worlds collided.
If I had a fake dog... you know,
the idea seems so preposterous to
me that I can't even go there. My
real dog is looking at me as I sit
here on my shiny computer
which is flanked by my shiny
iPod and phone. "Aren't you glad
I don't require electricity to
operate?" he is saying with his
eyes. "Don't you want to take me
to the park and escape the backlit
cyber world you are immersed in
so many hours a day?" Why yes,
Amos, I do. Now stop dragging
your butt.
If these cyber versions were
meant to appeal to real wannabe
dog owners, I think they
should've made them look a little
more doglike. Would it have
been so hard to slap some fake
fur on these things? I'm thinking
they could've gone with some
Muppet fur—shaggy blue,
maybe. Or Elmo red. Who wants
a pet that looks like Robocop.
Also: my real dog earns his keep
by licking clean the dinner plates
and jumping in the laps of cute
guys at the park. The cyber curs
had no such uses. If I'm going to
shell out that kind of money for a
non-breathing pet, I'd at least like
if it could second as a vacuum.
Nevertheless, many robotic dog
owners thought it'd be very
original and clever and hilarious
to introduce their real pet to their
fake pet, as evidenced by the
following videos...
German Shepherd doesn't let
Aibo touch its meat
Sparky gets in some hot two-on-
one action with a Doberman and
a Chihuahua
Dog asks the Poo-Chi why it
isn't wearing any clothes
A cat watches an impertinent
iCybie take a pee
This particular school of cinema
reached its nadir with robo-dog
snuff films
Anna Jane Grossman will be
with us for the next few weeks,
documenting life in the early
aughts, and how it differs from
today. The author of Obsolete:
An Encyclopedia of Once-
Common Things Passing Us By
(Abrams Image) and the creator
of iamobsolete.net, she has also
written for dozens of
publications, including the New
York Times, Salon.com, the
Associated Press, Elle and the
Huffington Post, as well as
Gizmodo. She has a complicated
relationship with technology, but
she does have an eponymous
website: AnnaJane.net. Follow
her on Twitter at@AnnaJane.

CrunchDeals: Torchlight, $10 on Steam

By Devin Coldewey
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:44:55 PM
Since Diablo III isn’t going to be
hitting until at least the end of
2010 (why did they even
announce it?), it’s probably a
good idea to get a little
something now so you don’t die monster-smashing lootfest and I It’s straightforward enough that
of a hack ‘n slash deficiency. enjoyed every second of it. I’m non-hardcore gamers who need
Your best bet? Torchlight. I’ve partial to this kind of thing (I presents will enjoy it, too.
already beaten it once and am even enjoyed the comparatively Get you a dungeon romp!
about to take another trip through interminable Titan Quest) but
as a different class — I’d Torchlight is great fun that, as a
recommend it at its original price, bonus, can be played on pretty
bargain, people.
but it’s half off this weekend, much any computer due to basic
It’s a randomly-generated,
putting it at ten bucks. That’s a (but still cool-looking) graphics.
16 Gadgets/ Tech/
KLM considering handing
out e-book readers to
passengers (bad idea)
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:02:25 PM
In-flight movies might not be the
only form of airline-provided
entertainment on KLM flights.
The airline is considering
handing out e-book readers to
passengers after the idea won a
contest offered up by the airline.
The idea beat out Online Tax-
Free Shopping and placing wind
turbines under the runways.
(yeah, I don’t get that either)
But as fun and exciting as free e-
books seem, it would be a
technical nightmare. Your
mom barely knows how to use
her cell phone, let alone a
newfangled e-book reader. KLM
might as well hire a Geek Squad
agent for every flight.
I can see it now. *Bing*
Someone in seat 21 A
just pressed the attendant button
because they couldn’t figure out
how to read the New York
Sex, porn, Jacko top kids'
searches in 2009
By Lance Whitney
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:12:37 AM
Other top searches for kids
under 18 included YouTube,
Google, and Facebook, according
Times. *Bing* Now someone
can’t see the small font *Bing*
“How do I read my email on this
thing?” *Bing* *Bing* *Bing*
Maybe it would work if KLM
only handed out a few e-book
readers to the first class stiffs. I
could see that. But to stock an
ebook reader in the back pocket
of every seat seems damn
expensive and unnecessary. I, for
one, would rather save a few
bucks on my flight than have
access to an ebook reader. [
Trading Markets via e-reader-
info.com]
to Symantec service. Michael
Jackson was the most searched-
for celebrity.
Originally posted at News -
Digital Media
E-reader News Edition
T-Mobile bringing HTC
HD2 to the States? All
.nbh files point to 'yes'
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:19:00 PM
You know those times when
you're sifting through an
undercooked ROM, dumping
.nbh files right and left, asking
yourself: "is this even worth it?"
Well, the folks at WMExperts
can answer with a resounding fist
pump after digging up references
Baby simulator surfaces to T-Mobile US in an HTC HD2
prerelease ROM that was
recently leaked their way. At this
in Japan, Devo wants its point we're looking at a new 2.01
version of the HD2 software in
mascot back (video) the T-Mobile version, a big jump
from the 1.61 seen in previous
leaks, which maybe will smooth
By Joseph L. Flatley associated with babies, relying on
(Engadget) over some of those performance
a Rube Goldberg-esque array of
woes we experienced with the
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:31:00 PM
water tanks, projectors, sensors,
device. WMExperts also claims a
and sophisticated emotion control
When we first saw Yotaro baby software to respond to your March 2010 release date, which
simulator we thought: "we've actions appropriately. If you seems a while to wait, but
seen this ugly robot before." And think it looks strange above, wait somebody told us once about
no, weren't thinking about Keiko, until you see it in action! Check " g o o d t h i n g s " c o m i n g t o
the robot patient currently seeing it out after the break. "waiters" or something like that,
action in teaching hospitals in Continue reading Baby simulator so we're cautiously optimistic.
Japan. It just so happens that surfaces in Japan, Devo wants its [Thanks to everyone who sent
robot in question has more than a mascot back (video) this in]
passing resemblance to Booji Baby simulator surfaces in
Boy, a character beloved to Devo Japan, Devo wants its mascot
T-Mobile bringing HTC HD2 to
the States? All .nbh files point to
'yes' originally appeared on
fans world-wide. The robot, back (video) originally appeared
developed at the University of on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009
Tsukuba, is designed to teach 19:31:00 EST. Please see our 18:19:00 EST. Please see our
people about childcare and terms for use of feeds. Permalink terms for use of feeds. Permalink|
parenting by portraying various Technabob| Uchiyamalab| Email W M E x p e r t s | E m a il this|
facial expressions, movements, this| Comments C o m m e n t s
and physiological traits
E-reader News Edition
Josh is on Late Night
with Jimmy Fallon
tonight!
By Nilay Patel (Engadget)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:45:00 PM
Get ready, America. Josh is once
again accosting our nation's
airwaves from the set of Late
Night with Jimmy Fallon, and
he's got a pretty huge assortment
of new gear to show off. Tune in
on your local NBC station at the
times listed below, let us know
how he's doing in comments, and
make sure to include #joshtops in
your tweets!
P.S. - If you missed Josh and
Jimmy getting silly with the
TwitterPeek and the Droid last
month, we've got the video for
you after the break.
P.P.S. - Need another reason to
check out the show tonight?
Here's a teaser.
Showtimes:
12:35AM Eastern
11:35PM Central
11:35PM Mountain
12:35AM Pacific
Continue reading Josh is on Late
Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight!
Josh is on Late Night with
Jimmy Fallon tonight! originally
appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18
Dec 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please
see our terms for use of feeds. By Caroline McCarthy
Permalink| | Email this| (Webware.com)
Comments
Gadgets/ Tech/ 17
WebOS 1.3.5 coming to CES:
better performance and more
app storage, says Palm CEO
By Ross Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:26:00 PM
Here's something to glean from Rmote Turns Your
Palm's recent quarterly call, iPhone Into a Universal
besides the still less-than- RF Remote
profitable fiscal number, of
course. CEO Jon Rubinstein [Accessories]
divulged that yes, we will indeed By Dan Nosowitz (Gizmodo)
be seeing webOS 1.3.5 during
CES early next month. Even
better, we got some insight into
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:40:00 PM
New Kinetic has an RF
what we'll be expecting from the
update: more application storage
attachment accessory for the
iPhone that gives it all the power
( hooray!), better WiFi / app
performance, improved battery
life, and "increase Pixi speed and
of a universal remote, except
way, way better. This is the
universal remote we want.
better performance and more app
responsiveness" -- interesting that The accessory plugs into the
storage, says Palm CEO
Pixi is called out solo for that last docking port on an iPhone (or
originally appeared on Engadget
one, but we're not about to read presumably iPod Touch), and
on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:26:00
too much into that just yet. Good includes features like an
EST. Please see our terms for
news all around, but let's hope extensive library of IR codes,
use of feeds. Permalink|
there's still a surprise or two left customizable buttons, and RF
PreCentral| Email this|
in store come January 7th. learning from other remotes. It's
Comments
WebOS 1.3.5 coming to CES: a great idea; my iPod Touch
doesn't get much use as a PMP,
What would Yelpers think but Remote, VLC Remote and
Boxee Remote make it a great
of a Google buyout? remote control for my HTPC, so
I'm all for extending the
functionality to RF. We don't
buy one of the most vocal
know much about this gadget
community sites, and some users
think your campus is infested yet—but it'll be officially
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:34:00 AM
with skunks. announced at CES, and we'll give
Tread carefully, Google: If the Originally posted at The Social you more info (like price and
rumors are true, you're about to availability) then. [ Chip Chick]
18 Gadgets/ Tech/
Engadget HD goes inside a
FiOS TV Super Headend
and Video Hub Office
By Ben Drawbaugh
(Engadget)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:11:00 PM
If your idea of fun is going
behind the scenes and finding out
how your cable company's gears
turn, then don't waste any time
clicking on this link. On this tour
the crew learns all about
collecting 600 channels and
distributing them around the
country via fiber, complete with
locally inserted ads and
complying with ridiculous
blackout rules. But most
interestingly, we learn exactly
what makes Verizon FiOS TV
special while at the same time
what it has in common with other
cable companies.
Engadget HD goes inside a FiOS
TV Super Headend and Video
Hub Office originally appeared
on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009
17:11:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds. Permalink|
Engadget HD| Email this|
Comments
E-reader News Edition
YouTube shows
Poll: Do you plan on what friends share
seeing Avatar this on Facebook
By Harrison Hoffman
weekend (Webware.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:59:20 PM
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:15:29 PM YouTube just rolled out a feature
that keeps you up to date on the
You probably already know that videos that your friends are
this is Avatar’s opening sharing on Facebook.
weekend. It’s a big movie to say Originally posted at The Web
it lightly. James Cameron Services Report
invested a lot of time and
resources into it and some say the
future of 3D movies are riding on
its blue alien shoulders. But do
you plan on using two hours and
• Nope, not interested
40 minutes of your life watching
it this weekend? (I do) Are you
going to see Avatar this
• Already did
• Yar, I be a pirate!
weekend?
• I plan on it
View Results
• Maybe later
Russian ISP Blocking Political
Opposition Websites
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) the government has dubbed access to any site. US telcos say
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:33:00 PM
"extremist," even though they that they are in the business of
include political opposition sites encouraging free speech, and
I am still not convinced that we l i k e G a r r y K a s p a r o v ’ s they would be crazy to block
need special laws mandating net K a s p a r o v . r u , S o l i d a r i t y ' s sites, but what we're seeing
n e u t r a l i t y , b u t I f i n d t h e Rusolidarnost.ru and the National around the world suggests that
arguments from telcos that no Bolshevik Party's Nazbol.ru. there are times when ISPs do
one would ever block sites or Combine that with attempts in decide to block sites, and it's
s e r v i c e s t o b e h i g h l y the UK and Australia to give the often due to political pressure
unbelievable. There have been government the ability to make from governing parties.
cases of it happening in the past, up secret lists of sites that should Permalink| Comments| Email
a n d t h e r e a r e c a s e s o f i t be blocked by ISPs, and you can This Story
happening now. Shocklee points s e e w h y s o m e b e l i e v e i t ' s
us to the news that a Russian ISP important, as a fundamental
has been blocking websites that principle, that ISPs should allow
E-reader News Edition
Game Boy hacked into a
TI-83. That is all
By Devin Coldewey
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:30:45 PM
It’s one of those mods just for
modding’s sake, but that doesn’t
mean it isn’t awesome. Can you
imagine rocking this thing in
Math class? I mean, I got by with
Drug War, Cave, and racing
game that was pretty much Cave:
Vertical Edition. If I’d had Link’s
Facebook to hold spring F8 dev conference
By Caroline McCarthy
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:34:00 AM
Awakening or Pokemon up in
there… well, I would have
played a lot less cards.
As a side note, I love that
hackers like this guy are capable
of complicated hardware
transplants, but can’t seem to
build a tripod.
[via The Daily What and
Technabob]
After not holding one of its F8
conferences--which typically host
a major product launch--this
year, it'll be returning to San
Gadgets/ Tech/ 19
Report: Psystar closes up shop
(CNET News.com) the product maker doesn't Vegaman_Dan in similar threads,
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:00:00 PM
authorize you to do that, you can I suspect you will not dispute that
expect to end up in civil court." what Psystar was buying were
Random_Walk, Vernor's use was commercial simply upgrades that would not
I respectfully disagree. I quote resale. He was obtaining multiple represent a complete legal copy.
the Autodesk case to which you copies to resale. The decision That Psystar had to modify those
link: states Autodesk's actions made copies to get them to work with
"In a 21-page decision, Judge Mr. Vernor unable "to engage in unauthorized hardware is a legal
Jones sided with Vernor. Citing his BUSINESS." Like you said, issue. However Sega vs.
the 1977 case of United States v. he should have expected to end Accolade concluded that
Wise, which involved the sale of up in civil court. He did because Accolade's similar actions "to
u s e d f i l m s o b t a i n e d u n d e r it is the nature of corporations to gain access" were fair use when
dubious circumstances, Jones employ legal intimidation, not getting unauthorized cartridges to
found that the Ninth Circuit's because the product maker's work with the Genesis, and even
precedents suggested that the position had legal merit. that it did not violate Sega's
circumstances surrounding the "Okay, here's the deal. It has trademark.
sale of AutoCAD software nothing to do with EULAs (hint: That would only leave the fact
constituted a sale, not merely a the "EU" portion stands for "End that Psystar was installing images
license. Therefore, the First Sale User". It has nothing to do with
Doctrine applied, and Vernor was First Sale Doctrine.
of a single copy, instead of the
separate copies they purchased to
not bound by any of the terms in "It has everything to do with
Autodesk's license agreement." unauthorized distribution of a
He not only asserted First Sale copyrighted product."
include with the systems.
Considering other decisions
made by people with legal
rights, he characterized the It seems a bit contrary to say credentials in other relevant
transaction as a SALE also something has nothing First Sale disputes, I suspect Judge Jones
asserted the the purchasers to not a n d e v e r y t h i n g t o d o might have come to a different
be bound by ANY terms of the unauthorized distribution in this verdict (maybe just questioning
"license" agreement. Vernor. context of people distributing the imaging practices), and had
"Here's the trick - that only copies they have purchased. First just as much precedent and
applies to items sold to the Sale means that don't you don't justification as Judge Aslup did
consumer, not to commercial re- n e e d a u t h o r i z a t i o n f o r with his verdict.
selling, where the product maker distribution or those copies. That Five Filters featured article:
has every right to control how i s w h a t t h e e n t e r t a i n m e n t Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
new product is sold, by whom, industry learned when tried to PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
etc. If you have a business which assert to the rental industry that Term Extraction.
relies on buying product and then such authorization was necessary.
re-selling it essentially intact, and Considering your responses to
Francisco in the spring.
Originally posted at The Social
20 Tech/
Hitting the road with iPhone GPS apps: A holiday buyers
guide
By Mel Martin (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:00:00 PM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion,
Features, iPhone, Holidays, iPod
touch, App Review We're about
to hit the big holiday travel peak,
and it's a great time to survey
what we've seen this year for
iPhone GPS apps. GPS
navigation by satellite has been
around a long time, but it's never
been this inexpensive or
desirable. There's an explosion of
choices, with competitive
features and falling prices. For
many of our readers, facing long
trips to see family and friends,
getting the right GPS app is a
priority.
A few words about this guide: I
haven't seen or tested everything
on the market, and the choices
are constantly changing and
updating. I've done my best to
keep up and get some time on the
road with each of the apps listed
here. If I haven't talked about
your favorite app, it's not because
I don't like it, but because I can't
vouch for it.
Like all of you, I have some
criteria by which I judge a GPS
app. My list contains the things I
think are really, really, important.
Your list could be different. Such
is life.
Read on for my (long) list of
must-haves, and for the rundown
of the GPS apps
themselves.Here's my criteria:
• Good graphics and a clear
GUI. I want to be able to figure
out how things work without a
lot of effort. I don't expect to
spend a lot of time looking at the
screen, but when I do I don't
want it to be littered with useless
information.
• Good sound. I don't want to
have to struggle to hear what is
being said, and I don't want to
guess what directions I just got.
• GPS accuracy. Of course. I
want the GPS to know where I
am. On a highway, I don't want
to be depicted on a side road.
Most of the GPS accuracy comes
down to the electronics on the
iPhone, but smart software can
enhance the accuracy of my
position.
• Updated Maps. In my testing, I
found several units that didn't
have streets I was driving on, or
could not find addresses in
neighborhoods that were a
decade old. There isn't any good
way to find out how new the map
data is, but there are plenty of
reviews on the iTunes store that
will help you gauge this. Steer
clear of any app that has a lot of
people complaining about out-of-
date data.
• Updated Points of Interest.
Same as above. How current are
the locations and phone numbers
of restaurants, hospitals, shops?
Is the POI list static or is there a
web component that keeps it up
E-reader News Edition
possible. OK. Now let's look at the
• Choices about route contenders... all prices quoted are
calculation. I want options for those from the US App Store.
fastest, shortest, and less One of the first out of the gate
congested routes. I want to be was the AT&T Navigator app [
able to avoid toll roads, freeways iTunes link]. It's a monthly
or ferries. I want to be driving subscription at $9.99, with
with this app, not having the app discounts for multi-month
drive me. agreements. The maps are clear,
• Useful on-screen information. I the POI database is up to date.
to date? I prefer a frequently want to know how long till I get This app is cloud based, and that
updated POI list. If it's on the there, based on my speed, not a means if you lose AT&T signal,
phone only, and something you guess. I want to know what time you're hosed. The app has
downloaded as part of the app, it I will arrive, and I'd like to know recently had an update with
is both smaller and less up-to- the distance to my destination improved iTunes integration. The
date than the online options. and to my next turn. app does text to speech, has an
• Where are the maps? Maps • Address Book integration. I attractive GUI, and has a nice
may be stored on your phone, or really don't want to type in feature to help you find cheap
delivered on-demand via the 3G destinations if they are already gas. It includes real-time traffic,
network. I prefer them to be on sitting on my phone. and warns you of congestion
the phone, because cellular • iPod integration. Not a big deal ahead. The downsides are the
reception may not be perfect. In for me, but it is for many. Can already mentioned dependence
the U.S., that means AT&T. For you access your iTunes library on a cellular signal. It also is way
the rest of the world there are without leaving the app? too chatty for my taste, and over
providers with great coverage, • More than just a driving mode. warns you of upcoming turns. I
and some with poor coverage. If The iPhone is small and portable. did not find the voice pleasant, as
you opt for a GPS app that Pedestrian directions are really it seemed distorted on the iPhone
depends on the network for nice to have. speaker. I'd blame that on the
maps, you'd better have good • Less important but nice: auto iPhone, except several other
cellular service or you'll be night display, meaning the products don't have the problem.
looking at a blank map. display dims or changes colors so As this is subscription based, it
• Text-to-speech. I really don't it is easier to see at night and less just keeps costing. At $70 a year,
want to spend time looking at the d i s t r a c t i n g . S p e e d l i m i t you could buy the Navigon,
display. I want the GPS to tell me information; can the app warn Magellan or TomTom app and be
to turn left on Elm Street, not you if your are speeding? To ahead of the game. Purchasers
'turn left ahead'. That could be know that, its database has to who rated this app at the iTunes
very confusing. know the posted speed for major store generally are not happy.
• Traffic information. It's no roads. I also like landscape mode, Ndrive United States. This is a
good following a route that is which is, I think, a nicer way to low cost $32.99 app[iTunes link]
backed up three hours because of view the maps.
an accident. I want my GPS to HITTING page 22
alert me, and re-route me if at all
E-reader News Edition
Google Wave’s Massive Potential for Business Users
By Howard Greenstein
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:35:16 PM
Howard Greenstein is a Social
Media Strategy and Marketing
consultant, and President of the
Harbrooke Group. He’s also a
national board member of Social
Media Club.
Google Wave is an innovative
new way for people to
communicate and collaborate.
But as Gina Tripani, author of
The Complete Guide To Google
Wave, noted in her recent
keynote at the recent Web 2.0
Expo in New York, Wave is
designed for power users. Wave
is hard. There are a lot of
features, all bundled together,
and it can be intimidating for
anyone to just look at it and
decide “this is a great project
management tool” or “this is the
way we’re going to manage our
notes about the proposal.”
But taking the time to
understand Wave and how it
works might be a worthwhile
investment for business users.
Here’s what Wave could mean
for the future of business
communication and
collaboration.
One App to Rule Them All
Wave is already being used for
projects and collaboration among
many small groups and
organizations around the world,
in large part because of its
strength in combining familiar
communication platforms.
Author of Content Nation and
frequent “Wave Rider” John
Blossom noted that Wave is “a
unique blend of real-time
messaging, applications and
online documents. While it can
be frustrating at times dealing
with Wave’s flexibility, the
ability of Wave to support a
number of styles of publishing
and communications
simultaneously in a single
document is perhaps its greatest
strength.”
When people use Waves, it is
helpful to think about
communications theory. Daniel
Levi’s Group Dynamics for
Teams classifies our modern
communication methods when it
comes to project-oriented work:
“Same Time, Different Place
(STDP) meetings are distributed
meetings in which team members
interact through a combination of
telephone, video or text …
Different Time, Same Place
(DTSP) meetings are useful for
work teams that exist across
different shifts … or whose
members who travel frequently
or telecommute. The information
technology serves as a storage
system so members can pass on
information as needed…
Different Time, Different Place
(DTDP) meetings are those in
which team members share the
same virtual space on an intranet
(i.e. internal communications
networks.) Technologies such as
online bulletin boards, chat
rooms, and databases help
support a team’s operations. This
allows team members to
Tech/ 21
in a similar space at the same wave. The New York creative
time. lead logs on later in the evening,
At the end of the meeting, and leaves a follow up note –
what’s left is the thread of the Different Time, Different Place –
discussion with the captured and the Hawaii team reads the
notes. Each Wave is made of feedback and edits their
“Wavelets,” i.e. threaded deliverable.
conversations spawned from an As you can see, Wave clearly
initial wave. These wavelets exists in an area that touches all
participate in the team process contain one or more messages, of these methods of interaction.
w h e n e v e r a n d w h e r e v e r known as blips. This makes it And it lets that interaction shift
opportunities arise.” possible for each Wave from one mode to another very
The table below illustrates how discussion to spawn separate fluidly as a project progresses
our current communication tools Wavelets for follow up after a and group needs evolve. Adding,
facilitate STDP and DTSP meeting. (See also Google Customizing, and Scaling
communication, and where they Wave: A Complete Guide for Anything Wave can’t do on its
overlap. more details.) own, can be accomplished via
Most of these systems are The team leader assigns owners plug-ins, which make Wave
disparate, don’t always work well to the key areas for the pitch, and highly customizable and let users
with each other, and generally the meeting breaks up. The gear a Wave for a specific project
require us to bridge some follow-up that happens can be or need.
connection gaps. thought of as Different Time, For example, there’s a real-time
Enter Google Wave and its S a m e P l a c e . P e o p l e c a n conference call plug-in from
ability to cover all of these asynchronously add to the Ribbit.com, and a plug-in for
quadrants at once, within one conversation that started in video conferencing from 6
application. This is the main person, fleshing out the points Rounds that can be used to
reason why Wave is so game- and expanding on them. Others initiate a call as well.
changing. It has the potential to can contribute or be brought into Since Wave can show the entire
phase out other disconnected the discussion as needed. thread of a conversation, all the
m e a n s i n f a v o r o f o n e Say the New York team needs document artifacts that have
consolidated communications creative for the pitch, but time is brought a group to a specific
tool. Real-World Applications running out on the East Coast. point of discussion are available.
Let’s think about how this works They call a creative shop in This is useful and, while not
in the real world. For a Same Hawaii they’ve worked with, and unique, it is presented differently
Time Same Place team meeting add them to the wave. This is than other collaboration systems.
for a client pitch, Wave can be Same Time, Different Place The Future of Wave for
put up on a screen or projected, communication, showing the Enterprise
and each person can contribute remote team what is needed in Would an enterprise consider the
his or her own notes to the real time. The teams can share Wave model? About two months
discussion. Unlike a Google pictures so everyone is on the ago I produced a podcast call
D o c u m e n t o r o t h e r s h a r e d same page. New York assigns with the Google Wave team on
medium, it is quite clear who’s Hawaii the work and goes home. behalf of the Supernova
typing what, and two people can The Hawaii team creates their
be working on a similar thought mockups and posts them to the GOOGLE page 29
22 Tech/
HITTING
continued from page 20
with built in maps, and a pretty
fair POI database. The
developers promised text to
speech, but as of this writing, it's
a no-show. In my review i said
that voice instructions came a bit
late. I liked the 3D rendering of
downtown buildings. As prices of
the more popular GPS apps drop,
Ndrive is not as compelling as it
was, but I think it is worth a look.
Another low cost option is
CoPilot Live North America. At
$20 (on sale now)[iTunes Link]
It includes text to speech, and
works well. In my review I noted
that the maps were not
particularly attractive, and were
often out of date. You can add
live traffic for another $20, which
starts getting app up there in
price. I'd consider this an entry
level purchase for someone who
isn't sure they want to spend a lot
of GPS navigation. At $20
without traffic, it's a pretty low
risk proposition.
TomTom. This app is offered in
the U.S. and several other
countries. It was an eagerly
awaited app because of the
reputation of the company. For
US drivers there is a US/Canada
version at $69.99 [ iTunes link]
and a $49.99 version[iTunes link]
that deletes Canada (no offense,
Canadians). It's on sale at this
price until December 28. Out of
the gate, this app was missing
some desired features, like text to
speech, but a recent update added
that function. The graphics are
clear and easy to understand. The
GUI is responsive. All the data is
on-board. There have been
complaints the maps are not as up
to date as some of its
competitors. All in all, the
TomTom app is full featured, and
very competitive, especially at
the $50 sale price.
Magellan Roadmate. Full
featured, very nice GUI and easy
to read screens. Has text to
speech, 3D landmarks, lane
assist, pedestrian mode, and a
one-touch menu for getting to
favorites. In my review I found
the app easy to use and
responsive. At $79.99 (on
sale)[iTunes link] it's a bit pricey
and I expect they will have to get
a bit more aggressive because of
the competition. I like everything
about this app except the price
and lack of real time traffic.
G-Map U.S. and Canada. At a
sale price of $49.99[iTunes link]
it is in the middle of the pack in
terms of cost, but in my
experience it was buggy and a bit
slow to react to turns. In my
review I noted that the app had in
fact been pulled from the app
store for bugs. Several users,
including me, have had trouble
installing it. The developers have
been quick to try and fix the
issues that pop up, and they have
added text to speech. If you don't
need Canadian maps, the
TomTom sale price is a better
deal.
iGo Navigation. At $64.99 on
sale, this is a bit high for an app
with no text to speech. It does
have lane assist, 3D landmarks,
and details at intersections. In my
review I noted that app froze up,
which is a no-no. Without text to
speech, it's a high price and not
very competitive with the big
names.
Navigon Mobile Navigator
North America. In my view, this
is the current top drawer app that
I have used and extensively
tested. It's on sale to January 11
for $59.99[iTunes link], and it
includes Canada, text to speech,
and now Google live search to
compliment the built-in POI data
base. That's the best of both
worlds in my view: the maps on
board, plus the ability to find,
call, and easily navigate to a
destination. If you are out of cell
tower range, the built in POI data
is reasonably complete.
You can get up to date traffic
data for larger cities for an
additional one-time purchase of
$24.99. I think the on screen
graphics are best in class, and
Navigon was the first to add text
to speech. They have been very
prompt at getting frequent
updates released and have added
valuable features. If you look at
the iTunes ratings, it seems to
have satisfied the most people. If
I had to choose one GPS app for
the iPhone, it would be the
Navigon, no question. The
company released the Google
integration yesterday, and it had
some server issues, but they got
right on it and fixed it very
quickly.
Against my list of desired
features, the Navigon app hits
them all. Google may or may not
offer a free nav app for the
iPhone at some point, but if
you're planning a long holiday
trip, you probably can't wait. The
Navigon is not the most
expensive, nor the cheapest of the
apps that are out there. But I do
think it is the best, with the
Magellan and TomTom in a tie
for second place.
So there you have it. I know
there are some other apps I
haven't tried, so they are absent
here. Many of these apps run fine
on an iPod touch, although you
won't be able to use them for live
navigation without a hardware
assist (like the auxiliary GPS
provided by the TomTom
cradle). Check the iTunes links
I've provided to get specifics on
each model. I've tried to cover a
variety of options and prices, and
hopefully you'll find something
that fits your needs and your
budget. Happy Holidays and safe
driving!
TUAW Hitting the road with
iPhone GPS apps: A holiday
buyers guide originally appeared
on The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009
19:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
E-reader News Edition
Explosive deep
-ocean volcano
(photos)
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:14:35 PM
Nearly 4,000 feet below the
surface of the Pacific Ocean, in a
region bordered by Fiji, Tonga,
and Samoa, scientists have for
the first time captured high-
resolution video and images of a
deep-sea volcano erupting in a
project funded by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the National
Science Foundation.
The deep-sea eruption of the
West Mata volcano is producing
what are known as boninite lavas,
believed to be among the hottest
on Earth.
For the first time, scientists have
been able to observe these deep-
sea eruptions through high-
definition video and audio,
thanks to a hydrophone that was
later matched to the video
footage.
In this image, we see an
explosion near the summit of the
West Mata volcano spewing ash
and rock. The area shown is
about six feet across in an
eruptive area about 100 yards
which runs along the summit of
the volcano at nearly 4,000 feet.
Photo by NOAA and NSF
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
Term Extraction.
E-reader News Edition Tech/ Politics/ 23

HOW TO: Outsmart Phishers [HUMOR]

By Dave Borgenicht
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:39:19 PM
Dave Borgenicht is the co-author
of the best-selling Worst-Case
Scenario Survival Handbook,
which has spawned numerous
sequels, games, t-shirts, a TV
show and more. For more tips,
check out the official blog or
follow the Worst-Case Twitter
feed@WorstCaseBooks.
Worst-Case Scenarios don’t just
happen in the physical world —
there are countless injuries,
dangerous creatures, pitfalls, con-
artists and scammers to be found
in every corner of our beloved
Internet as well.
Phishing — where scammers
attempt to steal sensitive
information like account
passwords and credit card
numbers by posing as trusted
sources or web sites — is all too
common. Fraudulent e-mails and
sites are best avoided altogether,
but if you’re feeling particularly
“vigilante,” there are a number of
ways you can ruin a phisher’s
operation, and perhaps help
protect your fellow web users in
the process. Here’s how.
1. Bait the Waters
Lure would-be scammers by
registering dozens of e-mail
addresses, using fake names and
identifying information. The
more e-mail identities you have,
the more spam e-mail you will
receive. 2. Respond Credulously
When you get a come-on from
an e-mail scammer, write back
enthusiastically and ask for more
details. “I am sorry to hear that
your brother is being held
prisoner! Where exactly is the
prison he is being held at? Were
you hurt when you were deposed
in the coup?” 3. Create the
Impression of Great Wealth
Mention in your reply e-mail
that it is currently a very busy
time for your business, or that
you are in mourning for your
wealthy uncle who has just died
and left you his estate. 4. Invent a
Persona
Make up a name, and include
small details in your e-mail,
including the name of a spouse or
a pet. Do not select a real name
for your persona, in order to
avoid implicating other people in
your anti-scam scam. Name
yourself something that is clearly
ridiculous to you, but that a
foreign scammer might not
recognize, such as “Alfred E.
Newman.” Find stock
photographs to complement your
to wire you money. If he sends a in the form of fees and upfront
check, do not cash it, but record costs, making it harder and
the account information, as it is harder for the victim to admit to
likely a stolen or made-up him or herself that it’s a scam.
account. 8. Poison Future Scams 11. Abruptly Cease
Over the course of your Corresponding
correspondence, relay incorrect Cancel the phony e-mail you had
information that will make the set up. Post the scammer’s name
scammer’s future scams less and any other identifying
new persona. 5. Ask for Proof effective. For example, mention information you have received on
When the scammer expresses his that American women love to be anti-scam web sites. Be Aware,
desire for you to wire money, act called dirty, offensive, names, or and Be Safe
as though you are wary. Ask him that most American banks are - The most infamous pool of e-
to send proof of the legitimacy of only open on Sundays. 9. Delay mail scammers is in Lagos,
his business. Ask for photographs Invent more and more delays to Nigeria, but they come from all
of his office, his co-workers, and the promised pay-off. The over the world, including from
his car. Remember, the more scammer just has to do one more within the United States.
time he spends satisfying your thing for you, send one more - Never use your real name, or
requests, the less time he has to photograph, etc., before you can any real-world details about
devote to scamming other people. go ahead and send the money. yourself or your family, when
6. Ask for Patience The more hoops you make the interacting with a scammer. If
Keep the scammer excited about scammer jump through, the more you correspond via letter or
how much they are going to willing he will be to do more, package, use a safety deposit box
fleece you for. “After reviewing since he has already invested so and a fake address. Though there
my accounts, I think I will soon much time and energy. 10. Enjoy may be a comic element to their
be able to comply with your Increase the difficulty level of communication, scammers are
request, and in fact can double the requests. Ask the scammer to professional criminals.
it.” First, though, say you must travel to another country “to meet Editor’s note: The preceding
arrange to have the money your representative” there. Then post is a work of satire.
released, which will take time. e-mail again, apologizing for the Images courtesy of iStockphoto,
Apologize. 7. Ask for Money mix-up and reschedule the furabolo, Kameleon007,
Turn the tables on the scammer meeting. If you start to feel joxxxxjo, hidesy, DNY59
by explaining that, before you badly, remind yourself that this is Reviews: iStockphoto
can wire the money, you need to the same technique scammers use Tags: List, Lists, phishers, scam,
pay a fee to your own bank to on their victims. They get them scammers
have the funds released. Ask him to sink more and more money in,

Obama's Copenhagen Speech

(Little Green Footballs)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:15:27 AM
If the Guardian is upset with
President Obama’s speech in
Copenhagen, he must have done
something right: Barack Obama’s
speech disappoints and fuels
frustration at Copenhagen.
The “frustration” they feel
comes from the fact that Obama
didn’t cave in, didn’t give away
the store, refused to compromise
US sovereignty, and is sticking to
his guns about other nations
doing their part to stop climate
change.
In other words, the Guardian is
frustrated and angry because
Obama is the President of the
United States, not President of
the World.
Here’s the full text of Obama’s
speech.[Video]
24 Tech/
New Twitter Client for Mac Packs a Powerful
Punch
By Christina Warren
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:21:05 PM
Although there is hardly a
shortage of desktop Twitter
clients, the native client options
for Mac users remain more
limited. A few weeks ago,
Realmac Software introduced
Socialite 1.0, an app that
manages Twitter, Facebook, RSS
feeds and more.
Now another new Mac native
client has entered the ring —
Kiwi by YourHead. Kiwi doesn’t
do multiple social networks like
Socialite — its focus is Twitter.
It’s a deceptively simple-looking
client, but under the hood, the
real audience is the power
Twitter user.
Look & Feel
Similar to apps like Twitt and
Bluebird, Kiwi offers users a
number of different themes —
they can even create their own.
Kiwi’s theme API uses HTML
and CSS, which makes creating
and altering themes pretty easy.
YourHead is a big player in the
RapidWeaver community and
already some other RapidWeaver
theme designers have created
themes for Kiwi. The built-in
selection of styles offers lots of
different options for the
customization junkie.
The first thing I noticed about
Kiwi as an application is that it is
FAST. Like, extremely fast.
Switching from one account or
group or saved item to another
felt seamless and instantaneous.
For power users that don’t like
to leave the keyboard unless it is
absolutely necessary, Kiwi has a
ton of keyboard commands.
Creating tweets, going to replies,
direct messages and favorites,
selecting accounts, retweeting
and more can all be done from
the keyboard. Speaking of
retweeting, you can do it the
official way, and there is also an
option to edit and retweet. One
really nice feature — you can
view a user’s timeline instantly
or in a browser from their tweet.
When composing tweets, you
can easily append pictures and
shorten URLs before hitting
send. Groups, Account Types
and Regular Expressions
Kiwi 1.0 does NOT support
Twitter Lists. The feature was
simply rolled out too late in
Kiwi’s development process —
but YourHead says it is planned
for a future version — probably
Kiwi 1.1.
That said, there are lots of
options that can create a list-like
effect. Kiwi is designed to be
used not only with multiple
Twitter accounts (if you have
E-reader News Edition
UK Digital Economy
Bill Section 124H
Would Give Ability To
Silently Censor
Websites
add that hashtag to a rule and all
of those tweets will be hidden By Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
from view). You can also create
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:39:15 PM
rules to highlight and color-code
content so that you are able to There have been lots of
spot it in your timeline. complaints about Peter
Other Thoughts Mandelson's "Digital Economy
Kiwi is a really impressive Bill" in the UK, which, beyond
Twitter client. It takes the same pushing a three strikes policy on
them), but with multiple types of vertical menu design that has the UK, would also grant
accounts. For instance, you can been popularized by the earliest Mandelson (or whomever he or
group together a bunch of desktop Twitter clients and adds future Business Secretaries
different Twitter followers’ in a lot of features without deputize) the power to
timelines into one group and then cluttering things up. Other than automatically change copyright
view updates from all of them lacking List Support and Growl law at will with no oversight.
together. You can also add notifications (that’s being worked Scary enough, but it gets worse.
certain searches or certain search o n , t o o ) , t h i s i s e a s i l y a s As everyone's been focused on
rules to these groups. advanced as any other Twitter these clauses, they may have
In addition to grouping those client, regardless of platform. missed another scary one. Brian
items together, if you want to My biggest takeaway with Kiwi points out that another section,
keep a certain search term on tap is that it is fast. Really, really, Section 124H, would also grant
for easy access, you can add it as really fast. Switching between the Secretary of State the power
an account type. Kiwi has a slick timelines, searches and search to silently block access to any
little quick account window that combinations is quick and easy, websites he dislikes. Yes, it
you can choose to have open that and updates come in elegantly would allow the Secretary of
lets you switch from one account a n d w i t h o u t a n y s e n s e o f State to create a no-visit list that
or search term to another. slowdown. ISPs would have to block. And
Perhaps the most advanced Kiwi requires Mac OS X 10.6 there would be no oversight
feature Kiwi possesses is support Snow Leopard. It’s $14.95, but (again). Oh, and it's not just
for rules and regular expressions. you can download a free trial and websites. The order could be
This has tremendous potential, see how it fits into your work used for something like "block all
especially if there are terms and flow. Reviews: Socialite, Twitter BitTorrent" traffic. Seems like a
phrases you want to keep tabs on. Tags: kiwi, mac, twitter, twitter bit much, doesn't it?
For instance, you can create a client Permalink| Comments| Email
rule to automatically hide tweets This Story
containing a certain phrase (so if
there is a popular twitter meme
you want to avoid, you can just
E-reader News Edition Tech/ Politics/ 25

David Pogue Weighs In On Ebook DRM: Non- Apple introduces

DRM'd Ebook Increased His Sales discounted iTunes
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) know," went their book did not fall. In fact, sales and pray" is a business model. movie bundles
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:39:00 PM
counterargument, "the illegal rose slightly during that year. It's not. Instead, you have to give By Megan Lavey (The
copies are just advertising for Now, it's worth noting that it people a reason to buy, and "hey, Unofficial Apple Weblog
Mark Rosedale(an employee of you; people will download them, really was just last year that because I want you to" isn't a (TUAW))
O'Reilly) was the first of a few to try them out, then go by the Pogue insisted that publishing particularly good one. Instead,
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:30:00 PM
send in David Pogue's recent physical book. Either that, or digital versions of his books was the focus should be on adding
column in which he discusses the they're being downloaded by a terrible idea, because he had real value. Again, this is a Filed under: iTS, Multimedia,
q u e s t i o n o f e b o o k D R M . people who would not have tried it twice and they were situation where O'Reilly is pretty Deals
Remember, just recently a Sony bought your book anyway. Why pirated all over the web. So it's good. We were just discussing The iPhone Blog reveals that
exec claimed that you couldn't don't you try a controlled really nice to see that he's how one of the "reasons to buy" Movie Bundles [ iTunes link] are
make money on ebooks without experiment and see?" actually come to his senses and it offers is the ability to buy now available through the iTunes
DRM. Yet, Pogue relates his Well, it sounded like it could be realized that piracy does not into"living books" that keep Store. This sort of feature has
own experience in running a test a very costly experiment. But I automatically mean lost sales, updating, so your copy isn't out been available for years in brick
with his publisher (which is agreed. My publisher, O'Reilly, and he was willing to run an of date. In that case, what they're and mortar stores, where you can
O'Reilly) in putting out a non- decided to try an experiment, experiment and actually look at really selling isn't the content, so buy two more more related
DRM'd ebook, and he found that offering one of my Windows the empirical data. much as the convenience and the movies packaged together at a
sales increased: As an author books for sale as an unprotected He's still not totally convinced knowledge that the information discount. They start out at
myself, I, too, am terrified by the PDF file. however -- as he notes that the will always be the latest, without $9.99USD with the most
thought of piracy. I can't stand After a year, we could compare reason his experiment worked requiring any additional work or expensive being $34.99USD for
seeing my books, which are the the results with the previous was because it drove sales of the checking. There are lots of ways an HD action pack of Jason
primary source of my income, year's sales. physical (paper) book. But he's to compete with piracy that don't Statham movies. The bundles are
posted on all these piracy Web The results? It was true. The worried that when more people involve locking the content down also available in the Canadian
sites, available for anyone to thing was pirated to the skies. It's have ebook readers, then things in a customer-unfriendly way. iTunes Store as well.
download free. all over the Web now, might change. Of course, at the Permalink| Comments| Email [Via MacRumors]
W h e n I w r o t e a b o u t m y ridiculously easy to download time of that last column, we used This Story TUAW Apple introduces
concerns a year ago, my readers without paying. it to point out that the mistake discounted iTunes movie bundles
took me to task. "For all you The crazy thing was, sales of the was in thinking that "give it away originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
Friday Night Music: Jimmy Wahlsteen, '181st Song' (TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009
(Little Green Footballs) The title track from Swedish video to boot. (Here’s the 15:30:00 EST. Please see our
guitarist Jimmy Wahlsteen’s recording at the iTunes terms for use of feeds.
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:18:51 PM
album 181st Songs, with a cool Store.)[Video] Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
26 Tech/ E-reader News Edition

Losers Of Garage Door DMCA Case Undersea robot captures

Try To Use Legaleze To Lock Up rare deep-sea eruption
(CNET News.com)
Your Garage Door Openers Anyway Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:17:00 PM
even in shallow water, you could
never hope to get this close and
see such great detail."
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) w h i c h i s k e y t o t h e a n t i - measure. What's quite clear is Science buffs got an early It's also the first deep-water
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:35:00 PM
circumvention clause. As the that Chamberlain is trying to Christmas present when rare eruption observed in the last 25
courts recognized, how could legaleze its way around the court video was released showing a years of submarine volcano
It's been over five years since Chamberlain tell homeowners rulings against it, by stating in spectacular undersea volcanic research by NOAA and the NSF.
garage door opener company that they couldn't authorize the the manual that you are not eruption deep in the Pacific In addition, the kind of lava
Chamberlain lost its bizarre opening of their own garage authorized to get around its little Ocean. spewing from the West Mata
DMCA case, which tried to argue door? b i t o f t e c h n i c a l t r i c k e r y . The West Mata volcano sits volcano is rare. Known as
that anyone making competing Fast forward five years, and B a s i c a l l y , i t s o u n d s l i k e nearly 4,000 feet below the boninite lava, it's believed to be
replacement garage door openers most tech/copryight folks haven't Chamberlain's lawyers saw the surface of the Pacific in an area among the hottest on the planet.
w a s v i o l a t i n g t h e a n t i - thought too much about garage loophole in the judges twisted bordered by Fiji, Tonga, and Prior to the West Mata discovery,
circumvention clause of the door openers and their relation to reasoning to get around what the Samoa. It was discovered in May it had only been seen on extinct
D M C A . I f y o u b e l i e v e d the DMCA... until Ars Technica's DMCA does state, and have by scientists with funding from volcanoes that were more than a
Chamberlain, then it would mean Nate Anderson moved into a new jumped gleefully through that t h e N a t i o n a l O c e a n i c a n d million years old.
that the DMCA could effectively house, and noticed his garage loophole. Of course, the lawyers Atmospheric Administration and Despite the volcano's incredible
b e u s e d t o b l o c k o u t a n y door opener manual (from Anderson questioned doubt that the National Science Foundation. depth and an environment as
competition in replacement parts Chamberlain, of course). The this would hold up in court, but Lucky researchers managed to acidic as battery acid, the area is
just by using a bit of encryption. manual was from 2006... well the real question is whether or catch high-definition video of the far from lifeless. Tim Shank, a
The court's ruling was a bit after Chamberlian had lost its not this would ever go back to eruption with the help of a biologist at the Woods Hole
convoluted, basically saying that case. And yet... the manual court. Chamberlain may just be remotely-operated underwater Oceanographic Institution (which
this simply couldn't be what contained clear DMCA-style anti hoping that enough people are robot named Jason. operates the Jason robot),
Congress intended with the -circumvention language, stating: scared off by the questionable Jason's cameras captured masses discovered shrimp thriving in the
DMCA, even if it was sorta what NOTICE: If this Security+ legal language that it doesn't need of lava bubbling up into the cold area of the eruption. He is now
the language of the law actually garage door opener is operated to file lawsuits, and competing seawater, chunks of debris comparing the DNA of the West
said. This was a victory, in that it w i t h a n o n - r o l l i n g c o d e product makers probably don't breaking off vents and falling to Mata shrimp to that of shrimp
did limit the DMCA against a transmitter, the technical measure find it worthwhile to file their the seafloor, and enormous found in similar environments
ridiculous situation, but it was in the receiver of the garage door own lawsuit either. But, in the clouds of volcanic ash billowing 3,000 miles away to determine
unfortunate in that the ruling opener, which provides security meantime, we get to see yet into the water. whether they are the same
didn't address what the law against code-theft devices, will another remnant of what the The discovery is significant for species.
actually said. To get around this, be circumvented. The owner of DMCA's anti-circumvention several reasons. For one, it is the Scientists presented their work
the court did a few different the copyright in the garage door clause has created. deepest erupting volcano ever Thursday at an annual meeting of
things, including noting that what opener does not authorize the Permalink| Comments| Email seen. As marine geologist Bob t h e A m e r i c a n G e o p h y s i c a l
Skylink did with its competing purchaser or supplier of the non- This Story Embley said, "Since the water U n i o n .
garage door openers didn't really rolling code transmitter to pressure at that depth suppresses Five Filters featured article:
involve "unauthorized access," c i r c u m v e n t t h a t t e c h n i c a l the violence of the volcano's Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
explosions, we could get the PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
underwater robot within feet of Term Extraction.
the active eruption. On land, or
E-reader News Edition
Plan an Eco-Friendly Trip With
routeRANK
By Christina Warren
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:38:32 PM
This post is part of Mashable’s
Spark of Genius series, which
highlights a unique feature of
startups. If you would like to
have your startup considered for
inclusion, please see the details
here. The series is made possible
by Microsoft BizSpark.
Name: routeRANK
Quick Pitch: routeRANK finds
the most ecologically friendly,
cheapest and the fastest way from
A to B.
Genius Idea: routeRANK can
help you compare travel options
by showing you your different
route choices, as well as by
calculating total trip time
(including additional forms of
transportation like car or train),
price and CO2 emissions. This
way you can figure out if driving
to grandma’s house is really
cheaper or more energy efficient
than grabbing a quick flight.
It’s not always easy to figure out
the best way to get from point A
to point B. Sometimes your
travel options are clear: like
taking a trip from New York to
San Francisco — it just makes
Create a Custom Map of Your Favorite Locales
By How-To Wiki (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:00:00 PM
more sense to fly rather than
drive cross-country. However, if
you are taking a trip that has
several route options,
determining how long each
option really takes isn’t always as
straightforward as you would
think.
That flight might only be an
hour long, but you’ll need to add
at least an hour at each airport,
plus add in the cost of a rental car
and fuel to get you to your
destination. Maybe it does make
sense to just take that five-hour
drive.
routeRANK is designed to
answer these types of questions.
Just enter in two destinations
(Europe and the United States are
covered) and you can see what
different travel options are
available and then sort by cost,
travel time or CO2 emissions.
We like that routeRANK
calculates all the types of travel
Creating custom maps is as easy
as loading an online map and
starting to plot away. In this
example, Adam Duvander uses
Tech/ Tech News/ 27
Smart Customer Service Lessons:
Responding Faster To Complaints
About Your Competitors
required to get from place to
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Seesmic. There were two things
place, because this makes it much
easier to judge which option is Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:40:00 PM
that struck me as quite interesting
best for your budget, calendar or about the reply:
This post is part of the IT • I had directed my original
conscience. Sponsored by
Innovation series, sponsored by comment at Tweetdeck, but it
Microsoft BizSpark
Sun & Intel. Read more at was the competitor Seesmic that
BizSpark is a startup program
ITInnovation.com. Of was first to reply. Think about
that gives you three-year access
course, the content of this post t h a t f r o m a c o m p e t i t i v e
to the latest Microsoft
consists entirely of the thoughts standpoint, and how that changes
development tools, as well as
and opinions of the author. I had the way competition can work.
connecting you to a nationwide
an interesting experience recently In the past, if I had a complaint
network of investors and
with customer service, that about one company, it would be
incubators. There are no upfront
seemed worth expanding a bit more difficult for a competitor to
costs, so if your business is
into a post. On Thursday swoop in and offer an alternative.
privately owned, less than three
morning, I noticed that rather But, with Twitter, it's easy.
years old, and generates less than
than the 200 or so Twitter • The part that's more
U.S.$1 million in annual revenue,
updates I would see in my impressive. Seesmic didn't slam
you can sign up today.
r e g u l a r T w i t t e r c l i e n t , Tweetdeck, or push me to move
Entrepreneurs can take
Tweetdeck, there were only to its own product. Instead, it
advantage of the Azure Services
about 15 messages. Something pointed out that the real problem
platform for their website hosting
seemed wrong. I checked m i g h t n o t h a v e b e e n w i t h
and storage needs. Microsoft
Twitter (to see if it was down), Tweetdeck, but with Twitter. In
recently announced the“new
but it seemed to be showing all of other words, it defended its
CloudApp()” contest– use the
the "missing" messages. I did a competitor, and did a better job
Azure Services Platform for
search, and lots of others were explaining the problem to me
hosting your .NET or PHP app,
complaining about missing than Tweetdeck itself did.
and you could be the lucky
messages in Tweetdeck as well.
winner of a USD 5000* ( please
I checked Tweetdeck's website That second point is, in some
see website for official rules and
and Twitter feed, and neither said ways, mindblowing. And, even
guidelines).” Reviews: PHP
anything about problems, so I put though the "problem" may not
Tags: cO2 emissions, eco-
up a message on Twitter noting have been Tweetdeck's at all, I'm
friendly, green, routerank, travel
the problems, and wondering if I now trying out Seesmic much
should check out Seesmic, a more seriously, because of the
Tweetdeck competitor I had way they handled this "customer
tested a long time ago. service issue," even though it was
H e r e ' s w h e r e t h i n g s g o t on someone else's product.
interesting. There was no Permalink| Comments| Email
Google Maps to highlights all the response at all from Tweetdeck, This Story
coffee shops in a Portland, but within a few minutes, I
Oregon, neighborhood. actually received a reply from
28 Tech/ Tech News/
California solar outfit Solyndra files to go public
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:09:00 PM
In a sign of optimism about the
stock market's reception to clean
energy start-ups, California solar
company Solyndra on Friday
filed documents to go public.
The Fremont, Calif.-based
company said it plans to raise
$300 million in a public stock
offering to expand into a market
it projects to grow at 34 percent
annually.
Four-year-old Solyndra makes a
very specialized solar module
designed for flat commercial
rooftops. The system, which
looks like long rows of black
tubes, uses flexible thin-film
solar cells shaped as a half
cylinder to generate electricity
from sunlight. The shape
increases the amount of captured
light while providing cooling
from the air.
Solyndra's rooftop solar arrays
are made up of hundreds of tube-
shaped solar cells.(Credit:
Solyndra)
YouTube shows what friends share on Facebook
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:59:20 PM
YouTube is pushing its
Facebook Connect integration
further by allowing its users to
see the videos that their friends
share on Facebook. YouTube
users had previously been able to
find their Facebook friends on
The company received a $535
million loan from the Department
of Energy's loan guarantee
program earlier this year, which
it used to open a manufacturing
facility in California. That loan,
authorized in the 2007 Energy
Act, was the first that the
incoming DOE had given after a
four-year backlog of applications.
YouTube as well as update their
Facebook profile with their
various actions from the site.
While it's nice to see YouTube
embracing Facebook more and
more, it stops a bit short of being
an impressive Connect
implementation. YouTube is
getting there, but seems to be
lagging behind a little in this
Solyndra said it intends to use
the proceeds from a public stock
offering to finance the expansion
of its second fabrication unit. It
has also applied for a second loan
guarantee for $469 million from
the DOE in September, it said.
Billions of venture capital
money has been put into green
technology companies, but there
department. An implementation
that shares, on Facebook, what
you are watching, on YouTube,
would certainly make sense,
although it might clutter up users'
Facebook profiles if they are a
prolific YouTube watcher. For
now, the addition of this new
feature is a welcome inclusion
and serves as a great way of
have been few successful stock
market offerings that have
rewarded early investors and
fueled further growth.
Earlier this year, Watertown,
Mass.-based battery company
A123 Systems went public and
its stock has largely maintained
its initial rise. That successful
offering was seen as a sign that
investors are interested in the
potential for energy technology
companies despite the economic
downturn.
In its S-1 documents, Solyndra
indicated that it had revenue of
over $174 million and a net loss
of nearly $120 million for the
nine months of 2009. In the past
several weeks, Solyndra
announced distribution
agreements with companies
outside the U.S.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
Term Extraction.
getting trusted recommendations
for videos to watch on YouTube.
YouTube said this feature is in
"test mode" for the time being. In
my testing, I was not able to get
this feature to actually work. This
can be sometimes be expected
while YouTube irons out the
kinks with new features that
aren't quite ready for prime time.
E-reader News Edition
Skype, Kazaa
Founders Beta-Launch
Rdio Streaming App
By Eliot Van Buskirk (Wired
Top Stories)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:30:00 PM
The guys who brought you
Skype and Kazaa think they can
convince music fans to spend a
few dollars each month on an
unlimited music-subscription
service. The odds are stacked
against them, but it would be
unwise to bet against the guys
who created the world's busiest
phone-calling service.
Dark Liquor
Makes for Worse
Hangovers
By Laura Sanders (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:30:00 PM
Scientists find that bourbon
drinkers have nastier hangovers
than vodka drinkers.
If anyone has better luck, let us
know in the comments.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
Term Extraction.
E-reader News Edition Tech/ Politics/ 29
GOOGLE
continued from page 21

Conference, and the team systems, it is not quite there Mashable:

mentioned selling Wave as a
product as they do with Google
Apps for Domains.
At a recent Enterprise 2.0
Conference, Novell, SAP and
Thoughtworks all announced
ways they were connecting with
or innovating on top of Google
Wave.
With Wave, Google is looking to
expand beyond their mission “to
organize the world’s information
and make it universally
accessible and useful” and start
doing the same thing for
corporations. Inside companies,
tools like Wave make it easy to
see who has contributed, what
they contributed, and when they
contributed it.
However, while Wave may
eventually turn out to be easier
than a wiki, Sharepoint, Lotus
Notes, or other collaboration
today. Google Wave needs
substantial development and
usability improvements.
As Blossom told me, “there are a
lot of tools missing in Wave, and
some of the challenge is just the
chaos of it being a new program.
But I believe Google is allowing
culture to develop. If they
implemented ‘draft mode’ or
some of the admin and moderator
tools, this might prevent new
types of community driven
moderation or norms from being
created.”
This is why the product is being
cast wide and tested by many.
Google is counting on evolution
to favor the strong features and
remove the weak ones.
How has your Wave experience
been? Please share your thoughts
in the comments below. More
Google Wave resources from
- HOW TO: Get Started with
Google Wave
- Google Wave: A Complete
Guide
- 4 Surprising Google Wave Uses
- Testing Google Wave: This
Thing is Tidal
- The Top 6 Game-Changing
Features of Google Wave
- Google Wave: 5 Ways It Could
Change the Web
- Google Wave Extensions: An
Inside Look
- Could Google Wave Redefine
Email and Web Communication?
Reviews: Google, Google Wave
Tags: business, Google, Google
Wave, List, Lists
Breaking: Tentative
Deal Reached in
Copenhagen
(Little Green Footballs) approved in an evening meeting
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:31:52 PM
with President Obama, Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian
It was beginning to look like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Copenhagen would be a wash, and Brazilian President Luiz
but news is now coming in that a Inacio Lula da Silva, sources
tentative deal has been reached. said.
Reporting from Copenhagen - Obama has scheduled a press
Key international leaders have conference in the host Bella
reached a tentative deal to reduce Center to unveil the agreement.
greenhouse gas emissions and A senior administration official
curb climate change, the Los said following the meeting that
Angeles Times has learned, after t h e p a r t i e s h a d r e a c h e d a
the United States and China “ m e a n i n g f u l a g r e e m e n t . ”
agreed to a method for recording “It’s not sufficient to combat the
developing nations’ pledges to threat of climate change but its an
limit emissions and ensuring important first step,” the official
those pledges are carried out. said.
Details of the agreement were

WordPress 2.9 Now Available for Download

By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!) updating that should save you a 10 Things You Need to Know Statistics,” “ 30+ WordPress
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:55:02 PM
bunch of time. About WordPress 2.9. Additional Plugins for Comments,” “ 30+
Writing on the official WordPress Resources WordPress Plugins to Get More
Automattic has just rolled out WordPress blog, founder Matt WordPress Themes: “ Top 12 Blog Readers.”
the latest upgrade to its popular Mullenweg says that this release Stunning WordPress Themes“, “ Miscellaneous: “ WordPress
self-hosted blogging software – saw a total of “over 500 tickets, 30+ WordPress 3 Column God: 300+ Tools for Running
WordPress.org – version 2.9. bugs, and enhancements” Themes,” “ 20 WordPress 4- Your WordPress Blog,” “ The 7
This release is called “Carmen” addressed. The release comes a Column Themes,” “ 30+ Weirdest and Wackiest Uses for
and includes a number of notable little more than six months since giving you something you can do WordPress 1-Column Themes,” “ WordPress“ Reviews: WordPress
a d d i t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g t h e the last major WordPress release, indoors The release is available 1 0 U n u s u a l & O r i g i n a l Tags: Wordpress
beginnings of a WordPress image version 2.8. for download here. For an in- W o r d P r e s s T h e m e s ”
editing tool (cropping, scaling, With a major snowstorm expect depth overview of what’s new, Plugins: “ 50+ WordPress
and rotating), simpler video to blanket the east coast this you may also want to check out Plugins for Multimedia,” “ 30+
e m b e d s , a n d b a t c h p l u g i n weekend, thank Automattic for WordPress guru Aaron Brazell’s W o r d P r e s s P l u g i n s f o r
30 Tech/ Tech News/ E-reader News Edition

AT&T isn't working that hard on network upgrades

By Josh Carr (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:30:00 PM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion,
iPhone With some pretty
damning evidence, both FSJ and
Gizmodo are shouting at AT&T,
which claims that they've
upgraded their network although
they've spent less each quarter on
upgrades since the iPhone was
introduced in 2007. AT&T CEO
Ralph De La Vega recently said
that "AT&T is upgrading its
network to cope," and that AT&T
is continuing to look into ways to
entice users to limit the way they
use data.
That statement made sense at
one point: give the customers a
tiered data structure that's
cheaper for those who don't use
much bandwidth. This would
probably never happen: it's not
too often that you see a wireless
provider actually help its
customers. In reality, we'd
probably see data rates stay
where they are, but get an
increase in price for "unlimited"
data as we've come to understand
it.
With another look at the
information found in AT&T's
Financial and Operating Statistics
Summary [ PDF Link], you begin
to see tremendous flaws in
AT&T's logic. They've
consistently made more money
(80% more revenue compared to
Q4 2007) from wireless data, yet
on average, AT&T has spent less
each quarter for network
improvements.
So where has all of that extra
money gone? No one can argue
that it's the recession sucking up
the dollars, because AT&T's
profits have remained pretty
stable during the whole thing.
The money obviously hasn't been
spent on network improvements.
Perhaps AT&T is fighting
Verizon ads with the extra cash?
One thing is certain, the
company is not serving AT&T
customers in the best manner
possible. With rumors that the
iPhone may soon be available on
Verizon's network as well,
AT&T needs to put the pedal to
the floor and come through with
something... anything.
TUAW AT&T isn't working that
hard on network upgrades
originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009
17:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments

Bank Card Hacker

Psystar shuts down 'Will Never Commit
By Joachim Bean (The The actions came after Apple's this month, which included
Unofficial Apple Weblog permanent injunction against $1,337,500 in copyright
Any Crime Again'
(TUAW)) Psystar earlier this week, which infringement damages. By Kim Zetter (Wired Top
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:00:00 PM gave Psystar until December 31st [ AppleInsider] Stories)
to stop selling its Mac clones. would continue to sell it. TUAW Psystar shuts down Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:13:00 PM
Filed under: Apple Corporate, The clones violated Apple's End Psystar first started selling its originally appeared on The
Apple After Apple's sweeping User License Agreement for Mac computers in April 2008, and U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g Friends and family of TJX
permanent injunction, Psystar has OS X, which expressly forbids Apple filed a lawsuit soon after (TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 hacker Albert Gonzalez say his
officially ceased operations. The use of the operating system on in July 2008. The company was 18:00:00 EST. Please see our turn as a Secret Service
company's CEO Rudy Pedraza non-Apple hardware. granted a motion against Psystar terms for use of feeds. informant led him down a dark
told the Dow Jones Newswire This also marks the end of to stop selling its computers, Read| Permalink| Email this| path of obsession that culminated
last night that he is "shutting Psystar's Rebel EFI software, preinstalled with Mac OS X, by Comments in the largest identity-theft spree
things down immediately." The which had been Psystar's only Judge William Alsup in in history.
company has also released its v i a b l e p r o d u c t s i n c e e a r l y November. Psystar paid Apple a
eight employees, and shuttered D e c e m b e r . M a n y P s y s t a r $2.7 million settlement earlier
its website last night. watchers doubted if Psystar
E-reader News Edition
Beta Beat: LogMeIn Pro2 for Macintosh now in
free public beta
By Steven Sande (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:30:00 PM
Filed under: Enterprise,
Software, Beta Beat
LogMeIn, providers of the
LogMeIn service for remote
control of computers, has opened
a public beta of LogMeIn Pro2
for Mac. The company currently
provides LogMeIn Free for Mac,
as well as LogMeIn Ignition for
iPhone [US$29.99, iTunes Link],
allowing Mac and iPhone users
the ability to securely control
remote Macs and PCs from their
Apple devices.
LogMeIn Pro2 will be similar in
functionality to the existing
Windows version. Through the
service and software, people can
connect to a Mac from a Mac or
Windows machine, control it,
print documents, and share and
transfer files.
Registration is required in order
to download the software and set
up a remote session on the
service, and the developer would
like feedback from beta
participants. Several beta releases
are expected, and registered users
will be notified of code updates.
At this time, no pricing is
available for the service. The
Windows version currently costs
US$65 per year, and the Mac
beta version is available for free.been FCC Chief Diversity
[via macnn]
TUAW Beta Beat: LogMeIn
Pro2 for Macintosh now in free
public beta originally appeared
on The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009
16:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Tech/ Politics/ 31
Mark Lloyd: 'I Am Not
at the FCC to Restore
the Fairness Doctrine '
(Little Green Footballs)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:11:54 PM
Another target for the far right
lately (led by Glenn Beck and
Rush Limbaugh, of course) has
Officer Mark Lloyd, and a few
days ago he fired back at the
smear campaign: FCC’S Lloyd
Blames ‘Right-Wing Smear
Machine’ for Distorting Views.
He said, “Allow me to clear
away some mud: I am not a Czar
appointed by President Obama. I
am not at the FCC to restore the
Fairness Doctrine through the
front door or the back door, or to
carry out a secret plot funded by
George Soros to get rid of Rush
Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, or any
other conservative talk show

BPI Survey Suggests Spotify Hasn't Magically host. I am not at the FCC to
remove anybody, whatever their
color, from power. I am not a
Decreased Desire For Unauthorized Music Access supporter of Hugo Chavez.”
Lloyd called the “campaign”
By Mike Masnick (Techdirt) rise of authorized services like incentives to suggest the issue of business models. If they did that, against him “incredible” and said
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:35:14 PM
Spotify. Now, there are some piracy is a big deal, as it's there wouldn't be much of a it has generated “hate mail and
caveats. BPI isn't exactly known pushing hard to force ISPs to problem at all. But, the labels death threats.”
There was some buzz earlier this for being entirely accurate with kick people offline for file don't want to do that. They want Lloyd said his writing shows
year concerning reports that new data and these results are from an sharing. Still, what strikes me as the government to rescue them “that my focus, my long-standing
streaming apps, like Spotify, online survey. While you would interesting is that BPI still keeps and to pretend they can keep interest, is not Limbaugh, Beck,
somehow decreased unauthorized think that fewer people would insisting that this is a "problem," doing business they way they or [Lou] Dobbs, it is not the right
access to music. And yet, a new admit to unauthorized access in without any evidence that this is always did. -wing haters.” He continued,
s t u d y f r o m B P I s u g g e s t s an online survey (people don't true. The only real "problem" is Permalink| Comments| Email “My focus has long been the
unauthorized access to music like to fess up), counteracting the failure of the record labels This Story health of the American republic
continues to grow, despite the that is the fact that BPI has that BPI represents to adjust their and what I see as the central role
of communications policy in that
republic.”
32 Tech/ Tech News/ Tech Tips/ Entertainment/ E-reader News Edition

Apple allows Google to

Gawker Media Seeks
use Lala Comment Interns
By Megan Lavey (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
[Announcements]
(TUAW)) (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:30:00 PM
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:00:00 PM

Filed under: iTS, Multimedia Gawker Media seeks a few brave

Rackspace Outage We're not sure how Apple plans

to utilize its recent acquisition of
interns to work in comments and
serve our beloved communities.
regarding the issue. There is The interns will work on behind-
Takes Down Big Lala, but BusinessWeek reports
today that Apple does plan to let
Google keep utilizing the service.
already speculation that Apple's the-scenes administrative tasks
Lala purchase could lead to a and quality oversight. Applicants
web-streaming model for iTunes, should have several days per
Portions of the Web Google unveiled its own music
search service in late October,
which is backed by Lala.
which would directly compete week to devote to these duties.
with Google's service. Strong communication skills,
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!) impacted.
While a slow Friday afternoon "We have enjoyed a good TUAW Apple allows Google to familiarity with Gawker Media
use Lala originally appeared on b l o g s a n d c o m m e n t i n g
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:22:08 PM
relationship with Apple for many
before the holidays for those of
It appears that a networking us in the media business might years, and that continues to be The Unofficial Apple Weblog communities, and excellent
issue at RackSpace took many not be a huge deal, an outage the case," R.J. Pittman, Google (TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 decision-making abilities a must.
director of product management,
websites offline this afternoon d u r i n g t h e b u s i e s t o n l i n e 16:00:00 EST. Please see our N e w Y o r k C i t y - b a s e d i s
told BusinessWeek. "We are terms for use of feeds. preferred, but remote applicants
(including Mashable for a period shopping time of the year is a big
of time), starting at around 4:30 blow to ecommerce companies agreeing to continue to leave the Read| Permalink| Email this| will be considered. College
service as it is." Comments internship credit available to
p.m. EST (with confirmation that host with Rackspace. We’ll those who qualify. Send email
f r o m R a c k s p a c e a b o u t 1 5 wait and see what type of An Apple spokesman declined to
comment to BusinessWeek with bio, resume, commenter
minutes later). resolution — if any — the username and subject line
37Signals (and its suite of apps), company offers to its customers. Mobile Phone 'Community Internship' to
Threadless and the recently Notice any other big websites Cancellation Fees Help communityintern (at) gawker dot
launched Vevo were among the d o w n t h i s a f t e r n o o n , o r com.
major websites knocked offline, experience problems of your the Poor, Verizon Tells
although Twitter search indicates own? Let us know in the Feds Confusing Interface Mars Samsung's
that potentially thousands that comments. Reviews: Twitter
By Ryan Singel (Wired Top
host on either Rackspace’s cloud Tags: media, rackspace Stories) Slick Android Phone
or dedicated servers were
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:24:00 PM
By Terrence Russell (Wired superfluous skin applied to an
Top Stories) otherwise clean operating system.
Hero of the Day Verizon defends the hefty fees it
charges customers to break their
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:13:00 PM
The perpetrator this time?
Samsung's Behold II.
[Herogram] contracts, saying it helps the poor
buy smartphones. But critics say
the fees are out-of-line given the
Another Android phone, another

By Pareene (Gawker) German reporter to Senator Jim

Inofe:"You're ridiculous." company's huge profit margins.
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:20:50 PM
E-reader News Edition
Apple post server- Foursquare’s Facebook
related updates for Xsan Integration Now Live
and Mail Services for iPhone Users
By Joachim Bean (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:00:00 PM
Filed under: Software Update,
Apple, Mac OS X Server Apple
yesterday posted a few new
server-related updates for Xsan
and Mac OS X Server.
The first, Xsan 2.2.1, improves
file system reliability and cvfsck
repair utility. This update is
available for Mac OS X 10.6
Snow Leopard and Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard. There's also an
updated version of the Xsan
uninstaller.
Next, Mail Services Update 1.0
addresses issues affecting overall
mail service reliability and
performance. This update is
available and recommend for all
users on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow
Leopard.
30HourDay: Now There's a Telethon 2.0
By Marshall Kirkpatrick
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:33:24 PM
A group of podcasters in
Portland, Oregon have teamed up
with internet friends around the
world to create a new type of
charity fundraiser, a live
streaming telethon. Called 30
These updates are available in
Software Update, or from Apple's
Support Downloads page.
TUAW Apple post server-
related updates for Xsan and
Mail Services originally appeared
on The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009
17:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Hour Day, the event begins this
evening. It will use streaming
media services to deliver the
content, the Causes Facebook
application to collect donations,
and Twitter to spread the word.
30 consecutive hours of music,
variety acts, podcasts and other
entertainment will raise money Will it work? Portland has a
for local charity organizations. deep community of geeks and
By Jennifer Van Grove
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:54:39 PM
Earlier in the week, we broke the
news that Foursquare had turned
on the ability to automatically
share check-ins, mayorships and
unlocked badges with Facebook.
At the time, the functionality
only worked for mobile web
users or BlackBerry and Android
devices, but that’s no longer the
case. Now iPhone users who
update to the latest version of the
app — version 1.4.3— can share
their Foursquare activity on
Facebook too.
You won’t notice the new
functionality in the app itself; the
Facebook sharing is actually
enabled and configured from the
Tech/ Tech News/ TV/
settings panel of the Foursquare
website. The process is no
different than for the other
devices, so you’ll need to allow
Facebook to access and publish
your Foursquare activity, and
once you do, you can choose to
share check-ins, mayorships and
unlocked badges.
Reviews: Android, Facebook,
Foursquare, iPhone
Tags: facebook, foursquare,
social media
connections all around the web,
so perhaps this group will be able
to keep people entertained around
the clock.
Sponsor
Well known geeky guests from
outside Portland will include
leading international nonprofit
tech consultant Beth Kanter and
author Tara Hunt. Charities
33
Norah Jones and
Jimmy Kimmel rewrite
a Christmas classic
By Danny Gallagher (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:49:00 PM
If you're anything like me (first
of all, may God have mercy on
your soul), you always scratch
your head when you hear "The
12 Days of Christmas." Who the
hell wants maids-a-milking
outside of some bizarre hedonism
cruise?
Thankfully, crooner Norah Jones
and late night's Jimmy Kimmel
have stepped in to give the
classic song a desperately needed
updating.
Filed under: Late Night, Video,
Reality-Free
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
benefitting from the event will
include low-income computer
assistance project Free Geek, the
very innovative Oregon Food
Bank and Toys for Tots.
You can follow the event on
Twitter at@30hourday. Discuss
34 Politics/ TV/
Facts Not a Stumbling Block for Morrissey
(Little Green Footballs)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:24:37 AM
At wingnut site Hot Air, Ed
Morrissey is promoting yet
another anti-abortion story, citing
a “local investigator” in Virginia
who claims that a woman who
smothered a newborn infant
cannot be charged with a crime
because of a statute that says as
long as the umbilical cord is still
attached to a baby, the mother
can do anything she wants with it
— even kill it: Video: Mother
kills newborn, can&##x2019;t be
charged with crime.
“In the state of Virginia as long
as the umbilical cord is attached
and the placenta is still in the
mother, if the baby comes out
alive the mother can do whatever
she wants to with that baby to kill
it.“, says Investigator Tracy
Emerson. “She could shoot the
baby, stab the baby. As long as
it’s still attached to her in some
form by umbilical cord or
something it’s no crime in the
state of Virginia.”
A State Senator immediately
jumped on the story to make
some political capital with the far
right: Statement from State
Senator Newman on killing of
newborn.
Today, Snoop Dogg baked with Martha Stewart
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:26:00 PM
Snoop Dogg dropped by Martha
(Lynchburg, VA) State Senator
Steve Newman announced today
that the Division of Legislative
Services has begun drafting
legislation to ensure that a life
cannot be legally taken after a
child is born not withstanding its
connection to the umbilical cord.
The bill will amend Section 18.2
of the Code of Virginia which is
the criminal code. Newman
stated, “It is difficult to believe
that the current Code could have
such a flaw that would allow
anyone to take the life of a born
child.”
You know, that is kind of
“difficult to believe,” isn’t it?
That’s because it’s not even
close to being true.
Here’s Section 18.2 of the Code
of Virginia: LIS - Code of
Virginia - 18.2-71.1:
18.2-71.1. Partial birth
infanticide; penalty.
A. Any person who knowingly
performs partial birth infanticide
and thereby kills a human infant
is guilty of a Class 4 felony.
B. For the purposes of this
section, “partial birth infanticide”
means any deliberate act that (i)
is intended to kill a human infant
who has been born alive, but who
has not been completely
extracted or expelled from its
today for her annual "Christmas
Cookies" show. They made
brownies together, though there
is one ingredient that Snoop
mother, and that (ii) does kill
such infant, regardless of whether
death occurs before or after
extraction or expulsion from its
mother has been completed.
The term “partial birth
infanticide” shall not under any
circumstances be construed to
include any of the following
procedures: (i) the suction
curettage abortion procedure, (ii)
the suction aspiration abortion
procedure, (iii) the dilation and
evacuation abortion procedure
involving dismemberment of the
fetus prior to removal from the
body of the mother, or (iv)
completing delivery of a living
human infant and severing the
umbilical cord of any infant who
has been completely delivered.
C. For the purposes of this
section, “human infant who has
been born alive” means a product
of human conception that has
been completely or substantially
expelled or extracted from its
mother, regardless of the duration
of pregnancy, which after such
expulsion or extraction breathes
or shows any other evidence of
life such as beating of the heart,
pulsation of the umbilical cord,
or definite movement of
voluntary muscles, whether or
not the umbilical cord has been
really wanted to put in the
brownies but Martha didn't have
on the table. She had vanilla
though.
cut or the placenta is attached.
Oops!
Just another day in the right
wing blogosphere, promoting
false stories without even
bothering to check the facts. This
is becoming quite a trend.
(Hat tip: KT.)
UPDATE at 12/18/09 12:39:35
pm:
Meanwhile, a Hot Air
commenter is threatening to hunt
down and kill this woman.
J u s t s e n d m e
&##x201C;Moms&##x201D;
name and address I&##x2019;ll
happily mete out the appropriate
punishment to this piece o crap.
Viper1 on December 18, 2009 at
3:32 PM
UPDATE at 12/18/09 3:37:34
pm:
More comments from the lovely
people at Hot Air:
What color is the mother?
pabarge on December 18, 2009
at 6:18 PM
[…]
May she get raped by an AIDS
case and die a VERY slow
painful death ! C**t!
cableguy615 on December 18,
2009 at 6:30 PM
They could be the next great Reality-Free
comedy team. Permalink| Email this| |
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, C o m m e n t s
Daytime, Video, Celebrities,
E-reader News Edition
FlashForward
DVD coming in
February (already?)
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:03:00 PM
Here's an interesting tactic:
releasing a DVD set for a show
smack dab* in the middle of the
first season.
Disney/ABC has announced that
they will release FlashForward:
Volume 1 on February 26. That's
"Volume 1" and not "Season 1,"
because the season isn't over yet.
This release will come a week
before the show returns to the
network on March 4 to finish out
the first season (with the big
event that affects the entire world
happening on April 10).
Continue reading FlashForward
DVD coming in February
(already?)
Filed under: TV on DVD,
Reality-Free, FlashForward
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
E-reader News Edition Politics/ TV/ Entertainment/ 35
Sneak Peek: 'Twilight''s
James Randi and Global Warming Kristen Stewart &
Dakota Fanning Rock in
(Little Green Footballs) number of prominent scientists blog about global warming. In it, And Randi has now walked back
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:06:09 AM
disagree. Meanwhile, some he expressed some doubt over the his earlier post, as I expected, 'The Runaways'
32,000 scientists, 9,000 of them consensus that humans are making it clear that he’s not
(ETonline - Breaking News)
As someone who’s always had a PhDs, have signed The Petition causing global warming. He does denying the reality of global
great deal of respect for skeptic Project statement proclaiming not doubt that warming is warming after all, and that he Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:50:00 PM

James Randi, I was disappointed that Man is not necessarily the happening, as he made clear, just was mistaken to cite the Petition
to read his piece at the JREF chief cause of warming, that the Kristen Stewart and Dakota
the role of humans in that Project: I Am Not ‘Denying’
Fanning tackle the roles of real-
Swift Blog: AGW, Revisited. phenomenon may not exist at all, change. Anything.
life rockers in their upcoming
Randi cites the Petition Project and that, in any case, warming Unfortunately, one source he However, I also recommend
movie ‘The Runaways,’ and ET
(a bogus list of “skeptical would not be disastrous. … used in his essay was the Petition reading Orac at ScienceBlogs, for
has your look at the high-voltage
scientists” packed with ringers, I strongly suspect that The Project. This was an attempt by more on Randi’s second post:
frauds, and people who never Petition Project may be valid. trailer!
global warming denialists to James Randi, anthropogenic
In the film, Stewart and Fanning
even signed it) as one of his main This, of course, was akin to a muddy the climate issue, and one global warming, and skepticism,
respectively star as guitarist Joan
reasons for doubting the reality bomb being dropped in the that has been thoroughly trashed revisited one last time (I hope).
Jett and singer Cherie Currie,
of global warming: middle of the “skeptical — it’s really just as awful as the PZ Myers also has some
who were both members of the
The Intergovernmental Panel on community.” And naturally, I similarly ridiculous, and just as interesting comments: Randi
Climate Change (IPCC) — a immediately received several all-girl, '70s rock band The
thoroughly nonsensical, attempt responds.
Runaways, known for their hit
group of thousands of scientists emails (some more polite than by the Discovery Institute to get a The short version: even a noted
song "Cherry Bomb" among
in 194 countries around the others), gloating over Randi’s petition by scientists who doubt skeptic like James Randi can be
others.
world, and recipient of the 2007 “debunking” of global warming. evolution. Randi also made a misled by the astounding
Catch 'The Runaways' when it
Nobel Peace Prize — has issued I held off writing about it claim about the complexity of amounts of confusion being fed
several comprehensive reports in b e c a u s e I k n e w R a n d i ’ s hits the big screen March 19!
global warming, and how into the national debate on global
And don't miss the actresses in
which they indicate that they associates would soon be setting difficult it is to model, casting warming by special interest
'The Twilight Saga: New Moon,'
have become convinced that him straight on the deliberately some uncertainty on it. As he groups. Which makes it all the
in theaters now, and in 'The
“global warming” is and will be deceptive Petition Project and his said, this makes it very difficult more important to try to cut
Twilight Saga: Eclipse' when it
seriously destructive to life as we other misinformed claims, and for someone not well-versed in through the noise and become
know it, and that Man is the chief sure enough, Phil Plait had a very arrives June 30.
the field to come to a well- educated about the actual
cause of it. They say that there is good post yesterday: Randi, informed decision on climate scientific evidence — and that’s
a consensus of scientists who skepticism, and global warming | change. the reason behind my focus on
believe we are headed for Bad Astronomy. Read Phil’s entire post, because this subject recently.
disaster if we do not stop burning Yesterday, James Randi posted he makes several other excellent
fossil fuels, but a growing an entry on the JREF’s Swift points.

FOX Still Schedule Tweaking, This Time With “Sons of Tucson”

By Robert Seidman
(TVbytheNumbers)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:47:01 PM
The Futon Critic reports that
Sons of Tucson will now
premiere on Sunday, March 14 at
9:30ET/PT while The Cleveland
Show will keep the 8:30p slot.
FOX originally had schedule
Tuscon for the 8:30 slot and had
planned to shift Cleveland to the
P.S. Yeah, all the schedule
machinations on a Friday
afternoon with dribbling the info
out rather than just releasing it is
annoying, but it’s an annoying
9:30. quirk that isn’t limited to just
FOX.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
Term Extraction.
36 Politics/ Tech Tips/ Entertainment/ E-reader News Edition

White Supremacist Blogger Robert A 'Down and Dirty'

Stacy McCain's Neo-Nazi Pal 'Sherlock Holmes'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Convicted Submitted at 12/19/2009 4:01:00 PM
by the military, and Holmes
would have acquired a different
group of martial arts perhaps
(Little Green Footballs) counts. McCain’s connections to Bill There's lots of action in director from his studies around the
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:29:01 PM
The head of a Roanoke neo-Nazi White, who also threatened me G u y R i t c h i e ' s r e - i m a g i n e d world, and that kept it exciting,
group, White was found guilty on and tried to find my home version of Arthur Conan Doyle's kept it fresh every time we had a
Robert Stacy McCain’s neo-Nazi charges that in one case involved address and the addresses of my classic character 'Sherlock new fight -- and then by the end
pal Bill White, who McCain met threats intended to prevent family: Holmes,' with Robert Downey Jr. it just got down and dirty."
at a 2002 conference of the white residents of a Virginia Beach Robert Stacy McCain’s Angry in the title role, Jude Law as his So down and dirty, in fact, that
nationalist group American apartment complex from giving Departure From the Washington loyal sidekick Watson and Robert required stitches. "We had
Renaissance, has been convicted t e s t i m o n y i n a h o u s i n g Times Rachel McAdams as Sherlock's some big fight sequence in a
in Virginia on four counts of d i s c r i m i n a t i o n c a s e . The Other ‘Other McCain’ love interest. shipyard," explains Robert. "I
making online threats, and may White’s attorneys had argued in Robert Stacy McCain’s Latest "The original books are filled think we had done too many
be spending a long time in U.S. District Court that his e- Excuse with adventure and twists and moves in a row, [my opponent's]
prison. mails and online postings were UPDATE at 12/18/09 4:13:53 t u r n s a n d i n c r e d i b l y d a r k supposed to come up on top, and
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) A federal p r o t e c t e d b y t h e F i r s t pm: criminals in a dark and exciting I'm supposed to block, whatever -
jury in Virginia has found a A m e n d m e n t . Barrett Brown has a standing London," Jude tells our own - anyway, I got some stitches."
white supremacist guilty of four White faces a maximum of 40 offer open for Robert Stacy Kevin Frazier. "Watson would be He adds that he dished out a bit
counts of making online threats. years in prison on the four McCain, but so far McCain more like the old fashioned of pain himself, though not
Jurors deliberating in Roanoke convictions. A sentencing date seems reluctant to acknowledge pugilist boxer, trained probably intentionally.
returned their verdict Friday has not been scheduled. it: My Offer to R.S. McCain
against William A. White. They Here are the LGF posts Regarding His Inclusion in My
also found him not guilty of three d o c u m e n t i n g R o b e r t S t a c y Upcoming Book.

Make Windows Stop Asking for a Password When It Wakes

Up [Windows]
By The How-To Geek Over at the How-To Geek site Options, and in Windows Vista most of the time—but it could
(Lifehacker) (my home away from there's a whole bunch of extra really save you a lot of time,
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:00:00 PM
Lifehacker), I've written up a steps—you'll need to head into especially if you usually
guide to changing the setting in the advanced power options and configure your PC to logon to
If you're sick and tired of typing each version of Windows, since change the setting there. Windows automatically. Prevent
in your password every time your it's different in all of them. For It should go without saying that Windows Asking for a Password
PC comes out of sleep mode, Windows 7, you can simply head you probably don't want to on Wake Up from
there's a simple tweak you can do to Power Options and find the enable this on your laptop, Sleep/Standby[How-To Geek]
to prevent it from happening Require a password on Wake Up Windows XP it's on the especially if you are traveling
again. link on the left-hand pane, in Advanced tab of the Power and keep your PC in standby
E-reader News Edition
Most Popular Featured Workspaces of 2009 [Best Of 2009]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:00:00 PM
Every week we bring you fresh
workspaces from the Lifehacker
Workspace Show and Tell pool,
all supplied by you—the
awesome Lifehacker readership.
Today we're highlighting the 25
most popular workspaces of
2009.
Featured workspaces cover a
wide range of designs, budgets,
and occupations. We've featured
entire offices, individual offices,
home offices, workspaces, work
benches, and every possible
configuration of places there in.
Wherever you get things done,
we love to see and hear about it.
The following are the 25 most
popular workspaces of 2009.
Each featured workspace
includes additional photos and
sometimes video of the
workspace, so click on the name
of the workspace to check out
additional photos and
information about it.
If you want to give your
workspace a shot at fame in
2010, make sure to check out our
guide to photographing your
workspace for fame and fortune
and then then post it to the
Lifehacker Workspace Show and
Tell pool! Before and After:
Barren Attic to Programmer's
Paradise
One of the most popular
workspaces we featured in 2009,
Mitch's home office was a
makeover to behold. He totally
gutted his attic and rebuilt the
entire thing as a programmer's
paradise. Floating Monitors and
Hidden Peripherals
Lifehacker reader acflynn put
together a home office with a lot
of functional style. The small
shelf beneath his monitors
actually houses his network gear.
Office on the Forest's Edge
What can you say about reader
Peter Frazier's office? It's
awesome. It's built into a cliff
with a scenic view. It's got grass
growing on the roof! Building
The Ultimate Dorm Desk
When you're a DIYer with a
desire to build an epic desk for
your dorm room, it helps to have
access to good tools and
materials. One Lifehacker reader
used great gear and forward-
looking design to craft an
ultimate dorm desk.
The Trap Door Desk
How do you maintain a
completely uncluttered
workspace, but also keep access
to basic tools and peripherals?
You build, as Lifehacker reader
Roitsch did, a desk with a large
storage compartment in the
middle. The Computer Cabinet
Office
Lifehacker reader Steve Price
had a two-fold problem. His
previous desk was short on space
for all his monitors and the noise
and heat generated by having all
his computers under the desk was
unpleasant. By taking advantage
of an alcove in his computer
Tech Tips/ 37
creativity, and cold, hard cash
into his office setup. The result is
an office that is not only visually
appealing but packed with
enough shiny tech toys to cover
all sorts of work and play. His
office is set up to handle just
about anything he wants to throw
at it, short of planning a zombie
apocalypse resistance, although
don't quote me on that-for all we
know, the office is in an
abandoned missile silo.
Unidentified Floating Desk
Brett wanted to get his monitor
off his desk, but didn't want to
waste money on an expensive
mounting arm. With the addition
of some lumber and LEDs,
problem solved! The Innovative
Office
Lifehacker reader and architect
Jeremy Levine has a spacious
room he was able to cut down on and well lit office that will likely
the heat and noise substantially. be the envy of cubicle-dweller
The Well-Planned Dorm Room and telecommuter alike. Jeremy's
Just because you're in college office features a vaulted ceiling
doesn't mean that your room has with exposed recycled wood
t o b e a c l u t t e r e d m e s s o f beams and a combines clerestory
schoolwork, piled with unwashed and transom windows to bring in
clothes, and overseen by John a huge amount of natural light
Belushi posters. Check out and create an expansive work
today's featured workspace to see environment. The Hidden Cable
a well planned room. Custom Workspace
Wire Management for Multi- Lifehacker reader Tomas
Monitor Bliss Carrillo-responsible for sharing
Brian Connolly was tired of the handy chain sinnet method of
cramped desks and messy wiring, cable tidying with us-has the kind
so he built his own desk and wire of neat workspace you'd expect
management system to have the from a guy with that kind of
spacious and tidy spread he cable wrangling knowledge. The
desired. The Mac-tacular Lair Triple-Monitor Haven
Lifehacker reader m2j2 has
MOST page 39
invested quite a bit of time,
38 Tech Tips/
From the Tips Box: iTunes Album Art, Gift Ordering, and
Sports Scores [From The Tips Box]
By Whitson Gordon
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:30:00 PM
Readers offer their best tips for
getting your iTunes album art to
transfer to other media players,
hiding mail-ordered gifts from
family members, and keeping up
with the score of the game with
Google.
Don't like the gallery layout?
Click here to view everything on
one page.
About the Tips Box: Every day
we receive boatloads of great
reader tips in our inbox, but for
various reasons—maybe they're a
bit too niche, maybe we couldn't
find a good way to present it, or
maybe we just couldn't fit it
in—the tip didn't make the front
page. From the Tips Box is
where we round up some of our
favorites for your buffet-style
consumption. Got a tip of your
own to share? Add it in the
comments or email it to tips at
lifehacker.com.
Embed iTunes Art With an
Applescript for Support in Other
Players
Rob shares a neat tool for
migrating to other media players
on a Mac:
I've slowly been making the
switch from iTunes to Songbird
on my Mac, and I ran into a bit of
a problem. Because iTunes stores
album art in its own strange
(proprietary) way, most of my
album art doesn't transfer to
Songbird. I didn't want to add it
all again, so I found this handy
Applescript. It embeds the album
art for the selected files into the
actual metadata of the file—so
when you import that file into
Songbird or another media
player, the album art shows up!
Note that this doesn't seem to
work very well with the old
protected AAC files, and if
you're using Songbird you'll
probably need the Songbird 1.4
beta to do this (or another media
player than can read and write
AAC metadata) - the current
release doesn't have full AAC
metadata support (the format that
iTunes uses for bought and
ripped music).
Avoid Spoiled Surprises by
Adding a Second Address Line to
Mail-Ordered Gifts
Logan prints a message on his
mail-ordered gifts to keep them
E-reader News Edition
address. And I have never had a
problem receiving packages. And
my wife always knows not to
open the package - even though
she really REALLY wants to :)
Photocopy Wallet Items In Case
of Loss
Lisa shares her contingency plan
for a lost or stolen wallet:
Next time you're near a
photocopier, place the contents of
your wallet — credit and debit
cards, insurance cards, etc. —
face down on the glass and snag
a copy. Flip all the cards over and
grab a copy of that, too. Store the
papers in a safe place so you
always have a quick reference
sheet that has all your card
numbers on one sheet and
company contact numbers on the
other. If you're wallet's ever
stolen, you'll know exactly what
was lost and who you need to
contact.
We'd recommend sticking with
your own scanner, since public
photocopiers aren't necessarily
the most secure, and—even
from prying eyes: better—sticking the results on an
I have ordered about 90% of my encrypted drive.
holiday gifts for my wife online. Follow the Game With Google
During birthdays and holidays I Real-Time Search
use both of the address lines that Tom goes to great lengths to
most online stores offer to help keep up with sports scores at a
avoid her mistakenly opening a website-blocking office:
p a c k a g e a n d s p o i l i n g t h e My computer at work blocks just
surprise. In the first line I write: " about everything: email, Twitter,
- - DO NOT OPEN NICOLE —" Facebook, ESPN, whatever. But
(of course, replace "Nicole" for
your own loved one). Then in the FROM page 42
second line I write my actual
E-reader News Edition
MOST
continued from page 37
Combine dark colors, ample
desk space, and an arc of viewing
pleasure, and you've got a
workspace dear to many a geek's
heart. Throw in a few toys like an
Ambient Orb and a break now
and then to play some video
games on a nearly wraparound
display and the deal is sealed.
Handcrafted and Free Floating:
The Wraparound Workspace
One of the best ways to cut
down on cable clutter is to get all
your equipment and cables right
off the floor, so cables can never
drape across the floor in the first
place. Louis' workspace uses a
system of shelves to keep
everything in a position where
the cords travel the shortest
distance possible. The Quad
Monitor Alcove
Lifehacker reader Mandrake has
assembled quite a setup for
himself. From the custom
ergonomic chair to the tilting
work surface of the ergonomic
desk, the workspace is geared for
long term comfort. The Serene
Workspace
Lifehacker reader Schodts has
been tweaking and tuning his
workspace setup for some time.
The current incarnation is a
pleasing multi-monitor setup
with plenty of space to work.
Thanks to a wall mount for the
TV and a repurposed glass table
Gisele Bundchen Reveals Baby's Name!
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:23:00 PM
top turned monitor shelf the
common desktop fixtures like
monitor stands, phones, and
pencil cups have been lifted off
the desk freeing up more space.
Before and After: The Wire
Loom Workspace
This featured workspace belongs
to Lifehacker reader tehdik. He
was pretty happy with this
workspace, save for the
enormous tangle of wires under
his desk. Thanks to its sleek glass
surface, he could see the mess
not only across the room but
every minute he was at his work
station. Finally he'd had enough
of the mess and ordered some
supplies to make short work of it.
The Attic Playground
If we had to guess how
Lifehacker reader edgefactor627
came about the idea of having
such a pile of goodies in his attic,
we'd have to go with him having
a strong desire to serve as a
beacon of fun for the whole
neighborhood, drawn to the
signal of condensed
awesomeness in the highest room
in his house. The Floating
Shelves and Hidden Cables
Workspace
Lifehacker reader msweston
took some basic building blocks
from IKEA and assembled them
into a sleek workspace with well
manged cables and a tidy layout.
Gisele Bundchen has revealed In a new posting on her Web
the name of her infant with her site, the supermodel disclosed
football star husband Tom Brady. that their new son's name is
Before and After: The Loft
Workstation
Lifehacker reader aloftindenver
lives, shockingly enough, in a a
loft in Denver. They've been
cataloging their adventures in
furnishing the loft-largely by
creating their own designs and
furniture-at their blog A Loft In
Denver. While we'd highly
recommend reading over the
entire blog, especially if you're
into loft living and modern
design, what really caught our
eye is the amazingly sleek
workspace they built from
scratch. The Mac Lover's
Bedroom
This featured workspace pulls
off the office-as-bedroom tact
without introducing clutter or
bulk into the bedroom. Tucked
neatly in the corner and with dual
monitors to boot, reader ryopang
can get work done in style in his
bedroom office Before and After:
The Benefits of Basic Tidying
and Cable Management
It doesn't float, spin, flash, or
appear to contain glowing alien
spore, but today's featured
workspace gets the job done in a
very practical and tidy way.
Lifehacker reader Dani Cela just
needed to tame the mess of
cables at his feet and tidy up.
White Space and LEDs
This featured workspace is an
example of how you don't have
to spend a fortune to have a fun
and functional workspace with a
solid dose of style. Obviously
Apple products don't come
cheap, so we'll discount the
presence of a gorgeous and
pricey Apple screen as part of the
total cost of the space. The rest of
the space is composed of simple
and inexpensive items, like $89
IKEA Vika Gruvan desktop and
a comically large clothespin for
temporally stashing important
papers. Land of the Colorful
Cubes
Cubes are the antithesis of
individuality. Tiny, colorless
combs in the hive of industry,
right? Not if you work at The
Balcom Agency in Fort Worth,
Texas. The Media Mecca
What do you do when you and
your roommate are media-loving
computer geeks? Why, turn your
mutual living room into a mecca
of computing and media magic,
of course!
Best Featured Workspace of
2009?( answers)
Benjamin.
The happy new mom wrote:
"Hello!
TV/ Entertainment/ 39
White Collar
Renewed
By Robert Seidman
(TVbytheNumbers)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:04:53 PM
I haven’t seen anything official
from USA Network yet, but
White Collar showrunner Jeff
Eastin just wrote on Twitter that
season two of White Collar is
official.
The show recently finished its
first half of season one and will
return in January on Tuesdays at
10pm beginning January 19 to
finish out the second half of its
first season. The show is just
wrapping production of its first
season.
No word yet on how many
episodes were ordered.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
Term Extraction.
40 Tech Tips/ TV/
This Week's Most Popular Posts [Highlights]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:00:00 PM
This week we looked back at
2009 in software and DIY,
demystified the Windows
pagefile, and figured out a simple
trick to keep food from sticking
to our skillet.
• Most Popular Free Windows
Downloads of 2009 We've
featured hundreds of free
Windows applications over the
course of 2009 that we hoped
might bolster your productivity,
workflow, or your PC usefulness
in one form or another.
• Most Popular Photography
Hacks of 2009 Whether making
your own lens hood to create
custom bokeh, breathing like a
sniper to get a blur-free photo, or
angling your body to look the
best in pictures, we shared some
great photography hacks this
year.
• Most Popular Free Mac
Downloads of 2009 Nothing
beats finding just the right
application to fill a common
need, fix a problem, or boost
your productivity. Give yourself
an early present this holiday
Subtle Subtitles: Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:36:00 PM
If you haven't seen our game
before, we give you a picture
from a recent episode of a TV
season with 15 of the most
popular Mac downloads of 2009.
• Most Popular DIY Projects of
2009 We love DIY projects here
at Lifehacker. Whether we're
building computers, backyard
projects, or turning office
supplies into artillery, we're
always tinkering. Today we're
taking a peek at the most popular
DIY projects of 2009.
• Wallpaper Roundup: Holiday
Cheer and Happy Snowmen
series and you provide the
caption!
Somehow I forgot to name a
winner last week for the previous
Subtle Subtitles, so you had two
weeks to think of a caption. The
Christmas is less than two weeks
away, and if you're inclined to
celebrate the holiday season-
Christmas or otherwise—it's time
to swap out your winter
wallpaper for a holiday-themed
one.
• Five Best Startup Management
Tools You boot up your
computer and you wait, and
wait... and wait, as all sorts of
programs, helper apps, widgets,
and remnants of forgotten
winner is trekker437 with
installations load. Grab one of
these five popular startup
managers and beat back the
startup clutter.
• T3Desk Brings 3D Eye-Candy
to Your Windows Desktop
Windows only: If you want a
little extra eye-candy in your
Windows management, T3Desk
is an alt-tab alternative that gives
you 3D windows arrangement
and more.
• Top 10 Homemade Versions of
this:"Hey, are those our ratings Reality-Free
way down there?"
This week's picture is from this C o m m e n t s
week's FOX special, Gordon
Ramsay's Cookalong Live:
Filed under: Subtle Subtitles,
E-reader News Edition
Things We Love Making your
own versions of great food and
clever gadgets is already
rewarding, and if you play your
cards right, the homemade route
also comes with serious bragging
rights.
• Understanding the Windows
Pagefile and Why You Shouldn't
Disable It As a tech writer, I
regularly cringe at all the bad
tweaking advice out there, and
disabling the system pagefile is
often a source of contention
among geeks. Let's examine
some of the pagefile myths and
debunk them once and for all.
• Keep Food from Sticking to
Your Skillet with a Simple Trick
One of the biggest downers of
cooking meat on a skillet is
scraping off the aftermath.
Cooking weblog Houseboat Eats
highlights a simple water trick
that helps you find the ideal
temperature for cooking without
sticking using the power of
science.
Permalink| Email this| |
E-reader News Edition
Keep Your Champagne Bubbly with a Spoon
[Holidays]
By Lisa Hoover (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:00:00 PM
If you can't finish a bottle of
champagne after you've popped
the cork, don't dump it down the
drain. Here's a handy trick that
might keep it fizzy and drinkable
for at least another day.
Photo by Velo Steve.
Bon Appetit's Heather John says
grab a metal spoon and drop the
handle into the neck of the
champagne bottle. (A fork should
work just as well, but skip the
knife because you don't want the
utensil falling all the way into the
bottle. )
John says that although the
spoon-in-the-bottle trick has kept
her champagne fresh for as long
as 24 hours, it's often denounced
as nothing more than an old
wives' tale. The industrious folks
over at Kumkani Wines decided
to find out for themselves and ran
a little experiment to find out
whether this method really
works. After what must have
been an exhausting trial
apparently involving a crate of
champagne, a camera, and
Tech Tips/ Entertainment/
spoon gets a ‘cold plug‘ on top of
the wine sooner than the bottle
without the spoon. The weight of
this colder denser air means that
less gas can escape so the
bubbles are preserved. In
addition, cold bubbly keeps more
of its carbon dioxide in solution
than warm.
Have you ever tried this method
with leftover champagne? Got
any extra insight on why it might
work? More to the point, who
actually ever has leftover
champagne? Isn't that like
leaving one cookie in the bag?
Enlighten us in the comments.
Update: Several readers are
pointing out that MythBusters
tackled the spoon trick and called
it a myth, but for whatever it's
several weekends of imbibing What we think is happening is worth—and as our own intern
("It was a struggle, but we'll do that the spoon is acting as a D u s t i n p o i n t s o u t — t h e
anything for science," notes one radiator and when it hangs in the MythBusters test is far more
of the, uh, researchers), they bottle, the air inside the neck of subjective than the Kumkani test.
drew some final conclusions. the bottle cools faster than the air We'll have to call this one
It turns out that putting a metal inside a bottle without the spoon. inconclusive until we try it out
s p o o n i n t h e n e c k o f a Because we had measured the o u r s e l v e s . H o w T o K e e p
champagne bottle does preserve temperature drop inside each C h a m p a g n e B u b b l y [ B o n
much of its effervescence. The bottle we could confirm this. A p p e t i t ]
team also came up with a Now, colder air is denser than
potential theory for why it works: warmer air, so the bottle with the
41
'So You Think You Can
Dance' Choreographer
Accused of Child
Molestation
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:32:00 PM
ET has obtained court papers
stating that Melvin Shane Sparks,
who's been a choreographer on
the reality series "So You Think
You Can Dance" and a judge on
the MTV show "America's Best
Dance Crew," has been charged
with eight counts of child
molestation.
Sparks, 40, was arrested by the
LAPD on Friday. His bail was set
at $590,000.
In the papers, Sparks is accused
of committing the eight felony
offenses against a minor between
1994 and 1997.

James Cameron Gets Star on Walk of Fame

(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:32:00 PM
Director James Cameron is
honored with a star on
Hollywood's Walk of Fame on
the same day his sci-fi epic,
'Avatar,' hits theaters.
"This only happens once and it
really sort of means you have
arrived," Cameron told ET at the
event, also pointing out that he is
not in the entertainment business
for the accolades, he really just
enjoys making the films he
makes.
The Oscar-award winning
director of 'Titanic,' and other
notable films including 'The
Abyss,' 'Aliens' and 'The
Terminator,' was introduced by
California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Sigourney
Weaver.
42 Tech Tips/ TV/ Entertainment/
Speed Dial Beefs Up Chrome's New Tab Page
[Downloads]
By Lisa Hoover (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:00:00 PM
Chrome only: The oft-imitated
New Tab button on Google's
Chrome browser isn't bad, but it's
not the most customizable either.
Soup it up—and access your
favorite bookmarked web sites
quickly—with Speed Dial.
Instead of keeping 4,000 tabs or
windows open so you can revisit
web sites quickly, just drop them
into Speed Dial and keep them all
accessible in a single click. The
next time you open Speed Dial,
all your favorite sites will be
neatly lined up with a thumbnail
preview of each page so you can
tell what's what at a glance.
That's all pretty similar to how
the default New Tab page works,
FROM
continued from page 38
it doesn't block Google, and I
can't think of a workplace that
would. So, when I want to keep
up with a game, I type the team
name in the search box, and the
first result on Google's results
page is a scoreboard with a game
clock. I just hit "refresh" every
time I check in to see the score,
and I'm okay.
Then I saw a little box that was
updating with Twitter results
down the page. It wasn't blocked
because it was google.com, not
twitter.com! I moved to the
but Speed Dial expands on that in
a few ways.
This slick extension lets you
choose how many favorite slots
you want to have available,
anywhere from three to 36. You
can also customize the
background color, theme, and
options section (see above
picture) and clicked "Updates".
Up came a scrolling, constantly-
updating commentary on the
game from the Twitter universe.
It was beautiful. I could just
keep checking, and any big play
was commented on by plenty of
people! It was like having a
crowdsourced play-by-play of the
game (and the Pack won, too!). I
could see when somebody
missed a field goal, when Jay
Cutler threw an interception (or
two), or any big defensive stand.
whether you want the search box
displayed on Speed Dial's main
screen.
Once installed, the extension
places a small icon in the address
bar of your browser. When you're
visiting a page you want to add to
Speed Dial, just click the icon
If you're at work and you want
to keep track of the big game,
just search for the team name on
Google and click "Updates".
Then you can see what the world
is talking about as it happens.
Note that there was no game on
when Tom took the above
screenshot, hence the lack of
sports scores. You can read
Tom's original blog post here.
and it will appear in your list.
Note: Sometimes it takes a
minute or two for changes to
show up.
Previously mentioned Speed
Dial, Fast Dial, and various other
Firefox extensions sport a lot of
the same features, though the two
don't appear to be related. (To
give credit where due, we should
also note that this whole interface
originated with Opera's Speed
Dial feature.)
Will Speed Dial be on your list
of must-have Chrome extensions,
or are there other tweaks you
prefer more? Let us know in the
comments. Speed Dial[Chrome
Extensions via Download Squad]
Esquire 's iPhone Issue
Ruined by Lack of
Fantasy Product [Print Is
Dead]
By Ryan Tate (Gawker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:36:59 PM
After watching make-believe
demos of hypothetical e-
magazines running on unreleased
tablet computers, it's hard to get
excited by Esquire's new iPhone
app, running on a puny, non-
magaziney screen. At least v2
could be ported to the Apple
Tablet!
E-reader News Edition
Deal With It: Ratings
For “Jersey Shore
Continue to Climb;
Surges by 27% With
Adults 18-49
By Robert Seidman
(TVbytheNumbers)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:27:18 PM
After a sluggish start in its
premiere where Jersey Shore
pulled in an average of 1.375
million, last week it grew to over
2.1 million and a.8 1.1 rating
with adults 18-49.
Last night it surged again
climbing to nearly 2.5 million
(2.481 million) viewers. But its
increases with adults 18-49 were
even bigger, climbing to a 1.4
rating, a 75 27 percent increase
over last week. It also did well
with women 18-34 with a 2.2
rating in that demographic.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
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Term Extraction.
E-reader News Edition Tech News/ Entertainment/ Media/ 43

The Advantages of Launching Outside of the

Valley Preparing for
By Dana Oshiro Companies receive 8 months of North East of England is home to
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:30:00 PM
mentorship, free office space,
administrative/legal services and
The Sage Group - one of the
largest software company in the
the Worst
a $100,000 dollar covertible line
In 2006, Y Combinator founder of credit. In exchange for
Paul Graham wrote an essay mentorship and funding, Bootup
UK. As with many other parts of
Europe it is not the lack of [Twitterati]
technical expertise but the lack of By Ryan Tate (Gawker)
entitled,"How to Be Silicon takes 5% equity from your pre seed capital and support
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:26:41 PM
Valley." He argues that a tech company. If you choose to use which reduces the opportunities
hub must have nerds and people the entire line of credit, they will for young entrepreneurs. Whilst Chris Lehmann went shopping
with money. At the time, he receive an additional 10%. By there is increasing activity with for end-times food with end-
proposed that Boulder and attracting a star-studded cast of angel investors, it is still less times people; Kevin Smith
Portland would be the next tech program mentors including Guy
lifestream aggregator Statusly, mature that the US market...The prepped his readers for more ass
hubs and indeed both have Kawasaki, NowPublic CEO Len
l o c a t i o n - b a s e d g a m i n g Difference Engine provides talk; and Evan Williams tried to
thrived. Nevertheless, as seed Brody, and investor and writer
development service Compass mentors the opportunity to "get adjust your movie expectations.
funds and incubators become P a u l K e d r o s k y , M a n n a n d Engine, relevancy-based web up close and personal" with The Twitterati braced.
more common, new tech centers Robinson ensure that their
surfing aid ReadFu, online teams over an extended period of Evan Williams invented Twitter,
are springing up in some of the program's 12 annual spots are
farmer's market Foodtree and t i m e [ a n d ] m e n t o r s m a y and now he's invented the
m o s t u n l i k e l y p l a c e s . highly coveted.
enterprise storefront platform u l t i m a t e l y i n v e s t i n t h e s e ultimate Twitter review, in which
ReadWriteWeb caught up with Says Mann, "I asked Flickr Blast Ramp. Difference Engine b u s i n e s s e s . " you don't even need to watch the
two mentorship groups to find founder Stewart Butterfield why Launched this year by Jon According to Bradford, one of movie in question.
out the advantages of launching he decided to stay in Vancouver
Bradford, Difference Engine is the advantages of starting a Political writer Chris Lehmann
outside of the tech epicenter of and build his new startup Tiny
based in the North East of company is Europe is the fact got a preview screening of the
Silicon Valley. Speck. He answered that he loves England. The group offers that developers learn to build post apocalypse. In line at the
Sponsor living here. Being a place where applicants £20,000 pounds of platforms and businesses with supermarket, naturally.
Bootup Labs After moving from people love to live is hard to investment capital and a 16 week multi-language capabilities. This Director Kevin Smith, hopeless
the Valley, Vancouver-based replicate. We have the nerds, we
program in business development attention to global markets places romantic.
entrepreneurs Boris Mann and think it's easier for us to bring
in exchange for an 8% equity European and Asian companies Advice columnist Penelope
Danny Robinson looked for a more nerds here because of
stake. As of January, Difference at a potential advantage to their Trunk was dreaming of a White
way to continue working with immigration rules (vs. the US)
Engine will welcome 10 teams U S - b a s e d c o m p e t i t o r s . (Lie) Hannukkah.
startups. The duo launched AND because people love it. per cycle, with 2 program cycles Difference Engine's group's first "No really, have another. It's
Bootup Labs to fix the Northern [We've got] mountains, ocean intake will be in February 2010, deductible!"
per year.
tech ecosystem and pass some of and it's one of the most livable
When asked why Bradford to apply for the inaugural Did you witness the media elite
their lessons on to budding cities in the world."
believes his program can create program entrepreneurs can tweet something indiscreet?
entrepreneurs. The group accepts Bootup Labs' choices for its
t h e b a s i s f o r a g o o d t e c h submit ideas via the Difference Please email us your favorite
6 companies per program cycle January cycle include event- community he replied, "The Engine application form. Discuss tweets- or send us more Twitter
f o r t w o a n n u a l c y c l e s . based community Zedmo, usernames.
MediaDailyNews: Digital Blueprint For Success: Interactivity
(MediaPost | Media News) [ fivefilters.org: unable to m o r e i m p o r t a n t t h a n economy and mainstream digital into interactivity.
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:32:22 PM
retrieve full-text content] Acting contemplating them in 2010. adoption, the new year is time for
on trends reshaping media will be Propelled by an improving companies to take a deep dive
44 Tech News/ Entertainment/ E-reader News Edition
Ivana Trump Files
Using Google Apps? 5 Ways to Avoid Getting for Divorce from
Hacked Husband No. 4
By Alex Williams backup email that he had set up recover. If you're not certain (ETonline - Breaking News)
(ReadWriteWeb) for his accounts. about some of the dates, provide Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:40:00 PM

Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:25:34 PM

Amit had his service restored in your closest estimate.
about three hours, after some 3. Write it Down: Get out that Ivana Trump is reportedly
Security is one of the biggest c a l l s t o G o o g l e . H e f e l t old-fashioned pen and paper. 4. Run a Test! Log-out of all splitting from her fourth husband.
concerns for business owners obviously relieved, but also had Write down the following your Gmail / Google Accounts. The Associated Press reports
when deciding whether to use an that feeling of emptiness when information so you can verify Start the password recovery that Trump filed for divorce from
online service like Google Apps. you suddenly realize you have no your identity just in case you do process. This guarantees that Rossano Rubicondi on Friday.
So what are the best ways to control over your accounts. get hacked and your secondary what you set up actually works. According to the AP, Trump --
protect yourself when using it? To help others avoid this kind of email gets compromised, too. You want to be absolutely certain who married Rubicondi in April
Amit Agarwal is a professional calamity, Amit summarized in From Amit: your SMS settings and secondary 2008 -- said in a statement that
b l o g g e r a n d t e c h n o l o g y five points how to make sure • The month and year when your email addresses are configured the couple found it hard to make
columnist. He writes digital something like this does not created your Gmail / Google correctly. time to be with each other partly
i n s p i r a t i o n , a w o r l d - c l a s s happen to you: Account. 5. Check your IP Address: From because Rubicondi mainly lives
technology blog. But Amit got 1. Log-in to your Gmail / • If you created a Gmail account time to time check out the IP and works in Italy.
hacked this week. He wrote about Google Account and associate it by invitation, write the email address in the footer of your
it on his blog, providing some with a phone number: It's a address of the person who first Gmail Inbox. If you see an odd
excellent advice on how to simple set up. You will get sent you that invite for Gmail. one, change your Google
protect yourself from a similar confirmation via SMS. If you do • The email addresses of your password immediately. Knowing
kind of attack. get attacked, a notification will most frequently emailed contacts IP addresses may seem too
Sponsor go to you that someone is trying (the top 5). technical to some but it's good
Amit wrote that he often to get to your password. • The names of any custom information to know.
receives false requests to change 2. Create a new email address: labels that you may have created You should not have to be
his password. He received a Set up the email to act as a in your Gmail account. overly concerned about Google
similar message this week, but backup and as a secondary email • The day/month/year when you Apps security. If people take
ignored it. A few minutes later he for your Google Apps account. started using various other these kinds of basic steps, the Dateline:
started getting error messages. Good advice by Amit: do not Google services (like AdSense, chances of getting hacked
He could not get to his accounts. auto-forward your email as the Orkut, Blogger, etc.) that are decrease considerably. Discuss Slumberland [Pic
Amit had been hacked. He whole purpose of setting it up
thinks that a hacker accessed a will be defeated.
associated with the Google
account that you are trying to Of The Day]
By Brian Moylan (Gawker)
Exclusive: LeAnn Rimes' Divorce Papers Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:15:00 PM

[ A group of journalists catch

(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:57:00 PM
ET has exclusively obtained
LeAnn Rimes and Dean
Sheremet's divorce papers.
The papers, filed yesterday by
Dean, cite irreconcilable
differences as the reason for the
split. Dean is asking for spousal
support from LeAnn and asks papers, the couple's date of
that LeAnn pay for attorney fees. separation is to be determined. some z's waiting for the end of
Dean and LeAnn have been negotiations on the twelfth day of
married since February 23, 2002 the UN Climate Change
and according to the divorce Conference in Copenhagen,
Denmark. Image via Getty]
E-reader News Edition Tech News/ Apple/ 45

Layar Pulled From App Store, Bad VLC for Mac Resting
News for Augmented Reality on Shaky Ground
By Marshall Kirkpatrick critics haven't shipped products, By Darrell Etherington
(ReadWriteWeb) though, and Layar has done more (TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:27:15 AM
than all but a few other Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:00:48 AM
companies to extend public
The company behind the much- awareness of the Augmented The very capable, and
hyped Layar Augmented Reality Reality concept. conversion-headache-preventing
browser has decided to withdraw Blake Callens, an AR software (HUH?), open-source VLC
its iPhone app from the iTunes engineer at the company that player is one of the very first
App Store due to repeated created the Webcam Social things I install on any new Mac,
crashes reported by users. Layar Shopper, has been very critical of after Firefox. If you’re playing
had been the most eagerly robust in its Android version. Its the crop of consumer smartphone anything that isn’t a
anticipated entrant yet into the primary competitor is probably AR apps popping up. He's called straightforward .AVI file, and
f i e l d o f A R , a c l a s s o f Wikitude. Of course there are t h e m " i n n a c u r a t e m o b i l e especially if you want to play the
technologies that place data from countless AR apps that are browsers and web based eye notoriously tricky .MKV format,
the web on top of a camera view available on the iPhone, Android, candy". Callens' comments VideoLAN’s multiplatform
of the physical world. AR has webcam and other platforms - but aren't directly aimed at Layar, but player is an absolute necessity. Anyone with knowledge of C,
been big this year, from Layar's Layar has been the most publicly Layar does symbolize the most Sadly, it might not be around for Cocoa and Xcode who’s inclined
hyped launch to Yelp's sneaking v i s i b l e A R a p p y e t . I t visible part of the AR market for much longer. to help out should check out
the first AR app into the iTunes symbolizes the popular vision for many people. VLC’s OS X incarnation is in VideoLAN’s official wiki to see
store to Lonely Planet and even AR, which in reality often feels "Seriously, hand me a 3D model danger, according to VideoLAN, how to get involved.
McDonalds announcing their more clunky than demo videos and I can literally throw it in AR due to a lack of developers The VideoLAN Foundation
own AR apps this week. suggest. People who believe the in 5 minutes. It's hardly a working on the project. Right mentioned that “Apple doesn’t
The field has been plagued with leading examples of AR apps are 'stunning' example at all," now, the total number of active want [them] on the Mac platform
t e c h n i c a l d i f f i c u l t i e s a n d heavy on hype and light on Callens writes"And yet, at least devs on the OS X port of the and is blocking us a lot, and
disappointments so far, though. engineering have another data once a week, I see someone else software is exactly zero, which is refuses to explain why,”
Layar wrote today on its blog that point now. pimping their new, 'totally threatening official support of the according to PC World. At least
it doesn't know exactly where the The current crop of Augmented awesome' AR app that's nothing software beyond version 1.1.0. part of that stonewalling involves
problem with its app is but that Reality apps - high-profile map more than a 3D model dancing VLC’s current version on the the Mac maker’s refusal to list
it's a memory management issue overlays for smartphones like the around." Mac is 1.0.3. the player on the software
that's been present since the app i P h o n e - a r e c r i t i c i z e d a s We like Layar, but as the most The dearth of willing developers downloads section of its official
was built. Resolution will take lightweight and overhyped by high-profile AR app on the has already led to the 64-bit web site. It probably makes it
weeks, not days, the company many AR pros that have been market, it doesn't reflect well on version of VLC being put on much harder to garner support
says. working on more heavy-duty the state of the industry for the hold, which is really unfortunate from the community without the
Sponsor applications intended for more company to have to pull its app because thanks to Snow Apple bump.
Layar remains available and technical use. Many of those from iTunes. Discuss Leopard’s improvements, such I, for one, will be very sad if
an upgrade would improve the VLC’s Mac support ceases, but
overall performance of the media unfortunately I am not a
player by a fair margin. All hope developer. If you are, and you
is not lost, though. VideoLAN is have time, consider lending a
looking for qualified volunteers hand.
to help keep VLC for Mac alive.
46 Tech News/ Tech Blog/ Entertainment/
Nomadesk: Cloud-Based Backup
Providers Doing Quite Well
By Alex Williams
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:35:29 AM
Demand for cloud-based storage
and backup is creating some
lucrative opportunities for
companies servicing large
telecommunications providers.
We are seeing a number of
carriers offering cloud-based
services. Orange Business
Services announced today that it
will be offering cloud storage and
other cloud-based services for its
customers.
Verizon announced earlier this
month that it is offering a number
of cloud-related services.
Telecommunications companies
are partnering with services like
Nomadesk to give customers the
ability to do their own cloud-
based online backups.
Sponsor
Belgium-based Nomadesk is an
online backup and syncing
service for small business owners
and personal users. It provides
unlimited storage and sharing.
The company announced this
week a partnership with Bell
Canada to provide its millions of
iSchlep [Open Caption]
By Brian Moylan (Gawker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:37:45 PM
customers with online back up
for their mobile devices.
Nomadesk is a virtual hard drive
on your desktop. It's very simple.
We downloaded the application,
made some simple configurations
and immediately had the ability
to drag and drop files into the
virtual hard drive that sits on the
desktop.The hard drive is
connected to the cloud and syncs
when updates are made.
Your data is secured and
encrypted. It can be shared with
any number of users and synced
across the community.
Applications can be backed up.
Access to documents are
available online or offline.
Nomadesk CEO Filip Tack is
touting the service as a better
alternative to Box.net and Mozy.
We agree that Nomadesk is easy
to use, but as a collaboration
platform it has some way to go.
For example, Nomadesk does
not have an advanced search
capability like Box.net. We view
enterprise search as a key feature
for collaboration services. Tack
[ Ed Westwick walks the streets
of Manhattan with his haul from
a day of shopping, including at
said the company will offer
search as a feature in the first part
of 2010.
Companies in this space are
showing big market gains as
larger providers seek revenues
from the petabytes of data being
produced every day. Mozy, for
instance, just announced a
partnership with Cox Business.
Mozy is also partnering with
China Telecom, McAfee and
Vodafone to deliver cloud-based
backup to customers.
What is the amount of data that
is produced every day in the
enterprise? We know this can
vary wildly but even small
businesses are starting to produce
exponential amounts of
information compared to just a
year ago.
As this amount of information
continues to grow, services like
Nomadesk should stand to do
very well as providers for large
telecommunications companies.
Nomadesk service for small
businesses starts at $15 per user,
per month. Discuss
the Apple store. Image via INF]
E-reader News Edition
Tumblr and the Twitter
API, day 2
(Scripting News) help.
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:14:16 AM
On October 17 I wrote The
Internet Abhors a Funnel. In a
It's the holiday season, maybe s e n s e a l l t h e s e n e w
that's why it took a full day for implementations of the Twitter
the discussion to get underway API tend to lessen the importance
about Tumblr's implementation of teh Funnel. And in addition to
of the Twitter API. But it is strengthening the position of
rolling now, and going in several WordPress and Tumblr, it also
interesting directions. strengthens Google and
Fred Wilson, who is a Twitter Microsoft, because their search
board member and a major e n g i n e s c a n b e c o m e m o r e
investor in Tumblr, wrote a post complete than Twitter's, by
o n h i s b l o g a s k i n g f o r a making deals with the new
discussion among his readers, players for access to their
who tend to view the tech world firehoses.
from an investor's perspective. Stowe Boyd asks this question
It's great that APIs finally have from another point of view. How
become an issue for financial do you follow someone on
people. They're also important Tumblr from Twitter and vice
for media people because they versa? I have two answers for
open doors in the news business that: 1. That further strengthens
as well. In this week's Rebooting the position of centralizers,
The News, Jay asked me to Google and Microsoft. 2. That's
explain what it means for what Realtime RSS is for, the
WordPress to implement the concept behind rssCloud and
Twitter API. The podcast was PubSubHubBub. 3. Twitter can
recorded before we knew that and probably still should position
T u m b l r w a s w o r k i n g o n itself as the Network Solutions of
matching WordPress. If you're this space, as I outlined in my
confused by all this michegas, 2007 piece that broke Twitter
listening to the podcast might down into its components.
E-reader News Edition
Google Hires Open Web Leader to
For Social Initiatives
By Marshall Kirkpatrick
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:39:06 PM
Respected industry thought
leader, Joseph Smarr, announced
on his blog today that he is
leaving Comcast-acquired Plaxo
to join Google and help drive the
company's next steps in the social
web. Smarr has been a key
innovator in the OpenID, Oauth
and related technical movements.
Smarr's work is all about
enabling innovation by making it
easy for users to move data from
site to site.
Sponsor
While noting Google's support
for specific open web
technologies, Smarr also said:
"Getting the future of the Social
Web right - including identity,
privacy, data portability,
messaging, real-time data, and a
distributed social graph - is just
as important, and the industry is
at a critical phase where the next
few years may well determine the
platform we live with for decades
to come. "
Smarr was the first non-founding
employee of Plaxo, a dynamic
contact management service that
was once the darling of Silicon
Henrik Lundqvist: Rangers' Saving Grace
By Christopher Botta
(Fanhouse Main)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:00:00 AM
Valley, and then became its
spammy boogeyman, and was
finally acquired by Comcast 18
months ago. Plaxo was co-
founded by Napster co-founder
Sean Parker and was backed by
Sequoia Capital, the fund that
backed Google and YouTube.
Chris Messina, fellow open-web
leader and the self-described
evangelist that helped turn Smarr
from the dark side of Plaxo's
early days ("champions of the
open web can come from all
corners," he told us), said of the
move: "Smarr joining Google is a
logical next step for him - I think
he's done great work at Plaxo
Filed under: Rangers
UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Henrik
Lundqvist's goaltending was so
magical in the Rangers' 5-2 win
with John McCrea, but advancing
the open web has not been able to
be his priority since he took on
the CTO role there."
Kaliya Hamlin, who says she
introduced Smarr to the Identity
community, said of his move to
Google: "His spirit and energy to
get things done, work across
company boundaries and a deep
commitment to open standards
innovation will be a great asset
for Google. One thing that really
stands out for me was his
innovation with Microsoft on the
Portable Contacts API. That idea
originated at the Data Sharing
Workshop seeking to make
progress on what was possible
and within six months under his
leadership it was complete."
OpenID leader Scott Kveton said
this announcement is just the
beginning. "That's great news,"
he told us, "and just the first of
more to come I hear. It's going to
be down to Google, Microsoft
and Facebook. They are hiring
all of the people building the
open web. I'll be curious to see
what kind of impact it has."
Smarr photo by Adactio. Discuss
over the rival Islanders on
Tech News/ TV/ Sports/ 47
Rifftrax returns for live
Christmas mock fest
By John Scott Lewinski (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:02:00 PM
The Rifftrax crew unwrapped its
second national live broadcast
this week from San Diego as
Michael J. Nelson, Kevin
Murphy and Bill Corbett took on
a series of moldy Christmas short
films and sent the results to
hundreds of theaters across this
great nation of ours.
Over the 90+ minute run of the
upbeat show, the Mystery
Science Theater 3000 alums
steered seemingly innocent
holiday-themed shorts and
clunky toy advertisements from
bedroom with the disturbing
bygone eras into dark, pitiful words: "Rudolph...I need you
entries into irony complete with
tonight."
sexual innuendos and memories Continue reading Rifftrax
of failed Christmas' passed.
returns for live Christmas mock
Weird Al Yankovic showed up fest
to join in on mocking a
Filed under: Other Comedy
delightful, but bizarre look at Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-
pork. But the high point of the
Free
show was a closing shot at a Max Permalink| Email this| |
Fleischer directed version of
Comments
"Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer" -- including Santa
visiting the heroic mammal in his
Thursday night, his head coach Lundqvist's play has that kind of
John Tortorella limited his post- calming effect.
game press conference to just one
feeble use of the word "crap."
48 Tech News/ TV/ Sports/
Poll Results: ReadWriteWeb Readers
Pick The Top 10 Products of 2009
By Richard MacManus
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:00:00 PM
This week we ran a reader poll,
asking for your votes on the top
Web products of the year.
Thousands of you voted for up to
10 products, from a list of 100
selected by the ReadWriteWeb
authors over December.
The poll has now closed and
we're pleased to present the
ReadWriteWeb community's Top
10 Web Products of 2009.
Here is the final top 10:
Sponsor
1. Twitter
2. Google Chrome
3. Google Maps
4. Facebook
5. WordPress
6. iPhone platform
7. Google Apps
8. Adobe AIR
9. Hulu
10. TweetDeck
So there you have it, Twitter was
the best product of 2009
according to ReadWriteWeb
Brand's tip-in snaps Celtics' 11-game win
streak
By Associated Press
(ESPN.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:56:52 PM
memories today with ESPN's
Sports Passport.
Did you attend this game? If so, games you attend, upload your
start chronicling your sports photos and share your memories!
readers! Relatedly, Twitter
desktop client TweetDeck made
the list at #10.
Google had 3 products in the top
3: Chrome (#2), Maps (#3) and
Google Apps (#7). This more
than justifies their selection by
our editors as Best BigCo of
2009. Honorable Mentions, #11-
25
The following products missed
out on the final top 10, but they
were all popular picks among our
community. Many of them are
startup products, so they can be
proud to say they're among the
top 25 products of 2009
Enter the
E-reader News Edition
according to our readers. In
alphabetical order:
• Android platform
• Bing
• DropBox(note: DropBox was
missing from the original top
100, but we're including in the
top 25 due to the number of
comment-votes it received on the
original post)
• Evernote
• Facebook iPhone app
• Feedly
• Google Voice
• Open Calais
• Posterous Best and Worst TV of
• Mint
• Spotify
• Tumblr
2009: Bob's list
• Tweetie By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) drama this year that did so many
• Wolfram Alpha Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:02:00 PM
things in so many ways. It's
• Woopra funny how a lot of people kept
What is a best and worst list
saying that "nothing ever
anyway? Is it truly a list of the
That's it, the culmination of our happens" on this show. Actually,
best shows of the year and the
Best Products 2009 series. Hope everything happened on this
you all enjoyed it and we look worst shows of the year based on show, and it's all acted, written,
forward to another year of quality alone or do we have and filmed in such a gorgeous
innovation in web technology in personal "favorites" in there too? way. This is a beautiful television
2010! Discuss Even if you watch 10 hours of series.
TV a day there's no way that any
Here's one of the more talked
TV critic can watch every single about scenes from this season:
show, so there might be some
gaps in what one person
Continue reading Best and
Worst TV of 2009: Bob's list
considers the "best and worst"
and what another person has on
Filed under: OpEd, TV Squad
Lists, Reality-Free
I was there » their list. Permalink| Email this| |
Five Filters featured article: Here are my picks. Comments
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The Best
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, 1. Mad Men. There was no other
Term Extraction.
E-reader News Edition
MobileMe: Is it worth it?
By Dave Greenbaum
(TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:00:37 PM
If you believe the marketing
hype, you aren’t really a true
Mac user unless you have
MobileMe. MobileMe is pushed
heavily in the Mac and iPhone UI
as well as the Apple retail
environment. Fancy terms like
“beyond the box sales” are a
clever way of saying “high
profit” for Apple.
Let’s break down the features of
MobileMe see if it’s worth it.
The retail price of MobileMe is
$99, though discounts abound,
but for this article, let’s stick with
the $99 price. My calculator app
says this comes to $8.25 a month,
or a little more than a quarter a
day. Pretty cheap, but can you
cut it out and save some money?
What if Apple sold the features a
la carte, like we wish our cable
companies would do with
channels? With a bit of research,
here are what I think are the
market rates for each of these
features (or at least what I would
pay for them).
Ring my iPhone/Display a
message (Free)
The ability to force your phone
to ring, even when it’s in vibrate
mode is nice. However, we all
got along OK before that feature
was implemented. It’s nice, but I
wouldn’t pay for it.
Remote Lock and Remote Wipe
($4.99 per month)
We all know Liz Lemon’s ordeal
with her iPhone. While I don’t
have adult photos on my iPhone,
I do have information I’d rather
not fall into the wrong hands.
Being able to remotely lock and
then possibly wipe my iPhone is
really of great value to me. It’s
peace of mind insurance and I’ll
price it like AT&T’s insurance
for other phones. Those who are
not as concerned with having
their phone fall into others’ hands
may not value this as much as I
do.
Find my Phone on the Map
($5.00 or combine with Remote
Lock/Wipe for $7.50)
AT&T has a GPS service for
other phones called “ AT&T
Family Map” and charges $9.99
to track up to two people. Since
this is for just one phone, I
divided the cost in half. Being
able to find your phone when you
lose it is awesome. I value this
feature the same as the Remote
Lock and Wipe: peace of mind if
the phone gets lost. One without
the other would be helpful and
have pretty much the same value.
Combine the two and I expect a
bit of a discount.
iDisk (Free for 2 GB, .25 for
each additional GB)
Yawn. 20 GB of storage in the
cloud. Who doesn’t store data in
the cloud these days? Standard
pricing seems to be to give two
GB away for free and charge
about 25 cents for each additional
GB (See DropBox or
SugarSync). Given the fact that
the iDisk tends to be rather slow,
Apple/ 49
offerings from Google, Yahoo, work with a large number of
and Microsoft, someone has to be clients and all my contacts and
really out of the loop to be appointments are on my iPhone.
paying for web based email. Before I can get to a desktop to
Granted, Me.com makes it pretty sync, I’ll often have made a few
and easy, but it’s more a matter appointments and might
of personal preference than any accidentally double book myself
true value. Sending large files if I didn’t have this feature. Sure,
and sharing them are easy, but I could use Google to do it
I’m not sure I’d want to pay countless services exist to help exclusively but that’s a few extra
much at all. The “seamless” with just that. The average user steps and time is often of the
desktop synchronization of the rarely needs to send a large file essence for me.
iDisk can’t match the true that one of these services doesn’t All of it working together as one
automatic synchronization of support. package (Free or Priceless)
DropBox and SugarSync iWeb Publishing (Free) Seamless integration is nice,
Back To My Mac (Free) For those of us who use iWeb, don’t get me wrong. Would I be
Being able to remotely get files MobileMe makes publishing willing to pay for it? Not really.
off your Mac? There’s an app delightfully simple. You can I’d rather save money buying the
for that and it was first developed publish to other sites with a bit of features I need and make them
in late 1980s and was named a w o r k a r o u n d , a n d t h o s e work together myself, manually.
T i m b u k t u . I n a d d i t i o n t o workarounds are easy to find on For some people, the very reason
Timbuktu(which still exists), the web, so paying for this they bought an iPhone instead of
these days there are free products feature is for people who don’t another mobile device is due to
such as LogMeIn Free and VNC know how to Google. the ease of use factor, so for these
(See my review of iPhone remote Over the Air Syncing ($2.00) folks, the more everything works
apps). Additionally, Back To My The value of this is based on together without thinking about
Mac isn’t 100% reliable, and if Verizon’s Backup Assistant it, the better.
you can better rely on other free program that will back up your So what’s my personal decision?
products, then how much is it contacts for almost any Verizon When I add the Remote
really worth? phone. When we look at the T- wipe/lock/find/ring feature
MobileMe Gallery (Free) Mobile Sidekick it’s included ($7.50) with the Over the Air
Online photo gallery? Who with the service. For syncing Syncing ($2.00), MobileMe
doesn’t have one these days? files between computers, see justifies itself. Other features
Flickr and Facebook fit the bill D r o p b o x a n d S u g a r S y n c . really aren’t worth paying for.
nicely and if you don’t like those Contacts and calendars can be So again, how much would you
social networking sites pretty synced using Google as a conduit pay and what features are most
much anyone who develops film (See BusySync). Having your valuable for you? Operators are
today will give you a free online keychains and widgets synced is standing by.
gallery, with occasional minor nice, but workarounds with other
restrictions. syncing software allow you to do
Me.com Email (Free) that as well.
Would anyone actually pay for Personally, this is the killer
web-based email? Really? With feature of MobileMe for me. I
50 Apple/ Sports/ E-reader News Edition

Your Mac Loves Your New TV

By David Klein have Mini DVI or Mini have one, you can use your web
(TheAppleBlog) DisplayPort. If you have a browser to start streaming a
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:00:55 AM
unibody Macbook or Macbook movie, click Full Screen, and
Pro then you have Mini you’re done.
You finally purchased the TV DisplaypPrt. If you have an Hulu Desktop is a free
you deserve thanks to this year’s aluminum Macbook or Macbook application you can use to access
Black Friday deals. I know I did. Pro then you have Mini DVI. If Hulu content. It’s designed to be
You may have also purchased a you’re not sure then take a look controlled by the 6 button Apple
Blu-ray player. Congratulations at these pictures. only offers optical output and not remote which may take some
on joining the high definition Mini DisplayPort: input.) time to figure out.
world. If your new Blu-ray The adapter you need for is One thing to note is on many I recommend turning on
player doesn’t offer Netflix available here: Mini DisplayPort TVs the one audio input is next Mirroring in Display’s System
instant streaming, though, your to HDMI. Connect the adapter to to its corresponding video input. Preferences. Then you can dim False Report
Mac can, along with Hulu. your computer and the HDMI As you can see, I purchased my the Macbook/Macbook Pro’s
For the purposes of this article, cable, then connect the HDMI
I’m assuming you are using a cable to an available input on
HDMI cables from Amazon screen and focus on the TV.
There’s an amazing app for the
Trips Up
Basics.
Macbook or Macbook Pro, but your TV.
the process works with desktop Mini DVI:
Also, you are not required to use iPhone (one that requires an
HDMI for video. You can also entire review on this site) called
Twitter
Macs, too, just make sure you The adapter you need for Mini By Milton Kent (Fanhouse
use DVI if your TV supports it. TouchPad($3.99, iTunes link). It Main)
know what kind of port your DVI is available here: Mini DVI In that case you would need a replaces the need for a separate
computer has. Your goal is to get to HDMI. DVI cable, and either a Mini wireless keyboard and mouse. Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:25:00 AM

both the audio and video from As for audio, you can use a basic DisplayPort to DVI adapter or The app controls your computer
your computer into your TV. stereo audio cable: 3.5mm Stereo Mini DVI to DVI adapter. over WiFi. Setup instructions are Filed under: Bengals In today's
Unfortunately, Macs don’t have Plug/Plug M/M Cable – 6ft. If you want to get fancy and quick and are available inside the all-information, all-the-time
H D M I ( a u d i o a n d v i d e o Connect it to your computer’s combine both audio and video app itself, so you don’t have to world, the social networking site
combined) yet so we have to use headphone port and your TV’s into one simple solution then you go looking through an online Twitter can be a place to check
t w o c a b l e s . Y o u r n e w T V audio input. If your TV has an should get this: Mini DisplayPort support page. up on the latest celebrity comings
definitely has HDMI so we’ll use optical audio input then you can Male and USB Male Audio to I hope these products and and goings, as well as a spot for a
a n a d a p t e r t o m a k e t h e use this cable: Toslink to Mini H D M I F e m a l e C o n v e r t i n g services help you get the most of mother to grieve her recently
connection. Hardware M/M OD:5.0mm, Molded Type – Adapter. It uses USB audio your Mac and your new TV. I departed son.
HDMI cables are very affordable 3ft. Your Macbook or Macbook instead of the audio port. It’s k n o w t h e y ’ v e c o m p l e t e l y Of course, Twitter's credibility,
on Monoprice: High Speed Pro has a very unique audio more expensive but it’s definitely changed the way I consume like that of any source of data, is
HDMI 1.3a Category 2 Certified output that offers both stereo and cleaner since you only need one media in my own home. contingent on the information
Cable 28AWG – 6ft w/Ferrite optical connections. Optical cable going into your TV. being tweeted by someone who is
Cores. You definitely need one audio is not necessary, but if you Software reliable and accurate. Twitter
of these. can go digital then you should. (I Netflix instant streaming account holders may have
First you must figure out if you was surprised to see my new TV requires a subscription. If you thought they were getting both
Wednesday after Cincinnati
Bengals wide receiver Chris
Henry was taken to a Charlotte
hospital.
Instead, they got neither.
E-reader News Edition Apple/ TV/ Sports/ 51

Apple Lockdown: Fact or Fiction? William Russ out,

By Charles Jade
(TheAppleBlog)
that Apple has “moles,” or
informants, “working
everywhere, especially in
of corporate behavior is common
at Apple. With 35,000
employees, it seems difficult to
Stephen Nichols in at The
Submitted at 12/17/2009 12:48:22 PM
departments where leaks are
UPDATED: I apologize for suspected.” When a leak is
imagine that were such invasive
tactics the norm, that it could be
Young and the Restless
anyone offended by the initial strongly suspected, members of kept a secret, or at least made By Allison Waldman (TV
headline. If you’ll read the t h e T e a m A p p l e W o r l d public by more than one guy Squad)
Gizmodo article referenced in the P o l i c e “ A p p l e W o r l d w i d e through e-mail. Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:07:00 PM
first paragraph you’ll see where L o y a l t y ” a r r i v e a n d a n Looking at comments about
this headline came from. This “ o p e r a t i o n ” t a k e s p l a c e . Apple at GlassDoor.com, a There's good news and bad news
article is a response to the What’s described is effectively a website where employees can from the soap world, and
absurdity of Gizmodo’s article lockdown. Employees are forced rate their employers, there’s not a considering lately that the bad
that implies that Apple uses Nazi to remain at their desks. Their lot of Nazi analogies…though news has been horrific -- As the
-like tactics. We unequivocally cellphones are collected, and from reading Gizmodo’s article World Turns getting cancelled--
this might be a bit over-dramatic. That prompted Russ's dismissal.
disagree with what Gizmodo is anyone needing to contact the you’d certainly think there
However, William Russ was According to Stephen, Russ
implying or its references to outside is monitored. Interviews should be. There are negative
fired and Stephen Nichols hired handled the firing with grace and
Nazi/Gestapo tactics. Again, are done. NDAs are signed. If comments, but in aggregate the
at The Young & the Restless. class. He left a note in the
please do read the Gizmodo security finds the suspected opinion is positive. In a recent
Bad news for Russ, a very good dressing room for Nichols and
article first to put this in context. leaker, and “they usually do,” the survey, Apple scored 3.9 out of
actor who was doing just fine as wished him well in the role.
Breaking Godwin’s Law at a sub person is fired after questioning. 5.0 for fifth place in the top 10
Tucker McCall, new billionaire Continue reading William Russ
- a t o m i c l e v e l , i n c e n d i a r y Of the questioning itself, “Tom” tech companies to work for. As
in Genoa City. Good news for out, Stephen Nichols in at The
Gizmodo cites an anonymous has no first-hand experience. CEO, Steve Jobs had an approval
fans of Nichols, who was Young and the Restless
source describing how security “There is a lot that goes behind rating of 91 percent, highest on
bounced from Days of Our Lives Filed under: OpEd, Daytime,
finds leakers at Apple, not to doors that I don’t really know the list. In contrast, Dell was
last February. Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
mention creating a pervasive about. I do know, however, that rated lowest among tech
According to the powers that be Permalink| Email this| |
atmosphere of fear and dread, they really interrogate people that companies with a score of 2.8,
at Y&R, the McCall character is Comments
referencing “Nazi” tactics by the are serious suspects, intimidating while CEO Michael Dell’s
“Gestapo.” That is, if you believe them by threatening to sue.” approval rating was 28 percent. going in a different direction.
it. Setting aside logical If you are waiting for some
Reading like something by Fake inconsistencies in the article like purple prose about working Dell
Steve Jobs—only not nearly as cameras being forbidden at Apple tech support hell in some
entertaining—Jesus Diaz relays yet every employee having an warehouse outside of Mumbai,
the experience of “Tom,” a iPhone, and legal questions such you’ll probably be disappointed.
supposed current or former as confiscating personal cell There’s no fame or fortune in
employee of Apple. Tom alleges phones, “Tom” asserts this type stating the obvious.

Nate Thompson Misses Easy Goal

By Bruce Ciskie (Fanhouse Kotalik and Wade Redden, the the second game of a home-and- Lundqvist went for a walk. Nate
Main) New York Rangers got a measure home between the two rivals. Thompson got control of the
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:00:00 AM
of revenge on the New York Key in the game was a play that puck, and he had a yawning net
Islanders Thursday night. After happened in the second period. to shoot at.
Filed under: Islanders, Rangers, the Islanders won 2-1 at the Leading 3-0, the Rangers caught
NHL Videos After benching Ales Garden on Wednesday, the Rangers took a 5-2 decision in
a break when goalie Henrik
52 Apple/ Entertainment/ E-reader News Edition

iPhone Pretty Big in Japan After All:

Report
By Darrell Etherington pricing and giveaways
(TheAppleBlog) engineered by Japanese iPhone
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:00:34 AM
carrier SoftBank. Mobile Crunch
sees such efforts as having made
Despite early reports that the the difference between the
iPhone wasn’t selling so well in iPhone and competitors like
Japan(LINKS), due at least in BlackBerry:
part to the overabundance of A major reason for this
really cool phones available there development is the hyper-
that do things like allow for live aggressive marketing strategy
TV watching, it seems that Apple SoftBank Mobile, the iPhone’s
is in fact doing remarkably well
in the country. Better, in fact,
exclusive carrier, pursues in
Japan: TV commercials virtually
The Week Secret Societies
than it’s doing in the U.S.,
according to a new
around the clock, print ads in
major media, super-competitive Were Exposed as Goofy
report(Japanese only). pricing etc. do have an effect, it
Impress R&D, a Tokyo-based
research firm, released a report
seems.
On the other hand, I’ve never
[Week In Review]
this week that places the iPhone seen any of this coming from By Pareene (Gawker) Oral Roberts died and went to
well ahead of the competition Docomo for Android or Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:00:00 PM
hell.
with 46 percent of the Japanese BlackBerry, so it’s no wonder We are voting for Douche of the
smartphone market. That’s a virtually no one in Japan (where I A r e y o u w o r k i n g , s t i l l ? Decade! Is it YOU? ( Probably!
ridiculously high number, Seriously? Get to the bar, ASAP! Unless you are Bill O'Reilly!)
the Bold accounting for a mere live) knows what these devices
especially when you compare it actually offer – apart from geeks, But before you go, click on some Noah Cyrus made us feel bad.
1.2 percent market share.
to the iPhone’s rather modest of this stuff, maybe? Everyone is crazy, basically,
These numbers discredit the obviously.
second place in market share in There was stuff about the Skull these days.
widespread assumption that the Whatever the reason, Apple’s
the U.S. and Bones and stuff about the Oh, and more stuff with the
iPhone was having a tough time ability to successfully market
The 46 percent figure is a Scientologists. Glenn Beck Facebook! And Snooki: is it just
appealing to Japanese consumers, itself in established, new and
combined total of both the learned an important lesson. a performance?
who have in the past been emerging markets outside of the
iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, It was nice out on Monday, but Annoying people have to go
unreceptive to foreign interlopers U.S. bode well for its financial
which account for 24.6 and 21.5 no one told the bankers! hang out and be annoying in
in the cell phone market (as future. Winning at home is great,
percent of the market, We called Joe Lieberman names. other places, now.
evidenced by the BlackBerry’s but in today’s economy, if you
respectively. Up next closest is We called Facebook names.(And Oh, no, Ronn [sic] Torossian
dismal performance). Wired even can win on the road, too, you’ll
the Sharp WillCOM W-Zero 3 we explained how to fix the thing inserted himself into the Tiger
went so far as to claim that the be much stronger for it.
Advance, with 14.6 percent. The they did to us, with the privacy.) Woods thing. Ugh.
Japanese “hated” the iPhone, a
BlackBerry doesn’t do nearly as We examined Twitter-quitting Meg Whitman has terrible
stance based on aggressive
well in Japan as it does here, with celebrities. We listed things not children.
to get people. Kelly Ripa said There Will Be Blood won the
something ribald about Anderson decade! Hooray for the decade!
Cooper! Sort of!
E-reader News Edition
iPhone and iPod Touch See International Surge
By Charles Jade
(TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:00:27 PM
AdMob, the mobile advertising
network, has released its latest
metrics report ( PDF), which
looks at trends for the year. In
2009, one of those would be 150
percent growth for iPhone OS
devices on AdMob’s network,
with the greatest growth for the
iPhone and iPod touch outside
the U.S. While this is great news
for the platform, it’s not quite the
world domination the pretty
charts suggest.
According to AdMob, there
were 25.3 million unique iPhone
OS users in their network in
November, a unique user being
one that has seen at least one ad
request in a given month. That
represents less than half the 60
million or so iPhone OS devices
that have been sold, but it’s still a
valid sample measuring change,
change that favors Apple, at least
for now.
As previously reported, the
iPhone in Japan has come to
represent nearly half the
smartphone market, so that’s in
keeping with what AdMob
Welcome Surprises: Rich Peverley vs. Matt Moulson
By Adam Gretz (Fanhouse
Main)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:00:00 AM
Filed under: Islanders, Thrashers
An undrafted player that was
reports in Japan this year. France
saw a big jump too, which could
be a result of the end of carrier
exclusivity. While China is also
up, the lackluster official launch
of the iPhone, only 5,000 units
sold, likely has little to do with
that growth. Gray-market, often
pre-owned iPhones will continue
to dominate iPhone sales in
China into 2010, but that’s not
biggest problem for Apple; that
would be continued growth in the
U.S.
Not that 100 percent growth is
picked up on waivers last season
and a former ninth-round draft
pick, Rich Peverley and Matt
Moulson have been two of the
biggest individual surprises in the
NHL this season, currently at the
bad, but in the U.S. iPhone OS
devices have likely reached a
saturation point, at least
compared to other countries. For
those pining for a Verizon
iPhone, this relative slowing of
growth should be a strong
incentive for Apple to abandon
its exclusivity agreement with
AT&T. Another incentive would
be competition from Android.
AdMob shows Android traffic
up dramatically over the year.
For November, Android
accounted for 27 percent of ad
top of their respective team's guys come from, and should we
scoring lists. Quite simply, continue to expect their current
they've been two of the best finds production?
by general managers over the last
calendar year.
So where, exactly, did these
Apple/ Sports/ Popular News/ 53
Power Rankings:
Devils On Top
By Adam Gretz (Fanhouse
Main)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:00:00 AM
Filed under: NHL Power
Rankings
Thanks to wins in nine of their
past 11 games, the New Jersey
Devils re-claimed the top spot in
our weekly power rankings,
requests, up from 20 percent in n a r r o w l y e d g i n g o u t a
October, with 88 percent of powerhouse offensive juggernaut
traffic generated in the US. from the Southeast Division. See
Expect that to change in 2010 which teams made the biggest
with a profusion of Android jump, the biggest fall, and who
devices and deals being made remains at the bottom of the pile.
domestically and internationally.
While 2009 may have been the
year of iPhone OS, unless Apple
Tag Heuer to drop
abandons carrier exclusivity 2010 Tiger Woods from
may belong to Google.
US campaigns (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:53:53 PM
Philip buzzed up: Kansas dad
somehow lifts car off 6-year-old
girl (AP)
18 seconds ago 2009-12-
18T20:44:23-08:00
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
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Term Extraction.
54 Apple/ Sports/ E-reader News Edition

Apple iPhone Ad Voice Guy Ruins The Count: Chris

Christmas in New Commercial Henry’s Stats Suggest
By Darrell Etherington
(TheAppleBlog) He Was Underrated
Submitted at 12/17/2009 2:36:37 PM
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
The guy from Apple’s “There’s Submitted at 12/17/2009 10:22:10 AM

an App for That” series of

commercials does a fine,
upstanding job, don’t get me
wrong. He’s a credit to his
profession, in fact, and has
become iconically associated
with one of the most successful
products ever released. But he’s
seriously ruining Christmas.
A new Apple ad in the series
features an app-centric take on
the classic “12 Days of
Christmas” holiday carol, as
rendered with uncompromising
unmusicality by the voice that
smugly informs us about
everything there’s an app for.
The apps don’t correspond to the
actual items described in the
original tune, but instead
highlight various holiday-time
activities.
Here’s how it breaks down (all
links direct to iTunes):
• 12 Cookies Cooking – The
Betty Crocker Mobile
Cookbook(free)
• 11 Cards A Sending –
Postman($2.99)
• 10 Gifts for Giving – My
Christmas Gift List($0.99)
• 9 Songs for Singing –
TabToolkit($9.99)
• 8 Bells for Ringing – Holiday
Bells($0.99)
• 7 Slopes A Skiing – Snow
Reports($1.99)
• 6 Games for Playing –
Christmas Fever($0.99)
• 5 Gold Rings – Anna Sheffield
Jewelry(free)
• 4 Hot Lattes –
myStarbucks(free)
• 3 Flights Home – Flight
Search(free)
• 2 Feet of Snow – Weather
Pro($3.99)
• And an app that can light up
the tree – Schlage LINK(free, but
requires additional hardware)
So all told, that’s $22 for a
complete holiday. Is it worth it?
Probably not. Actually definitely
not. Trust someone who has a
whole heap of Christmas-themed
apps cluttering up his iTunes
library from last year, when the
novelty of the device was enough
to get me to pay good money for
a virtual fireplace I could carry
around in my pocket. That said, I
wouldn’t object to some gifted
apps turning up in my virtual
stocking Christmas morning.
When the news broke that
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver
Chris Henry died Thursday at age
26, many who knew him —
including a former teammate and
a Bengals beat writer— recalled
how very talented he was. Getty
Images Chris Henry’s stats, and
this photo, demonstrate how
supremely talented he was.
This wasn’t immediately
obvious from his stats. In five
seasons with the Bengals, he
caught just 119 passes for 1,826
yards — which amounts to solid
production for two seasons, not
five. Part of that reflects games
he missed to suspension and
injury, but Henry still appeared in
55 NFL games, equivalent to
three and a half seasons. During
the time they overlapped with
Henry in Cincinnati, receivers
T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad
Ochocinco each had more than
twice the productivity in catches
and yards than Henry did.
However, Henry was better than
both of them at extending his
catches for long gains, and at
scoring once he caught the ball.
He averaged 15.3 yards per
reception and scored on 18% of
those, compared to equivalent
numbers for teammates
Houshmandzadeh and Ochocinco
of 11 yards and 9%, and 14.5
yards and 9%, respectively.
More advanced stats also testify
to Henry’s abilities. Football
Outsiders ranks all receivers by
their Defense-adjusted Value
Over Average, or DVOA. This
takes into account the defense,
game situation and passes thrown
to a receiver that are incomplete
or intercepted. Because it’s a stat
compared to average, a value
over zero makes a player better
than league average. And in four
out of Henry’s five seasons, he
had a positive DVOA. This
season was shaping up to be his
best yet, with a DVOA of 26.7%,
ranking him the top dozen or so
receivers — though he had only
23 balls thrown his way.
The stats can only go so far, but
they paint a portrait of an
exceedingly talented and
valuable wide receiver — when
his off-field problems didn’t keep
him from playing.
E-reader News Edition
Cable News Ratings for Thusday, December 17, 2009
By Robert Seidman
(TVbytheNumbers)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:27:13 PM
Live + Same Day Cable News MSNBC –425,000 viewers
Daily Ratings for December 17, CNBC – 140,000 viewers
2009
P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,314,000 viewers
CNN – 428,000 viewers
MSNBC –354,000 viewers
CNBC – 223,000 viewers
HLN –339,000 viewers
P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,524,000 viewers
CNN – 650,000 viewers
MSNBC –807,000 viewers
CNBC – 259,000 viewers
HLN –711,000 viewers
25-54 Total Day
FNC –332,000 viewers
CNN –121,000 viewers
MSNBC –108,000 viewers
CNBC – 79,000 viewers
HLN- 136,000 viewers
25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 612,000 viewers
CNN – 147,000 viewers
MSNBC –295,000 viewers
CNBC – 125,000 viewers
HLN – 204,000 viewers
35-64 Total Day
FNC – 625,000 viewers
CNN – 182,000 viewers
MSNBC – 169,000 viewers
CNBC – 126,000 viewers
Street Chic: New York
By ELLE.com (ELLE News
Blog)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:00:00 AM
An ultra-luxe fur vest proves
HLN – 183,000 viewers
35-64 Prime Time
FNC –1,159,000 viewers
CNN – 227,000 viewers
HLN –338,000 viewers
Morning programs (6:00AM-
9:00AM) P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
FOX & Friends- 1,102,000
viewers (373,000) (605,000)
American Morning- 363,000
viewers (130,000) (202,000)
Morning Joe- 325,000 viewers
(85,000) (164,000)
Squawk Box- 158,000 viewers
(51,000) (101,000)
Morning Express w/ Meade-
338,000 viewers (178,000)
(234,000)
5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Glenn Beck – 2,305,000 viewers
(520,000) (978,000)
Situation Room—571,000
viewers (158,000) (215,000)
Hardball w/ Chris
Matthews—554,000 viewers
(93,000) (180,000)
Fast Money—220,000 viewers
(67,000) (130,000)
Prime News —233,000 viewers
(92,000) (123,000)
6PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Special Report with Bret Baier –
2,087,000 viewers (356,000)
(840,000)
that coats are overrated.
Photo: Kelly Stuart
Think you are Street Chic? E-
mail us your photo and you could
appear in ELLE.com's Street
Situation Room—482,000
viewers (132,000) (190,000)
Ed Show—536,000 viewers
(108,000) (248,000)
Mad Money —175,000 viewers
(59,000) (101,000)
Prime News – 245,000 viewers
(106,000) (124,000)
7PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The Fox Report – 1,835,000
viewers (378,000) (823,000)
CNN Tonight – 446,000
(112,000) (187,000)
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews –
494,000 (154,000) (227,000)
Kudlow Report — 171,000
viewers (a scratch w/34,000)
(77,000)
Issues– 426,000 viewers
(144,000) (219,000)
8PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor – 3,290,000
viewers (762,000) (1,493,000)
Campbell Brown – 559,000
viewers (139,000) (194,000)
Countdown w/ K. Olbermann –
986,000 viewers (337,000)
(494,000)
Coca Cola: The Real Story. –
165,000 viewers (79,000)
(83,000)
Nancy Grace – 874,000 viewers
(250,000) (448,000)
9 PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Hannity –2,382,000 viewers
(581,000) (1,071,000)
Chic Daily.
Larry King Live —817,000
viewers (168,000) (267,000)
Rachel Maddow Show
—806,000 viewers (294,000)
(426,000)
Big Mac: Inside McDonalds—
288,000 viewers (118,000)
(143,000)
Joy Behar- 752,000 viewers
(188,000) (315,000)
10 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
On The Record w/ Greta
—1,895,000 viewers (487,000)
(908,000)
Anderson Cooper 360 —
575,000 viewers (134,000)
(219,000)
Countdown w/ K. Olbermann –
628,000 (254,000) (354,000)
Bio: Dave Thomas — 324,000
viewers (178,000) (194,000)
Nancy Grace –557,000 viewers
(184,000) (274,000)
11 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor
—1,473,000 viewers (435,000)
(756,000)
SR/CNN YouTube Climate —
304,000 viewers (80,000)
(140,000)
Rachel Maddow Show
—345,000 viewers (140,000)
(180,000)
Mad Money – 184,000 viewers
(123,000) (116,000)
Showbiz Tonight– 380,000
Follow ELLE on Twitter.
Become our Facebook fan!
TV/ Fashion/ 55
viewers (153,000) (206,000)
-
For other days cable news
ratings click here.
P2+ = viewers over the age of 2
(25-54) = Adults 25-54 viewing
(35-64) = Adults 35-64 viewing
Prime Time = 8-11pm
LIVE+SD: The number that
watched a program either while it
was broadcast OR watched via
DVR on the same day [through
3AM the next day] the program
was broadcast. For more
information see Numbers 101.
Scratch = when a show’s
audience fails to meet minimum
Nielsen reporting levels. For
more information go here.
Nielsen Cable Network
Coverage Estimates(as of
September, 2009)
CNN/HLN: 99.098 million HHs
CNBC: 96.78 million HHs
FNC: 96.26 million HHs
MSNBC: 92.64 million HHs
Nielsen TV Ratings Data:
©2009 The Nielsen Company.
All Rights Reserved.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
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Term Extraction.
56 TV/ Economy/ Game/ E-reader News Edition
Bayonetta trailer
CMT Celebrates Most-Watched Year, Sets Pace invents unsettling new
term: 'hair moves'
For Even Bigger 2010 By Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)
By Bill Gorman STRICTEST PARENTS, while • Fourth quarter is on pace to • Strips in fourth quarter – which Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:38:00 PM
(TVbytheNumbers) the network continues to deliver become the network’s most- include acquired series’ ARE
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:31:38 PM
such fan-favorites as the CMT watched quarter ever among P18- YOU SMARTER THAN A 5 th Thus far, Bayonetta has exposed
MUSIC AWARDS, CMT 49 and total viewers. GRADER? and EXTREME us to a litany of disturbing
via press release: CROSSROADS and • October was CMT’s most- HOME MAKEOVER – have oddities. First we were exposed
CMT CELEBRATES MOST- INVITATION ONLY. Branded watched month ever among both averaged P18-49 ratings +32% to the expression " non-stop
W A T C H E D Y E A R , S E T S programming blocks included the P18-49 and total viewers. over the same period last year. climax action." Then came the
PACE FOR EVEN BIGGER SUMMER OF MUSIC and BIG • The 2009 CMT MUSIC uncomfortable revelation of
2010 NEW MUSIC WEEKEND, AWARDS June 16 th premiere CMT, a unit of Viacom’s MTV Bayonetta's"sexy" dancing. And
N A S H V I L L E – which leveraged CMT’s multi- averaged 2.7 million viewers, N e t w o r k s now, we must forever live with
December 18, 2009 – CMT platform promotional capabilities was the highest-rated telecast of (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), is the the term "hair moves." As the
shattered ratings records in 2009, and catapulted music video hours the year and ranked third in the leading television and digital ancient Egyptians figured out
delivering its most-watched year to their highest growth ever, up history of the awards franchise. authority on country music and long ago, hair is gross. Short of
ever with growth in virtually +16% versus last year among • THE SINGING BEE averaged entertainment, reaching more the occasional Rita Hayworth
every daypart and demo. The P18-49. 1.5 million viewers and became than 88 million homes in hair toss, hair really shouldn't be
year of milestone achievements Setting the pace for an even the channel’s highest-rated series the U.S. CMT and its website, moving at all. And it certainly
follows an aggressive strategy to bigger 2010, CMT will launch debut of all time when it CMT.com, offer an unparalleled shouldn't be transforming into
launch new original series, big new episodes of THE SINGING premiered June 16 th. mix of music, news, live concerts giant boots, fists or demons.
music stunts and strategic B E E a n d C M T C R I B S i n • Following its April debut, and series and is the top resource Alas, this is the proposition you
a c q u i s i t i o n s , r e s u l t i n g i n January, along with its adventure WORLD’S STRICTEST for country music on face should you desire to play
increases among P18-49 and total -themed programming block in PARENTS premiere average was demand. The network’s digital Bayonetta. You've been warned.
viewers in both primetime and A p r i l f e a t u r i n g t h e s e r i e s +11% above quarterly prime P18 platforms include the 24-hour Bayonetta trailer invents
total day.* 2009 is on pace to GATOR 911 and DANGER -49 ratings, while CMT CRIBS music channel, CMT Pure unsettling new term: 'hair moves'
become CMT’s ninth consecutive COAST. Also in 2010, CMT premiere average was +26% Country, CMT Mobile originally appeared on Joystiq on
year of primetime growth among will debut new episodes of CMT above quarterly prime P18-49 and CMT VOD. Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:38:00 EST.
P18-49, and fourth quarter will C R O S S R O A D S : J I M M Y ratings.. Five Filters featured article: Please see our terms for use of
m a r k t h e n e t w o r k ’ s f i f t h BUFFETT AND ZAC BROWN • CMT’s biggest video event Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: feeds.
consecutive quarter of growth BAND, CMT INVITATION ever, BIG NEW MUSIC PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Permalink| Email this|
across total day. ONLY and WORLD’S WEEKEND, featured nine super- Term Extraction. Comments
Breakout hits on CMT this year S T R I C T E S T P A R E N T S . star premieres and increased
include the series THE SINGING CMT ratings highlights for 2009 music hours +9% among P18-49
B E E a n d W O R L D ’ S include: over the prior four-week average.

Morgan Stanley’s Mack gives up on bonus

(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:07:38 PM
John Mack, Morgan Stanley’s
outgoing chief executive, will
forgo a bonus for the third
straight year as his bank heads
for its first annual loss – a move
that reflects Wall Street’s fears of
fuelling the public backlash over
compensation.
In a memo to employees, Mr
Mack, who is handing over to
James Gorman in January while
remaining as chairman, said he
had recommended to the board
that he “receive no year-end
bonus”.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
Term Extraction.
E-reader News Edition
Our Beloved Snooki Immediately Sinks to the
Bottom of the Barrell in Steppin' Out [Sad
Things]
By Brian Moylan (Gawker)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:48:27 PM
Snooki did an interview with
deplorable New Jersey nightlife
rag Steppin' Out. Is this the worst
union of trashy cool and trashy
horrible or is it a marriage made
in heaven? Either way, she has
some crazy shit to say.
Steppin' Out is run by dirtbag
Chaunce Hayden who, when he
isn't making up fake gossip is
busy personifying every horrible
Oakley-wearing cliche you have
of our fair neighbor to the west.
He's trashy but not in a good
way, and so is his magazine.
Snooki, on the other hand, is so
trashy she's fabulous. We just
want to give her a big hug and
touch her freakin' poof and get
wasted with her while she does
naked back flips across the club.
And for just $2,000 we can book
her to appear at our next party to
do just that!
So, what happens when the two
of them get together? Is it a
wonderful amalgamation of all
US and Russia ‘close to nuclear cuts deal’
(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:15:43 AM
The US and Russia on Friday
said they were close to an
that is delightfully wrong about
Jersey Shore, or is it so bad that it
goes past "so bad it's good" and
goes back to bad again? We think
it's the final option, poor Snooki.
But check out some of the
quotes that Chaunce is attributing
to the Princess of Poughkeepsie:
"I'm really glad MTV pulled the
scene where I get punched in the
agreement on nuclear arms
reduction after presidents Barack
Obama and Dmitry Medvedev
met on the sidelines of the
Copenhagen climate conference.
Mr Obama reported ”excellent
Entertainment/ Game/ Economy/ 57
jaw was broken. It took two
weeks for my face to heal." WRUP: Shout-out
Also:
[Italian-American groups] don't
to downloadable
like the term "Guido". But we games edition
use it as a compliment. Anybody
By Alexander Sliwinski
can be a Guido. I even know a (Joystiq)
few African American's who try
to be Guidos. They don't really Submitted at 12/18/2009 9:00:00 PM
pull it off. But they try...But I
Considering the high-profile Q4
don't like when people contact
2009 retail release schedule is
Guidos with the Mafia. I call
going to go well into 2010, which
people in the Mafia, "Guineas".
then hurts the downloadable
Those are Goombas. The Mob is
games market, let's talk
about killing people. Guidos are
downloadable games in this
about having fun.
week's WRUP. Let us know the
On one hand those things seem
titles from WiiWare, PlayStation
too perfect for Snooki to actually
Network, Xbox Live Arcade or
say, but they are also so stupidly
PC from 2009 that you think
brilliant that they sound like
face. The first time I saw it I shouldn't be missed. What's
gems right out of her mouth.
cried. What the hell? Who does everyone playing this weekend?
We don't venture anywhere we
that? I blacked out when he hit Continue reading WRUP: Shout-
could actually pick up this
me. I just remember waking up out to downloadable games
bastion of journalism, but if
on the floor and thinking, "What edition
anyone sees it, will you pick us
the hell just happened?" Besides, WRUP: Shout-out to
up a copy? Maybe send some
who wants to see that? People downloadable games edition
scans? We'd like to see this with
make fun of it like it's a joke. It's originally appeared on Joystiq on
our own two eyes.
not a joke and it's not funny. I Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:00:00 EST.
thought I lost all my teeth and my Please see our terms for use of
feeds.
Permalink| Email this|
Comments
progress” towards a replacement Five Filters featured article:
for the Strategic Arms Reduction Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
Treaty, which expired this month, PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
while Mr Medvedev said a deal Term Extraction.
was “very close”, with only
“technical details” to resolve.
58 Sports/
The Fix Picks the NFL: Week 15
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:05:00 AM
It looks like Week 15 of the
NFL season will peak a day
early. Saturday’s New Orleans-
Dallas game is both one of the
week’s more significant games
and likely to be one of its most
enjoyable, since the Saints seem
categorically incapable of doing
anything boring. Getty Images
The Saints’ Marques Colston has
56 catches for 908 yards and nine
touchdowns this season.
But Sunday has its delights, too,
most notably Green Bay-
Pittsburgh and San Diego-
Cincinnati. Sunday also offers
the day’s only truly extraordinary
matchup in the falling-down-the-
stairs category, between the
Chiefs and Browns. That gross-
out probably won’t be much fun
to watch, but it does at least put
things in perspective.
At least, it did for me. At this
point in my NFL predicting
season, I am more or less the
Buffalo Bills. That is, I’m
playing for pride, if not
necessarily proud of my results.
I’m not going to catch the big
dogs — not after another
superhuman week for Garey,
who really should be famous
right now — but I’ll hopefully
manage to remain ahead of
Toonie, the inanimate object.
That’s something, I guess. We
can’t all be the Saints.
Week 14 recap (overall): David
Roth: 11-5 (97-108-1), Garey
Ris: 13-3 (116-89-1), Al Toonie,
the Lucky Canadian Two-Dollar
Coin: 10-6 (93-112-1)
SATURDAY’S GAME
Dallas at New Orleans (-7.5):
Some reasons to be glad the
Saints are 13-0 include New
Orleans’s longstanding need for
good news, the Saints’ fun style
and the inner calm that comes
from knowing that, somewhere,
Bobby Hebert is happy. But
however surprising its
spectacular showing has been,
New Orleans’s success makes
sense: The team is scoring points,
protecting the ball, getting
takeaways, playing clutch. The
Cowboys on the other hand …
well, their excellent team stats
haven’t translated to excellent
results, and it’s hard to escape the
sense that they’re cruising for
another bruising December
letdown. They’re talented enough
to beat the Saints, certainly, but
the ‘Boys’ numbers just don’t
seem to be adding up. DR
Pick: David: New Orleans,
Garey: New Orleans, Al Toonie:
New Orleans
SUNDAY’S GAMES
Chicago at Baltimore (-11):
Sometimes it’s easy to figure out
a bad team’s badness; brave
readers are advised to check out
the St. Louis Rams roster, for
instance. The Bears, though, are
tougher to figure. They feature
respected names on both sides of
the ball, but at this point in their
flying-to-pieces season, Jay
Cutler is now this year’s version
of Jay Cutler, and those brand-
name defensive players are
indeed 25th in the NFL in
rushing defense, just behind the
Lions. That last fact could be the
difference here: If Baltimore can
run on Chicago (and it can), then
the Ravens can chew up clock
and put the onus on the flub-
intensive Bears offense.
Considering Cutler’s sad season
and the Ravens’ opportunistic D,
that’s as good a way to win as
any. DR
Pick: David: Baltimore, Garey:
Baltimore, Al Toonie: Baltimore
New England (-7) at Buffalo:
Belatedly, the Bills seem to have
realized their annual NFL role:
Respectable Bad Team With
Heart. Always outnumbered and
always outgunned, the Bills
annually earn their six wins by
playing a bit harder and being
marginally less terrible than self-
defeating competition. Even with
the addition of turbo-heel O-
lineman Richie Incognito
sullying things, there’s some
dignity in that stolid, defiant
competence. Still, the Bills are in
a different universe, talent-wise,
from the super-stacked Patriots.
Admirable grit aside, this is still
an offense being quarterbacked
by Ryan Fitzpatrick trying to
outscore one led by Tom Brady.
Despite New England’s recent
struggles, it has to count for
something that the Pats are so
much more talented, and need a
win so badly. DR
Pick: David: New England,
Garey: Buffalo, Al Toonie: New
England
Arizona (-12.5) at Detroit: While
the Cards are stuck on the same
old Jekyll/Hyde narrative — and
worrying about the condition of
Larry Fitzgerald’s knee — the
Lions are like a cross between
“The Wire” and one of the better
John Sayles films, such is the
depth and breadth of their issues
(issues so varied and vast that
local media are currently
demanding the team trade its best
player). Arizona is notably the
better team, and an easy pick (for
me, and for the coin, anyway).
Given Detroit’s surprisingly not-
terrible offense, though, this one
could be fun to watch for lovers
of scoring, though it still likely is
another tragic ending in the
making for Detroit. Tune in next
week. DR
Pick: David: Arizona, Garey:
Detroit, Al Toonie: Arizona
Cleveland at Kansas City (-1):
Yes, please. These teams are so
bad their matchup has an almost
abstract aspect about it: a
movable object meeting a
stoppable force, maybe. It’s not
likely to be much of a football
game, of course, and both teams
are so effectively devoid of
positive attributes that picking a
winner amounts to a depressing
coin toss. The Chiefs have
looked slightly worse recently
E-reader News Edition
but, again, we’re dealing in
abstractions. Bonus points,
though, for these teams’
hilariously goofy history
together: The two have combined
for a tie, a game in which seven
Browns were injured and neither
team scored a touchdown, and
“Helmetgate.” It gets no
better/worse than this. DR
Pick: David: Cleveland, Garey:
Kansas City, Al Toonie:
Cleveland
Atlanta at New York Jets (OFF):
With the respective statuses of
these teams’ young quarterbacks
both up in the air as of Friday,
oddsmakers had no choice but to
take the game off the board.
While the dinged-up, inconsistent
Falcons would likely have
trouble with the Jets’ top-ranked
defense whether Matt Ryan,
Chris Redman, Chris Miller or
Steve Bartkowski were starting
for Atlanta, this would
admittedly be a much more
interesting game were Ryan and
still-gimpy Jets rookie Mark
Sanchez able to take the field.
Nothing against a Chris Redman-
Kellen Clemens match-up, of
course — as a lover of
interceptions, I think it’d be great
— but the prospect is enough to
make you wish TV programmers
could simply opt to take a game
off the board, too. DR
Pick: David: Jets, Garey: Jets, Al
Toonie: Atlanta
San Francisco at Philadelphia (-
9): The Eagles beat the Giants
FIX page 60
E-reader News Edition
Colts Remain Perfect, if Not Perfect-Looking
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:50:50 AM
The chance of seeing the first all
-undefeated Super Bowl lives.
The Saints enter their Saturday
game untarnished, and the Colts
also remain perfect, if not perfect
-looking, after their 35-31 win
over Jacksonville Thursday. But
it took Peyton Manning’s NFL-
record seventh fourth-quarter
comeback to keep the dream
meeting on course. The Colts are
14-0 for the first time in team
history, and have won a record
23 straight regular-season games.
Getty Images Dallas Clark
suddenly remembers that his
team was losing to Jacksonville.
In the Indianapolis Star, Bob
Kravitz likes what he saw from
the Colts. “They are so close, this
close, to circling the
neighborhood where Mercury
Morris and his 1972 Miami
Dolphins pals reside with their
champagne on ice,” Kravitz
writes. “And they are holding up
their end of the bargain,
continuing the march of
perfection along with the New
Orleans Saints. What could be
better than a match of perfect
teams in a Super Bowl that
happens to be in Miami?”
Indianapolis locked up the
AFC’s top seed last week, but
Sports Illustrated’s Jim Trotter
cautions the Colts against
coasting against the Jets and
Bills, their last two opponents.
The Colts’ recent history dictates
they play all-out, Trotter
cautions.
ESPN’s Paul Kuharsky notes
that Reggie Wayne, who caught
the winning TD pass from
Manning, finally reasserted
himself after a few games in
which he was a nonfactor.
On Saturday, the Saints will
have their shot at improving to
14-0, too, when they play Dallas.
For ESPN’s Wright Thompson,
the Saints are “ the soul of
America’s city.”
Be sure to come back a little
later for the Daily Fix’s Week 15
NFL picks.* * *
Thursday’s Fix carried early
commentary on the death
Thursday morning of Cincinnati
Bengals wide receiver Chris
Henry. Through all of his
challenges, Henry appeared to
have been turning his life around.
But a fight with his fiancee led to
his death, when he fell from the
back of a pickup truck she was
driving.
A lot of questions surrounding
his death might never be
answered. “The young who die
leave us with more mystery than
memory,” Paul Daugherty writes
in the Cincinnati Enquirer. “What
might he have done? Henry was
different now. This is what his
coach and his teammates said. He
was a changed man. A good man,
mindful of the need to repair his
past with a shining present and a
future full of potential. What
might he have done?”
For the Bengals, a season of
progress and likely a playoff spot
has a second tragedy to overcome
this season. “In the span of a little
more than two months,
Cincinnati has twice now been
touched by death,” Sports
Illustrated’s Don Banks writes.
“First, there was Vikki Zimmer,
the wife of Cincinnati defensive
coordinator Mike Zimmer, who
passed away suddenly in early
October, plunging the team into
grief just before a pivotal game at
division rival Baltimore. And
now Chris Henry is gone at 26,
the victim of a senseless auto
accident that reportedly resulted
from a domestic dispute between
him and his fiancee.”
The Journal’s Carl Bialik blogs
that Henry’s stats show he was
an underrated receiver.* * *
Vinny Cerrato resigned
unexpectedly as the Redskins’
executive vice president of
football operations Thursday
after a decade marked mostly by
the declining fortunes of a once-
powerful NFC East team.
Perhaps his replacement, Bruce
Allen, son of legendary
Washington coach George Allen,
will restore some pride in the
nation’s capital. Allen comes to
the Redskins from the Oakland
Raiders, where he worked under
Al Davis, not the easiest owner to
work with. The Washington
Post’s Michael Wilbon likes the
move — if owner Daniel Snyder
doesn’t meddle. “If Allen is
running the football team and
having, overwhelmingly, the
final say in personnel decisions
— from the coaching staff to the
backup long snapper — then the
Redskins have a chance,” Wilbon
writes.
Wilbon’s Post colleague Mike
Wise almost apologizes for
reveling in the news of Cerrato’s
quitting, then says Snyder may
have earned some goodwill from
Redskins fans.* * *
Miguel Angel Espino isn’t given
much chance to defeat
middleweight champion Kelly
Pavlik in their fight Saturday
night in Youngstown, Ohio.
Pavlik, who hasn’t fought since
February, is the overwhelming
favorite to retain his WBC and
WBO titles when he faces
Espino. Pavlik comes in with 31
of his 35 wins by knockout and
only one loss.
So while the odds are long
against Espino, it’s not hard to
root for the underdog. “Espino is
the kind of guy you want to hope
for because a win like this would
change his life and his family’s in
a meaningful way,” the Sweet
Science’s Ron Borges writes.
“This is a guy who has never
made any real money in boxing
but who has fought on through
disappointment after
disappointment.”
Maybe the best story here isn’t
that Espino gets a $100,000
payday, but that the boxer has
Sports/ 59
had a lifelong devotion to his
legally blind mother, Bill Dwyre
writes in the Los Angeles
Times.* * *
Reggie Fleming was known
more for his pugnacious play
than for his offense during a 12-
year NHL career that ended in
1971. In those days most players
went helmetless, and fighting
was much more prevalent than it
is today. While football and
boxing have been grappling with
problems associated with
numerous hits to the head,
hockey hasn’t outlawed them.
Some of the hits are particularly
dirty. In the New York Times,
Alan Schwarz and Jeff Z. Klein
write that tests on Fleming, who
died last summer at age 73, show
he suffered from chronic
traumatic encephalopathy, a type
of dementia, leading to emotional
problems and short-term memory
loss in his 50s.
At Sabermetric Research, Phil
Birnbaum downplays a
neurosurgeon’s call for less
aggressive play in hockey.* * *
For many people, winter is a
time for a vacation in a far-flung
hot spot with sandy beaches and
drinks aplenty. Not so for 22-
year-old Katie Spotz, who plans a
2,500-mile crossing of the
Atlantic by ocean rowboat,
Christopher Maag writes in the
New York Times.
– Tip of the Fix cap to readers
Karen Okupniak, Fixer emeritus
Carl Bialik and fellow Fixer
COLTS page 60
60
FIX
continued from page 58
last week, 45-38, so they get to
be labeled explosive. The Giants,
as losers, are now the one whose
defense has serious problems.
But while the Eagles’ offense is
clearly pretty good, that defense
did give up 38 points. Philly
faces another such offense this
week, but the 49ers come off an
impressive home win over
Arizona. The 49ers are a bad
road team (1-5) and hard to
figure in several ways, but
stopping an Arizona team that’s
just as explosive as Philly
might’ve been a breakthrough.
It’s tough to have too much faith
in the 49ers, but this line requires
only a little. DR
Pick: David: San Francisco,
Garey: Philadelphia, Al Toonie:
Philadelphia
Green Bay at Pittsburgh (-1):
This time last season, the Steelers
were in the midst of winning six
of their last seven regular-season
games before capturing the sixth
Super Bowl in franchise history.
How times have changed. This
year they’re bumbling their way
on a five-game losing streak
that’s pretty much sunk their
playoff hopes, relegating them to
spoilers though they’re alive,
mathematically. When little’s at
stake, it’s tough to gauge a
team’s acuity. Don’t be surprised
COLTS
continued from page 59
David Roth.
Found a good column from the
world of sports? Don’t keep it to
yourself — write to us at
if you see a lot of sacks —
Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger
has been sacked 38 times, Green
Bay’s Aaron Rodgers 47 times
— nor if you see one last strong
Steelers effort this season. The
Pack are on a five-game winning
streak. GR
Pick: David: Green Bay, Garey:
Pittsburgh, Al Toonie: Green Bay
Houston (-11) at St. Louis: The
Texans’ playoff hopes are
slightly alive. You can’t say that
about the Rams, who are 0-6 at
home this year. St. Louis is also
battling swine flu. This game was
off the board until Friday, but the
sudden appearance of a double-
digit number in the place of the
word “OFF” feels almost
preordained. Houston has had a
disappointing season, but the
Rams remain as potent an on-
field antidepressant as the NFL
has to offer. For fans of opposing
teams, that is. Rams fans are
obviously on their own. GR
Pick: David: Houston, Garey:
Houston, Al Toonie: St. Louis
Miami at Tennessee (-3): Titans
QB Vince Young (hamstring)
expects to play against the
Dolphins, who have won six
straight December games under
coach Tony Sparano. Winning
six of their past seven games
after a 0-6 start has kept the
dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll
consider your find for inclusion
in the Daily Fix. You can email
Garey at ris84rap@gmail.com.
Titans in the playoff hunt. Worth
watching, as per usual, will be
Miami WR Ted Ginn Jr. and
Tennessee RB Chris Johnson.
Ginn is in the process of
revitalizing his career after being
benched earlier this season, while
Johnson is on pace to become
one of just a handful of 2,000-
yard backs in NFL history
(barely — he’s on pace for 2,001
yards). Miami is 7-2 in its past
nine games against Tennessee.
GR
Pick: David: Tennessee, Garey:
Tennessee, Al Toonie: Tennessee
Oakland at Denver (-14): With
the Raiders being so awful in
recent years, this rivalry has lost
its luster. Too bad, this Broncos
fan says. It’s pretty hard to build
up hatred for one of your most
despicable rivals when it hasn’t
been a fair fight for years. The
Broncos have six wins in their
past eight meetings. Denver has
the NFL’s second-best pass
defense. The Raiders? They’ve
got the second-worst pass
offense. And with JaMarcus
Russell being demoted and
Charlie Frye getting his first start
at QB, this could get ugly. GR
Pick: David: Denver, Garey:
Denver, Al Toonie: Oakland
Cincinnati at San Diego (-6.5):
The Bengals will play with heavy
hearts, after Bengals WR Chris
Henry died Thursday from
injuries suffered in an automobile
accident the day before. The
Bengals’ task would have been
difficult without the distraction of
Henry’s loss, as the Chargers are
on a roll, having won eight
consecutive games and a record
16 straight December starts, all
under QB Philip Rivers. GR
Pick: David: San Diego, Garey:
San Diego, Al Toonie: Cincinnati
Tampa Bay at Seattle (-6.5): If
not for the epic Cleveland-K.C.
nightmare, this would easily
qualify as the NFL’s Game of the
Weak. The teams are a combined
6-20. The rudderless Buccaneers
are on a five-game losing streak
and winless away from home.
The Seahawks earned four of
their five wins at home, making
them the easy pick. It’s not worth
it to tell you that Seattle has the
NFL’s 21st-ranked scoring
offense and 23rd-ranked offense
overall. You’re probably not
interested in knowing about their
third-worst passing defense,
either. Neither am I. GR
Pick: David: Seattle, Garey:
Seattle, Al Toonie: Seattle
Minnesota (-9) at Carolina:
Things aren’t going swimmingly
for the Panthers, whose offense
has sputtered at a measly 12.3-
E-reader News Edition
points-per-game clip in its past
four starts. That’s not good
enough to compete with one of
the NFC’s best teams, the
Vikings, who have Brett Favre –
he’s old! — leading the charge.
Fair warning: Both Minnesota
losses were on the road (Arizona,
Pittsburgh). Minnesota also has
struggled against the spread in its
past nine December games (2-7).
GR
Pick: David: Minnesota, Garey:
Minnesota, Al Toonie:
Minnesota
MONDAY’S GAME
New York Giants (-3) at
Washington: QB Eli Manning
and the Giants still have
postseason aspirations; the
Redskins don’t. But New York
comes into the game after a 45-
38 pasting by Philadelphia, and
has lost six of eight games since
a 5-0 start. The Giants have the
NFL’s fourth-worst scoring
defense, but Manning has won
six of his past seven starts against
the Redskins (average winning
margin: 10 points). GR
Pick: David: Giants, Garey:
Washington, Al Toonie: Giants
E-reader News Edition Sports/ 61

The Count: Colts Have Lived Dangerously During Streak

(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) representing one touchdown and chance the teams will meet, with Bears won their first 12 games by
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:46:22 PM
a two-point conversion, at least in identical 18-0 records, in the an average margin of 19.3 points,
those seasons when two-point Super Bowl. Wayne Winston, and just two of those games were
The Saints need to win three conversions were an option). For who like Burke uses his own decided by eight points or fewer.
more games to finish the regular the Saints, those figures are 14.8 NFL power rankings, thinks the The teams that halted these
season 16-0, and the Colts need points and 30.7%, respectively, Colts have a 65% chance and the undefeated runs were generally
to win just two more to equal that making them typical of these Saints have a 64% chance, which good, but not great. In games
mark. Only the New England undefeated teams except in the means there’s an 87% chance one other than the streak killers, they
Patriots have run the table on a length of their streak — just four four times during the run. team goes undefeated and a 42% won just 55% of the time. None
16-game schedule — they did it prior teams started 13-0. Going back to last season, the chance both do. ( Football won the Super Bowl; none since
two years ago. Indianapolis and For the Colts — who have had Colts have won a record 23 Outsiders and Pro Football the 1969 Vikings — who ended
New Orleans have just one game many close scrapes this season, straight regular-season games, Reference haven’t yet updated up with a better record than the
remaining against an opponent most recently a four-point win and 14 of them have been their probabilities, posted before Rams, whose undefeated run they
with a winning record, and the over the Jaguars on Thursday — decided by eight points or fewer. the Colts won on Thursday.) stopped — made the Super Bowl;
last time either of those teams — their average margin of victory That improves Colts quarterback Update: Neil Paine of Pro and the 11 teams since the
the Cowboys, for the Saints; and has been 10.4 points, and 57% of P e y t o n M a n n i n g ’ s a l r e a d y Football Reference ran updated Vikings won a total of just two
the Jets for the Colts — beat a their wins have come by eight excellent career record in games simulations after the Colts playoff games. So the Jets and
team with a winning record was points or fewer. The Colts have that close to 66-33. victory. Out of 10,000 Cowboys would be far from the
Nov. 8. The unlikely has become won eight such games, more than So how likely are the Colts and simulations, the Colts went 16-0 worst teams to end such a streak.
probable: Several forecasters any other team in the group. That Saints to finish 16-0? I checked 57% of the time, the Saints did The worst? The 1990 Rams, who
give both the Colts and Saints at doesn’t make them the least in with some of the same 58% of the time, and a third of beat that less than dominant
least a 50% chance of finishing dominant undefeated team, prognosticators who informed a t h e t i m e b o t h f i n i s h e d 49ers team but won just five of
16-0. Associated Press Reggie though. One team started 9-0, but post two weeks ago addressing u n d e f e a t e d . their other 15 games. Those first
W a y n e ’ s g a m e - w i n n i n g won those games by an average the same question. RJ Bell of Other tidbits from the historical losses did tend to be close,
touchdown catch clinched yet of under seven points per game, Pregame.com, relying on Vegas record on teams that started 9-0 though, by an average margin of
another close win for the Colts. and won seven of those nine odds, puts the Saints’ chances at or better: 7.6 points, and eight of the 12
If they do, they’ll make history games by eight points or fewer. 50% and the Colts’ at 64%. That The two teams to finish games decided by a touchdown
despite being no better than That team is the 2006 Colts, means there’s an 82% chance at undefeated were dominant, but or less. The Cowboys twice
middle of the road among which went on to win the Super l e a s t o n e t e a m f i n i s h e s perhaps not the most dominant. derailed these undefeated starts,
undefeated teams when it comes Bowl. (Also a contender: the undefeated, and a 32% chance The 1972 Miami Dolphins had as have the Chargers. Every team
to dominating opponents. Sixteen 1990 San Francisco 49ers, who b o t h d o . B r i a n B u r k e o f just three close games, the second in the current NFC East has done
teams have started a season 9-0 won their first 10 games by an Advanced NFL Stats gives the -lowest rate in history, but their it at least once.
s i n c e 1 9 6 9 . D u r i n g t h o s e average of 10.2 points per game, Saints a 54% chance and the average victory margin of 15.3 Pro Football Reference was vital
undefeated starts, the 14 teams five of them by eight points or Colts a 60% chance, which points was nothing special — in researching this post.
before the Colts and Saints won fewer.) The Colts also started 13- translates into the same chances among these very special teams,
their games by an average of 15.1 0 in 2005, but that was a more for one or both to go undefeated that is. And the 2007 Patriots
points, and just 35% of those dominant team, winning by an that Bell calculated. Both also won games by a record margin of
wins came by eight points or average of 16.3 points and estimate that there’s an 8% 19.7 points, but also had four
f e w e r ( w i t h e i g h t p o i n t s winning by eight or fewer just close games. The 1985 Chicago
62 Sports/ Fashion/ Economy/ E-reader News Edition

Police: Cincinnati Bengals' Chris Henry died of

blunt-force trauma to head
By ESPN.com news services fiancee stopped after Henry teammate, the Bengals tried to Baltimore that put the Bengals in
(ESPN.com) "came out of the back" of the focus on the field as they control of the AFC North. Young Women in
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:16:35 PM
pickup truck she was driving on prepared for a key game against Offensive lineman Andrew Low-Rise Jeans with
the curvy stretch of a residential the Chargers. Whitworth, one of the team
A Look Back At The Life Of road near the Tonga family Music was playing in the captains, said it was good for the High-Class Issues
Chris Henry A Look Back At home. Bengals' locker room as players team to be together to deal with By ELLE.com (ELLE News
The Life Of Chris Henry VIDEO "She pulled the vehicle over to packed up to leave for California. Henry's death. The team held its Blog)
PLAYLIST get out and assist," Harrington The team also held a 90-minute holiday gathering as scheduled
• A Look Back At The Life Of said late Friday. afternoon practice. on Thursday. Submitted at 12/17/2009 2:16:46 PM

Chris Henry A Look Back At One 911 caller said she saw a "It really wouldn't matter where "We had enough motivation Last Saturday, my girlfriend and
The Life Of Chris Henry shirtless man with a cast on his we were at, we're going to pull it already and now it's added with
I went to see Matt Morillo's
• Police Release Chris Henry arm in the bed of a yellow pickup together as a family," offensive the guys trying to live up to his
Angry Young Women in Low-
911 Call Police Release Chris "beating on the back of this truck guard Bobbie Williams said. legacy," Whitworth said. "Things
Rise Jeans with High-Class
Henry 911 Call window." A later 911 caller told "Coaches and players included. go on. We went on with it withIssues, a high-voltage comedy
• Police Investigating Chris d i s p a t c h e r s h e s a w a n We're going to ball that fist up Coach Zimmer. It hurts but youabout the dramas— pill-induced
Henry Death Police Investigating unresponsive man laying in the and try to deliver a good, solid have a job as a man and mood swings, to have or not have
Chris Henry Death road. punch to whoever. If we were professional and you have to pubic hair, the benefits of sexual
• NFL Fraternity Grieving Loss Harrington said there was "no here or on the road it doesn't move forward." liberation and restraint— of
O f H e n r y N F L F r a t e r n i t y new info" in the case on Friday. matter. We're going to be that Henry, a talented receiver who
modern twentysomething
Grieving Loss Of Henry The Cincinnati Enquirer reported unit." had a history of off-field womanhood. Although the
the Mecklenburg County Medical With a win over the 10-3 problems, was away from the perspective is kind of
P o l i c e c o n t i n u e d t h e i r Examiner determined Henry died Chargers, the Bengals (9-4) will team after being placed on "white.heterosexual.male" and
investigation Friday after they of blunt-force trauma to the head. clinch the AFC North title and injured reserve last month with a
some of the monologues and
said Chris Henry died of injuries Greg Guthrie, general manager grab the inside track for the broken forearm. sketches could have been cut a
from falling out of the back of a o f t h e A l a r i o C e n t e r i n second seed in the conference The Associated Press little shorter, the spectacularly
moving pickup truck during a Westwego, La., confirmed Friday playoffs. contributed to this story. talented cast, who have
d o m e s t i c d i s p u t e w i t h h i s that a service for Henry, a native It's the second time the team has Five Filters featured article:
impeccable comedic timing,
fiancee. of Belle Chasse, La., is had to deal with a death this Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
make up for these small
In Charlotte, police have yet to tentatively scheduled to be held season. Vikki Zimmer, the wife PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, misgivings, with standout
file charges or clear his fiancee, there Tuesday. of defensive coordinator Mike Term Extraction. performances by Tom Pilutik,
Loleini Tonga, of wrongdoing. The Bengals are expected to Zimmer, died unexpectedly at the Nick Coleman and Poppi
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police attend as a team after playing in couple's home in October. Three Kramer, names to remember."
s p o k e s w o m a n R o s a l y n San Diego. days later, Zimmer coached the Check it out at
Harrington confirmed that his One day after the death of their defense in a 17-14 win in angryyoungwomen.net. Ends
Road’s end for Saab as GM sale plan fails December 20th.
— Stephanie Fairyington,
(Financial Times - US Sweden’s Saab are set to come to failing to strike a deal with PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, R e s e a r c h C h i e f
homepage) an end after a breakdown of talks Spyker Cars, a specialist group Term Extraction. Follow ELLE on Twitter.
to sell the company owned by based in the Netherlands. Become our Facebook fan!
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:22:52 PM
General Motors. Five Filters featured article:
Sixty years of carmaking by GM is to close down Saab after Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
E-reader News Edition Sports/ 63

John Calipari disagrees with Bob Report: Redskins 'In

Knight's take on college basketball Talks' With Mike
integrity Shanahan
By Associated Press tell you is I'm a big fan, respect watch the Red Raiders practice. By Will Brinson (Fanhouse
(ESPN.com) him as a basketball coach, always Calipari said Knight gave him Main)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:12:16 PM
have." some help on perfecting the Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:04:00 AM
Knight called out Calipari during "Dribble Drive" offense.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Kentucky a fundraiser for the Indiana "Made it even better," Calipari Mike Shanahan and the
coach John Calipari doesn't agree Basketball Hall of Fame on said. Redskins are "in talks,"
with Bobby Knight that college Thursday. Kentucky forward Josh according to a report in the
basketball lacks integrity or that "We've gotten into this situation Harrellson said he was surprised Denver Post-- theoretically, the
he is proof there is a problem. where integrity is really lacking by Knight's comments but that former Broncos coach and two-
Calipari refused to get into a war and that's why I'm glad I'm not Knight's words seem to be part of time Super Bowl winner would
of words Friday when asked coaching," Knight said. "You see the national perception of his be taking the job beginning next the package.
about the pointed criticism from we've got a coach at Kentucky coach. season, even though current Not to play the role of Debbie
Knight that Calipari's continued w h o p u t t w o s c h o o l s o n "People hear stuff about him and coach Jim Zorn has yet to be Downer for Zorn, because his
employment proves the game has probation and he's still coaching. they kind of guess what he's like, relieved of his duties. team has played well recently,
a problem. Instead, Calipari said I really don't understand that." but playing for him and actually Shanahan as a coaching but when the boss that hired you
he remains a "big fan" of the Both Memphis and being around him, he's a great candidate would makes a lot of (regardless of how incompetent
former Texas Tech and Indiana Massachusetts were forced to guy," Harrellson said. "He's fair sense for the Washington job, he might have proven himself to
head coach. vacate Final Four appearances by to everybody." especially from Daniel Snyder's be) gets fired and a new boss
"I don't agree with what he says the NCAA for infractions made The third-ranked Wildcats (10-0) perspective, because he's a high starts working and that new boss
but it doesn't change how I feel during Calipari's tenure, though host Austin Peay on Saturday. profile name, which Snyder has reportedly happens to really like
about him," Calipari said. Memphis is appealing the Calipari can break Adolph been drawn to in the past. an unemployed candidate with an
“ penalty. Calipari was not Rupp's record for best start by a More interestingly, though, is impressive resume ... well, then
I don't agree with what he says implicated in either case by the first-year coach in program the rumor that brand-spanking- you might want to take the
but it doesn't change how I feel NCAA. history with a victory. new VP of Operations Bruce buyout if it's there.
about him.”-- Kentucky coach Calipari declined to take Knight is currently a college Allen in Washington was -- had
John Calipari questions on the matter on basketball analyst for ESPN. the Buffalo Bills lured Shanahan
Calipari said Knight's comments Friday, but credited some of the Copyright 2009 by The to replace Dick Jauron -- part of
surprised him. success he has had with his Associated Press
"I get up to go to mass this offensive strategy to Knight, who Five Filters featured article:
morning and there's like 100 text retired with 902 career victories. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
messages and I'm like what in the Calipari said he took his staff at PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
world happened?" Calipari said. Memphis down to Texas Tech Term Extraction.
"And I get word and what I can while Knight was coaching to
64 Sports/ Popular News/ E-reader News Edition

Tag Heuer calls timeout on Tiger The Price of Playing With

Woods' advertisements in United a Life
By David Whitley (Fanhouse
States Main)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:13:00 AM
By Associated Press • EA Sports was to be published in Saturday's
(ESPN.com) • Gatorade editions of Le Matin. Filed under: FanHouse
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:50:46 PM
• Golf Digest Tag Heuer joins other sponsors Exclusive MARLBORO, N.J. --
• NetJets in backing away from Woods as Every football player's nightmare
GENEVA -- Swiss watch maker • Nike Golf his image has taken a beating lives here, though you'd never
Tag Heuer says it will not use • Tatweer: The Tiger Woods since a Thanksgiving holiday car know it at first.
T i g e r W o o d s ' i m a g e i n Dubai accident at the golfer's Florida Ring the doorbell and a Golden
advertising campaigns in the • TLC Laser Eye Centers home was followed by an Retriever barks hello. The door
United States for the foreseeable • Upper Deck admission of extramarital swings opens and Tammy
future. Woods has taken an indefinite "transgressions." Plevretes beams a friendly smile.
Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe leave from golf to work on Consulting firm Accenture The two-story house is warm
Babin told Swiss daily Le Matin repairing his marriage after dropped him as its representative and all done up for Christmas. It's
on Friday that the company was n u m e r o u s a l l e g a t i o n s o f last weekend, and Gillette said it enough to make you wonder if
reacting to "recent events" i n f i d e l i t i e s . would stop airing his ads for their you have the right address. football's dirty little secret -- the
surrounding the golfer. The newspaper said Tag Heuer razors. Then, you hear something concussion. It's become all the
"We recognize Tiger Woods as a will continue to support Woods' Tag Heuer initially said Monday coming down the hall. rage this season, from Ben
great sportsman but we have to charitable foundation but will use it would stand by Woods, but "Don't use your wheelchair," Roethlisberger to Kurt Warner to
take account of the sensitivity of other brand ambassadors in U.S. moderated its support later that Tammy said. "Show how you can Tim Tebow to a growing debate
some consumers in relation to ads, including actor Leonardo day by saying it would assess its walk!" over when to say when.
recent events," Babin was quoted DiCaprio. relationship with the world's It's her son, Preston. Somebody didn't say when soon
saying. The watch maker could not highest-earning athlete. He is the face and body of enough for Preston Plevretes.
Sponsors Still In The Mix immediately be reached for Copyright 2009 by The
Tag Heuer, Accenture and comment because the story was Associated Press
Gillette have suspended or cut released on the newspaper's Web Five Filters featured article:
ties with Tiger Woods, leaving s i t e a f t e r T a g H e u e r ' s Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
the world's No. 1 golfer with the headquarters at La Chaux-de- PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
support of nine official sponsors: Fonds closed for the holidays Term Extraction.
• AT&T until Jan. 4. The full interview

Kansas Girl Says 'Superman' Hero Lifted Car Off Her

(FOXNews.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:16:21 AM
OTTAWA, Kan. A Kansas
mother is praising a neighbor as a
"Superman" after her 6-year-old
daughter told her he somehow
found the strength to lift a car off
her.
Kristen Hough said Friday that
her daughter Ashlyn was treated
for minor injuries afterward.
Hough's 32-year-old neighbor
Nick Harris says he saw a vehicle
back out of a driveway and over
Ashlyn. He says he doesn't know
how he managed to lift the
Mercury sedan off the child.
There were no witnesses to
confirm the incident last week.
But Ottawa police say Ashlyn
told them it happened. Lt. Adam
Weingartner says he didn't have
anything to dispute the account.
Weingartner says it appeared
Ashlyn wasn't pinned under the
car long enough to be seriously
hurt.
Ottawa is 50 miles southwest of
Kansas City, Mo.
Five Filters featured article:
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
Term Extraction.
E-reader News Edition Sports/ Game/ Economy/ 65

Sources: Head-butts cost Buffalo

Bills guard Richie Incognito $50K
By ESPN.com news services was benched after drawing two that would pop up, but it's not a
(ESPN.com) personal foul penalties in a big deal."
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:07:47 PM
season-opening 28-0 loss at Bills linebacker Kawika Mitchell
Seattle. Incognito, who started 44 had ripped Incognito in an
Bills guard Richie Incognito, g a m e s f o r t h e R a m s , i s unflattering message on his
two days after Buffalo claimed considered a solid run-blocker at Twitter account, saying the
him off waivers from St. Louis, 6-foot-3, 324 pounds. signing was "the biggest
has been fined $50,000 for two "I have a reputation around the disappointment of the year" and
unnecessary roughness penalties league for being a less than that "the guy's a bum."
from last week's Rams- Titans model citizen," Incognito said But Mitchell quickly wrote an
game, sources told ESPN senior Wednesday in reply to some
NFL analyst Chris Mortensen. harsh words from his new
Incognito, 26, was benched in teammates. "Some guys on teams
apology after his initial blistering
remarks.
"I said what I said bout iggy and
Criterion details
the second half of the 47-7 loss really dislike playing against me.
after the fouls, both of which So I can see where Kawika's
it's over," he wrote. "Everything
else will b handled n house. Burnout Paradise DLC
were for head-butting. coming from. We've had our moments before
"Future infractions of the types NFL Nation
you have committed may lead to Our eight bloggers help you
when KC played SL. I was
wrong 4 startin sumthin."
that never was
increased disciplinary action up keep up with all the latest NFL Information from The By David Hinkle (Joystiq) the one? The devs even wanted to
to and including suspension," news division-by-divison. Blog Associated Press was used in this Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:30:00 PM
give players the ability to go to
s t a t e d a l e t t e r f r o m N F L "I've probably done some cheap report. the moon, complete with lunar
executive vice president of stuff to him in the past, but now Five Filters featured article: You gotta give it up to Criterion challenges for Freeburn addicts.
football operations Ray Anderson we're members of the same team Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Games. Throughout the lifespan Also: the planes thing wasn't an
to Incognito. and working towards the same PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, o f B u r n o u t P a r a d i s e , t h e April Fool's joke -- the dev
Named the dirtiest player in the goal, and that's getting this club Term Extraction. developers at Criterion worked actually wanted to add them (and
NFL earlier this year by The as many wins as possible," he their buns off to give us all kinds other vehicles) into the game.
Sporting News, Incognito also added. "I knew something like of juicy DLC, from a new island Overall, it's a pretty great read, if
to explore, a new game mode, only to show you just how
Marathon turns into merely ‘a first step’ right down to motorcycles and committed the studio was to the
many, many car packs. Now, the game and raising the bar for DLC
(Financial Times - US a c c o r d ” a g r e e d b y m a j o r fight the threat of climate change. company has prepared a lengthy in general.
homepage) economies on Friday night is just Five Filters featured article: diatribe documenting some of the Criterion details Burnout
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:51:05 PM
2½-pages long. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: updates that never got off the Paradise DLC that never was
No-one is overjoyed by it. Even PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, ground. originally appeared on Joystiq on
After two years of excruciatingly US president Barack Obama, the Term Extraction. For one, did you know that Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:30:00 EST.
detailed negotiations and two first to proclaim a ”success”, Criterion initially planned to have Please see our terms for use of
weeks of increasingly frenetic admitted that it was ”not the end motorcycles vs cars? Yep, sure feeds.
haggling, the ”Copenhagen but the beginning” of action to was planned -- and did you know Permalink| Email this|
that Criterion wanted to create a C o m m e n t s
whole series of islands, not just
66 Game/ Popular News/ E-reader News Edition

JBO: Joystiq Box Office, December 14 - December 18, plus

Joyswag!
By Kevin Kelly (Joystiq)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 9:15:00 PM
Welcome to Joystiq's " Naughty
or Nice" holiday giveaway
extravaganza! It's simple: Just
follow the instructions below to
enter for your chance to win. Ah,
but to win what? There's always
a catch, isn't there? Each
"Naughty or Nice" giveaway
features two prizes: a totally
sweet bundle of holiday cheer
and, um, a lump of coal. Winners
are selected randomly, we assure
you. Of course, who's to say luck
isn't dependent on virtue ... Have
you been naughty? Or nice?
With the holidays in mind, we're
going to be giving away ... wait
for it ... MOVIES with each
Joystiq Box Office post on
Friday from today through
January 1! Simply leave a
comment below telling us what
you'll be watching on your Xbox,
PS3, PC, PSP, DS, OMG or
whatever (whether it be naughty
or nice) and we'll pick winners at
random each week to receive a
nifty prize. This week we're
joining the rest of Joyswag and
going Naughty or Nice. Five
"Nice" winners will win a copy
of District 9 on Blu-ray, which
includes the God of War III
demo, and one "Naughty" winner
will wind up with a copy of the
American Godzilla on Blu-ray.
Recommendation of the Week:
the end, but they stand on their
own very well. Extremely crisp
and sharp in HD and filled with
extras, including the bizarre but
hilarious "Quentin Tarantino's
Camera Angel," this is a must-
see, must-own, must-covet title.
Read on for the rest of the
recommendations, and as usual,
we'll see you at the popcorn sta --
well, actually, we won't see you
at all. But you catch our drift.
Plus, be sure to tell us what you'll
be watching, or what you've seen
recently that bowled you over.
Continue reading JBO: Joystiq
Box Office, December 14 -
December 18, plus Joyswag!
Inglourious Basterds(Blu-ray, talked to people who avoided this JBO: Joystiq Box Office,
$39.95 suggested retail) in theaters because they thought December 14 - December 18,
If you haven't already seen this it was going to be torture porn. p l u s J o y s w a g ! o r i g i n a l l y
film, then you owe it to yourself There's an extremely good film in appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18
to check it out in high definition. h e r e , a n d w h a t ' s r e a l l y Dec 2009 21:15:00 EST. Please
This is definitely Tarantino's compelling is that it's nearly two see our terms for use of feeds.
most mature film to date, and movies in one. The story of the Permalink| Email this|
despite numerous trailers out Basterds and the story of a C o m m e n t s
there, it's not a gory, Nazi woman who owns a theater run
slaughter-fest. There is some separate courses throughout the
violence, to be sure, but I've film until a head-on collision at

Man Naked in Own Home Hit With Indecent Exposure

(FOXNews.com)
Submitted at 12/17/2009 11:33:34 PM
A Virginia man has been
convicted of indecent exposure
after prosecutors said he stood
naked inside his house as a 7-
year-old boy and his mother
walked by.
The mother and child allegedly
observed the defendant, 29-year-
old Erick Williamson, first
through a doorway and again
through a window that had no
drapes, MyFoxDC reported.
Williamson, the father of a 5-
year-old, argued in court Friday
that he should be free to go au
naturel inside his home. But a
judge agreed with prosecutors
who argued Williamson's actions
showed he intended to make
himself visible to the pair as they
walked to school along a path
outside his home in October.
Williamson's arrest received
national attention and spurred
debate about whether someone Five Filters featured article:
should be subject to arrest for Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
exposure from inside his own PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
home. Term Extraction.
He received only a suspended
jail sentence and no fine, but still
intends to appeal.
Click here for more on this story
from MyFoxDC.com.
E-reader News Edition
VGA 2009: Cliff Bleszinski teases new projects, more to come
'when the weather's warm'
By Kevin Kelly (Joystiq)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:20:00 PM
This past Saturday brought us
the Spike TV Video Game
Awards and - before
experiencing the litany of world
exclusives that awaited us inside
- we spent some time outside
cruising the red carpet and
talking (briefly!) to many of the
game developers and talent. We
squeezed them for information as
fast as we could while
simultaneously wishing them
holiday cheer and good tidings.
Yes, it was as awkward as it
sounds. HHere's what we learned
from Epic's Cliff Bleszinski.
So you segued from Gears into
Shadow Complex... what are you
working on now?
I can't tell you that! It's actually
quite agonizing for me right now,
because there's a bunch of
awesome shit we're working on,
but I can't say a damn thing about
Collection Crush: Ardistia SS10
By ELLE.com (ELLE News
Blog)
Submitted at 12/17/2009 2:42:00 PM
The first time I came across an
Ardistia design a few years ago at
Coterie, I had a feeling. The
second time, this time in a tiny
East Village boutique, when I
actually tried on one of the line’s
most popular pieces—the artfully
it no matter how many alcoholic
beverages you might try and feed
me! Well, maybe if you bribe me
with hookers and blow, that
might work.
Shadow Complex will be on sale
during the holidays. Was that
Microsoft's idea or Epic's?
Microsoft is doing that promo.
They're doing some other stuff as
shouldered Abel dress—I knew. I
just knew.
So I bought it. And it’s probably
been dry-cleaned more frequently
than any sheath dress in my
closet.
The mind behind the four year
old line, Indonesian-born
designer Ardistia Dwiasri, creates
looks that graze perfectly
between modern and classic,
well to help drive the holiday
sales. I mean, in this day and age
look how crammed Christmas is,
and it's like March is the new
holiday. Everybody's moved out
to March. I think it's good
because the good games will rise,
and the bad games will sink,
right? I was getting tired of the
fact that everyone had to cram
urban and relaxed, feminine and
fem-bot. Her drape work, self-
described as “punk-gentle,” is
stunning and varied, her
proportion play is always fresh
(and as close to universally
flattering as is possible), and her
touches of asymmetry are just
that, touches—severity isn’t the
goal here. In her newest
everything into the holiday
season. Hopefully we'll get some
quality releases in March that
will do well, and the gaming
industry can sell more than 80%
of its games outside of a three
month period.
What are you playing right now?
I'm playing the hell out of
Modern Warfare 2 and I hate
collection for SS10, Dwiasri puts
forth 42 looks, including double-
breasted leather bombers, off-
kilter boatneck cocktail dresses,
and (thank goodness) a
reproduction of the Abel, which,
collectively, showcase her
evolution as an artist and show
off, once again, her very
wearable sculptural signature.
From NYC to DC to Tennessee,
Game/ Fashion/ 67
those guys, because those guys
are so awesome. Uncharted 2 I
beat, which was absolutely
stellar. Borderlands co-op is
amazing ... that's the only way to
play, really. I gush about it not
just because it's our engine but
because Randy and those guys
are good friends, and it's the kind
of game I really want to play. It's
the perfect blending of the
shooter and the RPG.
So when will we hear about this
"awesome shit"?
Maybe sometime when the
weather's warm, you'll be hearing
something.
VGA 2009: Cliff Bleszinski
teases new projects, more to
come 'when the weather's warm'
originally appeared on Joystiq on
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:20:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of
feeds.
Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Ardistia SS10 has everything for
every woman (left to right): fitted
Claude leather jacket, cocoa
Marcus maxi dress; purple
Damian blouse, draped pewter
Edward sweater, black silk Lucas
shorts; khaki Abel sheath dress;
blush Lars blouse with cropped
black Hugh trousers
Photos: Courtesy of Ardistia NY
68 Game/ Economy/ E-reader News Edition

Eye-popping iPhone hack-n-slash Twin Blades coming to XBL

Indie Games
By Randy Nelson (Joystiq) showpiece for Apple's devices Check out the gameplay trailer
Submitted at 12/18/2009 9:31:00 PM
due to its crisp, beautifully after the break.
animated 2D graphics. Players Gallery: Twin Blades: The
click to enlarge Recently (controlling an awfully violent Reaping Vanguard
released for iPhone / iPod touch, nun) hack and shoot their way Continue reading Eye-popping
French indie dev Press Start through advancing waves of the iPhone hack-n-slash Twin Blades
Studio's side-scrolling homage to enemy flavor of the decade, coming to XBL Indie Games
classic hack-n-slashers (and zombies. There are skill and Eye-popping iPhone hack-n-
really big guns), Twin Blades: weapon upgrades, the latter slash Twin Blades coming to
T h e R e a p i n g V a n g u a r d , i s including flame throwers and XBL Indie Games originally
making the unlikely leap onto mini nukes. appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18
Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Indie A 99¢ download on iPhone, the opportunity -- the traditional Marketplace before December Dec 2009 21:31:00 EST. Please
Games. 360 release of Twin Blades will holiday ritual of decapitating 25. Press Start plans to release see our terms for use of feeds.
It's not the deepest game, though be priced at 240($3) and, so as zombies while dressed as a nun -- DLC for the game down the road, Permalink| Email this|
it has been hailed as a technical not to miss a crucial marketing is slated to land on the Xbox Live including new levels and bosses. C o m m e n t s

Readers pick best webcomic: Oh The Weather Outside Is

Frightful
By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:30:00 PM
While we certainly appreciate
the comedic plight of last week's
Wrapup winner, Dipswitch's "
Oh The Weather Outside is
Frightful," we're not certain we
understand that title. Was Sammy
Cahn and Jule Styne's classic
holiday tune secretly about
parents who are uneducated on
the Entertainment Software
Ratings Board's system of
classifications? Considering it
was written in 1945, that seems a
little anachronistic, but, hey, who
knows?
Second and third place went to
Nerf Now's " Die Monster" and
Brawl in the Family's " A
Mushroom Kingdom Carol Part
4," respectively. If you've got a
favorite comic you'd like to see
in this week's Wrapup, drop a
link in the comments section, or
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:30:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of
feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
send in a tip!
Readers pick best webcomic: Oh
The Weather Outside Is Frightful
originally appeared on Joystiq on

World grasps at fragile climate accord

(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:17:19 PM
World grasps at fragile climate
accord
By Fiona Harvey, Ed Crooks
and Andrew Ward in
Copenhagen
Published: December 18 2009
21:06 | Last updated: December
19 2009 03:17
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E-reader News Edition
Bruno Pieters' Eyewear
By ELLE.com (ELLE News
Blog)
Submitted at 12/17/2009 12:25:22 PM
Finding good sunglasses is a
tough task, but even tougher
these days because they all seem
to be covered in bling, labels, and
logos. Not to knock it, because
some people can rock the blinged
-out sunnies and take no
prisoners while doing so. But not
me, with my small forehead and
somewhat chubby cheeks, along
with a minimalist style; big-time
shades have a tendency to call
out things better left unsaid.
So of course the fact that
Belgian designer Bruno Pieters is
bringing his minimal Antwerp
aesthetic to eyewear is news for
all of you who appreciate a clean
look when it comes to covering
your eyes (which according to
Bruno, is an importatnt part of
everyone's look). “Eyewear is the
ultimate accessory as well as the
ultimate alibi," said Pieters about
his new endeavor, "They are the
status symbol that conceals the
gaze. I wanted to create new
shades for my muses to play their
part in."
So what part will you play in his
new eyewear? Geeky chic?
European stylista? Femme
fatale? Or not at all?
— Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin
Follow ELLE on Twitter.
Become our Facebook fan!
Fashion/ Picture/ 69
Your best shot
2009: Seen on
the street
By Zack Sheppard (Flickr
Blog)
Zac Posen, Hanne Gaby Submitted at 12/17/2009 8:10:43 PM
Odiele, and More Give A selection of photos from Your
Best Shot 2009. What did you
see?
Chic Last Minute Gift Ideas Photos from Brian Gudas
Photography, Minted Stereo,
By ELLE.com (ELLE News gifts that are of the moment and
Blog) e s h a r e , z i s s k a r ,
feel limited. This year, it's the
TawneeLynne(challenged again),
Peter Doig beach towel with its
Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:51:20 AM alberto.degennaro, archangelse,
dark luscious colors."
toddwshaffer, and WarriorJazz.
With a few key people still not Jonathan Adler: "Everyone on
Five Filters featured article:
checked off my holiday list my list gets handmade gifts,
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(boyfriend, grandma), I decided except my husband. I get books
PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
to turn to fashion's chicest for last f o r h i m f r o m
Term Extraction.
-minute ideas. Here, gift-giving B a r n e s a n d n o b l e . c o m . "
tips from Zac Posen, Hanne Charlotte Ronson: "Cupcakes
Gaby Odiele, Elise Øverland, from Candycakes.com"
Jonathan Adler, and Charlotte Posen, Øverland, and Adler:
Ronson . Getty Images
—Violet Moon Gayn or Ronson: Imaxtree
Zac Posen: "The new Polaroid." Follow ELLE on Twitter.
Hanne Gaby Odiele: "Belgian Become our Facebook fan!
chocolate"
Elise Øverland: "I love to give
70 Fashion/ Popular News/ Picture/ E-reader News Edition

Nora Ephron Talks Love, Fashion, and the

Infamous Katz’s Deli Scene
By ELLE.com (ELLE News
Blog)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:32:20 PM
Last night, funnylady Nora
Ephron joined ELLE’s own
Robbie Myers for some cocktails
and conversation at Ann Taylor
in Midtown. The animated Q&A
covered lots of ground—from
h o w t h e
author/playwright/producer/direct
or came up with the famous
Katz’s Deli scene in When Harry
fashion story. Ephron’s latest
play, Love, Loss, and What I
Wore, co-written by sister Delia,
chronicles the ups and downs in
includes Kristin Chenoweth, Rita
Wilson, and Rosie O’Donnell.
Two lucky winners walked away
with tickets to see the hit off-
Broadway play. Click here to
read O’Donnell’s Love, Loss, Your best shot
and What I Wore story, and here
for some last minute holiday 2009: Seen
shopping.
through their clothing and
—Violet Moon Gayn or
ELLE's Editor-in-Chief chats
under the street
accessories, or, as the Ephrons By Zack Sheppard (Flickr
with writer-director Nora Ephron Blog)
describe, “’The Vagina Follow ELLE on Twitter.
Monologues’ without the Become our Facebook fan! Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:35:40 PM

Met Sally to her very own women’s lives as reflected vaginas.’” The rotating cast
A selection of photos from Your
Best Shot 2009.
US in 'al-Qaeda cocaine sting' Photos from c2prods, red white
and you, Adam Ames,
(BBC News | Americas | without bail after a brief court protect major shipments of interests of the United States, the_lawson42, HoubieBoubie,
World Edition) appearance. They did not enter cocaine in the region, driving the Israel, and, more broadly, the sharkbait, and mxl.
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:19:39 PM
pleas to charges of narco- drugs by lorry through the Sahara West and its ideals", court papers Five Filters featured article:
terrorism conspiracy and desert. say. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
A court in the US has for the conspiracy to provide material All in their 30s, the suspects The informant claimed in PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
first time charged suspected support to terrorists, US officials were named as Oumar Issa, secretly taped conversations that Term Extraction.
members of al-Qaeda with said. H a r o u n a T o u r e a n d I d r i s s the Farc were looking for a
plotting to traffic cocaine in order Washington has long been Abelrahman. secure means of smuggling drugs
to fund terrorism. concerned about close ties Unsealed court papers say Mr through western and northern Storm warnings as
The three suspects, who are between militants and the heroin Toure and Mr Abelrahman at one Africa on the way to Europe.
believed to be from Mali, were trade in Afghanistan but the point claimed the profits from the During the negotiations, the al-
snow bears down on
extradited to New York from African case appears to show an drug business would "go to their Qaeda suspects allegedly offered mid-Atlantic (AP)
Ghana. expansion of both al-Qaeda's people to support the fight for to move cocaine from west
They were arrested this week in global operations and the US 'the cause'". Africa to north Africa for about (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
a n o p e r a t i o n i n v o l v i n g response, The Associated Press The DEA infiltrated the group 3,000 euros ($4,200) per kilo. Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:13:15 PM

informants posing as Colombian news agency reports. by using informants posing as Print Sponsor
leftist rebels. Lebanese cover supporters of the Revolutionary Five Filters featured article: CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A
The suspects allegedly offered al The US authorities say the men Armed Forces of Colombia, or Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: major storm moving up the
-Qaeda protection for moving are associates of al-Qaeda's Farc. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Atlantic Coast on the last
c o c a i n e f r o m W e s t A f r i c a North African branch and had In particular, the DEA used a Term Extraction. shopping weekend before
through the Sahara to Spain. told US Drug Enforcement French-speaking informant Christmas threatened to shut
They arrived in the US on Friday A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ( D E A ) posing as "a Lebanese radical
and were ordered to be held informants that al-Qaeda could committed to opposing the STORM page 71
E-reader News Edition
STORM
continued from page 70
down much of the region as
officials warned of up to 20
inches of snow and significant
power outages.
People stocked up on groceries
and other staples Friday after the
National Weather Service issued
winter storm warnings from the
Carolinas to Rhode Island.
In Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine
declared a state of emergency
ahead of the storm, placing the
National Guard and other
agencies on standby. Philadelphia
officials also declared a state of
emergency and the school district
canceled all weekend activities.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley
urged motorists to stay home if
possible.
Some shoppers were trying to
get their holiday buying done
before the snow hit.
"Most of them are coming in this
morning to shop before they get
snowed in," said Kayla Mahr at
the Bath and Body shop at the
River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg,
Va.
The Federal Aviation
Administration said departing
flights at Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport
were delayed by as much as an
hour Friday because of rain and
wind. United Airlines said it had
already canceled more than 140
Saturday flights on the East
Coast ahead of Saturday's
weather.
Forecasters expected up to 20
inches of snow through late
Saturday from the Washington
metro area to West Virginia.
They said it could be the most
snow in the nation's capital since
a February 2003 storm dumped
nearly 27 inches at Baltimore-
Washington International
Airport.
The Archdiocese of Washington
says dangerous travel conditions
caused by bad weather is a
legitimate excuse from attending
Sunday Mass.
Up to a foot of snow was
forecast in parts of Tennessee,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania
and New Jersey.
Appalachian Power, which
serves 1 million customers in
Tennessee, Virginia and West
Virginia, warned of the potential
for an extended power outage.
The Potomac Mills Mall, with
more than 200 stores in
Woodbridge, Va., planned to
conduct regular weekend
business hours while keeping a
close watch on the storm,
spokeswoman Lauren Horsley
said.
"The plan is still to go ahead as
usual and it if becomes
necessary, we'll handle that as it
comes," she said.
In southern West Virginia, Ron
Hart's hardware store was
swamped Friday as customers
bought heaters and other
emergency supplies just a week
after a wind storm had knocked
out electricity and spawned an
earlier emergency shopping
surge.
"People are having to spend
money on bare essentials versus
Christmas," Hart said. "Our
Christmas sales are considerably
down because of what people are
having to buy."
Jim Weintraub, owner of Ace
Hardware in Asheville, N.C.,
where a foot or more of snow
was expected, said he picked up
1,500 pounds of rock salt Friday
morning. An hour-and-a-half
later, "I'm just about out," he
said.
But customers were thinking
fun, too.
"I've been told we're the only
store around with sleds,"
Weintraub said. "As I was
driving back up to the store, my
wife was calling me and saying,
'Where are you? People are
waiting for sleds!'"
Highway crews in Maryland,
Delaware and the District of
Columbia were spraying brine on
heavily traveled roads to help
prevent snow and ice from
sticking. Delaware crews were to
be sent home in the afternoon to
rest up for what one official said
would be a long weekend.
Dozens of accidents were
reported Friday in Virginia as
roads became slick.
Amtrak spokeswoman Karina
Romero said the railway was
putting extra crews on duty, in
part to keep ice from forming on
the overhead lines that power
electric trains. Extra locomotives
equipped with snow plows would
also be available.
Some universities in Virginia
and Maryland canceled final
exams and weekend
commencement exercises.
On the Tennessee-North
Carolina line, the National Park
Service closed a road through
Newfound Gap in the Great
Smoky Mountains after it got 4
inches of snow.
Ski operators were basking in
the forecast, as long as motorists
didn't get stuck en route to the
slopes.
"The problem we have is not the
customers, it's our staff getting
here," said Brad Moretz, general
manager of North Carolina's
Appalachian Ski Mountain.
After a warm start to the ski
season that delayed openings of
many resorts, the storm arrived
just in time for Winterplace Ski
Resort's season debut Friday in
southern West Virginia.
"It's perfect timing," said
Winterplace President Terry
Pfeiffer. "With the new snow
coming in, there's not going to be
much better skiing."
Police shut down many roads
leading to downtown Charleston,
71
S.C., as heavy rains across the
coast and an approaching high
tide flooded at least two dozen
streets.
The Coast Guard sent an
airplane to fly from North
Carolina to New Jersey warning
boaters by radio to stay in port if
they didn't have an urgent need to
be on the water.
The National Weather Service
issued a flash flood warning for
west Alabama, where rivers were
still swollen from heavy rains
earlier this week and as much as
3 more inches of rain was
possible.
The storm came from the Gulf
and drenched South Florida with
rain starting late Thursday,
leaving flooded homes and
stranded drivers.
___
Associated Press Writers Alysia
Patterson in Raleigh, N.C.,
Suzette Laboy in Miami, Alex
Dominguez in Baltimore and
Jessica Gresko in Washington
contributed to this report.
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72 Popular News/
Police still puzzled over Utah mom's disappearance (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:12:38 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – Josh
Powell says he packed up the
family van in the middle of a
freezing night on Dec. 7 and took
his two young boys on an
impromptu camping trip in the
snow-covered wilderness. He
said his wife stayed home and
went to bed.
She has not been heard from
since. Susan Powell never
showed up at her stockbroker job
the next morning — her keys,
purse and cell phone all left at
home. The husband was a no-
show at work as well, saying he
lost track of what day it was
during the camping excursion.
Police are mystified by Josh
Powell's story and have named
him as the sole person of interest
in his wife's disappearance.
Authorities suspect foul play, and
they say the husband's reluctance
to provide basic information
about his whereabouts that night
has only fueled their suspicion.
"Usually something will surface
within a few hours or a day, and
everybody goes home happy and
singing Kumbaya," said Tom
McLachlan, a police captain in
West Valley City, a suburb of
Salt Lake City. "On this one,
that's not happening, and we're
very concerned about that."
Police have twice searched the
Powell home and the family van,
but have not said what they
found. They also took DNA
samples from Josh Powell and
other unidentified family
members. Susan Powell's father
said police found a wet spot in
the home being dried by two
fans, but investigators have
declined to comment on that.
Susan Powell's family has spent
days giving interviews to media
outlets around the country to
keep her face in front of the
public. Josh Powell, 33, has
barely spoken publicly and has
hired a criminal defense attorney
who often defends high-profile
clients. And when he has
appeared in public, he often looks
haggard and downcast.
"I didn't do anything. I mean I, I
don't know where she's at. I, I
don't even know where to start
looking," Josh Powell told
KUTV in Salt Lake City on Dec.
10.
Powell's story for the timeline of
events the evening of Dec. 7 has
baffled authorities.
He said he took the boys, ages 2
and 4, on the camping trip after
midnight, even though he had to
be at work a few hours later at his
trucking company job. He said he
forgot what day it was when he
went camping because he did not
go to church the day before.
Powell said the campsite was in
a vast, mountainous area on the
Pony Express Trail, making it
difficult for authorities to search
the area. Police say Powell has
not said exactly where on the trail
he spent the night in his van,
although his attorney said Friday
he's never been asked to take
police to the site.
His kids never made it to day
care that day, prompting workers
at the center to call family
members asking where the
children were.
When he returned home on the
evening of Dec. 7, he found his
window broken in by police and
his 28-year-old wife missing.
Authorities feared the Powells
might have been poisoned by
carbon monoxide after they all
vanished on the same day.
Police have said the couple's 4-
year-old told investigators the
three did go camping, but police
have been unable to verify the
trip because the campsite area
has been covered in snow.
Family and friends say it would
be completely out of character
for Susan Powell to wander off
without contacting anyone,
particularly without her purse,
cell phone and keys. Each of
those items was found in the
Powells' locked home when
police entered.
Charles Cox, Susan Powell's
father, says it's not uncommon
for his daughter and her husband
to go to bed late. He also says
Josh is known to lose track of
time and show up hours late to
events.
"He gets lost in what he's doing,"
he said. "And he would think
nothing of, 'Oh, let's go get
something.' If he could do
something in the middle of the
night and thought he'd wanted to
do it, he'd do it. Does it sound
totally out there? No, not based
on his personality."
However, family and friends
have said Susan Powell never
would have let her children go
camping at that hour.
"We know that Susan is an
excellent mother and would not
have tolerated her children being
taken out of the home after
midnight to go camping in
dangerously cold conditions,"
said Shelby Gifford, a family
friend who is acting as
spokeswoman for Susan Powell's
parents.
Gifford's comments about the
late-night camping trip hint at
E-reader News Edition
what other friends have said —
that Susan and Josh's marriage
was strained.
Court records show that the
family filed for bankruptcy in
2007. Police have reportedly
obtained a notebook or journal
from Susan Powell's office that
describes an alleged threat made
by her husband about a year ago.
"I just know that every family
and every couple has stress. I do
know that there have been points
where she has felt controlled, but
I know in the last year, she has
kind of freed herself from some
of that," said Mindy Guzman, a
friend who took some of the last
known photos of Susan and Josh
at a church breakfast on Dec 5.
Susan Powell went to Mormon
services the next day without her
husband. That night, she had
dinner with family friend
JoVonna Owings at the house.
Powell disappeared the next day.
___
Associated Press Writer Jennifer
Dobner contributed to this report.
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E-reader News Edition Popular News/ Media/ 73

Some schools are dropping driver's ed to cut costs (AP)

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) said John Bolen, past president of schools have all but eliminated In rural Pennsylvania, the necessarily picking up all the
Submitted at 12/18/2009 3:14:53 PM
the Florida Professional Driving driver's ed as an elective course Titusville district got rid of the students who can't take driver's
School Association. offered during the school day. behind-the-wheel portion of its ed at school.
MIAMI – Beginning driver Some worry also that many Here in Miami-Dade County, the program last spring, saving about Julio Torres, an instructor at the
Ashley Crawford grips the worn parents can't afford the $350 to nation's fourth-largest school $20,000. In Blountville, Tenn., Easy Method Driving School in
gray steering wheel and warily $700 that private lessons can cost system got rid of driver's ed the driver's education program Miami, said he suspects the
begins maneuvering the 1999 or don't have the skills to teach during the day at all but Killian was cut in half about five years downturn in the economy is
Ford Escort through a set of their kids themselves. Even for and another school. Students can ago because of budget woes. playing a role. He also said some
bright orange traffic cones t h o s e w h o c a n d o i t , t h e still enroll in a free after-school Administrators considered parents simply prefer to teach
outside Killian Senior High combination of parents, teenagers course at one of the district's eliminating the $130,000-a-year their kids.
School. and learning how to drive can be adult education centers. But that program last spring, but did not. But Torres and others said
She considers herself lucky: volatile. is not an option for the many "It could save lives. It's very parents, despite their best
Because of budget cuts, many In more than half the states, thousands of students who play simple," said Jack Barnes, intentions, aren't always the best
schools around the country are minors who want a license must sports or are involved in other director of schools in Sullivan instructors. For one thing, they
leaving driver's ed by the side of take driver's education from a extracurricular activities, or County, Tenn. "We don't want may pass their own bad driving
the road. They are cutting back certified instructor, said Allen cannot get a ride. any of our students injured or habits on to their children.
on behind-the-wheel instruction Robinson, CEO of the American About 10 high schools in killed because of mistakes they Also, "the kids are at a stage
or eliminating it altogether, D r i v e r a n d T r a f f i c S a f e t y Georgia eliminated or reduced made that possibly a program where they're confrontational
leaving it to parents to either Education Association. However, driver's education this school like this could help." with their parents," said Brenda
teach their teenagers themselves that doesn't necessarily mean year. A dozen more did the same Motor vehicle crashes are the Bennett, owner of a driving
or send them to commercial schools are required to offer a in Kansas last year. In Volusia leading cause of death for U.S. school in Erie, Pa., that holds
driving schools. class. (Generally, after age 18, County, Fla., schools eliminated teens; in 2007, an average of 11 contracts to teach driver's ed
"If my parents would have taught would-be drivers do not have to daytime driver's ed three years 16- to 19-year-olds died every through some area high schools.
m e , i t w o u l d h a v e b e e n undergo any formal instruction.) ago, replacing it with summer, day. But Russ Rader, a "Then you add driving with a
different," said Ashley, a 16-year High schools started rolling back after-school and Saturday classes. spokesman for the Insurance parent and you have more
-old sophomore. "When I drive, d r i v e r ' s e d a f t e r t h e i r Enrollment plummeted two- Institute for Highway Safety, said confrontation. Whereas someone
they try to tell me what to do, and effectiveness was called into thirds, saving about $400,000 a studies show there is no like myself, when we take kids
I get nervous." question in the 1980s. The more year. difference in crash risk between out, there's no personality going
Some educators and others recent cutbacks have been driven "This is not because they don't 16- and 17-year-olds who take there. It's just all business."
worry that such cutbacks could by school funding shortages, and believe in driver's ed," said Bob driver's ed and those who don't. Five Filters featured article:
prove tragic. the trend might be accelerating Dallas, director of the Georgia "In some cases, driver's Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
"As soon as people start taking because of the downturn in the Governor's Office of Highway education has a negative effect PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
driver's education away from the economy, said J. Peter Kissinger, Safety. "They do, but they're because in some states you can Term Extraction.
kids, we're going to pay for it president and CEO of the AAA facing the same financial get a license sooner if you take
with lost lives, collisions, and Foundation for Traffic Safety. pressure that everybody in driver's ed," he said.
ultimately that costs everybody," Robinson said the nation's government is facing." Private instructors aren't

MediaDailyNews: NBC.com Gets Top Marks

(MediaPost | Media News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:19:53 PM
NBC.com is the No. 1 Web site
versus competitive broadcast
network sites in monthly
averages of total minutes (142
million) and average minutes
spent per visit (9.7 minutes) for
November 2009, per comScore.
NBC.com and its series sites,
NBC network, delivered 8.9
million unique visitors and
posted year-to-year gains of 24
percent in total unique visitors
and thirteen percent in total
minutes. "Saturday Night Live"
dominated the competition,
ranking first among unique
viewers (1.7 million), per Nielsen
Video Census.
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74 Popular News/ E-reader News Edition

Key powers in climate compromise

(BBC News | Americas | emissions to a level that would
World Edition) prevent temperatures rising more
Submitted at 12/18/2009 8:16:45 PM
than 1.5C above pre-industrial
levels.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media The G77-China delegation
requires JavaScript to play. forced a number of suspensions
President Barack Obama: "We in negotiations, accusing the
know this progress alone is not Danish hosts of chairing the
enough" conference in a "undemocratic
Key states have reached what fashion", saying its views were
they call a "meaningful being overlooked.
agreement" at the Copenhagen 'Not perfect'
climate summit. EU Commission President Jose
Five nations, including China Manuel Barroso told reporters: "I
and the US, reached a deal on a will not hide my disappointment
number of issues, such as a regarding the non-binding nature
recognition to limit temperatures of the agreement here."
rises to less than 2C. "In that respect the document
US President Barack Obama falls far short of our
said it would be a foundation for expectations."
global action but there was However, he added that the EU
"much further to go". would accept the US-led deal.
However, the deal could be the global temperature rise, no reductions from developed that we are moving in the The two-week summit had been
rejected as a number of nations commitment to a legal treaty and nations. direction of a significant accord." deadlocked as world leaders had
expressed "dissatisfaction" with no target year for peaking To be accepted as a official UN "The meeting has had a positive struggled to hammer out a deal.
the contents. emissions, countries vulnerable agreement, the deal needs to be result, everyone should be "The text we have is not perfect,"
"Can I suggest that in biblical to climate impacts are pointing endorsed by all 193 nations at the happy," said Xie Zhenhua, the said French President Nicolas
terms, it looks like we're being out this "deal" does not guarantee talks. head of China's delegation. Sarkozy.
offered 30 pieces of silver to sell the temperature targets they need. The five-nation deal promised to "After negotiations both sides But he added: "If we had no
o u r f u t u r e , " T u v a l u ' s l e a d Mr Fry said his country could deliver $30bn (£18.5bn) of aid have managed to preserve their deal, that would mean that two
negotiator Ian Fry said during the not accept the deal, as did for developing nations over the bottom line. For the Chinese, this countries as important as India
main meeting. "Our future is not Venezuelan delegate Claudia next three years, and outlined a was our sovereignty and our and China would be freed from
for sale." Salerno Caldera. goal of providing $100bn a year national interest." any type of contract.
While the White House was "Mr President, I ask whether - by 2020 to help poor countries The agreement also included a "The United States, which is not
announcing the agreement, most under the eye of the UN secretary cope with the impacts of climate m e t h o d f o r v e r i f y i n g in Kyoto, would be free of any
other delegations had not even general - you are going to change. industrialised nations' reduction type of contract. That's why a
seen it. endorse this coup d'etat against President Obama said the US, of emissions. The US had contract is absolutely vital."
This has clearly annoyed a the authority of the United China, Brazil, India and South insisted that China dropped its A number of leaders have now
number of countries who, when Nations." Africa had "agreed to set a resistance to this measure. left the Danish capital, including
the agreement document, N i c a r a g u a s u b m i t t e d n e w m i t i g a t i o n t a r g e t t o l i m i t During the two-week gathering, the US president and Brazil's
expressed their distaste in documents to the meeting calling warming to no more than 2C and, s m a l l i s l a n d n a t i o n s a n d President Luiz Inacio Lula da
vigorous language - a "coup f o r t h e r e s u m p t i o n o f importantly, to take action to vulnerable coastal countries have Silva.
d'Etat against the UN". n e g o t i a t i o n s o n n e w l e g a l meet this objective". been calling for a binding
With no firm target for limiting agreements, including emission He added: "We are confident agreement that would limit KEY page 75
E-reader News Edition
Mom of U.S. Hiker in Iran Pleads to Supreme
Leader
(FOXNews.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:43:09 AM
MINNEAPOLIS The mother of
one of three American hikers
jailed in Iran appealed to the
Islamic Republic's supreme
leader on Friday to release her
daughter and her friends for the
holidays, according to a new
video.
It's been almost five months
since the three were taken captive
in Iran for allegedly straying
across the country's border and
almost two months since their
families have had any word on
their condition.
SLIDESHOW: American Hikers
Detained in Iran
"Sarah, Shane and Josh are good
people," Nora Shourd of
Oakland, Calif., said in the video
posted on a Web site dedicated to
freeing the three. "They meant no
harm to the Islamic Republic of
Iran and respect your ancient and
noble civilization. If they entered
Iran, it was an innocent mistake."
Click here to view video.
The families have previously
pleaded for their release to
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, but Friday's video
was the first public outreach to
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, who is Iran's highest-
ranking political and religious
authority.
Click here to view previous
video message.
"We're saying it's the holidays,
please be compassionate and
send them home," Shourd told
The Associated Press on
Thursday.
Sarah Shourd, 31, along with
Shane Bauer, 27, and Josh Fattal,
27 — all graduates of the
University of California at
Berkeley — had been trekking in
Iraq's northern Kurdistan region
when they accidentally crossed
the border, according to their
relatives.
Iran's foreign minister said
Monday the three would be tried
in court, though their mothers
have not been able to confirm a
pending trial. The minister did
not say when the trial would
begin or even what the
Americans were charged with,
other than that they had
"suspicious aims." Last month,
Iran's chief prosecutor said they
were accused of spying.
The U.S. has no diplomatic
relationship with Iran, and so far
their families have held off on
hiring a lawyer for their children
out of hope they will be freed
without a trial.
Since their capture, the only
word on their condition came
after two prison visits by Swiss
diplomats, who represent U.S.
interests in Iran. The last prison
visit was at the end of October,
with the diplomats reporting the
three appeared healthy. Family
members say the Swiss have
requested more visits but have
been denied.
"We're being stonewalled, and
it's tough not to have any
information," Nora Shourd said.
"We can only fill in the blanks."
Their jailing comes amid an
increasingly bitter standoff
between the U.S. and Iran over
Tehran's disputed nuclear
program. The U.S. and its allies
have given Tehran until the end
of the year to accept a U.N.-
drafted plan under which Iran
would send most of its low-
enriched uranium abroad. Iran,
which denies it intends to build a
weapon, has countered with an
alternate proposal to keep the
material inside its territory — a
scenario deemed unacceptable to
the U.S.
Ahmadinejad noted last month
Popular News/ 75
KEY
continued from page 74
Reacting to the Copenhagen
"deal", John Sauven, executive
director of Greenpeace UK, said:
that the United States was "The city of Copenhagen is a
holding several Iranian citizens, crime scene tonight, with the
r a i s i n g c o n c e r n t h a t h i s guilty men and women fleeing to
government might be seeking to the airport.
use the Americans in a deal. "There are no targets for carbon
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary cuts and no agreement on a
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton legally binding treaty," he
said the Iranian move to put the observed.
three on trial was "totally "It is now evident that beating
unfounded" and appealed anew global warming will require a
to authorities to release the radically different model of
Americans. politics than the one on display
Hadi Ghaemi, the spokesman for here in Copenhagen."
t h e N e w Y o r k - b a s e d Print Sponsor
International Campaign for Five Filters featured article:
Human Rights in Iran who has Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
spoken with the families, has PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,
urged them to hire a lawyer in Term Extraction.
Iran. "With a lawyer there's that
possibility they could get some
information," he said.
But Ghaemi was quick to add
that the families are in a complex
situation with few easy calls.
"It's very difficult even for
specialists like us, who do this
work around the clock, to have a
very good understanding of what
is going on inside Iran," Ghaemi
said. "I think they're doing their
best, given the circumstances."
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76 Popular News/ E-reader News Edition

Flying Chihuahuas: Dogs change coast in big BP workers

exodus (AP) in Texas win
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:47:48 PM
being sought.
Virgin America will be flying a
distant states.
The Chihuahua crisis in
waiting for you."
In the last 12 months, animal
damages
group of Chihuahuas to New California developed as shelters in the city of Los (BBC News | Americas |
LOS ANGELES – Chihuahuas York City from San Francisco on Hollywood featured the dogs in Angeles have taken in 4,700 World Edition)
h a v e b e e n f l y i n g o u t o f Tuesday, said Gail Buchwald, movies like " Beverly Hills Chihuahuas, 1,000 more than the Submitted at 12/18/2009 7:03:43 PM
California since other states senior vice president overseeing Chihuahua" and " Legally 12 months before that.
learned about the glut of little the ASPCA adoption center in Blonde," they became constant Los Angeles has over 300 A US jury has awarded $100m
dogs in the Golden State. New York City. companions to the rich and Chihuahuas in its shelters now, (£62m) in damages to 10 workers
A group of 25 dogs has already They will be processed and famous, backyard breeders saw a Davis said, and they are taking in who said a leak at a BP oil
arrived at the Humane Society should be available for adoption chance to make hundreds of about 340 a month. refinery in Texas in 2007 had
for Greater Nashua in New on Dec. 29, she said. dollars a dog and the recession "The majority of them are made them sick.
Hampshire, thanks to " Grey's Buchwald said she didn't know forced some dog owners to healthy. They do need some The source of the leak at the
Anatomy" actress Katherine how many to expect, but each abandon their pets. socialization. Some we're finding refinery south of Houston was
Heigl, Kinder4Rescue in Studio dog will be escorted by a California shelters soon found haven't been well treated in the never identified and
City and American Airlines. volunteer and Virgin will provide that Chihuahuas made up 30 homes they've been in. They environmental agencies reported
A group of 43 will leave for travel for both dogs and humans. percent or more of their dog need some TLC," Davis said. no evidence linking it to the
New Hampshire Monday or The airline is also expected to populations. It would seem plenty of people refinery.
Tuesday, said Kathy Davis, offer a week of half price trips to Meanwhile, Buchwald said, in the east are ready and willing BP concluded that any toxic
interim general manager of Los passengers willing to escort an there has long been a severe to deliver just that. substance had come from
Angeles Animal Services, who animal to New York, but details shortage of small dogs in the ___ outside.
took part in a news conference h a v e y e t t o b e f i n a l i z e d , east. On the Net: But lawyers for the workers
Friday to announce Project B u c h w a l d s a i d . Officials on both sides of the • argued the odour had come from
Flying Chihuahua. They were A call to a Virgin America country are optimistic they can http://www.laanimalservices.com a sulphur recovery unit at the
supposed to leave Saturday r e p r e s e n t a t i v e w a s n o t work out the imbalance. • http://www.aspca.org plant.
morning, but bad weather in the immediately returned Friday. Davis said finding homes for 68 • http://www.kinder4rescue.org They described BP as a serial
east caused a delay, she said. Dozens of dogs have been sent barely made a dent in Los Five Filters featured article: polluter.
The Nashua shelter found homes by Oakland Animal Services to Angeles shelters, but it was a Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The Texas jury agreed with the
for the first 25 and had a waiting nearby states like Washington, start. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, lawyers' case and imposed
list of 100 people, Davis said. Oregon and Arizona, but most of "We have plenty more where Term Extraction. punitive damages.
Heigl's foundation has paid the them were delivered by SUV, those came from and we're more A hundred workers at the
discounted airfare for all 68 dogs director Megan Webb said, than happy to send them home refinery were sent to hospital
so far, she added, and new because there wasn't enough for the holidays. If there's a Santa after being overcome by a toxic
donors for more flights were money to fly the dogs to more Claus out there, we're ready and substance and a further 90 claims
are to come.
The workers said their injuries
had included dizziness and sore
throats, with one employee
passing out after inhaling the
substance, but none suffered long

WORKERS page 77
E-reader News Edition
Mother of US hiker makes appeal
(BBC News | Americas |
World Edition)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 2:23:05 PM
The mother of one of three US
hikers detained in Iran has made
a fresh appeal for their release.
It has been almost five months
since the three were jailed in Iran
for allegedly straying across the
country's border while hiking in
Iraq.
The appeal came as Iranian
President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad told AFP news
agency that the hikers were in a
"sensitive military zone".
Iranian officials have also
previously alleged that the three
were spying.
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and
Josh Fattal were detained in July
and have been accused of illegal
entry.
Their families say they strayed
Operation on Brazilian needle boy
(BBC News | Americas |
World Edition)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:04:28 PM
Doctors in Brazil have removed
four needles from the lung and
near the heart of a boy who was
reportedly subjected to black
magic.
A hospital spokeswoman said
the boy, 2, was in a stable
condition but more operations
would be needed to remove
dozens more needles still inside
him.
across the border accidentally.
Compassion
Nora Shourd, the mother of
Sarah, made her appeal in a video
posted on a web site dedicated to
freeing the hikers.
"Sarah, Shane and Josh are good
people. They meant no harm to
the Islamic Republic of Iran and
respect your ancient and noble
civilization. If they entered Iran,
it was an innocent mistake," she
said.
She asked the Iranian authorities
for compassion and to release her
daughter and her friends for the
holidays.
Meanwhile President
Ahmadinejad, in an interview
with AFP, said that that "those
who break the law will have to
answer for it. Justice is
independent in Iran and will
decide".
On Monday US Secretary of
The four needles removed were
thought to be the most
threatening to his life.
His stepfather confessed to
inserting the needles after being
advised to perform a ritual
killing.
The surgery lasted nearly five
hours, said Susy Moreno, a
spokeswoman for the hospital in
the north-eastern city of Salvador
where the boy is in intensive
care.
"He's okay, the surgery was a
success, he's doing fine," she told
State Hillary Clinton called on
Tehran to free the hikers, and
said that any charges would be
unfounded.
She was speaking after Iranian
Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki said the three would
stand trial, although he did not
specify on what charges.
The three Americans were
seized by Iranian border guards
on 31 July near the town of
Marivan, and are being held in
Tehran's Evin prison.
The three hikers are all friends
who attended the prestigious
University of California,
Berkeley.
Print Sponsor
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The Associated Press by
telephone.
Earlier, the hospital said one
needle had punctured the boy's
heart, two were near the heart
and a fourth was inside a lung.
Doctors had warned there was a
further risk of infection and the
operation itself could pose a risk
of death.
'Ritual killing'
Brazilian police said the
stepfather had confessed to
sticking the needles into the
toddler with the help of another
WORKERS
continued from page 76
-term damage to their lungs, their
lawyer said.
'Utterly unjustified'
BP said it was outraged by the
verdict reached by the jury in
Galveston, and would appeal.
"The verdict, and punitive
damages award in particular, is
utterly unjustified, improper and
unsupportable," it added.
Tony Buzbee, a lawyer for the
workers, said his clients were
pleased with the jury's decision,
adding that he had approached
BP before the trial and had
offered to settle for $10,000 for
each worker.
BP had rejected the proposal, he
said.
"They tried to minimise it, attack
the credibility of the workers,"
Mr Buzbee said.
man and a woman.
Roberto Carlos Magalhaes told
them his mistress had told him to
ritually kill the child to take
revenge on his wife, police said.
The boy's mother had taken him
to hospital in the north-eastern
state of Bahia, suffering from
stomach pains and vomiting.
It was then that X-rays showed
scores of sewing needles inside
his neck, torso and legs.
The youngster was airlifted to
Salvador for the operation.
The boy's mother told police she
Popular News/ 77
"They simply would not admit
that they had released
something."
The refinery was the site of a
2005 explosion that killed 15
people and injured 170, the worst
US industrial accident since
1990.
It has a history of fires, chemical
releases and worker deaths, The
Associated Press reports.
Print Sponsor
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suspected the child had been the
victim of a black magic ritual
after she found suspicious objects
in the home she shared with Mr
Magalhaes - her husband of six
months - and her six children.
Print Sponsor
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78 Popular News/ Media/ E-reader News Edition

Did NFL Player Chris Henry Jump to MediaDailyNews:

His Death? General Mills Increases
(FOXNews.com)
Submitted at 12/17/2009 11:39:27 PMAd Spend go out and go down the road I'm
going to jump out from the truck
and kill myself'," Hardy told
nearby residential road moments
later and died early Thursday
morning from head injuries
A witness claims an NFL player MyFoxCharlotte. sustained from the fall. (MediaPost | Media News)
t h r e a t e n e d t o k i l l h i m s e l f Hardy said Henry seemingly was Police said the yellow truck was Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:08:16 PM

moments before taking a fatal fall trying to get keep his fiance from speeding around a curve when he
from the back of a pickup truck. driving away. ended up in a ditch on the side of General Mills boosted marketing
Police said Cincinnati Bengals "I could hear him yelling and the street, MyFoxCharlotte spending by nearly 40% in its
receiver Chris Henry, 26, was screaming. I looked over and saw reported. most recent fiscal quarter, with
involved in a domestic dispute this young man with no shirt on Family sources told the station executives saying more increases
with his fiance Loleini Tonga in the back of the truck and the argument was over the are coming to back staples, such
as Cheerios and new entrants like company said it is investing
when he jumped into the back of thought that was odd, it's 30 couple's wedding plans. internationally. But 71% of its
the pickup truck she was driving. some degrees outside. He kept Henry leaves behind his fiance more Pillsbury frozen appetizers.
"Strong levels of advertising sales come from U.S. retail
But just before Tonga pulled pounding on the top of the truck and three children. channels. Ad Age figures show
away, Lee Hardy, who said he and the side near the passenger's Click here for more on this story support" need to continue,
Executive Vice President Jeff the company spent $1.2 billion in
witnessed the incident, said side saying, 'I just want to talk, I from MyFoxCharlotte. ad dollars in 2008, making it the
Henry issued a very prophetic just want to talk.' And, she said 'I Five Filters featured article: Rotsch said on a call with
investors. 34th largest domestic spender.
warning. don't want to talk, get out of the Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Rotsch, who oversees worldwide
"He said, and this I quote, I heard truck'," said Hardy. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, In the recent quarter ending Nov.
29, General Mills posted a 4% sales, said General Mills has a
this very clear 'if you pull out and Henry was found lying in a Term Extraction. veteran sales staff, with an
gain in U.S. retail sales to $2.9
billion. That came after a 10% average of 11 years of
Las Vegas Teacher Accused of growth in the same period a year
ago. Company-wide operating
experience. He said the U.S.
retail business is changing. A

Denying Holocaust profit was up 43% to $879

(FOXNews.com)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 6:28:30 AM
LAS VEGAS A Las Vegas
teacher has been told to stay
home while district officials
investigate a claim that she
denied in class the Holocaust
happened, a newspaper reported
Friday.
Clark County schools
spokesman Michael Rodriguez
said Northwest Career and
Technical Academy teacher Lori
Sublette was assigned to remain
million.
decade ago, 75% of sales took
place in supermarkets -- a figure
now down to 60%, with mass
home, and appropriate action reached her Thursday and asked Media spending was up 37% in merchandisers and other outlets
would follow an investigation. if she had denied the Holocaust the quarter -- and a double-digit growing.
Student Katie Piranio told the happened. increase is planned for the 12
Coming promotions include
Las Vegas Review-Journal that Sublette said she was not in a months ending in late spring. links for the Totino's brand with
Sublette said during a Nov. 25 position to respond and would Company executives cited a tie- a Mountain Dew action sports
class that history books were have to talk to her principal. in with NBC show "The Biggest
tour and a new "Shrek" film.
inaccurate and Nazis in World Sublette is a full-time gym L o s e r " a s a w o r t h w h i l e New products nearing launch
War II lacked the technology to teacher. The district says she was i n v e s t m e n t . include a Wheaties Fuel line in
kill millions of Jews. teaching a 30-minute weekly CFO Don Mulligan said on the January.
Sublette did not immediately class designed to prepare students c a l l t h a t " m u l t i c u l t u r a l Five Filters featured article:
return a message left by The for life after high school. consumers" are a key target and
Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:
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comment. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The spending figures reflect Term Extraction.
The Review-Journal said she did PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, General Mills' global outlays; the
not answer when a reporter Term Extraction.
E-reader News Edition Economy/ 79

Tech.view: Passwords aplenty

(The Economist: Daily new year’s resolution is to set up power, and tends to be the sort of case letters and the complexity using passwords with 12
columns) a proper software vault for the thing only intelligence agencies rises to 62. Use all the symbols symbols, drawn from the full set
Submitted at 12/17/2009 11:03:36 PM
various passwords and ditch the indulge in. on a standard ASCII keyboard of 95 symbols on the standard
dog-eared list. A more popular, though less and you have 95 to choose from. American keyboard. For ordinary
Tech.view Your correspondent’s one effective, way is to use The third component, purposes, that would seem
Dec 18th 2009 | LOS ANGELES consolation is that he is not alone commercial software tools such randomness, is measured by a overkill. A 52-bit password based
From Economist.com How to in using easily crackable words as “L0phtCrack” or “John the concept borrowed from on eight symbols selected from
stay sane as well as safe while for most of his passwords. Ripper” that can be found on the thermodynamics—the notion of the standard keyboard is
surfing the web Indeed, the majority of online internet. These use dictionaries, entropy (the tendency for things generally adequate.
AT THIS time of the year, your users have an understandable lists of popular passwords and to become disordered). In How to select the eight? Best to
correspondent crosses the Pacific aversion to strong, but hard-to- rainbow tables (lookup tools that information theory, a tossed coin let a computer program generate
to Japan for a month or so. He remember, passwords. The most turn long numbers computed has an entropy of one “bit” them randomly for you.
repeats the trip during the popular passwords in Britain are from alphanumeric characters (binary digit). That is because it Unfortunately, the result will be
summer. He considers it crucial “123” followed by “password”. back into their original plain text) can come down randomly in one something like 6sDt%k&3 that
in order to keep abreast of all the At least people in America have to recover passwords. of two equally possible binary probably needs to be written
ingenious technology which, learned to combine letters and According to Bruce Schneier, an states. down. One answer, only slightly
once debugged by the world’s numbers. Their most popular independent security expert, At the other extreme, when you less rigorous, is to use a
most acquisitive consumers, will ones are “password1” followed today’s password crackers “can set the encryption of a Wi-Fi mnemonic constructed from the
w i n d u p i n A m e r i c a n a n d by “abc123”. test tens—even hundreds—of link, you are usually given the first letters (plus contractions) of
European shops a year or two Unfortunately, the easier a millions of passwords per choice of 64-bit or even 128-bit an easily remembered phrase like
later. password is to remember, the second.” In short, the vast security. Those bit-numbers “Murder Considered as One of
Each time he packs his bags, easier it is for thieves to guess. majority of passwords used in the represent the entropy (or the Fine Arts” (MCa1otFA) or
though, he is embarrassed by Ironically, the opposite—the real world can be guessed in randomness) of the encryption “To be or not to be: that is the
having to include a dog-eared set harder it is to remember, the minutes. And do not think you used. A password with 64 bits of question” (2Bo-2b:?).
of notes that really ought to be harder it is to crack—is often far are being smart by replacing the entropy is as strong as a string of Given a robust 52-bit password,
locked up in a safe. This is his from true. That is because, not letters “l” or “i” in a password data comprising 64 randomly you can then use a password
list of logons and passwords for being able to remember long, with the number “1”; or the letter selected binary digits. Put manager to take care of the
all the websites he uses for doing jumbled sets of alphanumeric “s” with the number “5” or the another way, a 64-bit password dozens of easily guessable ones
business and staying in touch characters interspersed with symbol “$”. Cracking programs would require 2 raised to the used to access various web
with the rest of the world. At the symbols, people resort to writing check all such alternatives, and power of 64 attempts to crack it services. There are a number of
last count, the inch-thick list them down on Post-it notes left more, as a matter of course. by brute force—in short, 18 perfectly adequate products for
accumulated over the past decade lying around the office or home What should you do to protect billion billion attempts. A 64-bit doing this. In an early attempt to
or so—your correspondent’s sole for all and sundry to see. yourself? Chose passwords that password was finally cracked in fulfil his new year’s pledge, your
copy—includes access details for Apart from stealing passwords are strong enough to make 2002 using brute-force methods. correspondent has been
no fewer than 174 online services from Post-it notes and the like, cracking them too time It took a network of volunteers experimenting with LastPass, a
and computer networks. intruders basically use one of two consuming for thieves to bother. nearly five years to do so. free password manager that
He admits to flouting the advice hacks to gain access to other The strength of a password The National Institute of works as an add-on to the Firefox
of security experts: his failings people’s computers or networks. depends on its length, complexity Standards and Technology, the web browser for Windows, Linux
include using essentially the If time and money is no problem, and randomness. A good length American government’s or Macintosh. Versions also exist
same logon and password for they can use brute-force methods is at least eight symbols. The standards-measuring laboratory for Internet Explorer on
many similar sites, relying on that simply try every combination complexity depends on the in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Windows and Safari on the Mac.
easily remembered words—and, of letters, numbers and symbols character set. Using numbers recommends 80-bit passwords Once installed and given a
heaven forbid, writing them until a match is found. That takes alone limits the choice to just ten for state secrets and the like.
down on scraps of paper. So his a lot of patience and computing TECH.VIEW: page 80
symbols. Add upper- and lower- Such security can be achieved
80 Media/ PopSci/
TECH.VIEW:
continued from page 79
strong password of its own, plus
an e-mail address, LastPass
encrypts all the logons and
passwords stored on your
computer. So, be warned: forget
your master password and you
could be in trouble—especially if
you have let the program delete
(as it urges you to let it do) all the
vulnerable logons and passwords
on your own computer.
Thereafter, to visit various web
services, all you have to do is log
into LastPass and click the
website you wish to check out.
The tool then automatically logs
you on securely to the selected
site. It will even complete all the
forms needed to buy goods
online if you have stored your
home address, telephone number
and credit-card details in the
Video: Furious Eruption of Deepest Known Undersea Volcano
By Jeremy Hsu (Popular
Science - New Technology,
Science News, The Future
Now)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:28:28 AM
The West Mata volcano erupted
nearly 4,000 feet underwater in
the Pacific Ocean
This is how island chains are
born. Scientists spotted the
deepest erupting volcano almost
4,000 feet below the Pacific
Ocean's surface, and recorded the
vault as well.
Your correspondent looks
forward to using the service
while travelling around Japan
over the next month or so. To be
on the safe side, however, his
dog-eared list of passwords will
still go with him.
Back to top ^^ Readers'
comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
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underwater fury by using the
remotely operated submarine
Jason.
The West Mata Volcano sits in
an ocean area between Fiji,
Tonga, and Samoa, and spews
out boninite lavas that are among
the hottest recorded on Earth in
modern times. Water from the
volcano has proven as acidic as
This eruption, first spotted in
battery acid or human stomach
May, has allowed scientists to see
acid, but that has not stopped
molten lava flow across the
shrimp from thriving near the
seafloor for the first time. Vivid
volcanic vents.
MediaDailyNews: DirecTV, Dish
Best Way To Reach Sports Fans
(MediaPost | Media News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:16:35 PM
Marketers looking to reach
sports fans could boost ROI by
running campaigns on just
DirecTV and Dish Network in
lieu of national buys. Nielsen
data shows that ratings for sports
programming are notably higher
in satellite homes than the rest of
the country.
On average, DBS homes scored
8% greater ratings for network
sports events in 2009 than the
70% of homes without a satellite
feed.
The results are not a complete
surprise, given that much of
DirecTV's brand equity is tied up
in being a sports bar on-screen. It
continues to spend handsomely
to maintain exclusivity for the
"NFL Sunday Ticket" package.
DirecTV and Dish each have
about two minutes an hour to run
ads on channels such as ESPN,
so ad buys in those slots could
bring attractive targeting.
Separately, Nielsen said homes
with high-def TVs tend to have
more rabid sports consumption
than homes without them. That's
good news for networks counting
on HD to bolster traditional
sports viewing for years to come.
Unlike other programming that
does well on the Internet, sports
with HD may be an experience
that far exceeds what the Web
video imagery, courtesy of the
National Science Foundation and
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration,
E-reader News Edition
offers.
Nielsen said homes with HDTVs
posted 21% higher ratings for
sports in 2009 than households
with the standard-definition sets.
As of May, about 33% of homes
had HDTV sets.
Another figure shows that sports
consumption is solid: Even as TV
ratings rose, 88 million-plus
Americans visited a sports Web
site in October, up 19%
compared to the year before.
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shows molten lava bubbles three
feet across bursting, as well as
the start of lava flows exploding
across the deep-ocean floor.
Scientists say that about 80
percent of all eruptions on Earth
take place underwater. So all that
sound and fury hardly signifies
nothing -- it's just the beginning
of understanding a deep sea
world as alien as anything NASA
might discover.
E-reader News Edition
MediaDailyNews: More E-Reader Deals,
Courtesy 'WSJ,' Sony
(MediaPost | Media News)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 4:12:58 PM
Newspaper and magazine
publishers are scrambling to take
advantage of the surge of interest
in electronic readers, in a free-for
-all made all the more confusing
by the sheer number of devices
and publishers involved.
In the latest match-up, Sony
announced that its new electronic
reader will allow users to buy
digital subscriptions to The Wall
Street Journal, as well as its
tabloid cousin, the New York
Post. Both papers are owned by
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
The WSJ subscriptions will cost
$14.99 per month via Sony,
while a subscription to
MarketWatch and selected WSJ
columns will go for $10.99 per
month, and the NYP subscription
will go for $9.99 per month.
Sony said it has exclusive
distribution rights for the Post's
digital edition, set to debut next
month. However, digital
subscriptions for the WSJ are
available on a wide range of
devices, including Amazon's
Kindle as well as mobile versions
for smartphones.
There has been a general move
by print publishers to make
digital editions available for e-
readers. Last week, Conde Nast,
Hearst, Meredith and Time Inc.
unveiled an independent joint
venture to create a shared
publishing solution for digital
versions of their content. This
should allow them to create and
deliver digital editions of
magazines, newspapers and other
text-focused products to mobile
devices, including e-readers.
Conde Nast has also begun
developing e-reader software
based on Adobe AIR for its big
titles, while Hearst is touting
Skiff, a new device and software
platform for viewing digital
content on various portable
devices.
Newspaper publisher McClatchy
has also unveiled plans to
introduce Kindle-compatible
editions of five newspapers: The
Sacramento Bee, Charlotte
Observer, Fort Worth Star-
Telegram, Anchorage Daily
News, and Raleigh's News &
Observer.
Research outfits are also
scrambling to get a handle on the
demographics of the new device
owners. In November,
Media/ E-reader News/
Mediamark Research and
Intelligence released the results
of a study that found people who
own electronic book readers are
better educated and more affluent
than the average American adult.
Overall, 2.1 million American
adults own an electronic book
reader, according to MRI's
estimate, with a gender
distribution that somewhat favors
men (56.3%) over women
(43.7%). Adults ages 35-54 are
the most likely age cohort to own
an e-reader, with a 20% greater
probability than the general
population.
MRI found that e-reader owners
are 11% more likely to own their
own home, 87% more likely to
have an annual household income
over $100,000, and 111% more
likely to have a bachelor's or post
-graduate degree. In keeping with
their tech-savvy reputation, they
are more likely to be heavy
Internet users.
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81
Could an 'iPad' Make E
-Readers Irrelevant?
(TechNewsWorld.com)
(Yahoo! News Search Results
for e-readers)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 5:35:28 AM
Martha Stewart did a somewhat
curious thing last week: She
talked tablets with her followers
on Twitter.
No, not pills, or some arcane
French revival furniture piece.
Tablets, as in computers.
"Serious question," the crafty
decorating and cooking maven
asked readers on Dec. 12: "How
many of you will read magazines
on an electronic tablet
(interactive-full color) within two
years? three years?"
This is notable, because when
Martha Stewart talks publishing,
people listen. In 2008, the
American Society of Magazine
Editors honored her with a
lifetime achievement award,
crediting her for creating an
entirely new genre of magazine
that has left an enduring impact
across the American publishing
landscape.
So it comes as no surprise that
Stewart's query opened a new
window on the long-running
debate over what impact
Apple's(Nasdaq: AAPL) long-
rumored tablet computer will
have on the nascent e-reader
category currently dominated by
Amazon's(Nasdaq: AMZN)
Kindle.
While Kindle has found some
COULD page 82
82
COULD
continued from page 81
traction among readers looking
for a low-power device to read
books and little else, some have
found the market lacking a
multipurpose device that works
not just for books, but for
newspapers, magazines and
multimedia content, as well.
The rumored "iPad," some
analysts argue, might fit that bill
-- a connected multipurpose
media pad that serves up any
kind of content a consumer might
want, from brainy Jane Austen to
mindless YouTube videos.
Others suggest it will use
technologies that might be great
for video but not so much for
reading, and question whether its
likely hefty price, possible
monthly fees and potentially
battery-gobbling nature mean it's
not likely to supplant devices
such as the Kindle, Barnes &
Noble's(NYSE: BKS) upcoming
Nook, or Sony's(NYSE: SNE)
anticipated Daily Edition anytime
soon. What's Known
For it's true-to-form part, Apple
isn't talking about what, if
anything, it's planning to debut.
Still, after a couple of false
alarms in the last couple of years,
plenty of analysts are expecting
to see something tablet-related in
2010.
It will be a full-color 8- to 10-
inch device that will be more like
an oversized ... iPod touch than a
downsized Mac, predicts IDC
Research, and it should come out
by the end of the year.
Such a device would be
appealing to existing iPhone and
iPod touch users, IDC says in its
report, and it would allow users a
better platform for watching
movies -- not to mention reading
books, newspapers and
magazines.
"It would take a big bite from the
Kindle," the report states.
The device will likely be about
the size of a trade paperback and
retail for between US$600 and
$800, depending on how much
cost Apple can squeeze out of the
touch-sensitive display, Ezra
Gottheil, an analyst with
Technology Business Research,
told MacNewsWorld.
There's been speculation in the
tech press suggesting the device
could retail for $699 or more,
might have an OLED screen,
might be offered through a
cellular carrier -- perhaps at a
discount, but also with a monthly
fee. The Current Market
The current market is dominated
by readers using electrophoretic
technology: Bursts of electric
current cause tiny capsules filled
with polarized ink to form shapes
on the screen. Unfortunately, the
currently available
commercialized technology only
allows for grayscale images,
meaning devices such as the
Kindle are good for reading
books with few images, but not
for image- or color-intensive
publications.
In 2008, consumers worldwide
purchased 1.1 million such units,
according to MediaIdeas.
Next year, that figure will rise to
about 6 million, and by 2020,
sales will reach 446 million
readers with a market value of
$25 billion or more, the company
recently projected.
By 2015, this technology will be
supplanted by other methods that
will allow for the kind of
colorful, bright, but low-powered
devices that make current e-
readers appealing to book lovers,
the research firm expects.
That means Apple's rumored
iPad is unlikely to be a Kindle
killer in the short term, analyst
David Renard told
MacNewsWorld.
"The reality is that the people at
Apple clearly understand and
view the necessity for bringing in
the reading experience in the
future," he said.
However, what is likely to be a
power-hungry backlit display --
the most frequently rumored
vehicle for the iPad's screen --
isn't the right vehicle for reading
books or even many magazines,
said Renard. That will have to
wait for the technology to catch
up.'Paginated Media'
Others disagree.
A well-made LED screen can be
just as comfortable for long-term
reading as e-ink displays, argued
Gottheil -- and consumers aren't
going to want two devices.
"The idea of carrying around two
devices, one for reading and one
for browsing and programs is
silly," he said.
Rumors that Apple has been
approaching major publishers
about a content distribution deal
suggest it is well-poised to make
a disruptive play in the e-reader
field, suggested Scott Testa, a
professor of business at Cabrini
College.
"I think Apple has the potential
to do what they have with
smartphones and music to the
publishing industry," Testa told
MacNewsWorld.
One major hurdle could be
standing in its way, if the rumor
mills are right: The projected
high cost of the Apple device
could be a barrier to adoption for
many enthusiastic consumers.
Unlike an iPhone, which can be
had for as little as $99 up front,
or a Kindle, with a base price of
$259, the rumored iPad could
involve an investment of $600 or
more -- and it could carry
ongoing fees for data access,
according to many reports.
"It goes from a great Christmas
E-reader News Edition
gift to a luxury item," remarked
Testa.
Still, if it does come out next
year, the iPad could serve as a
tantalizing peek into the future,
suggested Renard, when
magazines and book publishers
might be freed from the shackles
of high production costs, and the
art of reading may be
rediscovered in a new medium.
"It will be called 'paginated
media,' and it will show it can be
as relevant on the digital platform
as it is in print," he said.
Oh, and that question Martha
Stewart posed to her followers on
Twitter? It's hardly a scientific
survey, but she reported 46
percent of those who responded
said they'd read magazines on a
tablet within the next few years;
29 percent said no.
A quarter said it would depend
on cost, features and quality.
These were, after all, Martha
Stewart followers.
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E-reader News Edition E-reader News/ Gallup Poll/ 83

Publisher Will Display Content on

Two E-Readers (NewsFactor via
Yahoo! News)
(Yahoo! News Search Results offer the News Corp. consumers an experience limited
for e-readers) subscriptions, observers say more to black-and-white content
Submitted at 12/17/2009 10:40:22 AM
publishers will align content with without tables, charts or
multiple devices. illustrations.
Sony Electronics, which has "Bets are being made by the The market is expected to
delayed the delivery of its publisher that their brand and broaden with newcomers,
electronic book reader, is hoping content has a stronger tie to the including Plastic Logic, iRex and
a deal with News Corp. will consumer than the device or ASUS. These newcomers are
make it worth the wait for manufacturer, and the device
consumers. The companies itself becomes a platform," said
expected to bring other options to
the table, including graphics.
11th-Hour Surge in
sealed a deal Thursday that will Jeff Orr, an ABI Research
enable Sony Reader users to view analyst.
content from The Wall Street The timing of the Sony/News
"Those devices offer a digital
reading experience, but they lack
anything beyond the written
Americans’ Christmas
Journal and the New York Post. Corp. deal may be good for both
The deal comes after reports that companies. Sony needed an edge
word," Orr said. "The next piece
(that vendors will need to work Spending Intentions
News Corp. Chairman Rupert against rival Amazon, and News on) will be more magazine (All Gallup Headlines) year have the potential to show a
Murdoch was unhappy with the Corp. has found another way to format, and the technology will Submitted at 12/17/2009 8:00:00 PM
modest increase of 1% --
c o m p a n y ' s d e a l w i t h make people pay to read its have to catch up. If I'm reading a marking a shift from last year,
Amazon.com for the Kindle. content. National Geographic magazine, P R I N C E T O N , N J - - T h e when Christmas spending was
Consumers will have to choose The deal is expected to result in it's not just about the words; it's a v e r a g e a m o u n t o f m o n e y down 3.4% from the previous
b e t w e e n t w o d i f f e r e n t a bigger cut for News Corp., about the pictures as well." Americans predict they will y e a r . G a l l u p ' s C h r i s t m a s
subscription models to access the c o m p a r e d t o i t s d e a l w i t h The market will see a number of spend on Christmas gifts this spending model is based on a
publications' digital content, and A m a z o n . new devices in January at events season is now $743, up from last comparison of annual changes in
News Corp. will reportedly get Sony and News Corp. are such as the Consumer Electronics month's estimate and a healthy consumers' Christmas spending
better control of subscriptions. A banking on analyst predictions Show. One newcomer has plans i n c r e a s e o v e r A m e r i c a n s ' intentions since 1999 and actual
monthly digital subscription to that put sales of e-readers at three to show a two-screen e-reader. Christmas spending forecast at y e a r l y c h a n g e s i n h o l i d a y
the Journal will cost $14.99. The million this year, with 30 percent One screen uses E Ink this time a year ago. spending for the same years.
price for MarketWatch news and of those sales taking place in technology and the other uses an The latest data are from a USA Importantly, while Americans'
columns is $10.99, and a monthly N o v e m b e r a n d D e c e m b e r , LCD display. Today/Gallup poll conducted c u r r e n t h o l i d a y s p e n d i n g
subscription to the Post will be according to Forrester Research. Five Filters featured article: Dec. 11-13."The rebound in intentions exceed the $639
set at $9.99, according to Sony. More Than Words Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Americans' 2009 Christmas recorded in December 2008, they
Publishers Eye Multiple Devices Current e-reader vendors, PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, spending intentions is happening fall well short of the levels seen
While Sony believes it has the including Sony, Amazon and Term Extraction. in an environment in which in each of the previous four
edge in being one of the first to Barnes & Noble, are offering consumers' reported daily years. As such, spending
spending still trails last year's c o n t i n u e s t o r e f l e c t a
levels by a significant amount." r e c e s s i o n a r y r a t h e r t h a n
Based on the latest Christmas
spending estimate, Gallup 11TH-HOUR page 84
forecasts that holiday sales this
84 PopSci/
11TH-HOUR
continued from page 83
economic growth mentality. Only
a month ago, holiday spending
intentions registered $638--
indicating just how fragile the
consumer mentality remains this
season.
Additionally, Christmas
spending represents only a
portion of total consumer
spending. The rebound in
Americans' 2009 Christmas
spending intentions is happening
in an environment in which
consumers' reported daily
spending still trails last year's
levels by a significant amount.
To some degree, Americans may
be shifting their discretionary
spending dollars into Christmas
shopping, rather than increasing
their total spending. Also, the
increase between November and
December in planned holiday
spending may point to a late
surge in Christmas shopping,
particularly heading into the
crucial final shopping weekend
before Christmas. Nearly 3 in 10
Will Spend $1,000 or More
Comparing Gallup's final
Christmas spending forecasts for
2008 and 2009 -- based on
surveys conducted in the first
half of December for both years -
- the biggest shift in consumer
intentions by spending category
is a seven percentage-point
increase, from 22% to 29%, in
those planning to spend $1,000
or more. (However, this still falls
below the 33% spending $1,000
or more in 2007.) Slight declines
this year are seen in lower
spending categories.
In line with these spending
trends, Gallup's latest survey also
finds that the increased spending
this year compared with 2008 is
primarily occurring among upper
- and middle-income Americans.
The spending intentions of lower
-income Americans (those
earning less than $30,000 per
year) are holding steady at the
dampened level seen in each of
the past two years.
Gallup can estimate what the
actual percentage change in
holiday spending will be in 2009
by comparing its final spending
forecast for prior years to the
actual percentage changes in
holiday spending that have been
calculated by the National Retail
Federation for those same years.
The Gallup data used in this
model extend back to 1999. The
results of the model this year
point to a 1% increase in 2009
holiday sales compared to 2008,
based on the latest $743 average
spending figure. This would be a
welcome rebound from last year's
real decline in year-over-year
holiday sales of 3.4% as reported
by the National Retail
Federation, although still weak
compared to the average 4.1%
increase seen between 1999 and
2007.
One cautionary note in the new
poll comes from Americans' own
assessments of whether their
2009 Christmas budget is greater
or smaller than last year's. Forty-
two percent now say they will
spend less than what they did last
Christmas, similar to the 45%
saying this a year ago, but about
double the norm on this measure
seen earlier in the decade.
Bottom Line
The $743 Americans now
predict they will spend on gifts
this season is a substantial
increase over the $639 they
reported a year ago, and also
higher than what they predicted
in November of this year. Based
on Gallup's model, this should
translate into a significant swing
in actual holiday retail sales.
Instead of the 3.4% decline
holiday retailers saw in 2008,
they can likely expect a slight
improvement in sales this year,
on the order of 1%. However,
given the volatility Gallup has
seen on this measure since
October, such an improvement
clearly depends on consumers'
maintaining their renewed
spending momentum right
through the after-Christmas sales.
Sign up for Gallup e-mail alerts
or RSS feeds
Get Gallup news on Facebook
and Twitter
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone
interviews with 1,025 national
adults, aged 18 and older,
conducted Dec. 11-13, 2009. For
results based on the total sample
of national adults, one can say
with 95% confidence that the
maximum margin of sampling
error is ±4 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with
respondents on land-line
telephones (for respondents with
a land-line telephone) and
cellular phones (for respondents
who are cell-phone only).
In addition to sampling error,
question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys
can introduce error or bias into
the findings of public opinion
polls.
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E-reader News Edition
The Shocking Truth:
How To Make High-
Voltage Sparks
By Vin Marshall (Popular
Science - New Technology,
Science News, The Future
Now)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 9:39:53 AM
I've always thought it would be
funny to build scale-size
exploding grain silos for a model
train layout. I've also had
problems recently with pilot
flames blowing out in some of
our larger blow-something-
flammable-through-something-
on-fire projects. Both of these
things made clear to me that I
needed a good source of high-
voltage sparks. So I built a buzz
coil, a project derived from the
ignition on a Model T that you
can toss together to satisfy all
your sparking needs with a just a
few common automotive parts.
The basic transformer theory is
laid out in my previous posts
about Variacs and Automotive
Ignition Coils. To understand the
buzz coil, the key point is that a
changing current generates a
collapsing magnetic field in a
SHOCKING page 85
E-reader News Edition
SHOCKING
continued from page 84
transformer. That collapsing
magnetic field induces a voltage
in the secondary winding of the
transformer. In the case of an
automotive ignition coil, we're
talking about very high voltage.
That's why the basic design for
the buzz coil is lifted from the
ignition system of antique
engines, like the ones in a Model
T Ford. More recently, the
design was tossed around by
these guys on an Old Marine
Engine forum. I decided to build
their buzz coil.
Ingredients:
• 5 pin automotive relay. Bosch
p/n 0 332 209 150. ~$5.
• Some spade connectors and
possibly a relay socket.
• Ignition Coil. Use whatever
you have around. If you need to
buy one, a mid 60's Ford pickup
truck coil works fine. Napa p/n
IC10SB. $16.
• Ignition Condenser. Use what
you have lying around, or grab a
60's Ford item. Napa p/n
FA82SB. $5
• Ignition wire and ends - one
spark plug cap and one coil cap.
If you don't have anything lying
around, cruise to the local auto
parts store and see what they can
do for you. Any auto parts store
worth its salt will have a spool of
spark plug wire and some
fittings.
• Spark Plug. Any spark plug
will do.
• 12V Battery. Any battery will
work. For a light, compact,
sealed battery, look at Deka p/n
ETX9. It is 6" x 3 7/16" x 4
3/16" and weighs 6.3 lbs.
• A momentary toggle switch or
push button
How it Works:
A relay is an electrically
operated electromechanical
switch. It consists of a conductive
arm (or arms) that make and
break electrical connections as
they are moved from one position
to another by an internal
electromagnet coil. In the case of
the relay used for this project,
one arm can complete either of
two possible circuits. A relatively
low current circuit is used to
switch this relay on and off,
while the switched circuits can
handle relatively high currents. A
relay like this is used to control
the headlights in your car,
allowing that high-current load to
be switched by a low current
switch in your dash cluster.
Things like momentary switches
and relays use terminology like
Normally Open (NO) and
Normally Closed (NC). Normally
Open means that the electrical
connection is not made in the
default state; no current will flow
through those terminals when the
switch or relay is in its idle state.
Normally Closed means the
opposite; current flows unless the
relay is activated.
In this buzz coil, we make use of
the fact that the Bosch 5 pin relay
has both NO and NC terminals.
(The more common 4-pin relay
has only a NO terminal.)
Our relay is wired such that
power to the relay's coil is
connected through the Normally
Closed circuit. This means that as
soon as power is connected, two
things happen: Power goes to the
positive terminal of the ignition
coil, which is also connected to
the NC terminal, and the relay is
activated. The relay, now
activated, moves its internal arm
to make the NO connection,
thereby breaking the NC
connection. Breaking that
connection disconnects the power
to the relay's coil. When the
relay's coil de-energizes, the
spring loaded arm returns to its
default position. In this position,
the NC circuit is completed once
again and through it, the battery
power is connected back to the
positive terminal of the ignition
coil and the relay's coil is re-
energized. For as long as power
is connected (or until the relay
catches fire), the relay oscillates
between these two states as fast
as it's mechanical components
will allow. This rapid oscillation
means that the 12V power from
the battery is being connected to
and then disconnected from the
positive terminal of the ignition
coil over and over again, very
quickly. The negative terminal of
the ignition coil is connected to
ground. Connected in this way,
the ignition coil experiences a
rapidly changing current through
it's primary, which results in a
high voltage being induced in the
secondary winding. That
secondary is connected to the
spark plug.
As the relay turns power on and
off to the ignition coil over and
over again very quickly, the
changing current turns into a
series of high voltage spikes at
the spark plug. It is very similar
to what happens in a points-style
automotive ignition system.
One seemingly extra part here is
the condenser. The condenser is
connected across the Normally
Closed terminals of the relay just
as it is connected across the
points in an automotive ignition
system. It helps to prevent
sparking across the points as they
open (inductors like the winding
of the ignition coil tend to resist
rapidly changing voltages and
don't take kindly to the points
opening).
How to Build It:
Putting this Buzz Coil together is
as simple as following the wiring
schematic. If you're using a
socket for the relay, make the
connections to the socket's
pigtail. Otherwise, crimp on
spade connectors can be pushed
directly onto the relay's
terminals, as I did in my build.
How exactly you make your
wiring connections will depend
on the physical configuration in
which you plan to use the coil. If
you are going for a compact
setup, as I was, you may find it
easiest to mount the condenser
directly on the coil. I had to
enlarge the mounting hole in the
condenser slightly to fit onto the
stud on top of the coil. Your
mileage may vary.
Connect the ground terminal of
the battery to the housing (the
threaded part at the base) of the
spark plug to complete the
circuit.
Follow the schematic below. If
85
you look closely at the relay in
the schematic, you'll see that the
terminals are numbered. While
the relay will not physically look
like the one in this schematic,
you will see those same numbers
next to pins on the bottom of
your relay.
Once you have a buzz coil, you
have all kinds of great options for
ignition. A word of caution
applies. You will be dealing with
very high voltages, and if you
cause yourself to be part of the
ground path, it will at the very
least hurt like the dickens, as my
father says. And at worst, well, it
could be a lot worse. Be very
careful to ensure that there is a
directly ground path from the
housing of the spark plug back to
the negative terminal of the
battery, and that you and nothing
you are touching are part of the
ground path. It might be wise to
wear non-conductive gloves
while you are playing with this.
Ignoring those words of wisdom,
here is what I did with mine:
Dispatch From The TE Labs:
The Buzz Coil from Vin
Marshall on Vimeo.
Vin attempts to simulate a grain
silo explosion with flour and a
high voltage spark generator. He
fails and has to resort to
carburetor clearner.
SHOCKING page 86
86 PopSci/ E-reader News Edition
SHOCKING
"Whispering Gallery" Microresonator Can continued from page 85

Measure Individual Nanoparticles

By Jeremy Hsu (Popular engineered a different approach
Science - New Technology, by creating a flawless resonator
Science News, The Future etched out of glass layers on
Now) silicon wafers. They reheated the
Submitted at 12/18/2009 12:26:34 PM
microresonators with pulsed
lasers to liquefy the glass, and
The sensor on a chip can both allowed surface tension to pull
detect and measure single the rings into smooth shapes.
particles smaller than a single Such a high-quality resonator
virus allows researchers to use mode
Forget all the nanotechnology splitting detection. That method
devoted to fighting cancer, and measures the difference between
just consider that nanoparticles light traveling clockwise and
have invaded makeup, anti-odor light traveling counterclockwise
socks, sunscreen, plastic beer within the resonator -- a
bottles and home pregnancy tests. nanoparticle would split the
Now scientists have developed a mode and create different
way to assess the health and measurable frequencies among
environmental impact of such the clockwise and
nanoparticles: a tiny counterclockwise light waves.
microresonator that can detect Any "noise" from vibrations or
and measure individual particles multiple times. because the particles disturb the temperatures affects both modes
smaller than a single virus. Similarly, microresonators can laser light wave and changes the equally, so that it essentially
The microresonator is a lab-on-a bounce laser light many times resonant frequency. Scientists cancels out. This creates a more
- c h i p t h a t h a r n e s s e s t h e around a circular "waveguide," gauge the size of a particle based reliable and accurate detector for
"whispering gallery" concept such as a glass ring. A laser on the frequency change, but run nanoparticles, and may hopefully
that's displayed by buildings such frequency must perfectly fit the into problems with vibrations, help establish better safety
as St. Paul's Cathedral in London. circumference of a ring to temperatures or particle locations standards for humans using any
The cathedral's domed gallery achieve this whispering-gallery t h a t c a n a f f e c t r e s o n a n t p r o d u c t s c o n t a i n i n g
can carry whispers easily across mode. frequency. nanoparticles.
to the other side, but normal- The glass resonator can detect Researchers at Washington
volume voices end up garbled nanoparticles attached to the ring, U n i v e r s i t y i n S t . L o u i s
after bouncing around the dome
E-reader News Edition
Majority of U.S. Cocaine Supply Cut with
Veterinary Deworming Drug
By Jeremy Hsu (Popular
Science - New Technology,
Science News, The Future
Now)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:44:50 PM
Cocaine's a hell of a drug, and
even more so when laced with
another drug that's commonly
used to deworm opossums.
Federal agents have found that 69
percent of cocaine shipments
seized entering the United States
contain levamisole, a veterinary
drug linked to serious weakening
of the immune system in humans.
Here's the real funny part: no one
knows why.
This comes from a recent report
by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC)
on the immune system condition,
known as agranulocytosis. The
paper tracks 21 cases from New
Mexico and Washington State
This Week in the Future, December 14-18, 2009
(Popular Science - New
Technology, Science News,
The Future Now)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 1:45:17 PM
Leave a comment to win this
illustration on a t-shirt!
Wristwatch phones, robots that
shop, inhalable chocolate and
electricity from wine? Yeah, we
linked to cocaine, including one
death, but cautions that many
more cases have probably gone
under the radar of public health
officials.
The Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) also noted
that 69 percent of cocaine
don't mess around. It's all in your
future, here on PopSci.com.
(Get the details, and win the t-
shirt, after the jump).
Check out this week's future
news:
• The Future of Your Wristwatch
• The Robot That Helps You
Buy Groceries
• Bad Bottles of Wine Can Be
shipments seized as of July 2009
contained levamisole. The CDC
has since launched a national
surveillance effort to continue
monitoring the levamisole link to
cocaine.
Perhaps as a sign of levamisole's
widespread presence, the
Used for Energy
toxicology report from the death
of DJ AM in August revealed
that the celebrity's body
contained both cocaine and
levamisole, along with a lethal
cocktail of other drugs such as
Oxycontin, Vicodin, Xanax,
Ativan, Klonopin, and Benadryl.
A earlier paper unearthed by the
Wall Street Journal Health Blog
speculated that cocaine producers
or suppliers might believe that
levamisole enhances cocaine's
psychoactive effects, or offsets
the drug's less-fun side effects.
If you were looking for a chance
to kick the cocaine habit, now
seems as good a time as any --
especially with a possible cocaine
vaccine on the horizon. But we'd
advise opossum owners to avoid
cocaine as a substitute for
deworming their pet.
[via Wall Street Journal]
• Inhalable Chocolate Paves the
Way for a Safer TB Vaccine, just
in time for the holidays!
People, we are definitely looking
at a better tomorrow.
In the meantime, wanna win a t-
shirt?
Leave a comment (any
comment) to put your name in
PopSci/ 87
My Visit from The
Great Internet Migratory
Box of Electronic Junk
By Vin Marshall (Popular
Science - New Technology,
Science News, The Future
Now)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 11:53:09 AM
Perhaps you've heard of
TGIMBOEJ? The Great Internet
Migratory Box of Electronic
Junk is a great concept: a few
USPS medium sized flat rate
boxes floating around amongst
the country's electronics nerds. A
sort of cross-pollenation for junk
VISIT page 88
the pile; we'll randomly choose
and announce our winner right
here next Friday, December 18.
And, if you just can't wait that
long, you can buy the shirt for
yourself here. Good Luck!
Congratulations to last week's
winner, PopSci user "Isodomon."
Until next time. Enjoy our past
weekly illustrated roundups here.
88 PopSci/
VISIT
continued from page 87
bins.
A box of junk shows up on your
door step. Take what you want,
add some new gems, and send it
back on its way. One of those
boxes just arrived here at TE
Motorworks.
I've heard plenty about
TGIMBOEJ. Partly because it is
a great idea, and partly because it
seems like one of the inevitable
secondary effects of a
TGIMBOEJ visit is an article
about it. Like this one.
In 2008, the"Evil Mad Scientist
Laboratories" started this project,
which they described as "a
Japanese Create Fluorescent Mario from
Genetically Engineered Bacteria
By Jeremy Hsu (Popular
Science - New Technology,
Science News, The Future
Now)
Submitted at 12/18/2009 10:59:49 AM
Team Osaka's nanobiology lab
created a petri-dish image of
everyone's favorite Nintendo
game character
Nintendo's Mario has taught us
science and even encouraged the
development of better artificial
progressive lending library of
electronic components." From its
inception, the project has grown,
apparently largely on its own.
The tracking page of the
TGIMBOEJ wiki site now lists
over 50 boxes in play. The box
coded "Grey-E" that arrived here
had a few gems, a few bits of
junk, and a bunch of stuff that
was neither. I added a few things
I hope will be useful to someone
farther down the line.
What I would really like to see,
however, is some documentation
of things made with parts
harvested from this roving
intelligence. So it's only
appropriate that Japanese
researchers paid homage to
everyone's favorite video game
character, by recreating his
likeness in a petri dish with
genetically engineered glow-in-
the-dark bacteria. Warning: we
reveal a seizure-inducing Mario
animation after the story jump.
Team Osaka submitted their
Mario likeness to the 2009
international Genetically
E-reader News Edition
personal flea market. I'd like to
suggest a Flickr pool
called"Made From TGIMBOEJ".
Right now, it is looking pretty
lonely. I'm hoping some of
PopSci's readers will beat me to
it and add some pictures before I
do, as it's going to be a while
before I find time to do anything
with my new junk.
as BioBricks with their own
special DNA snips to create
franken-bacteria that express
fluorescent proteins and
carotenoid pigments.
You can gawk at this and other
fine petri dish masterworks at
this New Scientist gallery.
[via New Scientist]
Engineered Machine competition
(iGEM). They combined
standard DNA sequences known