Internet News Record

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06/10/09 - 06/10/09

The First Draft: David Letterman and the Dalai Lama By Deborah Zabarenko (Front Row Washington)

Serious subjects, all of them. And what was the top story on the morning network newscasts? Ten Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:11:02 AM points if you guessed the natural This is one of those Washington choice: David Letterman’s sex days that seems to defy a theme. life. Consider: What does this say about Iran is the topic at the Senate Washington? The U.S. media? Banking Committee, where The public appetite for scandal? officials from the State and Let us know what you think. Treasury departments are set to Click here for more Reuters testify on economic sanctions political coverage against Tehran. Photo credits: Afghanistan is expected to be REUTERS/Christinne Muschi front and center when President (exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Barack Obama briefs Dalai Lama, Montreal, Canada, congressional leaders about his October 3, 2009) Afghan strategy. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Nancy Pelosi and getting a human Pakistan’s foreign minister has a rights award. (U.S. President Barack Obama meeting with Secretary of State In the background is the steady and David Letterman at a taping Hillary Clinton. drumbeat of the healthcare debate, of the comedian’s show, New The Dalai Lama is in town, too, the fight over climate change York, September 21, 2009) meeting with House Speaker legislation and defense spending.

Source: Fredi Gonzalez to remain Florida Marlins manager MiamiHerald.com (Most Popular - Google News) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:57:09 AM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] FOXSports.com Source: Fredi Gonzalez to remain Florida Marlins manager

MiamiHerald.com By CLARK SPENCER The manager's future with the team was thrown into doubt over the weekend amid numerous reports that owner Jeffrey Loria was unhappy with the club's failure to reach the playoffs. Team

executives David Samson and Larry Beinfest also... Marlins may fire manager despite 87 wins The Associated Press Fishy situation Boston Herald all 331 news articles »

LibertyNewsprint.com U.S. Edition

US 'to cut immigrant detention' (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:41:54 AM

US officials are expected to announce plans that would allow illegal immigrants not considered a threat to be taken out of jails, reports say. The new policy would list immigrants according to the risk they may pose, the Wall Street Journal reports. Detainees who are not criminals could be kept in hotels and nursing homes, according to leaks of the plans. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to give details of the plans later. Her department is hoping to cut the costs of detaining immigrants, which stood at almost $2bn (£1.3bn) in 2008. It says alternatives like the hotels and nursing homes would cost about $14 a day, compared to about $100 a day for detention. Health needs Each year some 380,000 illegal immigrants are detained in US jails alongside regular prisoners, ahead of deportation. Of those held on 1 September, 51% were considered felons, and 11% of those had committed

violent crimes, the New York Times reported. "Serious felons deserve to be in the prison model," Ms Napolitano told the newspaper. "But there are others. There are women. There are children." Proposals for using alternatives to prison detention are expected to be submitted to Congress in the coming weeks. The Wall Street Journal cited officials as saying the administration would ask the private sector for ideas, including for the construction of model facilities. The paper said the review would also tackle criticism of the medical treatment given to detainees, and suggest to improve access to basic services including telephones. The administration will propose a screening system to flag up special medical or mental health needs of detainees, the paper said. Broad immigration reform is one of President Barack Obama's domestic priorities. Efforts by his predecessor, George W Bush, to reform US immigration laws collapsed in 2007. Print Sponsor

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New Greek prime minister to unveil leaner cabinet - AFP (Most Popular - Google News)

"remains a riddle even to Papandreou's close associates." Papandreou, whose party won By John Hadoulis (AFP) – 6 44 percent to sweep Karamanlis' hours ago conservatives out of power, ATHENS — Greece's new signed decrees on Tuesday that socialist Prime Minister George created an economy superPapandreou formally took office m i n i s t r y w i t h p o w e r s o v e r on Tuesday and prepared to name development and shipping, a vital a slimmed-down cabinet to fulfil source of Greece's income. promises of steering the economy His Pasok party's finance out of recession. spokeswoman, Louka Katseli, Papandreou, whose party won a was expected to take on the landslide victory in elections on economy ministry. Sunday, was sworn in by Katseli, a 57-year-old Archbishop Ieronymos, head of economics professor who taught the Orthodox Church of Greece, at Yale University in the United in a ceremony watched by States and worked at the President Karolos Papoulias. O r g a n i s a t i o n f o r E c o n o m i c He was expected to unveil his Cooperation and Development, is new team later in the evening and a m o n g s e v e r a l w o m e n to cut the current number of 16 Papandreou reportedly aims to ministries in line with pledges to include in a government with f o c u s o n d e v e l o p m e n t a n d equal numbers of male and female environment-friendly policies as ministers. well as citizens' rights. Greece's other big earner, However he kept the names of tourism, was placed under the his line-up under wraps and took culture ministry, which oversees none of the potential ministers to archaeological sites and museums. his swearing-in, as his An upgraded citizen's protection predecessor Costas Karamanlis ministry also comes into effect to had done. improve policing and fire T h e K a t h i m e r i n i d a i l y prevention after two massive commented that the cabinet wildfire disasters in the space of Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:01:16 AM

two years. Papandreou has promised a 100day plan to stimulate the economy by creating jobs and cleaning up public finances. He says there will be new laws to redistribute income to the poor, bolster public investment and clamp down on corruption. Part of the stimulus will also be to order salary and pension hikes above the rate of inflation next year. But Papandreou must also quickly reach agreement with the European Union's executive commission over Greece's huge budget deficit. Public debt, one of the highest in Europe, is set to exceed 100 percent of gross domestic product this year, and the national economy has come to a near standstill after years of steady growth. Papandreou, a former foreign minister who engineered a rapprochement with neighbour and traditional rival Turkey, could again assume that portfolio. Meanwhile Anna Diamantopoulou, a 50-year-old former European commissioner for employment, is another potential minister, possibly at

Coke in US family doctors alliance (Financial Times - US homepage)

foreign affairs or education, while former Athens prefect Fofi Gennimata, 45, is touted for the health ministry. Two of the prime minister's closest associates, his party spokesman George Papakonstantinou and Pasok secretary Yiannis Ragousis, are also set to receive senior posts. NET state television reported that Papakonstantinou, 49, would be given a separate finance ministry tasked with tax collecting while Katseli coordinates longterm economic planning. Ragousis, a 43-year-old economist and former mayor of the island of Paros, could be given the interior ministry responsible for local administration and elections. Ministers in Pasok's last administration, which organised the 2004 Athens Olympics, may also be offered jobs, including Papandreou's old challenger for the party leadership, Evangelos Venizelos. Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:45:31 AM

of military rule in 1990. Col Gerardo Huber, who was in charge of buying weapons for the Chilean army, was found dead a year after he testified in a military investigation in 1991. His death was ruled a suicide for 13 years before the case was reopened in a civilian court.

In addition to the two generals, Col Manuel Provis and Col Julio Munoz, both retired, were also jailed for conspiracy and murder. Print Sponsor

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft drink company, has formed a corporate partnership with the leading US family doctors group to promote healthier diet and lifestyle choices, as it fights back against growing pressure from health policy groups for a tax on sugared sodas. The American Academy of Family Physicians said on Tuesday that Coca-Cola would be the first corporate partner in a new “consumer alliance” that would work “to educate consumers about the role their products can play in a healthy, active lifestyle”.

Boeing to take $1bn hit on 747-8 programme (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:58:27 AM

Boeing to take $1bn hit on 747-8 programme By Hal Weitzman in Chicago Published: October 6 2009 15:19 | Last updated: October 6 2009 16:58

Chile officers jailed for murder (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 10/6/2009 3:29:22 AM

Four retired Chilean army officers have been jailed for the 1992 murder of a colonel who had given evidence about an illegal arms deal with Croatia.

Two former generals, Victor Lizarraga and Carlos Krum, and two colonels got sentences ranging from two to eight years for their part in the killing. A military court sentenced 11 others in June for their role in the arms deal. A ban against sending arms to

Croatia was in place during the break up of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. In December 1991, Hungarian police discovered a weapons shipment marked "humanitarian aid" allegedly approved by Gen Augusto Pinochet, who continued to head the army after his the end

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Rich circus man says space trip worth $35 million (AP)

Switzerland denies Polanski bail

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

will spend more time, not probably six months, but those guys are the professionals, I'm not, eh?" Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk said he's glad to have Laliberte on board. He's certainly livened things up in orbit. On Monday, all nine space fliers put on the red clown noses that Laliberte took up and posed for pictures. "Guy has the gift of being able to convey the magic part of being in space," Thirsk said. "We can talk about the benefits ... about the science and the engineering that we're doing here. But Guy tells us and relates very well the excitement, the emotional aspect of being here." Even the former street performer, though, has had difficulty coming up with the right words, right now. "Every moment I live right now, I don't have the time to process everything I'm experiencing, the magic of it," he said. "Right now, I'm absorbing everything. Right now, I have a big smile up to my ears." ___ On the Net: N A S A : http://spaceflight.nasa.gov One Drop Foundation: http://www.onedrop.org

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

currency’s critical role in global oil trading was coming under scrutiny. Gold reached a record

$1,043.45, racing past its previous peak of $1,030.80 set last March when Bear Stearns, the US investment bank ran into trouble.

Laliberte — the first professional artist to fly in space — sighed when a journalist asked CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – if his mission was a $35 million The rich circus showman who publicity stunt. He calls it a bought a $35 million ticket to the "Poetic Social Mission" — the International Space Station said words were emblazoned on the Tuesday it's been worth every white T-shirt he wore for the TV penny — and more. cameras. Canadian billionaire Guy "I never denied this was a Laliberte, the founder of Cirque moment to create awareness du Soleil, said from orbit that toward the situation of water in riding a rocket and visiting the the world, toward foundation One space station has been an amazing Drop," he said, referring to the journey so far. He launched into organization he created two years space last Wednesday from ago. "I don't have 25 years, the Kazakhstan. world doesn't have 25 years to The former stiltwalker and fire- address the situation of water, so I eater said the best stunt he's pulled think this was a great opportunity so far in space is hitting his head to combine a personal dream also, three times on the same day, and having a greater benefit than while trying to navigate in just coming in space." weightlessness. By the time Laliberte leaves the "I promise that I will be better space station Saturday, he will within the next couple days," he have spent eight days at the said. orbiting outpost. He will return to As for the high cost, "yes, it's Earth on Sunday aboard a Russian worth every penny and more, I S o y u z s p a c e c r a f t w i t h t w o believe, because over and above professional spacemen, a Russian doing it for myself, there's a lot of and an American who have spent other stuff that's going on," six months up there. Laliberte said at a news Laliberte, 50, said there's no conference. He has organized a way he could spend six months up worldwide performance Friday there, even if he wanted to, night to draw attention to the "because I have to go back and planet's water crisis, and will take create a show." He hinted that he part by videotape. Participating might return for a shorter stay. from Earth will be former Vice "There's so much to learn. President Al Gore and musicians There's so much to discover. U2, Peter Gabriel and Shakira, There's so much to look at. ... It's among others. just a great environment. So yes, I Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:09:26 AM

Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:17:33 AM

Film-maker Roman Polanski has been denied bail ahead of his possible extradition to the US, the Swiss Justice Ministry has said. Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said the government maintains there is a high risk Polanski may flee if released from custody. Polanski is being held in Switzerland over his 1977 conviction for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. He left the US in 1978 before he could be sentenced and has never returned. Polanski was detained in Switzerland on 26 September as he travelled from France to collect a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. Release call "In our view, there is still a very high risk that he will flee and that a release on bail or other measures after a release cannot guarantee Polanski's presence in the extradition procedure," Mr Galli said. Polanski's legal representatives are also asking Switzerland's highest criminal court to free Polanski. Mr Galli said the Justice Ministry has submitted a letter to

Gold price reaches record high (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:02:10 AM

Gold prices hit a new record above $1,040 an ounce on Tuesday as the dollar lost ground following reports that the US

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the tribunal explaining why it opposes release. The arrest of Polanski, who won an Oscar in 2002 for The Pianist, a harrowing story of Nazioccupied Warsaw, has prompted an outcry among some politicians and Hollywood heavyweights. But last week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the film-maker should not get special treatment because he is a "big-time movie director". A petition has been signed by film-makers including Pedro Almodovar and Stephen Frears, and actors including Monica Bellucci and Fanny Ardant, expressing dismay at Polanski's arrest. Other Hollywood luminaries, including film producer Harvey Weinstein, have called for Polanski's release. His victim, Samantha Geimer, sued Polanski in December 1988, alleging sexual assault, infliction of emotional distress and seduction. The film-maker agreed to pay her $500,000 five years later. But in January this year Ms Geimer asked a US court to drop charges against Polanski, saying the continued publication of details "causes harm to me, my husband and children". Print Sponsor

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Sources: Family tried to sell snatched Jail ruling for 'dirty war' Tenn. baby (AP) pilot (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

the Department of Children's Services, and spokesmen for the FBI and Nashville police would NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A not comment on the baby-selling kidnapped newborn and three report. siblings were taken away from Authorities said investigators at their mother following allegations first focused on finding the baby that a family member tried to sell but now are looking into exactly the baby, according to officials what happened and who was familiar with the case. involved. Tammy Renee Silas, 39, Mom Maria Gurrolla was of Ardmore, Ala., was charged briefly reunited with newborn after authorities said they found Yair Anthony Carillo over the the baby at her home about 80 weekend before state child miles south of Nashville. welfare officials placed all four Gurrolla told investigators that children in foster care. A custody a f t e r s h e w a s s t a b b e d , t h e hearing is set for Tuesday, but abductor made a phone call and records are closed because the said in Spanish "The job is done" case is in juvenile court. and that the mother "was dying," Two officials confirmed the a c c o r d i n g t o t h e c r i m i n a l baby-selling allegations but spoke c o m p l a i n t a g a i n s t S i l a s . to The Associated Press on Investigators are still trying to condition of anonymity because answer "significant questions, they were not authorized to perhaps the most important of discuss the case. They could not which is why this newborn was say how or if the allegations were chosen over everybody else in the related to the kidnapping. city," Nashville police spokesman Week-old Yair was safely Don Aaron said. recovered in Alabama on Friday, Silas has given a statement to three days after he was snatched i n v e s t i g a t o r s , a c c o r d i n g t o from his Nashville home. His T e n n e s s e e B u r e a u o f mother said he was taken after a I n v e s t i g a t i o n s p o k e s w o m a n woman posing as an immigration Kristin Helm, who declined to agent attacked her with a knife. detail what she said. No one could An Alabama woman is in name a lawyer for her. Gurrolla c u s t o d y , f a c i n g a f e d e r a l and other family members could kidnapping charge. State officials not be reached at her home on said only that they took Gurrolla's Monday, and it wasn't clear if children after Yair was found they are being represented. because of safety concerns. Silas has not been charged in Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the attack on Gurrolla, who was Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:17:17 AM

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stabbed several times and suffered a collapsed lung. Gurrolla had pleaded at a news conference the day after the kidnapping for the baby to be returned. But her reunion with him on Saturday was short because state child welfare officials quickly took him and the other three children — ages 3, 9 and 11. Gurrolla told investigators she had never seen the woman who stabbed her. According to the arrest warrant, Gurrolla was targeted while she and a cousin, identified only as "JS," were running errands and visiting a state food assistance office. A car that police said Silas rented was seen on a surveillance video following Gurrolla before the attack, and the car rental information led police to her home. Yair's father lives in Nashville, and Gurrolla's marital status was unclear. Police have said they were treating the case as a stranger kidnapping. Police have not released a motive, but Silas' live-in boyfriend, Martin Rodriguez, told The Associated Press that she said she could not have children and wanted to adopt a child from a relative in Texas who was going to jail.

(BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

the biggest torture and detention centres of the Argentine military regime. Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:53:01 AM He is alleged to have been A pilot held in Spain over his involved in the so-called "death alleged role in Argentina's "Dirty flights", in which political War" will stay in detention prisoners of Argentina's military pending a decision on extradition, were drugged and dumped into a Spanish judge has ruled. the sea from the planes. Julio Alberto Poch, an airline Mr Poch's lawyers requested his pilot, has been in custody in release at Tuesday's closed-door Madrid since his arrest last month. hearing in a high-security court in He is wanted in Argentina for Madrid. allegedly flying planes used to Lawyer Ignacio Pelaez Marques dump opponents of the military told AFP news agency that his regime into the sea. He denies the client denied ever having been allegations. based at the Naval Mechanics S o m e 3 0 , 0 0 0 p e o p l e School. disappeared or died during the Mr Pelaez said the judge had junta's 1976-1983 rule. decided his client should remain Mr Poch was held during a short in custody until a decision was stopover at Valencia's Manises m a d e a b o u t e x t r a d i t i o n t o airport on 22 September, while Argentina, because of the gravity flying an aircraft for Dutch of the allegations he faces. Transavia airlines, a subsidiary of In 2005, Argentina's Supreme Air France-KLM. Court struck down amnesty laws The 57-year-old, who has dual which had shielded alleged human Dutch and Argentine nationalities, rights abusers from prosecution. is said to have been a military Print Sponsor pilot at Argentina's notorious Naval Mechanics School - one of

Exxon takes $4bn stake in Ghana oil field (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:56:43 AM

ExxonMobil has agreed to acquire large stake in Ghana’s Jubilee oil field from its private equity owners, paying about $4bn for one of Africa’s most

potentially lucrative oil discoveries in recent years. The deal was first mooted at the end of last year and attracted interest from many of the world’s big oil groups, but became bogged down by horse-trading with Ghana’s government.

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Cocaine vaccine may reduce 'use' BBC News (Most Popular - Google News)

week for 24 weeks. Of the 55 people who completed Submitted at 10/6/2009 2:49:42 AM the course 21 (38%) attained A vaccine to treat cocaine use antibody levels of 43 micrograms helps some addicts to halve their per millilitre or higher. dependency on the drug, Those with that level of researchers say. antibodies had significantly more Doctors at Yale University cocaine-free urine samples (45%) School of Medicine gave the between week nine and 16 of the vaccine to 55 cocaine addicts and study than individuals who had found that 38% were able to lower antibodies (35%) and those achieve the necessary antibody who received dummy treatments. levels. Cocaine use halved Animal and human studies have The proportion of participants suggested that high levels of anti- who reduced their cocaine use by cocaine antibodies in the blood half was significantly greater can stop addicts experiencing a among those treated with the high. active vaccine - 53% compared to But the researchers say the 23% in the placebo group. addicts would need repeat The researchers said about 40% injections. of the participants achieved The study published in the antibody levels of 20 micrograms journal of the American Medical per millilitre. Association says the Yale doctors They said this was enough to conducted a 24 week trial of an combat one to two doses of experimental vaccine. cocaine which should be enough Randomly assigned to prevent relapses in many A total of 115 cocaine and patients. opiate-dependent individuals were Dr Thomas Korsten, of Baylor enrolled and randomly assigned to College of Medicine who started receive five vaccinations of the the study while he was at Yale, active vaccine or five vaccinations said: "While these antibodies are of a dummy treatment over 12 in the blood targeting cocaine weeks. the drug does not have an effect. Cocaine is flushed out the body "They don't destroy, they in about three days so the doctors neutralize the cocaine and make it tested all the addicts urine for vulnerable to a cholinesterase metabolised cocaine three times a enzyme which will then break it

Commodity prices fuel Wall Street rally (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:45:43 AM

US stocks climbed higher on Tuesday after rising commodity

prices and deal activity added to optimism from the previous session’s rally. Global markets also rose after Australia became the first G20 nation to raise interest rates since

down. "The vaccine binds the cocaine so that it can't effect the brain, the heart or any other organ. "This is the first successful placebo controlled test of a vaccine for cocaine." Two years of treatment The adverse events associated with the vaccine were mild to moderate with the most frequent complaint being hardening and tenderness at the injection site. Dr Korsten said: "We think most people will need two years of treatment with the vaccine bearing in mind there is an average six to eight years of abuse before they come for treatment. "It's only at week eight that we get full levels of blocking antibodies. "We have already tried the vaccine with a different carrier supplied by Merck Pharmaceuticals - this is based on the meningitis virus and it is provoking much better levels of antibodies. "We are excited because of all the other drugs we can design antibody vaccines for. "All the other drugs of addiction should work except alcohol because that molecule is too small to make an antibody to it." Print Sponsor

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Prostitutes challenge Canada laws (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

defend the laws and argue that decriminalisation would encourage sex tourism. Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:31:10 AM Ontario's Superior Court is due A court in the Canadian province to hear the case on Tuesday. of Ontario is due to consider a The women's lawyer has said c h a l l e n g e t o t h e c o u n t r y ' s that if the current prostitution prostitution laws. laws are changed, sex workers The case is brought by three would be more likely to go the female sex workers, who argue police if they are attacked or face that current curbs "violate their any problems. constitutional rights and threatens Critics also say provisions their physical safety". preventing prostitutes from They want laws against "running or occupying a bawdy brothels, sex advertising and house (brothel)" force them to p r o s t i t u t e s l i v i n g o f f t h e i r tout for clients away from a safe earnings to be struck down. location. The Crown is expected to Print Sponsor

Electronic Arts: Pull-back is a buy opportunity By Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks)

innovative game if it hopes to maintain momentum created by the earlier franchises. Given that Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:30:00 AM downside risk, there's a Revised Filed under: Electronic Arts Sell/Stop Loss, up to $13 from (ERTS), Stocks to Buy Electronic $ 1 1 . T h e F i r s t C a l l Arts(NASDAQ: ERTS) is one FY2010/FY2011 EPS estimates game play that's expected to for ERTS are 93 cents to $1.20. weather the "frugal consumer" era Continue reading Electronic reasonably well, hence I'm A r t s : P u l l - b a c k i s a b u y Reiterating my Buy rating for the o p p o r t u n i t y company, first recommended on Electronic Arts: Pull-back is a June 11, 2009 at a price of $21.87. b u y o p p o r t u n i t y o r i g i n a l l y Near-term, a great deal is riding appeared on BloggingStocks on on ERTS' signature franchises, Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. the onset of the financial crisis, M a d d e n N F L a n d N C A A r a i s i n g h o p e s o f e c o n o m i c Football, and the company also Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| recovery. will have to introduce a new, Comments

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Del. GOP rep to seek Biden's former Trio make light work of Senate seat (AP) Nobel prize (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:57:38 AM

WILMINGTON, Del. – Nineterm Delaware Republican congressman Michael Castle will run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Joe Biden last year after the Democrat was elected vice president. The two-term former governor will declare his 2010 candidacy at a news conference later Tuesday, according to a person close to Castle and familiar with his decision but who requested anonymity because the announcement was not yet official. Castle's run could pit him against Biden's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who is weighing a bid for the Democratic nomination. The Senate seat is now held by longtime Biden aide and confidante Ted Kaufman. Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said Biden likely would not have any comment until after Castle's announcement is official. Castle, Delaware's sole member of the U.S. House and the longest serving congressman in state history, scheduled a news conference in Wilmington to

announce his political plans. Castle, 70, had said previously that he was leaning against seeking a 10th term in the House, but instead would weigh whether to run for the Senate or retire. He has never lost a political race since being elected to the state House in 1966. Kaufman, appointed by thenGov. Ruth Ann Minner to fill the Senate seat, has said repeatedly that he will not run in 2010, leaving some political observers to speculate that he was chosen as a placeholder for Beau Biden. The younger Biden, 40, returned home last week with his National Guard unit after a yearlong deployment to Iraq. State auditor Tom Wagner, who besides Castle is the only other Delaware Republican currently holding statewide elected office, said he was told of Castle's intentions Tuesday morning in a telephone conversation with a Castle aide, but he refused to provide details. "I certainly think he should run," Wagner said. "I think the polling numbers indicate that he's become the most popular politician in the state." During his long tenure in the House, Castle has carved out a reputation as a leader of

Lego R2-D2 Minifig Mod Adds Sound and Light [Lego] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:00:00 AM

Sorry Jason. You trumped my LED Lego stormtrooper minifig with your cylon and Iron Man, but

this modded R2-D2 Lego minifig kills them all with lighting and actual Star Wars astromech sounds. [ Brickmodder via FBTB via Brothers Brick]

Republican centrists, a fiscal conservative and social moderate unafraid to go against the party line. He has bucked the GOP's positions on abortion and the budget, for example, as well as on energy policy and the environment. As chairman of the Education Reform Subcommittee, Castle played a major role in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. He has long championed embryonic stem cell research and co-sponsored the first bill vetoed by former President George W. Bush, a measure that would have expanded federal funding for research on excess embryos from fertility clinics. Castle's signature issue in Congress has been the popular 50 State Commemorative Quarter Program, which honors each state in the order in which it ratified the Constitution or was admitted into the Union, with Delaware being first. Just weeks before the 2006 election, Castle was hospitalized for several days after suffering a small stroke, but doctors said he was likely to recover fully with no lasting impairment. He won reelection in 2006 and 2008 by comfortable margins.

Top 10 Unanswered Questions in Geeky Movies II: The Sequel By Matt Blum (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:20:00 AM

So many movies, so many plot holes ...

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

optical communication". Smith and Boyle were honoured "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:59:38 AM sensor". Chinese-born Briton, Charles Speaking by phone to a press Kuen Kao, shares Nobel prize in conference at the Karolinska physics with George Smith and Institute, Boyle said: "I have a Willard Boyle for developing lovely feeling all over my body." optical fibres The Nobel assembly said the A Chinese-born Briton who research "helped to shape the g r a d u a t e d f r o m W o o l w i c h foundations of today's networked Polytechnic in east London and societies. They have created many became director of research at a practical innovations for everyday mobile phone company in Essex life and provided new tools for has won this year's Nobel prize scientific exploration". for physics. Optical fibers make up the Charles Kuen Kao won half of c i r c u l a t o r y s y s t e m o f o u r the prestigious prize for research communication-based society. that allowed information to be The glass fibers allow for global sent in beams of light along glass b r o a d b a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s fibres over distances of 100km including the internet. Light a n d m o r e . T h e r e s e a r c h flowing in thin threads of glass r e v o l u t i o n i s e d m o d e r n carries almost all of the telephony communications. and data traffic. Text, music, Kao shares the prize with two i m a g e s a n d v i d e o c a n b e Americans, George Smith and transferred around the globe in a Willard Boyle at Bell Labs in split second. New Jersey, who developed the The CCD is the digital camera's charged-coupled device (CCD), electronic eye. It revolutionised more familiarly known as the photography, allowing light to be miniature digital cameras now captured electronically instead of ubiquitous in devices as wide- on film. The technology is used in ranging as mobile phones and many medical applications, such spacecraft. as imaging inside the human body The 10m Swedish kronor f o r b o t h d i a g n o s t i c s a n d (£818,000) prize money has been m i c r o s u r g e r y . divided to give half to Kao, with • Physics Smith and Boyle taking a quarter Ian Sample each. guardian.co.uk© Guardian Announcing the award at the News & Media Limited 2009 | Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Use of this content is subject to the Nobel assembly credited Kao our Terms & Conditions| More f o r " g r o u n d b r e a k i n g Feeds achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for

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Court takes up free-speech case of pit Indian troops race to bull videos (AP) help flood victims (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

Katyal urged the justices not to wipe away the law in its entirety, but to allow courts to decide on a WASHINGTON – Supreme case-by-case basis whether videos C o u r t j u s t i c e s o n T u e s d a y are prohibited. indicated that a federal law aimed When Congress passed the law at graphic videos of dog fights and then-President Bill Clinton and other acts of animal cruelty signed it in 1999, lawmakers were goes too far in limiting free especially interested in limiting speech rights. Internet sales of so-called crush The court heard argument on the videos, which appeal to a certain Obama administration's appeal to sexual fetish by showing women reinstate a 10-year-old law that crushing to death small animals bans the production and sale of with their bare feet or high-heeled the videos. A federal appeals shoes. court struck down the law and The government said the crush invalidated the conviction of videos virtually disappeared after Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Va., the law took effect. Only three who was sentenced to three years people have been prosecuted in prison for videos he made under the law. about pit bull fights. Justice Samuel Alito sounded Several justices suggested that t h e m o s t r e c e p t i v e t o t h e the law is too broad and could government's argument. Alito apply, for instance, to people who wondered whether the court make films about hunting. should focus on the potential "Why not do a simpler thing?" prosecution of hunters or, citing a Justice Stephen Breyer asked an Breyer example, someone who administration lawyer. "Ask produces foie gras from a goose. Congress to write a statute that " O r d o w e l o o k a t w h a t ' s actually aims at the frightful happening in the real world?" he t h i n g s t h e y w e r e t r y i n g t o asked Stevens' lawyer, Patricia prohibit." Millett. But the lawyer, Deputy Solicitor Millett said Congress has to be G e n e r a l N e a l K a t y a l , s a i d very careful when restricting Congress was careful to exempt speech and must use a "scalpel, hunting, educational, journalistic not a buzzsaw." and other depictions from the law. Stevens noted in court papers Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:51:43 AM

that his sentence was 14 months longer than professional football player Michael Vick's prison term for running a dogfighting ring. Animal rights groups, including the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and 26 states have joined the administration in support of the law. The government says videos showing animal cruelty should be treated like child pornography, unentitled to any constitutional protection. Stevens says he also opposes animal cruelty, including dog fighting. But he argues that the government should not be able to jail someone for making films that are not obscene, inflammatory or untruthful. Free speech groups, the National Rifle Association, hunters' organizations and book publishers and sellers say the law threatens First Amendment freedoms. The NRA and hunters' groups say the law could be used against the makers of hunting videos, although the law's main sponsor, Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., has said it is not intended to apply to depictions of hunting.

FTC Tells Amateur Bloggers to Disclose Freebies or Be Fined By Ryan Singel (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:19:00 AM

Gadget

bloggers

and

Amazon.com reviewers now must disclose freebies and financial interests or face fines up to $11,000, according to rules announced by federal regulators

Monday in an attempt to make word-of-mouth endorsements on the net easier to believe.

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

sandbags to strengthen the embankments of the flooded Krishna river, Rao said. The river runs through the town of Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:05:46 AM Vijaywada, which is home to Waters leave more than 250 more than 1 million people. dead and displace millions in In both states, the waters Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka continued to recede today after a states as more rain approaches 48-hour halt in the rain, officials Thousands of troops and relief said. The state governments are workers have fanned out across now focusing on assessing the southern India to provide aid to damage and ensuring that medical areas where devastating flooding aid reaches the displaced to has left more than 250 people prevent disease from spreading. dead and displaced millions more. Aid workers are also distributing The floods, in Andhra Pradesh food and clean drinking water in and Karnataka states, are the the relief camps. worst in decades. They have The head of India's ruling destroyed homes, farms and Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, infrastructure worth more than a n d t h e h o m e m i n i s t e r , P 220bn rupees ($2.9bn), authorities C h i d a m b a r a m , m a d e a e r i a l say. surveys of the affected areas in In Karnataka, the worse-hit of both states on Monday, Jagdish the two states, the death toll had said. risen to 194, and more than Just weeks ago, most parts of 150,000 people were staying in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka hundreds of state-run relief were suffering from severe camps, RV Jagdish, a government drought. Officials say an area of spokesman, said. Hundreds of low pressure in the Bay of Bengal thousands more had sought shelter has caused the sudden torrential in the homes of friends and rains. More rain is forecast for the relatives. area over the next 24 hours. In neighbouring Andhra • India Pradesh, 60 people had died and • Natural disasters and extreme more than 1 million had sought weather shelter in 100 relief camps, • Flooding Dharmana Prasada Rao, the state's guardian.co.uk© Guardian revenue minister, said. News & Media Limited 2009 | In Andhra Pradesh, thousands of Use of this content is subject to t r o o p s h a d j o i n e d l o c a l our Terms & Conditions| More government workers in placing Feeds

8

Top News/ Finance/ Tech News/

Internet News Record

Machu Picchu, Barcelona church on threatened list (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

around the world, said a new underground rail line in Barcelona will run perilously close to NEW YORK – Peru's Machu Gaudi's masterpiece, which was Picchu ancient ruins, Antoni designed as an 18-tower church Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church in telling the tale of the Holy Family Barcelona and a New Orleans and has been under construction elementary school are among the since the 1880s. cultural heritage sites threatened Also threatened by new by neglect or overdevelopment, a development are traditional p r e s e r v a t i o n i s t g r o u p s a i d townhouses in Kyoto, Japan, Tuesday. called machiya, which date from The World Monuments Fund's t h e e a r l y 1 6 0 0 s a n d a r e watch list for 2010 includes 93 considered models of their type sites in 47 countries, ranging from throughout the country. The Phajoding, a remote monastery in m o n u m e n t s f u n d s a i d t h e Bhutan, to the bridges along townhouses are being torn down, Connecticut's scenic Merritt diminishing Kyoto's cultural Parkway. history. "The 2010 watch makes it clear Machu Picchu, an important that cultural heritage efforts in the Inca site and Peru's main tourist 21st century must recognize the attraction, is threatened by its high critical importance of sustainable volume of visitors. stewardship and that we must The fund said two sites in New work closely with local partners Orleans, St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 to create viable and appropriate a n d t h e P h i l l i s W h e a t l e y opportunities to advance this," E l e m e n t a r y S c h o o l , f a c e W o r l d M o n u m e n t s F u n d continuing challenges following President Bonnie Burnham said. H u r r i c a n e K a t r i n a , w h i c h The monuments fund, dedicated devastated the area in 2005. to saving important landmarks U.S. sites on the watch list also Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:49:50 AM

include architect Frank Lloyd Wright's home Taliesin in Spring Green, Wis., and Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz. Anne Maley, interim CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which operates both sites, said she could not comment on their inclusion on the watch list. The New York-based World Monuments Fund issues its watch list every two years. The list was initiated in the mid1990s to call attention to sites that are threatened by neglect, vandalism, conflict or disaster. It's assembled by a panel of experts in archaeology, architecture, art history and preservation. The last list, in 2007, was the first to add global warming to the roster of forces the monuments fund says are threatening humanity's architectural and cultural heritage. ___ On the Net: World Monuments Fund: http://www.wmf.org

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BP, CMCSA, GLW, MAR, RIMM, TIF, TJX ... By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Tiffany and Co (TIF), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA), Corning Inc (GLW), Research in Motion (RIMM), General Mills (GIS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Marriott Intl'A' (MAR), Analyst initiations Analyst upgrades: • UBS upgraded Corning(NYSE: GLW) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $19 from $18.50, citing the improved LCD supply-demand outlook and improved sell-through ahead of the holiday season in China. • Credit Suisse upgraded Newfield Exploration(NYSE: NFX) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $48 from $44 citing valuation and improved asset quality. • Stifel upgraded Newfield Exploration and Ultra

Why would companies borrow to pay dividends now? By Zac Bissonnette (BloggingStocks)

Companies say that they're doing it to take advantage of low interest rates, but here's what's so Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:00:00 PM dumb about that: The low-interest Filed under: Management, rate environment makes dividends Competitive strategy less valuable too because the cash The Wall Street Journal can't be invested at a high rate of reports(subscription required) on return. Worse, these companies a disturbing trend taking place in are needlessly amplifying risk: board rooms across America: The bankruptcy courts are littered Public companies are borrowing with the corpses of companies was that shareholders, workers, money to pay dividends to that paid dividends instead of and creditors were wiped out shareholders. paying down debt, and the result completely in the name of a short-

term increase in yields. Continue reading Why would companies borrow to pay dividends now? Why would companies borrow to pay dividends now? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Petroleum(NYSE: UPL) shares to Buy from Hold based on strong fundamentals and a long-term positive view for the E&P sector. The firm has a $50 target on Newfield and a $58 target on Ultra Petroleum. • TJX Companies(NYSE: TJX) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman. • General Mills(NYSE: GIS) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. • Coca-Cola Femsa(NYSE: KOF) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill. Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BP, CMCSA, GLW, MAR, RIMM, TIF, TJX ... Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BP, CMCSA, GLW, MAR, RIMM, TIF, TJX ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Navy Looks to Stop Enemy Ray Guns By Noah Shachtman (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:00:00 AM

The Taliban may prefer improvised bombs to ray guns, today. But that isn't stopping the U.S. military from getting ready to defend against lasers and other so-called "directed energy weapons."

World/ Economy/

Internet News Record

9

IEA: carbon emissions will fall due to recession By John Vidal (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:56:33 AM

Cut in greenhouse gas emissions provides countries with a unique chance to switch to less carbonintensive energy sources, says International Energy Agency Man-made greenhouse gas emissions will drop 3% in 2009 largely because of the worldwide financial crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today. Three-quarters of the reduction has been the result of less industrial activity, with the rest coming from countries turning to renewable energy and nuclear power. But the world's premier energy analysts calculated that to avoid dangerous climate change, countries around the world will have to spend $400bn a year building more than 350 new nuclear plants and 350,000 wind turbines in the next 20 years. They also estimate that by 2020, three-fifths of cars will need to use alternatives to the traditional internal combustion engine. The findings came in a special extract of the IEA's forthcoming annual world energy outlook report, published at the UN climate talks in Bangkok. The emissions cuts, only the fourth in the last 50 years, provide countries with a unique chance to

switch to less carbon-intensive energy sources, said the IEA's chief economist, Fatih Birol. "Average growth in emissions has been 3% a year but we estimate this year that emissions will fall 3%. Because of the financial crisis, many industries have the chance to move away from unsustainable power. If we get a good result at the Copenhagen climate talks, then they could be turned to sustainable energy," he said. The independent agency, which is funded by the world's richest 28 countries, said it would be a catastrophe if countries continued with business as usual. "We need an energy and environment revolution. Business as usual would increase temperatures by 6C. To hold emissions to 450ppm [parts per million], we need in the region of 18 nuclear power stations, 17,000 turbines, 100 concentrated solar power stations and 16 carbon capture and storage plants to be built every year until 2030," said Birol. "We think the share of renewables and nuclear which is now 18% worldwide needs to go up to 33% by 2030," he said. "But energy efficiency will be the key." The energy revolution envisaged by the IEA would cost about $400bn a year to fund between now and 2020, but it would cost far more to catch up with emission cuts later on, said

Nobuo Tanaka, the director of the agency. "The benefits will be that we avoid the worst implications of climate change which are unquantifiable. Everyone will also save money," he said. Under the IEA's scenario of how the world could hold emissions to 450ppm, countries would have rapidly away from the internal combustion engine. "Ninety-five per cent of new cars today have internal combustion engines. To hold emissions to 450 [ppm] you need more and more hybrids and electric cars. By 2020, only 40% of cars should have internal combustion engines," it suggested. For the first time, the agency estimated the costs to Opec oilproducing countries of a worldwide shift away from petrol and oil. With no deal at Copenhagen, it says, the industry could expect to earn about $28tr between 2012 and 2030. But holding emissions to 450ppm would reduce the industry's revenue by 16% to $24tr, said Birol. "They would earn less, but it would still be four times more than they have earned in the last 22 years, he said. "Oil, coal and gas needs to peak at 2020 and then decline. Renewables, nuclear and CCS [carbon capture and storage] need to go up dramatically," said the report.

He said that the climate talks due to conclude in Copenhagen in December were fundamental to whether the world moved away from fossil fuels. "That requires signals. People do not invest in dirty power because they are bad but because of the money. Without an incentive signal from Copenhagen it will not change," he said. "The IEA's report confirms what we already know – that every year's delay in climate action will significantly increase the costs," said Kaisa Kosonen, Greenpeace International policy analyst. The assessment confirms that current industrialised country targets are not enough to drive energy efficiency and renewables on the scale needed. It also confirms what Greenpeace's own scenario shows, that energy efficiency will play by far the biggest role in solving climate change - over and above any other technologies. The rise and fall of carbon emissions Carbon emissions are strongly linked to economic growth and have increased globally roughly 3% a year since the 1950s. But they have also fallen three times in the last 60 years. The first drop occurred during the oil crises of the early 1970s when the price of oil more than doubled, forcing many industries to contract or close. Emissions fell again in the early

1990s with the economic collapse of the Soviet Union which depended heavily on coal. Industrial output plummeted, coal mines closed and people could not afford to heat their homes. More surprisingly, carbon emissions also fell 0.3% in 199899, thanks partly to improved energy efficiency but mainly because Britain and Germany closed many coal mines and switched to gas, and China reduced its energy subsidies. The world economy continued to grow, mainly though information technologies and service sectors that were not then major energy users. The 2009 fall in emissions due to the credit crunch and the recession that has followed it is the deepest since the 1970s. • Carbon emissions • Climate change • Copenhagen climate change conference 2009 • Energy • Renewable energy • Nuclear power • Climate change • Global recession • Global economy John Vidal guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

two notches. While you can't fault someone for changing their opinion when the facts change, it's tough to give this upgrade too much weight considering the analyst's prior track record on

Goldman. click to enlarge

Goldman: Hated It at $110, Love It at $200 (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:04:11 AM

Calyon Securities upgraded Goldman Sachs ( GS) today from

Underperform to Outperform. As shown below, the stock had been rated underperform by the analyst for the last six months. After a rally of nearly 90 points, the analyst now likes the stock

enough to upgrade it not one, but

10

World/ Finance/

Internet News Record

Israel deploys police as tensions rise By Rory McCarthy (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

who suffered a moderate injury when he was stabbed in the neck on Monday while checking identity cards on a Palestinian Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:46:30 AM bus. But today appeared to pass Clashes with Palestinians mar without new clashes. Jewish holiday week of Sukkot Violence is rarely far below the Israel deployed thousands of surface in the tense city of police on the streets of Jerusalem Jerusalem, and this latest round of today to protect a Jewish holiday clashes appeared to have been parade after days of rock throwing sparked by rumours that rightand clashes with Palestinians. wing Jewish groups were intent The trouble began 10 days ago on marching onto the Temple when crowds of young Palestinian Mount. One leading Israeli men threw rocks at police, newspaper, the Yedioth Ahronoth, apparently after hearing that a described the troubles as "Sukkot group of religious Jews was about riots" on its front page yesterday, to enter the Haram al-Sharif, and the Israeli press variously known to Jews as the Temple blamed Hamas, the Palestinian Mount, in the heart of Jerusalem's Islamist movement that controls Old City. Police fired teargas and Gaza, and its rival, the Fatah-led rubber-coated bullets at the Palestinian Authority in the West Palestinians and closed access to Bank. the holy site. A number of Israeli cabinet There was more rock throwing ministers singled out Raed Salah, and teargas over the weekend at the head of the Islamic Movement the start of the Jewish holiday in Israel, as inciting the clashes week of Sukkot, a time when and said his group should be many Israeli Jews walk into the declared illegal. Israel's police Old City to the Western Wall to chief in Jerusalem, Aharon pray. Dozens of Palestinians were Franco, said on Monday that arrested and several police Muslim Palestinians in the city officers injured, including one were "ungrateful" after his

officers "worked to ensure peaceful prayers" in Jerusalem during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in September. Palestinian officials, however, accused Israel of escalating tensions in the city. "Israel is lighting matches in the hope of sparking a fire, deliberately escalating tensions in occupied East Jerusalem rather than taking steps to placate the situation," said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. "What makes this all the more dangerous is the vacuum created by the absence of a credible peace process that offers hope instead of more settlements." Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later annexed it, a move that has not been recognised by the international community. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, but Israel has worked hard to exert its control over the area, allowing more than 200,000 Jewish settlers to move in and heavily restricting planning permits for Palestinians, enforced by frequent home demolitions. On Monday Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, told

Yemen's state-run television that Israel was "working on a daily basis to Judaise Jerusalem." Although Palestinians would agree with Abbas's concern, his comments also helped deflect a widespread frustration among many Palestinians at his decision last week to drop support in the UN Human Rights Council for a vote to endorse a highly critical UN inquiry into the Gaza war. The inquiry, by the South African judge Richard Goldstone, accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and called for international investigations and possible prosecutions of individual commanders. But the Palestinians at the last minute and apparently under intense US pressure dropped their call for a vote to endorse Goldstone's recommendations, handing Israel a significant diplomatic victory. • Israel • Palestinian territories Rory McCarthy guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Costco's fourth quarter: Will Wall Street be surprised? By Steven Mallas (BloggingStocks)

Q4 earnings on Wednesday, October 7. How will the company do? Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:30:00 AM Don't look for growth, my Filed under: Earnings reports, f r i e n d s . A c c o r d i n g t o Forecasts, Wal-Mart (WMT), Earnings.com, estimates from Costco Wholesale (COST) Wall Street say that Costco will C o s t c o W h o l e s a l e produce 77 cents per share in Corp.(NASDAQ: COST), the income. Unfortunately, that popular warehouse store that represents a 16% drop in the competes with BJ's Wholesale metric. Surprising? Maybe a little. people would want to cut costs by C l u b ( N Y S E : B J ) a n d W a l - After all, we're still suffering a leveraging the bulk buying power Mart(NYSE: WMT), will report bad economy, and you figure that of the Costco business model.

Continue reading Costco's fourth quarter: Will Wall Street be surprised? Costco's fourth quarter: Will Wall Street be surprised? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Gold hits record high while the dollar weakens -- why? By Connie Madon (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:10:00 AM

Filed under: International markets, Rumors, Commodities, Oil Gold jumped to $1033 per ounce on Tuesday, hitting a record high. Oil rose $1 per barrel. The December dollar contract is at $76.53, down $0.305 (as of 8:11 EDT). Why is gold moving up? A news story in The Independent, a British paper, reported that secret talks are underway to dump the dollar as the currency for oil transactions. Included in the talks were China, Russia, Japan and France. They want is to replace the U.S. dollar with a basket of currencies and gold. Continue reading Gold hits record high while the dollar weakens -- why? Gold hits record high while the dollar weakens -- why? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

World/ Economy/ Gadgets/

Internet News Record

Dinosaur footprints found in France By Lizzy Davies (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

enormous," he said. "This is new. Some very big footprints have been found in the US but I don't think they are as big as these." Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:39:32 AM The site's other, equally Local enthusiasts find sauropod important, attraction, Hantzpergue tracks up to two metres in added, was the geographical diameter spread over large area in spread. The research centre said Jura mountains they were formed "over dozens if An "exceptional" collection of not hundreds of metres". the biggest dinosaur footprints "These are very large distances," ever recorded has been found by said Hantzpergue. "We've seen two amateur enthusiasts on an tracks of maybe 50 metres in expedition near France's Jura France, around 100 metres in mountains, palaeontologists said Switzerland, and the world record today. is in Portugal … with about 150 Imprints measuring up to 2 metres. Now, we still have many metres (6ft 6in) in diameter and hectares to search but we will stretching over a vast area of land undoubtedly have more than 150 have been uncovered near the metres at Plagne." village of Plagne, 30 miles west The imprints are believed to of Geneva, according to the have been those of sauropod National Centre of Scientific dinosaurs, the gentle herbivorous Research. giants which roamed the region In a statement, the centre said about 150m years ago. They the significance of the prints a p p e a r t o h a v e b e e n w e l l could not be overestimated. preserved by a thick layer of "According to the researchers' limestone sediment dating from initial work, these tracks are the the late Jurassic period – the biggest ever seen," it said. geological era named after the P i e r r e H a n t z p e r g u e , a Jura mountains which lie just to palaeontologist at the University the north of where the tracks were of Lyon who verified the prints discovered. with a colleague at the research Despite the region's well-known c e n t r e , s a i d t h e p e r f e c t l y reputation for such discoveries – preserved tracks could make in 2004, thousands of footprints Plagne one of the most significant were revealed on the Swiss side of dinosaur locations in the world. the border – this latest, and "What is remarkable about this probably most spectacular, find site … is firstly the sheer size of was left to amateurs from the the footprints. They are really local town of Oyonnax, near

Geneva, to stumble upon. Marié-Hèlene Marcaud, a teacher, and Patrice Landry, a geologist, uncovered the tracks on 5 April during one of their regular expeditions with the Naturalists' Society of Oyonnax. Amazed by their find, they then contacted Hantzpergue and Jean-Michel Mazin at the National Centre of Scientific Research to confirm the authenticity. The Franco-Swiss border is no stranger to palaeontological treasures, and its ancient landscape has allowed scientists to piece together the history of biodiversity over the past 200 million years. A recent motorway project on the Swiss side of the Jura has led to the discovery of not only dinosaur tracks but fossils of creatures including marine crocodiles and mammoths. On the French side sauropod tracks were found at Coisia, about 25 miles from Plagne, in 2004 and on the floor of the Loulle quarry in 2006. • Dinosaurs • France • Switzerland Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

11

Update: EDGAR Online Reports XBRL Filing Results (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

filing requirement is not a onetime event. XBRL is now the required ongoing format for SEC Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:05:01 AM Forms 10-Q and 10-K. On Monday, EDGAR Online ( Depending on EDGAR Online's EDGR) issued a special report to competitive performance, the shareholders announcing their XBRL filings business may market-share data for the first become a source of high recurring reporting period subject to the r e v e n u e f o r t h e c o m p a n y . SEC's XBRL mandate. See my EDGAR Online is the only earlier summary report on the publicly traded company that has competitive landscape for this a material share of its revenue tied XBRL filings market. to XBRL conversion and XBRLEDGAR Online and RR based financial analytics software Donnelley ( RRD) formed a programs. Its I-Metrix Pro is now partnership to provide XBRL offered as an Excel add-in and conversion services to companies a l s o o f f e r e d v i a T h o m s o n reporting to the SEC. See their Reuters's ( TRI) Checkpoint joint website a t financial management service. www.TryXBRL.com. As part of its filing mandate, the June 30, 2009 marked the end of S E C n o w r e q u i r e s X B R L the first quarterly period when reporting companies to present large public companies were XBRL-sourced data in their IR required to file their Form 10-Qs website presentations. As a result in XBRL data format. A closer of new rules, the investor relations analysis of the potential impact of c o m m u n i c a t i o n s m a r k e t i s XBRL filings business on EDGR changing. Note the IR product suggests that this new XBRL offered by EDGAR Online and filings service may well have a Q 4 W e b S y s t e m s . X B R L material impact on EDGR's future interactive data offers broad financial results. functionality for IR The second wave of new XBRL communication services, and I filers in 2010 is estimated to suspect there will be many new include 1,500 - 2,000 reporting web services offered by small companies, and the final wave in web development companies as 2 0 1 1 i s f o r a b o u t 1 0 , 0 0 0 well as large printers like RR additional companies. It is Donnelley and Bowne ( BNE). important to note that this new Disclosure: I am long EDGR.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Review: It Still Sucks. By Greg Kumparak (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:25:31 AM

Windows Mobile 6.5, we wanted to love you. We wanted you to come along and wash away the past, whisking away all signs of

the antiquated 6.1 we've grown so

tired of ragging on. We went into this review with the full hopes of emerging with a generally positive outlook. Sorry, Windows

Mobile 6.5 - it's just not going to happen.

12

World/ Economy/ Tech/

Internet News Record

Letterman apologises to wife – on TV

Are Banks As Good as Goldman?

By Adam Gabbatt (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

(Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:04:35 AM

Talkshow host uses programme to offer a less than stellar expression of regret to Regina Lasko for his workplace dalliances David Letterman, lover of women, attracted further attention last night with an apology to his wife, Regina Lasko, for his affairs with staff. Rather than the traditional method of grovelling – petrol station flowers, jumbo Toblerone and a hastily written card – Letterman once again used his CBS talkshow to pay penance. I am no expert on wooing back someone you've cheated on, although I like the sound of this cat up a tree analogy, but I suspect Letterman's fusion of comedy with contrition may not quite have appeased his spouse just yet. The 62-year-old opened the show with a monologue where he hinted that all had not been rosy in the family home since his announcement last week. Opening the show with a smile, he asked the studio audience: "Did your weekend just fly by?" to loud applause. But if his wife was sat at home

hoping for some sensitivity, she was out of luck. "I'll be honest with you folks, right now I would give anything to be hiking on the Appalachian trail," Letterman continued, any sincerity rather undermined by the reference to US governor Mark Sanford, whose six-day disappearance earlier this year was credited by his staff to the fact he had been hiking the 2,100mile trail. Sanford had actually absconded to Argentina for extramarital high jinks. Letterman's exploits have already been the subject of much mirth among fellow TV hosts, with rival channel NBC's Jay Leno kicking off his show on Friday with a warning to the audience that: "If you came here tonight for sex with a talkshow host, you've got the wrong studio." While Jimmy Fallon, who also hosts a NBC chatshow, mused: "There's a new book out called Why Women Have Sex that says there are 237 reasons why women have sex. And folks, Letterman knows the top 10." Lasko, who has been with Letterman for 23 years, had to wait until later in the show for her message. Her husband first apologised to

his Late Show staff, who had been "wonderfully supportive" over the years – which, given the revelations, is something of an understatement – before turning his attention to his wife. "Now the other thing is my wife, Regina," he said, introducing the topic in a way that made her sound suspiciously like an afterthought. "She has been horribly hurt by my behaviour, and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it ... And at that point, there's only two things that can happen, either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me." The apology ended to loud applause, at least in the studio. Lasko's response may have been more sober. • Television industry • Television • United States Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

and in turn, for itself. Since there's no shortage of politics now in finance, by giving an agreeable Submitted at 10/6/2009 4:59:36 AM nod to the upcoming Goldman Sachs ( GS), long the performances of the major banks, darling (and jealously-driven it'll soften the political blow when scorn) of Wall Street, just gave an Goldman reports another record emphatic gift to all its rivals by quarterly profit and annual bonus declaring the American financial numbers that draft everyone else s y s t e m i s a w o r t h w h i l e on The Street. investment. With its own shares The company is known for the more than doubling year-to-date, shredding and fleecing of most it Goldman gave its investing does business with, and a recent clientele the go-ahead to purchase report showcased that Goldman other large banks, sending receives $1Billion if the financial shares higher and institution CIT fails; a price tag leading the market to gains of just t h a t w o u l d c o s t t a x p a y e r s about 1%. $2.3Billion will do nothing to By claiming large banks will change that reputation. The wello u t p e r f o r m r e g i o n a l b a n k s , publicized bailout of AIG during Goldman spawned gains of the meat of the financial crisis, of between 2 and 6% for the major which Goldman Sachs was one financial institutions. Despite the counter-party reportedly receiving shot of love Goldman has thrown billions of then federal dollars, is the financial companies, it finds just another such example. itself battling one hell of a PR But isn't that exactly what you c a m p a i g n o n t h e t o p i c o f want from an Investment Bank? excessive bonuses. The company To be the smartest group of guys was looked at with balking eyes in the room? I'd say so, and as it reported near record profits despite any public or political and bonus levels in the first half backlash over bonuses, Goldman of this year, a year only one is on tap to report another golden r e m o v e d f r o m t h e b i g g e s t quarter. And that's something financial and market failure since worth owning. the Great Depression. Disclosure: Author owns GS Perhaps Goldman wants to set a mood favourable for all banks,

French Politician Proposes Warning Labels On Any Photoshopped Ad Or Marketing Label By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:23:00 AM

Mr. LemurBoy points out that some French politicians are

pushing a law that would require a label on any marketing or advertising image that was photoshopped, airbrushed or edited in some manner. The idea,

of course, is that they don't want ad campaigns to portray things in a manner that is not quite truthful. But shouldn't there just be a simpler rule against deceptive

advertising (one I imagine must already exist)? If it's just a little edit to make the photo more reasonable, why should it require some special disclosure?

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China and North korea: Putting a squeeze on (The Economist: News analysis) Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:20:05 AM

China and North korea Oct 6th 2009 | SEOUL From Economist.com China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, persuades Kim Jong Il to return to nuclear-arms talks NORTH KOREA'S ailing dictator, Kim Jong Il, rarely ventures to the airport to greet visiting foreign dignitaries. But China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, who departed from North Korea on Tuesday October 6th after a three-day visit, is no run-of -the-mill VIP. China has been North Korea’s staunchest ally through war and uneasy peace. Fraternal protocol demanded that Mr Kim greet Mr Wen on the tarmac not only with a vigorous handshake but also a prolonged hug. Officially Mr Wen was in Pyongyang to celebrate the 60th year of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea. But since 1978 the two countries have pursued very different economic policies. China's markets are open to the world; North Korea remains in isolation and its economy is in terrible

shape. As winter looms many North Koreans cannot feed or warm themselves. United Nations sanctions and a maritime blockade have squeezed the impoverished country further by cutting off North Korea’s most profitable export, weapons. Mr Kim desperately needs Chinese aid and Mr Wen obliged the North Korean, according to Chinese news reports. China’s prime minister signed a broad economic-assistance package with North Korea which has pledged to transform itself by 2012 into KanGsong Taeguk, a strong, prosperous and powerful country. The package is perhaps in defiance of UN sanctions aimed at halting North Korea’s nuclearweapons programme and missile development. But it may be a carrot intended to draw Mr Kim back into talks aimed at dismantling his nuclear arsenal. In this Mr Wen seems to have succeeded, albeit with a caveat. North Korea’s official news agency says that Mr Kim expressed readiness to hold multilateral talks depending on the outcome of talks between North Korea and America. Mr Kim doubtless wants some of the same things from the Americans

that he has got from China: economic assistance, a peace treaty on the Korean peninsula to replace the current armistice and diplomatic relations with Washington. The North Korean leader may want to bequeath to his successor, perhaps his third son, Kim Jong Un, an international environment that is less hostile to North Korea. James Steinberg, America’s deputy secretary of state, says his government is “prepared to have direct engagement with North Korea” if the regime returns to six -party talks with China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and America aimed at getting rid of North Korea’s nuclear weapons. These discussions are crucial to Barack Obama’s efforts to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons. America wants to bring North Korea back into the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, which it left in January 2003. America’s president plans a nuclear-arms summit in March next year and he desperately needs a diplomatic breakthrough on North Korea. For several months his administration has been trying to convince Japan and South Korea to give their blessing to negotiations between America and North Korea.

North Korea’s pledge to recommit itself to “denuclearising the [Korean] peninsula” has failed to impress the South Koreans. Hyun In-taek, South Korea ’s minister in charge of relations with North Korea, says “North Korea’s recent conciliatory gestures can be regarded as only minor shifts in attitude.” Another complication is that North Korea’s leader hinted that he may want Japan excluded from multilateral talks. Mr Kim is angry that Japan continued to raise the issue of the kidnapping of its citizens by his regime at the six-party talks. Mr Wen’s success in eliciting a commitment from North Korea to return to the six-party talks is evidence of its diplomatic muscle. North Korea had, just two months ago, described the talks as “dead”. China has long been criticised for not using its considerable influence to bring North Korea to heel for its nuclear weapons and intercontinental-missile tests. Mr Wen has apparently convinced North Korea to give some ground. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views.

Dremel 4000 Must Be Two Times Better than the Dremel 2000 [Tools] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:40:00 AM

Do-It-Yourself humans! Lust for the Dremel 4000—the magic rotating tool that can sand surfaces, carve wood, polish metal, scramble eggs, mix cocktails, and overstimulate naughty bits with different tips—for it's the new king of the multifunction tool hill. It has new replaceable motor with electronic feedback control, which in theory will give you consistent speed under pressure. The speed range goes from 5,000 to 35,000 revolutions per minute, and it has the obligatory backward compatibility with all your existing Dremel tips. [ Dremel via]

Funktionide Substitutes Human Contact—If You Are a Big Blob Lover, That Is [Concept] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)

let's say I can get pass the creepiness of that video. Now, where are the breasts? German designer Stefan Ulrich I mean, come on, all those says his Funktionide—a white bumps and shape-shifting magic blob that changes shape thanks to thanks to the use of electroactive artificial muscle technology—can polymers—plastics that can "relieve loneliness." OK, Stefan, change form when electrically Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:20:00 AM

stimulated—and no boobs to grab onto? Bad! Based on EAP-technology "Funktionide" is a concept for an emotional robot that substitutes human contact. In a future where technology will play a huge part in our lifes it is very likely that

some day it will shift from satisfiying our basic funtional needs to include our emotional needs as well. How will this future be? How do we want it to be? Will it affect our human interactions if we start to fall in love with machines?

Will the machines fall in love with us? I sure hope not. I once had an affair with my beard trimmer, and it didn't end well. At all. [ Dezeen]

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Australia's economy: Coming back down under (The Economist: News analysis)

before the end of the year. The big Australian banks anticipated the central bank’s move, and have Submitted at 10/6/2009 4:24:10 AM been increasing their fixed Australia's economy lending rates throughout the year. Oct 6th 2009 More rises are expected, From Economist.com Australia especially as Mr Stevens has is the first large, rich country to concluded that the risk of serious raise interest rates in more than a economic contraction in Australia year has passed. Annual inflation is AUSTRALIA’S central bank is 1.5%, but it is 2.5% when volatile the first in a big, rich economy to items are excluded. But it seems raise interest rates since July last set to go higher. year. On Tuesday October 6th the Australia’s economy has been overnight “cash rate” was raised broadly protected from the by a quarter of a percentage point, economic storm raging in the rest to 3.25%. Glenn Stevens, the o f t h e w o r l d . A l t h o u g h bank's governor, explained that unemployment is rising fast in economic conditions in Australia many rich economies, the local have been stronger than expected jobless rate has grown by only 1.4 and measures of confidence have percentage points in the past year. recovered “forecasts are being And since June it has remained revised higher…and growth in flat at 5.8. Although the country 2010 is likely to be close to saw one quarter of economic trend.” contraction late last year, it has Is this the beginning of a avoided a technical recession general shift in monetary policy (generally considered to be two as central bankers around the s u c c e s s i v e q u a r t e r s o f world begin to prepare for contraction). Since then the economic recovery? In fact economy has been looking up. Australia is a special case. Interest House prices have barely budged rates remain four percentage from historic peaks in 2007. points below their recent peak in Prices in Sydney and Melbourne, March 2008 and local markets Australia’s two biggest cities, had been expecting a rate rise surged by some 5% in the three

months to June. Across the country, according to recent statistics from RP Data, a property -information firm, prices jumped by nearly 2% in August, the fastest monthly rise since 2005. Few other countries are enjoying such benign economic conditions (although Israel, which is also relatively flourishing, pipped Australia to the post by raising interest rates to 0.75% in August). The Australian decision is not necessarily a sign of better economic health around the world. “We don’t expect rates in the major economies of Europe, America and Britain to be going anywhere for the foreseeable future”, says Sukhy Ubhi of Capital Economics, a consultancy. Australia is enjoying almost unique economic circumstances. Its banking system has held up well, with some national banks posting healthy profits during the financial crisis. The banks avoided subprime lending and arrears rates remain tiny. Most important, the country’s trading position with Asia, and especially China, is flourishing. China, where growth is booming again, is now Australia’s largest trading partner. Exports of raw materials

are strong; minerals have grown from 20% of Australia’s exports to more than 40% in the past decade. David Forrester of Barclays Capital, an investment bank, expects central banks in other commodity-rich countries such as Norway and New Zealand to lift rates soon. However Australia is not invulnerable. The Australian government is determined to stick to a large stimulus package that was announced earlier this year, much of which remains unspent. That could drive up interest rates further if growth continues. And Australia’s volatile exchange rate is a mixed blessing. Higher interest rates are helping to push up the Australian dollar rapidly as the country becomes a more attractive place for international investors to park funds. A rising dollar in turn puts a squeeze on the tourism industry and other exporters. Every silver lining has a cloud. Back to top ^^ Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views.

Let's Make a Deal Search Engine, Ask.com Says By Ryan Singel (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:52:00 AM

Ask Deals — which hunts down coupons and sales — takes its place besides Ask’s more conventional tabs for searches for news, video and images. It’s a response to a growing number of searchers looking for discounts in tough times, the company says

The White Sea By Zack Sheppard (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:48:08 AM

Photos from quinnloganmckee, carl kalabaw, photo61guy, teo de pap, TroyMason, c.zwerg, slopjop, and NgirNgir.

Augmented Reality example at CEATEC By Scott Merrill (CrunchGear)

examples in the real world. Yamaha has support for air tags in their new disklavier. This Augmented reality is all the new means that you can play a song on buzz, I guess. I don’t know, your Yamaha disklavier and tag because I only have an iPhone 3G the whole thing. When you look — mine’s missing that important at the area using Sekai Camera, “S” indicating it’s the new model you can see the tag for the song on which augmented reality can you recorded. Click it, and actually execute. But at CEATEC FingerPiano Share can execute to song, allowing you to practice it today I saw some Sekai Camera show you the fingering for that or play along on your iPhone or Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:30:01 AM

iPod Touch. The demonstration I saw was really neat, and I think this is a really exciting new technology. It introduces a whole lot of wonderful new ways in which we can interact with our world over time (and hopefully paves the way toward the technology that Vernor Vinge posits in his novel Rainbows End). Unfortunately,

my experience trying the live demo was less than stellar: If air tagging really takes off, I can see augmented reality failing before it even starts, as locations get filled up with the augmented versions of “ Kilroy was here” graffiti and countless iterations of Chopsticks.

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IMF in Cloud Cuckoo Land (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha)

recurrence of our recent financial crisis and crash, but they do not. “We will remain vigilant to Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:02:56 AM prevent financial sector excesses By Simon Johnson and reaccumulation of Sunday’s communique from the unsustainable global imbalances” International Monetary and (paragraph 2) is about the scariest Financial Committee(of the Board wording you can imagine in this of Governors of the International context. Do you really think the Monetary Fund) is incredibly financial sector respects or will b l a n d , e v e n b y t h e i r u s u a l even notice official “vigilance”? standards. The degree of self- They are giggling on Wall Street. congratulation and complacency And, in this context, is reference is slightly less pronounced than to “global imbalances” anything what we saw from the G20 in other than a smokescreen (or Pittsburgh, whose final statement another strange kind of joke) – see contained a classic moment of our Washington Post online hubris when the entirety of column for more on this point. paragraph 5 read: “ It worked.” “We intend to adopt an open, Still, the IMFC (representing all merit-based and transparent IMF member countries) seems to process for the selection of IMF be in the same cloud cuckoo land management at our next meeting” as the G20 leaders. (paragraph 5) is moderately This is not surprising, as the interesting, but only because it IMF appears to be increasingly a p p e a r s t o s t e p b a c k f r o m under the auspices of the G20 – committing to appoint a nondespite the fact that this is European (and non-US) person as extremely awkward from a formal the next managing director of the governance point of view. The IMF. The current incumbent is IMF has 186 members; the G20 presumed on his way to campaign has 19 or perhaps up to 25, for the presidency of France (and d e p e n d i n g o n h o w m a n y as a smart politician, likely wants Europeans manage to gate crash to quit while he’s ahead), and on a continuing basis. Who appointing a replacement from elected the G20 to run the world? India, China, Brazil, or another Perhaps this arrangement would major emerging market could be a be tolerable if the G20/IMFC had significant move. But signs, an agenda for really avoiding a behind the scenes, from both

Europe and the White House are not exactly encouraging in this regard; they just don’t want to give up “jobs for the boys” and the option value that creates – in some future crisis, you might want your guy in the managing director job, which comes with great discretion and no constraints under the usual rule of law. The quota reform (paragraph 4) adds nothing new, and certainly not enough to really restore Asian confidence in the IMF. The Flexible Credit Line (paragraph 9) is a sensible and long overdue innovation. But why has it been taken up by only three countries (Poland, Mexico, and Colombia)? Unless there are more customers in the pipeline soon, the lack of use for this facility will further underline the IMF’s continuing issues with legitimacy among emerging market member countries. Tripling the IMF’s resources (paragraph 8) could only help stabilize the world’s economy if countries are willing to borrow on a precautionary basis or when they first come under pressure. And, given the clear international commitment not to tackle growing problems in the global financial system, intense pressure is what we should expect.

Verizon plans to support Google Voice, will launch two 'game-changing' Android devices in coming weeks By Nilay Patel (Engadget)

other's throats over 700MHz open -access rules. Now? Rainbows and kittens all around. Lastly, We're currently on a press call there will be a major app push with Verizon CEO Lowell coming from these two -McAdam and Google CEO Eric Verizon's obviously going to Schmidt to discuss their new preload Android Market on its partnership, and while it's mostly devices, and there should be some a love-fest between the two with 10,000 apps available when all is no real announcements, there's said and done. Not a bad show of been some interesting tidbits. First support by Verizon, we'd say -off, Verizon will be launching two and there was a lot of talk about Android products in the coming l o n g - t e r m r o a d m a p s a n d a weeks -- we'd say at least one of "family" of products, so we'd them will be the Motorola Sholes, expect much more than just two and while the other is still a phones and smiles over the next mystery, Google says it'll be few months. Things are certainly " g a m e - c h a n g i n g . " V e r y getting interesting, no? intriguing. Second, and perhaps Filed under: Cellphones much more interestingly, Verizon plans to support Google Verizon's making a big push to be Voice, will launch two 'gameseen as the "open" carrier, and changing' Android devices in flatly stated that they'll be coming weeks originally appeared supporting Google Voice on their on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 network: "Either you have an 10:37:00 EST. Please see our open device or you don't." That's terms for use of feeds. Permalink| a big change for Big Red -- just Email this| Comments remember that a year ago Google and Verizon were still at each Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:37:00 AM

Palm developer program set for December lift-off (CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:50:46 AM

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Fed Watch: Commercial Paper Outstanding, October 5, 2009 (Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha) Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:12:44 AM

The Commercial Paper (CP) market is essentially a private debt market used by corporations as a cheaper means of funding typical recurring operations than drawing on a line of bank credit. Commercial paper, as financial instrument, is by no means a recent innovation and, in fact, you can read about how the CP market was affected by the many historic financial shocks experienced by the U.S. (read Panic on Wall Street: A History of America’s Financial Disasters). Although the Federal Reserve

was able to artificially bring CP rates down significantly since the shocking 615 basis point spread blowout (A2/P2 spread) of late 2008, they have apparently not been successful in preventing an overall contraction in the CP

market. The Federal Reserve calculates and publishes the total amount of CP outstanding every week and as of the latest published period, commercial paper outstanding is contracting at nearly the fastest

rate on record, registering a whopping 28.38% decline yearover-year. Another important insight, at $1.162 trillion the total CP market is now 3.2% smaller than the $1.272 trillion seen at the bottom of the last contraction in late 2003. The CP market that expanded wildly throughout 2004, 2005, 2006 and most of 2007 is now no more, replaced instead by one smaller and contracting faster than at any other time in this century. click to enlarge

MediaDailyNews: Bravo Picks Up "Housewives" Of DC, Jersey (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:06:19 AM

Bravo has expanded the "Real Housewives" franchise with "The Real Housewives of D.C." and a second season of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," both set for 2010. "The Real Housewives of New Jersey's" freshman season ranks as the highest-rated "Housewives" series in all demos, averaging 2.55 million total viewers and 1.91 million adults 18-49. "The Real Housewives of D.C." is produced by Half Yard Productions LLC for Bravo.

Robbie Bach sits down for a roundtable discussion, Engadget is there By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)

products. Zune, Xbox, and Microsoft phone products don't really play nice at this point. Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:33:00 PM Robbie was hesitant to tackle the We're currently at a multi- actual question, sticking mostly to purpose Microsoft event right the party line, though he did admit now -- an event touring the that their plans stretch further company's holiday lineup, as well down the road than this -- a theme as today's launch of Windows thus far. It sounds a lot like phone devices (AKA, Windows Microsoft isn't where it wants to Mobile 6.5). We had a chance to be. In a later question, he asks us sit down with Robbie Bach, to "look where [Microsoft] is in P r e s i d e n t o f M i c r o s o f t ' s two or three years." That's a long E n t e r t a i n m e n t & D e v i c e s time to wait guys. Division, and ask him some • An HTC HD2 is doing the questions about where the big M rounds at the show (though it's in is headed with its recent lineup. someone's pocket) -- when we Here's a few of our takeaways. asked why the company hasn't • We asked about convergence highlighted the device (which is (or lack thereof) across Microsoft pretty darn sick, by the way),

Robbie seemed to glaze over the presence of the device. The line was "we want to work with all our partners." Why they wouldn't call out what is a groundbreaking device for Windows Mobile is

somewhat perplexing. • Michael Gartenberg, one of our contributors, asks about if the company is "still committed to pen computing" -- Robbie says yes, and that there's a lot of

"research" going on right now. "The pen has been around for a long time," he says. "There's work that has to be done." • Robbie says, "Microsoft is as proactive as it is reactive." On the Zune HD "Where we broke through is in software." We're going to keep updating as we chat -- so stay tuned! Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Robbie Bach sits down for a roundtable discussion, Engadget is there originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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DJ Hero track list: 100 songs, 93 mash-ups By Doug Aamoth (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:00:00 AM

Here you go – the official list of mash-ups that’ll appear in DJ Hero when it becomes available on October 27th. These are apparently all original, notavailable-anywhere-else mixes. · 2Pac – “All Eyez On Me” vs. The Aranbee Pop Orchestra – “Bittersweet Symphony (Instrumental)” · 50 Cent – “Disco Inferno” vs. David Bowie – “Let’s Dance” · 50 Cent – “Disco Inferno” vs. InDeep – “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” · Afrika Bambaataa – “Zulu Nation Throwdown” vs. Freedom Express – “Get Down” · Beastie Boys – “Here’s A Little Somethin’ For Ya” vs. DJ Shadow – “The Number Song (2009 Version)” (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow) · Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic” vs. Blondie – “Rapture” · Beastie Boys – “Lee Majors Come Again” vs. Daft Punk – “Da Funk” (Produced and mixed by Cut Chemist) · Beck – “Where It’s At” vs. DJ Shadow – “Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)” · Bell Biv DeVoe – “Poison” Beat Juggle · Bell Biv DeVoe – “Poison” vs. Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic” (Produced and mixed by DJ AM) · Bell Biv DeVoe – “Poison” vs. Cameo – “Word Up!” · Benny Benassi – “Satisfaction” vs. Tiësto – “Elements Of Life” · Billy Squier – “The Big Beat” vs. N.E.R.D. – “Lapdance” (DJGuitar mix) · Black Eyed Peas – “Boom Boom Pow” vs. Benny Benassi –

“Satisfaction” · Bobby “Blue” Bland – “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City” vs. 2Pac – “How Do You Want It” · Bobby “Blue” Bland – “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City” vs. Connie Price & The Keystones – “Fuzz And Them” · Boogie Down Productions – “Jack Of Spades” vs. David Bowie – “Let’s Dance” (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow) · Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers – “Bustin’ Loose” vs.

The Zombies – “Time Of The Season” (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow) · Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers – “Bustin’ Loose” vs. Young MC – “Bust A Move” · Common – “Universal Mind Control (U.M.C.)” vs. Masta Ace – “Jeep A** Gutter (Aaron LaCrate & Debonair Samir RMX)” (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts) · Cypress Hill – “Insane In The Brain” vs. Classics IV – “Spooky” · Cypress Hill – “Insane In The

Brain” vs. David Axelrod – “The Edge” · Daft Punk – “Around The World” vs. Young MC – “Bust A Move” · Daft Punk – “Da Funk” vs. N.A.S.A. – “Strange Enough ft. Karen O, ODB & Fatlip” · Daft Punk – “Megamix 1 · Daft Punk – “Megamix 2 · Daft Punk – “Robot Rock” vs. Hashim – “Al Naafyish (The Soul)” (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts) · Daft Punk – “Robot Rock” vs.

Queen – “We Will Rock You” · Daft Punk – “Short Circuit” vs. Boogie Down Productions – “Jack Of Spades” · Daft Punk – “Technologic” vs. Gary Numan – “Cars” · Daft Punk – “Television Rules the Nation” vs. No Doubt – “Hella Good” · David Axelrod – “The Edge” vs. Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. Is President” · Dizzee Rascal – “Fix Up, Look HERO page 18

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HERO continued from page 17 Sharp” vs. DJ Shadow – “Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)” · Dizzee Rascal – “Fix Up, Look Sharp” vs. Justice – “Genesis” · DJ Shadow – “Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)” vs. D-Code – “Annie’s Horn” · Eminem – “My Name Is” vs. Beck – “Loser” · Fedde Le Grand – “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” vs. Sandy Rivera and David Penn – “I Can’t Stop (David Penn Remix)” · Foo Fighters – “Monkey Wrench” vs. Beastie Boys – “Sabotage” (DJ-Guitar mix) · Foreigner – “Juke Box Hero” vs. DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs – “DJ Hero” (Produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip) · Foreigner – “Juke Box Hero” vs. DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs – “DJ Hero” (DJ-Guitar mix, produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip) · Gang Starr – “Just To Get A Rep” vs. Mobb Deep – “Shook Ones, Pt 2 (Produced and mixed by J. Period) · Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.” vs. Blondie – “Atomic” · Grandmaster Flash’s – “Boom” vs. “Tap” (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash) · Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool, DJ Demo – “Here Comes My DJ” vs. Gary Numan – “Cars” (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash) · Gwen Stefani – “Hollaback Girl” vs. Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.” · Gwen Stefani – “Hollaback Girl” vs. InDeep “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” (Produced and mixed by DJ AM) · Gwen Stefani – “Hollaback Girl” vs. Rick James – “Give It To Me” · Herbie Hancock – “Rockit”

Beat Juggle · Herbie Hancock – “Rockit” vs. N.E.R.D. – “Lapdance” (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash) · InDeep – “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” vs. Cameo – “Word Up!” · Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” vs. Gang Starr – “Just To Get A Rep” (Produced and mixed by DJ Yoda) · Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” vs. Third Eye Blind – “SemiCharmed Life” (DJ-Guitar mix) · Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” vs. Third Eye Blind – “SemiCharmed Life” · JAY-Z feat. Pharrell – “Change Clothes” vs. 2Pac – “All Eyez on Me” · JAY-Z – “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” vs. Eminem – “My Name Is” · JAY-Z – “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” vs. Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” · JAY-Z – “Excuse Me Miss” vs. Rick James – “Give It To Me” · Jean Knight – “Mr. Big Stuff” vs. Masta Ace – “Born To Roll” · Jurassic 5 – “Jayou” vs. Billy Squier – “The Big Beat” · Jurassic 5 – “Jayou” vs. Herbie Hancock – “Rockit” · Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite” vs. Black Eyed Peas – “Boom Boom Pow” · Kool Moe Dee – “How Ya Like Me Now” vs. Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman – “I Like To Move It” · Little Richard – “Tutti Frutti” vs. Shlomo – “Beats” (Produced and mixed by DJ Yoda) · M.I.A. – “Paper Planes” vs. Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. Is President” (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts) · M.I.A. – “Paper Planes” vs. Wale – “Lookin’ At Me”

· Marvin Gaye – “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” vs. David Bowie – “Let’s Dance” · Marvin Gaye – “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” vs. Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.” · Motörhead – “Ace Of Spades” vs. Noisia – “Groundhog” (DJGuitar mix) · N.A.S.A. – “Strange Enough ft. Karen O, ODB & Fatlip” vs. Isaac Hayes – “Theme From Shaft” · Noisia – “Groundhog” Beat Juggle (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts) · Paul van Dyk – “Nothing But You” vs. Sandy Rivera and David Penn – “I Can’t Stop (David Penn Remix)” · Public Enemy – “Shut ‘Em Down” vs. Beck – “Where It’s At” · Public Enemy ft. Zakk Wylde – “Bring The Noise 20XX” vs. Justice – “Genesis” (Produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip) · Public Enemy featuring Zakk Wylde – “Bring The Noise 20XX” (DJ-Guitar mix) · Q-Tip – “Good Thang” vs. Billy Squier – “The Big Beat” (Produced and mixed by J. Period) · Queen – “Another One Bites The Dust” vs. Beastie Boys – “Brass Monkey” (Produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip) · Queen – “Another One Bites The Dust” vs. Daft Punk – “Da Funk” · Rihanna – “Disturbia” vs. Kid Sister – “Control” · Rihanna – “Disturbia” vs. The Killers – “Somebody Told Me” (DJ-Guitar mix) · Rihanna – “Disturbia” vs. The Trammps – “Disco Inferno” · Shlomo – “Beats” vs. Billy Squier – “The Big Beat”

· Street Sweeper Social Club – “Fight! Smash! Win!” vs. Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic” (DJ-Guitar mix) · Tears For Fears – “Shout” vs. DJ Shadow – “Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)” · Tears For Fears – “Shout” vs. Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. Is President” (Produced and mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff) · Tears For Fears – “Shout” vs. Eric Prydz – “Pjanoo” · The Aranbee Pop Orchestra – “Bittersweet Symphony (Instrumental)” vs. LL Cool J – “Rock The Bells” (Produced and mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff) · The Scratch Perverts Beats and Pieces (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts) · The Killers – “Somebody Told Me” vs. Eric Prydz – “Pjanoo” · Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby” vs. MC Hammer – “U Can’t Touch This” · Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby” vs. Paula Abdul – “Straight Up” · Wale – “Lookin’ At Me” vs. Black Eyed Peas ft. Tippa Irie – “Hey Mama” · Weezer – “Beverly Hills” vs. Evidence, The Alchemist, Aceyalone, Rakaa & 88 Keys – “Fresh Rhymes And Videotape” (DJ-Guitar mix) · Wild Cherry – “Play That Funky Music” vs. Gang Starr – “Just To Get A Rep” (DJ-Guitar mix) Some pretty sweet mixes in there if you’re into this sort of thing. The DJ Hero YouTube page has a handful of them in quick 30-second bites as well. [via Kotaku]

Fukitorimushi: Panasonic’s creepy cleaning robot (video) By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:40:44 AM

The so-called Fukitorimushi (”wipe-up bug” in Japanese), a cleaning robot of a very special kind, has been around for quite a while now. But what was showcased recently during a tech exhibition in Tokyo was the newest version. And the thing is still creepy as hell. What you see is basically a robotic pillow that can move around in closed rooms like an inchworm and cleans the floors by making use of the world’s first nano-level superfine polyester fiber it’s mainly made of. The cloth can absorb oil and pick up ultra-fine dust particles. When the Fukitorimushi finds a dirty spot, it lights up red, starts rubbing the dirt away and moves on. It’s able to find its way back to the charging station by itself, too. The Fukitorimushi was designed by Panasonic, and Japan-based chemicals company Teijin provided the nano technology. The question is now who would want such a robo pillow move around in the living-room. Have a look at the video below to see how the thing works:

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HTC Imagio Review: HTC Is Microsoft's Best Critic [Review] By John Herrman (Gizmodo) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:00:00 AM

For Windows Mobile 6.5, the OS is only (and thankfully) half the story. Microsoft left plenty up to the carriers and handset manufacturers, and with the Imagio, Verizon and HTC have at least created something interesting. The Gadget Verizon's HTC Imagio is a touchscreen Windows Mobile 6.5 handset, or " Windows Phone," with a healthy, if expected, spec set, iiiiinnncluding!: a 3.6-inch WVGA screen, Wi-Fi, GPS, a 5megapixel camera, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and microSD storage expansion (but sadly, no included card). It's also the first smartphone with V CAST Mobile TV, which is a Flo TV-based live streaming TV service that looks and feels a bit like digital cable, phone-ified. Accordingly, it has an adorable kickstand. The Price $200 on contract with Verizon, after a $100 rebate The Hardware HTC is the Taco Bell of the handset world—they've only got a few ingredients that they put into their long menu of products, but the results are consistently pretty good, if not spectacular. Of the bulging ranks of 528MHzQualcomm-based touchscreen handsets, this is one of my favorite permutations. For its size, the Imagio is respectably thin—about as thick as an iPhone, but with a noticeably larger screen—and pleasantly rounded in the rear, with a subdued twotone backplate accented with a shiny camera bezel and a chrome kickstand. The front of the device is framed by a perforated grille, which looks and feels pleasantly

Moreover, I don't really understand how Verizon expects people to use this. You can't use it on a plane or a subway, so what, trains? During your lunch break at work? There center part in the Venn diagram of times where you might want to watch video content but don't have a computer or TV and times when you can realistically use V CAST is small, as far as I can tell. But if live, basic-cable-esque TV on your phone is something you can see yourself using, this implementation is actually pretty good. The (Mild) Tragedy This has been the story for a few years now, and it doesn't look like it's going to change with Windows Mobile 6.5: Handset manufacturers will continue to make the OS bearable to use, and carrier will occasionally grant knobbly, giving the handset a Mobile 6.5 in my review, but ever write. V CAST TV little friction, and a secure feeling guess what? HTC likes it even Based on Flo TV, which handsets interesting—if not in your hand. The bottom row of less. TouchFLO 3D reaches probably doesn't mean much to always useful—services to keep buttons—call, V CAST, Windows deeper into the operating system most people, V CAST is a customers' attention. That's S t a r t M e n u , b a c k a n d e n d than ever before, to the point that c a t e g o r i c a l l y i m p r e s s i v e exactly what the Imagio does, call—are placed a little low to be during casual use you can't even technology. The best way to bonding pleasant hardware design comfortable to press, but anyone tell you're using a Windows describe it is that it's like having a with a heroic salvaging of the who's used to HTC handset Mobile phone. digital cable box, complete with phone's interface. At $200 after designs won't have any trouble The Titanium homescreen? live broadcasts of familiar basic rebate, it's not a best value by a getting around this piece. R e p l a c e d . T h e n e w , l a r g e r cable stations (Comedy Central, long shot, but in Verizon's sickly Performance is adequate, but contextual menus? How about CNN, the like), and a familiar smartphone line, it's not a horrible since this is the same Qualcomm prettier HTC versions instead? program guide interface. Video choice. I would've liked to end this processor we've been complaining Mobile Internet Explorer 6? quality is fair, but definitely about for months now, and the Replaced with Opera Mobile. watchable, and the experience of review on that happy note, but 256MB of RAM isn't overly Virtually every other piece of flipping through live channels is while I was writing it Verizon sabotaged my plan, those generous, it's nothing better than software that HTC had time to pretty novel. what we've already seen in the revamp or cover up? Out of sight, As interesting as the underlying scoundrels: Two Android phones likes of the HTC Touch Pro2. out of mind. And for one final technology is, there are a few will be announced for the network HTC's done plenty of work to kick in the nuts, the new Start serious problems. Watching TV is "within weeks," which means that m a k e T o u c h F L O r u n Menu, which Microsoft even went neat and all, but on a mobile unless you're bound to Windows nice'n'smooth, sure, but it really so far as to require 6.5 phones to device, video on demand would Mobile either by software, your wouldn't hurt to not just make a have a dedicated button for? be infinitely more useful. And at employer, or, er, extreme loyalty, handset with speedier hardware, Replaced with a slightly better $12 or $15 a month, I don't think you'd be best advised to wait a but to actually release it in the US. HTC variant. That, right there, is people will be satisfied with the little while. [ Verizon] It's got an appealing design, The Software a better review of Windows s o m e w h a t a n e m i c c h a n n e l I was pretty hard on Windows Mobile 6.5 than anyone could selection (full listings here). HTC page 22

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How to Make Your Own Shroud of Turin [DIY] By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)

over a student covered in red ochre, using a mask that simulated Jesus' alleged physiognomy. They Further proving that the Shroud kept aging and washing the of Turin—a linen cloth that shroud, adding the necessary believers say covered Jesus after blood stains in the process. the crucifixion—is a big fake, This easy to do, inexpensive one s c i e n t i s t s h a v e m a d e a -week process resulted in exactly reproduction using inexpensive the same look as the Shroud of materials and easy techniques Turin, which has been repeatedly from the Middle Ages. This is proven to be a fake made around how: the 14th Century using different I t a l i a n c h e m i s t L u i g i dating techniques. Garlaschelli and his team used the Would this convince the same type of linen. First they aged believers? Garlaschelli says he the cloth with heat, using a doubt it: normal oven, and washing it with Many still believe that the water. The shroud was placed s h r o u d h a s u n e x p l a i n a b l e Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:20:00 AM

characteristics that cannot be reproduced by human means. But the result obtained clearly

indicates that this could be done with the use of inexpensive materials and with a quite simple procedure. If they don't want to believe carbon dating done by some of the world's best laboratories they certainly won't believe me. Indeed Luigi, indeed. These people won't take scientific proof that the relic is fake because they just like to do the Mulder and want to believe. Now, go back to kill Koopa Troopas and Goombas after killing God yet one more time. I'm going to pull a Nietzsche and find myself a linen cloth to try. [ BBC and Daily Mail]

Logitech Squeezebox Radio review By Tim Stevens (Engadget) Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:22:00 PM

Everybody knows internet radio is a hit when you're at your computer. Away from your computer? Not so much. Getting your streams into your living rooms, bedrooms, and semidetached servants quarters is rarely easy, and rarely fun. By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) strongbox. A symbol of strength Logitech's Squeezebox series has mastered, of freedom guided, of been one of the most seamless Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:40:01 AM incandescent magma heeding to ways to make it happen, and with I like the new LaCie Starck t h e f o r m o f i t s c a s t . T h e the Squeezebox Radio it gets even drives. I look at its surface and all interpretation is free. But the better. It's cheaper and prettier I want is to dunk carrot cake into mystery remains. than the Boom we enjoyed this all that melty chrome and eat it. See? He wants to lick and dunk time last year, and, a little more It's hard to find storage that you a carrot cake in his drives too. fun too. How much fun? Join in actually want to lick. Maybe a Krispy Kreme doughnut. and see. The looks are great—with a OK, Philippe, for $130 (1TB) and Gallery: Logitech Squeezebox chrome blob encased in a 3mm $250 (2TB) for the LaCie Start Radio unboxing sharp-angled box of resistant Desktop Drive—my Continue reading Logitech aluminum casing—but it also has favorite—and $100 (320GB) and Squeezebox Radio review kinds of touch. Example: A short incredible power whose limits are some really cool features. One of $140 (500GB) for the LaCie Filed under: Home them is the LED indicator in the tap will trigger the launch of an yet to be known. The power Starck Mobile Drive, I'm game. [ Entertainment, Portable Audio, application, while a long caress r e m a i n s , n e v e r a b a t i n g , shape of Starck's sign that is LaCie] Wireless projected onto the table. The can initiate an automatic backup. symbolically characterized by the Logitech Squeezebox Radio In the words of Philippe Starck: s c u l p t u r a l m a g m a t h a t o n e other, which is my favorite, is that review originally appeared on Technological genius explodes attempts to cleave, to master the surface is touch sensitive, so Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 you can assign actions to different exponentially, each time with within this geometrically perfect 12:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

The Silver Surfer Probably Uses these TouchSensitive LaCie Starck Drives [Hard Drives]

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Motorola DEXT goes on sale in the UK tomorrow, maybe sneaking out today

LaCie hard drives stand in Starck contrast to the competition (hands-on) By Thomas Ricker (Engadget)

aesthetic and mass. And while the models we received feature offthe-shelf disks from Samsung and Ready for some churchin' up? H i t a c h i , L a C i e a d d s a f e w Then step on in to the house of functional tricks to enhance that Starck. Philippe Starck that is, the high-design form. Read on to see prolific designer who's left his if the two struck the appropriate m a r k o n h o t e l i n t e r i o r s , balance. motorbikes, and toilets across the Gallery: LaCie Starck Hard globe. His latest contribution to Drives the economy of stuff also heralds Continue reading LaCie hard a return to LaCie (remember his drives stand in Starck contrast to "toaster" series?) with a pair of the competition (hands-on) new hard disk drives: the LaCie Filed under: Storage Starck Mobile Hard Drive and LaCie hard drives stand in Desktop Hard Drive. Both drives Starck contrast to the competition are conspicuously inscribed with (hands-on) originally appeared on Starck's name and flare for Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 melding organic shapes within the 11:01:00 EST. Please see our rigid rules of geometry. Drives terms for use of feeds. Read| that must be pressed to flesh to be Permalink| Email this| Comments fully appreciated for their Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:01:00 AM

UberNES may be the greatest screen saver since Johnny Castaway

By Nilay Patel (Engadget) Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:57:00 AM

Statesiders will have to wait another month before getting their hands on the Motorola CLIQ, but the party's getting started early in By Doug Aamoth downloadable demo movies “that the UK: the DEXT, as it's called (CrunchGear) provide over two full days of across the pond, goes on sale at unique NES gameplay footage,” Orange shops tomorrow and Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:00:48 AM according to the UberNES.com Be still my beating heart. The w e b s i t e . A s i d e f r o m t h a t , Phones4U stores the day after. UberNES Nintendo Screen Saver installation consists of copying Still not soon enough for you? displays a grid of multiple the Nintendo Saver.scr file into We're also told that the Orange working NES games when your y o u r W i n d o w s / S y s t e m 3 2 store in Milton Keynes will be computer is idle. Leave it be, and directory (yes, Windows only) having early sales today -- do let you’ll see all the various demos and then pointing it at your ROMs us know if you snag one, won't running at once. Hit the spacebar directory to create a library you? [Via Boy Genius Report] and you can actually start playing content to pull from. You don’t Filed under: Cellphones the games. need to install a separate emulator Motorola DEXT goes on sale in Tears of joy, my friends. Tears in order to play the games either. t h e UK tomorrow, maybe of joy. Nintendo Screen If you don’t have any ROMs, Saver[UberNES via OhGizmo!] sneaking out today originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 there are around 100 Oct 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please MediaDailyNews: Hammond Named CD For see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| TBWA LA Comments (MediaPost | Media News) Partners, where he was an ACD, working with Adobe, Emerald Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:54:42 AM Nuts and Hyundai. Prior to TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles Goodby, he was at DDB Canada named Will Hammond creative and Rethink Communications in director, primarily focusing on the Vancouver. Visa account. Previously, he worked at Goodby, Silverstein &

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Kempler & Strauss launch Billionair 6 WinMo phone

Get ready for the LCROSS lunar impact this Friday

By Laura June (Engadget)

By Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear)

Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:34:00 AM

Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:30:18 AM

Kempler & Strauss (who just the other day unveiled an epically cool watchphone) have just announced the imminent arrival of its newest Windows Mobile handset, the touchscreen Billionair 6. This 3G HSPA devil has a 624MHz ARM processor, boasts GPS and WiFi, and has a micro SD slot for up to 4GB of storage, plus a 3 megapixel camera. The B6, as it's affectionately called, runs a custom interface over WinMo and boasts an accelerometer to boot. The B6 runs $260 and it's available now. Continue reading Kempler & Strauss launch Billionair 6 WinMo phone Filed under: Cellphones

Kempler & Strauss launch Billionair 6 WinMo phone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

HTC continued from page 19 large screen and minimal branding Kickstand! Ha! HTC's done a hell of a job sprucing up Windows Mobile, as always V CAST TV is technologically interesting, but it's expensive and I'm not really sure how people will use it

Windows Mobile 6.5, y'all Specs could use a bump; namely the aging 528MHz processor and included storage $200 isn't a great bargain, and Verizon' got some Android handsets coming down the pike.

Be sure to set your alarm clock for around 6am this Friday, for at 6:15am NASA will, in the immortal words of Matt Drudge, “bomb the moon.” No, we’re not talking about some dumb Hollywood (redundancy alert!) scenario, but the most exciting part of the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite ( LCROSS) program: the lunar impact. NASA will webcast the event on its Web site, so you don’t even have to get out of your pajamas to see the action.

HOW TO: Integrate Facebook With Your Blog I think it’s fairly obvious that By Christina Warren my knowledge of NASA-related (Mashable!) news is somewhat limited, but I Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:18:55 AM can appreciate a good lunar impact with the rest of ‘em. Love it, hate it, or mildly tolerate

'Approved' Fansub Anime To Compete With Licensed Version By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)

An anonymous reader points out that 07th Expansion recently sold the rights of a new game to the We've discussed the state of company MangaGamer, which "fansub" anime video and video includes the right to translate the games in the past, whereby many game. But the fansubbers were fans will team up and help already working on their own translate a release for different version. So, would there be a markets. While there have been clash? Apparently not. Both some complaints, many in the versions are moving forward anime community have figured legally with the approval of 07th out how to embrace this and use it Expansion. MangaGamer even to their advantage -- in some cases did a good thing, offering to hire using the fansubs to determine t h e f a n s u b b e r s t o d o t h e what other markets to look at for translating for the official version, official releases. Earlier this year, but they were unable to do so for w e w r o t e a b o u t h o w o n e work reasons. This did follow one developer from 07th Expansion bad move -- where MangaGamer was thrilled about the fansub asked the fansubbers to take down work being done -- thanking the t h e i r v e r s i o n - - b u t a f t e r fansubbers for "loving" his work MangaGamer went back and so much. learned of 07th Expansion's Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:14:45 AM

embracing of fansubbers, it changed its mind, and told the fansubbers they could continue with their effort. Of course, even with the "competition" from fans, MangaGamer should have a huge advantage. The fansubbers admit that they're slow and doing it as a hobby -- so they fully expect MangaGamer to beat them to market by a long shot. But it's nice to see MangaGamer realize that this isn't the end of the world and to just compete in the marketplace, even without an exclusive monopoly on a translation patch to the game. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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HOW continued from page 22 it, you can’t dismiss Facebook’s massive success. Even in markets where it doesn’t dominate the social web, Facebook is catching up and will likely succeed. It’s easy to forget sometimes that there was an Internet before Facebook and many of us have existing blogs or websites. Integrating with Facebook is a great way to get additional exposure for your content, whether you re-publish your blog content directly on Facebook, or you use something like Facebook Connect to add the Facebook login/profile experience to your own site. Here are some great ways to integrate your website or blog with Facebook. Custom CMS or XHTML site Although using something like WordPress to power a site or blog is becoming increasingly common, many people have sites using either a custom CMS or something coded in XHTML/PHP, Ruby, Django, etc. If you fall into this category, the Facebook Developer Wiki is a great source of information. Even better, last week, Facebook introduced the Facebook Connect Wizard and Facebook Connect Playground that makes implementing Facebook Connect into your site easier, and also offers up sample code and widgets for comment boxes, Facebook Connect buttons, and more. WordPress WordPress is undoubtedly one of the most popular publishing platforms out there. Given WordPress’s vibrant community, you’d think that integrating Facebook into your WordPress site would be a breeze. Well, it is and it isn’t. There are a number of plugins available but

getting everything set-up can still be a bit complicated. Never fear, here are some great resources and tools for integrating your WordPress blog with your Facebook page: WP-FBConnect— This plugin was started by Facebook engineer Adam Hupp. Although it hasn’t been updated as much as some of the other options, it does offer a way to integrate Facebook Connect with WordPress. This way, users can use their Facebook login to leave comments (and have them published to their feed) and have their Facebook avatar show up (with a Facebook designation) on your site. Check out Adam Breckler’s excellent tutorial for more help with this plugin. Sociable Facebook Connect— Sociable.es has a Facebook Connect plugin too and it is frequently updated and offers other features, like the ability to add a box displaying recent visitors, commenters and friends. Be aware that the Sociable plugin will create a new user for your Facebook Connect users on your blog (this isn’t always ideal). WPBook— WPBook does a few unique things, first, it lets you cross-post all of your blog content onto Facebook (which is great if you don’t already have that setup). Second, it makes sure that comments published on one entry show up on the other. So if you have comments on both your Facebook Note and on your regular blog entry, everyone can see the comments at both places. This is great for users who want to get their content out to more people, but don’t want to deal with trying to track down a lot of separate conversations. Add Your Blog Feed— If you

don’t care so much about comments, but just want your blog content to show up on Facebook, you can follow Six Apart’s excellent guide to adding your external blog feed. It’s intended for TypePad users, but good reading for anyone using a blogging platform with RSS support. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out Tim Marsh’s excellent Dummies Guide to Integrating Facebook into WordPress. I ran across this in my research and was impressed with the level of thought and care that went into the post. Tim also released a free 40-page eBook(PDF link) that you can download with even more information. Movable Type/TypePad Six Apart has two blogging platforms, the self-hosted MovableType and the hosted TypePad. Last December, Six Apart released the Facebook Connect Commenters plugin for Movable Type. This will let users log in with their Facebook credentials, leave a comment, and then share those actions on Facebook (so comments show-up in mini-feeds, etc.). On the TypePad side, they’ve built Facebook compatibility into the newest release (and are taking it even further with TypePad Motion) — letting you post to your blog from Facebook, show your updates on Facebook, and let users comment using Facebook or Twitter IDs. Drupal and Joomla Drupal and Joomla are two of the more popular open source content management systems. Both offer lots of robust features that are especially useful for large sites and communities. Drupal in particular is often used when creating larger

community sites. Because many of these sites might already have existing user profiles or logins, adding Facebook connectivity can be attractive for users — because who wants to sign up for another account — and for site owners who want to build a broader and more robust community. There are a number of Facebook plugins for Drupal, but these are a few of my favorites: Drupal for Facebook is really interesting because it isn’t just about letting users login with Facebook credentials (which it can do), but about using the power of Drupal to create Facebook applications and to push Drupal-site content out to Facebook. The project has been around for more than two years and is actively developed. Drupal Facebook Connect is a module that plugs in Facebook Connect logins into an existing Drupal site. That way, users can login with their Facebook profile, see what Facebook friends also have an account on that Drupal site and publish customizable content back to their Facebook feed. Users can also invite Facebook friends to join the Drupal site. This is very cool for anyone who has a web-app based in Drupal. Drupal Facebook Connect Module is another option for Drupal users that want to add Facebook Connect logins to their existing site. On the Joomla front, jwFacebook Comments 1.5 allows site-owners to add a Facebook comment box to the bottom of Joomla entries. Comment Systems If your primary focus is just letting users leave comments using their Facebook login, you might want to look at some of the

third-party commenting systems that integrate with a variety of platforms and sites. At Mashable, Disqus is our commenting system of choice. Disqus added Facebook Connect support last December and you can link your Facebook and Disqus profiles together. Disqus also lets users log in with Twitter credentials. Similarly, JS-Kit’s Echo system lets you log in with a number of different identities and also choose where you want your comment published (on the site and to your Facebook friends, to your Twitter followers, etc.). Third-party commenting systems like Disqus and Echo, which take some of the stress and mess of OpenID and Facebook Connect out of the equation, can do a lot to encourage more people to comment on your site. Share on Facebook You know that awesome “Share on Facebook” button we feature here at Mashable? You can get your own here, and there is even an easy plugin for WordPress users. So site owners — how do you integrate Facebook with your blogs and sites? What are some of the best practices you can offer to others? Did we miss your favorite plugin or tool? Let us know in the comments! More Facebook resources from Mashable: - HOW TO: Use Facebook for Professional Networking - 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence - The Journalist’s Guide to Facebook - Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups: What’s the Difference? - HOW TO: Build Your Personal HOW page 25

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Gmail also hit by e-mail phishing scheme By Don Reisinger (Webware.com) Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:54:00 AM

Hotmail users aren't the only ones who've been hit by a phishing scheme over the past week. Google told BBC News on Tuesday that Gmail users have also been affected by the hackers who posted passwords online. The problem is far more widespread than was disclosed on Monday, possibly affecting Yahoo and AOL e-mail accounts as well, according to BBC News. Google described the issue as an "industrywide phishing scheme." BBC News said it has seen two lists posted online with "more than 30,000 names and passwords" from Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail, and other service providers. "We recently became aware of an industrywide phishing scheme

through which hackers gained user credentials for Web-based mail accounts including Gmail accounts," a Google representative told me in an email. The representative said that Google immediately "forced passwords resets on the affected accounts." All told, the Google spokesperson said that fewer than 500 Gmail accounts were affected by the scheme. Despite Google's and Microsoft's awareness of the

problem, it doesn't seem that users are out of the woods just yet. Google's representative told me that it will continue to force password resets on newly affected user accounts. Like Microsoft, Google was quick to point out that the phishing scheme was a "scam to get users to give away their personal information to hackers" and not an internal security issue. It didn't say how users fell victim to the scheme. Google's admission that Gmail users were affected by the phishing scheme comes on the heels of Microsoft acknowledging that over 10,000 Live Hotmail accounts were compromised by the scam. The passwords apparently first hit the Internet on October 1. Updated at 9:10 a.m. PDT to include Google's comments.

Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:18:27 AM

We wrote yesterday that iPhone exclusivity in Canada will likely end soon, and that’s exactly what happened today, with Bell signing a deal with Apple to sell the device starting November. iPhone 3GS to Canada this Another Canadian telecom, November. Telus, has also confirmed they’ll This means that Rogers be bringing the iPhone 3G and

By Aron Trimble (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:30:00 AM

Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard The latest release of VMware's top-notch virtualization software " Fusion" has been announced and some of the new features are definitely worth taking a look. For the uninitiated, virtualization is the act of simulating a guest operating system while running a host operating system. Put simply, it allows you to run Windows without having to reboot. VMware Fusion 3 features highly improved Snow Leopard support. Most notably, Fusion now sports native 64-bit compatibility and support for the 64-bit kernel. What this means for the average user is improved performance for both the host and guest operating systems. Further, with support for OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9.0c W i r e l e s s i s n o l o n g e r t h e Shader Model 3, gamers will now exclusive iPhone retailer in be able to play more demanding Canada; regardless of which 3D games without the use of Boot mobile operator you prefer, Camp. Fusion 3 will also work having more options is always beautifully with Microsoft's latest good for the end user. The days of operating system by enabling the iPhone exclusivity are slowly full Windows 7 experience, sidebecoming a fact in history books; by-side with your Mac via Unity, let’s raise glasses for competition complete with Windows Aero and (and, hopefully, lower prices)! Flip 3D. Tags: Bell, Canada, iphone, VMware Fusion 3 is available Telus for pre-order now and will be on

CONFIRMED: Telus and Bell to Sell iPhones in Canada By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)

VMware Fusion 3 supercharged for Snow Leopard

store shelves October 27. Suggested retail price is $79.99US and on the day of launch upgrade pricing of $39.99US will be available for existing customers with previous versions of VMware Fusion. I use Fusion 2 when I'm at my home office and while the performance has been good, I am really looking forward to Fusion 3's 64-bit support. Any other Fusion users out there, how will you make use of VMware's latest foray into the desktop virtualization game? TUAW VMware Fusion 3 supercharged for Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Google and Verizon Share the Android Love By Christina Warren (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:41:08 AM

The first Android phone was launched nearly a year ago and although new phones and partnerships are being announced all the time, few carriers actually sell Android phones now. That looks like it will be changing. Google and Verizon Wireless announced a partnership to bring Android devices to the Verizon network. Details on the partnership are relatively scarce right now, but the two companies are holding a joint press-conference at 10 am EDT, which should give us some more details on the plans. What we do know is that the two companies are planning on co -developing several devices using the Android platform to take

unanswered questions: How open will Verizon will be about Android’s software platform (especially given Verizon’s reputation for control)? Will having Android on Verizon finally offer some competition and innovation in the smartphone space? Will the new partnership lead to more innovation in the advantage of both Android and mobile market? We want to know what you Verizon’s infrastructure. The first Verizon Android handsets should think. What do you think about Android as a platform? Are you be released in a few weeks. This is a big win for Android, more interested in giving it a try which is often discussed in terms o n V e r i z o n ? W h a t m o b i l e of potential and not actual results. platform leaves you most excited? Having a strong partnership with Let us know. Reviews: Android, such a large US carrier could BlackBerry Rocks!, Google, really propel the platform forward iPhone Tags: android, Google, iphone, and make it a real — rather than theoretical — contender to RIM’s verizon BlackBerry and the iPhone. There are still a lot of

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HOW continued from page 23 Brand on Facebook Reviews: Disqus, Drupal, Facebook, Joomla, Mashable, PHP, Twitter, TypePad, WordPress Tags: drupal, facebook, facebook connect, how to, joomla, List, Lists, moveabletype, Wordpress

Dr. Phil: Call Him Grandpa McGraw! (ETonline - Breaking News)

excited when he heard the happy news. "We were actually vacationing with the whole family Dr. Phil McGraw is reportedly and were in Elba, Italy," he told set to make a big announcement People. "Jay and [his wife] Erica on his show today. had discreetly gotten several The TV doc has exciting news, home pregnancy tests the day according to People, his son Jay before in France, and they sat us has a baby on the way! This will all down in Elba and said they had make Dr. Phil and his wife Robin some exciting news! 'We are first-time grandparents. pregnant!'" The 59-year-old was naturally Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:21:00 AM

Facebook Is the Most Valuable Source of Traffic [Stats] By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)

Facebook provides the most loyal visitors, with 20% of those that originate from the social network Between search engines and in turn visiting the site they social media, there are a lot of landed upon four or more times in different ways that people can get a week. Among other social to your website. But which of media sites, Digg traffic produced these sources provides loyal users loyal users 16% of the time, while that come back to your site Twitter traffic was only good for multiple times? 11% loyalty. That’s the subject of a new In the realm of search engines, study by ad network Chitika, who Yahoo provides the most loyal analyzed the browsing habits of visitors at 15%, followed by 33 million unique users over the Google and Bing with around course of September. 12% each. According to their findings, The finding that social sites Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:00:56 AM

provide stickier traffic isn’t surprising, but what implications do the loyalty rankings for Facebook, Digg, and Twitter have, if any? Perhaps that in the

long-run, encouraging your visitors to share on Facebook might have the most value, even if it doesn’t provide the most shortterm traffic.

That said, it’s easy enough to provide sharing options for a multitude of social media sites (case in point, this post!), so you can probably file this under the “nice to know” category of statistics and use your own analytics to gauge what is and isn’t working. Reviews: Bing, Digg, Facebook, Google, Twitter Tags: bing, digg, facebook, Google, statistics, twitter, Yahoo

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TUAW Interview: Andrew Lacy of Tapulous on Tap Tap Revenge 3 By Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:01:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Features, iTunes, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, Music By the time you read this, Tap Tap Revenge 3 should have made its way to the App Store. The latest version of the rhythm game/music platform for the iPhone and iPod touch is a huge release for Tapulous-- from the series' humble beginnings as a pre-App Store bit of code to the more recent incarnations of artistspecific music collections, Tapulous has taken Tap Tap a long way in the still short history of this gaming platform. And now they're trying to go even farther: they've introduced in-app purchases to the game (you can find a full list of songs available now as in-app purchases inside the interview below), and they've added in social features, from customizable avatars to in-game chat and score sharing. Tapulous COO Andrew Lacy

Apple quits the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over opposition to EPA By Dave Caolo (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

the organization's "frustrating" position on global climate change. Specifically, the chamber has Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:00:00 AM opposed a proposal by the Filed under: Apple Corporate, Environmental Protection Agency Portables Just 3 years ago, Apple to use the Clean Air Act to set was targeted by Greenpeace as limits on greenhouse gases; a b e i n g l e s s e n v i r o n m e n t a l l y proposal that would most likely friendly than they could be. take effect only if Congress failed Greenpeace even created a mock to pass climate legislation. Apple website in an effort to goad Apple isn't the only prominent them into action. member to leave the chamber for Several months later, Apple this reason, just the one we earned a silver in environmental happen to write about. evaluation(that rating has since [Via Think Progress] turned to gold) from an EPEAT TUAW Apple quits the U.S. sat down to talk with us just Continue reading TUAW survey ( EPEAT is a government Chamber of Commerce over before the release of the software, Interview: Andrew Lacy of operation created to approve opposition to EPA originally b o t h a b o u t h o w h e t h i n k s Tapulous on Tap Tap Revenge 3 computers before they can be appeared on The Unofficial Apple consumers will react to the new TUAW TUAW Interview: purchased by other governmental Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Oct business model, and what's next Andrew Lacy of Tapulous on Tap institutions). Today, they tout " 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see for Tapulous and this series that T a p R e v e n g e 3 o r i g i n a l l y the world's greenest line of our terms for use of feeds. has come so far already. Tap Tap appeared on The Unofficial Apple notebooks." Read| Permalink| Email this| This week came the news that Comments Revenge 3 should be in the App Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Oct Store very soon -- it's available 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see Apple has quit the US Chamber of Commerce over what they called for 99 cents, with extra music our terms for use of feeds. packs at six songs for $2.99, or Read| Permalink| Email this| two songs for 99 cents. Comments Gallery: Tap Tap Revenge 3

Google Voice to Be Supported on Verizon’s Android Phones By Christina Warren (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:44:14 AM

Lowell McAdam, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless said in today’s webcast about his company’s deal with Google that Google Voice will be supported on the upcoming Verizon Android phones.

“A device is open or it is not. This is an open device,” McAdam said. “Google Voice will be coming to market with the first device.” Openness was a big part of the announcement, where Google CEO Eric Schmidt also commented on the new p a r t n e r s h i p , r e v e a l i n g t h a t talking about working together on Verizon and Google first started mobile devices 18 months ago.

The details of the first Android phones on the Verizon network were not revealed, but two devices are planned for release by the end of year — with the announcement coming in the next few weeks. More devices will follow next year, according to Verizon. Verizon’s remarks regarding Google Voice are important in the

wake of the Apple-Google controversy, which ended up with its very own FCC query. Verizon customers, are you excited by the potential for Android devices on your network? Reviews: Android, Google, Google Voice Tags: android, Google, Google Voice, verizon

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Paula Abdul Judges 'Dancing with the Stars' From the Sidelines

UK Politician's Cross Border Attempt To Terminate Prostitute Review Site Only Bumps Up Traffic

(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/6/2009 3:47:00 AM

Can A Radio Station Give Away Tickets To A Football Game? The Eagles Say No...

Paula Abdul may not be on the judging panel, but that won't stop her from voicing her opinion. She had a front row seat next to Lance By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) noted how much she had helped Bass Monday night at "Dancing the site's traffic: How much extra Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:02:00 AM with the Stars." ET's special traffic did you get on 30 correspondent Marie Osmond There was some news coverage September, the day the story first By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) may have the right to forbid entry c a u g h t u p w i t h t h e f o r m e r last week of the UK's "equalities broke? to anyone, it seems like that "American Idol" judge after the minister" (what the hell is that?), Just over 2.7 million hits, more Submitted at 10/6/2009 3:52:35 AM would be a dumb move on the show to chat about her favorite Harriet Harman, asking Gov. than double the daily average. We've noted the trend of trying team's part. My guess is that the performance of the night. Arnold Schwarzenegger to shut Here's the graph from my server to cut down on scalping by using team's main concern is that it only Her days of criticizing Simon down a prostitute review site s t a t i s t i c s f o r S e p t e m b e r : e-tickets to stop the transfer of wants partner (i.e., those who paid Cowell are behind her, but the called Punternet. As many legal http://www.punternet.com/daily_u commentators pointed out, this sage_200909.png One must tickets, but it appears that the a ton for broadcast rights) radio "Dancing" panel is fresh blood for was ridiculous for a variety of assume that wasn't Harman's Philadelphia Eagles football team stations to give away tickets -- but Paula. She told Marie, "I don't reasons -- neither Harman nor intention. But, honestly, it makes also is trying to stop radio stations that doesn't mean there's a legal understand the scoring system. I Schwargenegger had any legal you wonder what sort of politician f r o m d o i n g p r o m o t i o n a l right there. If the tickets were think things were a little blurry authority to shut down such a site. these days doesn't realize that giveaways. The team has sued the l e g i t i m a t e l y b o u g h t , w h y and out of whack tonight." She expressed her support for However, the really ridiculous calling for the shutting down of a owner of the radio station, saying shouldn't the station be able to sell thing is that all this request did site will only boost the traffic to that the terms on the back of the them or give them away? And, Mark Dacascos and his partner was give the site a ton of that site by a considerable ticket forbid the use of the tickets considering that the radio station Lacey Schwimmer. She said, "I for commercial purposes -- such was accurately describing the think to set the stage, this was one attention. In a press release amount. as contests -- and also that the response, Punternet took issue Permalink| Comments| Email station is violating the Eagles' team when using the name, that of the best numbers I've seen and s h o u l d n ' t b e a t r a d e m a r k I'm going on record saying that." with many of Harman's claims This Story trademarks in naming them v i o l a t i o n . about the site, and then at the end around the ticket giveaway Permalink| Comments| Email promotion. This raises a bunch of This Story questions about the right of first sale on a ticket. While the stadium

20,000+ Gmail, Yahoo, AOL Accounts Compromised [ALERT] By Ben Parr (Mashable!) Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:43:13 AM

Yesterday, it was revealed that 10,000+ Hotmail accounts were compromised and all of the usernames and passwords of these accounts were posted online. It was a major security and scam issue, but it was thought to only affect Hotmail users.

Unfortunately, Hotmail was only the beginning. Google has now confirmed that thousands of Gmail accounts were compromised by an “industrywide phishing scheme.” According to the BBC, the login data of over 30,000 Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Comcast, Google’s already taken action and Earthlink accounts have been on the list, forcing password posted online.

resets on the affected accounts. They also stress that it’s not a breach of security, but the result of certain users falling for phishing scams. The lists of emails have been removed from the web, but many scammers have surely downloaded these compromised lists by now. Remember to protect your email accounts: change passwords

frequently, check for any odd behavior, and never use the same password on multiple web apps. Reviews: Gmail, Google Tags: aol, email, gmail, Google, hotmail, microsoft, Yahoo

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Internet News Record

Shiny, Happy Brightkite: Check Out the Site's New Look, Enhanced Features By Jolie O'Dell (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/6/2009 2:50:21 AM

Last week, we noticed some downtime for location-based web service and TechStars grad Brightkite. We emailed founder Brady Becker and learned that soon, his team would be rolling out a second version of the site. Read on for a glimpse of what the site now looks and feels like, as well as an exhaustive list of new features and improvements. Sponsor First of all, Brighkite's upgrades are more than just a pretty new face. They also include marks of unseen quality, such as enhancements to Placesnapping, "the ability for Brightkite to find the place where you are, and specifically, to do so more quickly and more easily," according to a recent Brightkite blog post. Other improvements include the following: New Friendship Model Instead of a "friend" model where users must approve friendship requests in order to see one another's updates, Brightkite 2.0 has allowed for a more asymmetrical relationship. "This means that you can add someone to your friends without them

having to approve you or friend you back," says the site. "This lets people you may not actually be friends with receive your updates while keeping your friends list manageable and relevant." The follower/fan model Brightkite is adopting here is comparable to what one sees on sites such as Digg and Twitter, and will likely make the whole experience more fun for more users. And also, users can choose notification options for individual friends: Get Satisfaction Gets Dumped "Get Satisfaction was a great start for us," states the Brightkite website, "but we sorely needed more features without the hefty price tag." User support, bug reporting, and the like will now be handled through a Tender Support site. Non Geo-Tagged Posts With the new "Somewhere in the world" option, users are now free to post notes and photos that are not associated with a geographical location by clicking the X button in the "Pick a Place" section of the post form. Non geotagged posts will show the location as "somewhere in the world." New Stream and Navigation Brightkite has taken their three-

gender, location, and relationship to the user (friends, fans, or everyone). Likes/Dislikes Users will also see a small pronged stream (Me & My Friends, Around Me, Universe) thumbs up/thumbs down icon set and condensed them into a single in the top right corner of each stream with drop-down menus for post. Although expression of filtering options, including approval for users' posts is filtering by location and type of encouraged, the site gives a common-sense caveat. "Be post. M e s s a g e s , C o m m e n t s , careful how you use the thumbs Mentions, Friends, and Account down, nobody likes to be handed Settings are now at the bottom of a turd." Eww. Privacy the page. Brighkite 2.0 brings users a The Check-In button also got a kinder, simpler privacy option. makeover: According to the site, "You have Adding Places On the new Brightkite, or the option to share your check ins Brightkite 2.0, users can add a and posts with just your friends or place if it doesn't show up in with everybody. This option is search results. To do so, users available on every post you make simply click the "Not in this list?" and it can be changed on a per button at the bottom of the list, post basis." Also, within the post or check-in, a user can be streetthen add all necessary details. address specific or metro-area Authorized Apps Users can see all of the third vague, depending on personal party apps with access their preference. And that's the new Brightkite, accounts. Then can also choose to revoke access to any of these apps folks! What do you think so far? Will the asymmetrical friendship as desired. model, enhanced browsing Browsing People Users can now easily browse capabilities, and simpler interface through other Brightkite users keep you - and other users based on a number of different coming back? Discuss filter options, including age,

Tyler Perry Reveals Childhood Abuse (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:21:00 AM

In a highly personal blog post on his Web site, Tyler Perry reveals that 'Precious', the film he's producing with Oprah, is close to

his heart because he grew up with sexual and physical abuse. The 'Media' creator says he was sexually assaulted by both men and women as a child, giving a detailed account about the mother of a childhood friend who locked

him in her apartment. "I couldn't have been more than 10 years old," he writes. He also tells of being beaten and verbally abused by his father, who he says would mock him for reading books and beat him for

Enhance Morning Runs By Ditching the Snooze Button [Exercise] By Azadeh Ensha (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:00:00 AM

A pre-work run can help energize the rest of your day. To help make sure you get the most out of yours, resist the urge to hit the snooze button before getting up. Photo by me and the sysop. Runner's World has outlined some tips on how to optimize your running by regulating the activities you're inclined to do when not running. To start, the post says to resist the urge to hit the snooze button, no matter how tired you are. Instead, get up with the alarm and let the running "shake off the sleepiness." According to Runner's World, the occasional night of sleeplessness followed by a less than rested morning won't have major detrimental effects, so you should push yourself to get up sans the extra snooze time. The post also suggests stretching your legs every 60 minutes throughout the day. eating cookies. He also details an Browse the full link for other tips account of his father attempting to o n h o w t o o p t i m i z e y o u r sexually abuse a childhood friend, workouts, then chime in with your a girl who lived across the street. own tips in the comments. Tips for an Optimal Workout[Runner's World]

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Spiffbox Says it Pays to be Social - No Really, They Pay You with Cash

Fire and Ice: Celebs Ice Injuries and Heat Up Dance Floor on 'Dancing with the Stars'

By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:00:54 AM

When building a new Web 2.0 site, especially a new social network, there's always one hurdle that needs to be overcome establishing a large enough userbase to make it both attractive to newcomers and worth using once you arrive. A new site launching today, Spiffbox, thinks they have figured out how to workaround this issue - they're paying users to participate. Yes, when Spiffbox says they're the new social network where"it pays to be social," they're not kidding. Every action you take on the site including responding to emails, chats, friend invites and sharing photos, will earn you points which can then be redeemed for cold, hard cash. Sponsor A Social Network to Complement the Others Instead of trying to establish a new userbase from scratch, Spiffbox integrates with the social networks Facebook and Twitter. They even have their own Facebook application so you can

interact with other Spiffbox members while logged into Facebook. However, unlike those two popular social networks, which are designed to connect you with people you know or admire, Spiffbox wants to connect you with others who fall outside your social graph. That is, the site wants to help you make new friends. Spiffbox is also different in the fact that it's not entirely meant to be just for socializing - it wants to help you promote your career as well as ask for and receive advice from other users. How You Make Money Of course what everyone wants to know is: how do you make money on Spiffbox? Basically, all that you need to do to start earning is participate. To earn points, users should create a profile, communicate with other members, respond to messages, and optionally complete surveys or take merchant offers. With each action, more points are earned and when you reach a certain threshold (min. 2,000 points/$20), Spiffbox puts a check in the mail. You may be surprised

Them: Great, thanks. Let's chat again later for more points! You: Sounds good! Cya! Oh, the horror. Frankly, most of to learn that reaching that payout us have better things to do with number is not as hard as it may our time than trying to earn points sound. Accepting a chat invite for small payouts of cash. What earns you 28 points, accepting a Spiffbox needs to remember is friend request is 10 points, and so t h a t a l l t h e p o p u l a r s o c i a l on. After spending some time networks caught on - without really engaging on the site, you bribes, mind you - because they could easily start earning cash. were offering something unique While we have to give Spiffbox and interesting. Creating yet credit for thinking outside the box another social network without on this one, the idea of paying you any truly new concepts behind it to socialize has us feeling a little (except for the payola) isn't going sour. After all, remember how to be enough in the long run to you used to rack up the "friends" keep people involved. on MySpace only to be left with a However, that's just our opinion. large network of random people Others feel differently. For you didn't know (or care to)? example, CNET says that "once There wasn't actually any value in the site irons some of its kinks out that. And besides, if everyone on and becomes a little more user the site is only participating to friendly, then we could start to see make money, socializing becomes some real widespread adoption" more like a job than a fun activity. and "there could be a real future Can't you just see the chats now? in this space." Them: Hi! Want to chat? I'm What do you think? Does trying to earn points. Spiffbox have a shot at becoming You: OK, me too. the next big thing? Or is bribery a Them: So how long do we have bad choice? Let us know in the to do this to get credit? comments. Discuss You: I don't know, I think this is good.

Submitted at 10/6/2009 4:03:00 AM

The ice packs and ace bandages are quickly replacing the sequins and spandex on "Dancing with the Stars." Read on to find out which stars are succumbing to injury. Based on the judge's scores, Tom DeLay may have two left feet, but the politician also has stress fractures in both of his feet. He told ET's special correspondent Marie Osmond that he pushed through the pain because "It was a great fun dance." He continued, "My father taught me, I was raised in the oil field, and he taught me I could never quit…at anything and I never have." Aaron Carter did not make the situation any easier for Tom on Monday night. Aaron confessed, "I accidentally stepped on his foot backstage, so I felt really bad."

Letterman needs to stop talking about blackmail scandal... immediately By Joel Keller (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:07:00 AM

You knew that after a weekend of blackmail scandal news and tabloid stories, David Letterman wasn't going to open his show on Monday just telling jokes about Chicago losing the Olympics. In

fact, he started off the proceedings with a bang, asking the audience, "Did your weekend just fly by?" Then he proceeded telling some pretty funny jokes about the scandal; he spent the weekend "raking my hate mail," that it was "chilly outside the house and chilly inside the house," and that

the next phase is to go on Oprah and sob. He even acknowledged his odd comedic predicament by trailing off on jokes about Bill Clinton, Mark Sanford and Eliot Spitzer, realizing that he's not in the position to poke fun at those folks. But then, after the break, he

sincerely apologized to his staff for putting them through this mess, and said he had a lot of work to do to repair things with his wife, Regina Lasko. It was at that moment (video below) that I realized that Dave needs to stop talking about this mess... immediately:

Continue reading Letterman needs to stop talking about blackmail scandal... immediately Filed under: Late Night, Celebrities, Talk Show, RealityFree Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and Others Also Hit by Phishing Attack By Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:06:00 AM

Yesterday's phishing attack in which several thousand Hotmail username and password combinations were leaked to the web now appears to be just the beginning of a massive phishing attack affecting users of multiple webmail services including Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Comcast, and Earthlink. The original list was posted anonymously on pastebin.com, a site generally used by developers sharing code snippets. Again, that site recently saw the addition 20,000 more login details from other webmail service providers, indicating what may the largest scale phishing attack to date. Sponsor The Hotmail Attack In yesterday's attack, the list of comprised Hotmail accounts were limited to those where the usernames started with the letter "A" or "B." However, that seemed to imply that the posted portion might actually be a part of a bigger list containing even more login/password combinations. At the time, a Microsoft spokesperson said that the company determined "this was not a breach of internal Microsoft data and initiated our standard process of working to help customers regain control of their accounts." Instead, claimed the spokesperson, those users whose credentials were revealed were likely to be victims of an online

phishing attack where a thirdparty website was involved. Phishing attacks are typically carried out via email messages where the attacker tricks the recipient into revealing their username and password by pretending to be some sort of trustworthy entity such as the user's bank, IT administrator, a popular website, or an online service. In the case of the stolen Hotmail passwords, it's possible that the attacker sent emails which claimed to be from the end user's email provider. If the user then followed the link contained within the malicious email, they would have ended up not on the actual email provider's site, but on a third-party site whose sole purpose was to capture their username and password when entered. Beyond Hotmail: More Webmail Providers Affected According to a story in today's BBC News, the most recent list of

compromised accounts, which includes login credentials for Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink, and Comcast users, contains some accounts that appear to be old, unused, or fake. However, many others listed are, in fact, genuine. There's no way to be sure at this point that the new list is a part of the same phishing attack as yesterday's or if it's a new and separate scam. The website where the accounts were posted - pastebin.com - is now "down for maintenance." Visitors to the site today will receive a message that reads: Pastebin.com is getting an unprecedented amount of traffic due to a news story in which some leaked Hotmail passwords have been pasted on this site Pastebin.com was intended as a tool to aid software developers, not for distributing this sort of material. Filters have been put in place to prevent reoccurrence, but the current traffic level is unsustainable. Pastebin.com is just a fun side project for me, and today it's not fun. It will remain offline all day while I make some further modifications Paul Dixon Regardless of whether or not you think your account was compromised, today would be a good day to change the password on whichever webmail service you currently use. Better safe than sorry! Discuss

Android Phones with Google Voice are Coming to Verizon By Frederic Lardinois (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:37:37 AM

This morning, Google and Verizon announced an agreement that will bring Android phones to Verizon. Verizon, which has been trying to position itself as the 'open carrier,' will start to offer its first two Android phones within the next few weeks. In a clear jab against Apple, Verizon also announced that it will support Google Voice on these devices. Verizon also has no plans to make any changes to the Android Market. Last month, Sprint also announced that it will offer Android devices in the near future, leaving AT&T as the only major wireless company in the US that doesn't offer an Android handset - though AT&T, of course, still holds the exclusive rights to the iPhone. Sponsor Microsoft also announced the launch of the first set of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices today and chances are that the Google/Verizon announcement was timed to coincide with this release. The first reviews of Windows Mobile 6.5 are not exactly positive, however. Taking on Apple There can be no doubt that this partnership is aimed directly at Apple. Just a few days ago,

Verizon launched a new advertising campaign that highlights the company's 3G network and spoofs Apple's "there's an app for that" campaign. While Verizon was always known for the quality of its network, though, it was never known for offering cutting-edge handsets something that could now change. During a teleconference after the announcement, both Verizon and Google stressed the fact that they want the phones to remain open. Apple, of course, makes no such promises and has regularly landed in hot water when it didn't allow certain apps like the Google Voice app into its store. Big News for Android Developers Android developers will surely be happy about this announcement. Verizon, after all, will bring millions of new customers to the Android platform and given that the company has no plans to make any changes to the Android Market, this will open up a large new market for Android apps. In this morning's teleconference, Verizon also noted that it will pre-load devices with applications from Google as well as third-party developers. Discuss

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Amazon Web Services Gets DDoS Attack and the Client Waits By Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb)

he is spending a good bit of this time working with customers who are none too happy. Do a search Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:17:47 AM on Twazzup and the complaints An apparent DDoS attack on about Bitbucket's problems run Amazon Web Services(AWS) conversation moved to Twitter down the page. over the weekend left a web- and you guessed it, that's when It's a trust game to this point in hosting code service down for Amazon realized perhaps this the cloud services world. A lag in about 20 hours before the problem might be a bigger problem than diagnosis prevented Bitbucket became resolved. The attack they thought. from getting back online. They Some of Bitbucket's large took a big hit. Not surprisingly, raises questions about how fast Amazon responds to its clients in customers contacted Amazon and t h e y a r e c o n s i d e r i n g o t h e r times of attack and what level of the problem climbed up the s e r v i c e s . trust customers should place with customer support ladder pretty But for customers out there, it's fast. one cloud service provider. time to look more deeply at how Up until this point, Amazon much faith you put in one cloud Sponsor Bitbucket hosts everything on maintained they did not have a services provider. Amazon EC2. They also use EBS problem with the service. That From The Register: service for storage of everything line soon changed as the issue "The lesson here is: 'Don't bet from their database, logfiles, and became more severe. By this time the farm on a single cloud senior executives were on the provider,'" says Craig Balding, user data. Bitbucket first recognized the phone, engineering specialists founder of cloudsecurity.org and a attack on Friday night when their w e r e b e i n g c a l l e d i n a n d security practitioner at a Fortune network storage became virtually Bitbucket had Amazon's full 500 company. "It's common sense unavailable. According to the attention. really. But people get lulled into By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Twenty hours later, the service thinking they site is always going Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:00:00 AM detailed account on their blog, the had been restored. But the after to be available [when they host site crawled to a halt. My Phone, the cloud-based After the service went down, effects are still apparent. Jesper with a single provider]." Windows Mobile back-up service AWS was contacted. After more Noehr created Bitbucket. He has Discuss we peeked at in beta in May, has than five hours of back and forth been tweeting continuously since officially launched. The free 200 about the extent of the issue, the the problem began. You can tell MB of online space for phone data remains the same, but premium users get new location By Associated Press current NFL teams. fifth career 300-yard passing and security features. (ESPN.com) • The Vikings sacked Aaron game. He's the first Packers QB As it was in beta, My Phone Rodgers eight times, their most not named Favre to throw for isn't an up-to-the-minute sync of Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:44:02 AM since the final game of the 2003 300+ yards against the Vikings all your phone data. Once a day, Fast Facts season vs. the Cardinals. Jared since Lynn Dickey in 1984. or when manually activate, it • The Vikings improved to 4-0 Allen had a career-high 4½ sacks, • With four receptions, Donald s e n d s y o u r M y D o c u m e n t s as Brett Favre threw 3+ TDs for the most on MNF since sacks Driver tied Sterling Sharpe for contents, calendars, contacts, the 66th time in his career and became an official stat, and added most in Packers history (595). SMS database, and other phone 12th time on Monday Night a forced fumble and a safety. -- ESPN Stats & Information data you wouldn't want to lose Football (most all-time). Favre • Rodgers threw for a careerentirely to your online backup became the first QB to beat all 32 high 384 yards and two TDs, his space. My Phone also lets you access that stuff through its web

Windows Mobile My Phone Backup Out of Beta [Downloads]

Favre leads Vikings past Packers for 4-0 mark

site—helpful especially for digging through old text messages, or calling up a quick contact when your business phone is off. Premium users (TechCrunch reports a $4.99 price, but doesn't note whether that's monthly) can also activate a few MobileMe-like features for lost or stolen phones. From the My Phone site, Premium users can ring their phone to help find it, lock or erase it if misplaced, and locate the phone on a map with GPS, in case your local police department feels like helping you find it. You can try out these features free for 60 days, in case you need to quantify how often you lose your phone. My Phone[via TechCrunch]

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An Exhaustive Guide to Saving Your Smartphone's Battery [Batteries] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:00:00 AM

Modern phones come loaded with bright screens, fun games and apps, and connections for 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Not coincidentally, they're constantly out of juice. Here's some of the best collected wisdom about saving your web-connected phone's battery life. Photo by[177]. Universal battery tips They're different in a lot of ways, but all smartphones can be made to be more frugal with their limited power reserves if you're willing to follow a few simple rules of thumb. • Follow the laptop battery rules: Your phone's lithium-ion battery benefits from the same best battery practices for a laptop. If your battery is new and decent enough, don't keep it plugged in all the time, or it dies the death of a thousand tiny discharges. Use the battery almost all the way when you use it, charge it when it needs it, and, if necessary, let it completely run down and recharge it every so often to refresh its own sense of longevity. • Keep it cool and out of pocket: If you're outside, don't leave your phone facing the direct sunlight. If you can pull it off without looking like a hyper-aggressive real estate agent, belt-clip your phone, or generally keep it out of your pocket and away from close quarters with your body heat. • Switch off 3G when it's unnecessary: It's faster than EDGE or GRPS and can deliver both voice and data in a

continuous stream to your phone. It also uses up quite a bit more power. When you've got good coverage and plan to mostly talk, or just get occasional email updates, you don't need such wide wireless pipes. Switch to EDGE/2G usage in your settings, preferably with a widget or shortcut. • Switch off any unneeded service: Goes without saying for anyone who's learned the hard way. Having your phone constantly look for new Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi hotspots, GPS positions, and Exchange server emails that don't arrive at 4 a.m. will definitely kill your battery. Find the most convenient way your phone offers to turn these things off, or automate their use, and act on it. • Be frugal with background applications and notifications: It feels like living in the future when new emails, Twitter messages, Facebook updates, calendar appointments, and other minutiae are delivered minute-by-minute to

your phone. Your battery lives in the present, though, and could use a break from your hyperawareness. If you've got a phone that can keep multiple applications "open" for quicker access (Android, Pre, Windows Mobile), don't feel obligated to keep them present. • Use a black or dark theme: Except for the iPhone, most phones let you set your own wallpaper, and some give you the ability to "theme" your phone's entire look. It might be a minor point, but using a darker-colored theme doesn't make your backlight and screen work quite so hard, and saves your battery just a bit. • Fiddle with screen time-outs and brightness: Tweak how long your screen stays lit after a quick time check, modify how bright it must stay during the daylight, and you'll likely pull a bit more use time from your handset. • Use mobile site versions: Find and bookmark the mobile versions of the sites you always visit (often

found at m.sitename.com, mobile.sitename.com, or, occasionally, sitename.com/m), and keep tools like the Google Mobilizer and Bing Mobile handy; they'll automatically pare down a page to its basic elements, and save your phone from having to burn its battery pulling down giant banner ads. BlackBerry If you're rocking a BlackBerry, chances are that disconnecting your network to save on battery life isn't an option. Instead, you might try a few of these tips. Photo by liewcf. • RIM's official tips: To summarize: Close your browser with the ESC key when you're done surfing, use shortcuts instead of Java-based menus, get crazy with the extensive settings, and use the Desktop Manager(now available for PCs and Mac OS X) to load media, rather than have your phone resize and compress it all. • Radio Saver and AutoStandby: Radio Saver turn off your phone's

cell reception when coverage is spotty or non-existent, saving you from the dreaded drain of roaming for signal. AutoStandby, when it's on, drops your BlackBerry into a deeper standby state, rather than just sleep, if you'd rather get a bit more time from your phone than be constantly pinged. They're $2.99 each, which isn't cheap for a utility, but might be worth the coffee change if you're low on battery life or working on the edge of service. • The Boy Genius basics: Straight from the BlackBerrytoting, news-breaking blogger behind the Boy Genius Report, the basics on keeping your phone alive: Turn down brightness of the screen, turn the LED off, turn Bluetooth off, Wi-Fi off (when not needed). Also, keep it in a holster, since it will "sleep" (when inside it) No silver bullets there, but sound advice—especially on the holster bit. iPhones Apple's game-changing, fullweb-browsing phone has had its battery life detractors from the get -go. Luckily, some have put their efforts into fixing that. Photo by Mat Honan. • Apple's official tips: To summarize: Don't get it too hot or too cool, turn off unnecessary services, "lock" it frequently, and let the battery run completely down, and then charge to 100 percent, at least once a month. • Gizmodo's suggestions: To summarize: Change from Push to Fetch email, turn off contacts and calendar sync if you're not a CEO, EXHAUSTIVE page 33

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EXHAUSTIVE continued from page 32 cancel scanning for new Wi-Fi networks, and avoid games with vibration and 3D graphics (except in seriously long airport lines). • Toggle networks with SBSettings jailbreak app: By default, the iPhone's on/off switches are tucked inside the settings, and the phone can only automate screen brightness. With SBSettings installed on a jailbroken phone (from the BigBoss repository), you can not toggle all your data connections on and off from a flip-down widget, and fine-tune other battery-grabbing aspects of your phone. See and read more about SBSettings at The Apple Blog. Thanks j_rich! • Use the battery percentage indicator: The standard battery indicator can leave you guessing as to how healthy your iPhone actually is, and sometimes misreports its state entirely. Enable a numeric percentage read on your lock screen by heading to Settings, General, and then Usage to toggle "Battery Percentage" to On. • Use Prowl, GPush, or very light Push for Gmail: We first showed you how to use Prowl and Growl to push Gmail to your iPhone, and it remains a more battery-efficient means of getting important email notifications, particularly while your main work computer is running. We also detailed a work-around with GPush that works at any time—when it works, period. Since then, Gmail has added official push support for instant

email notifications, but it also makes manual email fetching more reliable, so users can set it to an hourly or manual interval to save on battery use. Thanks drjonze and wbullockiii! Android The current crop of Android phones have almost universally crummy battery life. Luckily, the system's open platform has given app developers lots of leeway to squeeze every drop out of them. Photo by sugree. • Automate your phone rules: When you're asleep, you want important calls to come through, but you don't need to check your email every hour. When you're at work, your screen doesn't need to be so bright, and you've already got net access. Using an app like Locale, you can make turning on and off your phone's most powerhungry features automatic, based on time of day, location, battery status, and other factors. • Learn to love APNdroid: It's more severe, but APNdroid is also the most sincere battery saver out there. Click its app icon, and your EDGE/3G cell networks are turned off, while your basic call connection remains in place. That's better than Airplane Mode, which totally renders you inaccessible, and, used wisely, you'll definitely notice the difference when you start charging every other day. Bettter still, it seems a Locale plug-in is in the works, so turning off your wireless access when it's not needed could become a nobrainer.

• Keep the power widget handy: When your Android 1.6 (a.k.a. Donut) update arrives, you'll have a new widget available, "Power Control," that puts some important on/off switches—WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, auto-sync, and screen brightness—all on one horizontal strip. Keep it someplace handy on your home screen, and power down when you're at your most casual. • See what's eating your juice: Also new in Android 1.6: A percentage Battery Use chart you can access under About Phone in your Settings. It shows what's been pulling in power since the last time you charged your phone, which can help remind you of background apps and other power drains. Windows Mobile Older than almost all its siblings, but Windows Mobile has grown to incorporate all the same battery-killing background powers as its brethren. Photo by Titanus. • WMExperts' tips: To summarize: Avoid Wi-Fi whenever possible, dial down your email checking, and dig into your settings to modify screen time-outs and vibration frequency. • WMLongLife: Basically, this independent app switches your phone from 3G service down to 2G when it's in standby mode, so background data grabs and nonessential pings drain less battery. The developer also states it has a beneficial impact on, erm, other functions. Palm Pre Everybody who digs the Palm

Pre mentions its "deck of cards" multi-tasking and Sprint's seriously speedy data networks. Yeah, you guessed it—both require a little power precaution. • Treonauts' battery tips: To summarize: Turn it off (or into airplane mode) when in very weak coverage, and follow the same kind of auto-check and background app recommendations made earlier in this post. • Battery Saver: This homebrew app is only really useful if there are parts of the day where another phone provides you with emergency contact—like at home, if you have an alternate line. If that's the case, though, turning your phone to airplane mode at pre-set parts of the day gives you the advantage of a quick poweron or contact check, while also saving on battery life. Symbian (Help Wanted) To be honest, the vast variety of Symbian phones with customized firmwares give us pause at offering a standard set of apps or recommendations for bettery battery life. That said, if you know of a tip, trick, or app that saves battery life on Symbian phones, tell us in the comments. We'll update the post here to reflect the best suggestions. Hopefully you'll find something useful in these tips to give your mobile data hub a bit more life from each charge. Did we miss anything major? By all means, tell us about it in the comments, and share your own battery life discoveries.

Lie to Me: Truth or Consequences By Jonathan Toomey (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:40:00 AM

( S02E02)"I mean, how can I not judge someone who creates their own harem and then tosses out the competition when they hit puberty?" - Foster Already this is shaping up to be leaps and bounds ahead of season one of Lie to Me. The cases are more interesting, the writing is tighter, and most importantly, it's becoming far more personal for the employees of The Lightman Group. Every case has far more meaning when Cal and his team are in it for more than just a paycheck. That isn't to say that I'm against seeing cases like we saw in the season premiere with Erika Christensen, but finding out that Cal's daughter Emily has a connection to a statutory rape case he's investigating is far more compelling. Continue reading Lie to Me: Truth or Consequences Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Lie to Me Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Grind Your Own Meat for Safe(r) Burgers [Food] By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 10/6/2009 5:30:00 AM

You might have seen, or heard about, a front-page New York Times story about ground beef, one that definitely raises a few health and safety questions about your standard burger. One solution, then, is to grind your own beef. Photo by VirtualErn. No meat is perfect, of course, and ground beef in particular has a lot of surface area, and needs to be closely looked after to hit the right internal temperature while cooking. But buying a whole cut of meat that you know the quality and source of eliminates a vast number of variables that commercial products leave you guessing at. NY Times food writer Mark Bittman has suggested that if you don't have your own grinder, either stand-alone or attached to a KitchenAid-type mixer, a standard food processor can do a fine job of meat grinding, if you watch what's happening: Next, don't overprocess. You want the equivalent of chopped

meat, not a meat purée. The finer you grind the meat, the more likely you are to pack it together too tightly, which will make the burger tough. If you want to delve a bit deeper into the specifics of ground beef issues, a Grocery Guy blog post will indulge your curiosity—just don't read it right before lunch. That said, he brings up a nice halfway compromise to making a mess of your kitchen counter: Get

to know your butcher, and have him or her grind your meat to order. That post also contains a few more nitty-gritty tips on cuts, seasoning, and patty preparation. Have you long been DIY-ing your burger patties? Got any tips for those of us looking to escape the shrink-wrapped section? Share the wisdom in the comments. For the Love of a Good Burger[The Minimalist/NYTimes]

Sources: Fredi Gonzalez to manage Florida Marlins in 2010 By Buster Olney (ESPN.com)

12 games above .500 with the smallest payroll in baseball. Owner Jeffrey Loria met with Fredi Gonzalez will return as the organization officials Monday in Florida Marlins manager in 2010, New York to discuss the status of sources said. Gonzalez and his coaching staff. The Marlins failed to make the Gonzalez is under contract playoffs, although they finished through 2011. Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:31:24 AM

Buster Olney is a senior baseball writer for ESPN The Magazine. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

CopyTransManager is a Snappy and Light-Weight iTunes Alternative [Downloads] By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)

You can create and edit playlists, import artwork, edit track information, search and Submitted at 10/6/2009 6:30:00 AM synchronize your music, and even Windows only: If all you really store CopyTransManager on your want out of your iPod experience iPod to access it wherever you can is the ability to load music, access portable applications. movies, and podcasts onto your CopyTransManager is available iPod without any bulk or bloat, a s a s t a n d - a l o n e p o r t a b l e portable and f r e e application or part of the CopyTransManager is a speedy CopyTrans Suite which includes iTunes-alternative. CopyTrans (allows you to Click on the image above for a repopulate your iTunes library closer look. from your iPod) and CopyTrans You can u s e Photo (photo syncing between CopyTransManager to manage your iPod and PC). your iPod, iPod Touch, and CopyTransManager is free, iPhone. All major functionality, Windows only, and portable. sans things like access to the C o p y T r a n s M a n a g e r [ v i a iTunes stores and ripping CDs, is M a k e U s e O f ] present in CopyTransManger.

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Webmail Password Leaks Extend to Gmail, Yahoo, AOL [Email]

Two and a Half Men: Mmm, fish. Yum.

By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)

Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:00:00 AM

Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:26:00 AM

More than 10,000 Hotmail passwords were posted online yesterday, but users of other popular webmail services haven't been let off the hook. A similar phishing attack exposed another 20,000 user/password combinations, so consider resetting your own login credentials. The BBC reports seeing a list of 20,000 usernames and passwords at a site normally used to exchange programming code snippets—temporarily shut down at the moment. Many appeared fake, expired, or unused, but others were verified real by the BBC, and came from Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail (and its Live.com derivatives), as well as residential Comcast and Earthlink accounts.

Concerned? Fair enough, but there are plenty of countermeasures. These usernames and passwords were obtained by phishing, or fake web sites used to capture usernames and passwords. Reinforce the trickiness of the situation by judging the examples in the Phishing IQ test, and train yourself to avoid phishing entirely

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(S07E03) So far this season, Two and a Half Men has been sailing along, continuing to provide plenty of laughs and just enough vulgarity to keep its crown as a raunchy pleasure. Tonight, however, they hit an iceberg. Too bad really, but half the show -- no pun intended -was spot on. If only the other half had been as good. For some reason, the writers by going directly to web sites to have this idea that Alan as the log in. Learn how your browser object of affection to older reports a suspected web forgery, women is funny. No, not really. It as Firefox does, and take the time didn't work when Carol Kane to choose and remember strong guested as the mother of a girl passwords. Scam hits more e-mail Alan was dating and it didn't work a c c o u n t s [ B B C N e w s v i a tonight with Annie Potts as Judith's mother, Lenore. ReadWriteWeb]

Continue reading Two and a Half Men: Mmm, fish. Yum. Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

What's On Tonight: Hell's Kitchen, Nova, Dragon's Den, The Forgotten By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

Hell's Kitchen and So You Think You Can Dance. • There's a new 90210 on The • At 8, ABC has a new Shark CW at 8, then a new Melrose Tank, followed by new episodes Place. of Dancing with the Stars and The • PBS has a new, two-hour Nova Forgotten. at 8. • CBS has a new NCIS at 8, then • At 9, Syfy has two new new episodes of NCIS: Los episodes of Scare Tactics, then a Angeles and The Good Wife. new ECW. • NBC has a new, two-hour • Discovery has a new Dirty Jobs Biggest Loser at 8, followed by a at 9, followed by a new Ghost new Jay Leno Show. Lab. • FOX has new episodes of • History Channel has a new Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:11:00 PM

episode of The Universe at 9. • BBC America has a new Dragon's Den at 9.

• At 10, FX has a new Sons of Anarchy. • Lifetime has a new Sherri, then a new Rita Rocks at 10. • A&E has two new episodes of Parking Wars at 10. • Travel Channel has a new Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World at 10. • Also at 10: Bravo has a new Flipping Out. Check your local TV listings for more. After the jump, the late night

talk shows. Continue reading What's On Tonight: Hell's Kitchen, Nova, Dragon's Den, The Forgotten Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Two Verizon Android phones coming in 2009 (CNET News.com)

software that ran on its devices, and that left Verizon customers with a stable network but Google and Verizon Wireless on relatively unpopular applications. Tuesday announced what would However, ever since Apple's have once seemed a very unlikely iPhone shook up the mobile partnership, pledging to "advance industry in 2007, Verizon has the discussion" in the mobile pledged to improve the quality of computing market with a family the software that runs on its of jointly designed devices to phones by scaling back its control appear over the next few years. over that software to allow Verizon has joined T-Mobile outside developers a greater say and Sprint in support of Google's over what software is available on Android software, with plans to Verizon phones. release two new Android phones The Android devices that t h i s y e a r . ( C r e d i t : J a m e s emerge from this partnership will Martin/CNET) have Google's Android Market Eric Schmidt and Lowell preinstalled on the phones, said McAdam, CEOs of Google and John Stratton, executive vice Verizon Wireless respectively, president and chief marketing worked on this partnership for 18 officer for Verizon Wireless months before they were ready to p a r e n t c o m p a n y V e r i z o n officially bring it to light, they Communications. Verizon also said Tuesday morning in a pledged to support applications Webcast press conference. Two such as Google Voice, currently at mobile phones running Google's the center of a controversy among Android mobile operating system Google, Apple, AT&T, and the will launch on Verizon's network F e d e r a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n s by the end of the year, and that's C o m m i s s i o n o v e r A p p l e ' s just the start of a joint road map decision to prevent Google Voice that will include other Android- from reaching the iPhone. based devices beyond phones, the The companies declined to companies said. name hardware partners for the Verizon is known for the strong initial devices, but Motorola and performance of its data network, HTC have been rumored for but has not historically been months as the initial phone known for its mobile software, at makers expected to work with least not in a good way. The Verizon. Beyond that, it sounds c a r r i e r w a s p e r h a p s m o s t like Verizon and Google expect to emblematic of the wireless release other devices, such as industry's desire to control the Netbooks or perhaps an ebook Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:34:00 AM

reader that will run on Verizon's network. Verizon will become the third U.S. carrier to support Android, with the notable exception of iPhone carrier AT&T. T-Mobile has been perhaps the most vocal Android backer in the U.S. to date, although Sprint has also pledged its support for Android. Verizon, however, is playing in a different league than T-Mobile

or Sprint. With 87 million customers, Verizon has more subscribers than Sprint and TMobile combined. Schmidt spoke several times during the call about Google's eagerness to team up with a network of that scale and implied that developers should like that combination as well. "Developers need the kind of data network that is the base of what Verizon

offers," he said. McAdam and Stratton deflected several questions about what this partnership would mean for Verizon's existing partners, of whom Research in Motion and Microsoft are perhaps most prominent. Verizon chose to make this announcement on the eve of the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in San Diego, overshadowing the debut of Windows Mobile 6.5. Stratton did say that Verizon sees room for multiple partners on its network. The carrier is still expected to bring the Palm Pre to its network next year, according to analysts. A few years ago, smartphones made up around 10 percent of Verizon's devices, he said. Now, it's more like 40 percent and the growth has not stopped amid a global recession that has hurt demand for many consumer electronics products. Still, Google and Verizon have pledged to create services and applications that may or may not be exclusive to Verizon Android handsets. Partnerships are a dime a dozen in the tech industry, but the combination of two giants of Verizon and Google's size has to be taken seriously by the rest of the mobile industry.

Rush Limbaugh, Dave Checketts joined in bid to buy St. Louis Rams By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:13:47 AM

ST. LOUIS -- Conservative radio talk show host Rush

Limbaugh said Tuesday he is teaming up with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts in a bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh declined to discuss details. He cited a confidentiality

agreement with Goldman Sachs, the investment firm hired by the family of former Rams owner Georgia Frontiere to review assets of her estate. Frontiere died in January 2008.

Limbaugh also declined to discuss other partners that might be involved in the bid, but said he and Checketts would operate the team. Forbes magazine has estimated

the Rams franchise has a value of $929 million. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

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Report praises Apple's environmental Tech pioneers win 2009 efforts Nobel prize in physics (CNET News.com)

environment. Not only does it show the individual products, Apple calculates the impact of its Apple won praise for its latest p r o d u c t s f r o m m i n i n g t h e efforts to rid its products of materials and use to recycling. harmful chemicals in a new report Apple's environmental Web site r e l e a s e d T u e s d a y f r o m is broken down into several environmental organizations categories, including Life Cycle ChemSec and Clean Production Impact, Product Usage Impact, Action. and Product Environmental While Greenpeace seems to Reports. There is also a section have completely missed Apple's for Apple to post its own updates. environmental advances in its While Apple was the only latest report, ChemSec and Clean computer manufacturer to make P r o d u c t i o n A c t i o n ' s r e p o r t , the list, the report praised six "Greening Consumer Electronics: o t h e r c o m p a n i e s f o r t h e i r Moving Away from Bromine and e n v i r o n m e n t a l e f f o r t s , t o o . Chlorine," highlights Apple's With its products 99.9 percent efforts as one of seven companies f r e e o f b r o m i n a t e d f l a m e who have come up with solutions retardants (BFRs), Sony Ericsson negating the use of harmful will have no PVC components in chemicals. Apple was the only its products by the end of 2009, computer maker to make the list. according to the report. ChemSec "Apple established an innovative and Clean Production Action program that restricts the use of praised the company for "not only nearly all bromine and chlorine removing substances of concern compounds across all their from their products but also product lines," the report says of taking on the complicated task of Apple. "As such, Apple now e s t a b l i s h i n g f u l l c h e m i c a l offers a wide range of PVC and inventories for all their product BFR free consumer products lines." including iPhones and iPods, as Hard drive manufacturer, well as computers that are free of Seagate, eliminated chlorine- and BFRs and most uses of PVC." bromine-based chemistries from Apple recently unveiled a major its disk drives, and Netherlandsoverhaul of its environmental based DSM Engineering Plastics Web site, allowing users to see is one of the first to offer exactly what it is doing to help the engineering plastics that are free Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:11:00 AM

of bromine and chlorine. Nan Ya and Indium were added to the list for their efforts to produce bromine- and chlorinefree components for printed circuit boards, while maintaining the reliability of the products. Semiconductor manufacturer Silicon Storage Technology was among the first company to provide bromine-free chips to companies like Apple. Apple on Monday resigned its membership to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in protest over the organization's environmental policy, according to a report on the San Francisco Chronicle. "Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us in this effort," Catherine Novelli, Apple vice president of worldwide government affairs, wrote to in a letter to chamber President Thomas Donohue. With its resignation, Apple becomes the fourth company to leave the Chamber of Commerce in the last several weeks, according to the Washington Post. The others--Pacific Gas and Electric, PNM Resources, and Exelon--have all been power companies.

(CNET News.com) Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:54:58 AM

"Two revolutionary optical technologies" have won the 2009 Nobel prize for physics. Charles K. Kao, who discovered how to transmit light through fiber optics, and the team of Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, who designed the first digital imaging sensor, split the award, announced by the Nobel Foundation on Tuesday. Charles K. Kao(Credit: Photo: Richard Epworth) Born in Shanghai, China, Charles K. Kao made a discovery in 1966 that would lead to today's fiber optics. A man ahead of this time, Kao calculated how it would be possible to transmit light over 100 kilometers (62 miles), compared to only 20 meters (65 feet) for the fiber cables available in the 60s. He discovered that by removing impurities and creating a more pure type of glass, the fiber could be made more efficient and absorb less of the light over great distances. Kao's research stimulated other scientists to join the effort, leading to the first ultrapure fiber cable created in 1970. Another breakthrough in technology was the invention of the first successful digital imaging sensor, used today in everything from consumer cameras to surgical devices. Willard S. Boyle(Credit: Copyright: National Academy of Engineering1) Working at Bell Labs in New Jersey in 1969, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith built the first

CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). Using the photoelectric effect theorized by Albert Einstein, the sensor transforms light into electric signals. The team's major hurdle was determining how to gather and read out those signals into a large number of pixels in a short burst of time. George E. Smith(Credit: Photo: National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation/SCANPIX) The first consumer camera with a CCD was designed in 1981, leading to a revolution in digital photography. "When combined with the laser and the transistor, the invention of an efficient, low-loss optical fiber has made nearly instantaneous communication possible across the entire globe," said H. Frederick Dylla, Director of the American Institute of Physics. "This mode of communication is essential for high-speed internet and forms the optical backbone of 21st century commerce. The CCD sensor has revolutionized technical, professional, and consumer photography in the last few decades. Taken together these inventions may have had a greater impact on humanity than any others in the last half century." Kao will take home one half of the award prize of 10 million Swedish Kronors ($1.4 million) with the team of Boyle and Smith splitting the other half. Awarded by the The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Nobel prizes are given each year for achievements in science, literature, and economics.

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Tech Reviews/ TV/ Entertainment/

Internet News Record

CNET to add phone service data to handset reviews (CNET News.com)

markets: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, and Thanks to the hard work of Kent California's Orange County. Once German, Bonnie Cha, and Nicole enough data is sampled, the Lee, CNET's reviews of mobile information will be available on handsets are unparalleled: we are CNET for cell phone buyers to the place on the Web to get in- determine the quality of service depth evaluations of nearly every around their home, on their way handset offered by the major to work, and at the office. carriers. The information, being But we're not satisfied because collected for the four major we know you're not. wireless carriers--AT&T, Sprint, Judging a phone by its features, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless-design, and quality is just half the covers three key service concerns: story when determining whether it • Average signal strength and the is worth purchasing. The other number of signal bars for the half of the equation is the quality selected carrier in a specified area of service provided by the carrier• Data connectivity and -and that's a factor we have not t h r o u g h p u t yet provided. After failing to find • Network issues such as drop a solution for many years, we've calls or failed data connections finally arrived at one that I expect This is no small effort. It entails will rattle the market. installing software on a variety of We've partnered with a phones and collecting real data on company called Root Wireless, t h o s e k e y m e t r i c s . T h e which is led by some cellular- information--which includes time industry veterans, to provide of day, terrain, and number of consumers with detailed, real- users in an area--is transmitted to world coverage of major U.S. a database and made available via cities. a Web interface. Users can drill With Root, we're now collecting down to see how the big carriers data in eight major metropolitan perform in their neighborhood or Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:37:22 AM

zoom out to view the coverage on their commute route. We're doing this because we know there's a huge need. We recently conducted an online poll of our users in which 26 percent of you said you had returned a cell phone due to poor service, and nearly half of you feel that there is not enough information available on service quality. It may be premature to write about this now, but I couldn't wait. I've seen the working prototypes, and I know that this is going to be big hit for our users. Rather than rely on anecdotal evidence from friends or user reviews, or even from CNET's editors, you will have empirical data on which to base your purchasing decisions. We have collected data in those eight markets so far, and we'll be beta-testing for the remainder of 2009, with a general release as early as January 2010. And don't fret, if your city wasn't listed in the first batch of eight because we'll be adding many more areas in the next year.

Christian Slater talks about The Forgotten, life at 40, and his love of TV By Mike Moody (TV Squad) Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:00:00 AM

Stealing scenes on the small screen is nothing new to Christian Slater. The actor, known for films like Heathers, True Romance and Pump up the Volume, has made memorable guest appearances on shows like Alias, The West Wing and My Name is Earl. His first shot at his own series, the NBC spy thriller My Own Worst Enemy, struggled to find an audience, leading the network to cancel it halfway through the first season. Slater is back starring in a new series, The Forgotten, produced by CSI head honcho Jerry Bruckheimer. The ABC procedural follows a team of amateur detectives who work murder cases involving unidentified victims, or John and Jane Does. Slater plays former cop Alex Donovan, whose search for his missing daughter inspires him in the field. I got the chance to talk with Slater about The Forgotten, his new career in TV, and what one of his most famous big screen

characters would think about his latest role. Continue reading Christian Slater talks about The Forgotten, life at 40, and his love of TV Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, CSI, Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Stars React to David Letterman Extortion Scandal (ETonline - Breaking News)

the A-listers responded to the David Letterman extortion trial. "I honestly have not seen his ET has the latest... response to it but from what I Our Mark Steines was on hand understand, what he's done has for the star-studded premiere of been consistent with the kind of the new comedy 'Couples Retreat' guy that I know," Jason Bateman where things turned serious when said. "He's very intelligent, very Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:59:00 AM

ahead of everything, and he seems to have handled it in a very professional way, which you wouldn't expect anything less from him. It's not going to make me stop watch it." Meanwhile, 'Couples Retreat' -starring Vince Vaughn, Jon

Favreau, Bateman, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Malin Akerman and more -- centers around four couples who travel to a tropical island for a vacation but are forced to work on their marriages and participate in therapy sessions. Also, keep an eye out for

former ET correspondent Carlos Ponce, who plays the couples' shirtless-and-muscular yoga instructor.

Apple/ Sports/

Internet News Record

From Newton to Bathroom Web Surfing: The History of the Fabled iTablet By Liam Cassidy (TheAppleBlog)

[the] tablet since at least 2003… One prototype, developed in 2003, used PowerPC microchips Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:00:47 AM made by I.B.M., which were so The New York Times added power-hungry that they quickly some noise yesterday to the drained the battery. seemingly-unending buzz “It couldn’t be built. The battery surrounding Apple’s legendary life wasn’t long enough, the Tablet device. I say “legendary” graphics performance was not in the sense that, despite a enough to do anything and the complete and total absence of any components themselves cost more sort of confirmation from Apple than $500,” said Joshua A. such a device even exists, it has Strickland, a former Apple already generated acres of column engineer whose name is on inches. several of the company’s patents The NYT puts it somewhat for multitouch technology. more prosaically; “[tablet devices This touches on a point I made have] …gripped the imagination last week, that a reason for the of tech executives, bloggers and apparent failure of Microsoft’s gadget hounds, who are projecting T a b l e t P C w a s i t s o v e r l y their wildest dreams onto these ambitious vision. Simply put, literal blank slates.” Microsoft’s vision for tablet To recap very briefly; the latest computing was too far ahead of round of rumors tell us the tablet what was practical and affordable will have a 10.7 inch screen, run for manufacturers to build. The the iPhone OS, feature an iPhone- components of the early 2000’s like curved back, come in both 3G were not small enough, converged chip and non-3G chip enabled enough, power efficient or flavors and offer 720p resolution. reliable. It is a replacement for printed While Microsoft left those books and magazines, not a problems in the hands of its OEM replacement for netbooks. So partners to figure out, Apple What’s New? chose the opposite path — it The NYT article offers a decided not to release anything at succinct overview of Apple’s all. In hindsight, it seems that was tablet endeavors, starting with the the smarter decision. Bathroom Newton MessagePad in 1993 and Browsing taking a sideways look at Beyond the hardware limitations Microsoft’s tablet vision of the of the day, the article explains that early noughties. Where it gets s u b s e q u e n t t a b l e t s w e r e really interesting, however, is in repeatedly shelved because quotes about Apple’s tablet from “…Mr. Jobs, whose incisive the company’s former employees, critiques are often memorable, who, naturally, remain nameless. asked, in essence, what they were Says the New York Times: good for besides surfing the Web Apple has been working on in the bathroom.”

While hardware challenges can eventually be overcome, the problem of defining clear purpose is a harder one to solve. In discussions about Apple’s tablet, I’ve found that people fall into one of two types; those who immediately see its potential purpose, and those who don’t. It’s a bit like Twitter that way. Finding a clear purpose for the tablet is apparently an issue with which Apple has been wrestling: “I can imagine something like the iPhone with a much bigger screen being a gorgeous device with great capacity, but I don’t know where I would fit that into my life,” said a former Apple executive, who declined to be named because of Apple’s secrecy policies, but who anticipates an Apple tablet next year. “Those are the debates that have been happening inside Apple for quite some time.” For what it’s worth, I have absolutely no difficulty figuring out where the tablet would sit in my personal computing ecosystem. When I need to free myself from my desk and go mobile, I currently have two choices: my MacBook Pro or my iPhone. The former is overkill in size, weight and computing power. The latter is perfectly capable — but just too darned small. When I stop to think about it long enough, I am astonished I don’t already have a machine that sits somewhere between those two devices. So, figuring out where a

tablet would fit in my daily life is a no-brainer. But then, I’m a geek, and hardly representative of Apple’s core target market. Will Steve Jobs throw the proverbial spanner in the works again? It doesn’t seem wise to delay the project much longer, when faced with growing demand for touch-based, internetconnected consumer electronics (a market that existed before the iPhone but, arguably, only found its feet riding on Apple’s success with that device). And it’s a computing paradigm that suffered a shaky start, to be sure. Microsoft’s first efforts in Tablet Town failed to inspire anyone’s imagination. But with the Courier project coming to light in recent weeks, it’s clear Redmond is still seriously pursuing a touch-based future. While Microsoft isn’t entirely there yet, Windows 7’s touch functionality takes a huge step in that direction. I’m sure Apple isn’t the slightest bit concerned over how long it takes to get the tablet right. If the NYT’s sources are correct, it’s a device Apple has been working on for most of this decade. I wonder though, after all this time, after all this speculation and analysis and hype… will the product Apple finally announces early next year have any chance of living up to our expectations? It is 3D Week at GigaOM Pro! Read our latest reports on the future of 3D TV, mobile, computing and movies.

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Alleged assault by Braylon Edwards of Cleveland Browns subject of NFL investigation By Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:17:22 AM

LeBron Feuding With Braylon Edwards LeBron Feuding With Braylon Edwards CLEVELAND -- The NFL is investigating whether Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards violated the league's conduct policy following accusations he assaulted a man outside a nightclub. Edwards allegedly punched promoter Edward Givens, a friend of NBA superstar LeBron James, early Monday morning following an argument in downtown Cleveland. "We are looking into it," league spokesman Greg Aiello said Tuesday in an e-mail. "It is premature to speculate about potential discipline." Although Edwards has not been charged with a crime, the league's conduct policy states that discipline may be imposed for "the use or threat of violence." James called Edwards "childish" for punching his friend. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

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Exclusivity Ending: iPhone Coming to Bell, Telus in Canada By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog)

with Cupertino following the launch of the iPhone 3GS, probably owing to the fact that Submitted at 10/6/2009 7:30:15 AM neither of its competitors even First it was Orange and had the correct technology in Vodafone in the UK announcing place to allow the iPhone to plans to offer the iPhone, thus function. As far as I know, this is ending O2’s exclusive deal with the first instance of mobile Apple, and now another member providers changing the nature of of the Commonwealth is their network rather than just following suit. In Canada, where asking a hardware manufacturer Rogers is currently the sole for a CDMA version of a device, iPhone provider, two of the the something which I doubt Apple other three major carriers, Bell would respond favorably to Canada and Telus, have just anyway. announced that they, too, will As of now, Rogers’ pricing for offer the iPhone. the iPhone is in line with U.S. As was the case in the UK, pricing, but the subsidy is actually Rogers saw a huge sales surge heavier because of the exchange thanks to the iPhone when it was rate. The provider does require a 3 first introduced in Canada last big moves to try and win away Bell will launch its GSM - y e a r c o n t r a c t f r o m n e w year when the iPhone 3G was subscribers from the other two, so network beginning next month, subscribers, though. It’s unclear released. Telus and Bell have prices and contract requirements and will begin selling the iPhone yet whether Bell or Telus will been playing catch-up ever since, stay high. Very high. at the same time, according to offer a better deal. If either did, in a market that has traditionally Both Bell and Telus will be sources speaking to The Globe the iPhone could be the first step been pretty evenly split. adding GSM capabilities to their and Mail, and an official release towards a drastically changed Too evenly split, if you ask existing CDMA 3G networks, in early this morning. It isn’t yet Canadian wireless landscape. It is people who live in Canada (i.e., p r e p a r a t i o n f o r t h e 2 0 1 0 clear when Telus will begin 3D Week at GigaOM Pro! Read me). Virtually no competition Vancouver Olympic games. The offering GSM service, but the our latest reports on the future of exists in the wireless market fact that Rogers experienced 7 source reports that they will 3D TV, mobile, computing and because only Rogers, Bell and percent growth over the past year officially announce partnerships movies. Telus are allowed to offer service despite the recession, and that with Apple as early as today or (relative newcomer Virgin is also iPhone users spend on average tomorrow, and will begin selling involved, but they remain a low- one and a half times what the the device in time for the launch cost provider and don’t mess with normal wireless customer does of its new networks. the big boys too much). As a per month, probably also had Clearly, Rogers hadn’t worked result, the three rarely make any something to do with the addition. out any kind of exclusivity deal

Street Chic: Paris By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/6/2009 4:00:00 AM

A hard-edged quilted leather

mini is perfectly paired with a soft knitted sweater. Photo: Stylesight Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could

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

Brett Favre 'Sticks It' to Green Bay, Revives His Youth By Jay Mariotti (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/6/2009 2:50:00 AM

by Jay Mariotti Filed under: NFL MINNEAPOLIS -- So here comes the folk hero once more, teasing when he should be wheezing, charming when he should be farming, reminding us again why we really, really want to love him. Anyone who had buried Brett Favre as a mercurial mope -- and who hadn't, other than friends, family and John Madden? -- was left to shut the hell up Monday night and nod admiringly at another inspirational portrait on a canvas unlike any other. Brett Favre 'Sticks It' to Green Bay, Revives His Youth originally appeared on Fanhouse Jay Mariotti on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Apple Leaves U.S. Chamber of Commerce Due to Climate Stance By Darrell Etherington (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:09:58 AM

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is alienating its member companies with a hard-line stance it’s taken against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and climate change legislation currently making the rounds in the Senate. The latest casualty in the conflict generated by the Chamber’s controversial position is Apple, which yesterday gave up its membership with the organization. The specific stance Apple took issue with is the Chamber’s position against the idea that the EPA should regulate greenhouse gas emissions, using the authority it already has to do so under the Clean Air Act. Most agree that the EPA doesn’t actually want to do this, but that it’s a last resort measure in case the Democratic climate change bill that passed the house in June and now faces the Senate ultimately fails. Apple spokeswoman Catherine Novelli wrote to Thomas Donohue, the Chamber’s president, explaining Apple’s decision to leave: We strongly object to the chamber’s recent comments opposing the EPA’s effort to limit

greenhouse gases. Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us in this effort. Three other firms, Californiabased Pacific Gas and Electric and Exelon, and New Mexico’s PNM Resources, have all left the Chamber of Commerce based on the same policy decision. Both GE and Johnson & Johnson have both issued statements making clear their disagreement with the Commerce’s official stance. Nike stepped down from the executive branch of the Commerce, but maintains its membership, and made clear its position in a statement of its own: As we’ve stated, we fundamentally disagree with the US Chamber of Commerce on the issue of climate change and their

recent action challenging the EPA is inconsistent with our view that climate change is an issue in need of urgent action. In the past, Apple has made its political leanings known when it felt the issue was important enough. When Proposition 8 was announced, Apple donated $100,000 to oppose the bill. The decision was met with strong reactions from both sides of the debate, with some questioning the right of a company to come out so publicly in favor of one side or another on such a contentious issue, and some lauding the uncharacteristic show of corporate political action. I imagine this latest display of a political stance will be greeted with less controversy, since many see the value of climate change legislation. And the departure of a high profile company like Apple will do much to raise awareness of the issue in the business world. Still, the Chamber still counts more than three million companies among its membership, so the departure of four of those companies is unlikely do much effect the organization’s relevance. It's 3D Week at GigaOM Pro! Read our latest report, " 3DTV Market is Ready for Takeoff."

Castle: Inventing the Girl By Kona Gallagher (TV Squad)

world, then with Castle's realization that he is at the age in which the beautiful young woman (S02E03) I don't watch Castle he meets isn't someone he met at a because I really need another New party, but rather the gawky girl York-based police procedural in who babysat his daughter and my life. I watch it because it's watched High School Musical funny, quirky, and because with her. All the while, Castle's Nathan Fillion is dreamy. So mother is dealing with the fact while I would be hard-pressed to that she is no longer getting the ever find a bad episode of Castle, ingenue parts, but is instead being this one wasn't my favorite. It just offered that of the the crazy wasn't fun enough. granny who dies offstage. I'm not really enthralled with Continue reading Castle: models, so the whole "behind the Inventing the Girl scenes at Fashion Week" thing Filed under: Other Drama really doesn't appeal to me very Shows, Episode Reviews, Realitymuch. However, I do like how the Free theme of youth and beauty plays Permalink| Email this| | itself out throughout the show; Comments first with the obsession over these qualities inherent in the modeling Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:31:00 AM

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Apple/ Sports/ Media/

Internet News Record

Verizon Ad Mocking AT&T Pays Homage to iPhone By Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog)

(MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:09:26 AM

Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:00:08 AM

“There’s a map for that” is the catchphrase for a new ad from Verizon that plays upon the ubiquitous advertising meme for the iPhone and Apple’s App Store. However, the ad has nothing to do with Verizon’s own application store, instead highlighting the disparity of 3G coverage between Verizon and AT&T. The ad shows some guy playing Rock Band on a Samsung Rogue—ugh—while walking down the street. As a voiceover rhetorically asks if you want to know why 3G coverage works so well on Verizon’s network, the coverage map pops up above his head and we hear that “there’s a map for that.” When an AT&T customer, presumably using an iPhone and sporting a goatee—where’s his beret and cup of free trade expresso?—shakes his head at his phone, the voice asks about “spotty coverage.” The AT&T coverage map then appears and we again hear that “there’s a map for that.” Ha, ha, I guess, but then I thought about it.

MediaDailyNews: ITV, Mattel Strike Production Deal

Is it really a good idea for Verizon to highlight its own apparent iPhone envy, not to mention the oblique mention of the wildly successful App Store? It depends on who Verizon is advertising to, exactly. Via Silicon Alley Insider, a research note from Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty remarks on the possibility of Apple moving away from the exclusivity agreement with AT&T. “In the top six iPhone markets that are still exclusive, we believe

that Apple’s market share could rise to 10%, on average, in a multiple carrier distribution model from 4% today. Her analysis is that Apple could double iPhone sales by moving to a multi-carrier business model, the logic being most individuals choose carriers over phones, even if the phone is arguably the greatest telecommunication device in the history of the universe. Sure, Apple will no doubt lose the pound of revenue flesh they got from AT&T for

exclusivity, but that could be made up in volume. In this ad, Verizon could be speaking to iPhone users on AT&T’s network, who then pass along their yearning for Verizon in increasing numbers to Apple. What might come of that could be a new map in 2010 and beyond, the iPhone on Verizon’s next-gen LTE network. Subscribe to GigaOM Pro and gain access to our Webinar, " Biggest Opportunities in the Smart Grid," on Oct. 7, 2009.

ITV Studios and Mattel, a leading toy manufactuer, struck a deal to develop several of Mattel's board-game brands into international TV formats and multiplatform properties. ITV Studios Global Entertainment will also distribute the content. Brands include Scrabble, Pictionary and UNO. Remy Blumenfeld, director of formats at ITV Studios, states: "Scrabble and Pictionary are immediately recognizable brands that we can integrate into a brand new gaming format or develop as stand-alone formats with our broadcast partners around the world."

Carlos Boozer Wouldn't Mind Staying With Utah Past Trade Deadline By Chris Tomasson (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/6/2009 5:00:00 AM

by Chris Tomasson Filed under: Jazz SALT LAKE CITY -- It was a typical listless preseason crowd when the Utah

Jazz opened last week at EnergySolutions Arena. But some fans did get riled up enough to express displeasure whenever forward Carlos Boozer's name was called. "That's how they cheer me. They making a play on his name. At least Boozer is trying to keep say 'Boo,''' cracked Boozer,

it light these days after an offseason in which things got heavy. Carlos Boozer Wouldn't Mind Staying With Utah Past Trade Deadline originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:00:00 EST . Please

see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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Favre’s Systematic Torture of Cheeseheads Continues (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

And yet Favre probably didn’t have the best game of any Viking. That honor would likely go to One man cannot win a football defensive end Jared Allen, who game all by himself. Too much piled up 4.5 sacks and spent most goes into even one play for one of the game in Rodgers’s personal player to reap all the credit. But space. In the Minneapolis Starthis isn’t going to work. Anyone Tribune, Chip Scoggins praises who watched the Minnesota Allen’s dominating performance Vikings beat the Green Bay and the broader brilliance of the Packers on Monday already Vikings’ D-line. knows that Brett Favre defeated Perhaps the least surprising part the entire Green Bay Packers of the game was the adulation organization. With nothing more p o u r e d o n F a v r e f r o m t h e than a rocket arm, overwhelming b r o a d c a s t b o o t h . W h i l e A l charisma and … well, great Michaels and John Madden set a receivers, a punishing defensive high bar for Favre love in the past, front and an offensive line that ESPN’s team of Mike Tirico, Ron kept him from being sacked even Jaworski and Jon Gruden may once while Green Bay counterpart have eclipsed it. In the Onion AV Aaron Rodgers went down eight Club Milwaukee, Steven Hyden times. Associated Press As a put it succinctly: “ESPN made consolation, Brett Favre offers sweet, slow love to No. 4 last Aaron Rodgers one free appetizer night.” In the Milwaukee Journalat the steakhouse he still owns in Sentinel, Bob Wolfley offers a Green Bay. more nuanced, less racy take on Just because the broadcast the broadcast. overhyped the significance of Finally, in the New York Times, Favre facing the team with which Pat Borzi describes the difficulty he spent 16 seasons doesn’t mean of turning the Metrodome from a it wasn’t dramatic to see the baseball stadium to a football future Hall of Famer at his very field and then back to a baseball best, passing for an efficient 271 stadium again in three days, in yards and three scores. “The preparation for tonight’s oneuniforms were all mixed up but game AL Central playoff between the play was something out of a the Twins and Tigers.* * * decade ago,” Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel The Detroit Tigers have plenty writes. “You can remain skeptical to worry about heading into (as I do) of Favre’s season-long Tuesday’s posteason play-in prognosis, but there was little game. For one thing, as Jon Paul doubt about this one. It was a Morosi points out at Fox Sports, performance right out of his peak, visiting teams have terrible Favre making all the right throws, r e c o r d s i n t h e s e o n e - g a m e all the correct reads, all the proper playoffs. For another, the Tigers decisions. This was no game just got done fumbling away a management, no complementary divisional lead they’d held since role.” Sports Illustrated’s Peter May 10, are starting a 20-year-old King reports that the 39-year-old rookie in the most important game was anxious and emotional of their season and are powered, before, during and after the game. such as that word applies, by a Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:43:29 AM

very patchy offense. Of all the hitters in that lineup, Miguel Cabrera — he of the .323-33-101 line and .936 OPS — would seem to be the one about whom the Tigers would least need to worry. You’d think that. But when Cabrera showed up for the last two games of the Tigers’ vital series against the White Sox with vivid scratches all over his face, rumors swirled about what might have caused the marks. In the Detroit Free Press, Tammy Stables Battaglia and Michael Rosenberg replace those rumors with reportage that almost certainly left Tigers fans nostalgic for rumor. In summary, they report that Cabrera went out after Friday’s game with friends who are White Sox players, got drunk, almost got in a fight, came home, got in a physical altercation with his wife and blew an astonishing .26 on the breathalyzer when the police came to pick him up, and was bailed out by Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski at 8 a.m. Saturday. And then went a combined 0-for-7 in Saturday’s loss and Sunday’s win. So, no, not the sort of thing that wins a fellow a Roberto Clemente Award. Yahoo baseball blogger Kevin Kaduk argues that the importance of the Tigers sending a message to Miggy is more important than having his brilliant bat in the lineup Tuesday. Or for the rest of the postseason, for that matter.

“How can anyone trust or root for him after he blew a Breathalyzer test (.26) that was double the number of hours remaining until a Saturday night game that could have prevented the need for the Twins showdown?” Kaduk fumes. “How can [Detroit GM Dave] Dombrowski continue to play a player he had to pick up from the police station that morning? The answers are 1) no one can and 2) he shouldn’t.” In the Detroit News, Neal Rubin examines the Tigers’ unsavory options for disciplining Cabrera and argues that the whole epidsode tarnishes not just Cabrera’s reputation but that of the Tigers organization, which opted for message control over benching or fining Cabrera over the weekend. Elsewhere in the News, Lynn Henning makes the unassailable point that Cabrera clearly has some growing up to do. And in the Detroit Free Press, Rosenberg encourages everyone involved, from the Tigers brass to Cabrera himself, to take the personal and professional investment implicit in Cabera’s $152 million contract a bit more seriously. “A lot of ballplayers enjoy the nightlife, and this isn’t a moral judgment,” Rosenberg writes. “It’s about an investment. The Tigers have to do what they can to make sure they keep getting their money’s worth from Cabrera. And Cabrera needs to listen, for his own sake.” At the ever-great Seattle Mariners blog Lookout Landing, Jeff Sullivan ponders the impact that the 26-year-old Cabrera’s very bad night could have on his career once the hangover fades. “History has shown that fans tend

to be pretty forgiving of players who do bad things in their personal lives,” Sullivan writes. “For Cabrera, though, to put himself in a situation that could be interpreted as showing disinterest in the success of his team — to a fan, there is no greater insult.”* * * The NFL’s vaunted parity remains intact, by and large. But long-term parity doesn’t make the NFL a league of equals. This year, as in every other season, the NFL abounds in super-stinky teams. At CBS Sports, Ray Ratto asks the question that has occurred to everyone who has watched the Raiders or Browns or Bucs play this season — are this year’s bad teams worse than usual? “This is hard to do with research because hindsight colors one’s judgment, but it seems that there are more irredeemably bad teams at this stage of the year than ever,” Ratto writes. “Sure, you can do it just by looking at wins and losses, but your notion is bent by subsequent events — like reading a mystery novel from back to front. You already have the gist, now you’re just working on the headache.”* * * Shoe companies spend millions of dollars developing new designs and technologies and marketing strategies for running shoes (and dozens of dollars manufacturing those shoes in special economic zones that are more or less the saddest places on earth). And yet running without shoes — barefoot, that is — has started to make a quiet comeback in California, Roy Wallack reports in an entertaining piece for the Los Angeles Times. Wallack’s FAVRE’S page 44

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Sources: Michael Crabtree to talk to San Francisco 49ers

Tigers' Hopes Lie With Poised Porcello

By Calvin Watkins (ESPN.com)

Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:00:00 PM

Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:10:11 AM

Crabtree Saga Nearing End? Crabtree Saga Nearing End? DALLAS -- First-round draft pick Michael Crabtree left for San Francisco from Tampa, Fla., on Monday to renew contract talks with the 49ers, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. NFC West blog ESPN.com's Mike Sando writes about all things NFC West in his division blog. • Blog network: NFL Nation Crabtree was unavailable for comment. The Dallas native and former Texas Tech receiver has been training in Tampa the past

few weeks. Eugene Parker, Crabtree's agent, is scheduled to arrive in San Francisco on Tuesday. Parker declined comment when reached. Niners coach Mike Singletary said Monday that he would still like to have Crabtree play for the team this season. "Any guy that can play and help us win, I would never say, 'No, we don't need him,'" Singletary said. "We need all the good football players we can get." Crabtree, the 10th overall selection in April's draft, is the only unsigned first-round pick. He has missed the first four weeks of the regular season. The 22-year-old Crabtree is seeking money comparable to higher picks and has turned down

the 49ers' offer for approximately five years and $20 million, with a reported $16 million guaranteed. The 49ers have until Nov. 17 to sign Crabtree in order for him to play this season. If Crabtree is not signed and he is not traded, he would go back into the April draft. The 49ers (3-1) are in first place in the NFC West without Crabtree, but their offense ranks 28th in the NFL. San Francisco's passing game also ranks 28th, and none of the team's wide receivers rank among the league's top 50 in receptions. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Playoff Fixture Torre Looks to Enhance Already Rich Legacy By Jeff Fletcher (FanHouse) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:00:00 AM

by Jeff Fletcher Filed under: Dodgers, MLB Playoffs, National League Division Series It's October, which means Joe Torre is managing. The Dodgers manager is about to embark on his 14th consecutive postseason, looking for a fifth championship. In one sense, though, this may be the big one. "If you think about legacy, for him to have a championship in L.A. would solidify that,"

Dodgers pitcher Randy Wolf told FanHouse. "There is always the argument about the payroll in New York and the whole deal there, and it may not be fair, but

to do it here would really solidify his place." Fletcher: Cards' 1-2 Punch Imposing| LAD-STL Series Home Piliere's Scouting Reports: St. Louis| Los Angeles Playoff Fixture Torre Looks to Enhance Already Rich Legacy originally appeared on Fanhouse MLB Blog on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

By Ed Price (FanHouse) by Ed Price Filed under: Tigers, Twins, AL Central If the Tigers are going to pop champagne, they will need help from someone who is not allowed to drink it. Detroit will start 20-year-old Rick Porcello in Tuesday night's one-game playoff at Minnesota for the AL Central title. But Porcello has already shown he is far from an ordinary 20. "Oof," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said recently. "He's a nice pitcher. He's just got really good stuff. He's got a great sinker, slider. And you know what, quick arm action. A little deception to him. His ball moves all over the place." Porcello is 14-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 30 starts, and this will be his third start out of four against Minnesota, against whom he is 1-

2 with a 3.09 ERA this year. Tigers' Hopes Lie With Poised Porcello originally appeared on Fanhouse MLB Blog on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

FAVRE’S continued from page 43 piece includes a bearded “barefooting” guru known as Barefoot Ken, the testimony of a runner who has completed two barefoot marathons, and a description of Vibram FiveFingers, a quite possibly oxymoronic “barefoot shoe.” In other words, Nike is not going to like this story. — Tip of the Fix cap to fellow

Fixer Garey Ris. Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at [email protected] and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at [email protected].

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Would Seattle Work for the NHL?

Tebow or Brantley? LSU to Adjust

By Susan Slusser (FanHouse)

By Jim Henry (FanHouse)

Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:30:00 AM

Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:30:00 PM

by Susan Slusser Filed under: NHL Economics, FanHouse Exclusive, Junior Hockey SEATTLE -- This lovely and affluent city seems on the surface to be natural hockey country. Seattle is about 115 miles from Canada, and it's a two-hour drive to Vancouver; it is a sporty, athletic town where people spend a lot of time indoors because of wet weather; and the only pro team in town during the winter now is the NFL since the NBA departed for Oklahoma City. Plus, this was the first city in the United States to win the Stanley Cup -- the Seattle Metropolitans beat Montreal three games to one in 1917. But Seattle, the 15th-largest

by Jim Henry Filed under: Florida, LSU, SEC OK, so we know that Tim Tebow has been cleared to act like Tim Tebow. He can go to class, he can watch TV and game tape, he can tolerate bright lights and he doesn't have a headache. That was Florida coach Urban Meyer's metro area in the country, seldom latest medical update Monday gets mentioned as a potential c o n c e r n i n g h i s r e c o v e r i n g NHL location. And there are quarterback as the top-ranked plenty of arguments against it. Gators prepare for Saturday's Would Seattle Work for the showdown at No. 4 LSU. NHL? originally appeared on While the big question remains Fanhouse NHL Blog on Tue, 06 - when will Tebow be cleared to Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST . Please play football after suffering a see our terms for use of feeds. concussion late in the third Permalink| Email this| Linking quarter against Kentucky two Blogs| Comments weekends ago? -- LSU coach Les

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Game Developer Research's 'Top 20 Publishers 2009' stays the same By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:40:00 PM

Miles says the Tigers are prepping to face either Tebow or his backup, John Brantley. Tebow or Brantley? LSU to Adjust originally appeared on Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

The industry analysts at Game Developer Research could have saved themselves a whole mess of time and money by releasing the following statement in lieu of the latest edition of their annual Top 20 Publishers report: " See previous year." Differentiation from last year's top five ranks -which, let's be honest, are the only ones you really care about -- is almost non-existent: Nintendo

Play as your Mii, or a professional skater, or a professional skater's Mii in Tony Hawk Ride By JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:45:00 AM

Remember when we thought every Wii game was going to let you play as your Mii? And then remember when that didn't happen and the inclusion of Miis into every third-party game was a Big Deal? This news about Tony Hawk Ride makes us nostalgic for both of those times. Developer Buzz Monkey and Activision have received the mysteriously elusive permission from Nintendo to include Mii

support, allowing users not only to play as their own Miis, but as included Mii likenesses of the pro skaters featured in the game. So if the in-game Tony Hawk avatar doesn't have a big enough head for you, there's a built-in solution. In addition to the extra Mii features, Tony Hawk Ride on the Wii will include two exclusive levels. Usually, motion controls are enough of an exclusive feature compensate. Enjoy some footage for a game's Wii version, but this from the Wii game after the time, of course, that isn't the case, break. and it looks like Activision has While both Guitar Hero World found interesting ways to

whether Avatars will find their way into Ride as well. Continue reading Play as your Mii, or a professional skater, or a professional skater's Mii in Tony Hawk Ride Play as your Mii, or a professional skater, or a professional skater's Mii in Tony Hawk Ride originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 Tour and 5 included Mii modes, 11:45:00 EST. Please see our Xbox Avatar support was new for terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| the latest GH game. We've contacted Activision to determine Comments

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EA trademarks 'The Ripper,' could be Visceral's next game By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:15:00 AM

Activision files trademark for Call of Duty film adaptation By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/6/2009 10:45:00 AM

Perhaps the reason why video game-to-film adaptations have failed so ubiquitously is because none of them were of a truly epic scale. Perhaps what the ailing genre needs is a massive, Saving Private Ryan-esque cinematic endeavor -- which might just be coming in the form of a movie based on Activision's Call of Duty franchise, as hinted at by a recent trademark filing. Adding fuel to the speculative fire is Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling (aka FourZeroTwo) who recently tweeted,"grabbing lunch

with Xavier Gens, director of the Hitman film while in town. Talking game films." Sure, we would've rather had Bowling meet with Mr. Scorcese to talk Duty movies -- but in the grand scope of video game films, Hitman ranks high on the "not completely abysmal" end of the spectrum. [Via Trademork] Activision files trademark for Call of Duty film adaptation originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Microsoft: Avatar clothing changed 150 million times By Justin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/6/2009 11:15:00 AM

Speaking at the First Annual Microsoft Open House in NYC, Robbie Bach, president of the company's entertainment and devices division, was touting the strength of the 360 platform. Along with the impressive news that the results of 425 million games had been crunched for matchmaking, Bach also said that Avatar clothing had been changed more than 150 million times. When you divide that by the 20 million Xbox Live users the company's claiming, that's ... more than 7 changes each. We're

GAME continued from page 45 placed first (again), EA came in second (again), Activision Blizzard followed in third (again), Ubisoft retained its fourth place position (again), and Take-Two moved up from sixth to fifth, bumping Sony out of the top five.

The full, totally unsurprising list -- which was calculated based on number of games released, average review scores for said games and estimated revenue for each company -- can be found after the jump. Comments stating

It's a well-known fact that for the past year or so, Electronic Arts has developed an insatiable addiction for new intellectual property. Rather than kick the habit, the company's making moves to further feed its franchise a bit worried about some of you. Gang, please, keep your dignity fixation -- EA recently filed two intact: Set it once -- walk away. trademarks reserving the title It's the only sane thing to do. Of " T h e R i p p e r " f o r u s e i n a course, Bach also said that c o m p u t e r g a m e ( o r o t h e r 200,000 games of 1 vs. 100 were " e n t e r t a i n m e n t s e r v i c e " ) . Now, this title could mean one being played every weekend, so maybe you guys are just trying to of two things: It may be a get spiffed up for Chris Cashman. Visceral Games-developed action title based on Jack the Ripper, a We hope it was worth it. Microsoft: Avatar clothing project which was hinted at by c h a n g e d 1 5 0 m i l l i o n t i m e s anonymous EA sources to the LA originally appeared on Joystiq on Times back in July. It could also Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:15:00 EST. be an interactive biography of the Please see our terms for use of life of Rip Taylor, which has no supporting evidence behind it feeds. P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | whatsoever, but would make us happy for the rest of our lives. Comments [Via Superannuation] EA trademarks 'The Ripper,' could be Visceral's next game originally appeared on Joystiq on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:15:00 EST. 12:40:00 EST. Please see our Please see our terms for use of terms for use of feeds. feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments Comments

why Publisher A is still infinitely better than Publisher B can be found further below. [Via Gamasutra] Game Developer Research's 'Top 20 Publishers 2009' stays the same originally appeared on

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Rodarte's SceneStealing Dolls By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:43:38 AM

Nintendo sells 2.2 million DSis, says Walmart is biggest Lily Allen at Chanel customer By David Hinkle (Joystiq) Submitted at 10/6/2009 12:15:00 PM

During a recent interview with CNBC, Nintendo's Reggie FilsAime addressed the Wii's recent price drop(surprise: it's seen positive results) and the company's strategy for the upcoming holiday season. The manufacturer is counting on a strong showing for its DSi handheld, with Reggie revealing that 2.2 million units have now been sold, presumably in North America alone. Of course, Nintendo couldn't have possibly sold that many

handhelds without the help of retailers and according to Reggie, Walmart has been the biggest customer. We're not surprised -Walmart is supernatural, after all. Continue reading Nintendo sells 2.2 million DSis, says Walmart is biggest customer Nintendo sells 2.2 million DSis, says Walmart is biggest customer originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:49:04 AM

The entire Grand Palais was rocking and rolling as Lily Allen emerged from out of the floor with band in tow and performed live during Chanel. It caught everyone by surprise and as she sang, the crowd was in awe, some sang along, and of course cameras wouldn't stop flashing. The clothes kept coming out as she did her thing (with a giant smile on her face, mind you) and models like Karlie Kloss sashayed past the songstress and posed for

Last night, Colette hosted an event celebrating a small art exhibition that the Rodarte sisters, Laura and Kate Mulleavy, curated at the store. As expected, it was the photos. Needless to say, there well-attended by the fashion set was thunderous applause after the and the exhibit was beyond wonderful. show. But it were these rag dolls that Rihanna made her appearance as a front-row guest, and of were the quiet scene-stealers. course was decked out in the Sitting pretty in the little sunken Chanel. As I was leaving the room on the second floor of the show, she and I exited together, boutique, they were pointed out to and she is as pretty in person as me by my fashion industry she is on screen. Flawless doesn't godfather, Mickey Boardman. He grabbed Lynn Yaeger and me and even begin to describe her skin. Sometimes a show can be all took us to see the little cuties, spectacle, but not Chanel; even upon which I immediately fell in without the mind-blowing set and love. It's rather a mind trip to see m u s i c a l p e r f o r m a n c e , t h e Rodarte knits in such a small c o l l e c t i o n i s t o d i e f o r . scale, especially since they were —Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin hanging out not too far from the actual designs themselves. Follow ELLE on Twitter. —Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin Follow ELLE on Twitter.

Flats Ruled the Runway at Vanessa Bruno By ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 10/6/2009 5:06:00 AM

While Vanessa Bruno's models wore strappy flat sandals on the

runway yesterday in Paris, the designer herself took to the stage at the end of her spring 2010 show wearing a chic high-heel sandal in a sunny yellow hue. Since I rarely leave the house in anything less than a three-inch

heel, I can only hope those —Violet Moon Gaynor platforms make it from Bruno's Flat sandals, left, and punchy feet to a boutique near me come platforms, right, on the runway at February. Vanessa Bruno To get your hands on Vanessa Photos: Imaxtree Bruno’s fall collection, click here.

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TV Board: Bearing The Bull Or Baring the Bull: A Need For Set Top Box Straight Talk (MediaPost | Media News)

Tank, Council for Innovative Media Measurement, the Nielsen funded Council for Research • Interactive TV program guide Excellence), data driven TV maker Rovi, formerly known as buying platforms (Google TV Macrovision, has joined forces Ads, Invidi, Microsoft's Navic w i t h m e d i a m e a s u r e m e n t Admira), dataminers (Acxiom, company TNS Media Research, to Allant, Experian), exotic flavored analyze TV viewer actions, data analyzers (TiVo/Quantcast, including use of IPGs and TRA), predictive modelers reactions to IPG advertising. (AdsVantage, Google TV Ads, The list of players invested or Microsoft's Navic Admira), and investing in this burgeoning arena technologists/manufacturers is becoming legion: set top box ( N D S , O p e n T V , R o v i a n d clickstream data-ists (Navic rumored BigBand and Motorola). Reveal, Nielsen Media Research, A renaissance of sorts for Rentrak, TiVo, TNS Media audience measurement. Research), cross industry My concern: as the industry collaboratives (Collaborative mandarins squabble for hegemony Alliance Set Top Box Think within this expansive, fertile Submitted at 10/6/2009 8:47:17 AM

space - one that is necessary to prove the efficacy of TV advertising as well as evolve cross media televisual metrics (linear TV, broadband, mobile and all varieties of on demand) - they will promulgate both the promise and perils of set top box data in ways that obfuscate and mislead the community. Case in point: in late summer, a major research entity published some analytics comparing program viewership in digital cable homes versus satellite only households versus NPM sampling and the effect it would have on revenue generation. "Some examples from the '08-'09 season:

TV Watch: TV's Ad Sound Check: Not Hearing You Through All The Noise (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 10/6/2009 9:45:13 AM

U.S. viewers may be fastforwarding commercials in a greater number -- which seems in direct relationship to the everincreasing volume of TV commercials. For some time now, savvy TV marketers/programmers have been jolting viewers to lunge for the remote after the room-temperature sound volume of a programming segment ends and before the high

noise of a TV commercial starts. But that's about to end; Congress is getting involved. And it's about time. The House Energy & Commerce Committee is readying the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act. Otherwise know as CALM. Nice. Long before DVRs, I did my own part to avoid commercial distractions -- turning down the sound, keeping the peace. The button is right there on your remote. It's called MUTE.

This move was much to the chagrin of my father, who was used to the loud ambient noise of New-Wave music selling cars, or toilet paper jingles accompanied by energetic -- high volume -commercial announcers. The goal is obvious: The higher the volume of commercials, the greater chance viewers will sit up and take notice. But badgering isn't the way to go about it. Louder commercials feel somewhat desperate: TV networks, TV marketers, and their

media agencies are obviously looking to make up for TV's lesser clout -- especially on network TV, where there has been viewership erosion. Now, this has drawn the attention of those they least want to get involved: Congress. My suggestion: Lower the TV din; pump up some new marketing notes.