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Lawyers emerge as the winner in Ford settlement (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:41:56 AM
SAN FRANCISCO – The lawyers
were paid millions of dollars. Ford
Motor Co. put behind it a costly
lawsuit connected to the Explorer
rollover scandal of the 1990s. And
the judge closed out a complex case
that clogged the Sacramento County
Superior Court's overburdened
calendar for more than seven years.
Everyone seemingly got some
tangible benefit except for nearly all
of the 1 million consumers covered
by the class action lawsuit filed in
their name. None of the consumers
got money, only discount coupons
toward new Ford purchases. Few
used them.
The practice of settling class action
lawsuits by doling out discount
coupons rather than cash has come
under fire from tort reform activists
and others who complain that such
lawsuits mainly benefit the lawyers
and even the companies being sued
at the expense of their clients.
Sacramento County Superior Court
Judge David De Alba authorized the
settlement of a class action that
lawyers argued could be worth as
much as $500 million to people who
owned Ford Explorers during the
Nevada Supreme Court to weigh OJ release on appeal
(AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:23:52 AM
KeithO buzzed up: Seattle bank
1990s.
In exchange for dropping the
lawsuit that alleged rollover
problems unfairly diminished the
resale value of Explorers, Ford
customers could receive a $500
discount coupon toward the purchase
of a new SUV or a $300 coupon to
buy another Ford vehicle. Consumers
had until April 29, 2008 to apply for
the coupons.
De Alba awarded the lawyers $25
million in fees and expenses after
presiding over a 50-day trial without
a jury in 2007. The case settled
before the judge reached a verdict.
De Alba declined comment.
A report filed with the court in June
showed just 75 coupons have been
redeemed for a combined $37,500.
"This coupon is valueless to me,"
said Stephen Webber, a Glendale
lawyer who owns a 1998 Explorer
and qualified for the discounts. "It
did nothing to improve the safety of
my vehicle, and I have no intentions
of buying a new one."
The lawyers who represented
Webber and the million other SUV
owners argue that they did the best
they could with a complicated case
vigorously fought by Ford's phalanx
of high-priced attorneys. They said
that in the fall of 2007 when the case
teller chases robber, loses job (AP)
8 hours ago 2009-08-02T23:02:43-
07:00
01/08/09 - 03/08/09
settled, there was a chance Ford
would file for bankruptcy, wiping out
the case and leaving consumers with
nothing.
In a statement e-mailed to The
Associated Press by the class action
firm Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann, &
Bernstein on behalf of the five firms
who sued Ford, the lawyers noted
that they also forced Ford to stop
touting the Explorer's safety features
and make a $950,000 donation to
nonprofit auto-safety groups, which
they said benefits their clients.
They said they spent $6 million of
their own money and thousands of
hours fighting Ford.
"Class counsel were surprised and,
of course, disappointed by the low
redemption rate which undoubtedly
was affected by the near-collapse of
the economy just as the period to
redeem vouchers began," the lawyers
said. "The real story here is Ford's
failure to take responsibility for
producing a vehicle, the 1991-2001
model year Explorer, that has killed
hundreds of consumers over the past
18 years."
Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley
said the settlement prevented the
company from discussing the case.
"We are pleased to have finally
settled this case with the plaintiffs
Turbulence slams Continental jet, at least 26 hurt (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:19:09 AM
KeithO buzzed up: Seattle bank
LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
and to finally put this behind us,"
Kinley said. "We are also pleased to
hear that some people took advantage
of the vouchers to purchase a new
Ford Explorer."
Lawyers, judges and legal scholars
have long wrangled with how to
fairly compensate large number of
people who suffered harm that is
worth very little individually but
adds up in the aggregate.
Earlier this year, for instance, a Los
Angeles Superior Court judge
ordered that a class action lawyer
receive 12,500 $10 gift certificates
for winning the discount for the
roughly 43,000 customers of clothing
retailer Windsor Fashions, which
solicited personal information during
credit card purchases. The judge later
reversed himself and ordered the
lawyer paid in cash.
Typically the rate of redemption of
such coupon settlements is not
tracked, and judges are only
presented with anecdotal evidence of
how fair such agreements are when
considering approval.
But the judge in the Ford case, at
the urging of several lawyers
objecting to the original settlement,
required the class action attorneys to
file a report this year detailing the
redemption rates. That report, which
teller chases robber, loses job (AP)
8 hours ago 2009-08-02T23:02:43-
07:00
highlighted the dismal consumer
participation, is expected to be
considered by other judges pondering
coupon settlements across the
country.
The Ford case stands out even
against the backdrop of endless
debate over class action litigation
where lawyers get multi-million-
dollar paydays for settlements that
have minimal value for most of their
clients.
The Ralph Nader-founded Center
for Auto Safety in Washington D.C.
expressed outrage and tried to stop
the settlement last year. Several
others also urged the judge to
withhold approval before dropping
their opposition in exchange for the
donation to auto safety nonprofits
and the requirement that coupon
redemptions be reported.
"The reality is that class members
are almost totally irrelevant and the
lawyers are in charge," said
McGeorge Law School professor
John Sims who worked for Nader's
Public Citizen Litigation Group. "But
this was a stupid case that included a
requirement to buy a new car within
a year."
The Making of a
Prehistoric Brew
By Erin Biba (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 9:00:00 PM
Old yeast makes good beer. It's
different beer, but it's good.
2 Top News/ Business/ Tech Musings/
AP sources: Military-civilian terror prison eyed (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:26:32 AM
WASHINGTON – The Obama
administration is looking at creating
a courtroom-within-a-prison complex
in the U.S. to house suspected
terrorists, combining military and
civilian detention facilities at a single
maximum-security prison.
Several senior U.S. officials said
the administration is eyeing a soon-to
-be-shuttered state maximum security
prison in Michigan and the military
penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth,
Kan., as possible locations for a
heavily guarded site to hold the 229
suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and
foreign fighters now jailed at the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp in
Cuba.
The officials outlined the plans the
latest effort to comply with President
Barack Obama's order to close the
prison camp by Jan. 22, 2010, and
satisfy congressional and public fears
about incarcerating terror suspects on
American soil on condition of
anonymity because the options are
under review.
White House spokesman Ben
LaBolt said Friday that no decisions
have been made about the proposal.
But the White House considers the
courtroom-prison complex as the best
among a series of bad options, an
administration official said.
To the House Republican leader,
it's an "ill-conceived plan" that would
bring terrorists into the U.S. despite
opposition by Congress and the
American people. "The
administration is going to face a
severe public backlash unless it
shelves this plan and goes back to the
drawing board," said Antonia Ferrier,
spokeswoman for Rep. John
Boehner, R-Ohio.
For months, government lawyers
ADVERTISEMENT:
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and senior officials at the Pentagon,
Justice Department and the White
House have struggled with how to
close the internationally reviled U.S.
Navy prison at Guantanamo.
Congress has blocked $80 million
intended to bring the detainees to the
United States. Lawmakers want the
administration to say how it plans to
make the moves without putting
Americans at risk.
The facility would operate as a
hybrid prison system jointly operated
by the Justice Department, the
military and the Department of
Homeland Security.
The administration's plan,
according to three government
officials, calls for:
_Moving all the Guantanamo
detainees to a single U.S. prison. The
Justice Department has identified
between 60 and 80 who could be
prosecuted, either in military or
federal criminal courts. The Pentagon
would oversee the detainees who
would face trial in military tribunals.
The Bureau of Prisons, an arm of the
Justice Department, would manage
defendants in federal courts.
_Building a court facility within the
prison site where military or criminal
defendants would be tried. Doing so
would create a single venue for
almost all the criminal defendants,
ending the need to transport them
elsewhere in the U.S. for trial.
_Providing long-term holding cells
for a small but still undetermined
number of detainees who will not
face trial because intelligence and
counterterror officials conclude they
are too dangerous to risk being freed.
_Building immigration detention
cells for detainees ordered released
by courts but still behind bars
because countries are unwilling to
take them.
Each proposal, according to experts
in constitutional and national security
law, faces legal and logistics
problems.
Scott Silliman, director of Duke
University's Center on Law, Ethics
and National Security, called the
proposal "totally unprecedented" and
said he doubts the plan would work
without Congress' involvement
because new laws probably would be
needed. Otherwise, "we gain nothing
all we do is create a Guantanamo in
Kansas or wherever," Silliman said.
"You've got very strict jurisdictional
issues on venue of a federal court.
Why would you bring courts from all
over the country to one facility,
rather than having them prosecuted
in the district where the courts sit?"
Legal experts said civilian trials
held inside the prison could face jury
-selection dilemmas in rural areas
because of the limited number of
potential jurors available.
One solution, Silliman said, would
be to bring jurors from elsewhere.
But that step, one official said, could
also compromise security by opening
up the prison to outsiders.
It is unclear whether victims
particularly survivors of Sept. 11
victims would be allowed into the
courtroom to watch the trials.
Victims and family members have no
assumed right under current law to
attend military commissions,
although the Pentagon does allow
them to attend hearings at
Guantanamo under a random
selection process. That right is
automatic in civilian federal
courthouses.
"They'll have to sort it out," said
Douglas Beloof, a professor at Lewis
and Clark Law School in Portland,
Ore., and expert on crime victims'
rights. He said the new system "could
create tension with victims who
would protest."
The officials said that another
uncertainty remains how many
Guantanamo detainees would end up
housed in the hybrid prison.
As many as an estimated 170 of the
detainees now at Guantanamo are
unlikely to be prosecuted. Some are
being held indefinitely because
government officials do not want to
take the chance of seeing them
acquitted in a trial. The rest are
considered candidates for release, but
the U.S. cannot find foreign countries
willing to take them. Almost all have
yet to be charged with crimes.
Two senior U.S. officials said one
option for the proposed hybrid prison
would be to use the soon-to-be-
shuttered Standish maximum-
security state prison in northeast
Michigan. The facility already has
individual cells and ample security
for detainees.
Getting the Standish prison ready
for the detainees would be costly.
One official estimated it would cost
over $100 million for security and
other building upgrades.
Several Michigan lawmakers,
including Senate Armed Services
Chairman Carl Levin and Rep. Bart
Stupak, both Democrats, have said
they would be open to moving
detainees to Michigan as long as
there is broad local support.
But the political support is not
unanimous. Michigan Rep. Pete
Hoekstra, top Republican on the
House Intelligence Committee who is
seeking the GOP nomination for
governor next year, is against the
idea.
Administration officials said the
U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort
Leavenworth is under consideration
because it is already a hardened high-
security facility that could be further
protected by the surrounding military
base.
The crazy ones
(Scripting News)
Internet News Record
It's not clear what would happen to
the military's inmates already being
held there. Nearly half are members
of the U.S. armed forces, and by law,
cannot be housed with foreign
prisoners.
Kansas' GOP-dominated
congressional delegation is dead set
against moving Guantanamo
detainees to Leavenworth. Residents
told Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., at a
town hall meeting in May that 95
percent of the local community
opposes it. Sen. Sam Brownback and
Rep. Lynn Jenkins planned a news
conference in Leavenworth on
Monday to "discuss opposition to any
efforts to move detainees to Fort
Leavenworth."
Administration officials say they
are determined to keep to his promise
of closing Guantanamo in January as
a worldwide example of America's
commitment to humane and just
treatment of the detainees.
Glenn Sulmasy, an international
law professor at the U.S. Coast
Guard Academy in New London,
Conn., said the prison-court complex
will "be difficult, but it's logical."
"This is all based on closing Gitmo
by 2010, which seems to be a
priority, and if we are going to do it,
we have to step up to the plate and
find solutions to the conundrum
we're facing," said Sulmasy, who
agrees with the administration's
efforts. "And this seems to be the
most pragmatic way ahead."
___
On the Net:
Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary
Barracks: http://tinyurl.com/ln3ef9
Standish, Mich., Maximum
Correctional Facility:
http://tinyurl.com/len83g
Internet News Record
American with cold misses ill-fated
hike into Iran (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 10:21:31 PM
SAN FRANCISCO – An American
linguistics student traveling in
northern Iraq didn't go on an ill-fated
hiking trip because he had a cold a
twist of fate that prevented him from
mistakenly wandering into Iran
where his three friends were
reportedly detained.
The Swiss Embassy in Tehran was
working Sunday to learn more about
the Americans' fate through its
contacts with the Iranian Foreign
Ministry, spokeswoman Nadine
Olivieri said. Switzerland represents
U.S. interests in Iran.
Shon Meckfessel sat out the hike
because he had a cold, his
grandmother, Irene Meckfessel, told
The Associated Press from her home
in Carmichael, Calif. He called her
Saturday from the American
Embassy in Baghdad, she said.
The four had traveled to Turkey,
then entered Iraq on Tuesday and
traveled to Sulaimaniyah, according
to the Kurdish regional government.
On Thursday, one stayed behind
while the other three took a taxi to
the resort town of Ahmed Awaa, it
added.
The regional government's
statement said the three got lost
Palm Pre drops to $99 at LetsTalk online store, for a limited time
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:25:00 AM
It's a limited time offer, and the
handset is currently out of stock --
you'll have to wait a few days for
delivery -- but cutesy online phone
during an excursion and were
detained by Iranian authorities at the
border.
The area where the three
disappeared is a popular hiking
destination known for a picturesque
waterfall and rocky scenery as well
as a thick growth of fruit and nut
trees.
Camping equipment and two
backpacks apparently belonging to
the Americans were found in the area
and it seemed they were hiking above
the waterfall when they accidentally
crossed the border, a Kurdish
security official said, speaking on
condition of anonymity because he
wasn't authorized to release the
information.
Shortly before their capture, the
three contacted a fourth member
Meckfessel to say they had entered
Iran by mistake and were surrounded
by troops, the official said.
Iran's state TV said the Americans
were arrested after they did not heed
warnings from Iranian border guards.
It cited a "well-informed source" in
the Interior Ministry.
One of the missing Americans has
been identified by Kurdish
authorities as Joshua Fattal. His
mother, Laura Fattal of Elkins Park,
Pa., issued a brief statement Sunday.
"My husband and I are only
retailer LetsTalk is offering the Pre
for a mere $99 after a $100 rebate
and a $100 instant discount. This sort
of price flexibility bodes well for the
truly budget conscious eying this
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concerned about Josh" and the two
others, she said.
Meckfessel and another of the
missing hikers were both studying
Arabic, said Irene Meckfessel, who
raised her grandson. Shon
Meckfessel had most recently studied
at the University of Washington in
Seattle.
"He's very much interested in
people and languages and he's
working on a Ph.D. in linguistics,"
she said.
In Iran, Swiss diplomats have
asked for consular access to the
Americans if their presence in Iran is
confirmed, Olivieri told the AP.
Switzerland has represented U.S.
interests in Iran since American
diplomats were taken hostage at the
embassy in Tehran 30 years ago.
"Our embassy in Tehran is in
contact with the Iranian Foreign
Ministry and is trying to get a
confirmation of the situation," she
said.
The State Department, which
requested the help, knows about
Switzerland's efforts, said spokesman
Robert Wood in Washington.
___
Associated Press writers Ron Todt
in Philadelphia and Yahya Barzanji
in Baghdad contributed to this report.
more in the long run with a cheap
Top News/ Gadgets/
Ethiopia jails Canadian
for life
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:53:26 AM
A Canadian citizen has been jailed
for life after being convicted of
terrorism charges in an Ethiopian
court.
Judges found Ethiopian-born
Bashir Makhtal was a member of a
separatist group fighting for
independence for an ethnically
Somali part of the country.
Prosecutors had wanted him
executed, but the judges decided
against it.
Rights groups say the prosecution
failed to produce any credible
witnesses and Bashir's lawyers say he
will appeal against the conviction.
The Ethiopian government has
denied the trial was unfair.
Bashir had repeatedly denied being
the leader of the separatist Ogaden
National Liberation Front (ONLF),
saying he was being persecuted
because his grandfather had helped
found the rebel group decades ago.
He was among dozens of people
arrested when Ethiopia invaded
Somalia in 2006.
Second-hand clothes
Bashir's family in Canada say he
was held in solitary for nearly two
years with no access to lawyers or
embassy officials.
His relatives say he was a
businessman, trading in second-hand
clothes and was in Mogadishu on a
plan than a cheap phone, something
that's been a lock since day one with
the Pre.
[Via SlashGear]
Filed under: Cellphones,
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Palm Pre drops to $99 at LetsTalk
3
business trip when the Ethiopians
invaded.
But the Addis Ababa court found
him guilty of four charges:
• that he was a member of the
ONLF central committee between
1999 and 2006
• that he recruited and trained
ONLF members at a military camp in
Eritrea
• that he led a contingent of the
ONLF in the field against the
Ethiopian army in Ethiopia's Somali
region
• that he collaborated with Somalia's
Union of Islamic Courts in Eritrea in
an effort to overthrow the Ethiopian
government
The ONLF, founded in 1984, is
fighting for the Somali-speaking
population in Ethiopia's oil-rich
Ogaden region, saying it has been
marginalised by Addis Ababa.
Reports say Bashir left Ethiopia
aged 11 and does not speak the local
Amharic language.
The 40-year-old, who has a
Canadian passport, was arrested
crossing the border between Somalia
and Kenya.
His family say he was trying to get
away from the fighting.
Other foreigners detained in 2006 -
among them Swedes, Americans and
Kenyans - were questioned and
eventually released into the custody
of their own governments.
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4 Top News/
Castro says Cuban system to stay
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 8/1/2009 10:35:42 PM
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Raul Castro offers US direct talks
Cuban President Raul Castro says
he is willing to enter into dialogue
with the US but the island's
communist system remains non-
negotiable.
Mr Castro said he wanted to
respond to recent overtures by
Washington.
But in a speech that was given a
standing ovation in parliament, he
also emphasised that he had not been
elected to return Cuba to capitalism.
US President Barack Obama has
said he wants to "recast" relations
with Cuba but the US has also called
for reforms.
In his speech, Mr Castro
acknowledged that there had been
less aggression and anti-Cuban
rhetoric under the Obama
administration.
He repeated Cuba's willingness "to
sustain a respectful dialogue with the
United States, between equals".
But he also noted that a decades-
old US embargo remained in place
and said he wished to respond to US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's
comments linking dialogue with
reform.
"With all due respect, in response to
Mrs Clinton, but also to the European
Union... I was not chosen as
president to restore capitalism to
Cuba or to renounce the revolution,"
Mr Castro said.
"I was elected to defend, maintain
and continue perfecting socialism.
Not to destroy it."
Mr Castro, 78, stepped up to the
Cuban leadership three years ago
when his older brother, Fidel,
underwent gastric surgery.
He formally assumed the
presidency last year.
In his speech, he scoffed at those
who say Cuba's political system will
crumble after the "the death of Fidel
and all of us".
"If that's how they think, they are
doomed to failure," he said.
On the economic front, the Cuban
president announced that the
government had cut its budget for a
second time this year amid a growing
financial crisis.
The government has recently
pushed through a series of austerity
measures and cut its projected
economic growth estimate for this
year to 1.7%
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Turbulence hurts 26 on
US flight
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:03:16 AM
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Continental Flight 128 had 168
passengers and 11 crew on board
At least 26 people were injured
when a Continental Airlines jet hit
"extreme turbulence" and made an
emergency landing in Miami,
officials have said.
The Boeing 767 had been travelling
from Rio de Janeiro to Houston when
it encountered trouble north of the
Dominican Republic at about 0830
GMT.
It was then diverted to Miami and
landed at 0535 local time (0935
GMT).
Four people were seriously injured,
while the other 22 suffered bumps
and bruises, a fire service spokesman
said.
Investigation
Airline catering lorries with
hydraulic lifts were reportedly used
by rescue crews to get those hurt off
the plane as quickly as possible.
Internet News Record
Thirteen people were admitted to
local hospitals, four with serious
neck and back injuries.
Those with minor injuries were
flown to Houston later along with the
remaining passengers. There had
been a total of 168 passengers and 11
crew on board, officials said.
Continental Flight 128 had been
cruising at 11,600m (38,000ft) when
it hit extreme turbulence about 80km
(50 miles) north of the Dominican
Republic, the Federal Aviation
Administration said.
When the plane started shaking
violently, the pilot declared an
emergency and decided to land at
Miami, it added.
An investigation into the incident is
expected to begin shortly.
Were you on the flight or did you
witness passengers leaving the plane
in Miami? Tell us about it using the
form below.
The BBC may edit your comments
and not all emails will be published.
Your comments may be published on
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Internet News Record Top News/ Gadgets/ * 5

Bolivian Indians in Remains of Gulf War

historic step
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 1:47:01 AM
The Bolivian government has begun
implementing provisions outlined in
the new constitution that give
indigenous people the chance to
govern themselves.
President Evo Morales, Bolivia's
first indigenous leader, enacted a
decree setting out the conditions for
Indian communities to hold votes on
autonomy.
These referendums will take place
in December, alongside presidential
and parliamentary elections.
The new charter was bitterly
opposed by Bolivia's traditional elite.
On Sunday, the provisions allowing
for votes on indigenous autonomy
were presented in a special event in
the eastern region of Santa Cruz.
Mr Morales said it was "a historic
day for the peasant and indigenous
movement".
"Your president, your companion,
your brother Evo Morales might
make mistakes but will never betray
the fight started by our ancestors and
the fight of the Bolivian people," he
said.
Mr Morales has championed
Bolivia's indigenous people, who for
centuries were banished to the
margins of society and did not enjoy
full voting rights until 1952.
But many opposed to Mr Morales
and the new constitution believe he is
polarising the country by dividing it
along along racial lines.
Many Bolivians of European or
mixed-race descent in the fertile
eastern lowlands, which hold rich gas
deposits and are home to extensive
farms, rejected the constitution.
The new charter came into force in
February after being approved by
61% of the electorate.
It enshrines state control over key
economic sectors, and grants greater
autonomy not only for the nine
departments but also for indigenous
communities.
But the clauses regarding layers of
autonomy could lead to a raft of
competing claims, correspondents
say.
Print Sponsor
pilot found
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 5:11:17 AM
The US military has found the
remains of the last American still
officially missing in action from the
Gulf War.
Capt Michael Scott Speicher, an
F18 pilot, was shot down over Iraq
on the first day of the war in January
1991.
Last month, an Iraqi citizen took
US marines, based in Anbar
Province, to the crash site. He told
them where the remains had been
buried in the desert.
Subsequent excavations recovered
bones and bone fragments. Capt
Speicher was identified through his
dental records.
Adm Gary Roughead, Chief of
Navy Operations, said in a press
statement: "Our Navy will never give
up looking for a shipmate, regardless
of how long or how difficult that
search may be."
The crash site is in a remote,
sparsely-inhabited area of western
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today only
remains. By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
He was the first American combat Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:54:00 AM
casualty of the war, Operation Desert
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The Navy initially declared Capt
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iMuz launches three new PMPs for your amusement

By Tim Stevens (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:56:00 AM
The already crowded PMP space
just got a little more busy thanks to a
trio of new portable players from
iMuz. Starting with the smallest, we
have the above-pictured 39,000KRW
($31) 2GB and 49,000KRW ($40)
4GB MX1, which goes nicely with
creepy looking dolls and sports a 1.5-
inch TFT LCD, video playback of
.avi files, FM radio, a voice recorder,
Aug. 3, 1803: Crystal Palace Architect Born
By Randy Alfred (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 9:00:00 PM
Joseph Paxton's crowning
and the ability to read e-books (if you
really hate your eyes). Next up is the
MX5, a brief video tour of which is
included after the break. It has a 3-
inch, 240 x 400 LCD, 16GB of
storage, TV output, and all the same
functionality as the baby MX1.
Finally comes the MU-959, featuring
VibeTouch haptic feedback. It too
has a 3-inch, 240 x 400 LCD, but
sports a dual-core processor,
enabling it to decode a flurry of
video formats and play games in
achievement is the Crystal Palace, a
dazzling and advanced construction
addition to the standard voice
recording, e-book reading, and FM
tuning stuff. It comes in three colors:
that housed the first World's Fair in
1851.
pink, black, and luxury brown. At
this point we don't have a price to
pass along for either of the two
proper-sized ones, but it's not likely
that you'll stumble across any of the
trio in a domestic retailer anyhow.
[Via AVING]
Gallery: iMuz PMPs
Read- MX1
Read- MX5
Read- MU-959
Continue reading iMuz launches
three new PMPs for your amusement
Filed under: Portable Audio,
Portable Video
iMuz launches three new PMPs for
your amusement originally appeared
on Engadget on Mon, 03 Aug 2009
08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms
for use of feeds. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
6 Gadgets/ *
Google's Eric Schmidt resigns from
Apple board over "conflict of
interest"
By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:06:00 AM
Should have seen this one coming,
right? Google CEO Eric Schmidt has
resigned from Apple's board today
citing a conflict of interest. Apple
(Steve Jobs, in fact) says that
"Unfortunately, as Google enters
more of Apple's core businesses, with
Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's
effectiveness as an Apple board
member will be significantly
diminished, since he will have to
recuse himself from even larger
portions of our meetings due to
potential conflicts of interest."
Android and Chrome OS-- something
had to give, but the timing sure does
make it seem like that Google Voice
app rejection might have really hurt
someone's feelings.
The truth is, it's been a tangled web
for some time as far as the
relationship between Apple and
Google goes. Sure, Schmidt sat on
the board, the companies claim to be
working on new projects, and Google
Maps comes preloaded onto the
iPhone, but over the past year,
Google's increasing move into
Apple's space, and Apple's increasing
desire to control every inch of that
space have not been good
bedfellows. It's hard to imagine that
Apple could maintain a completely
healthy relationship with a direct
Intel denies rumors that Z-series Atoms are headed for the grave
By Laura June (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:22:00 AM
Intel wants you to know that the
rumor that its Z-series Atom chips
are headed for the "discontinued" pile
is not true. A few days back, we
competitor in both the phone and OS
space for very long, and that's to say
nothing of Cupertino's latest push
into online document editing and
management, which couldn't have
seemed very awesome to Schmidt
and company. Oh, and there's that
matter of the antitrust case which is
currently ongoing. Still, it's a bit sad
to see this power couple going their
separate ways, though it does give us
some hope that Google will begin a
full assault with Android in earnest,
because only sweet stuff could come
from those efforts. If you're
heard that the chips -- which were
initially designated for MIDs but
made their way into some netbooks --
could no longer be ordered from
Intel. A spokesperson for the
company, however, speaking with
Register Hardware, said that the
interested, the full PR is after the
break.
Continue reading Google's Eric
Schmidt resigns from Apple board
over "conflict of interest"
Google's Eric Schmidt resigns from
Apple board over "conflict of
interest" originally appeared on
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rumors were "100 percent
Internet News Record
Allegedly: Apple tries to
put gag order on man over
exploded iPod touch
By Nicholas Deleon
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:20:39 AM
Another day, another story that
makes Apple look bad. Today’s is a
charming tale in which Apple is
alleged to have placed a gag order on
“I could feel it getting hotter in my
a Liverpool man after his iPod touch hand, and I thought I could see
exploded. The man complained to
vapour”. Mr Stanborough said he
Apple, and Apple offered the man threw the device out of his back door,
“compensation” in the form of so
where “within 30 seconds there was a
many pounds (the man merely asked pop, a big puff of smoke and it went
for his £162 back), but only on the
10ft in the air.”
condition that he never tell anyone Nice. Can you imagine your
about said compensation.
gadgets collapsing into a poof of
It’s even worse than it sounds, smoke every time you dropped it?
since Apple apparently only offered a
You should know that Stanborough
full refund if the man signed the gag didn’t sign Apple’s gag order, which
order.
means he’s out the £l62 he spent.
This is all goes back to when the Oh, also: anyone else think that
man, a certain Ken Stanborough, a 47
girl, Stanborough’s daughter, is
-year-old gentleman from Liverpool, wearing quite a bit of makeup for an
bought an iPod touch for his
11-year-old?
daughter. He accidently dropped the
iPod one day, then “it made a hissing
noise.”
Malicious Casino ATM Turns Tables on Hackers
By Kim Zetter (Wired Top data from an unknown number of
Stories) hackers attending the DefCon hacker
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:55:00 AM
conference before someone noticed
something suspicious about the
A malicious ATM kiosk was kiosk.
positioned in the conference center of
the Riviera Hotel Casino capturing
inaccurate." We'll just have to wait originally appeared on Engadget on
and see how this all pans out, but Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:22:00 EST.
we're still not feeling terribly positive Please see our terms for use of feeds.
about poor little MIDs' odds. Read| Permalink| Email this|
Filed under: Laptops Comments
Intel denies rumors that Z-series
Atoms are headed for the grave
Internet News Record
Full specs leak on Sony
Reader PRS-300 and PRS
-600
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:52:00 AM
Still doubting that Sony has a new
duo of e-book readers on the
horizon? Have a look at this. Sony
Insider is reporting that retailer J&R
posted up product listings for both
the PRS-300 and PRS-600, but both
were quickly pulled in order to avoid
a stern wrist slap from the suits at
Sony. 'Course, neither were pulled
quickly enough, and what we're left
with is a list of full specifications and
MSRPs for the both of 'em. If said
sheets are to be believed, the 5-inch
(800 x 600 resolution) Sony PRS300-
RC Reader Pocket Edition will ship
with 512MB of onboard memory, PC
and Mac support, a battery good for
7,500 page turns and USB 2.0
connectivity. The 6-inch (800 x 600
resolution) PRS600-SC Reader
Touch Edition checks in at 0.4-inches
thin and boasts a virtual keyboard,
doodle capability, 512MB of storage,
a built-in English e-dictionary, PC
and Mac support and the same
battery as on the smaller sibling.
We're looking at price tags of $199
and $299, respectively, but with no
apparent WiFi or WWAN built in,
it'll still be a hard sell over Amazon's
connected Kindle here in America.
Filed under: Displays, Handhelds
Full specs leak on Sony Reader
PRS-300 and PRS-600 originally
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Aug 2009 07:52:00 EST. Please see
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Snapdragon and Tegra
smartbook rumors swirl
before likely year end push
By Vladislav Savov (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:51:00 AM
DigiTimes is reporting -- in its usual
sourceless, rumorific way -- that a
slew of Taiwanese manufacturers are
set to deliver smartbooks based on
the Snapdragon and Tegra chipsets
by the fourth quarter of this year.
Acer is leading the charge with an
Android-sporting device, adding to
its push of the Google mobile OS,
while Mobinnova has confirmed US
and European orders for its 8.9-inch
élan, shipments of which might top
half a million units in 2009. In the
meantime, Inventec is expected to
launch a 10-inch Tegra smartbook
entitled Rainbow, which is probably
set for a prompt rebadge. On the
DefCon: 'Credit Hackers' Win the Credit Card
Game & Legally
By David Kravets (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 10:24:00 AM
Hundreds of “credit hackers” are
legally gaming financial institutions
other hand, citing what it sees as
weak demand, ASUS is holding back
and won't launch anything until
November at the earliest. While none
of these rumors are massively
surprising, and given the source
could be downright erroneous, they
do hint at a wild, industry-wide
synergy of smartbook rollout for the
holiday period. And we all love
synergy.
Filed under: Laptops
Snapdragon and Tegra smartbook
rumors swirl before likely year end
push originally appeared on
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09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms
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by taking advantage of loopholes in
the U.S. credit-reporting system, a
security researcher says — warning
that identity thieves could follow
suit.
Gadgets/ * 7
Microsoft's
browserless Windows
7 E gets EUthanized
By Tim Stevens (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:11:00 AM
The saga of Microsoft vs. the
European Commission just keeps on
keepin' on. MS was accused of
harming the browser competition by
including IE with Windows, and as
part of its pledge to play nice
proposed a Europe-only version of
Windows 7 that would completely
lack Internet Explorer, dubbed
Windows 7 E. Last week the
company came up with an
alternative: a so-called ballot screen
version that would allow users to
pick (nearly) any browser they like
upon start-up -- or just stick with the
already installed IE. Buoyed by
generally positive feedback from the
move, Microsoft has indicated it's
going to go ahead and kill off
Windows 7 E -- despite the lack of an
official agreement from the
Commission as of yet. So, the whole,
wonderful world will get the same
flavor of the OS, and everyone
browsed happily ever after. The
end...?
[Via ComputerWorld]
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops,
Software
Microsoft's browserless Windows 7
E gets EUthanized originally
appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03
Aug 2009 07:11:00 EST. Please see
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8 Gadgets/
“Well-informed” Nikon insider
says combination camera-
projector coming next week
By Devin Coldewey
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 5:07:38 PM
We heard there was
a“groundbreaking” announcement
incoming from Nikon next week, but
no one was quite sure what it was.
Speculation was leaning towards a
point-and-shoot with a built-in pico
projector, and… it still is. Info from
some insiders lends a little more
weight to the hypothesis, and even…
a code name.
The news is from French print
photo mag Chausseur D’Image, who,
as a mark of credibility, had the
D300 and D300s specs in their July
25 issue, well ahead of schedule.
Full specs of new Sony Readers posted (and then pulled)
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:28:34 AM
Oh, the wonders of our Internet.
J&R apparently posted product pages
Wizards beware: the Window W26 Sorcerer's Stone plays WMA files
By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:23:00 AM
There aren't really any specs
available for the Window W26
Their next issue features prominently
a device called the VP650:
In their august issue, they’re
talking with A LOT of confidence (as
if it was a sure thing) of a new Nikon
product with the code name Nikon
VP650 that should be announced in
August and shipped in September.
This camera would be a compact
camera with a LED projector that
could project up to 8×12 images in
good quality in the dark. They are
also stating that this projector could
be manufactured by the company
FoxLink (it’s in Taiwan).
Sounds reasonable to me. I
wouldn’t call it groundbreaking, but I
would say it “explores new territory.”
of the new, and also unannounced,
Sony Readers which were then of
course pulled, but not before Google
cached ‘em. (hehe) There really isn’t
any tantalizing details that the wasn’t
"Sorcerer's Stone" MP3 player, but
we can tell you this: it won't turn
anything into gold, and Muggles can't
figure out how to use it.
[Via PMP Today]
Facebook Connect for the DSi goes live
in North America
By Peter Ha (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:45:39 AM
Good morning, everyone!
Nintendo pushed out firmware v1.4
last week in Japan and it looks like
NA will be getting the same
treatment tonight. Sometime after
5PM PT today, Nintendo will be
pushing out an update for DSi
in the prevous leak. There still isn’t
Filed under: Portable Audio
owners to be able to upload pictures
to their Facebook profile page via the
DSi. We first learned about this
feature back at E3 and I’m still pretty
lukewarm about it now as I was back
then. But I’m a jaded jerk so don’t
listen to me. And remember, kids,
this update will bork flash carts so
proceed with caution.
any mention of wireless connectivity
like WiFi or WWAN though. If said
product pages are indeed correct, the
small, 5-inch PRS-300 should sell for
$199 while the larger, 6-inch PRS-
Wizards beware: the Window W26
Sorcerer's Stone plays WMA files
originally appeared on Engadget on
Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:23:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Internet News Record
CrunchDeals: Garmin
nuvi 265T GPS with
lifetime traffic data for
$150
By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:00:51 AM
Amazon has knocked $30 off the
Garmin nuvi 265T GPS system
today, bringing the price to $150
with free shipping. Perhaps more
enticing than the price, though, is that
you get free traffic data for the life of
the device.
Other features include a 3.5-inch
touchscreen, Bluetooth, a new and
improved interface, geotagging and
photo sharing, 3D maps, and more.
The deal is good today only.
Garmin nuvi 265T 3.5-inch
Bluetooth Portable GPS
Navigator[Amazon]
600 will fetch $300. [via Sony
Insider]
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Internet News Record
The Palm Pre is
now available on
Amazon
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:00:02 AM
There is probably a good chance
that if you wanted the Palm Pre, you
already snagged it at a Sprint store or
Best Buy. Amazon now has the
smartphone in case though. The on-
contract price is the same at $199,
but the off-contract price is
surprisingly low at only $499. That’s
a heck of deal considering the boys
in blue have it listed at $749 sans
contract. The only kicker is that it
will take 4-6 weeks to ship. Sorry.
Google CEO Schmidt Resigns From Apple Board
By John C Abell (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:57:00 AM
Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigns
from the Apple board. It may have
GE's NBC Universal probably not laughing over opening of 'Funny People'
By Steven Mallas
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:00:00 AM
Filed under: General Electric (GE),
Time Warner (TWX), Walt Disney
(DIS), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Film
Funny People, distributed by
General Electric's (NYSE: GE)
Universal Studios, was the number
CrunchGear Week in
Review: Escape from
Danger Edition
By Bryce Durbin (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 12:00:12 AM
LEDSAUR: Dinosaur-shaped desk
lamps
Ninja Star Coat Hook strikes a
death blow to clutter
Penguin-powered bootable USB
drive looks like actual penguin
80s trifecta wallpaper: Nerf,
Zapper, Super Soaker
Video: Panasonic’s battery-
powered Evolta robot to tackle the Le
Mans circuit
been a long time in coming but it
occurs right after Apple rejects the
Google Voice iPhone app the the
FCC says it wants Apple and AT&T
to explain why.
one film this weekend. I don't know
whether or not the critics liked it but,
from a financial viewpoint, it failed.
According to Boxofficemojo,
People grossed $23 million as of
early estimates. Cool; that's enough
money to beat Time Warner's
(NYSE: TWX) incredibly
competitive Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince, which came in
KKR prepares a torrent
of IPOs
By Zac Bissonnette
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:40:00 AM
Filed under: Blackstone Group L.P
(BX), Initial public offerings The
market has made a nice rebound over
the past few months, and one
question is on every investor's lips:
Can it continue?
To get an answer, it might not be a
bad idea to look at what the private
equity firms are planning. Remember
when The Blackstone Group(NYSE:
BX) decided to cash out with an IPO
and it marked the exact top of the
private equity boom? Take a look at
how that stock has performed since
then.
Well, now The Financial Times
reports that"Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts, the world's biggest buy-out
group, is preparing up to six
companies for initial public offerings
worth billions of dollars, including
Toys 'R Us, as it sells some of its
most valuable groups back to the
stock market."
Toys 'R Us, First Data Corp, Dollar
General, TDC, and HCA are among
the companies KKR is reportedly
looking to take public.
Maybe they're great companies, but
just remember: Private equity firms
get rich by buying low and selling
second with $17 million. Disney's
(NYSE: DIS) G-Force is also
Gadgets/ Business/ *
high -- and if they're celebrating the
rebound and planning IPOs, that
might well be a sign that the market's
rally is out of steam. If Toys 'R Us
and First Data were going to continue
to rise in value, why would they be
making plans to take them public
now?
KKR has been sitting on its
portfolio companies for years,
waiting for the right time to cash out.
If KKR thinks it's time to cash out, it
probably isn't a good time to be
buying.
KKR prepares a torrent of IPOs
originally appeared on
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2009 08:40:00 EST. Please see our
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credited with roughly $17 million,
and has been given third place for
now (final numbers will solidify the
rankings when they are made
available).
Continue reading GE's NBC
Universal probably not laughing over
opening of 'Funny People'
GE's NBC Universal probably not
laughing over opening of 'Funny
9
Options Update:
Index volatilities'
near one year lows
By Paul Foster (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:20:00 AM
Filed under: Indices, Options
NASDAQ 100(NASDAQ -
QQQQ)verall implied volatility at
26; 26-week average is 32
Semiconductor Holders Trust-
SMH overall volatility at 30; 26-
week average is 38
Russell 2000- IWM overall implied
volatility at 27; 26-week average is
39
Financial Select Sector- XLF
overall volatility at 37; 26-week
average is 58
Option Update is provided by
Stock Specialist Paul Foster of
theflyonthewall.com
Options Update: Index volatilities'
near one year lows originally
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People' originally appeared on
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2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our
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10 Business/ *
Cramer on BloggingStocks: How about a $12 billion 'cash
Don't Hit the Brakes on for clunkers' program?
'Cash for Clunkers'
By Jim Cramer (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:00:00 AM
Filed under: Ford Motor (F),
General Motors (GM), Cramer on
BloggingStocks From TheStreet.com
Network
• Industry Insight: Can Cars Be
Profitable?
• "Clunkers" Program Needs More
from Senate
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says
critics of the program don't
understand the simple good it does.
The Wall Street Journal's editorial
page launches an attack of the Cash
for Clunkers campaign today, noting
that we are destroying perfectly good
cars for no reason and giving away
thousands of dollars only to increase
the federal deficit. We should give
vouchers for all sorts of goodies if
we are going to go down this route,
they cynically point out, and they
label it a Democratic giveaway.
First, let me say that if the
government gives away $4 billion or
$5 billion on this one, big deal. We
have supported every cockamamie
military project, every bogus part of
stimulus -- ours amounts more to a
giveaway to the only secure workers
in this country (state and local
employees) with a minimum of
stimulus for infrastructure -- so
It's A Girl for Reality Stars Rob &
Amber
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:58:00 AM
Reality TV's most famous couple --
Rob and Amber Mariano-- welcomed
their first child over the weekend.
The stars of CBS's "Survivor,"
"The Amazing Race" and even their
own FOX reality show, "Rob and
Amber: Against the Odds,"
what's wrong with one that actually
mimics the successful Chinese
program of forcing consumers to
spend?
Continue reading Cramer on
BloggingStocks: Don't Hit the Brakes
on 'Cash for Clunkers'
Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't
Hit the Brakes on 'Cash for Clunkers'
originally appeared on
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welcomed daughter Lucia Rose on
the 4th of July at Sacred Heart
Hospital in Pensacola, Fla.,
People.com reports.
Rob, 33, and Amber, 30, chose the
name of Italian origin meaning "light
of God." The baby's middle name is
said to be a tribute to Amber's great-
grandmother, who died on the 4th of
July.
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:00:00 AM
Filed under: Forecasts, Consumer
experience, Politics, Recession
The"cash for clunkers" program,
once thought to be a minor, symbolic
effort to stimulate the U.S. economy,
actually may end up being
substantive.
The program, which is designed to
give rebates to enable citizens to
trade in older vehicles for more fuel-
efficient models, thus stimulating
auto sales and the economy, ran out
of its limited $1 billion allocation
Congress approved earlier this year.
So the U.S. House moved quickly
last Friday to approve an additional
$2 billion for the popular plan. Look
for the Senate to follow, although the
A little-discussed benefit of
health care reform: Employee
mobility
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:40:00 AM
Filed under: Forecasts, Good news,
Politics One benefit of universal
health care that has been overlooked?
A better match between employee
and position, and enhanced job
mobility.
Right now, millions of professional
and blue collar employees are
remaining in current jobs, not
because it's their preference, but
because of their health care plan. In
some cases, it's health care for a
spouse or dependent: the employee
knows that a job shift with a health
plan shift could jeopardize coverage
or benefits, hence they stay put.
Continue reading A little-discussed
new proposal may be modified.
Continue reading How about a $12
billion 'cash for clunkers' program?
How about a $12 billion 'cash for
clunkers' program? originally
appeared on BloggingStocks on
Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST.
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benefit of health care reform:
Employee mobility
A little-discussed benefit of health
care reform: Employee mobility
originally appeared on
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2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our
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Internet News Record
M&A revving for
a comeback?
By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:20:00 AM
Filed under: Deals, Private equity
So far this year, it's been miserable
for M&A bankers, which makes
sense. If you look back at prior
recessions, there was always a big
fall in M&A activity. Buyers don't
want to take the risks and sellers
want higher valuations.
According to Reuters, global M&A
volume was about $968 billion this
year as of June. This is down more
than 40% since 2007, which was a
peak in dealmaking.
Continue reading M&A revving for
a comeback?
M&A revving for a comeback?
originally appeared on
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2009 09:20:00 EST. Please see our
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Will Booth &
Brennan Hook Up
on 'Bones'?
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 2:32:00 AM
Last season, "Bones" executive
producer Hart Hanson promised fans
that Booth ( David Boreanaz) and
Brennan ( Emily Deschanel) would
end up in bed together. And they did
-- sort of -- leaving many fans
unhappy.
So, is there any chance that it will
happen this season?
"Do you honestly think I am going
to answer that question after what I
went through last season?" Hanson
tells ET.
Internet News Record
Art.view: Arles together now
(The Economist: Daily columns)
Submitted at 8/1/2009 3:15:06 AM
Art.view
Aug 1st 2009
From Economist.com A charming
time-capsule of 19th-century life in
Arles
The Museon Arlaten was
established in 1896 to record how
people lived in and around Arles.
Labels are often handwritten in sepia
ink and many display cases also
appear to be original.Merchandising
and promotion are concepts that have
not touched the place. There is no
catalogue of the collection, never
mind a café.
Admissions figures reflect this.
There were only 55,000 visitors last
year. This is a shame because the
Museon Arlaten is both a treat and a
revelation. How much of this is due
to its cranky, old fashioned style will
become evident in 2014 or so, when
the museum reopens after a full
restoration. However, it doesn’t shut
until October 25th, so hurry along.
Female guardians wear the local
19th-century dress. The appearance
of these Arlesiennes will be familiar
from the paintings of Van Gogh. (He
lived and painted in Arles from 1888
to 1889.) On view are many more
costumes as well as farm
implements, saddles, baskets and
some rather medieval-looking metal
objects connected with raising bulls.
(Bullfights in the 19th century were
held in the town’s Roman arena as
they still are today.) This may make
Kara DioGuardi Returns to 'American Idol'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:55:00 AM
ET has confirmed that "American
Idol"'s newest addition, Kara
DioGuardi, will be returning to the
judge's table.
“We are so happy to welcome back
Kara for her second season with
the museum sound worthy if a little
dull, but this is to underestimate the
charms within. The Museon Arlaten
is a place of fantasy and wonder. Not
coincidentally it was the creation of a
poet.
Frederic Mistral, born not far from
Arles, devoted his life to literature
and Provence. He wrote in Provencal
because he loved the language and
wanted to revive it. His works, albeit
in French translation, were widely
read. In 1904 Mistral won the Nobel
Prize for Literature. He spent his
prize money on the museum. A new
larger building was bought and
renovated, which has been the
museum’s home ever since. Two
room-sized dioramas were
commissioned for it. In one, a
handsomely furnished bedroom, a
woman with her newborn baby rests
in bed, receiving well wishers. The
other is a manor-house kitchen laden
with equipment. The big dining table
is covered with food and drink ready
for the Christmas Eve feast. The
faces of the full-sized figures in these
tableaux are of such distinctive
characters they must have been
sculpted from life.
The objects relating to “Myth and
Ritual” are among the museum’s
most engaging. A papier-mâché
dragon, big as a bear, is a retired
veteran of festival performances in
nearby Tarascon. There Saint Martha
is said to have captured a monster
terrorising its people. The event is
still commemorated each year.
Perhaps the most delightful, and
IDOL,” said Simon Fuller, Creator
and Executive Producer of "Idol,"
said of the Grammy-nominated
songwriter. “She is a breath of fresh
air, and her passion for music and her
understanding of talent is invaluable.
This show is all about discovering
new talent, and Kara’s championing
of Adam Lambert is proof positive of
covetable, objects are called Beatiho.
Used for private devotion, these glass
-fronted, book-sized tableau were
made by the region’s nuns (mainly
Carmelites) in the 18th and 19th
centuries. The money from their sale
helped support the convents. On
view, too, are workboxes they used,
each filled with the strips of curled
paper, pieces of wire and glass. The
resulting, intricate scenes are
crowded with tiny flowers and birds,
shepherds and dogs complimenting
the chosen religious theme; the
nativity, for example.
Van Gogh longed to meet Mistral,
whose work he read and admired. He
felt they shared the same deep
attachment to Arles and its people. It
is unlikely that the famed poet had
any idea the painter even existed. Yet
a meeting could still be arranged,
symbolically. All that is needed is the
loan to Mistral’s museum of a Van
Gogh painting, created while he was
in Arles. The two great artists would
be united in homage to the people
they so deeply appreciated. Such a
loan would serve another purpose,
too. Now that fate has reversed the
reputations of the two men, the
presence of a Van Gogh in the
Museon Arlaten would send visitor
numbers shooting up. As a result
more people would discover what
their passion for the place was about.
Back to top ^^ Readers' comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
her great instinct.”
News of Kara's return next season
comes after reports that Paula Abdul
maybe exiting the program. Abdul's
new manager told the Los Angeles
Times, "Very sadly, it does not
appear that she's going to be back on
'Idol.'"
Economy/ Social Net/ *
Quote 5 Words From
the Associated Press?
That’ll Be $12.50
By Ben Parr (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 3:07:25 PM
We’ve known that the Associated
Press has some odd policies in
regards to social media and the web
for a while. The AP social media
policy says that employees need to
control not only what they said on
Facebook, but what their friends said
as well. We also got wind last week
of the AP’s plan to find where
anyone uses AP material online in an
attempt to stop what it considers
unauthorized use of its content. To
say it’s causing controversy would be
an understatement.
Part of the AP’s plan is to charge
for use of its articles if you quote 5
words or more. They signed a deal
with iCopyright in April to
accomplish this goal. iCopyright is a
widget that handles not only print
and email, but republishing as well.
Well the widget’s starting to get
some attention, if only for the jaw-
dropping starting price the AP is
charging for quoting its stories:$2.50
per word.
The process goes like this: you
copy and paste the excerpt or article
you want to reprint. Next you pick
your price, ranging from $12.50 for
five words to $100 for 251 words or
more. Here’s the price list, if you are
not an educational or non-profit
organization (they get a discount):
While this isn’t particularly
shocking, it’s still part of a series of
disturbing statements and actions the
AP has taken in terms of web
content. This plan’s going in the
wrong direction
Let’s first be fair to the AP before
11
we heap on the criticism. They’re the
source of a lot of our news and a
valuable journalistic asset. They are
also trying to protect their content
from what they see as illegitimate
copying and unfair use.
Still, the entire policy is a battle
against the direction of progress, and
the price point is way off. Social
media helps spread information faster
and to more people, which is the
point of a wired service like the AP.
The company’s complaint is that
blogs and news aggregators (i.e.
Google News) are taking its content
and making all the advertising
revenue. What they forget is that they
provide a great deal of traffic and
attention to content creators in the
process.
We don’t know the answer to this
conundrum. But we do know that the
AP’s current plan is riddled with
holes. Laws protecting fair use come
into play and are essential to freedom
of the press. The AP really needs to
define their policy on fair use vs.
reprinting. It also seems obvious that
no small-scale publisher is going to
pay $12.50 to quote a line from an
article. when quoting and linking on
the web are common practice.
What do you think? Is what the
AP’s asking for fair? Or is the price
absurd? Let us know in the
comments.
[via Hacker News] Reviews:
Facebook, Hacker News
Tags: Associated Press
12 Social Net/ *
HOW TO: Customize Your YouTube Channel
By Jennifer Van Grove
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 4:32:41 PM
YouTube recently redesigned
channel pages to make them more
dynamic and easier to customize. The
beta channels are now a hodgepodge
of your uploads, favorites, playlists,
and numerous in-channel editing
options. Should you upgrade to the
new design, you have a greater
chance of creating an eye-catching
channel that’s likely to keep your
viewers engaged for longer.
YouTube originally made the
redesigned channels available to a
select group of elite members and
new users. Now however, the video
site is letting anyone upgrade their
channel, and eventually they’ll be
moving all remaining channels over
to the new version.
As previously reported, the
redesign allows for wider videos and
better organized pages; the result is a
viewer-friendly experience centered
around your content. As such, we
wanted to highlight some of the best
ways to maximize the redesigned
channels and show you how to
customize them to your liking. The
Basics
First things first: upgrade your
channel. There’s absolutely no
reason not to. The new design is
sleeker, more viewer-friendly, and is
just more dynamic than the old
design. Plus, it’s pretty painless to
upgrade. Simply visit your Channel
Design page and click “Upgrade my
channel.”
You’ll notice immediately that
most of your previous channel
customizations are already carried
over in the new design, which is
good news if you put a lot of time
and effort into designing your
channel’s look and feel.
Ne-Yo and Other Celebs Hit Vegas for the Weekend
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 2:05:00 AM
Now that you’ve upgraded, you’ll
immediately want to edit the video
content settings for your newly
enhanced channel. Thankfully this
can be done with just a few clicks.
Find the edit button in upper right-
hand corner to view the content
selection menu. You can opt to
display uploaded videos, favorites,
playlists, or a combination of all
three.
If you select the playlists option,
you can then individually select the
video playlists you want to include.
You also have the option to adjust
the featured content set and the
featured video for your channel.
Since the featured video is the one
channel visitors will see first, we
suggest you peruse your options to
find the right setting. In-Channel
Editing
In-channel editing is the new black
on YouTube, and though basic in
concept — you can edit everything
without leaving your channel — it’s
a key time-saver and an incredibly
useful upgrade.
You’ll notice that the new design is
R&B star Ne-Yo partied in Las
Vegas over the weekend.
The singer and songwriter headed
replete with editing options
everywhere. You’ll want to take
advantage of these to tweak the
information displayed about you,
your activity, and your videos.
Here’s what you can edit right from
the channel page: recent activity,
privacy settings, displayed settings
for profile information, subscriptions,
subscribers, friends, and channel
comments, as well as channel
settings, themes, and modules.
You’ve got a lot of power right at
your fingertips.
When it comes to theme and
module editing, users with no CSS or
design experience will find
themselves completely at ease with
beautifying their channel design. The
themes and colors are pretty self-
explanatory, so you can pick a preset
theme, start toying with colors, and
get an as-it-happens preview while
you tweak. You can still upload a
custom background image and adjust
the coloring for every element of
your channel. Once you’re done, just
click save to publish the new design
publicly.
to Body English nightclub where he
took the stage to perform with DJ
Clinton.
Also make sure to take a quick look
at the modules tab if you’re
interested in removing or displaying
content modules. You can do away
with, or include, these modules:
comments, recent activity, friends,
subscribers, groups, and
subscriptions. Extra Channel Tips
Adjusting background image file
size: One annoying thing about
YouTube background images is that
they’re constrained to 256 KB, which
means if you have a high resolution
image, you’re out of luck unless
you’re able to compress the file size
with a photo editor. If all of this
sounds foreign, not to worry.
An easy way to downsize your
image is to use an online photo editor
like Picnik. Simply upload or access
your online images from Flickr or
Facebook, and click the “Save and
Share” tab. You’ll notice that you
can select from a few different photo
formats (try JPG), and then use the
sliding bar to compress the image file
size below 256 KB. Click to save
your photo, and now all you need to
do is upload it to YouTube (Edit
Body English was a hot spot for
celebs this weekend, Brody Jenner,
Cuba Gooding Jr., Tommy Lee, and
Internet News Record
Channel -> Themes and Colors ->
show advanced options).
Expand your color palette:
YouTube also only lets you select
from 64 different colors, but you can
really use any browser-safe color by
inputting the right hex code. Why not
use a web color chart like this one to
have even more choices? Just enter
the code of your choosing into the
box next to the color palate, hit enter
on your keyboard, and your preview
is instantly updated.
Keep up with what’s new:
YouTube has an under the radar blog
dedicated to the Channels Beta
project. Since this is a beta offering,
YouTube is pushing out changes and
adding new features on a very regular
basis. Subscribe to this blog to be the
first to know about what’s new.
Reviews: Facebook, Flickr,
YouTube, picnik
Tags: channel, customize, youtube
Pamela Anderson were also spotted
at the popular Vegas nightclub.
Internet News Record
Facebook Leads to Suicide, Warns BREAKING: Google CEO
UK Head of Roman Catholic Church Eric Schmidt Resigns From
By Ben Parr (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 12:12:55 PM
Are Facebook, MySpace, and cell
phones creating a suicide-prone
generation of children? Archbishop
Vincent Nichols, the head of the
Catholic Church in England and
Wales, strongly believes so. He also
points the finger at SMS and football
players (soccer in the U.S.)
dehumanizing society and eroding
our social skills.
The Archbishop made his many
thoughts on social media clear in a
lengthy interview with The
Telegraph. His comments come on
the heels of the tragic news that 15
year old Megan Gillan overdosed on
pain killers due to bullying on Bebo.
The Archbishop’s Words
Here are the Archbishop’s thoughts
on emailing and texting:
“I think there’s a worry that an
excessive use or an almost exclusive
use of text and emails means that as a
society we’re losing some of the
ability to build interpersonal
communication that’s necessary for
living together and building a
community.”
On Facebook and MySpace:
“Facebook and MySpace might
contribute towards communities, but
I’m wary about it. It’s not rounded
communication so it won’t build a
rounded community … If we mean
by community a genuine growing
together and a mutual sharing in an
interest that is of some significance
then it needs more than Facebook.”
On communication increasingly
occurring through digital channels:
“We’re losing social skills, the
human interaction skills, how to read
a person’s mood, to read their body
language, how to be patient until the
Welcome to 'the jungle'
By John Domokos (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
The French government has vowed
moment is right to make or press a
point. Too much exclusive use of
electronic information dehumanises
what is a very, very important part of
community life and living together.”
On suicide:
“Among young people often a key
factor in them committing suicide is
the trauma of transient relationships.
They throw themselves into a
friendship or network of friendships,
then it collapses and they’re
desolate.”
He also claimed that Facebook and
social networking are causing
teenagers to value the number of
friends they have, rather than the
quality of their relationships:
“It’s an all or nothing syndrome that
you have to have in an attempt to
shore up an identity; a collection of
friends about whom you can talk and
even boast. But friendship is not a
commodity, friendship is something
that is hard work and enduring when
it’s right.” It’s Really About Personal
Responsibility
I’ll stop there because we can sum
up his quotes into one argument:
to clear the makeshift migrants camp
outside Calais. But where do they go
overuse of Facebook and social
media are leading to the decay of
society. While he does not say we
should stop texting, he strongly
implied that technology is destroying
communities and, yes, encouraging
suicides among teenagers.
His points aren’t without merit;
overaddiction to almost anything,
whether it’s a narcotic, Twitter, or
World of Warcraft, often leads to
negative outcomes. Still, our
experience has shown us that social
media helps build communities rather
than tears them down. It has brought
people together rather than isolated
them.
Social media’s the straw man of
this debate. It’s easy to blame new
technologies for breaking down the
fabric of society. It doesn’t go to the
root of the problem, though. For
example, it’s misleading to point the
finger squarely at social networking
in the Megan Gillan Bebo bullying
case. Bullying is not specific to the
web – it happens on the playground
just as much as it happens on the
Internet. The issue isn’t the medium
in which the harassment occurred,
but the harassment itself.
So before we start throwing our
cell phones into the fire and deleting
our Facebook accounts, we should
take a look at ourselves first and
realize that new technology can
almost always be used for the
betterment of society. It’s up to us to
be responsible with the power of new
technology, and to avoid the pitfalls
of human nature. Reviews:
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter
Tags: catholic church, facebook,
social media, suicide
next?
Apple’s Board of Directors
By Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:12:59 AM
Google CEO Eric Schmidt stepped
down today from Apple’s Board of
Directors, a role that many said
created conflicts of interest as Apple
and Google rival each other in
multiple market sectors.
In particular, Google Android is a
direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone
ecosystem, while the upcoming
Chrome OS will create some conflict
in the operating system market. And
just last week the FCC began looking
into Apple’s rejection of the Google
Voice app from the App Store.
Schmidt was under increasing
pressure to deal with the conflict, and
it seems he’s made his move today.
The news of Schmidt’s stepping
down was announced via a press
release on Apple’s website. It reads:
Dr. Eric Schmidt Resigns from
Apple’s Board of Directors
CUPERTINO, California—August
3, 2009—Apple® today announced
that Dr. Eric Schmidt, chief
executive officer of Google, is
resigning from Apple’s Board of
Directors, a position he has held
since August 2006.
“Eric has been an excellent Board
member for Apple, investing his
valuable time, talent, passion and
wisdom to help make Apple
successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s
CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google
enters more of Apple’s core
businesses, with Android and now
Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as
an Apple Board member will be
significantly diminished, since he
Social Net/ World/ 13
will have to recuse himself from even
larger portions of our meetings due to
potential conflicts of interest.
Therefore, we have mutually decided
that now is the right time for Eric to
resign his position on Apple’s
Board.”
Apple ignited the personal
computer revolution in the 1970s
with the Apple II and reinvented the
personal computer in the 1980s with
the Macintosh. Today, Apple
continues to lead the industry in
innovation with its award-winning
computers, OS X operating system
and iLife and professional
applications. Apple is also
spearheading the digital media
revolution with its iPod portable
music and video players and iTunes
online store, and has entered the
mobile phone market with its
revolutionary iPhone.
Image courtesy Charles Haynes,
Wikipedia Reviews: Android,
Google, Wikipedia
Tags: apple, Google, Schmidt
14 Social Net/ *
#FreeMediaVe: Venezuelans Going Google: The
Using Twitter to Protest Apple Switch Ads for
Media Crackdown
By Ben Parr (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 11:56:23 PM
Over the last few days, Venezuela
has been closing down radio and
media stations that are denouncing
the government and its actions. This
is not going down quietly, though, as
protesters are fighting back against
what critics consider the
infringement of free speech.
However, with stations being
“recovered” by the government,
citizens and protesters alike have
turned to a new communication
platform to concentrate their efforts:
Twitter. Venezuelans are
coordinating their tweets of
opposition with the
hashtag#FreeMediaVe, which started
to pick up steam late Friday.
President Hugo Chavez, the
controversial socialist leader, ordered
that about 240 radio stations be
closed down earlier this July, but
now the media lockdown is being
implemented in full force. This is
where Twitter has come into play –
as radio stations have fallen,
opponents of the socialist leader have
taken to Twitter, dominating nearly
1% of tweets at times.
In fact, there has been so much
activity on Twitter that it has
prompted a government response,
Social Cord: Charge for Content Via Twitter
By Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 4:23:26 AM
New service Social Cord has
devised a way to charge your Twitter
followers to access premium content:
just sign up on the site, authenticate
your Twitter account and promote
your subscription service to your
followers.
where they said the social network
was being used just by extremists.
Twitter’s power to challenge
repressive governments and
galvanize worldwide support was
seen in full action during the
dramatic events of the#IranElection
crisis. It proved to be a major means
of communications for Iranians as
the government closed down other
channels (Twitter’s role was even big
enough to concern the U.S.
government).
We may very well be seeing the
“Twitter effect” in action again. How
big it gets, how long it lasts, and how
effective Twitter will be in fighting
back remains to be seen. We will be
watching the #FreeMediaVe
movement closely.
[Thanks to Breaking Tweets for the
info]
Reviews: Twitter
Tags: twitter, Venezuela
Whenever you want to send out
subscription content, you can log in
at Social Cord or send a direct
message to the@tipcup Twitter
account. Aside from just charging for
texts, you might want to charge for
access to music or written works, the
site suggests. Content is sent to
subcribers via text or DM. Pay Via
Text: No Credit Card Required
the Web App Era
By Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 12:45:20 AM
More than 7 years after the launch
of the Apple Switch ads, Microsoft
once again finds itself the target of an
ad campaign that attempts to chip
away at its dominant market share.
This week Google is launching the
“ Going Google” campaign, reports
CNet, placing billboards in New
York, Boston, Chicago, and San
Francisco that encourage IT
managers to switch from Microsoft
products to Google Apps.
The billboards, which run for a
month, will be changed every day to
progressively explain the advantages
of the Google Apps suite. They’ll
appear on the Mass Pike in Boston,
San Francisco’s 101, New York’s
West Side Highway and The Ike in
Chicago, reports eWeek. The ads will
push IT managers to the Apps at
Work site, which explains:
“Thousands of companies are going
Google by switching to Google Apps
— a web-based suite of messaging
and collaboration applications. It’s
all hosted by Google, and designed
While micropayments are often
given a hard time, Social Cord does
have the benefit of extreme
simplicity: thanks to partnerships
with the four major US carriers, the
service lets your subscribers pay by
entering their telephone number; they
with security and reliability in mind,
saving your company the frustrations
and hassles of managing traditional
IT solutions yourself. Find out how
others have switched from Microsoft
Exchange or Lotus Notes to Google
Apps.”
The encouragement to “switch”
away from Microsoft is reminiscent
of Apple’s consumer ad campaigns,
which pitted Apple as a real
alternative (below). Google is surely
hoping to make a similar splash with
IT managers on their commutes to
and from work.
See also: Google vs Microsoft: A
Guide to the Battle
Reviews: Google
Tags: going google, Google,
microsoft
then receive a PIN number via a text
message which provides access to the
content. There’s no credit card
required: it simply gets added to your
cellphone bill each month. Content
providers get around 55% of the
cash, while the carriers take 45%.
While there doesn’t seem to be a
huge market for paid content over
Twitter at this point, we can’t help
Internet News Record
Tiger Woods' Fart on 18
at the Buick Open
Sounds Like an iPhone
App
By Will Brinson (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:20:00 AM
by Will Brinson
Filed under: PGA, Golf Odds and
Ends Anyone watching CBS'
coverage of the Buick Open
yesterday was treated to what
sounded like a Tiger Woods' fart on
the 18th hole. As you can
hear/see/tell from the video below,
Woods and caddie Steve Williams
are waiting for Tiger to take his shot,
when there's a loud, flatulent noise,
which came after Tiger is seen taking
an awkward stance in the fairway.
Now, to me, it sounds like iFart, the
iPhone application that lets you play
pooting noises from your phone. But
Tiger and Stevie start laughing
hysterically, so maybe the world's
greatest golfer really did just rip one.
Your thoughts? ( Video via Awful
Announcing)
Tiger Woods' Fart on 18 at the
Buick Open Sounds Like an iPhone
App originally appeared on Fanhouse
Golf Blog on Mon, 03 Aug 2009
10:20:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
feeling there’s something to this
payment system: adding charges to
your bill rather than entering credit
card details seems like the obvious
way to go for mobile payments,
provided the content provided is
desirable enough.
Reviews: Twitter
Tags: micropayments, payments,
socialcord, twitter
Internet News Record
Are You Happy? Your
iPhone Wants to Know
By Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:14:11 AM
How happy are you right now? A
new iPhone-based research project
aims to find out…and in doing so,
help find out what makes you and
others happy.
Track Your Happiness, a program
started by Harvard University
doctoral candidate Matt
Killingsworth, is a psychological
study that aims to find the factors
influencing happiness. But rather
than asking participants to complete
surveys in a lab, Killingsworth
wanted to gather data from the real
world, throughout the day. Hence, he
chose the iPhone.
The idea is simple: you sign up on
the Track Your Happiness site,
answer a few questions about
yourself and say how often you’d
like to receive happiness surveys
during your day (between 3 and 5
times). These simple surveys,
optimized for the iPhone’s screen,
are sent via text message. Questions
include how happy you are, where
you are, whether you’re with others
NHL's Top 50: Rick Nash (No. 20)
By Adam Gretz (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:00:00 AM
by Adam Gretz
Filed under: Blue Jackets, NHL
Fans, NHL Videos FanHouse's Adam
Gretz takes a look at his top 50
players in the NHL. No. 20 is
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick
Nash.
The Columbus Blue Jackets
qualified for the NHL playoffs for
the first time in franchise history this
past season, and leading the way was
team captain Rick Nash with a career
or alone, and whether you enjoy the
task you’re currently engaged in.
While the data you submit is used
in Killingsworth’s research, you also
receive personal “happiness reports”
like these from blogger Buster
Benson(below). It goes without
saying that the information could be
used to improve your overall
happiness – not to mention the glow
you’ll get from helping researchers
understand the factors influencing
human happiness.
[via NYTimes]
-high 79 points. His season was
highlighted by a pair of hat tricks
against the Detroit Red Wings,
including one in an 8-2 rout that
Could Better Run Support
Cure Jon Garland's Problems?
By Knox Bardeen (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:02:00 AM
by Knox Bardeen
Filed under: MLB Injury Report,
MLB Locking Your Lineup, MLB
Waiver Wire Poppin' out the box
scores and right into your cubicle, the
Roto Rush is your double espresso
shot of fantasy baseball advice every
weekday.
Jon Garland has a 6-10 record on
the season with a 4.26 ERA and I'm
about to tell you that he's been the
victim of poor run support. Well,
that's at least part of the reason for
his double digit loss column.
We've heard it before from the
Diamondbacks and their pitchers.
Dan Haren started the season with
three straight losses even though he
gave up only four total earned runs in
those three games. But Haren is an
ace and it was believable when we
played the run support card with him.
Garland, on the other hand, just
doesn't have the track record.
featured Nash scoring three
unassisted goals. It was the first time
a player recorded three unassisted
goals in a single game since Rocket
Richard in 1948.
The NHL's Top 50 Players: See the
Entire List
NHL's Top 50: Rick Nash (No. 20)
originally appeared on Fanhouse
NHL Blog on Mon, 03 Aug 2009
09:00:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
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Could Better Run Support Cure Jon
Garland's Problems? originally
appeared on Fanhouse Fantasy
Baseball on Mon, 03 Aug 2009
08:02:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Cloris Leachman
on Michael
Jackson's Death
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:03:00 AM
"Dancing with the Stars" alum
Cloris Leachman opens up to ET
about the loss of Michael Jackson
and speculates as to whether or not
drugs were involved, as was the case
with her son Bryan's death.
"It's very sad," Cloris says of
Michael's passing. "But when
somebody dies, it’s a village;
everybody suffers."
"I lost my son," Cloris says of
Bryan, who died of an overdose in
1986. "And you’re not talking to
them. You’re talking to the drugs.
They can’t hear you. It’s a mystery
how to solve it.”
Social Net/ * 15
Tip-Off Timer:
'85 Lottery Still
the Best
By Tim Povtak (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:30:00 AM
by Tim Povtak
Filed under: Knicks, NBA Draft
Tip-Off Timer counts down the days
until the first game of the 2009-10
NBA season. On Monday, there are
exactly 85 days left.
Even today, 24 years after the fact,
the debate still rages over the 1985
NBA Draft Lottery. Was it
predetermined to ensure the high-
profile New York Knicks got the No.
1 pick and franchise center Patrick
Ewing, the most heralded college
player in several years?
Or is that just another wild-eyed
conspiracy theory? People still argue
it, while Commissioner David Stern
grew tired of the talk long ago.
"I've heard the theories,'' said
longtime NBA executive Pat
Williams. "And they're just bogus.''
Tip-Off Timer: '85 Lottery Still the
Best originally appeared on Fanhouse
NBA Blog on Mon, 03 Aug 2009
10:30:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
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16 * Internet News Record
Amber Ale: Brewing Beer From 45-Million-Year-Old Yeast
By Erin Biba (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 9:00:00 PM
An aroma like bread dough
permeates Raul Cano's lab. He has
just removed the cover from a petri
dish, and the odor wafts up from
several gooey yellow clumps of
microorganisms that have been
feeding and reproducing in a dark
cabinet for the past few days. Cano, a
63-year-old microbiologist at
California Polytechnic State
University, San Luis Obispo, inspects
the smelly little mounds lovingly.
"These are my babies," he says,
beaming. "My yeasty beasties."
The dish contains a variant of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, known in
culinary circles as baker's or brewer's
yeast. But Cano didn't get this from
Whole Foods. Back in 1995, he
extracted it from a 45 million-year-
old fossil. The microorganisms had
lain dormant since the Eocene epoch,
a time when Australia split off from
Antarctica and modern mammals
first appeared. Then Cano brought
the yeast back to life.
This reanimation of an ancient life
form was a breakthrough, a discovery
so shocking that the scientific
community initially refused to
believe it. It changed our
understanding of what
microorganisms are capable of. It
also gave the Cal Poly researcher a
brief taste of fame. For a while, he
thought it might make him rich. It
didn't. Now, just when it seemed his
babies would be forgotten, Cano has
found a way to share them with the
world.
Born and raised in pre-Castro
Havana, Cano still has a noticeable
Cuban accent. After the revolution,
his parents were unable to escape the
country, but they managed to secure
him a visa and a plane ticket to
Miami in early 1962. His parents
would eventually follow him to the
US, but for a few years Cano was on
his own in a strange new country. "I
was 16 at the time," he says. "I went
from foster home to foster home."
His scientific aptitude was not
immediately apparent. "I wasn't a
remarkably good student," Cano
says. "I went to community college."
He eventually transferred to Eastern
Washington University, and there he
discovered his calling in a
microbiology class. "It was taught by
a fungal geneticist," he says. "He was
terrific. He became my mentor."
Cano got his master's and went on to
earn a PhD in microbiology at the
University of Montana.
In 1974, Cano went to work at Cal
Poly, starting out as a fungus
specialist. But by the early '90s, he
was making a name for himself by
examining the contents of fossilized
prehistoric tree resin—more
commonly known as amber.
Scientists have been cracking open
the translucent caramel-colored rock
for nearly two centuries in an attempt
to unlock the history of the earth. All
manner of flora and fauna got
trapped in the dribbling sap, and once
it solidified and fossilized, the
contents were preserved for aeons.
"It's a time capsule," Cano says.
"Like a Kodak moment from when
the amber was formed." The first
study of the contents of amber, made
public in 1856, yielded 163 species
of ancient plant life.
More than a century later, amber
became sexy again with the advent of
gene sequencing and cloning. A 1982
paper by entomologist George Poinar
explored the potential for extracting
DNA from preserved creatures. The
paper caused a stir in the scientific
community and inspired Michael
Crichton to write his best-selling
dinosaur-cloning novel, Jurassic
Park, which came out in 1990.
In 1993, Cano worked with Poinar
and others to remove DNA from a
125 million-year-old Lebanese
weevil entombed in amber. They
were able to sequence segments of
the bug's genome. But even if they
had the full genome, science
couldn't—and still can't—clone it
back into existence. (Just as
well—it's hard to imagine Steven
Spielberg creating a blockbuster f/x
extravaganza about reanimated
weevils. Unless he made them 30
feet tall. With a taste for human
blood.)
Two years later, however, Cano
actually did manage to pull off an
astonishing first—he brought back to
life something that had been trapped
in amber for more than 25 million
years. It started with a chunk of
fossilized resin from the Dominican
Republic. Trapped inside was an
extinct breed of stingless bee. It was
dead, of course, but Cano theorized
that microorganisms in the resin
might simply be dormant. After all,
he reasoned, some single-celled
creatures are known to enter a
hibernation-like state and survive for
years with no air or food. Still, few
believed that anything could survive
after lying dormant for so long.
Cano wanted to find out. He took
the contents of the ancient bee's
stomach, suspended it in saline, and
spread it on a growth medium.
Amazingly, something woke up and
began propagating in the petri dish.
Cano identified it as a bacterial spore
related to the modern Bacillus
sphaericus, which is used to kill
mosquito larvae.
Cano's discovery changed science's
understanding of just how
extraordinarily resilient
microorganisms are. "They're the
quintessential survivors," he says.
"They started when the planet was
born, they're going to stay around
until the planet is dead, and then
they'll just go somewhere else." After
publishing the results of his
experiment in Science, Cano found
himself the center of national
attention from scientists and
eventually the media. This was the
closest humanity had come to the
discovery imagined in Jurassic Park.
Over the course of the next year,
Cano would crack open several more
pieces of amber and bring hundreds
of strains of ancient bacteria back to
life in his lab. In the process, he
began to think there might be a
practical use for these creatures. He
launched a company, Ambergene, to
explore potential biomedical
applications. The premise for the
venture was that ancient organisms
might have antibiotic
potential—they'd been out of the
ecosystem for so long that nothing
today would have a resistance to
them. At the time, the
approach—dubbed natural product
discovery—was very much in vogue.
Major players like Merck and Eli
Lilly were making serious
investments.
Creating a life-saving drug was
appealing. Fabulous riches would be
a nice side effect. "Altruism's great,
but it's not that great," Cano says. He
possessed the only known samples of
these strains, and he patented his
revivification process to further
cement his control over them. As the
cofounder, part-owner, and chief
scientific officer of Ambergene,
Cano stood to earn a hefty chunk of
any windfall that might result.
To reassure potential investors,
Ambergene's board of directors
decided to confirm Cano's claims of
reanimation. He wasn't the first to
attempt to bring tiny beings back to
life in this manner. But every
previous reported success turned out
to be a case of modern bacteria
contaminating the amber during the
extraction process.
How to Reanimate Prehistoric
Microorganisms
Raul Cano proved that single-
celled creatures like yeast and
bacteria can be revived after lying
dormant in amber—fossilized tree
resin—for tens of millions of years.
Here's how it's done.
STEP 1
Procure
Amber is found all over the world
and can be bought from brokers (or
even on eBay). Prices can reach into
the thousands of dollars, depending
on size and biological matter trapped
inside. (Chunks with insects are most
likely to yield microorganisms.)
STEP 2
Sterilize
To avoid contamination by modern
microbes, sterilize the lab
environment and clean the amber
thoroughly by soaking it in
disinfectants, giving it an ultrasonic
wash, then dousing it in ethanol and
lighting it on fire.
STEP 3
Shatter
To open the amber, place the
sample in liquid nitrogen, where it
Internet News Record
AMBER
continued from page 16
will freeze and become brittle. At this
point, the specimen can be shattered
by dousing it with sterilized warm
saline. It can also be smashed,
ground up, or drilled.
STEP 4
Grow
Spread the contents of the amber
onto a petri dish containing a
microorganism food like starch or
soy. Not every piece of amber
harbors dormant microorganisms—if
the petri dish yields nothing, go back
to step 1 and try again.
Illustration: Noma Bar
"I was very skeptical," says Chip
Lambert, a microbiologist tapped by
Ambergene to try to duplicate Cano's
results. The company provided him
with amber and all of Cano's
sterilization and extraction protocols.
Lambert doubled all of the cleaning
processes and added some of his
own. He was still able to duplicate
Cano's discovery.
Cano didn't mind the company
checking his work if it helped
Ambergene win financing. He ended
up being impressed with Lambert's
efforts. "We became friends," Cano
says. "I enjoy his company. Besides
working with him on some of his
projects, we'd socialize, get dinner,
maybe grab a beer." (Another team
of researchers working with Cano
has also been able to duplicate the
results.)
In April 1995, during his amber-
cracking spree, Cano made another
important discovery. A piece of
fossilized resin from Burma yielded
something that looked very similar to
Saccharomyces, brewer's or baker's
yeast. This single-celled fungus feeds
on sugars and reproduces
frequently—if it has enough to eat, a
culture can double in population in
90 minutes. "Yeasts are found in all
kinds of vegetable matter—plants,
fruits, stuff like that," Cano says. "It
was fortunate for that yeast to be
there at the time so it could become
part of history."
Cano was fascinated by his find.
Unfortunately, this ancient strain of
yeast didn't have commercial
applications that Ambergene could
exploit. And none of Cano's other
discoveries were yielding biomedical
breakthroughs, either. "We did find
two or three microorganisms that
produced some new chemical
compounds," Cano says. "But they
were never pursued, because the
company was broke. I was really
disappointed."
Ambergene folded in 1997. Cano
went back to his lab and pursued
other research, like testing petroleum
-degrading bacteria in sand dunes.
That project scored enormous grants
for Cal Poly, as did many of Cano's
other research efforts. But he couldn't
forget his brush with fame and
fortune. "It was a scientific wild ride,
like an E ticket at Disneyland," he
says. "As you grow older, the thrill of
the hunt becomes more and more
acute, at least for me." Meanwhile,
his ancient yeast—suspended in
glycerol and nutrients—lay dormant
in a deep freeze.
In March 2006, chip Lambert
happened to meet a guy named Peter
Hackett at a ski resort in Lake Tahoe,
California. Hackett is a Northern
California pub owner and brewer.
Before long, the conversation turned
to ancient yeast. "It started as a very
casual, noncommittal, you-must-be-
out-of-your-mind conversation,"
Hackett recalls. "He told me the story
of how Cano revived the yeast, how
it resembled brewer's yeast. And then
he said, 'Wouldn't it be interesting if
we could make beer with it?'"
Lambert and Cano had toyed with
the idea for 12 years. Before
Ambergene went under, the company
made a batch on a lark. "We called it
Jurassic Amber Ale or T-Rex Lager
or something, and it was pretty
good," Cano says. It was served at
his daughter's wedding, and they
even sent some to the Jurassic Park 2
cast party. That experiment had Cano
and Lambert itching to release a
beverage commercially. But they
wanted it to be something
respectable.
"Brewing beer is a biotechnological
process," Cano says. "I know the
essentials; I've taught it in classes.
But the skills you need to actually
make a quality beer? I had no clue."
They needed a professional brewer to
take their yeast for a serious test
drive. But unable to interest one, they
had put the idea on ice.
Hackett, 44, was a cocky upstart in
the microbrew world, known for
unique recipes like Bushwacker
Wheat (made with tangerines,
blackberries, and sun-dried
mandarins). He hadn't really wanted
to spend a cold, miserable afternoon
discussing yeast from the Eocene.
"But Chip is a very persistent man,"
Hackett says. "It was the only way I
could get him to leave me alone."
After some cajoling, the brewer
agreed to try making a batch of beer
with Cano's yeast.
But Hackett had his doubts about
the 45 million-year-old
Saccharomyces. Beer is the result of
a chemical process that takes place
when yeast gobbles up sugars and
excretes carbon dioxide and alcohol.
The flavor depends heavily on the
type of Saccharomyces doing the
eating, and very few strains perform
well in the hostile anaerobic
conditions inside a brewing tank. "It
requires a robust cell," Hackett says.
"My boss is a single-celled organism.
If it's not happy, it will let me know."
Hackett combined the yeast with all
the other ingredients that make up his
popular Rat Bastard pale ale recipe,
so he could easily taste its
distinguishing characteristics. During
the brewing, the ancient yeast's
behavior was unusual, to say the
least. "It ferments violently at the
start," Hackett says, "then it falls out
of suspension and the beer becomes
almost clear." From a brewer's
perspective, its behavior was
schizophrenic: It began like a yeast
used in ales, floating at the top. Then
it began to act like yeast used in slow
-fermenting lagers, settling to the
bottom of the tank but not going
dormant.
Normally, Hackett ends the
primary fermentation process by
"crashing the tank"—lowering the
temperature to shock the yeast into
dormancy. But that didn't work on
Cano's yeast. "It was just sitting on
the bottom and nibbling on the sugar
like a couch potato," Hackett says. A
strain that had survived 45 million
years in suspended animation was
not about to go quietly.
Hackett was prepared to pour the
batch down the drain if it tasted
awful. But he discovered that the
flavor of the resulting ale was
unique, and not in a bad way. It was
light and crisp with a citrusy, gingery
tang. It was definitely worth
exploring further.
The brewer began experimenting
with the ancient strain. He indulged
its idiosyncratic behavior, letting it
ferment for an extra month in a cold
storage tank. He modified the hops, a
plant that adds a characteristic
bitterness to beer, to complement the
flavor imparted by the yeast.
Cano's Saccharomyces coupled
with Hackett's know-how to yield a
very tasty libation, which is now
made and distributed under the name
Fossil Fuels Brewing Company. "We
won the lottery," Hackett says. "It's
such a random thing. A yeast cell,
captured in amber, found by a mad
scientist. For it to perform well, for it
to perform uniquely... I wouldn't
have bet on it."
Fossil Fuels pale ale caused a stir
among beer aficionados like William
Brand, a former critic with The
Oakland Tribune who raved about it
on his blog. He noted its "light
copper color and an intense clove
aroma." He liked its sweetness and
the "intriguing, very odd spicy note"
in the finish.
Celebrator Beer News described
the ale as having a "complex and
well-developed taste profile" with
"fruity flavor characteristics and just
a touch of lemony sweetness. The
fact that it is made with such old
yeast is fascinating, and given how
good the beer is, no mere novelty."
17
A 5-gallon glass jug containing
hundreds of millions of Cano's yeast
cells is sitting on the back porch of
Hackett's brewpub in Guerneville,
California, 70 miles north of San
Francisco. Every half-hour or so,
Hackett goes outside and shakes it up
a bit. When the sun warms the
contents of the jug to 70 degrees
Fahrenheit, it'll be ready.
Hackett has been stirring malted
barley into 150-degree water in an
enormous stainless steel tub. The hot
water will break down the starch in
the grain, turning it into a sugary
substance called wort, which is then
diluted, boiled, and transferred to a
fermentation tank. When the jar of
yeast has warmed up sufficiently,
Hackett dumps it into the tank, where
it begins to gobble up the wort.
Normally, Hackett could reuse this
yeast after separating it from the
freshly brewed batch of beer. New
characteristics may begin to present
themselves as the tiny fungi go
through tens of thousands of
generations. "Over time, genetic drift
can occur," Hackett says. "It mutates
and evolves."
But for Fossil Fuels' brew, Cano
prefers to create new colonies that
are as close as possible to the original
generation he reawakened from the
chunk of amber. His yeasty beasties
may not have made him a
pharmaceutical millionaire, but he
has finally discovered a use for them,
and he wants to stay involved in the
brewing process.
As Hackett finishes preparing his
latest batch, Cano arrives. He has
driven up from San Luis Obispo to
get a pony keg of pale ale for his own
personal use. And Lambert has come
up from the East Bay. The scientists
sit on stools as Hackett brings out
pints of their beer, as well as fries,
shrimp, and egg rolls hot from the
brewpub's kitchen. They're soon
ready for a second round of beer.
Fossil Fuels Brewing will start
selling its beer in pubs and
18 * Internet News Record
Adaptive Cruise Control Goes Mainstream
By gregory mone (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 9:00:00 PM
Heading south on the New Jersey
Turnpike, Ford Motor Company
engineer Jerry Engelman swings his
2010 Taurus into the left lane to pass
a semi. The Taurus hesitates, slowing
down, and then Engelman adjusts his
heading. The car takes off. "Larry,"
he calls to his colleague in the back
seat, "write that down!"
Engelman is driving, but just
barely. The Taurus has a radar-based
adaptive cruise-control system that
lets him set a top speed and then
simply steer while the car adjusts its
velocity according to traffic. He's
been weaving and changing lanes,
doing between 45 and 70 mph—and
hasn't touched a pedal in an hour.
Over the past few years, Ford
engineers have driven 60,000 miles
to test, tweak, and optimize this
system, which also provides collision
warning alerts. They've been focused
AMBER
continued from page 17
restaurants throughout California this
fall. The company is creating beer-
tap handles with hunks of amber
embedded in the tip. A bigger
brewery—one capable of bottling the
beer when they're ready to put it on
store shelves—has been enlisted to
take on the commercial production
duties.
Cano is delighted with the
burgeoning success of Fossil Fuels
ale. It'll earn him a little bit of
money, and every pint or bottle sold
could kick off a conversation about
his momentous discovery 14 years
ago. His only worry is that the
on the future in a financially dismal
present—analysts actually praised
Ford for losing only $1.4 billion in
the first quarter. "It's a tough
market," says Derrick Kuzak, VP of
global product development, noting
that the Taurus is important for
"reestablishing us in the large-sedan
market." That's executive-speak for
"This car really needs to sell."
This particular tech isn't new.
Jaguar and Mercedes have sold
luxury cars with similar features for
years, but now they're affordable. By
adding them to the $26,000 Taurus,
Ford is channeling Henry I, who
democratized the automobile Gottlieb
Daimler invented. Of course, if the
technology is going to revitalize the
storied automaker, it has to be fairly
kick-ass. Hence the road trip. Photo:
Brian Finke
As Engelman travels the turnpike, a
radar emitter pings for potential
hazards ahead and sends the data to a
computer that weighs the information
against velocity and other factors to
unfiltered nature of this beer means
that some of his yeast will invariably
settle to the bottom of the glass or
bottle, and an unscrupulous brewer
could collect that and use it in
another beer. The microbiologist has
applied for a patent on his strains and
has sequenced the genomes so he can
tell if someone else has stolen it. "I
am the keeper of the family jewels,"
Cano says. He isn't about to let them
fall into the wrong hands.
Correspondent Erin Biba (
twitter.com/erinbiba) wrote about
GPS applications in issue 17.02.
determine whether you're about to
crash your democratized technology.
If a collision is imminent, the car
warns you, primes the brakes, and
tightens the seat belts. In cruise
control, the radar makes sure you're a
safe distance from the traffic you're
following.
Not Overrated, but Maybe
Overpaid
By Matt Steinmetz (FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:00:00 AM
by Matt Steinmetz Who doesn't like
a list, especially on a Monday
morning when that's about all you
can handle? From now till the regular
season starts, we're going to throw
our own Top Fives at you.
Since this is the first one, and it's
the middle of the offseason, how
about five players who look a lot
better in August than they do in
December, a lot better in the
summertime than in winter? Here are
five players who have had better
offseasons than regular seasons in
their NBA careers.
Overrated might be too strong a
word here -- but it's time for these
guys to start earning earning their
Engelman says the system is now
pretty close to flawless. His test car
and others have been recording the
particulars of their trips and feeding
the information into a simulator back
in Michigan. He logged that
hesitation on the turnpike so he could
examine it later. When he did, he
money.
Not Overrated, but Maybe
Overpaid originally appeared on
Fanhouse NBA Blog on Mon, 03
Aug 2009 09:00:00 EDT . Please see
our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
found a glitch: The radar saw the two
sides of the semi as distinct vehicles.
"If the truck were hugging the left
side of the right lane, the system
would think that edge was a car in
the left lane," he explains. He used
the data accumulated on his trip to
test a few patches and fixed the
problem.
The radar-equipped Taurus goes on
sale this summer, but the company
plans to incorporate the system into
all of its vehicles. Ford has survived
the market slump largely because of
its financial reserves, but it will have
to sell some cars to thrive again. And
innovation isn't cheap. "Ford is
burning through cash," says UBS
automotive analyst Colin Langan. "If
they don't improve—and I think they
will—they'll be facing the fate of GM
and Chrysler."
Electronic High-
Security Locks Easily
Defeated at DefCon
By Kim Zetter (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 10:21:00 AM
LAS VEGAS — World-renowned
lock experts Marc Weber Tobias,
Toby Bluzmanis and Matt Fiddler are
at it again. The three, who have made
numerous headlines for bumping and
picking Medeco high-security locks
and other brands, have now
succeeded to crack state-of-the-art,
CLIQ technology electro-mechanical
high-security locks and gave
wired.com a sneak peek.
Internet News Record
Secrets from the Set of 'NCIS: Los
Angeles'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 2:26:00 AM
"NCIS: Los Angeles," starring Chris
O'Donnell and LL Cool J, is one of
the most highly anticipated series of
the new fall season. Now ET has the
inside 411 from the set of the CBS
spinoff.
"NCIS" star Pauley Perrette, who
plays quirky but extremely talented
forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, will
cross over and appear in the second
Katherine Jackson Breaks Her
Silence
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:45:00 AM
In the first interview since her son's
death, Michael Jackson's mother,
Katherine Jackson, is speaking out
about the loss of her son and the
rumors surrounding her family.
In a phone interview that aired on
Sunday Night's "Geraldo at Large"
on the Fox News Channel, the 79-
year-old shot down rumors that her
UK Girl's iPod Touch Explodes: Did Report: Three Giants Employees
Apple Offer Hush Money? [IPod] Testified in Plaxico Burress Case
By Danny Allen (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 11:12:00 PM
Hot on the heels of KIRO 7's
investigation into fiery iPods, The
Times reports that the father of a girl
who's iPod exploded was offered a
full refund, but only if they signed a
confidentiality agreement. He
refused.
According to the report, the
Liverpool man feared that he or his
daughter could be sued if they were
to ever talk about the incident, even
inadvertently.
It all began last month when the
man heard a "hissing noise" and
thought he "could see vapor" after
episode of the new season. Exec
producer Shane Brennan says, "She
does a crossover and she's directly
involved with helping us solve the
case."
Rocky Carroll, who plays NCIS
boss Leon Vance, will be doing
double duty on both series. Of course
his character is in charge of the entire
Naval Criminal Investigative
Services, not just the Washington
D.C. branch, so it makes sense.
husband, Joe Jackson, is banned from
seeing the grandchildren, and banned
from the Jackson home.
"I don't know why they're saying
he's not being allowed in the house,"
Katherine says. "My husband's never
done nothing of the sort that they
trying to say he did 39 years ago. I
don't understand that, and I just
believe it's something that they
cooked up."
dropping his 11 year old daughter's
iPod Touch. He threw it out the back
door of his house and "within 30
seconds there was a pop, a big puff
of smoke and it went 10ft in the air."
[ The Times]
'Twilight' Cast to Attend Teen Choice
2009
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:38:00 AM
The "Teen Choice 2009" is rapidly
approaching and the wildly popular
cast of 'Twilight' will appear on the
two-hour special, ET confirms.
'Twilight' actors Robert Pattinson,
Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner,
Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed and
Kellan Lutz are all set to attend the
Fox awards show, hosted by the
By Michael David Smith
(FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:43:00 AM
by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Giants
In another sign that the New York
Giants are still dealing with
distractions related to Plaxico
Burress even after cutting the wide
receiver, a report out Monday says
that linebacker Antonio Pierce wasn't
* Gizmos/ 19
Jonas Brothers. The cast of Fox's
new comedy "Glee" will also be
appearing on the show.
Other big names to show up on
August 10 include: Megan Fox,
David Beckham, Chace Crawford,
Vanessa Hudgens, Kim Kardashian
and Zac Efron. Teen sensation Miley
Cyrus will perform her newest single,
“Party in the U.S.A.”
MMA Twitter
Mailbag: Next for
Fedor, UFC in Mexico
By Michael David Smith
(FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:15:00 AM
by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Dream, UFC,
Strikeforce, M-1 Global Today's
MMA Twitter mailbag starts with a
question about the next fight for
Fedor Emelianenko and then moves
along to address the UFC's plans to
expand into Mexico.
Your questions and my answers for
our UFC Twitter mailbag are below.
MMA Twitter Mailbag: Next for
Fedor, UFC in Mexico originally
appeared on Fanhouse MMA Blog
on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:15:00 EDT
. Please see our terms for use of
feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
the only member of the organization Blogs| Comments
who testified before the grand jury
investigating Burress.
Report: Three Giants Employees
Testified in Plaxico Burress Case
originally appeared on Fanhouse
NFL Blog on Mon, 03 Aug 2009
09:43:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
20 * TechTips/ Internet News Record

More Ways to Eliminate Cellphone

Voicemail Instructions [Voicemail]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:30:00 AM

New York Times tech

Brett Favre: Fans Who Are Sick of Me
Never Really Loved Me
By Michael David Smith
(FanHouse)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:30:00 AM
by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Packers, Vikings
After declaring last week that his
on-again, off-again, on-again, off-
again retirement was back on again,
Brett Favre acknowledged that his
popularity has taken a hit. But Favre
says that if you got sick of Favre the
last two off-seasons, that means you
never really loved him.
Brett Favre: Fans Who Are Sick of
Me Never Really Loved Me
originally appeared on Fanhouse
NFL Blog on Mon, 03 Aug 2009
10:30:00 EDT . Please see our terms
for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
columnist/reviewer David Pogue
continues his worthy war against
unnecessary, money-grabbing
voicemail "instructions," digging up
an actual elimination tip for Sprint
customers and a few suggestions for
everyone else.
As most people know by now,
cellphone voicemail systems offer
"guidance" to callers on how to leave
a message. You do it "after the tone,"
you see, and sometimes you can even
learn how to "send a numeric page."
It's all explained to eat up the caller's
phone minutes, and each carrier
seems to have their own magic
personal greeting. Press 3, to add or definitely be construed as a courtesy
button one must hit to skip straight to
leaving a message. remove the caller instructions. by busy callers.
Follow the prompts to turn Read Pogue's follow-up for a
Gina compressed those magic
buttons into a single " One-Star- instructions on or off. reminder on how you can contact
Pogue's readers suggested those your cell carrier and request (firmly
Pound algorithm, although it's one
that requires a good bit of active who can't turn off their voicemail but politely) that they eliminate
"instructions" or "prompts" to record voicemail instructions. While you're
work on the caller's part. Pogue
learned that Sprint customers could a personal greeting that includes the feeling rebellious, leave your own
magic button, as in, "You've reached voicemail work-arounds in the
join iPhone owners in having those
instructions entirely eliminated: Kevin, hit star to leave a message." comments. Take Back The Beep,
That can come off a bit rushed and Part II - Pogue's Posts Blog -
Access your voice mail box. Press
3, for personal options. Press 2, for informal with the wrong recording, NYTimes.com[Site via Source]
but it's not a bad idea, and can
greetings. Press 1, to change your

Ask the Commenters Roundup [Hive Mind]

(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 2:30:00 PM
• My laptop hard drive died.
Commercial recovery is cost
prohibitive. What can I do at home to
try and save my data?
• I installed a new stick of RAM in
my computer and several
applications now cause full system
crashes. What gives and what can I
do?
• Does anyone know of a resource I
can use to learn about games that are
played only with playing cards and
common dice?
• Any suggestions on making web
sites more printer-friendly?
• What Windows-based program do
you guy use to rotate your desktop
wallpaper?
• Do any of you use the Dvorak
keyboard layout? Have any tips for
switching over?
• Where do you get your business
cards from? I'm looking to upgrade
and want a unique card.
• I'm looking for a good pair of
earbuds for under $100. Any
suggestions?
• I'm upgrading my phone in three
weeks. My new phone has to be
available from Verizon and not a
smartphone. What would you
suggest?
• What's the best way to book a
cruise?
We're still experiencing a bit of
wonkiness with the comments; we
promise to have the bugs ironed out
as soon as possible. If you're having
trouble with the links above, hop on
over to the open thread to read and
comment. Our apologies!
Internet News Record
Make Homemade Dog
Treats [Pets]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 3:00:00 PM
If homemade dog treats sound
appealing because of the
questionable nature of pet food
manufacturing, or you just want to
build a better dog biscuit, then this
tutorial is for you.
Photo by KM Photography.
Even if you don't consider yourself
a master-class chef, making your
own dog biscuits is a very forgiving
undertaking. When your principle
consumer is a creature not above
eating road kill, you'll be quickly
forgiven for burning it a little in the
oven. At the crafty-centric blog
Craftzine, an easy to follow guide to
making your own dog biscuits was
posted after a writer adopted a dog
and wanted to give him healthy and
homemade treats:
The biscuit, we've realized, is
central to dog and dog owner
happiness. Not only is it a way to
express thanks to our loyal friends,
but it also neutralizes barky and
aggressive dogs encountered in the
neighborhood, so be sure and carry a
few extra for making new friends.
First we listed the qualities of a
good biscuit: inexpensive, nutritious,
enjoyable to our doggie, edible to us
(why not share the treats?), can be
cooked in a solar oven, and quick and
easy to make from natural, simple
ingredients.
The recipe they provide relies on
basic kitchen staples like whole
wheat flour, beef broth, and
vegetable oil. You can easily adopt
the recipe for the dietary needs of
your dog. The prep time is 10
minutes and the baking time is 35
minutes. Triple the recipe and load
up a few extra baking sheets worth of
treats and you'll have quite a supply
on hand.
Check out the recipe at the link
below and if you have your own tasty
recipes for homemade treats for your
pets, let's hear about it in the
comments. Homemade Treats for
Pups (and Persons)[via Make]
Reset Your Sleep Cycle
with a 16-Hour Fast [Mind
Hacks]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 4:30:00 AM
Your brain's natural tendencies
don't easily accommodate
international flights, all-nighters, or
rotating shift work. Refusing to eat
for about 16 hours before waking up,
however, can help reboot your sleep
cycle.
Photo by arvindgrover.
Harvard researcher Clifford Saper
explains that one's body has more
than just a single clock dictating
some magical eight-hour sleep
period. Sleep needs are regulated in
part by exposure to light, but also by
food intake. By fasting for 16 hours
before your breakfast in a new time
zone or on a new sleep/wake
schedule, or perhaps after some
really rough sleep nights, one can
"override" the body's other sleep
clocks that have a really aggravating
way of demanding obedience. The
Wise Bread blog suggests 12 hours
might be a decent compromise if you
Google Chrome to Get Cloud-Based Synchronization
[Synchronization]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:00:00 AM
A Google engineer recently posted
a message on the Chromium
development board stating that his
team would be implementing a
synchronization service into
Chrome's open-source progenitor as
early as this week. What's different
about Chrome's sync service? It uses
a "push" service, through Google
can't hold off for 16 hours, though
Saper seems to suggest 16 is the
magic number.
Saper explains more about the
power of not eating on your sleep
cycle in this interview clip:
If you've got your own first-hand
research on the relationship of food
and sleep changes, or you've got
evidence that Saper's method works
as suggested, let us know in the
comments. How to beat jet lag: Don't
eat[The Globe and Mail via
Talk protocols, to instantly move
bookmarks, settings, and other user
data into a Google account base,
TechTips/ Gizmos/ 21
Radio Shack Makeover:
"The Shack" Coming
Soon? [Radio Shack]
By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 6:45:00 PM
As Radio Shack refocuses its image
to encompass more cellphone sales
than radio parts and other somewhat,
shall we say, dated merchandise,
there's apparently some renaming
coming soon to go along with it.
Basically, word on the street and on
Wikipedia (it must be true!) is that "
The Shack" signage and other
marketing could be gracing
storefronts later this year.
Thoughts? I'm weird, so the first
thing I thought of was a clam shack.
I'm also hungry. [ Engadget,
Wikipedia]
where it could be accessed on the
web from any browser. A developer
channel build of Chrome with some
of the first features implemented can
be expected as early as the end of this
week, according to the posting. Does
a push-synchronized Chrome change
your view of each web browser's
strengths and weaknesses? [via Ars
Technica]
22 TechTips/ Gizmos/
The Well-Planned Dorm Room [Featured
Workspace]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 4:00:00 PM
Just because you're in college
doesn't mean that your room has to
be a cluttered mess of schoolwork,
piled with unwashed clothes, and
overseen by John Belushi posters.
Check out today's featured
workspace to see a well planned
room.
Not only is Lifehacker reader
Aaron Francis' room organized and
pleasingly laid out, it could easily
double as a testing zone for tips and
tricks we've shared here at
Lifehacker. He used a screen printing
technique we shared to screen print
the pictures above his desk and
scattered throughout the room. The
Gsalr Finds Garage Sales and Plans an Effective Route
[Sales]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:30:00 AM
If you're looking to hit some garage
sales, forget combing over the local
paper and trying to put together a
route. Gsalr makes finding and
mapping garage sales a breeze.
Similar to previous mentioned
Yard Sale Treasure Map, although a
bit more polished, Gsalr helps you
Project Playlist Helps You Find and Play New Music [Music]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 2:00:00 PM
Project Playlist is an all-in-one song
search engine, playlist maker, and
ring tone generator, giving it one-
stop appeal for your daily free tune
finding.
stand beside his reading chair is
made from recycled magazines.
His bedroom makes excellent use
of space by putting the desk directly
under the bed. One of the things that
makes the traditional lofted bed stand
out is a combination of two neat
find and map garage sales in your
area. Plug a zip code or state and city
into Gsalr and you'll be given a
Google Maps mashup with local
garage sales flagged. Each red flag
represents a garage sale listing,
clicking on it gives you a summary
of the Craiglist listing, a link to the
full post if it's lengthy, the days the
sale is going on, and address of the
location.
The "Add to Trip Planner" button
Project Playlist visitors can search
for music by song titles or group
names. After that, you can listen to
the songs, save them to playlists for
future playback and sharing, and
even have Project Playlist generate
and send you ringtones of any of the
songs you find through the service.
If you're looking for something
features. The underside of the bed is
strung with 12v LED puck lights to
provide a clean and even lighting
over his workspace. The Macbook on
his desk is linked—as seen in the
gallery below— to a secondary
monitor mounted to the wall above
lets you easily toss a sale you like
into the route maker. When you're all
done browsing the listings click on
new to listen to, there is a constant
stream of featured and top playlists to
so he can watch Hulu and movies in
bed. He controls the setup by using
an Air Mouse while in bed.
For a closer look at Aaron's
awesome room, check out the gallery
below. Visit his Flickr gallery for
additional information about each
photo.
If you have a workspace of your
own to show off throw the pictures
on your Flickr account and add it to
the Lifehacker Workspace Show and
Tell Pool. Include some details about
your setup and why it works for you,
and you just might see it featured on
the front page of Lifehacker. The
Well-Planned Dorm
Room[Lifehacker Workspace Show
and Tell Pool]
the Trip Planner tab in the upper
right corner and get a handy turn by
turn driving route to help you hit all
the garage sales in the most effective
way. If you know of another tool for
helping you discover goods to
repurpose and deals to score, let's
hear about it in the comments. Gsalr[
MakeUseOf]
choose from. What's more, every
time you search for music you get the
chance to browse playlists that
feature the artists and songs you're
searching for.
Project Playlist isn't new by any
means, and we've certainly covered
similar offerings (like previously
mentioned MixTape.me), but if you
Internet News Record
DIY Laser Lighter:
Because Smoking
Wasn't Already
Dangerous Enough
[Hacks]
By Danny Allen (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 2:05:10 AM
Experts warn that smoking doubles
the chance of going blind in old age,
so why not increase your odds with
Kipkay's crazy (though admittedly
awesome-looking) BIC-lighter hack.
How-to video after the jump.
Kipkay is the gadget modder
extraordinaire who showed us how to
build our own laser-based home
alarm system, save money on
batteries, and turn a $25 Hot Wheels
toy radar gun into the real thing.
He also has that enthusiastic
shopping channel-style voice over
thing down pat. I'll take two for my
stoner friends!
[ KipKay via TechEBlog]
still haven't found the right fit, it's
worth a look. How do your find new
music to vary up your soundscape?
Sound off in the comments. Project
Playlist[via WebWare]
Internet News Record
ReadWriteWeb Events Guide, 1 August 2009
By Andrew Lobo
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/1/2009 3:20:58 PM
Don't forget, we've put all of our
events into a calendar so that you can
keep track of them using your
scheduling app of choice. So, go
ahead and download the entire
calendar in iCal format. You can also
use this link to import it into your
Google Calendar, or import
individual events using the link
beside each entry. This events guide
is a weekly feature here on
ReadWriteWeb. We publish it every
weekend, as good a time as any to
review your conference plans.
Know of an event taking place that
should appear here? Let us know in
the comments below or contact us.
Sponsor
13 August 2009: Minneapolis
BlogWell: How Big Brands Use
Social Media
Walmart, McDonald's, CME
Group, H&R Block, Mayo Clinic,
Progressive, Ford, and General Mills
share case studies in corporate social
media. You'll learn how to get
started, get past roadblocks, and
make your social media program
phenomenal... in one afternoon, for
just $250.
Get practical how-to advice on
creating great content, getting
management buy-in, educating
employees, keeping lawyers and
regulators happy, simple and ethical
disclosure, and engaging fans. You'll
ask questions, discover new ideas,
and get answers from people who
have been there, done that.
ReadWriteWeb readers can save
10% with the code
"ILOVEREADWRITEWEB".
11 August 2009: New York City
NYC Angel & Venture Conference
FundingPost has hosted 150+ sold-
out venture events in 17 cities over
the past 7 years. At these next two
events, the panel of investors will
focus on early-stage venture
investing: how to meet investors,
pitch them, and what it really takes to
get them to write you a check! We
will be discussing trends in early-
stage investing, hot sectors, sectors
that these angels and VCs look at,
things that are most important to
them when they are considering an
investment, the best and worst things
an entrepreneur can do to get their
attention, additional advice for
entrepreneurs, and, of course, the
best ways to reach these and other
investors. There will be plenty of
time for networking with the investor
panelists, both before the panel and
after the panel at the cocktail party!
24 August 2009: Charlotte, North
Carolina
> Social Fresh
Social Fresh is a 1 day Social
Media Conference with speakers
from Best Buy, Rubbermaid, IBM,
and Keynote Speaker David Armano
(@Armano). Social Fresh content is
focused on the tangible social media
successes of today and the
technology that will drive those
successes tomorrow. Think less
concept and more real case studies
and examples directly from
businesses and developers who are
using the social web successfully.
Get 15% off by using code RSS15
and follow the conference on Twitter
(@SoFresh) for other discounts and
updates.
10 September 2009: San Francisco
Mobilize 09
GigaOM's Mobile Web Conference
is a one-day conference that brings
together thought leaders of the next
generation mobile Web for talk,
demonstrations, and debate.
Participants will examine what it
means to have wireless broadband
speeds at the Gigabit scale and how
the explosion of platforms creates
new opportunities beyond the
traditional handset for entrepreneurs,
investors, and consumers. Over 50
speakers and 500 delegates will be
there.
ReadWriteWeb readers save $150
on the regular ticket price up until
August 14th. Register here with the
code "RWW".
21 – 23 September: San Diego,
California
DEMOfall 09 Conference
DEMOfall 09 promises to
showcase the most comprehensive
portfolio of credible emerging
technologies, vetted by VentureBeat
founder Matt Marshall and leading
technology analyst Chris Shipley.
Alpha Pitch, a new DEMO program,
puts you in front of the most
promising entrepreneurs with
products in the alpha, prototype, and
development stages of their life
cycles. These are pre-revenue
companies that have no more than
one round of seed funding and are
ready for your investment dollars.
DEMO is the launch pad of
emerging technology and a true
market performer for visionary
investors, entrepreneurs, and industry
influencers alike.
ReadWriteWeb readers pay only
$1996. Save $500 off the standard
fee by registering before August
15th.
22 – 23 September 2009: Singapore
Social Networking World Forum
— Asia
This two-day conference hosted by
the Social Networking World Forum
- Asia features key speakers from
social networking publishers,
advertising agencies, industry
analysts, software developers and
equipment manufacturers, pay-TV
and network service providers,
mobile operators, and more.
• Joint exhibition combining social
networking and mobile social
networking formats
• Evening networking reception
• Discount for early booking
(expires August 21st)
• Free pass for exhibition only
8 October 2009: San Diego
Mobile Application Stores
conference
As a partner seminar of
Intenational CTIA WIRELESS I.T.
and Entertainment, the Mobile
Application Stores conference will
focus on the tremendous
opportunities in the mobile apps
stores eco-system. The event is
designed to give a complete
understanding of how to capitalize on
this exploding market.
Participants will discuss strategy
and deployment in application stores
such as Apple (iPhone), Google
(Android), RIM (Blackberry), Nokia
(Ovi), Palm Pre, and Microsoft, as
well as other emerging application
stores. To learn more, visit
www.mobileapplicationstores.com or
w r i t e t o
events@nextvisionmedia.com.
4 – 5 November 2009: Raleigh,
North Carolina
Internet Summit 2009
Internet Summit '09 will feature
over 75 speakers, including
representatives of major Internet
brands such as Twitter, Pandora,
Google, Salesforce.com, Digg,
Technorati, CBS Interactive,
Huffington Post, Blogger, Tree.com,
and many more.
Topics will include social media,
blogging, real time, mobile, video,
search, online advertising, e-
commerce, analytics, the cloud, and
more.
Join over 1200 entrepreneurs,
senior marketers, and executives in
the conversation about the future of
the industry and how to capitalize on
the shifting dynamics of the Internet
and tap into its unlimited business
Web/ 23
potential.
9 – 10 November 2009: Santa
Clara, California
Social Networking World Forum
— California
This event taking place at the Santa
Clara Convention Center actually
consists of three conferences: two
days dedicated to social networking,
one day dedicated to enterprise social
media, and one day dedicated to
social TV. Key speakers include
social networking publishers,
advertising agencies, industry
analysts, software developers and
equipment manufacturers, pay-TV
and network service providers,
mobile operators, and more.
• Joint exhibition combining social
networking and enterprise social
media formats
• Pre-show online meeting planner
for delegates
• Discount for early booking
(expires September 25th)
• Free pass for exhibition only
10 – 13 November 2009: Las
Vegas
PubCon Vegas
PubCon Las Vegas is a multi-track
educational conference hosted by
SearchEngineWorld &
WebmasterWorld. PubCon events are
for thought leaders and professionals
in search engine and Internet
marketing to gather and to share best
practices in the design, development,
promotion and marketing of their
Internet businesses and brands.
PubCon London 2009 is a social
networking event.
11 – 12 November 2009: Denver,
Colorado
Defrag 2009 Conference
As online data is growing and
fragmenting at an exponential pace,
individuals, groups and organizations
are struggling to discover, assemble,
organize, act on and gather feedback
from that data. In the largest sense,
we're all looking to augment the pace
at which we achieve insights on raw
24 Web/
Weekly Wrapup: Microsoft-Yahoo Deal, Twitter Re-Design,
Internet Fridges, And More...
By Richard MacManus
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/1/2009 6:00:00 AM
In this edition of the Weekly
Wrapup - our newsletter
summarizing the top stories of the
week - we analyze the deal to bring
Microsoft's Bing search engine to
Yahoo, check out the latest social
media and Twitter statistics,
investigate the state of RFID tags and
Internet fridges, look at Apple's
"interactive album" concept, and
more. We also check in on our two
n e w c h a n n e l s :
ReadWriteEnterprise(devoted to
'enterprise 2.0' trends and products)
and ReadWriteStart(dedicated to
profiling startups and entrepreneurs).
Note: this week ReadWriteWeb
released our second premium report:
our Q2 2009 VC Funding Report.
Full details below...
Sponsor
The Weekly Wrapup is sponsored
by Raptivity, create interactive
websites:
Subscribe to Weekly Wrapup
You can subscribe to the Weekly
Wrapup by RSS or by email(form
below).
RWW Weekly Wrap-up Email
Subscription form:
Purchase The ReadWriteWeb Q2
2009 VC Funding Report
Our Second Premium Report for
Businesses
We're excited to announce the
availability of ReadWriteWeb's Q2
2009 VC Funding Report, our second
premium report powered by data
from ChubbyBrain. We have been
tracking early-stage investment in
Internet, mobile and SaaS since the
financial crisis in September 2008
and we believe that this report is
unlike anything else you've seen.
Investors, bankers and advisers
involved in the funding of digital
innovation will get the facts on the
deal-by-deal basis that they need to
make decisions.
Our Report gives you the facts on
240 deals closed in April, May and
June- who invested, in what
company, how much they invested
and when. Read on to see what's
included in the guide and how to
purchase it. Web Trends
Yahoo's Bing Deal Puts Delicious,
BOSS & More at Risk
This week Microsoft and Yahoo
announced a deal (details below)
whereby Microsoft's Bing will
become the new Yahoo! search
engine and Yahoo! will sell ads
against those search results on its
site. There's a whole lot of money in
play, but as users we don't think
that's the most interesting part of this
story. There may be some very
interesting consequences, both
positive and negative, for innovation
- our favorite part of the online
experience. Our guess is that it will
be a net negative for forward-looking
web users.
Report: Social Networks Growing
while Other Social Media Sites
Stagnate and Decline
Universal McCann has released a
new report that looks at the state of
social media today. Apparently, this
trend is showing no sign of slowing
down. In fact, it's still growing. From
posting photos to writing blogs, the
desire to share has become a
universal phenomenon. However, the
latest report shows that internet users
are beginning to now center their
digital life around social networks
like Facebook, MySpace, and Orkut,
choosing to share their content within
these sites instead of on services with
a single focus, like Blogger or Flickr.
Internet Fridges
The Internet fridge is probably the
most oft-quoted example of what the
Internet of Things - when everyday
objects are connected to the Internet -
will enable. Imagine a refrigerator
(so the story goes) that monitors the
food inside it and notifies you when
you're low on, for example, milk. It
also perhaps monitors all of the best
food websites, gathering recipes for
your dinners and adding the
ingredients automatically to your
shopping list. And that's just part of
the sci-fi story of the Internet fridge.
RFID: State of the Market
RFID is an emerging standard for
identification and tracking of goods.
It's one of the key underlying
technologies for the Internet of
Things. Some big names in the retail
industry have climbed on board the
RFID freight train. Notably Wal-
Mart, which has not only adopted
RFID big time, but pressured its
suppliers to do so too.
For Ask.com, Becoming #3 In
Search Must Be Bittersweet
If Microsoft's Bing takes all of
Yahoo's US search engine market
share then it will be at 26% to
Google's 70%, according to traffic
analysts Hitwise. Such consolidation
would put the venerable Ask.com in
third place, with a mere 2.46%. That
would mean that the next spot on the
ladder will have 10X as much market
share as Ask. That can't make the
company happy.
SEE MORE WEB TRENDS
COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS
CATEGORY A Word from Our
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OpenID for Google Apps is Here,
But Not Everybody's Happy
Google announced this week that
everyone using Google Apps
enterprise or education editions can
now use their organization's domain
as a federated single sign-on. That
means that millions of schools,
businesses and other organizations
can now use their Apps accounts as
an OpenID. However, a few
prominent developers and advocates
feel that Google's approach is not
entirely acceptable. They are critical
of the use of vendor-specific
extensions and APIs instead of the
open standards that are so important
to OpenID. ReadWriteStart
Our channel ReadWriteStart,
sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark, is
dedicated to profiling startups and
entrepreneurs.
BakeSpace: An Unlikely Startup
Success Story from Twiistup
This post is part of our
Internet News Record
ReadWriteStart channel, which is
dedicated to profiling startups and
entrepreneurs. The channel is
sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark. To
sign up for BizSpark, click here.
BakeSpace might not be the sexiest
concept on the startup block. A
recipe swap community, said founder
Babette Pepaj, strikes many in the
tech community as "touchy feely" or
"a chick site." Nevertheless, the site
was named a 2009 Webby Award
Nominee for Best Social Network
and continues to drive traffic and ad
revenue with strong content and a
great roadmap for mobile and offline
integration.
SEE MORE STARTUPS
COVERAGE IN OUR
READWRITESTART CHANNEL
Web Products
It's Official: Microsoft and Yahoo
Announce Search Deal
A few months from now, Yahoo's
search engine will be "powered by
Bing." After months of back and
forth between Microsoft and Yahoo,
the two companies finally announced
a deal this week that will bring
Microsoft's search engine to Yahoo's
properties, while Yahoo will become
the sales force for both companies'
premium search advertisers. Barring
any roadblocks from industry and
government regulators, this deal will
grant Microsoft an exclusive license
to Yahoo's core search technologies
for 10 years. Yahoo expects that this
deal will increase the company's cash
flow by about $275 million.
Apple Flip Flops on "Mature"
iPhone App Policy
Last week, iPhone developers were
taken by surprise when Apple
unceremoniously removed their
ability to promote their "mature"
applications (ages 17+) using promo
codes. These codes allow application
creators to raise awareness about
Internet News Record
Twitter Starts Filtering Malicious
URLs
By Sarah Perez
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:22:50 AM
One of the most popular activities
on the microblogging service Twitter
is sharing links. However, this
activity is also one of the most
dangerous, too. Ever since Twitter
gained in popularity, hackers and
spammers have been using the
service to direct traffic to their
unsavory web sites. For the end user,
clicking on those bad links could
result in, at best, an annoyance as
they're directed to some spammy web
site or, at worst, a full-on malware
attack on their PC.
Today, it appears that Twitter is
starting to do something about the
problem. According to security firm f
-secure, Twitter is now blocking
malicious URLs from being posted to
their service.
Sponsor
With the new malicious URL
protection built into Twitter, you're
no longer able to posts links to
known malicious web sites. If you try
to do so, you'll receive a message
reading:"Oops! Your tweet contained
a URL to a known malware site!"
Since the company has not made
any official announcement about the
new protection, it's unknown at this
time if Twitter is using a particular
service to provide the lookup
capabilities for the malicious URL
identification or if they are managing
ExpenseBay Takes the Trophy at Twiistup 6
By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/1/2009 12:09:07 AM
Of twelve competing startups
selected to present at Twiistup 6 in
Los Angeles, only one would go
home with the prestigious trophy,
this process in-house. If we had to
bet, though, we would go with the
former. Maintaining a current "block
list" for malicious web sites would be
a major undertaking for the startup.
It's more likely they've partnered
with a security company of some sort
to provide this service or are using a
publicly available API, such as
Google's Safe Browsing API, which
checks URLs against Google's
blacklist.
The need for this type of protection
on Twitter is more than apparent. As
of late, the service has been overrun
by those wanting to use it for their
own nefarious purposes. Besides just
getting their links posted to Twitter
itself, hackers have managed to get
their malware links into Twitter's
trending topics, too. There have also
been instances where the Twitter
accounts of high-profile users, like
Guy Kawasaki for instance, have
been hacked and have then been used
to push malware links out to that
person's unsuspecting followers.
Good, But Not Good Enough
Unfortunately, there's a major issue
with how Twitter is blocking
malicious URLs. They're not parsing
shortened links. Because of Twitter's
140-character limit, URL-shortening
which was, to adhere to strictest
journalistic standards of truth-telling
and integrity, constructed entirely of
Legos.
The victor in this contest was not
the charming underdog, BakeSpace,
nor was it the geek-chic rockstar,
services have become the de facto
standard for link sharing on Twitter.
This functionality is built into
numerous third-party client
applications as well as into the
Twitter web interface itself.
Shortening a malicious link would be
by far the easiest way to post a
dangerous malware-laden link to
Twitter - and likely the method
hackers would use anyway. If Twitter
does not parse all the shortened links
users attempt to post, then they don't
really have a good shot at keeping
malware links off their service.
Luckily for Twitter end users, the
default URL-shortening service,
Bit.ly, began warning users of
malware last month. Although it still
permits users to shorten and post
links to malicious sites using Twitter,
anyone clicking on the link will
receive a message: " Warning - this
site has been flagged and may
contain unsolicited content. The
content of this web page appears to
contain spam, or links to unsolicited
or undesired sites."
Well, at least that's something.
While we're glad to see Twitter
taking steps to make their service a
more secure place for sharing links,
we hope they'll soon start parsing
URLs, too. Otherwise, this new
protection won't be that much help in
the end. Discuss
JamLegend. It was the sensible,
Spezify: Visual Search
Done Right
By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 10:09:54 PM
Stockholm-based startup Spezify is
a visual search engine that impresses
with relevant results displayed in a
visual but still functional way.
Founded by Felix af Ekenstam and
Per Persson, digital creatives who
have over 10 years of experience in
the space, Spezify arrived in beta in
April and launched officially about
six weeks ago. Results are culled
from a number of search APIs and
include social and multimedia
content presented as a mosaic of the
"big picture" for any search terms.
Sponsor
"Web search has looked more or
less the same since 1994," said
Persson in a press release. "We were
missing a place generating an instant
and appealing overview of a certain
subject, regardless of media. In
addition to finding the expected,
Spezify gives you new associations
and lets you discover things you
didn't know were out there."
Results come in from sources as
diverse as eBay, Flickr, Wikipedia,
Twitter, Amazon, YouTube, Yahoo!,
and MSN search. The team tries to
add APIs continually to improve the
search experience, which, so far,
hasn't actually left us wanting much.
Spezify also suggests related terms
for search.
We tried out a few terms, of course.
Some were rich with multimedia
information. Other, drier topics led to
freemium enterprise software,
ExpenseBay. While talk of expense
reports and business travel might
strike technophiles as Office Space-
esque unsexiness, the Twiistup
judges saw a monetizable solution to
a very real problem and rewarded its
Web/ 25
search pages with meager and
irrelevant content.
And we did love that search results,
even YouTube videos, could be
examined from the Spezify search
page. We'd love to have instant
options for forwarding, posting, and
sharing results across other social
networks.
We did experience a couple minor
issues when using the site. Many of
the images, when clicked, take a
while to display at their proper
resolution. YouTube videos
embedded in the results lack volume
controls and HD viewing options.
And tweets aren't linked properly for
clicking through; users are instead
taken to the Twitter page for the user
in question.
And although the smaller issues are
easily overcome or even simply
ignored, the larger question looms:
Even given the ease of use and fun,
visual nature of this search engine,
what will drive user adoption and
change the Google habit? Granted,
getting this "big picture" view of
topics is as informative as it is
intuitive, but aren't we all used to
navigating through pages of links and
tabs when we're done playing with a
new toy and are ready to find the
information we really need and
want? Discuss
team accordingly. Watch the
interview below to learn more about
EnterpriseBay's experience and story.
Sponsor
Discuss
26 Web/
iPhone App Trends: Music, Health
and Augmented Reality
By Dana Oshiro
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 11:44:16 PM
This weekend, developers, UI
designers and testers combined
forces to share ideas and collaborate
at the third annual iPhone Dev Camp.
The event encourages individuals at
all levels to continue to stretch the
development boundaries of the
iPhone and iPod touch. The event's
Hackathon competition offers an
exhibition of attendee projects and is
a showcase of some of the industry's
brightest innovators. Below are some
of the latest trends amongst those
innovators.
Sponsor
Augmented Reality: When it was
first released, iPhone developers
were ecstatic to gain access to Map
Kit- a framework that allowed them
to utilize Google maps for their
applications. Thanks to a team at
today's iPhone Dev Camp,
developers are about to gain access to
a whole new world of possibilities.
Chris Haseman, Zac White, Charles
Ruelle and Arshad Tayyeb released
an Augmented Reality Kit for the
iPhone. The user interface library
won the Hackathon event's "Best
Open Source Project" award and
offers developers a chance to build
on top of a library for augmented
reality applications. Some of the
Cartoon: Mars Needs Women!
By Rob Cottingham
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 1:51:40 PM
I had a big, long post written up
here about how, with a very few
exceptions, the speaker lineup at
most tech conferences is
disproportionately, staggeringly,
products that can be made possible
by the kit include new altered reality
games and location-based
informational services.
Assistive and Health-Related
Technology: Created by Aramys
Miranda, Hernan Pelassini and Dan
Raju, iSign is a simple iPhone
application created to help those with
hearing challenges communicate via
their iPhone. The group leverages the
device's touch screen and employs
modified American sign language to
produce voice outputs. In this way,
members can use the device to
communicate to those with little or
no knowledge of sign language. This
application won the Hackathon
award for "Best Accessibility
Application". Meanwhile, Chief
Medical Officer gives patients
overwhelmingly male. (And at least
with the ones I've been at, pretty
damn white, too.)
But so much has been said in such
better ways by people better
positioned to comment intelligently -
the issue recently earned its own
hashtag, which tells you something -
that I deleted the whole thing.
iPhone access to their Google Health
files. Created over the weekend by
Bess Ho, Myk Klemme, Jen McCabe
and Chip Vanek, the application will
allow users to gather their medical
records and prescriptions in one
place. This is particularly useful for
medical emergencies. The group
plans to release the application as an
open source project upon completion.
Mobile Music Production:
Nettwerk recording artist BT's Sonifi
is by far one of the most
sophisticated iPhone music
applications available. The product is
a cross between Indaba's flash-based
audio sequencer and Yamaha's touch
instrument, the Tenori-On. While the
Tenori-On retails at $1000, the Sonifi
iPhone application is available in the
App Store for $4.99 and allows users
to mix via the touch interface on the
iPod touch or iPhone. Some of the
unique features of this product
include a touch interface with 4
channel arrangement mapping,
reactive visuals, a collaborative
group mixing mode and "Stutter
Edit" - a feature that allows users to
shake their device for audio
feedback. In the past, electronic
artists have experimented with a
modified NIntendo Wii remote for an
accelerometer-prompted dj
experience, Sonifi is the first gesture-
based iPhone mixer.
Discuss
Sponsor
Instead, I just want to ask: why is it
READWRITEWEB
continued from page 23
data -- to accelerate the "A-ha"
moment.
Defrag explores the intersection of
topics like:
• Business intelligence
• Business process management
• Social computing and analytics
• Next-level discovery
• Enterprise 2.0
• Next-gen email
• The semantic Web
1 – 3 December 2009: London,
England
Online Information & IMS 2009
Online Information and IMS
together create the largest event
dedicated to the information industry.
Consisting of an exhibition
delivering over 9,000 visitors from
70 countries, a conference and a
show-floor seminar program, the
event provides an annual meeting
place for the global information
industry.
Online Information is once again
set to play host to thousands of
information professionals,
information end-users and publishers
from around the globe, meeting
suppliers of online content, e-
publishing, and library management
solutions. IMS provides a forum for
IT, business, and information
management professionals to find
unlimited, relevant advice,
taking so long for social media
conferences to start reflecting the
diversity, if not of the population at
large, then at least of the amazing
people doing such cutting-edge,
innovative work in this sector?
More Noise to Signal Discuss
Internet News Record
educational content and compare
solutions under one roof. Attend IMS
and meet suppliers of content
management, search solutions, and
Web 2.0 technologies.
15 – 16 March 2010: London,
England
2nd Annual Social Networking
World Forum — London
The 2nd Annual Social Networking
World Forum takes place at the
Olympia Conference Centre in
London. The two-day event features
four dedicated conference streams:
• Social Networking World Forum
• Enterprise social media
• Social TV World Forum
• Mobile Social Networking Forum
The event features key speakers
from global brands, organizations,
social networking publishers and
developers, pioneering social media
leaders, top agencies, content
producers, and more.
• Full workshop program within
exhibition area
• Evening networking reception
• Pre-show online meeting planner
for delegates
• Free pass for exhibition only
Download this entire events
calendar in iCal format. Discuss
Google Apps
Campaign: How Not
to Influence IT Experts
By Dana Oshiro
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 2:40:43 AM
Google just launched"Going
Internet News Record
GOOGLE
continued from page 26
Google"- a marketing campaign
similar to the Spread Firefox to
encourage companies to switch to
Google Apps in the workplace.
While millions already use Gmail,
the campaign is aimed at luring
business and enterprise users away
from Microsoft Exchange and
Outlook. Google already claims to
serve more than 1.75 million
companies and judging by the flashy
campaign, it hopes to increase that
number in the near future.
Sponsor
Surprisingly, despite Google's
success in online and web
advertising, one of the company's key
ad vehicles is the billboard. The
company has reserved 4 billboards in
major US cities and will run a new
Google App-related message each
day for a month. The campaign is
expected to celebrate the benefits of
Gmail spam protection, filters, high
storage limits, email threads, Google
chat, Google Docs and of course,
what the company has always done
well, search.
In an effort to rally advocates, the
company has set up a Google Apps
WEEKLY
continued from page 24
their work by sending out free copies
of apps to select individuals, such as
those working in the media, in the
hopes of having their new app
reviewed. Now it seems that Apple
has reversed this earlier,
controversial decision and is
allowing promo codes once again.
But we have to wonder: why were
they ever removed to begin with?
Twitter Redesigns As Streaming
Trends Site
Twitter announced this week its
new home page redesign, complete
with trending topics and search.
Twitter has over the years evolved
into a multifaceted real-time tool.
The community has given timely
updates on earthquakes, the Iran
election and we've even seen
professional poker players bluff in
"Spread the Word" site where
enthusiasts download marketing
collateral and promote Google Apps
within the workplace. The site slogan
is, "Join the movement. Spread the
word. Go Google." The page is
meant to help employees convince
their IT administrators to switch to
Google Apps, but I can't help
thinking this campaign could
potentially backfire.
While Google Apps and Firefox
share a common enemy in Microsoft,
the project targets are completely
different. Firefox enthusiasts
advocate on behalf of the company
directly to their friends and family.
Meanwhile Google Apps enthusiasts
are asked to influence the very
people who are already more
qualified to make IT-related
infrastructural decisions. In other
words, if you've ever seen a non-
technical employee tell an IT
administrator how to do his/her job,
the outcome probably wasn't pretty.
Nevertheless, because Google's
services are extremely user-friendly,
some great enterprise and business-
level endorsements might better
real-time Tweets. It has evolved into
a community where users can
discover breaking news and trends;
and the new home page complements
that.
Why Do You Tweet?
eMarketer reports that, according to
the " Consumer Internet Barometer,"
the majority of Twitter users (42%)
use the service to communicate with
their friends. About 29% use Twitter
to update their status, 26% to find
news, and 21% for work-related
reasons. Oddly, only 0.3% said that
they use Twitter for fun.
Significantly more women use
Twitter to keep in touch with friends
than men (48.4% vs. 33.6%).
Will Apple's "Interactive Album"
Cocktail Inspire Better Bands?
In an unsurprising move, Apple is
influence a workplace service
transition. One testimonial from
Vivek Kundera is particularly
glowing.
Currently serving as the United
States Chief Information Officer,
Kundera is responsible for the
country's e-government and
information technology. In 2008, as
the CTO of the District of Columbia,
he endorsed Google Apps as a cost-
effective, scalable and easy-to-use
collaboration platform. He deployed
the service across the district's 86
agencies to help its police officers,
fire fighters and public servants.
Using a number of Google
applications including Google Earth,
maps, documents and email, Kundera
has been celebrated for bringing
efficiency and cloud-based
infrastructure to the District of
Columbia. His work earned him a
spot as a key advisor on President
Obama's transition committee on
technology issues and from there he
was appointed the federal CIO.
Discuss
said to be working with major record
labels to provide an "interactive
album" to consumers. The company
is rumored to be working with EMI,
Sony, Warner and Universal to
bundle photos, lyric sheets, liner
notes and videos with album
purchases in the iTunes store.
According to the FInancial Times,
the move is meant to increase album
sales. Nevertheless, a number of
critics have already argued that the
attempt will be ill-fated.
SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS
COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS
CATEGORY
That's a wrap for another week!
Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Discuss
China seals off
pneumonic plague town
By Tania Branigan (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 4:45:18 AM
Anyone with a cough or a fever
who has visited Ziketan, in Qinghai
province, since mid-July urged to
seek treatment
A second man has died of
pneumonic plague and 10 people are
infected in a north-western Chinese
town that authorities have sealed off
to avoid the spread of the infectious
lung disease.
Officials have placed Ziketan and
the surrounding part of Qinghai
province in quarantine. The local
health bureau has urged anyone with
a cough or a fever who has visited
the town of 10,000 since mid-July to
seek treatment.
The lung disease is caused by the
same bacterium as bubonic plague.
The World Health Organisation
(WHO) says it is the most virulent
and least common form of plague,
capable of killing sufferers within 24
hours of infection. It spreads through
the air and can be passed from person
to person by coughing.
The organisation's China office
said it was in close contact with
health authorities and that the
measures taken to contain and treat
the sickness were appropriate. China
has experienced such outbreaks
before.
"This is not new," Beijing-based
WHO spokeswoman Vivian Tan told
Reuters. "There have been sporadic
cases reported [in China] over the
years. We're not surprised that it's
come up. We're in constant contact
with the authorities to make sure
things are under control."
She said the fact that the outbreak
had occurred in a remote part of the
country "should help to mitigate" the
impact.
World/ 27
China reported the outbreak to the
organisation on Saturday.
The state news agency, Xinhua,
said the second victim, identified
only as 37-year-old Danzin, was a
neighbour of the first fatality, a 32-
year-old herdsman who has not been
named.
The other sufferers, mostly
relatives of the first man to die, are
being treated in isolation in hospital.
In 2004, eight villagers in Qinghai
province died of plague. Most were
infected after killing or eating wild
marmots, small mammals that live in
the grasslands of China's north-west
and Mongolia.
A food seller in Ziketan, who gave
his surname as Han, told the
Associated Press the authorities had
said homes and shops should be
disinfected and residents should wear
masks when they went out. He said
80% of shops in the town were
closed and prices of disinfectants and
some vegetables had tripled.
"People are so scared. There are few
people on the streets," Han said by
telephone. "There are police guarding
the quarantine centre at the township
hospital but not on the streets."
The situation in Ziketan was stable,
said an official at the local disease
control centre, adding that the
measures taken were "scientific,
orderly, effective and in accordance
with the law".
Another resident said officials had
distributed flyers and made TV and
radio announcements on how to
prevent infection. She said police
checkpoints were set up in a 17-mile
radius around Ziketan, and residents
were not allowed to leave.
• China
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News &
Media Limited 2009 | Use of this
content is subject to our Terms &
Conditions| More Feeds
28 World/
Israel's uncompromising kingmaker
By Rory McCarthy (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:14:25 AM
Israel's outspoken foreign minister
has said he will resign if formally
charged over corruption allegations
that emerged over the weekend. Our
Jerusalem correspondent, Rory
McCarthy, charts the meteoric rise of
an immigrant baggage handler who
has become the country's most
controversial far-right politician
Three decades ago he worked at the
airport carrying luggage, an
immigrant from the former Soviet
Union who had landed in a new
country, speaking a new language,
even changing his name. Since then,
Avigdor Lieberman has carved
himself out a political career built on
uncompromising, far-right positions,
culminating in his propulsion into
power at the heart of the political
establishment as Israel's foreign
minister. That position is now
jeopardised by allegations of
corruption.
In typically blunt terms Lieberman
has called for the trial and execution
of Arab fellow MPs. He has warned
that Israel faces a "terrorist" threat
from within its own borders far
greater than any outside and he has
dismissed calls for a Palestinian state
and the right of return of refugees as
no more than "a cover for radical
Islam's attempt to destroy the State of
Israel".
His promise of strong leadership
and new curbs on Israel's Arab
citizens has won him huge popularity
at home. His admirers say Lieberman
offers straight talk and strong
leadership in a country where people
are disillusioned with the vagaries of
politicians. But his critics warn that
his stunning rise is symptomatic of a
disturbing movement to silence those
who challenge Israel's identity. There
are also increasingly serious
questions about his integrity.
Yesterday police detectives
recommended he should be charged
with bribery and fraud after a major
corruption investigation dating back
several years.
Behind the populism, Lieberman,
50, has been a genuine and
unexpected political success. He
managed to craft an important
political party out of the large
Russian-speaking Jewish community,
which grew rapidly in Israel after the
waves of migration in the early
1990s. He read the mood of a
growing rightwing element and
offered an agenda, often with an anti-
establishment character, that
appealed not just to the Russians but
to others disenchanted by the
traditional politics of the right.
In large part this agenda is shaped
by its anti-Arab message, insistent on
maintaining Israel's Jewish character
while a fifth of its population are
Arab Muslims and Christians. But it
is also secular, with its challenge to
the influence of rabbis on personal
life, strongly supportive of the idea
that all citizens should complete
military service and in favour of a
more presidential style of
government. His message resonates
particularly well with young Israelis,
even children who are not yet voting.
Lieberman's reference often seems
to be that of modern Russian politics.
"This model is not very democratic,"
said Yitzhak Brudny, professor of
political science at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem. "He doesn't
like balancing government with
checks and balances. He wants a kind
of imperial president, an executive
authority. This is why he is
dangerous."
Lieberman, originally Evet, was
born in Kishinev, in what is today
Moldova. He emigrated and took
Israeli citizenship under the Law of
Return in 1978. He served in the
Israeli military and studied at the
Hebrew University, where he became
active in student politics, aligning
himself with the rightwing Likud
party and working alongside fellow
students who went on to become
prominent political figures. While
others gave speeches and led rallies,
Lieberman was a bouncer at a student
nightclub.
"It was quite violent at that time.
The rise of the Likud on the campus
was coinciding with the rise of an
extreme Arab nationalist movement,"
said Brudny, who was then a student
at the university. "Lieberman was
always in the shadows but it helped
him start."
He went on to a job organising for
Likud, working his way up behind
the scenes. Eventually the party
leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, made
him director general of the party and
then, when Netanyahu was elected
prime minister in 1996, head of his
office.
By then Lieberman, a cigar smoker,
keen tennis player and supporter of
the Beitar Jerusalem football club,
lived in Nokdim, a small Jewish
settlement on a hilltop deep in the
West Bank, beyond the Palestinian
city of Bethlehem. Eventually –
perhaps feeling constricted by the
party hierarchy, or outnumbered by
big political egos – he left Likud and
struck out on his own, forming the
party Yisrael Beiteinu, Israel Our
Home.
In its first election, in 1999, the
party won only four Knesset seats. A
decade later it had stretched out
beyond its original constituency of
immigrant Russians to win 15 seats
in last February's elections. It became
the third largest in the Knesset,
displacing the Labour party, which
dominated politics for the first three
decades of Israel's history.
Lieberman found himself a
kingmaker. But in typical form he
headed off for a week's celebratory
holiday in Minsk, leaving the
political establishment at home
fuming. In the end Netanyahu, prime
minister for a second time, brought
Yisrael Beiteinu into his coalition
and gave his old friend the job of
foreign minister.
From the start, Lieberman pulled
no punches. He disavowed the most
recent round of US-led peace talks,
known as the Annapolis process, and
told a roomful of diplomats: "Those
who want peace should prepare for
war and be strong." Last month he
stood next to the US secretary of
state, Hillary Clinton, in Washington,
heard her repeat her administration's
call for a stop to settlements and
replied curtly: "We cannot accept."
Privately, some western leaders
have spoken of their frustration. The
French president, Nicolas Sarkozy,
reportedly told Netanyahu: "You
must get rid of that man."
Behind Lieberman's rise was a
hugely popular campaign slogan:
"Without loyalty, there is no
citizenship". He promised a new bill
which would require all citizens to
swear loyalty to Israel as a Jewish
state or lose their citizenship. It was
clearly aimed at enforcing the loyalty
of Israel's Arab citizens.
But when the bill went to a
ministerial committee it was soundly
defeated, even by traditionalist
rightwing MPs. Then Yisrael
Beiteinu introduced another bill
which proposed a ban on anyone
commemorating Naqba Day, on
which Palestinians mark the
"catastrophe" that the 1948 war
represents for them, but which for
Israel is celebrated as the victorious
Independence Day, the creation of
the state of Israel. Again it seemed
designed to stifle political expression
among Israel's Arab minority.
This bill was the brainchild of Alex
Miller, 32, an MP from the party who
shares a strikingly similar
background to Lieberman: he left
Moscow with his parents in 1992 and
arrived in Israel aged 15. He too
struggled with his new surroundings,
learning Hebrew and serving in the
military, where he was posted as a
guard at the settlement of Nokdim
and through which he came to know
Lieberman himself. He describes him
as "one of the most brilliant people I
Internet News Record
have met" and attributes the party's
popularity to his strong leadership.
"We are a party that speaks clearly,
that projects leadership, that never
zigzags from its original agenda,"
Miller said.
He says the point of his bill was to
stop radical Islam using the Naqba
demonstrations "to promote hatred
among the people". "I don't think
there is a single state in the world
that on the day of independence
celebrations can put up with
thousands of people going to the
streets to demonstrate and to deny the
existence of the state," Miller said.
Yet this bill too has proved
controversial. It is still under review
and seems likely to be toned down
before it is put to the Knesset for
approval. But the thinking behind it
captures the party's position on
Israel's Arab citizens, a position that
appears to be steadily growing in
popularity. This view argues that
Israel must above all remain both
democratic and with a firm Jewish
demographic majority, and that
citizenship brings with it both rights
and responsibilities.
It is difficult to overestimate how
much this concerns Arab leaders in
Israel. Although their community has
full citizenship, including the right to
vote and stand in elections, for years
they have faced routine
discrimination. A few corridors away
from Miller's office on the ground
floor of the Knesset sits Jamal
Zahalka, an Arab MP and head of the
Balad party, which argues that Israel
should not be a Jewish and
democratic state but, in their words, a
democratic state of all its citizens.
Zahalka bitterly opposes any
attempt to stamp out commemoration
of the Palestinian Naqba. "If you
don't save the victims of the past, you
cannot save the future of the coming
generations."
Zahalka was also a student activist
at the Hebrew University at the same
Internet News Record
Iran supreme leader endorses
Ahmadinejad second term
By Peter Walker (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 4:49:35 AM
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be
sworn in on Wednesday
• Khamenei approval comes seven
weeks after election
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, formally endorsed
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second
term as president today, seven weeks
after bitterly disputed elections
prompted mass protests and deep
divisions within the country's elite.
The event, footage of which was
broadcast by state-owned al-Alam
television, was boycotted by the
former presidents Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami,
as well as the defeated candidates,
Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi
Karroubi.
The somewhat awkward ceremony
ended with Ahmadinejad giving the
cleric a kiss on the shoulder. At the
equivalent event four years ago,
Ahmadinejad kissed Khamenei's
hand and was embraced by the cleric.
But today, when he approached
Khamenei in an apparent attempt to
repeat the gesture, Khamenei initially
held out an arm to apparently keep
him at more of a distance.
Khamenei nontheless used the
Analyst Has Supposedly Seen Apple Tablet, Announcement in September [Apple Tablet]
By Jason Chen (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 4:49:22 PM
This is one small step forward in the
Apple Tablet rumor. An anonymous
ceremony to describe the election as
a "golden page" in Iran's political
history, saying it was a "vote for the
fight against arrogance and brave
resistance to the international
domination-seekers" – a clear
reference to foreign criticism.
Ahmadinejad, who according to
official results took 63% of the votes
cast in the 12 June poll, will be
sworn in by the country's mainly
conservative parliament on
Wednesday, and will have a fortnight
to submit his cabinet list to the
legislature.
The opposition says Ahmadinejad
and his supporters stole the election
from Mousavi by fraud. The official
results said Mousavi had won 34% of
the 40m votes cast.
Ahmadinejad's re-election saw
hundreds of thousands of Iranians
take to the streets in protest. At least
30 people died and hundreds of
demonstrators were imprisoned.
Opposition groups say the number of
dead is much higher.
More than 100 opposition members
and activists accused of being
involved in post-election violence
appeared in court in Tehran at the
weekend for the start of what
opponents of the government claim is
a mass show trial. Both Mousavi and
Khatami, the reformist former
president, have denounced the
Barron's analyst says he's seen the
Apple Tablet and that the thing will
be announced in September for a
November launch.
He also says that what he saw was
hearings.
According to Iranian media reports,
the charges include rioting, attacking
military and government buildings
and conspiring against the ruling
system. Many defendants had spent
weeks in jail without access to
lawyers, Mousavi said yesterday.
The unrest, Iran's worst since the
1979 Islamic revolution, continued
late last week as police fired teargas
and wielded batons to disperse
thousands of anti-government
protesters attending a graveside
memorial for victims of the
crackdown. Police stopped Mousavi
and hundreds of his supporters as
they tried to reach the grave of Neda
Soltan, the young woman who
became a symbol of the protest
movement after her death was
captured on video.
Ahmadinejad, 52, faces divisions
within his own political support base,
and the disputed election has exposed
rifts within the clergy, with several
senior clerics siding with the
opposition.
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
• Iran
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"close enough now to a final design,"
ISRAEL'S
continued from page 28
time as Lieberman. The latter
sometimes, and with a heavy note of
irony, refers to Zahalka as his
"friend". "He was one of those
people who was inciting, shouting,
pushing for confrontation," said
Zahalka.
He says the right grew in strength
after the assassination of Yitzhak
Rabin in 1995. There followed the
failure of the Camp David talks in
2000 and the subsequent second
intifada, then the war in Lebanon in
2006 and in Gaza earlier this year.
"Lieberman didn't suddenly appear
like Minerva from the head of
Jupiter," Zahalka said. "He rode the
wave and he's not alone."
Hassan Jabareen, who heads
Adalah, an Arab human rights
organisation in Haifa, agrees that
Lieberman read the political situation
well. "He didn't establish racism in
Israel ... This product wasn't shaped
by him. He just got the fruit of the
others," he said. Jabareen argues that
the Israeli state is tumbling into a
crisis, brought on by a lurch to the
right.
"They try to suppress our identity.
But the state won't be more Jewish if
we stop commemorating the Naqba.
The state won't be more Jewish if we
stop criticising Zionism," he said.
"When segregation becomes
ideology, ideology has only one
place to be translated – the law. Here
in Israel segregation is becoming
ideology. The Jews want to live
alone without Arabs."
Lieberman is not a traditional
"Greater Israel" rightwinger. He is
more often pragmatic than
ideological and although he wants to
hold on to as many Jewish
and may retail for $700 to $800.
Every other manufacturer is waiting
now to see what this is, since it's all
over the supply chain in Asia." "[
Barrons via 9to5Mac]
World/ Gizmos/ 29
settlements in the West Bank as
possible, he does seem to accept an
eventual two-state solution to the
conflict. He favours giving up land in
Israel south of Galilee, which is
home to a large Arab population, in
return for holding on to major
settlements – an idea that still has not
gained currency and which is bitterly
opposed by Israel's Arabs, who
would lose their citizenship purely on
the basis of their race. He is not
religious either, advocating civil
marriage, which has long been
opposed by his religious coalition
partners.
Yet his political rise comes with a
backdrop that is ever familiar in
Israeli politics – allegations of
corruption. The biggest challenge in
Lieberman's immediate future is not
shaping policy but surviving a high-
profile police investigation that has
resulted in the recommendation he be
charged for bribery, fraud, breach of
trust, money laundering and
obstruction of justice in a complex
inquiry dating back nine years. If he
is charged, he would almost certainly
have to resign. If convicted on all
counts he could face up to 31 years in
jail. Lieberman continues to insist he
is innocent of all allegations and says
the case is politically motivated, but
the case may still derail his new-
found political success.
• Israel
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30 World/ Entertainment/
Taliban bomb kills 10 in Afghanistan Pakistan blames
(World news and comment from
the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 2:50:03 AM
Islamists for attack on
Herat blast
• Woman and girl killed in fruit
Christians
• Police chief critically injured in
market attack
A remote-controlled bomb
exploded today in western
Afghanistan's main city, killing at
least 10 people and critically
wounding a district police chief, the
target of the attack.
The Taliban has claimed
responsibility for the bomb, which
went off on a crowded street near a
fruit market in Herat. It injured 30
people, said Raouf Ahmedi, a police
spokesman.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf
Ahmadi, said the group had targeted
Mohammad Issa, the police chief for
nearby Injil district, who was driving
into the city. The police spokesman
said he had been taken to a Nato-run
hospital in critical condition.
Local police officials initially
reported a dozen dead, but the head
of the regional health department, Dr
Ghulam Said Rashid, confirmed 10
were killed: a woman, a girl, six men
and two police officers.
Ahmedi said the blast blew out
windows over a 100-metre radius and
True Blood: What the heck is Maryann?
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 11:04:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free,
True Blood There's been quite a bit
of discussion about what sort of
creature Maryann is on True Blood.
While some TV Squad readers
speculated that she's a Circe -- or
rather, THE Circe -- Michelle
Forbes, who plays the character, set
the record straight in a TV Guide
interview in mid-July.
She's a maenad, which, according
to Wikipedia, were the female
several casualties were fruit
stallholders. Witnesses said the bomb
left a metre-wide crater in the street
and damaged two police vehicles.
The interior ministry, meanwhile,
said insurgents attacked a police
checkpoint in the old city of Baghlan
in northern Afghanistan yesterday.
Eight militants and two police died in
the ensuing gunbattle, the ministry
said.
The violence in the comparatively
calm cities of Herat and Baghlan
highlighted the volatile situation
across Afghanistan as it braces for
presidential and local elections this
month.
President Hamid Karzai, who is
seen as the frontrunner, condemned
the bombing. "This is another attempt
by the terrorists to disrupt democracy
and development in Afghanistan," he
said in a statement.
Around 100,000 Nato troops have
been deployed in Afghanistan,
including a record 62,000 US troops,
more than double the number a year
ago but still half their strength in
Iraq.
Nine troops have been killed in
fighting or bombings this month in
Afghanistan, including three
Americans on Sunday and three on
Saturday, along with two Canadians
and one French soldier.
followers of Dionysus in Greek
mythology. "Their name literally
translates as 'raving ones.' Often the
maenads were portrayed as inspired
July was the deadliest month for
international troops since the 2001
US-led invasion to oust the Taliban
government, with 74 foreign troops
killed.
Roadside bombs have become the
militants' weapon of choice, with the
number of such attacks rising sharply
this year.
US troops claim the militants are
now using bombs with little or no
metal, making them even harder to
detect. The Taliban is planting bombs
on top of one another and burying
several bombs in one small area.
US commanders have long
predicted a rise in violence in
Afghanistan this summer, the
country's traditional fighting season,
with Taliban militants vowing to
disrupt the presidential vote on 20
August.
• Afghanistan
• Taliban
• Global terrorism
• Nato
• US foreign policy
• United States
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by him into a state of ecstatic frenzy,
through a combination of dancing
and drunken intoxication. In this
state, they would lose all self-control,
begin shouting excitedly, engage in
uncontrolled sexual behavior, and
ritualistically hunt down and tear
animals (and sometimes men and
children) to pieces, devouring the
raw flesh."
Continue reading True Blood:
What the heck is Maryann?
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
By Declan Walsh (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:22:28 AM
Sunni militants from Sipah-e-
Sahaba accused of leading mob of
20,000 on deadly weekend rampage
through Punjab community
The Pakistani government has
blamed a Sunni militant group linked
to al-Qaida for leading an attack on a
Christian community at the weekend
that killed eight people, including
three women and a child.
Christian schools and colleges
across Pakistan closed today for three
days to protest against the killings in
Gojra, a scruffy town in Punjab
province, on Saturday. Community
leaders appealed for calm as
paramilitary rangers patrolled the
streets.
Thousands of Muslims rampaged
through a Christian neighbourhood
after days of tension over reports that
a Qur'an had been burned at a
Christian wedding. Six people were
burned alive in one house, while two
others were shot dead.
More than 100 houses were torched
by a mob that, according to some
officials estimates, swelled to more
than 20,000 people. The police
intervened with teargas but failed to
stop the violence.
Pakistan has an estimated 2.8
million Christians, mostly living in
Punjab and employed in poorly-paid
jobs. Sectarian violence led by
Muslim extremists erupts
periodically, usually triggered by
blasphemy allegations. The federal
minister for minorities, Shahbaz
Bhatti, said the latest attack was led
by militants from Sipah-e-Sahaba
Internet News Record
(SSP), a banned militant group
notorious for violence against Shia
Muslims during the 1990s.
In recent years, members of SSP
and its more virulent offshoot,
Lashkar I Jhangvi, have been linked
to numerous Taliban and al-Qaida
attacks. SSP's historical base is in
Jhang, close to Gojra.
Under Pakistan's strict blasphemy
laws, defilement of Islam's holy book
is punishable by life imprisonment.
Human rights campaigners say the
law is frequently abused to settle
personal scores or exploit communal
tensions.
Punjab's law minister, Rana
Sanaullah, said initial investigations
had debunked the Qur'an defilement
theory and 12 people had been
arrested.
"This is not the work of Muslims. A
group of extremists have exploited
the situation," he told a group of
Christians after funeral prayers for
one of the dead yesterday.
Media commentators and
newspaper editorials condemned the
attack as the latest sign of virulent
Islamism threatening Pakistan, as the
army fights the Taliban on its north-
western borders. "Ours is an
intolerant society, and we are
particularly intolerant of those whose
faith is not Muslim," said the News.
A spokesman for President Asif Ali
Zardari promised an inquiry into the
incident.
• Pakistan
• Al-Qaida
• Religion
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Internet News Record
US filesharer ordered to pay
$675,000
By Rosie Swash (World news
and comment from the Guardian
| guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:28:07 AM
Joel Tenenbaum, a US student who
admitted illegally sharing 30 songs
online, has been fined for copyright
infringement
Joel Tenenbaum, a student who
admitted illegally sharing 30 songs
online, has been ordered to pay a fine
of $675,000 (£400,000). A jury
decided that the 25-year-old should
pay $22,500 (£13,370) per song to
the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA), to be distributed
between the record labels whose
copyright had been infringed.
Tenenbaum's reaction was mixed,
as he had been anticipating a fine of
up to $4.5m. He said the result of the
trial "sends a message of 'We
Woman infected with gorilla HIV strain
(World news and comment from
the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:25:00 AM
A woman from Cameroon now
living in France is the first person
confirmed to have a type of HIV
originating in gorillas rather than
chimpanzees
A new strain of HIV has been
discovered in a woman from
Cameroon. It differs from the three
known strains and appears to be
closely related to a form of the virus
recently discovered in wild gorillas,
researchers reported today in the
journal Nature Medicine.
The Next Food Network Star: Finale (season finale) - open thread
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:30:00 AM
Filed under: Other Reality Shows,
Food/Home/DIY, Watercooler Talk
considered your side with some
legitimacy ... $4.5m would have
been, 'We don't buy it at all'."
There was suggestion from
Tenenbaum's lawyer, Charles
Nesson, that the verdict would be
appealed.
The RIAA released the following
statement: "We appreciate that Mr
Tenenbaum finally acknowledged
that artists and music companies
deserve to be paid for their work.
From the beginning, that's what this
case has been all about. We only
wish he had done so sooner rather
than lie about his illegal behaviour."
Tenebaum was first approached by
the RIAA in 2003, when the music
industry body wrote to him asking
for $5,250 in compensation for seven
songs he had illegally shared on the
P2P site Kazaa. He was among
roughly 30-40,000 people fined, but
The finding "highlights the
continuing need to watch closely for
the emergence of new HIV variants,
particularly in western central
Africa," said the researchers, led by
Jean-Christophe Plantier of the
University of Rouen, France.
The three previously known HIV
strains are related to the simian virus
that occurs in chimpanzees.
The most likely explanation for the
new find is gorilla-to-human
transmission, Plantier's team said.
But they added they cannot rule out
the possibility that the new strain
arose in chimpanzees and moved into
gorillas and then humans, or moved
So, did the person you thought was
going to win The Next Food Network
Star actually win, or are you
steaming mad right now? After the
jump, a quick analysis of last night's
only one of a handful to contest the
fine.
Shortly before the trial, the RIAA
increased the number of songs he
was being sued for from seven to 30.
Earlier this year, Jammie Thomas
Rasset was found guilty of illegally
sharing 24 songs via Kazaa. She was
ordered to pay a total of $1.92m, or
$80,000 per song.
Tenenbaum, only the second
person to be found guilty of illegal
filesharing in the US, had reportedly
said he would file for bankruptcy if
the verdict stands.
• File sharing
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directly from chimpanzees to both
gorillas and humans.
The 62-year-old patient tested
positive for HIV in 2004, shortly
after moving to Paris from
Cameroon, according to the
researchers. She had lived near
Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon,
but said she had no contact with apes
or bushmeat.
The woman currently shows no
signs of Aids and is not yet receiving
antiviral drug treatment, the
researchers said.
How widespread this strain is
remains to be determined. The
researchers said it could be
season finale.
World/ Entertainment/ AppleBlog/ 31
Futurama back on track again
By Danny Gallagher (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:02:00 AM
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows,
Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows,
Animation, Pickups and Renewals,
Reality-Free Despite a minor
derailment that nearly threw all of the
show's voice talent head first through
a windshield, Futurama is finally full
steam ahead ... again.
Variety reports that production on
the new Comedy Central episodes
has been restarted now that the
principal voice talent has been invasion led by the planet Omicron
coaxed back to the studio. This Persei 8. Negotiations with Lur are
means that the show will be able to still pending.
meet its 2010 target date. Continue reading Futurama back
That is, of course, unless there are on track again
unforeseen complications like, say, Permalink| Email this| | Comments
another writers' strike, an animator
ink shortage, or an impromptu
circulating unnoticed in Cameroon or
elsewhere. The virus's rapid
replication indicates that it is adapted
to human cells, they reported.
• Aids and HIV
• HIV infection
• Infectious diseases
• Microbiology
• Medical research It's the Feds! FCC
• Cameroon quizzes Apple, AT&T
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News &
Media Limited 2009 | Use of this and Google about
content is subject to our Terms & Google Voice apps
Conditions| More Feeds
By Joachim Bean (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 8/1/2009 12:20:00 AM
Filed under: Apple Corporate,
Continue reading The Next Food iPhone, App Store Earlier today, the
Network Star: Finale (season finale) - FCC(Federal Communications
open thread Commission) sent out letters to
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
32 AppleBlog/
IT'S
continued from page 31
Apple, AT&T and Google, readable
here [ FCC's letter to Apple, to
AT&T& to Google] asking each
company about its involvement in the
Google Voice app rejections. The
agency is asking Apple to explain
why the Google app was rejected and
the third-party apps removed, if any
VoIP apps have been approved, and
whether there are general rules and
regulations covering application
approvals (something many
developers would also love to know).
It's worth noting that none of the
Google Voice apps are VoIP (voice
over IP) applications in the
traditional sense, as they rely on the
cellular carrier's voice network to
handle calls, so it's not clear if the
FCC understands this or if the agency
is heading down a blind alley on this
particular topic.
To Google, the letter asks if any
other Google apps have been
accepted in the store ( we know there
are a few), whether Apple explains
the rejection process or the reasoning
behind the treatment of Google
Latitude, if there are other ways to
use Google Voice on the iPhone
(again, a somewhat naive question,
as the service works fine via
touchtone commands and Mobile
Safari), and lastly and most
intriguingly, what the app approval
process is for Android applications
(should be a short answer: "C'mon in,
the water's fine!").
Finally, the agency is asking
AT&T how the carrier was consulted
on this decision, if any VoIP
applications are running on their
network (again, missing the point,
since GV VoIP -- more relevant that
there are BlackBerry apps for Google
Voice that are happily on AT&T
handsets), and whether AT&T can
provide a list of rejected applications
on the store while detailing the role it
plays in approving possible 3G-
enabled services like Sling.
The FCC has given the three
Internet News Record
companies until August 21 to
respond to their letters; while the
overall scope of the questions betrays
quite a bit of agency unfamiliarity
with the workings of the Google
Voice service and the App Store, any
movement toward openness and clear
answers is positive. Hopefully, these
responses will offer some insight into
the story of this whole mess that has
given everyone such indigestion over
the past week.
[via Engadget, links to FCC via
BusinessWeek]
TUAW It's the Feds! FCC quizzes
Apple, AT&T and Google about
Google Voice apps originally
appeared on The Unofficial Apple
Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 01 Aug
2009 00:20:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
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Patent nonsense: News that could change the way

we work and play
By Steven Sande (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 8/2/2009 3:00:00 PM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion,
Multimedia, Podcasting Last week
provided a lot of legal fun for Apple,
complete with news of the US
Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) sending a letter
to the company asking for
information about the removal of the
Google Voice app from the App
Store, and word that upstart Mac
cloner Psystar has retained a new law
firm. Meanwhile, over at the
hallowed halls of the U.S. Patent
Office, things were afoot that could
cause even more problems for not
only Apple, but most of the personal
computing world.
The first hint of patent madness
appeared earlier this week when
online auction house eBay filed its
Form 10-Q for the quarter ending
June, 2009 with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC). One
of the nuggets of information in the
10-Q was a warning from eBay that
its popular voice over IP (VoIP)
service Skype could be forced to shut
down over a patent licensing dispute.
When eBay bought Skype for
US$2.6 billion in 2005, one key
piece of patented technology from
Joltid Limited was not included in
the purchase price. eBay and Joltid
signed a licensing agreement, and
Skype continued to flourish. Since
2005, eBay has apparently revealed
details of Joltid's patented
technologies in the course of
litigating other lawsuits. Joltid, under
the terms of the license agreement
with eBay, unilaterally terminated the
agreement as a result. eBay has now
filed suit against Joltid in the UK,
asking that eBay and Skype be
declared not in violation of the
agreement, and that the licensing
agreement be reinstated.
Continue reading Patent nonsense:
News that could change the way we
work and play
TUAW Patent nonsense: News that
could change the way we work and
play originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
on Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Internet News Record
AT&T responds on Google
questions, throws Apple under the
bus
By Mel Martin (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 8/2/2009 1:00:00 PM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion,
iPhone, App Store It's going to be
interesting to watch the next few
weeks as AT&T, Apple and Google
respond to the FCC questions about
which apps get approved for use on
the iPhone.
Yesterday, AT&T responded to
press questions about this by sending
a P.R. email.
"AT&T does not manage or
approve applications for the App
Store. We have received the letter
and will, of course, respond to it."
You betcha. The problem is that
AT&T already publicly copped to
keeping the Slingbox software off the
Apple iPhone, while letting other
bandwidth eaters like YouTube and
MLB At Bat live video run without
interference. And of course the
Google Voice app and the Slingbox
app are running fine on BlackBerry
phones on the AT&T network.
Reminder: Talkcast tonight at 10 PM ET
By Christina Warren (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 8/2/2009 8:00:00 PM
Filed under: TUAW Business,
Podcasts
Last week, Mike Rose and the gang
talked about the week in review in
our weekly Talkcast. You can
download the show, along with all
past shows, from Talkshoe or
Slingbox is also running on Windows
Mobile Smartphones. In
conversations with one of the
Slingbox developers, I was told
Apple was fine with the app until
AT&T got involved.
Of course, looking at the statement,
subscribe in iTunes.
This week, Mike might make a call
-in appearance, but I'll be your fill-in
host, and we can discuss the week in
review, the Apple/AT&T/Google
nastiness and anything else that
strikes your fancy.
To participate on TalkShoe, you
can use the browser-only client, or
you can try out the classic TalkShoe
Pro Java client; however, for
maximum fun, you should call in.
it is carefully worded. AT&T does
not manage or approve applications.
Correct enough. In the case of the
Slingbox software, they told Apple to
knife it. I don't think the FCC will be
amused by that particular dodge.
One wonders about the
deteriorating state of friendship
between Apple and AT&T. Recently,
AT&T hinted that they don't expect
to be the exclusive iPhone distributor
forever, and Apple certainly held
them up to a bit of ridicule at the
June developer conference on MMS
and tethering.
It must be fun on those
Apple/AT&T conference calls as
they prepare their responses to the
FCC.
TUAW AT&T responds on Google
questions, throws Apple under the
bus originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
on Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
For the web UI, just click
the"TalkShoe Web" button on our
profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call
AppleBlog/ 33
Apple adds queue time,
contact info to iPhone
developer pages
By Michael Rose (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 8/1/2009 1:15:00 PM
Filed under: Developer, iPhone,
App Store Small steps: reports from
several iPhone developers indicate
that Apple has showcased two key
features on the Dev Center website
that may improve the mood and
attitude of anxious app submitters.
Feature #1 is a queue status graphic
(seen here), letting everyone know
how long the approval wait should be past 24 hours, including notes on the
-- like the line signs at Walt Disney keywording/tagging options and
World, only far geekier. walkthroughs on changing your app
Feature #2 is the presence of a new name and assigning/adjusting the
'all issues' escalation email address, app's rating. If you're a registered
so developers with urgent bug fixes developer, swing over to the Dev
that need to be prioritized can get Center and take a look.
their questions answered -- [via the delightful Nik Fletcher]
something that the Iconfactory's TUAW Apple adds queue time,
Craig Hockenberry specifically asked contact info to iPhone developer
for in his wrapup of the 1st- pages originally appeared on The
anniversary state of the store. This Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
email channel has apparently been on Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:15:00 EST.
open for a week or two, but is now Please see our terms for use of feeds.
being publicized on the front page. Read| Permalink| Email this|
Several other tips & suggestions Comments
posts have also been updated in the
in on regular phone or VOIP lines The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(take advantange of your free (TUAW) on Sun, 02 Aug 2009
cellphone weekend minutes if you 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms
like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter for use of feeds.
our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the Read| Permalink| Email this|
call, you can request to talk by Comments
keying in *-8. Talk with you then!
Recording support for the talkcast
is provided by Call Recorder from
ecamm networks.
TUAW Reminder: Talkcast tonight
at 10 PM ET originally appeared on
34 AppleBlog/ Gizmos/
TUAW Fitness: An Apple
a day makes the weight go
away
By Tim Wasson (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 8/1/2009 2:30:00 PM
Filed under: Features, How-tos,
Apple, iPhone, Apple TV I've
struggled with my weight for a long
time. In my free-wheeling post-
college days I lived with my two best
friends, sitting around playing video
games, drinking beer and eating Taco
Bell. I put on a lot of weight in a
short amount of time with that diet
and exercise schedule, topping out at
260 pounds. I decided enough was
enough, and I strapped on my
running shoes, straightened up my
eating habits, and lost almost 90
pounds.
In the years that have followed, my
weight has gone up and down several
times, and I'm at the point now that I
need to get serious about losing
weight again. According to my BMI,
at 6'3" I should top out at 199
pounds, and right now I'm at 225.
This time my weight loss should be
easier since I have 3 secret weapons:
my iPhone 3GS, my Mac and my
AppleTV. Read on for my weight
loss plan and how these Apple
products will help me achieve my
goals.
Continue reading TUAW Fitness:
An Apple a day makes the weight go
away
TUAW TUAW Fitness: An Apple
a day makes the weight go away
originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
on Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:30:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
CNBC: Eric Schmidt resigns
from Apple's board
By Megan Lavey (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:15:00 AM
Filed under: Apple Corporate
CNBC has reported this morning that
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, right, has
resigned from Apple's board of
directors after three years. This
comes a week after Apple pulled GV
Mobile and Voice Central from the
App Store, along with the uproar and
FCC letters that followed.
In a press release, Steve Jobs said
the following: "Unfortunately, as
Google enters more of Apple's core
businesses, with Android and now
Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as
an Apple Board member will be
significantly diminished, since he
will have to recuse himself from even
larger portions of our meetings due to
potential conflicts of interest.
Therefore, we have mutually decided
that now is the right time for Eric to
resign his position on Apple's
Board."
Do you think Schmidt stepping
down had anything to do with the
events of last week? Let us know in
the comments!
TUAW CNBC: Eric Schmidt
resigns from Apple's board originally
appeared on The Unofficial Apple
Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 03 Aug
2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Internet News Record
iRiver Plans Web Tablet,
E-Book Reader, Android
iPod Killer? [Rumor]
By Danny Allen (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:50:09 AM
Put this one strictly in the rumor
basket, but if the apparently loose-
lipped product manager at iRiver's
Australian distributor is to be
believed, the Korean company has
the iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, and
even Arrington's CrunchPad firmly in
its sights.
Accordingy to Current.com.au,
Danny Bejanoff of local distributor
C.R. Kennedy says that iRiver hopes
to launch an Android-based iPod
Touch rival next year. Dubbed the
K2, the device would have a 3.5-inch
display, touch screen, Wi-Fi, built-in
browser, accelerometer, Bluetooth,
and even a digital TV tuner. The
catch? Apparently the project is not
yet 100 percent signed off.
Bejanoff went on to say that he also
hopes to soon test a new iRiver e-
book reader and Internet tablet. Is a
three-way Web Tablet Battlemodo
between iRiver, the possible Apple
tablet and the CrunchPad looming?
Did Current.com.au get Bejanoff
drunk for that interview? If so, I'm
Australian, why wasn't I invited?
[ Current.com.au via Gizmodo
Australia]
Internet News Record
Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Resigns From Apple Board Over
"Conflicts of Interest" [Apple]
By John Herrman (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:40:54 AM
Apple's just gone public with an
announcement that Google CEO Eric
Schmidt is stepping down from the
Apple board of directors to avoid,
ahem, "conflicts of interest." To be
fair, things must have been getting
pretty awkward over there.
That's not to say that Schmidt left
over a tussle in the App Store, but
that little shitstorm could've been a
reminder that, as much as Apple and
Google have worked together over
the years, they are competitors in all
kinds of markets, from online
services to cellphones to browsers to,
soon, OSes. On this, the brief press
release doesn't mince words:
Unfortunately, as Google enters
more of Apple's core businesses, with
Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's
effectiveness as an Apple Board
member will be significantly
diminished, since he will have to
recuse himself from even larger
portions of our meetings due to
potential conflicts of interest.
Therefore, we have mutually
decided that now is the right time for
Eric to resign his position on Apple's
Board
It's hard to tell if this "mutual
decision" was kind of thing where
Schmidt just saw the big picture and
said "Hey y'all, it's been real," or if
the rest of the board told him to pack
his bags, but either way, it seems like
the inevitable is happening, and
Google's entering a whole new stage,
full of flamewars and fanboys,
taunting blog posts and constant
controversy. Pick your side; this
should be fun.
2009 Hasn't Been So
Great for HTC (Wait,
What?) [Cellphones]
By John Herrman (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 6:26:35 AM
By most measures, HTC looks like
a company that should be cleaning
up: they own the market for Android
phones, the press watches their every
move, and they've got popular
handsets on nearly every carrier. So
what's all this about?
"This," in case your index finger is
tired, is an announcement from the
company that they expect their 2009
earnings report to show a decline in
revenue, despite expectation for a
10% increase. It might sound
surprising, but it's matter a
perspective. To a lot of us, HTC
bears the scent of a lean up and
comer. That's not at all what they are,
which is why this all makes sense:
HTC is the world's largest maker of
phones using Microsoft Corp.'s
operating system, in terms of
shipments... "The outlook has
softened for the second half of the
year, with June being the turning
point for HTC as it faced a lot of
competition from Apple," said
Yuanta Securities analyst Vincent
Chen.
The company's trying to play this
off as a matter of product delays
"lower than expected" contract orders
and the like, and analysts are
pointing to other companies entering
the fledgling Android space, but
internationally, HTC lives and dies
by Window Mobile. It's not the
greatest position to be in, and one
they're trying to move from, but as
far as 2009 goes, that's their story. [
WSJ]
Gizmos/ 35
Rumor: Nikon VP650
Camera/Projector
Combo to Be Revealed
This Week [Rumor]
By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 5:45:00 PM
CrunchGear was reporting earlier
today that a big"groundbreaking"
Nikon event was coming our way
this week, and now we might know
what, exactly, all the fuss is about:
It's a camera/projector hybrid called
the VP650.
The big rumor/tip comes from
someone at the French photo
magazine Chausseur D'Image, which
has some established Nikon rumor
cred thanks to a D300 specs scoop
that they ran in their July issue
(before anyone else, notes Crunch).
Their next issue apparently features
the VP650, and this is what the
source is saying Nikon will "break
ground" with this week.
The combo unit would officially
drop in August, to be shipped to
consumers by September. The
camera would sport an LED
projector, would have a compact
size/form factor, and is capable of
producing 8x12in. pictures in a dark
environment. So, a camera with a
projector built in. Is that
"groundbreaking" to you? It's
certainly interesting, to say the least.
[ Nikon Rumors via CrunchGear]
36 Tech Musings/ Entertainment/ Internet News Record

Hey Mike, I told you so Ed Burns heads back to

(Scripting News)
Submitted at 8/1/2009 11:10:18 AM
In Sept 2008 Mike Arrington over
on TechCrunch said that no matter
how bizarre the setup over at the App
Store, I would "keep developing for
the iPhone," even though I had never
developed for it. Obvious nonsense.
Even if it was a wide-open platform I
would have only considered
investing in iPhone apps. I wouldn't
have gotten the skill myself because
it looked like a dead-end, and by Sept
2008 we knew it was headed toward
the mess it has now become. You
heard it here first.
The iPhone should have run the
same software as the Macintosh.
When I first heard about it, I
misunderstood and thought I'd be
Surreal pop-culture moment: Norman
able to write Frontier scripts that ran
both on my desktop and the phone. I
was a Blackberry user at the time,
and I found the idea of a MacPhone
truly inspiring. From there, it went
downhill, and downhill and downhill.
This platform was Apple's revenge
on developers. Everything under
their control. You couldn't even ship
a product that Apple didn't approve
of! Obviously that was going to be
abused, and it has been, but finally
it's become so ridiculous that it's
obvious, even to Mike, that it can't
work.
I've been through this loop many
times, this is Mike's first. The only
platform that really works is a
platform with no platform vendor,
and that's the Internet.
Steve Jobs is the anti-Internet. The
Internet is utilitarian, it works, but it's
ugly. Jobs's stuff is so beautiful that
when taken to its logical conclusion,
and he's almost there now, it's so
dazzling, so beautiful that you fail to
see that it is useless.
There's still a ton of Woz in the
Mac, I am typing this on a gorgeous
unibody MacBook Pro, which is
probably the most lovely computer
I've ever used. The software I'm
using has never been approved by
Apple, and can be downloaded from
the Internet. Next to it is an iPhone,
which I use only as a phone, an IM
device and a communicating camera.
It sucks as a phone. The IM is okay
and the camera is really nice. But as a
platform it's a complete total
disappointment.
Queens for Bayside Boys
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 9:03:00 PM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows,
Industry, Programming, OpEd,
Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free If a
project has Ed Burns' name attached
to it, I'll sit up and take notice. I've
been a fan of his dating back to his
first film, The Brothers McMullen,
which he wrote, directed and
produced in 1995 while working as a
go-for at Entertainment Tonight.
Incidentally, he was able to finagle a
copy of the film into Robert
Redford's hands during an
appearance there, and shortly employed at a hot-shot ad agency in
thereafter, Burns quit his job at ET. Manhattan. Burns will play a
He'll write, direct and star in supporting role as a mentor to the
Bayside Boys, which is being billed group.
as an East Coast Entourage. It's about
a group of 20-something guys from
the middle-class neighborhood of
Continue reading Ed Burns heads
back to Queens for Bayside Boys
Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Lear watching Patti Smith - TCA Bayside Queens that's being pitched
to cable networks. One of the guys is

Report Big Brother 11: HoH #4

By Joel Keller (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:01:00 AM
Filed under: TV Royalty, Music and
Variety, Celebrities, Documentary,
TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free One of
the things that never gets old about
the press tour is that at any moment,
you could be in the middle of a blow-
your-mind, surreal pop culture
moment. That's exactly what
happened to me yesterday evening,
as the PBS sessions were wrapping
up.
Patti Smith had the last session, to
promote her biographical movie on
POV called Patti Smith: Dream of
Life. It was fascinating, as she was
pretty open with the reporters about
why she let filmmaker Steven
Sebring into her life for eleven years,
what she likes to watch on YouTube
(Maria Callas for one) and all sorts of
fun stuff. But I had to leave to
interview another legend, Norman
Lear, who was there with producer
Mark Johnson to promote the
documentary Playing For Change:
Peace Through Music.
When we were done with the
interview, Lear, Johnson, the
publicists and me were about to walk
our separate ways when we heard
music coming from the ballroom.
When we open it, we see Patti Smith
playing her guitar for the critics, in
the middle of her second song. So
imagine me and Norman Lear,
standing there, listening to Patti
Smith.
Continue reading Surreal pop-
culture moment: Norman Lear
watching Patti Smith - TCA Report
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
conclusion, Nominations #4
By Jackie Schnoop (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 2:48:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother
(US), Episode Reviews
(S11E11) When we last left our Big
Brother 11 hamsters, they were vying
for head of household in a twisted
graduation-themed masochistic
amusement ride scenario. Why
graduation? Well, it's the end of the
cliques, and they're all solo players in
the game. Folks like Natalie are
feeling very vulnerable. After all,
what game has that girl got other
than being Jessie's pit bull? Jeff has
his worries, too. While being a part
of the athlete clique, he never really
was a part of the group. We're finally
into some strategy other than the
bullies with a head-start advantage
ruling the game. Good.
Continue reading Big Brother 11:
HoH #4 conclusion, Nominations #4
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Internet News Record
Entourage: Running on E
By Jonathan Toomey (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 8:00:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Entourage,
Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
( S06E04)"Wow, you pay for that or
is there someone out there that would
actually bang you for free?" - Ari
This is shaping up to be a helluva
season for Entourage. Only four
episodes in, and it feels like a
completely different show than we're
The Best of Big Download: July 27-August 2
By Joystiq Staff (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 5:30:00 PM
Filed under: Mac, PC, Meta (about
Joystiq) The past seven days were
busy ones for new files, including a
few new game demos. However
that's not all that happened in the past
week:
Exclusive features
• The Top 10 PC Game Stories For
July 2009: It was a fairly slow month
but there were still some interesting
news for PC gamers that popped up
in the past 31 days
• FUEL Review: We give our
verdict on the Codemasters off-road
racing game
used to. Rather than wallowing in
endless "woe is me plots" (every
character on the show has been guilty
of them in the five previous seasons),
things feel fresh and the characters
are growing up. Plus, instead of
making me constantly laugh,
Entourage is making me do
something I never expected -- think.
Continue reading Entourage:
Running on E
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
• Mac Monday: Our weekly
Macintosh gaming column takes a
look at two games: Archibald's
Adventures and Blockland
• Boot Disk: Our retro PC game
column takes a look back at the
anime-inspired FPS Shogo.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly game
True Blood: Release Me
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 7:52:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Episode
Reviews, Reality-Free, True Blood
(S02E07) "Feeling sorry for things
is just an excuse not to celebrate your
own happiness." - Maryann
Ok, I take back my earlier
comment about trying to reconcile
the fact that Maryann isn't a villain.
She IS a villain, and just because
column examines how a player can
be a hero in an MMO when everyone
else in the game is trying to do the
same
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look
at free PC games takes a gander at
the odd looking title Within a Deep
Forest
Entertainment/ Tech Games/ 37
SHE doesn't think she's a villain Gearbox gives up on
doesn't make it all ok. So there. Her
actions are causing other people to Heat, says IP is up
forget what's transpired, do bad
things, and break peoples' arms. for grabs ... kinda
That's just not right, Maryann. Just By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)
not right.
Continue reading True Blood: Submitted at 8/2/2009 7:30:00 PM
Release Me Ever since Heat's 1995 cinematic
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
debut, aggression-soaked psychos
GEARBOX page 38
• Contest: There's still a little time 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms
to enter our League of Legends beta for use of feeds.
code contest Read| Permalink| Email this|
Continue reading The Best of Big Comments
Download: July 27-August 2
The Best of Big Download: July 27
-August 2 originally appeared on
Joystiq on Sun, 02 Aug 2009
38 Tech Games/
GEARBOX
continued from page 37
(like ourselves) have been clamoring
for a game adaptation of the crime
drama. Gearbox Software prez
Randy Pitchford agreed as well,
optioning the rights to develop a
game back in the mid-oughts. Fast
forward to 2009, and GameSpot
drops the hammer on him during a
Borderlands press tour. "So what is
the current status of the Heat game?"
In so many words: Kaput. "In a
nutshell, we're nowhere," Pitchford
said. And it's not for a lack of trying,
as "filmmakers, game makers, and
publishing partners" are all still
apparently on board. He says, more
or less, it's a matter of time-- or lack
thereof. Due to time constraints,
Pitchford says that his studio won't
Impact International to put Sackboy on everything
By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 9:30:00 PM
Well, that took long enough! Toy
News Online is reporting that Impact
International has secured the rights to
produce plush Sackboy figures -- and
a whole mess of other goodies -- for
Sony. The UK, Ireland and the
Middle East will be getting "plush
Watch four videos of The Beatles: Rock Band [update]
By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 11:30:00 PM
Update: Alas, the videos featured
last night have been removed from
YouTube due to a "copyright claim
by Viacom." Sorry to everyone who
missed them!
There's nothing we like more than
sitting back on a Sunday evening and
Facebook integrated with DSi in North America tonight
By Justin McElroy (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:30:00 AM
Regardless of what your weekend
activities may have been, we know it
was hard to enjoy yourself, knowing
be keeping the rights to the game
adaptation of Heat any longer.
"We're not keeping the IP locked
down anymore ... if somebody else
were in a spot where they could do it,
and everybody was comfortable with
that, then conceivably that could
happen."
So, how about it, aggression-
soaked entrepreneurs? Hmmm?
Gearbox gives up on Heat, says IP
is up for grabs ... kinda originally
appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 02 Aug
2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
items, bean toys, mugs, bobbleheads
and bags" based on the iconic figure
from LittleBigPlanet.
Additionally, Brazier and Co. are
on board to make "PVC figurines,"
and even a "limited edition-themed
version of Sackboy" -- whatever that
could mean (other than a higher price
tag). The various Sackboy-themed
items will be hitting stores this
listening to some good music.
Tonight we're offering you the
chance to listen along with us, with
four tracks from The Beatles: Rock
Band. Better yet, we've got the
videos from the game as well for
your viewing pleasure, just after the
break.
While we're partial to the video for
" Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club
that people in Japan and Europe were
sharing their DSi photos on
Facebook higglety pigglety, while
yours were trapped by a lack of DSi
1.4 firmware like Zod and crew in
the Phantom Zone.
Titan Studios says Fat Princess fixes are on
the way [update]
By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/2/2009 3:30:00 PM
Fat Princess players rejoice! Titan
Studios announced this weekend that
it's hard at work on a patch that will
fix the multitude of online
multiplayer issues that folks have
been dealing with. Notably, FPers
have been encountering unsightly
lag, causing many a broken heart
(and more importantly, lost matches).
Titan says that it's well aware of the
October. Various other Sony IP (
God of War, InFamous, MotorStorm,
Band," who are we to go all willy
nilly suggesting what you choose to
Finally, said photos can be set free
problems -- thanks in no small part to
an active, vocal community -- and
that it's "working with Sony now to
get the patch into the Sony testing
process as soon as possible." The
company hasn't released a more
specific window for the patch's
arrival on PlayStation Network, but
we've asked Sony for comment and
will update this post when we hear
back.
Update: Sony has told us that while
there isn't a more solid release
WipeOut, Killzone and Resistance)
will be getting the poster treatment
by way of GB Eye Limited, though
no date has been set for the release of
those. We'd get upset that this stuff
wasn't announced for the US but, ya
know, we work on the Internet. It's a
global community, folks!
[Thanks, Trix_Bol!)
[ Image credit]
enjoy? Kick off your slippers and get
ready for sheep counting with a
handful of Beatles music from us to
you. Oh, and if it's your birthday,
happy birthday to you. (Sorry, we
couldn't resist.)
Gallery: The Beatles: Rock Band
(07/20/09)
[Thanks, Jon Q!]
Watch four videos of The Beatles:
with an update to your DSi arriving
at 8 p.m. EST in North America. Can
you even wait until then? Yes, we
imagine you can.
Facebook integrated with DSi in
North America tonight originally
Internet News Record
window set for the patch, we will
know as soon as it has one. Sorry,
folks!
Gallery: Fat Princess
[Thanks, Ian!]
Titan Studios says Fat Princess
fixes are on the way [update]
originally appeared on Joystiq on
Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:30:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Impact International to put
Sackboy on everything originally
appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 02 Aug
2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Rock Band [update] originally
appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 02 Aug
2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
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appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 03 Aug
2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
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Internet News Record
The Sims 3 getting its first of
many expansions this fall
By Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 10:00:00 AM
As surely as the sun will rise and
the moon will set, the first Sims 3
expansion is prepared to waltz into
retailers on November 16th this year.
The Sims 3 World Adventures will
allow players to take their subjects
and experiment on them in exotic
locales.
The expansion will grant the
electronic puppets the ability to
explore tombs in Egypt, romance
each other in France, learn martial
arts in China and search for treasure,
all while making the Sims beg for the
David Levine & Michele Boldrin On New Business Models
Like CwF + RtB
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 5:45:00 AM
Reminder: As stated below, our
special promotion where you get a
free hoodie or lunch with Mike for
buying both the Music Club and the
Book Club package ends tonight!
Don't miss out...
With our CwF + RtB experiment in
full swing, we've asked some of the
participants involved to provide some
guest posts, including their thoughts
sweet release of death from the
player's megalomania. The expansion
comes with 1,000 SimPoint, just to
get kids comfortable with the idea of
asking their parents for the credit
card later -- their Sim totally needs to
live a happy and fulfilling life, you
know. World Adventure will also
make its way to iPhone in early 2010.
The Sims 3 getting its first of many
expansions this fall originally
appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 03 Aug
2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
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on the experiment itself. Michele
Boldrin and David Levine are two
well-known economists who recently
published Against Intellectual
Monopoly, which is a part of our
Techdirt Book Club(which gives you
UK chart get: Wii Sports Resort
soars
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 9:30:00 AM
Nintendo's latest flagship title
continues to dominate the UK sales
charts. According to Chart Track,
Wii Sports Resort is the top-selling
title for the second week in a row.
After two weeks at fourth place, Wii
Fit returns to second -- we guess
people were just in a mood to buy
things with Wii in the title last week.
We suspect the top two will look
much like this for a while -- Resort
may just be starting an extended
Against Monopoly along with four
other excellent books, all signed by
their authors). If you order both the
Techdirt Book Club and the Techdirt
Music Club before midnight PT
tonight, we'll throw in a free Techdirt
Tech Games/ TechNews/
period of Wii Fit- like success.
If they weren't buying games
labeled Wii, they were buying things
with the EA logo. Tiger Woods PGA
Tour 10 is at the number three spot,
followed by Harry Potter & The Half
-Blood Prince and Fight Night Round
4.
UK chart get: Wii Sports Resort
soars originally appeared on Joystiq
on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:30:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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hoodie, or a free lunch with me
(Mike). In the meantime, here's the
guest post written by David and
Michele:
On new business models for
authors:
39
Ripped Off News?
Or Spreading The
News?
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 3:44:00 AM
It appears that some (certainly not
all) in the mainstream press still
seems to have problems
understanding the value of getting
people to talk about what they
reported on. They seem to come at
this viewpoint from the old line of
thinking that a reporter reported on
the story and that was it. The story
was done. But that's not the way the
news works. A news story is simply a
part of the conversation. It may be a
starting point in a bigger effort --
which is why it's important for so
many people today to be able to
spread and share the news with
others. Yet, if you come at things
from a viewpoint of the newspaper
article being a final and definitive
word, then suddenly such sharing and
spreading is viewed as "theft" or
being "ripped off" and the person
promoting and discussing and
sharing your work is suddenly a
parasite.
Over the weekend, just such a
situation cropped up, when Ian
RIPPED page 40
With copyright vanishing de facto,
even as legal protections become
more extreme, the question of how to
get paid for creation without the
monopoly granted by copyright
becomes more salient. Historically
one of the most important sources of
revenue has been "complementary
sales" -- the sale of something other
than the copy. For example: in the
40 TechNews/
DAVID
continued from page 39
case of music -- live performances; in
the case of movies -- theatrical
performances. In the case of news
and blogs advertising has historically
been the key, but the selling of the
author is another potential source of
revenue as the industry becomes
more decentralized and competitive.
Signed copies of books by authors is
one possibility we'll be interested to
see, but we also expect successful
authors to extract substantial income
from public speeches and similar
events. Popularity, it seems clear,
pays off quite well. Frankly, the two
of us have a lot of confidence in the
ability of the market to generate new
and creative solutions even if we
personally have no ability to predict
what the specific outcomes will be.
This period of experimentation with
business models is essential and it
will be interesting to see which
models catch on. In the case of small
comic strips the answer is already in
-- comic strip based t-shirts
amazingly enough turn out to be the
trick.
Catholic Archbishop Apparently Not A Fan Of
Social Networking
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 8/3/2009 1:26:12 AM
Catholic Archbishop Vincent
Nichols apparently is not a big fan of
social networking online, as he's
making some news for trashing sites
like Facebook and MySpace for
creating "transient" friendships. He
also throws in some bizarre statement
about how these sites lead kids to
commit suicide. To be honest, his
statements don't sound all that
different than plenty of old luddites
who have never bothered to actually
use the technology. And his
complaints don't sound all that
Why we wrote Against Monopoly
The purpose of copyrights and
patents is to grant a short-lived
monopoly to encourage creation and
innovation. We were led to write the
book when we discovered that
existing economic theory greatly
exaggerated the importance of these
temporary monopolies in providing
incentives. This lead us to put into
context a lot of data and case-studies
showing that competitive markets
work and work well even without
these monopolies. The book
(ironically under copyright, although
a free copy is always available
online) tried to put this all together in
a way that would be comprehensible
for a non-economists (that is, we
tried to avoid the mathematics and
jargon that economists love).
And thanks to Mike for the
entrepreneurial spirit we academics
can only admire.
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different complaints heard
throughout time by an older
generation against what's popular at
the time. As we've noted, at various
times, people have complained about
the nefarious influence of rock 'n roll,
comic books, movies, the telephone,
novels, plays, the waltz and chess. In
every case, the fear is more from
someone not understanding what's
going on, rather than any real fear,
RIPPED
continued from page 39
Shapira, a writer for the Washington
Post wrote about how he felt when
the blog Gawker wrote about one of
his articles. At first, he was thrilled.
It was validation. In fact, he called it
"one of journalism's biggest coups."
He should have stopped there,
because he was right.
But after excitedly telling his editor
about it, his editor claimed that Ian
was "ripped off" by Gawker... and
Ian appears to have come around to
that view. But was he really? Not at
all. The Gawker post links to the
Washington Post three separate
times. And, even worse, almost all of
the article they quoted wasn't actually
Shapira's writing at all, but quotes
from the person he was profiling --
someone Shapira most certainly did
not pay. As we recently discussed,
newspaper reporters regularly get
free quotes and free insight and free
advice from various experts, that they
get to use in their articles. And now
suddenly it's "stealing" for someone
else to quote the same people (with a
and the issue appears to be the same
this time around as well.
Reporter Yumi Wilson, though,
points out something more important
though: despite what this archbishop
is saying, the Catholic Church has
actually been embracing social
media, using text messages and
creating its won social network. It
also has a strong presence on
Facebook and has used it to connect
Internet News Record
link -- or three) back to the story?
Please.
At some point, more people will
come around to realizing that when
others are discussing the stories you
helped bring forth and linking back
to you, it's time to join in the
conversation -- not scream and whine
about others stealing. That just makes
it less likely anyone will ever write
about one of your stories again.
This isn't even an issue about fair
use, as some are suggesting. It's an
issue about common sense. If you
have a story, you'd better want it to
spread, and what better way to get it
to spread than to get more people
talking about it wherever they want
to talk about it. You can't keep all the
discussion at your site, nor should
you want to. Doing so only
guarantees no one cares about what
you have to write.
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various Catholics to each other. And,
she notes, the Vatican has its own
YouTube Channel. Apparently, the
Catholic Church, itself, doesn't quite
agree with the views of Archbishop
Nichols.
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