Liberty Newspost Apr-21-10

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Senator Kyl: show me the money to modernize U.S. nukes Susan Cornwell (Front Row Washington)

parliament before it can go into force. Obama will need some Submitted at 4/20/2010 10:44:55 AM Republican support if he is to Where’s the money? win the 67 votes needed for A key senator says the Obama Senate consent. Kyl’s opinion administration needs to commit matters because he is the to more funding for Senate’s number two modernizing the U.S. nuclear R e p u b l i c a n , a n d h e i s weapons complex if it is to considered something of an convince him that the new expert on nuclear weapons. START nuclear arms reduction Administration officials already treaty with Russia is a good h a v e p r o p o s e d o v e r $ 6 0 0 idea. million in additional funding for Republican Senator Jon Kyl maintaining the U.S. nuclear said that in any case it’s complex next year, as well as debatable whether the new b o o s t i n g f u n d i n g f o r t h e START treaty signed recently complex by some $5 billion by President Barack Obama and dollars over the next five years. Dmitry Medvedev “is in the best But in a speech to the National interests of the United States.” Defense University Foundation The new START treaty, which Tuesday, Kyl indicated he wants cuts the arsenals of deployed t o s e e a m o d e r n i z a t i o n n u c l e a r w a r h e a d s i n b o t h commitment lasting twice that countries by about 30 percent, long and involving a lot more must be approved by the Senate money. a s w e l l a s t h e R u s s i a n “Most experts believe it’s going

to require a little over one billion a year for at least ten years, so you are in the order of 12, 13, maybe 15 billion over the course of 10 or 12 years,” Kyl said. He also wondered whether the Democrat-dominated Congress would approve even the money that had been proposed for next

month. “This modernization plan has to be a lot more than words and big commitments,” Kyl said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s got to be an absolute commitment to adequate funding for everything that has to be done …” One member of Kyl’s audience thought differently. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said that the money the administration had proposed already was a significant increase. “Senator Kyl doth protest too year. “Before we get too happy much,” Kimball said. about just saying we’re going to Photo credit: Reuters/Joshua ratify START, let’s get the Roberts (Kyl at Senate hearing commitment,” Kyl said. July 2009), Reuters/Kevin He wants to see the funding L a m a r q u e ( O b a m a a n d commitments in the 10-year Medvedev at Nuclear Security plan for modernizing the U.S. Summit) nuclear arsenal that the administration is expected to present to the Senate next

Baby photos on show as Queen Elizabeth II turns 84 (AFP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed) Submitted at 4/21/2010 6:30:21 AM

Tina S buzzed up: Threat of new, larger Icelandic eruption looms (AP)

2 s e c o n d s a g o 2 0 1 0 - 0 4 - Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: 21T06:07:01-07:00 PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Five Filters featured article: Term Extraction.


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Senator to USAID: Stop your high-flying ways Susan Cornwell (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 4/20/2010 2:32:18 PM

An influential senator warned the official U.S. overseas aid agency: come down to earth with the impoverished people or see your funding cut. Senator Patrick Leahy said he was concerned that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had become “distant from the trenches,” sometimes more eager to deal with foreign elites than the suffering masses who had no voice. Leahy’s opinion matters because he chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees the budget for USAID, which the Obama administration hopes to transform into an important tool to boost the U.S. image abroad. “There is a disturbing detachment between some USAID employees at missions overseas who spend much of their time in comfortable offices behind imposing security barriers, living in relative high

style — and the impoverished people they are there to help,” Leahy told the agency’s administrator, Rajiv Shah. “USAID needs to change its culture, and change the way it does business, if it wants the kind of money you are asking for,” Leahy said during a hearing on USAID’s budget request, which is roughly $21 billion for the fiscal year starting in October. Shah told reporters after the hearing that he saw Leahy’s remarks as “comments of support” from someone who

wanted to help make USAID “the primary development agency around the world.” USAID has thousands of workers in 82 countries, and “the vast majority of our people are both hugely committed and make tremendous personal sacrifices,” Shah said. Some, as in Afghanistan, were “taking huge personal risks.” But in some environments they did not have the security they needed to go out and review projects, contributing to a feeling of distance from the work. “In some situations that

History Buff: Civil War Quiz (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)

century ago, the scars of the Civil War are still with Americans today. Think you A s t h e b l o o d i e s t w a r i n know more than the average American history, it tore a Billy Yank or Johnny Reb about nation and even families apart. the blood spilled and the politics Although it ended more than a behind the war? Find out by Submitted at 4/20/2010 1:00:00 PM

taking our Civil War quiz. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

places us behind the fence when we don’t want to be there.” Leahy told reporters he thought Shah, who has only been in his post a few months, would be able to make the needed reforms. The senator said he would give the agency time to change, noting it had taken a long time for USAID to get into the situation it was in, and Shah was new to his post. The doctor and specialist in food security issues was named to head the aid agency as part of the Obama administration’s increased emphasis on development assistance. “We are lucky to have him. I’m amazed he took the job. He has a pretty clear mandate to make changes. I think he will,” Leahy said. Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (woman carries rice from USAID in Haiti), Reuters/Joshua Roberts (Leahy at Senate hearing)

Christian DiorInspired Virtual Beauty Makeover ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs) Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:10:51 PM

I love playing with makeup, but prior to today I’d never experimented with beauty products virtually. And you know what? I kind of like it. In fact, it’s borderline obsessive. It all started very innocently, of course—we just launched a new Virtual Makeover Tool on our Hair & Beauty channel, and I figured I’d give it a try. At first I simply wanted to see what I’d look like with a tan (my complexion currently resembles vampire Edward Cullen's). But then I decided it might be fun to recreate some of my favorite looks from the spring 2010 shows too! Here, my version of Christian Dior’s spring 2010 makeup(sans face blemishes and undereye circles, thanks to a healthy dose of virtual zapping). —Emily Hebert Photo: Christian Dior Model: Imaxtree; Hebert: Kelly Stuart Follow ELLE on Twitter Become our Facebook fan


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Manna from heaven (well, Hanks) for White House press Patricia Zengerle (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 4/20/2010 4:11:11 PM

The actor Tom Hanks reinforced his standing as the caffeine guardian angel of the White House press corps on Tuesday by sending a second high-end espresso maker to the denizens of the West Wing briefing room. “In that you get out so rarely, here is another machine to supply you with the Manna of Heaven, the Boost of Bolt, the Cuppa Java that may help you get through the day,” Hanks wrote in a note accompanying the shiny new ”Made in Italy” Pasquini espresso maker, which came complete with a jug for steaming milk and a set of espresso cups. The actor – accompanied by director Steven Spielberg, paid a surprise visit to the press corps last month after being hosted by President Barack Obama at a White House preview of HBO’s new World War Two series “The Pacific.” Hanks said he wanted to check the status of the first espresso maker he had sent, a “Pony Express” model muchloved and well-used by reporters cooped up in the press center.

Street Chic: New York ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs)

During that visit, Hanks chided the reporters that they had not been cleaning the machine after every use, and promised to send a second. The letter sent with the new machine reminded the journalists to clean the steam spout more frequently. The machine’s arrival – it was borne from the gate in an official minivan – was a welcome distraction on a spring afternoon for reporters more accustomed to sparring with White House staff over the nuances of topics like

Obama’s upcoming Supreme Court pick or push for financial regulatory reform. “ At least someone likes us,” one correspondent commented, as the machine was uncrated. And Hanks was showing the love. The last machine he sent retails for $1,550. The new one is priced at up to $1700. And the cups alone add a tone of class to the windowless press galley, bearing the motto: ”For music, Puccini, for art, Bernini, for Espresso, Pasquini.” Picture credit: Tom Hanks,

gives a thumbs up to a World War II veteran after taking his picture with his cell phone during a tribute to veterans at the World War II Memorial on the Washington Mall, March 11, 2010. Hanks and Steven Spielberg (L) were joined by 250 World War II veterans in a tribute to those who served in the Pacific theater of World War II, before the March 14 premiere of the 10-part HBO miniseries “The Pacific”. REUTERS/Jason Reed

Submitted at 4/21/2010 6:00:00 AM

A two-tone denim shirt adds a double dose of style to pinstriped shorts and a tee. Photo: Kelly Stuart Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!


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Happy Birthday Justice Stevens, from Barack Obama

Belkin buys crafty power-tracking start-up

James Vicini (Front Row Washington)

(CNET News.com)

Submitted at 4/20/2010 5:33:44 PM

U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens celebrated a milestone birthday Tuesday when he turned 90, and received a letter of congratulations from President Barack Obama. “For the last 35 years of your remarkable 90, the nation has benefited from the rigor, courage, and integrity that have marked your service on the Supreme Court,” Obama said in a letter to Stevens. “Our system of justice and our nation are stronger and fairer because of your sterling contributions,” Obama wrote in the letter released by the Supreme Court. Stevens is the second oldest justice in court history. Justice

Oliver Wendell Holmes retired in 1932 just two months before his 91st birthday. In 1931, on the only other occasion that a sitting Supreme Court justice celebrated his 90th birthday, President Herbert Hover wrote to Holmes his congratulations, Obama noted. Stevens earlier this month

announced he would retire from the court this summer, giving Obama the opportunity to name his replacement. “Your retirement at the end of the court’s term will mark the completion of a judicial career, like that of Justice Holmes, that has left an undeniable imprint on our country’s jurisprudence,” Obama wrote. Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago before entering politics, concluded the letter by thanking Stevens for his distinguished service and wishing the justice and his wife Maryan much happiness. Picture credit: Justice John Paul Stevens poses for 2006 Court portrait. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Automate Unexpected Costs with a "Stupid Mistakes" Sub-Account [Automation] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 4/21/2010 4:00:00 AM

You can plan for weddings, save up for retirement, and even iPhone upgrade, but you can't tuck away cash for that next predict your next parking ticket

or coffee-soaked laptop. Set up a "stupid mistakes" sub-account to save against your future oopsies. More »

Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:35:46 AM

Electronics and wireless equipment maker Belkin is getting more deeply into energy management with the acquisition of a small company with technology that detects how electricity is used within a home. The company, called Zensi, was founded by academics-including Schwetak Patel and Matthew Reynolds--who developed a system for sensing how much electricity different appliances use, said Kevin Ashton, the former CEO of Zensi. By interpreting electrical variations on a building's wiring, the system can detect when different appliances are turned on and off and create a profile on electricity consumption. One device plugged into the wall could, for example, tell a person how much electricity a refrigerator uses or how much money was spent on stand-by power for a TV, explained Ashton, who is now general manager of the Conserve business unit at Belkin.

Getting that sort of detailed information and making it available in consumer-friendly ways is one of the keys to getting people to conserve and waste less, according to studies. There are a number of home energy monitoring products coming to market but getting detailed data, particularly if a home doesn't have a smart meter, is a technical challenge. Energy monitoring companies are also experimenting with ways to best present information to people so that it's useful. Ashton said it will probably take at least a year before Belkin introduces a product, but he believes that people will view the electricity consumption information in different ways. "The idea that everyone is going to have a big screen that does nothing but tell them what goes on with energy, we don't think that's going to work," he said. Different devices, such as Web portals, small displays, or tablet computers like the iPad offer different possibilities, he said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.


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A lighter way to follow volcanic ash Visa Picks Up CyberSource For $2 Billion Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 4/20/2010 4:05:41 PM

It almost seems like a case of adding insult to injury, but the volcanic ash that is wreaking havoc over European airspace has started tweeting. And, while trying not to take it personally,@theashcloud has amassed more followers than some of us who have been on Twitter for some time. But it’s a peppy ash cloud, asking for suggested #ashtunes and with tweets like: “ The Ash Cloud would like to know if any happy tales have come out of the disruption I have (not deliberately) caused!Tweet them to me?#ash” The volcanic ash from Iceland has of course had serious consequences for European air travel. White House spokesman Bill Burton said it has affected “thousands and thousands of Americans who are stranded abroad” and U.S. ambassadors around the world are working to

Robin Wauters (TechCrunch) Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:05:39 AM

help them. “But obviously there’s nothing that we can do to blow the volcanic ash any faster. But we’re doing everything that we can.” The Icelandic volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier has also sparked some levity. Late night show host David Letterman decided the correct pronunciation was ay ya forgot ya yogurt. Watch CBS News Videos Online

Payment network operator Visa has agreed to acquire e-payment company CyberSource for $26 per share, or total consideration of approximately $2 billion to be paid with cash on hand. The price represents a near 34 percent premium over Mountain Jon Stewart of“The Daily View-based CyberSource’s Show” decided he would simply Tuesday closing price. The deal will enable Visa to call it Kevin. bolster online sales and offer Washingtonians who live in the new and enhanced online fraud capital of jargon, acronyms, and tongue-twisters, found they had p r e v e n t i o n s e r v i c e s t o merchants, financial met their match… Photo credit: Reuters/Lucas o r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d e n d Jackson (Ash and steam rise c o n s u m e r s . f r o m e r u p t i n g v o l c a n o i n CyberSource is said to process about 25 percent of all eIceland) commerce dollars transacted in the United States. The company serves more than 295,000 merchants through its CyberSource and Authorize.Net branded solutions, including companies like Google, Facebook and British Airways. Most of its revenues come from the United States, although Visa ingenuity and free time, here are says this positions the company seven cheap or free iPad stands. for global growth. More »

Seven DIY iPad Stands for Six Bucks or Less [DIY] Lauren Pon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 4/20/2010 5:00:00 PM

For all the magic that Apple promised an iPad box would contain, they definitely left out

one thing: a stand. Whether you've got five bucks or some

Visa and CyberSource have partnered since 1999, and currently collaborate on risk models built into CyberSource’s automated fraud management solutions. CyberSource’s President and CEO, Michael Walsh, will continue to oversee CyberSource’s operations. The company’s Chairman and Founder, William S. McKiernan, will join Visa as an Executive Advisor to assist in the integration of the two businesses. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Visa’s fourth fiscal quarter of 2010. This is the second significant acquisition in tech land this morning; Salesforce just announced it’s acquiring Jigsaw for$142 million in cash. Who’s next? CrunchBase Information Visa Cybersource Information provided by CrunchBase


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Silvio Berlusconi accused of ‘sacrilege’ in communion row (World News from Times Online)

coherently Christian”, a reference to scandals in his private life involving prostitutes Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:06:30 AM and showgirls. Silvio Berlusconi was accused The ban on divorcees taking today of committing sacrilege communion is the cause of with the complicity of the anguish among many rank and Vatican after he was shown on file Catholics. t e l e v i s i o n t a k i n g h o l y Father Paolo Farinella, a priest communion at a funeral even i n G e n o a , s a i d o r d i n a r y though he is twice married and Catholics would want to know is seeking a divorce from his whether they too could now take second wife. communion in similar Mr Berlusconi, 73, took c i r c u m s t a n c e s . communion at the funeral in Father Farinella said he had Milan of Raimondo Vianello, a written to Cardinal Tarcisio veteran television variety show Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary star. of State, and Cardinal Angelo Vatican officials said this was Bagnasco, head of the Italian p e r m i s s i b l e b e c a u s e M r Bishops Conference, to protest Berlusconi, 73, was in the against the ”scandal” . process of divorcing Veronica “Berlusconi has committed Lario, his second wife, and was sacrilege, given that he is de facto separated from her. divorced and is in the process of Archbishop Rino Fisichella, getting divorced for a second head of the Pontifical Council time,” he told the newspaper Il for Life, said the Church had not Fatto Quotidiano. therefore made an exception for Ordinary Catholics were him. scandalised “because it seems However, However Monsignor the ban on divorced people Giuseppe Casale, the former taking communion is imposed Bishop of Foggia, said that Mr on them but not on the powerful Berlusconi should refrain from Berlusconi, a man without moral taking communion not only scruples who is corrupt and because of his divorce but corrupts others”. “because his behaviour is not Mr Berlusconi was married in

1965 in a church ceremony to Carla Dall’Oglio, his first wife. They divorced in 1985. However, because he divorced her without obtaining a Vatican annullment, their marriage remains valid in the eyes of the Church. In 1990 Mr Berlusconi married Ms Lario, an actress who had been his mistress for several years and had three children by him, in a civil ceremony. In 2008 Mr Berlusconi was heard to ask the local bishop during mass at Porto Rotondo, near his Sardinian villa, when the ban on divorcees from taking communion would be lifted. The bishop replied that this depended on “a higher power than me”. Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, which deals with confessions and the sacraments, said he hoped the Prime Minister had been “in a state of grace” when he took communion at the funeral mass. Archbishop Girotti said that “formally speaking” Mr Berlusconi could take Communion because he was no longer living with Ms Lario. However, he would have had to

be fully absolved of his sins in the confessional. “The condition of being divorced does not necessarily preclude communion, provided the person in question has not remarried, does not co-habit and has done penance. I hope the Prime Minister was aware of this,” he said. Ms Lario sued for divorce after Mr Berlusconi attended the 18th birthday party in Naples a year ago of Noemi Letizia, an aspiring lingerie model and showgirl who at the age of 17 had attended a New Year party at Villa Certosa, the Prime MInister’s Sardinian residence. Ms Lario said she could “not stay with a man who consorts with minors”, adding that he was “not well”. It later emerged that escorts and showgirls had been paid to attend his parties in Rome and Sardinia and in some cases to go to bed with him. The Vatican however has by and large overlooked this behaviour. Mr Berlusconi’s centre Right government has backed Church policies on issue such as euthanasia and abortion and claims to uphold “Catholic family values”. This week Mr Berluconi

attended a reception at the Italian embassy to the Vatican to mark the fifth anniversay of Pope Benedict XVI’s election, accompanied by Renata Polverini, the centre-Right candidate who in the recent election for governor of Lazio defeated Emma Bonino, the centre-Left candidate and former EU Commissioner, who favours liberal laws on divorce and abortion. The Church had asked voters to support the candidate who promoted Catholic values. “We did it, your Eminence!” Mr Berlusconi told Cardinal Bertone at the reception. He has also sent a message of strong support to the Pope to defend him against accusations that he had helped to cover up clerical sex abuse as Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982 and later as head of doctrine at the Vatican for 24 years. Mr Berlusconi blamed the scandals on “an unspeakable campign of slander” against the Pope and the Church. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Origins of 12 Advertising Icons

10 Ways To Contact A Ghost Videos

(HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)

(HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)

Submitted at 4/20/2010 1:00:00 PM

by the Editors of Publications

International, Ltd. Term Extraction. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,

Submitted at 4/20/2010 1:00:00 PM

(more info) Five Filters featured article:

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Former IOC chief Juan Antonio Samaranch dies, aged 89 (World News from Times Online)

end of amateurism and the start of professionalism and a string of doping scandals. Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:00:54 AM His greatest achievement was Juan Antonio Samaranch, one said to be the organisation of the of the most powerful but 1992 Olympics Games in his controversial figures in world h o m e c i t y o f B a r c e l o n a . sport, has died. He was 89. Samaranch considered stepping The former president of the down afterwards but carried on I n t e r n a t i o n a l O l y m p i c at the helm of the organisation Committee (IOC) died in the during the Atlanta Games in intensive care unit of the Quiron 1 9 9 6 a n d b e y o n d . T w i c e Hosptial in Barcelona where he Samaranch changed the rules to was admitted yesterday after extend the age limit to allow suffering a mild heart attack last him to carry on. year. His successor, Jacques Rogge, The Spaniard walked into the described Samaranch as his h o s p i t a l a f t e r f e e l i n g inspiration. "I cannot find the “uncomfortable”, according to words to express the distress of reports in Spanish media. the Olympic family," Rogge Samaranch was the second- said. "I am deeply saddened by longest serving president in the the death of the man who built history of the IOC and retired up the Olympic Games of the from the position in 2001 after modern era, a man who inspired 21 years at the helm. me, and whose knowledge of He was credited with changing sport was truly exceptional." the Olympic organisation by Samaranch was credited for s p a r k i n g a b o o m i n bringing financial stability to the c o m m e r c i a l i s a t i o n a n d IOC during the 1970s through broadening the Games’ appeal. lucrative television deals and However, Samaranch also s p o n s o r s h i p s . B u t h i s oversaw an era marked by a presidency was also criticised series of political boycotts, the for overcommercialisation and

his personal fondness for being addressed as Excellency and staying in five-star presidential suites. In Spain, Samaranch was seen both as a sporting hero and a politically controversial figure. Lauded for his contribution to the Olympic ideal, he was also widely criticised for his apparent support for the dictator General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain for 36 years between 1939 and his death 1975. Campaigners called for Mr Samaranch’s resignation as IOC life president, claiming his past links to the Franco regime were not compatible with the “democratic and fraternal ideals of world sport”. Born into a wealthy family in Barcelona, Samaranch was head of the city’s council between 1973 and 1977. In the 1960s, he was procurator of the Cortes, the Spanish upper house of parliament when it was nothing more than a puppet authority under Franco. Samaranch was appointed Sports Secretary by Franco in

1967 and went on to become president of the Spanish National Olympic Committee during final years of Franco’s rule. He was IOC president between 1980 and 2001 before being given the honorary title of president for life. When Franco died, Samaranch did not disguise his admiration for the late dictator. He said: “The mandate of Francisco Franco has meant the longest period of prosperity and peace that our country has known for many centuries.” Tony Strubell, of Democracy and Dignity in Sport, said during the 1950s the IOC condemned the dictatorships of Hitler and Mussolini. But, he claimed today the IOC had “zero credibility” because of the presence of Samaranch at its head. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

show’s correspondent, Samantha Bee, was helping a security consultant track down his stolen guns. For her search team, Bee assembled an ex-con,

a former loan shark, and Luntz. unless they confessed. “No no At one point, as the three no no no,” interjected Luntz. questioned the consultant’s cleaning staff, the ex-shylock threatened to break their bones

Google Wave's Quick, New Wave Templates Guide Your Wave Use [Collaboration] Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 4/20/2010 3:00:00 PM

As excited as some of us still are about Google Wave (hell, two of us wrote a book), Wave's biggest problem remains: "What would I use it for?" With the app's new wave templates, Google wants to guide you toward answers. More »

Spin At All Costs Jonathan Chait (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:00:00 PM

Last week, Republican pollster

Frank Luntz offered himself up as a punch line in a segment for “The Daily Show.” The somewhat convoluted premise of the sketch was that the


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Chinese web surfers go gaga for English buzz phrases (World News from Times Online)

English slang or acronyms is the acme of cool. It is a trend that is causing Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:07:57 AM anxiety among the academics Ever on the lookout for the who monitor the integrity of newest coolest expressions, Mandarin. young Chinese have fixed on Huang Youyi, the editor-in“Oh My Lady Gaga!” chief of the China International Gone is the fascination among Publishing Group, said in the hip young internet users with the China Daily: “If we don’t pay popular English expression “Oh a t t e n t i o n a n d d o n ’ t t a k e My God!” to express surprise. measures to stop mixing “Sandy Beijing – Oh My Lady Chinese with English, the Gaga!” was the title used by one Chinese language won’t remain young surfer as his title for a pure in a couple of years.” series of photographs of Beijing Mr Huang has even called for in a fog of orange sand during regulations to protect the one of the worst duststorms of Chinese language from the the spring. pernicious influence of foreign Another young man, nervous imports. about meeting his girlfriend’s That anxiety, reminiscent of the parents, blogged – in Chinese, worries long voiced by the except for his expression of A c a d é m i e F r a n ç a i s e as shock: “Oh My Lady Gaga. I’m p r o t e c t o r o f t h e F r e n c h a l r e a d y s o n e r v o u s a b o u t language, has spread to the state meeting your parents maybe I broadcaster, China Central will faint.” Television, better known as The phrase has become all the CCTV. rage in text messages and in The authorities have reportedly chatrooms, where scattering q u i e t l y i s s u e d o r d e r s – conversations with fashionable – unpublished – banning English a n d w i d e l y u n d e r s t o o d – abbreviations and acronyms

from broadcasts. That means such popular “words” as NBA, valued for its brevity and familiarity, must now be pronounced in Chinese and in full. In the case of NBA, the US National Basketball Association, which is followed closely because a Chinese sportsman is among the most highly paid and high-profile players, that will require a tensyllable phrase. Also forbidden are GDP (gross domestic product), and CPI (consumer price index) – both phrases that may indeed be confusing to the hundreds of millions of viewers of CCTV, many of them farmers. Oh My Lady Gaga is probably safe – until it is unseated by the next trendy English internet phase to grab the attention of China’s tens of millions of surfers. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Top 10 YouTube Videos About Flash Mobs Deane Rimerman (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 4/21/2010 12:30:00 AM

Flash mobs are "spontaneous" gatherings that are organized by emails and text messages. Everyone from celebrities to schools have created them. To keep it real, our Top 10 YouTube list is based only on non-commercial events. From a giant flash mob shootout in a shopping center in Poland, to a ninja mob at U.C. Berkeley, to a light saber mob in Bristol, these events are a global phenomenon. In Australia and New York City - even a record 3,000 people all freezing in place in Paris - these mobs demonstrate how new ideas for email- and text message-based event organizing have only just begun. Sponsor • Frozen Grand Central 21,348,947 views• The Great Trafalgar Square Freeze 3,311,232 views• Supermarket Flashmob 1,704,450 views• World biggest Freeze Flash Mob in Paris OFFICIAL VIDEO 1,157,621 views• Ninja

Flashmob 944,587 views• Flash Mob in "Stary Browar" Pozna, Poland 12.05.07 782,713 views• Bristol Lightsaber Flashmob The Official Video 212,675 views• Twittervlog: Massive flashmob silent rave in London Victoria 207,689 views• Newcastle Flash Mob - Look North 192,408 views• Sydney Flash Mob Freeze - Jun 24 2008 Official Video 181,580 views We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it. Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! Discuss


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First flight leaves Heathrow as warning of ‘several days’ more delays

Cool ways tech is helping the Earth (images)

(World News from Times Online)

(CNET News.com)

Hundreds of passengers hoping to fly today have arrived at the airport, but far fewer than on a Submitted at 4/21/2010 4:04:20 AM normal day, he added. The first flight in six days took Passengers with flights should off from Heathrow this morning contact their airline or check as a trickle of planes landed at their website to find out if their the airport following a change in flight is running. the rules governing flying in The dramatic turn around in the volcanic ash. The world’s rules came at 10pm last night busiest airport is seeking special after almost a week of tests dispensation to allow overnight carried out by the Civil Aviation take offs and landings to clear Autority and manufacturers. the backlog generated by the A spokesman for the CAA told shutdown of UK airspace. The Times that engineers and Alitalia flight AZ201 left the airline manufacturers had been runway at 08.06am bound for i n v e s t i g a t i n g w h e t h e r t h e Rome, no other planes have yet p r e v i o u s “ z e r o ” t o l e r a n c e taken off as crews are scattered approach to volcanic ash was across the globe and airlines necessary. fleets are in the wrong place. “The situation has never really BAA told The Times it would occured before where it has be “several days” before normal affected airspace like Europe s e r v i c e w a s r e s u m e d a t where we are such a small land Heathrow and other airports mass and such a dense amount were struggling to get back of airtraffic so close to such a lot u s u a l o p e r a t i n g c a p a c i t y . of ash,” he said.

“The engine manufacturers have now looked at evidence and the science and previous incidents and come up with a flow of volcanic ash through an engine which they state is safe.” Only half an hour after they came to this conclusion the skies over the UK were open once again. Airlines must carry out full engine inspections before and after each flight in order to comply with the new rules, CAA said. A spokesman for BAA said that the airports were ready to run a full service but airlines will take time to rearrange their fleet and reposition crews meaning it will take days to resume normal operations. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

networking that makes it a more compelling application. Microsoft and the European When most people hear "green Environment Agency have tech," they might think of created a Web-based program energy-efficient computers or that lets people get--and submitmaybe solar panels. But tech--as -information on environmental in information technologies-- quality, including air and water. opens up many new ways to The site plots data from 1,000 protect the environment. In this air pollution monitoring stations Earth Day photo gallery, we in Europe and allows people to offer a few snapshots of where submit local observations. The tech is helping protect the Earth, goal is to expand the map to while still recognizing that m o n i t o r s e v e r a l d i f f e r e n t computing and electronics have environmental factors, including a significant--and growing-- a i r p o l l u t i o n , o i l s p i l l s , environmental footprint. biodiversity, and coastal One of the most dramatic ways e r o s i o n . that the Web has benefited the Related story: " Can green tech environment has been with save the Earth? It won't be easy" visualization, which gives Photo by Screenshot by Martin people a better understanding of LaMonica/CNET the Earth's natural systems and Caption by Martin LaMonica the human footprint on it. Five Filters featured article: The mapping back end makes Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: this visually appealing, but it's PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, t h e W e b - b a s e d s o c i a l Term Extraction. Submitted at 4/21/2010 6:00:00 AM

Best Tool for Managing Your Multi-Monitor Setup: Windows 7 [Hive Five Followup] Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 4/20/2010 2:30:00 PM

Earlier last week we asked you

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to share your favorite tools for and now we're back with the making the most of your multiresults. More » monitor setup. You responded, we tallied the nominations and put the top five up for a vote,


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Apple to Gizmodo: Yep, that's our phone, and we want it back (Ben Patterson) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

our pockets" and that he was "happy to see it returned to its rightful owner" now that "we Well, I guess this settles it as definitely know it's not some far as the authenticity of knockoff." Gizmodo's iPhone 4G scoop The news came just hours after Monday. The definitive piece of the bloggers Gizmodo described evidence: a letter from Apple's how a 27-year-old software top lawyer, formally requesting engineer at Apple (who is the safe return of the wayward named and pictured in the post, next-generation iPhone— the by the way) managed to leave one left on a Redwood City t h e p r e c i o u s i P h o n e 4 G barstool last month by a young prototype — disguised to look (and surely red-faced) Apple like an iPhone 3GS— on a software engineer. barstool at the Gourmet Haus Gizmodo posted the letter late Straut, a "nice German beer Monday, and the missive — garden" in Redwood City, about while firm in tone, and signed 20 miles northwest of Apple HQ by Apple General Counsel and in Cupertino. ( Engadget had Senior VP Bruce Sewell — blogged over the weekend that stops short of making any legal the phone was lost in a San Jose threats, at least for the time watering hole, leading to some being: initial confusion.) It has come to our attention that Having downed a few brews, GIZMODO is currently in the hapless Apple engineer possession of a device that eventually rolled out of the bar, belongs to Apple. This letter a c c o r d i n g t o G i z m o d o , constitutes a formal request that absentmindedly leaving behind you return the device to Apple. the next-generation iPhone Please let me know where to (which he'd been field testing, pick up the unit. the post said). Hey, it happens. Gizmodo Editorial Director (If I had a nickel for every time Brian Lam replied cheekily that I left a credit card at a bar ... ) the lost, radically redesigned Another man in the bar ended iPhone was "burning a hole in up taking the phone home, Submitted at 4/20/2010 9:57:12 AM

peeled off the protective jacket the next day, and realized he had a windfall on his hands. And as we all now know, "weeks later, Gizmodo got it," says Gawker Media Inc.'s Gizmodo — leaving out a key detail that Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media, filled in later for the Associated Press: The company paid $5,000 for it. What followed, I'm sure, was a scene similar to the wonderful sequence in the BBC version of "State of Play": The editors huddled with their lawyers, the crucial evidence (a suitcase of documents in "State of Play," an iPhone in the case of Gizmodo) on a table before them, trying to suss out whether they should write a story or call the police. So, is Gizmodo in trouble? Hard to say, but the L.A. Times tech blog checked in with UC Irvine law professor Henry Weinstein, who says Gizmodo is probably in the clear: "Journalists generally do not get prosecuted for being in receipt of stolen documents, as opposed to the person who received the documents and turned them over." (It's worth noting that Gizmodo claims the iPhone in

question wasn't stolen — merely "lost.") Now, Apple may find some other way to punish the Gizmodo guys (who are fast becoming the Merry Pranksters of tech bloggerdom) — perhaps a different legal route, or it may freeze out Gizmodo in terms of access to Apple reps and review samples. Then again, Apple reportedly had already snubbed Gizmodo by refusing to give it an advance review iPad, so ... sounds like Gizmodo's iPhone scoop may have been sweet revenge for the spurned blog. And c'mon: Here's Apple, perhaps the most infamously paranoid company of all time, complete with triple-secret security zones, blackout curtains hung over conference room windows, flashing red warning lights, prototype devices chained to tables, and all that — only to suffer the (arguably) worst security breach in its history because some poor guy left the next iPhone on a barstool. The irony is just too rich. Of course, this is all inside baseball (albeit a fascinating game of inside baseball); in the

end, we're left with what appears to be an enticing new iPhone, with a revamped design (flat and shiny on the front and back, trim aluminum sides, thinner but a bit heavier), dual cameras (with a front-facing lens for video chat), a bigger battery, and what appears to be a higher-resolution display. The design may change between now and the final shipping date — after all, the phone Gizmodo snagged may only have been a prototype — but still, there's little question that the iPhone as we know it is poised for some big changes. • Gizmodo: A Letter: Apple Wants Its Secret iPhone Back • Gizmodo: This Is Apple's Next iPhone — Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News. Follow me on Twitter! Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter! Become a Yahoo! News fan on Facebook! Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.


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Threat of new, larger Icelandic eruption looms (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

through — threatening a new and possibly longer aviation standstill across Europe. REYKJAVIK, Iceland – For all Katla showed no signs of t h e w o r l d w i d e c h a o s t h a t activity Tuesday, according to Iceland's volcano has already scientists who monitor it with created, it may just be the seismic sensors, but they were opening act. still wary. Scientists fear tremors at the Pall Einarsson, professor of Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH- geophysics at the Institute of lah-yer-kuhl) volcano could Earth Sciences at the University trigger an even more dangerous of Iceland, said one volcanic eruption at the nearby Katla eruption sometimes causes a volcano — creating a worst-case nearby volcano to explode, and scenario for the airline industry Katla and Eyjafjallajokull have and travelers around the globe. been active in tandem in the A Katla eruption would be 10 past. times stronger and shoot higher In fact, the last three times that and larger plumes of ash into the Eyjafjallajokull erupted, Katla air than its smaller neighbor, did as well. which has already brought Katla also typically awakens E u r o p e a n a i r t r a v e l t o a every 80 years or so, and having standstill for five days and last exploded in 1918 is now promises severe travel delays slightly overdue. for days more. That notion is frightening for The two volcanos are side by nearby villagers, who would side in southern Iceland, about have to quickly evacuate to 12 miles (20 kilometers) apart avoid the flash floods that would and thought to be connected by rip down Katla's slopes. Even a network of magma channels. last week's eruption generated Katla, however, is buried under spectacular cascades of melted ice 550 yards (500 meters) thick water and ice chunks the size of — the massive Myrdalsjokull houses when burning gases and glacier, one of Iceland's largest. molten earth carved through the That means it has more than glacier. twice the amount of ice that the Svenn Palsson, the 48-year-old current eruption has burned mayor of the coastal village of Submitted at 4/20/2010 12:44:38 PM

Vik, said residents are going over evacuation plans now just in case. With a population of 300, Vik has been covered in 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, but the real concern is Katla. Residents would have two to three hours to reach the safety of a shelter if the volcano erupted and caused the ice to melt quickly. "We have practiced and can do it in 30 minutes," Palsson said. Other areas around the mountain, however, would have no more than 20 minutes to evacuate, he said. Katla's substantial ice cap is a major worry because it's that mixture of melting cold water and lava that causes explosions and for ash to shoot into high altitudes. Strong winds can then carry it on over Europe. So far there have been minor tremors at Katla, which scientists believe to be movements in the glacier ice, but the activity from Eyjafjallajokull is making measurements more difficult to read and an eruption more tricky to predict. "It is more difficult to see inside Katla," said Kristin Vogfjord,

geologist at the Icelandic Met Office. Her team of geophysicists, based in the capital of Reykjavik, use seismometers and GPS units planted around volcanoes to monitor quakes and the swelling of the land, which can indicate magma reservoirs that are pushing up through the crust. The area around Eyjafjallajokull rose up as much as 3 inches (8 centimeters) in recent months and then contracted slightly following the latest eruption. Vogfjord says Katla's sensitivity to eruptions at Eyjafjallajokull may have to do with pressure shifts in the Earth's crust that are caused by an eruption's magma flow. There are no clear answers, however, and even fewer predictions about what the future may hold. Volcano eruptions, like earthquakes, are difficult to predict. "Katla can start tomorrow or in 100 years, you don't know," said Palsson. "All we can do is be ready." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Remains of the Day: Ubuntu to Integrate with Zoho Office Suite Edition [For What It's Worth] Erica Ho (Lifehacker) Submitted at 4/20/2010 4:00:00 PM

Ubuntu is working on a project to integrate web office suite Zoho, a green phone charger may drop the vampire power, and Adobe Photoshop CS5 makes it easier to select fine objects like hair. More »

At least 11 workers sought after oil rig explosion (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed) Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:02:03 AM

NEW ORLEANS – Helicopters, ships and an airplane searched waters off Louisiana's coast Wednesday for at least 11 workers missing after an explosion and fire that left an offshore drilling platform tilting in the Gulf of Mexico. LEAST page 12


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LEAST continued from page 11

Most of the 126 people were believed to have escaped safely after the explosion on the rig Deepwater Horizon at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry said. The rig, about 52 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, was listing about 10 degrees and still burning Wednesday morning. "It's burning pretty good and there's no estimate on when the fire will be put out," O'Berry said. Seven workers were reported critically injured, Coast Guard Lt. Sue Kerver said. Two were taken to a trauma center in Mobile, Ala., where there is a burn unit, but the nature of their injuries was unclear, she said. At least two were taken to a suburban New Orleans hospital. O'Berry said many workers who escaped the rig were being brought to land on a workboat while authorities searched the Gulf of Mexico for any signs of lifeboats. "We're hoping everyone's in a

life raft," he said. The rig was drilling but was not in production, according to Greg Panagos, spokesman for its owner, Transocean Ltd., in Houston. The rig was under contract to BP PLC. BP spokesman Darren Beaubo said all BP personnel were safe but he didn't know how many BP workers had been on the rig. Kerver said the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service will work together to investigate possible causes of the accident. "It's still too early to tell the cause," Panagos said. "Our focus right now is on taking care of the people." O'Berry said Coast Guard environmental teams were on standby in Morgan City, La., to assess any environmental damage once the fire was out. According to Transocean's website, the Deepwater Horizon is 396 feet long and 256 feet wide. The rig was built in 2001 by Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea. The

site is known as the Macondo prospect, in 5,000 feet of water. The rig is designed to operate in water depths up to 8,000 feet and has a maximum drill depth of about 5.5 miles. It can accommodate a crew of up to 130. ___ Associated Press Writer Alan Sayre in New Orleans contributed to this report. Eds: CORRECTS spelling of Panagos; UPDATES with quote from Panagos on cause; Coast Guard preparing to assess environmental affect; Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service will investigate accident. ADDS video, audio, photos. Moving on general news and financial services. AP Video. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Cars for Teenage Drivers - from Consumer Reports Press Room (Consumer Reports)

Choosing a car for a teen will usually involve compormises between budget and desirable Submitted at 4/20/2010 9:00:59 PM features. Cars for Teens Cars for Teenage Drivers - Podcast Subscribe now! from Consumer Reports S u b s c r i b e t o

ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Watch Company Longines Opens Their First Online Store John Biggs (TechCrunch) Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:20:22 AM

The world of fine watches is a benighted place. Strange hangups masquerading as tradition are the norm and historically watch companies have looked at every new improvement to their business with trepidation. Consider the quartz movement, for example. Texas Instruments approached a number of Swiss companies when they first created the miniaturized quartz watch but no one wanted it - it was beneath them. China and Japan, however, bought the movements by the truckload and ate old horology's lunch. For years, watch companies have only allowed their wares to be sold through authorized dealers. This meant you had to go into a frou-frou shop, get talked down to by a snooty salesperson, and then pay over retail for a watch that was worth, in terms of parts and materials, about half of its sticker price. Pretty nice scam, huh? The Internet came along and those authorized dealers hit on a nice scam. They'd "sell" their watches to real people shills, usually - and those real

people would resell them online. Swatch Group, for example, is currently fighting this grey market in the Supreme Court. However, another part of the Swatch Group, Longines, is taking to the Internet like a duck to duck sauce and this is amazingly important because it opens a $35 billion part of the economy to an entirely new market.


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European skies open but airline schedules scrambled (Reuters: Top News)

airplanes from the ash, which can potentially scour and even paralyze jet engines. F R A N K F U R T ( R e u t e r s ) - In 1982 a British Airways jet Europe's skies were open for lost power in all four engines business on Wednesday, but after flying through an ash cloud with so many planes having above the Indian Ocean. been grounded by the pall of With aircraft having flown volcanic ash spreading from successful test flights for several Iceland it could take days or days, recriminations have even weeks to clear the backlog. started about why governments World took as long as they did to give About 75 percent of flights in the green light to the airline E u r o p e w i l l o p e r a t e o n industry, which according to the Wednesday, some 21,000 of the International Air Transport 2 8 , 0 0 0 f l i g h t s n o r m a l l y Association (IATA) lost some scheduled each day, European $1.7 billion in revenues. air traffic agency Eurocontrol "For an industry that lost $9.4 said. billion last year and was forecast Flights resumed after scientists to lose a further $2.8 billion in and manufacturers downgraded 2010, this crisis is devastating," the risk of flying in areas of IATA Director General and r e l a t i v e l y l o w a s h Chief Executive Giovanni concentrations, Britain's Civil Bisignani said in a statement on Aviation Authority said. Wednesday. "The major barrier to resuming He urged governments to flight has been understanding examine ways to compensate tolerance levels of aircraft to airlines which he said would ash. Manufacturers have now take three years to recover. agreed increased tolerance "It is an extraordinary situation levels in low ash density areas," e x a g g e r a t e d w i t h a p o o r CAA head Deidre Hutton said. decision-making process by "A return to normal will take national governments," he said. another 48 hours," French junior Despite their losses, airlines did Transport Minister Dominique also save around $110 million a Bussereau predicted. "I think the day on costs such as fuel, IATA situation will be normal before said. the weekend." The Association of European Britain had lagged behind its Airlines, representing 36 major E u r o p e a n n e i g h b o r s i n commercial and freight carriers, downgrading the threat to criticized Britain on Tuesday for Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:40:31 AM

not reopening its skies sooner. [nLDE63J21A] WELCOME RELIEF The progressive reopening, after the European Union agreed on Monday to ease the rules, offered stranded passengers and the airline industry welcome relief. But with aircraft and crew scattered where they were grounded on Thursday, timetables will be wrecked. "To get back to normal levels of operation from an industry point of view will take weeks," British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh told BBC television. Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said: "Whilst the reopening of airspace is good news both for passengers and the industry as a whole, it is likely to take several days to get everyone who has been affected to their destinations." For some passengers who have faced epic journeys and huge financial outlay since no-fly zones were imposed on Thursday, the decision came too late. For Meg Newman, 31, a speech and language therapist, and Harry Speller, 30, both of London, New York was the last leg of a three-month tour through India, Nepal and Malaysia after Speller lost his accounting job. Each budgeted 3,000 pounds

($4,600) for their travels, and Speller estimates the extended stay in New York will cost at least another 1,500 pounds. "New York was our five-day treat," Newman said. "We weren't expecting it to be 16 days. Now we haven't got the money." New York itself is losing about $3 million a day in reduced spending, according to city officials, and the Spanish tourist industry, excluding airlines, lost 252 million euros ($338.7 million), the nation's tourist body said. ECONOMIC IMPACT The economic impact of the cloud has already hit parts of the supply chain and could potentially dent the fragile recovery from the global recession. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated a week of disruption could destroy around 0.025-0.05 percent of annual British GDP, and the same would probably be true of other European countries. But Germany said the impact on its economy would be limited. Humanitarian flights were also affected. The U.S. military is evacuating war-wounded from Afghanistan to a base in Iraq, instead of sending them to Germany. A polio immunization campaign in West Africa has had to be

delayed because the vaccines are stuck at French and German airports. The volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier was still erupting, but producing much less ash. [nLDE63K0W3] "There is ongoing activity in the volcano and we don't see any signs of it coming to an end. There is less ash production, it is probably the same as yesterday," Icelandic meteorological office official Gudrun Nina Petersen told a news conference. "The plume is very low, so most of the ash is falling here and keeping itself under 20,000 feet," she said. A low pressure weather system moving into Iceland should also help clear the ash cloud within days, an expert from the World Meteorological Organization said in Geneva. (Additional reporting by European and Asian bureaux; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) ($1=.6233 Pound) ($1=.7439 Euro) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.


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Paulson reassures on Goldman role (Reuters: Top News) Submitted at 4/21/2010 6:14:53 AM

N E W YORK/SINGAPORE(Reuters) Paulson & Co, the hedge fund linked to civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc, moved to head off investor concerns about its role in a deal that has scarred the reputation of the Wall Street bank and overshadowed blow-out quarterly earnings. Deals| Swine Flu Goldman is accused of defrauding investors by failing to say that prominent hedge fund manager John Paulson bet against a Goldman subprime debt product that he helped design. Goldman is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Britain's market watchdog, which launched its own probe on Tuesday. Its shares are down 13 percent since the SEC laid its charges, and closed 2 percent lower on Tuesday despite thumping quarterly earnings expectations. Goldman's troubles also caused political reverberations. A top Republican congressman questioned whether politics affected the timing of the government's case, while in

Britain, the Liberal Democrat party's leader said Goldman should be banned from UK government contracts until the case is settled. Paulson, in a conference call on Monday and followed up with a letter to investors late on Tuesday, says neither he nor anyone else at the firm had received a so-called Wells notice indicating that charges might be filed against the fund, several investors who listened to the call said. No one had yet notified the $32 billion fund of their intentions to pull money out, they said. "We are interested in buying out people who want to get out of Paulson, but so far no one has stepped forward," one of the investors, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said late on Tuesday. A spokesman at Paulson & Co, which earned $15 billion by correctly betting in 2007 that the U.S. housing market would collapse, declined to comment. POLITICAL VILLAIN Experts said the case and the response showed Goldman's traditional strategy of keeping media and critics at bay behind a wall of silence was no longer valid. "They can't play that game

anymore," said Michael Robinson, a financial and crisis public relations consultant with Levick Strategic Communications. "The world has changed too much." Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report, described the lawsuit against Goldman Sachs as a hunt for scapegoats amid economic problems faced by the United States. "The target now is Goldman Sachs. You distract the masses with a villain," Faber said in Singapore. Goldman's leading role on Wall Street, coupled with massive paychecks to staff and bumper profits, make it an obvious target. Goldman said its first-quarter net income nearly doubled to $3.29 billion, bolstered by strength in fixed income trading and principal investments. The earnings of $5.59 a share easily topped analysts' forecasts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The bank reported its lowestever first-quarter compensation ratio, but still set aside $5.5 billion for compensation and benefits in the period. The reduction in money set aside served to bolster earnings that could bring more public

scrutiny to the 141-year old bank, last year described by Rolling Stone magazine as a "giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity." The bank's co-general counsel, Greg Palm, rebutted the SEC charges during the bank's earnings conference call. Palm said the firm was "very disappointed" that the SEC brought charges and said Goldman "would never mislead anyone." To lead their defense against the charges, Goldman has brought in Richard Klapper, a lawyer with an impressive record of courtroom victories for some of the biggest financial firms and a reputation as a fearsome litigator. 'RECKLESSNESS AND GREED' Goldman's forecast-beating earnings came as Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) said it started a formal investigation into Goldman Sachs International in relation to the SEC allegations. The FSA said it would work closely with its U.S. counterpart. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the UK's third-largest party, said the allegations against Goldman "are a reminder, if we needed one, of the recklessness and

greed that disfigured the banking industry as a whole." Rival institutions in Asia were seizing the chance to try and elbow in front of Goldman on major upcoming deals, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Investment bankers have been lobbying executives at stateowned Agricultural Bank of China and pushing officials in Beijing to drop Goldman as an underwriter for the bank's more than $20 billion IPO. Rivals are also asking officials at state-controlled Bank of Communications to ditch Goldman from its joint global coordinator role in the Chinese bank's $6.1 billion rights issue, the sources said, though there was no evidence either bank was considering pushing Goldman aside. (Additional reporting by Steve Eder and Paritosh Bansal in NEW YORK, Dan Margolies in WASHINGTON; George Chen and Fiona Lau in HONG KONG and Steve Slater in LONDON; Writing by Christian Plumb and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.


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Could Obama pick a politician for Supreme Court? (Reuters: Top News)

Justice. Obama is considering a list of about 10 candidates, including WASHINGTON(Reuters) - politicians, judges and a former President Barack Obama has a Harvard University law school chance to break with recent dean. He has said he hopes to tradition if he heeds the advice find a candidate who will of some fellow Democrats understand the struggles of urging him to look beyond ordinary Americans. judges in his pick of a candidate Aron said she shares that goal for the Supreme Court. and said some politicians might Barack Obama be able to bring valuable "real Senate Judiciary Chairman world experience," although Patrick Leahy and former o t h e r s c o u l d b r i n g t h a t President Bill Clinton are e x p e r i e n c e a s w e l l . among Democrats who see Leahy, who has suggested that benefits in selecting someone Obama broaden his search with political or policy b e y o n d t h e " j u d i c i a l experience. monastery," is among several In recent decades, U.S. t o p l a w m a k e r s w h o o n presidents have tended to turn to Wednesday will visit Obama at judges to fill vacancies on the t h e W h i t e H o u s e a b o u t a S u p r e m e C o u r t , a l t h o u g h replacement for retiring Justice historically plenty of politicians John Paul Stevens. have been tapped for the court. The meeting, which will " I t ' s i m p o r t a n t f o r a n include both Democratic and administration to look beyond R e p u b l i c a n l a w m a k e r s , i s judges for names, particularly scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EDT. given the experience that Stevens, who turned 90 on legislators and governors and Tuesday, is a leading liberal on attorneys general can bring to the court. Obama said he wants the decision-making process," to replace him with a candidate said Nan Aron, president of the o f i n t e l l e c t u a l h e f t a n d liberal group Alliance for consensus-building skills who Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:26:29 AM

could be persuasive on a court with a 5-4 conservative majority. Whomever he selects must be approved by the Senate. Obama, who is expected to announce his decision in early to mid-May, is looking closely at U.S. solicitor general Elena Kagan and federal appeals court judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland. Among the potential candidates who would bring political experience are Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona. Although Kagan is not a judge, she is a former dean of Harvard University law school. Her current job is to argue the government's cases before the Supreme Court. A P O L I T I C A L B A T T L E G R O U N D The Supreme Court's role in decisions on hot-button social issues such as abortion and gun ownership rights has made the nomination process a political battleground in recent decades. Analysts say the fight over

Obama's court pick may be more intense in a congressional election year than it was last year when Obama tapped Sonia Sotomayor to become the court's first Hispanic justice. The controversy surrounding the Supreme Court selection process is one reason many recent presidents have looked toward candidates steeped in judicial experience as safe choices. Earl Warren, a former California governor who later become chief justice of the high court, is among several politicians who have served on the court. Warren is revered by liberals for writing several landmark decisions, including the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that banned racial segregation in public schools. William Howard Taft, who was chief justice during the 1920s and '30s, is the only former president to have served on the court. Sandra Day O'Connor, who served on the court from 1981 to 2006, is the most recent example of a justice with

What comes after location? (Scripting News) Submitted at 4/20/2010 8:44:24 AM

This kept happening on my road trip. I would ask about

nearby Starbucks so I could get online and my Droid would tell me about locations that were either off my path or where I had come from.

So it's not just a matter of know where you're going. where I am, it's where I'm going. Don't tell me about Starbucks Location-awareness leads to that are west of here if I'm vector-awareness. headed east. I know where you are and I

substantial political experience; she had been an Arizona state senator. Lisa Kern Griffin, a law professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said O'Connor "exemplifies someone who was in touch with the impact of the court's decisions" on ordinary Americans and was "sensitive to its role in democracy." But Griffin said that does not mean a political career is a prerequisite for that kind of experience. "Justice Stevens himself, who is well known for his plain speaking, his moral clarity and his common sense, is someone who came from an elite federal appellate court," she said. "I don't think that there is any formula." (Editing by Philip Barbara) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.


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Former IOC president Samaranch dead at 89 (Reuters: Top News) Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:25:23 AM

BARCELONA(Reuters) - Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has died at the age of 89, the Barcelona hospital where he was being treated said on Wednesday. Sports| COP15 Spaniard Samaranch, who was made the IOC's honorary life president when he stepped down in 2001, was admitted to the Quiron hospital on Sunday with acute heart problems and passed away at 1325 local time (1125 GMT). He had died as a result of "cardio-respiratory failure" hospital doctor Rafael Esteban said in a statement. "I cannot find the words to express the distress of the Olympic Family," IOC president Jacques Rogge said. "We have lost a great man, a

mentor and a friend who dedicated his long and fulfilled life to the Olympics." Samaranch, once one of the most powerful figures in world sport who wielded influence on the Olympic movement right up until his death, had suffered a number of health problems since his retirement and was admitted to hospital several times. He ran the IOC with absolute authority for two decades and Barcelona's successful bid to host the 1992 Olympics was seen as his personal triumph. Samaranch's supporters believe he showed political skill in a difficult period to lead the Games into the era of professional sport and turn it into a huge money-spinner. His critics argue that many of the original values of the movement were obscured in the search for commercial success, leading to high-profile bribery and drugs scandals. He stepped down in July 2001,

21 years after he had been elected as the IOC's seventh president, and was made life president when he handed power to Rogge. GENUINE DEVOTION "I am personally deeply saddened by the death of the man who built up the Olympic Games of the modern era, a man who inspired me, and whose knowledge of sport was truly exceptional," Rogge said in a statement. "Thanks to his extraordinary vision and talent, Samaranch was the architect of a strong and unified Olympic Movement. "I can only pay tribute to his tremendous achievements and legacy, and praise his genuine devotion to the Olympic Movement and its values." At last October's vote in Copenhagen on the host for the 2016 Games, Samaranch made an emotional appeal to IOC members to grant him a last favor and choose Madrid but

they picked Rio de Janeiro instead. "I know that I am very near the end of my time," Samaranch said during Madrid's final presentation. Born in Barcelona on July 17 1920, he enjoyed success as a roller skater and led the Spanish team to the world title. He pursued a career in sports politics in dictator Francisco Franco's fascist Spain and won a place on the IOC in 1966. After Franco's death, Samaranch was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union and the contacts he made there helped him succeed Lord Killanin as IOC president in 1980. (Writing by Iain Rogers in Madrid, additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann in Berlin; editing by Ken Ferris) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

First Public Draft: Taking the Wraps off OAuth 2.0 Mike Kirkwood (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 4/21/2010 4:15:00 AM

The OAuth 2.0 draft specification is out there. The efforts of the group working on the specification are paying off in the form of an IETF working group submission. One thing is clear, there is a natural tension FIRST page 17

IEEE P1901 powerline networking standard passes key hurdle Donald Melanson (Engadget) Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:44:00 AM

You may not realize it, but powerline networking is growing up before your very eyes. It's latest milestone comes courtesy of the IEEE P1901 Working Group, which largely relies on HomePlug AV as its

baseline technology, and has now seen its initial sponsor ballot pass with a whopping 80% support. That, according to the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, offers clear evidence that there is "overwhelming industry support" for the standard, and that final ratification of the standard could

come as soon as the third quarter of this year. In fact, the

draft standard is already so far along that companies can purchase it from the IEEE store, and get to work on products that will comply with P1901. Continue reading IEEE P1901 powerline networking standard passes key hurdle IEEE P1901 powerline networking standard passes key

hurdle originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| IEEE P1901 Working Group| Email this| Comments


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FIRST continued from page 16

in following the processes of IETF and the hyper-innovation cycle of web standards that are now powered by the growth of social media. In this world, keeping up with all the work in the community itself is a feat in itself. As proven recently, even aligning the naming of standards in our small community (xAuth, XAuth) proves challenging enough. With that said, we'll share we what we've learned about this version and what work has been incorporated into it. Sponsor For those coming up to speed on the issues surrounding OAuth 2.0, here is a brief summary of the state of the union: The OAuth Working Group in IETF generated a first draft of OAuth 2.0. This group that is credited with this document consists of active leaders of both the Twitter API team as well as Facebook community standards team. A robust number of daily discussions are happening in the working group hosted at IETF include topics such as the default use of JSON that show the opportunity and challenge of growing the standard from a web-based to a broader set of devices and scenarios. One of the stated goals of the IETF OAuth working group is

to maintain backwards compatibility with OAuth 1.0. From our sampling of the depth of change in scope and conceptualization of the standard, this may be a big deal for the group, especially if key members decide to legacy their support for the first versions. As part of the evolution of OAuth, there is the case of the OAuth WRAP Google Group. This group has forged ahead to develop profiles for scenarios seen as extensions to the profile OAuth 1.0A. This includes new ways to gain tokens bringing the use cases of Javascript or RIA applications. WRAP also redefines the dependency on SSL and provides a simpler way to get started using tools easily accessible to the web resource. With some changes noted, this work has been brought forward in the OAuth 2.0 public draft. David Recordon, a chief thought leader in the open web (also employee at Facebook) recently offered this summary " What's going on with OAuth?" to help align the understanding of the evolution of the standard. Here we show one of the better known descriptions of the OAuth flow as provided by Yahoo. The annotations show a few of the areas that are under consideration for changes in OAuth 2.0 and/or in the work done in the OAuth WRAP

group. Last week, at Twitter's Chirp '10 the Twitter API team gave this presentation, " Too many secrets, but never enough: OAuth at Twitter". This document contains overview of the basic process of Twitter, commitment to the movement to OAuth 2.0, and discussion of Twitter's xAuth and OAuth Echos projects. Twitter Likes to Optimize Twitter is deeply intertwined with the inception and direction of OAuth. The company is both involved in the specifications but also is a lightening rod for discussion in the development community. In the Twitter blogs and developer groups, OAuth is being considered deeply in the trade-offs in implementation, design, and risk in the Twitter ecosystem. A few areas under discussion is how to remove the re-direction from the process, and also how to keep a running log of all account client accesses available to the user as a way to make sure users are aware and signaling proper account use. The Twitter API team has been willing to make change happen in the community by deprecating legacy processes, such as basic auth. With the changes coming in OAuth 2.0 the company may be in the best position to bootstrap developer

adoption of the new standards. In this way, OAuth 2.0 need to adapt to the speed and need of the Twitter use cases, to avoid becoming like XML. XML is a good thing, of course, but when push comes to shove, JSON is lighter weight and more compact. This is helping it become the preference for data attribute exchange in APIs like Twitters that support OAuth. With the rise of the social ecosystem as the hub for authorization, it is becoming clear that the IETF efforts need Twitter as much as Twitter needs the IETF. This seems like a good balance that will guide use cases along the way to practical standards formalization. There are a lot of questions out there about OAuth 2.0. Top of mind is whether this technology release will see the effective join of Twitter, Facebook, and Google? Or, will the practical matters of business and strategy keep the standards intact, and the implementations as islands? What is your prediction for OAuth 2.0 and web resource authorization? Discuss

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Options Update: Human Genome Volatility Flat after Shares Sell Off on Efficacy Data Paul Foster (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:00:00 AM

Filed under: Harley-Davidson (HOG), Options Human Genome ( HGSI) closed at $29.70 after announcing 76week SLE responder data missed statistical significance vs. 52 weeks. HGSI overall option implied volatility of 52 is near its 22-week average, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement. Harley-Davidson ( HOG) closed at $35.17 after rallying 7% on the announcement of Q1 EPS of 29 cents. HOG overall option implied volatility of 35 is below its 26-week average of 41, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement. Update is by Stock Specialist P a u l F o s t e r o f theflyonthewall.com. Options Update: Human Genome Volatility Flat after Shares Sell Off on Efficacy Data originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments


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Cooliris Upgrades Embeddable Media Walls And Express Creation Tools Robin Wauters (TechCrunch)

intensive pages by as much as 25%, and the upgraded product Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:00:16 AM also makes for faster scrolling Ü b e r c o o l m e d i a s h a r i n g and smoother interactions. technology company Cooliris is New comScore and Google beefing up two of its core Analytics support in Cooliris products, Cooliris Express and Walls now gives publishers a the embeddable Cooliris Wall. w a y t o t r a c k o f t h e The latter product is gaining implementation has resulted in more and more adoption, the increased engagement (the company tells me, growing from company claims it’s seeing up to an average of 100 new Walls 6 times as much interaction on created per day in December last sites like that of singer Taylor year to more than 400 new S w i f t ) , w h i c h i s h e l p f u l Walls per day more recently. information for advertisers and In addition, more than 45,000 media planners as it increases Walls with Cooliris Express potential ad opportunities and were launched in the last four revenue. months alone, notably about half Cooliris worked together with of them on Facebook. comScore to ensure they are Cooliris Walls allow customers compliant with their current like TV.com to display media standards: each piece of content like photos and videos in a viewed via the Wall basically visually appealing way, and lets gets counted as a page view. users interact with that content Also new in Cooliris Walls: regardless of which browser new ways for people to share they use (provided they have m e d i a v i a F a c e b o o k a n d Flash installed). Twitter. According to the startup, Walls Lacking because of its reliance can reduce page load for media- on Flash: support for iPad,

with the service, too. Cooliris Express introduces editing capabilities that enables which would be really cool on users to update and change the there (the company says they’re content on their Walls at any looking at ways of bringing the t i m e . B e f o r e , u s e r s w e r e experience to the platform). It supposed to create new Walls to works really well on the iPhone showcase new content. Now already, and Google has also u s e r s c a n a d d o r d e l e t e tapped Cooliris for Nexus One p h o t o s / v i d e o s f r o m t h e i r existing Walls. Finally, Cooliris support earlier this year. Secondly, Cooliris Express – a simplified the navigation and free tool that lets anyone create created a new user interface for digital experiences centered editing and uploading photos in around their photo and video Cooliris Express, all based on content – has gotten a revamp user input and suggestions, to make the process more intuitive and a host of new features. Users can now use Cooliris for non-technical users. Backed with about $18.5 Express to publish and dynamically update photo million in VC funding, Palo galleries for social networks and Alto, CA-based Cooliris last blogs from one central location. year also debuted an compelling To access and update Walls, way to generate advertising Cooliris Express has enabled a revenue with its service. CrunchBase Information single login that either leverages a F a c e b o o k o r G o o g l e Cooliris Information provided u s e r n a m e . O p e n I D i s n o t by CrunchBase supported (yet), but users are free to create a unique account

Internet of Things Can Make Us Human Again Deane Rimerman (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:15:00 PM

We've entered an era where the cost of sensors, processors and transmitters are so low that it's fast becoming cost effective to put them inside everything, even the clothes we wear. Even our own toothbrush may soon sense and communicate socially about where it is and how it's being used in space and time. Sci-fi writer Bruce Sterling has coined the term " spime", to describe objects that can be "tracked through space and time throughout the lifetime of the object." David Orban, the creator of the iPhone app WideNoise, also offers WideSpime, which helps INTERNET page 19

Get both Deus Ex games for $5 on Steam Richard Mitchell (Joystiq) Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:00:00 PM

Deus Ex: Human Revolution may be a long ways off, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the first two games in the series

right now. In fact, if you've never dabbled in the series before, now is the perfect time, as Steam has both Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition and its sequel Deus Ex: Invisible each, both games have been War on sale. Normally $9.99

lowered to a ridiculously low$2.50. According to Joystiq sister site Big Download, the sale is on until Thursday, so get your cheap cyber-action while it's hot. Get both Deus Ex games for $5

on Steam originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments


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developers build mass data collection services for real-time data management in a way that maintains the autonomy of both the data and the object generating the data. Sponsor In our most recent Internet of Things post Objects Aren't Social, Orban comments that objects " ...are going to form their own independent social networks, which are going to be fundamentally incompatible with human communication." These new machine networks will be so redundant and reliable that we will be freed from most of our machine-operating duties. We will get to be human again. We will soon see cars that don't rear end each other because onboard sensors won't allow it. Or how about a vacuum cleaner that knows about a mess your cat made and cleans it up before you even notice your machinenetwork's admin message about it. Also, consider an Internet of Things home that tracks your habits so well it knows which

rooms to heat and light because it knows what you'll be doing on that particular day. Orban's dream is that thousands of years of human subservience to machines will end because we will teach our machines how to not only take care of themselves, but how to take care of us as well. But what if someone wanted to manipulate these systems for an unethical advantage? Or even worse, what if these manipulations were built into these new machine networks at the earliest stages? On Sunday night, ReadWriteWeb reported on a presentation by Tim O'Rielly regarding the future Internet of Things. In his presentation he said, "You see increasingly the giants of the Internet are trading for their own account - they are building a platform in which all roads lead back to themselves. Now there is a contervailing force for openess, but we have to wary, we have to be aware of that; we have to work for openess in that

web." That's why Orban stresses the importance of autonomous machine networks, which are built on open-sourced standards. Another open-source Internet of Things project we're excited about is Pachube( pronounced patch-bay). What WideSpime and Pachube share in common are real-time global maps, which present data generation in a fair and open way. Because these projects aspire to a high level of transparency and user adaptability, we may have a chance to achieve Orban's dream of all us machine operators getting a chance to be human again. Free To be Human Video Free To be Human PowerPoint David Orban - Free to be human View more presentations from Mobile Monday Amsterdam. Discuss

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Why the 13" MacBook Pro still uses Core 2 Duo CPUs Chris Rawson (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 4/20/2010 8:00:00 PM

Filed under: Macbook Pro Since the MacBook Pro refresh last week, many have wondered why the 13" MacBook Pro wasn't updated with Intel's latest i5 processors. My dad, for example, had been waiting on a MacBook Pro update since January, but since the 13" stuck with Core 2 Duo processors, it took a bit of explaining on my part to convince him the 13" MacBook Pro had been updated at all. Lots of theories have been thrown around as to why the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros got i5 and i7 processors while the 13" models stayed Core 2 Duo. Predictably, these theories range from somewhat plausible to tinfoil hat territory. Someone asked Steve Jobs why the 13"

MacBook Pro still used the older processors, and the recently chatty Steve replied, "We chose killer graphics plus 10 hour battery life over a very small CPU speed increase. Users will see far more performance boost from the speedy graphics." TUAW Why the 13" MacBook Pro still uses Core 2 Duo CPUs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments


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Columbia and IBM Launch Green Tech Skills Initiative Audrey Watters (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 4/21/2010 12:15:00 AM

Figures released in February suggested that VC investment in cleantech startups, particularly those focused on energy efficiency, was on the rise. To help prepare college students for jobs in this emerging green economy, Columbia University and IBM are announcing the launch of the Smarter Cities Skills Initiative. Sponsor The Smarter Cities Initiatives opens IBM's global resources to Columbia faculty and students, including access to the 40 IBM Innovation Centers worldwide. The intiative builds upon Columbia's existing research efforts on sustainability issues, spanning several academic disciplines including business, law and engineering. The initiative will provide students with free access to: • IBM software, both on campus and in the cloud, to develop software for sustainability and green projects • Technical support for green

technology courses that show students how to build energy efficient IT infrastructure for smart buildings, smart grids and smart water systems • Energy efficiency and open standards software development tools on IBM developerWorks • 100,000 global business partners and academic communities through 40 IBM Innovation Centers in 30 countries "Smart urban infrastructures are key to long term environmental and economic sustainability," said Rich Lechner, vice president, IBM Energy and Environment. "IBM and Columbia share a common goal to ensure the next generation of entrepreneurs have access to the skills they need to accelerate sustainability projects and to be

competitive when they enter the workforce." Lechner says the necessary skills for being successful in the emerging green economy include technical skills, particularly in the areas of data analytics, visualizations and security, understanding of business processes, and the historical and policy-based knowledge that can help transform industries like the energy sector. In recognition of Earth Day, the initiative will be announced on Thursday at Columbia University to faculty, students, venture capitalists, policy analysts, and industry leaders at the first annual Smarter Students for a Smarter Planet forum. More than 150 schools around the world are expected to participate via webcast. The forum will explore the skills necessary to prepare students for green jobs, and help academia and industry jumpstart a global collaboration toward developing sustainable technologies and a green economy. Discuss

Sierra Wireless AirCard 890 does 7.2Mbps on AT&T, slides into PC Card or ExpressCard slots Darren Murph (Engadget)

shiny new 15-inch MacBook Pro(smart move on that SD-forExpressCard swap, Steve-o), but Talk about being flexible. everyone else can procure one Sierra Wireless' newest 7.2Mbps starting May 5th for $49.99 after -capable AirCard (the 890, if mail-in rebate and a new twoyou're curious) obviously isn't year DataConnect contract of at content with fitting into just one least $35 a month. slot. Rather than forcing users to Continue reading Sierra choose between compatibility Wireless AirCard 890 does with PCMCIA (PC Card) or 7.2Mbps on AT&T, slides into ExpressCard, this particular PC Card or ExpressCard slots WWAN card actually fits into Sierra Wireless AirCard 890 both... but not at the same time, does 7.2Mbps on AT&T, slides n a t u r a l l y . I t ' s t h e f i r s t into PC Card or ExpressCard DataConnect card on AT&T's slots originally appeared on network to boast a 2-in-1 form Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 factor, and moreover, it touts 07:18:00 EST. Please see our integrated GPS functionality for t e r m s f o r u s e o f f e e d s . u s e w i t h l o c a t i o n - b a s e d Permalink| | Email this| services. 'Course, you won't be Comments using one of these with your Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:18:00 AM


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AT&T adds fewer contract customers (CNET News.com)

customers. Postpaid or contract customers are valuable because they tend AT&T added fewer valuable t o s p e n d m o r e m o n e y o n contract or postpaid customers wireless service and they are during the first quarter of 2009, locked into lengthy contracts, a sign that competition is which wireless providers like. If heating up for new customers in these customers break their the crowded wireless market. c o n t r a c t s , t h e y p a y e a r l y The company also took a termination fees. Wireless significant hit to earnings due to operators have relaxed some of health care reform. their early termination fees Even though AT&T said it set a recently, but they still play a record for new customers in the m a j o r r o l e i n d e t e r r i n g first quarter, signing up 1.9 c u s t o m e r s f r o m d r o p p i n g million new subscribers, the s e r v i c e . company only added about Even though the company is 513,000 new contract customers not adding as many contract or postpaid subscribers. This is customers, it is retaining more down 43 percent from the c u s t o m e r s o v e r a l l a n d o n previous year. Analysts had average it's generating more expected AT&T to add roughly c a s h f r o m i t s 8 7 m i l l i o n 600,000 postpaid customers. subscribers. AT&T reported that The popular iPhone was a its churn rate or the rate at saving grace for the company. which people dump its service AT&T activated about 900,000 for someone else's was 1.07 iPhones for new customers percent for postpaid customers during the quarter. And it sold and 1.30 percent overall. This is another 1.8 million iPhones to the best churn rate that AT&T people who were already AT&T has ever experienced, the Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:06:21 AM

company said. The company also saw the average monthly revenue per subscriber increase 10.3 percent during the quarter with postpaid customers' ARPU increasing 3.9 percent. Data revenue was up 29.8 percent to $4.1 billion from $947 million during the same quarter a year ago. Overall, AT&T's revenue was flat compared to last year with $30.6 billion in sales. Analysts had expected the company to generate $30.7 billion in revenue. But the company's earnings were down substantially due to costs related to the new Health Care bill passed by Congress. AT&T earned $2.48 billion, or 42 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2009. This is down about 21 percent compared to the first quarter of 2009. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Acer Aspire 1825PTZ convertible tablet unboxed for your pleasure (video) Tim Stevens (Engadget)

along with Bluetooth, and a sixcell battery. Sadly the video Submitted at 4/21/2010 9:12:00 AM after the break doesn't actually Another tablet has entered the entail turning the thing on, but fray, the Acer Aspire 1825PTZ hopefully that'll be part of a bigconvertible -- a little sub- budget sequel. We hear Michael notebook that sits just above a Bay has signed on to direct. netbook in terms of specs, but Continue reading Acer Aspire isn't much larger than your 1825PTZ convertible tablet average Eee. NewGadgets.de unboxed for your pleasure has managed to get its hands on (video) one and was kind enough to hit Acer Aspire 1825PTZ the record button for that special convertible tablet unboxed for moment of unboxing, sharing your pleasure (video) originally t h e j o y a s t h i s 1 1 . 6 - i n c h appeared on Engadget on Wed, capacitive touchscreen'd model 21 Apr 2010 09:12:00 EST. entered the world. Inside, the Please see our terms for use of machine sports a 1.3GHz f e e d s . Permalink| SU4100 Pentium processor, NewGadgets.de| Email this| 4GB of RAM, a 320GB disk Comments drive, 802.11b/g/n wireless


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Salesforce Buys Business Directory Jigsaw For $142 Million In Cash Plus Earn-Out Robin Wauters (TechCrunch)

with Jigsaw’s model for the automation of acquiring and keeping up-to-date business Salesforce.com has just contact data. Jigsaw’s data cloud announced that it has entered i n f o r m a t i o n ( a p r i v a c y platform, it adds, also creates an into a definitive agreement to n i g h t m a r e ) . opportunity for developers and acquire Jigsaw, which provides Jigsaw has changed its model ISVs to deliver new applications crowd-sourced data services in since then: people can now see that leverage the business the cloud, for approximately if their personal information has contact data found in Jigsaw. $142 million in cash, plus a been uploaded, and there is a Looking ahead, Salesforce performance-based earn out of process to have it removed, at seeks the creation of new up to 10% of the purchase price. least temporarily. And users are partnerships with information The deal is expected to close in no longer paid cash to upload services companies like D&B, the second quarter of fiscal year contacts. Instead they receive Hoover’s and LexisNexis. 2011, subject to customary points that can be used to Jigsaw’s community is said to download contact other people’s closing conditions. consist of more than 1.2 million The enterprise cloud computing contact information. Revenue members. Over the last six company in a statement touts was rumored to be around $30 years, community members Jigsaw’s Wikipedia-style crowd million per year at the end of have built and maintained a -sourcing model, which it says 2009. contact database of more than delivers the world’s most As for Arrington, he went from 21 million professionals at complete, accurate and up-to- calling the company evil to nearly 4 million companies, date business contact data (e.g. simply amoral. The question is according to the press release. check out Salesforce’s profile now if the new owner will be J i g s a w c u r r e n t l y h a s 8 0 0 inclined to modify its on there). corporate customers. When we first reviewed the questionable business practices. The company had raised$18 company back in 2006, Michael Going back to the acquisition: million in venture capital to Arrington deemed it a really, Salesforce says the deal will date. CrunchBase Information really bad idea because Jigsaw allow the company to combine Salesforce Jigsaw Information would pay people simply to its suite of CRM applications provided by CrunchBase upload other people’s contact and enterprise cloud platform Submitted at 4/21/2010 5:05:49 AM

Hands-on with Fruit Ninja for the iPhone Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 4/20/2010 7:30:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming Halfbrick Studios is an Australian game developer that's done a few licensed games on other platforms before along with the App Store title Blast Off, and they're back on the iPhone today with Fruit Ninja, a simple-butfun arcade game that has you hacking fruit in half on the iPhone's touchscreen. The game just went live on the App Store moments ago. We at TUAW got a chance to play the game early, and our exclusive hands-on review is after the break. Fruit Ninja is

simple but polished -- while the game mechanic is well done and well-supported with excellent graphics and sound, the gameplay itself is almost too shallow to support the rest of the design. The game's only 99 cents, and there's definitely 99 cents of entertainment here, but I wish there was even more. TUAW Hands-on with Fruit Ninja for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments


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LinkedIn Launches URL Shortener, Enhances Sharing Options For Content

Downloads page at Apple.com no longer being updated

Leena Rao (TechCrunch)

TJ Luoma (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:58:56 AM

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Submitted at 4/20/2010 7:00:00 PM

Professional social network LinkedIn has been steadily expanding its presence outside of its platform through integrations with Twitter, and Microsoft Outlook and opening up the platform’s API. And as LinkedIn takes its data and status updates from users outside of the network, the company has enhanced its sharing and privacy options for users. And LinkedIn is launching an official URL shortener, Lnkd.in, for any links shared from its site. With new public vs. private controls, you get complete control over who sees what you’re sharing both on the network or on Twitter, whether it’s everyone, your connections, a group, or a specific individual. And when you share a link or URL on the site or on Twitter, you’ll be able to shorten the link with companion URL shortener, Lnkd.in. Instead of creating a branded URL shortener with Bit.ly,

LinkedIn decided to develop its own application so it could tie it directly into LinkedIn’s own back-end, with high SLAs and data fidelity. LinkedIn has made significant enhancements to its sharing features. When you share a news article, LinkedIn will now allows you to customize what the excerpt of the news article you are linking to. So users may have more of an incentive to click on a link that includes an image or the first few lines of what content the link is taking them to. LinkedIn has also stepped up its attribution in terms of sharing, by attributing something you re-share to the person who shared it with you.

Filed under: Software On March 16th, we reported that although the "Downloads" tab had been removed from Apple's homepage, the downloads page itself was still available. However, about 10 days after With 65 million members, that, Apple apparently ceased LinkedIn is steadily growing in updating the page. The most terms of users. And CEO Jeff r e c e n t a p p l i s t e d u n d e r Weiner says the company is "Recently Added" is March implementing a product strategy 26th, and we've been told that of bringing LinkedIn to any sites developers who have sent in or platforms that people may use apps have not gotten any in their professional life. As the response. platform expands its presence Many applications will now on the web, it inevitably needs check and report when new to both enhance and offer versions are available, but if you restrictions on sharing. And it are looking for applications to also needs to track what is being fit a specific need, you can still spread from its site, which the URL shortener will do. CrunchBase Information LinkedIn Information provided by CrunchBase

use VersionTracker and MacUpdate. TUAW Downloads page at Apple.com no longer being updated originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments


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Hotel to guests: Pedal for electricity, 'The Biggest Loser' get a voucher 'Week Fourteen' Recap (CNET News.com)

Jason Hughes (TV Squad)

Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:00:00 AM

Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:36:00 AM

Ready to pedal? It will knock down your vacation tab.(Credit: Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers) Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Those who happen to be stranded in Copenhagen by the ash clouds from Iceland's spewing volcano can check out the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers--if there are still available rooms, that is. The 366-room Danish hotel, located five minutes from Copenhagen International Airport, is offering a radically cool eco initiative--possibly the first in the world--by letting guests pedal away on exercise bikes for a free meal. This not only provides a good workout, it helps reduce hotel guests' carbon footprint. Two stationary bicycles are hooked up to generators, with an iPhone attached to the handlebar to display the wattage. Guests willing to sweat it out to deliver 10 watt hours of power score a meal worth about 240 Danish crowns ($44) in the hotel's

(S09E14) Half of the remaining contestants in the house will make up the Final Four, and the other half will be going home. Want to know how I know that? Because Bob explained the math to me. That Bob Harper, he's not only a trainer, but he's clearly an advanced mathematician as well. As we close in on the end, I'm getting very close to the point where it will be difficult to see any of the remaining contestants go home. Because we're nearing the finish line, it's time to start thinking about the game and who should have their chance at the grand prize. It's easy to say that someone like Sam, who lost zero pounds last week, is ready to go home, his journey nearly complete. But if his journey includes a shot at

restaurant or lobby bar. Not half bad for doing your part for the environment. The "Cycle for Your Supper" program, which kicked off Monday for hotel guests only, will run for a year, and word is that if it's successful, we could see the eco initiative rolled out across the U.K. and possibly even internationally. One does wonder, though, whether the deal will get suspended when teams of

superfit cyclers descend on Copenhagen for the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup 2010 come May. (Source: Crave Asia) Related story: Sheriff wants inmates to pedal for TV rights Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

the title and the $250,000, then what's to say his amazing accomplishments aren't worthy of that opportunity. You can only play nice for so long. Game play is inevitable, and it's knocking now. Continue reading'The Biggest Loser' - 'Week Fourteen' Recap Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Episode Reviews Permalink| Email this| | Comments


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Leonard Nimoy Decides to Retire from Acting Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:00:00 AM

Leonard Nimoy has had one of the more distinguished and iconic television careers. He'll always be known first and foremost as'Star Trek's' Mr. Spock, but in a six-decade long run that began with movies like 'Them' and 'Kid Monk Baroni,' Nimoy has proved that he's much more than just Spock. He's a man who's made his mark as an actor, writer, director, musician and artist. And he has around 500,000 iPads out there decided now, at the age of 79, to last week, but that number is call it day. In an interview with the probably much higher a week later. Also, iPad app pricing is Toronto Sun, Nimoy responded still all over the place. Even specifically to the question of now, you've got everything from whether he would play Spock $0.99 to $9.99 in the top 10, again in the next J.J. Abrams' which suggests that profits are 'Star Trek' movie. He said, "I want to get off the stage. Also, I hard to guess. don't think it would be fair to [via MacNN] TUAW Estimate: Top 1000 iPad apps making $372k a day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Estimate: Top 1000 iPad apps making $372k a day Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

and so on. Vimov estimates that everyone in the top 100 list, when you add them all together, Submitted at 4/21/2010 9:00:00 AM is making about US$304,058 on Filed under: iPad Here's an any given day. The shelf drops interesting look at just how big off from there -- in the top 1000, the iPad app market might be. developers are making about Vimov, the makers of Weather $372,000, and past that, they're HD, have used their own sales obviously making less. numbers to put together an So, what does this all mean? analysis of what the top 1,000 First, these are obviously iPad apps on the App Store are estimates; Vimov's app is $0.99, pulling in, and they've come up and Weather HD, as they say, with a series of estimated sales peaked in the early frenzy for each position in the top 100. around the iPad's release. They By their reasoning, the top paid did try to account for that, but app in the store sells about 5k even they admit that there's copies per day, with the number some error involved. Second, two app selling about 3k, the things are changing quickly; number three app about 2.5k, Apple told us that there were

Zachary Quinto. He's a terrific actor, he looks the part, and it's time to give him some space. And I'm very flattered the character will continue." Continue reading Leonard Nimoy Decides to Retire from Acting Filed under: Celebrities, Reality -Free, Star Trek: Original Series, Fringe Permalink| Email this| | Comments


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Apple Announces Second-Quarter Earnings Curt Hopkins (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 4/20/2010 10:41:00 PM

Apple announced secondquarter revenue of $13.50 billion today for the quarter ended March 27, 2010. Net quarterly profit was $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share. Q2 2009 showed revenue of $9.08 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.62 billion, or $1.79 per diluted share. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter's revenue. 2.94 million Macs were sold, a 33% increase, along with 8.75 million iPhones and 10.89 million iPods. Sponsor "Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $13.0 billion to $13.4 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $2.28 to $2.39," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, in an official statement. Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated it

was the company's "best nonholiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent." Apple has a reputation on Wall Street for estimating low on its upcoming revenue, which has an influence on analyst expectations. Apple currently anticipates a gross margin of 36 percent, a significant decline. Apple beat analyst expectations this quarter.

Although attention on the iPad was enormous, and sales were good, insufficient time has passed to tell what effect that new product will have on earnings. It will need to sell a great many to be a contender against any of its other products. Bottom photo by Sonny Hung Discuss

'V' - 'We Can't Win' Recap Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)

scary lizard-chick. What do you think will happen between Anna and Chad? He's (S01E08) "Your girl's got a having those weird erotic baby lizard in her terrarium?" - dreams about her, and I found Kyle to Ryan myself wondering if she'd Somewhere in the past few somehow implanted something episodes,'V' has gotten really into his head. But maybe it's just good. I've always loved the her weirdness that's making him show -- and haven't watched the a little crazy. original series yet, so can't Continue reading'V' - 'We Can't compare -- but I found myself Win' Recap waiting impatiently to see what Filed under: Episode Reviews, would happen in this episode. Reality-Free, V And also see how much scarier Permalink| Email this| | Anna could get. I swear she gets C o m m e n t s scarier every week. She's one Submitted at 4/21/2010 9:02:00 AM


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'Early Show' Is (Finally!) Going HD Jane Boursaw (TV Squad) Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:34:00 AM

TUAW's Daily App: LaDiDa Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

and then the app quickly builds up the rest of the band around you. Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:00:00 AM It works surprisingly well. I'll Filed under: Software LaDiDa spare you the trauma of hearing is a strange little app that came me sing, but even when I just out a while back. It's basically a threw in a few nonsensical bars "reverse karaoke app," in that, of an improv song, the app did instead of playing music that an admirable job of backing up you can sing along with, you my tune with drums and chords. sing, and it'll play the music If you do hit on a worthwhile back to you. The technology tune, you can save it on your seems based on the same idea as iPhone, and there's even a Microsoft's MySong-- you hit "Discover" section in the app record on the app and then sing where you can hear what other whatever melody you want (or users are recording and rating. rap, or just play a tune on The app allows you to create a another musical instrument), full song without any musical

talent at all. While it doesn't guarantee that you'll create anything worth listening to, if you've ever wanted to write a song but don't know your sharp from your flat, LaDiDa can help. The app is$2.99 for the iPhone in the App Store. TUAW TUAW's Daily App: LaDiDa originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

'The Early Show' is finally going HD, according to a new report from Media Bistro. It seems a little odd that it's taken the show so long to switch, especially considering that its morning show rivals, 'Today' and 'Good Morning America,' already broadcast in HD. Perhaps this is CBS' attempt to boost ratings and skew to a younger audience, which was nudged along a couple of years ago when it re-launched the show with a colorful new widescreen set. According to Media Life, the show averaged a measly 2.52 million viewers during the first three months of

2010, putting it in third place among the network morning news programs. Continue reading'Early Show' Is (Finally!) Going HD Filed under: News, Industry, Programming Permalink| Email this| | Comments


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Digital Works' ReZap recharges disposable batteries, coming to North America in May Vladislav Savov (Engadget)

the North American continent. This little do-it-all device will Submitted at 4/21/2010 7:43:00 AM juice up rechargeable and W e d o n ' t k n o w w h a t standard batteries alike -charlatanism is afoot here, but allowing up to 10 recharges for word is that Australian company the latter type -- and is also Digital Works has come up with capable of electrifying up to a w a y t o r e c h a r g e n o n - four cells of varying sizes at the rechargeable batteries. We'd same time. You can expect the usually scoff at such blasphemy, ReZap to arrive in May with an but the tech has been convincing SRP of $59.95, which we'd more likely event that it doesn't. enough to at least get PC c o n s i d e r c h e a p i f i t d o e s Full PR after the break. Treasures (who?) to distribute everything it promises, or Continue reading Digital the ReZap Battery Engineer on extortionate in the somewhat

Works' ReZap recharges disposable batteries, coming to North America in May Digital Works' ReZap recharges disposable batteries, coming to North America in May originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| | Email this| Comments

features GBA SP internals housed in an original GB chassis. This gives it The original Game Boy will compatibility with Game Boy, forever hold a special place in Game Boy Color, and of course our hearts, but spend a few GBA games, along with a minutes squinting at an original rechargeable battery and even model and you'll quickly realize w o r k i n g s h o u l d e r b u t t o n s that even nostalgia can't make inserted into the sides. All we up for that horrible green screen. have to go on at the moment is That's been banished in this t h i s p i c t u r e p l u s a f e w promising full details of the mod custom version, courtesy of c o m m e n t s f r o m t h e m a n are to come, which entails "just m o d d e r C R T d r o n e , w h i c h himself, but CRTdrone is removing parts and re-wiring Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:16:00 AM

Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 4/20/2010 10:00:00 PM

The upcoming " Trials of St. Lucia" expansion for Dante's Inferno will put you up against a force far more malevolent than Beelzebub himself: The inherently mean spirit of the online gamer. Dante will have to conquer challenges crafted by other players, which will most assuredly be more difficult than any brawl that came packaged in the game. Why, you might ask? Because everyone on the internet wants you to be basically." They always make it m i s e r a b l e . sound so simple. Don't give up hope! Greg Original Game Boy gets the Rizzer, the game's lead designer, Advance treatment courtesy of created the video posted above, retro-loving modder originally which is chock-full of helpful appeared on Engadget on Wed, t i p s t o k e e p y o u f r o m 21 Apr 2010 08:16:00 EST. succumbing to this deluge of Please see our terms for use of pain. (Oh, and we were just feeds. Permalink OhGizmo!| kidding about the 'everyone CRTdrone (Flickr)| Email this| wants you to be miserable' Comments thing. We, for one, only want to bring you joy.) Dante's Inferno dev gives tips on how not to die in Trials of St. Lucia originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Original Game Boy gets the Advance treatment courtesy of retro-loving modder Tim Stevens (Engadget)

Dante's Inferno dev gives tips on how not to die in Trials of St. Lucia


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'Glee' - 'The Power of Madonna' Recap Jane Boursaw (TV Squad) Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:09:00 AM

(S01E15) "I thought I smelled the cookies wafting from the ovens of the little elves who live in your hair." - Sue to Will After being hyped to the max, did the Madonna episode of'Glee' deliver the goods? Yes! It did! Not only were the musical numbers fun, inspired, and darn creative, but the storylines about sex, strength, confidence, independence, and individuality all blended well into the theme.

What would Madonna do? That was the question of the hour as everyone struggled with one thing or another. Some made the right decision, while others did exactly the wrong thing. But at

least they all did it with Material Girl style. Was anyone else holding their breath on that first number, with everyone dancing around on stilts? It looked downright

dangerous, but totally fun, too. I thought it was fantastic, but Sue Sylvester called it "a sloppy freak show," noting that "somewhere Madonna is weeping." Somehow, I doubt that Madonna was weeping after tonight's 'Glee'-ful celebration of her music and style. Continue reading'Glee' - 'The Power of Madonna' Recap Filed under: Episode Reviews, David Kravets (Wired Top Reality-Free, Glee P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | Stories) Comments Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:00:00 PM

April 21, 1987: Feds OK Patents for New Life Forms

What's Missing in the Financial Rules Bill? (AEI.Org: Articles)

investors and credit. The Fed, never having regulated a hedge fund or an insurance company, What's missing from the Dodd is now supposed to set the financial regulation bill is any c a p i t a l l e v e l s , l i q u i d i t y recognition that there is a requirements and permissible competitive market out there activities for each type of t h a t c a n b e d i s t o r t e d o r business and for each individual destroyed. The bill authorizes institution. the Fed to regulate all If it increases the capital " s y s t e m i c a l l y i m p o r t a n t " requirements for, say, hedge nonbank financial institutions, funds, it will affect their ability with the power to control the to compete with securities firms capital, liquidity and permissible or bank holding companies. If activities of the country's largest an insurance company wants to securities firms, insurance enter the business of insuring c o m p a n i e s , b a n k h o l d i n g municipal securities, it will be companies, hedge funds, finance f o u g h t b y b a n k h o l d i n g companies and others. companies, which already do All these firms compete with this business. In other words, one another--for customers, competitive issues will be Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:00:00 PM

fought out at the Fed or in Congress instead of the marketplace. Finally, and perhaps most important, the bill would regulate the largest financial institutions because, in theory, their failure could trigger a systemic breakdown. This means they are, by definition, too big to fail. All these institutions will thus have significant advantages over their smaller competitors, especially in obtaining credit. Because they will be seen as less risky, they will have access to more credit at lower cost. They will also have advantages in selling their products. Imagine an insurance company

being able to tell its potential customers that, because it is regulated by the Fed and too big to fail, the policies it offers are safer than those of its smaller competitors. This bill could only have been designed by people who know or care little about how competitive markets function. Peter J. Wallison is the Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at AEI. Photo Credit: Flickr user spakattacks/Creative Commons Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

1987: The U.S. Patent and Trademark office announces it will begin accepting patent applications for animals. A year later, Harvard University was awarded the first such patent — the Oncomouse, a mouse researchers produced to be especially susceptible to getting cancer. Three decades later, the government has issued about 800 animal patents –- on everything from cats, cattle, chimps, dogs, fish and horses to sheep. They are used in most every field, from cosmetics to medicine. Some even blend humans and animals. There are pigs with human blood, and rabbit eggs fused with DNA to help crippled mice walk. The American Anti-Vivisection Society, which staunchly abhors APRIL page 31


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Meet the Winners of Benetton’s Global Online Casting Contest ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs) Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:30:00 PM

After looking through 65,000 entries, 20 winners were chosen as the new faces of Benetton’s fall ad campaign. The twelve women and eight men were flown to New York last week to work, play, and, in some cases, explore New York for the first time. I stopped by the shoot to meet some of the inspiring winners. Here, a glimpse into their lives. —Violet Moon Gayn or Name: Natalia Age: 23 Hometown: Kazakhstan Profession: Recently received a degree in finance and advertising Describe your personal style: Skinny jeans and heels are my everyday staples. I’m most inspired by my Mom. She’s my idol. Biggest dream: I look at the future as a blank canvas in front of me. Honestly, I feel like if I can make it in New York, I can make it anywhere. Name: Janelle Age: 23 Hometown: South Carolina

Profession: Recently laid-off Reason for entering: I believe everything happens for a reason, so I took turned a negative (getting laid-off) into a positive (having lots of time to devote to winning the contest). Describe your personal style: I like to stand out. My grandmother always told me that you never know who you’re going to run into so always look your best. Biggest dream: To appear in a

spread in a magazine Name: Lorenzo Age: 19 Hometown: Italy Profession: First year photography student Reason for entering: To meet new people from all over the world. Describe your personal style: My mom is very chic, so I’m inspired by her love of fashion. Biggest dream: To be happy with my life.

Name: Melanie Age: 32 From: Switzerland Profession: Dancer Reason for entering: People have been telling me for 20 years that I have a Benetton look. Describe your personal style: I pick clothes that brighten my day. And comfort always comes first. Biggest dream: I want to star in a Bollywood movie. Obviously,

a role would need to be created just for me. Name: Tetiana Age: 20 Hometown: Ukrane Profession: Freelance photographer Describe your personal style: I’m inspired by street style. I adore accessories. For me, the more the better. But the one accessory I can’t live without is my camera. Biggest dream: I like to set attainable goals for myself. It’s not about abstract dreams, but small things like one day getting to live with my boyfriend. Name: Francis Age: 24 Hometown: London Describe your personal style: I don’t follow fashion. I’m inspired by music. Biggest dream: To get paid to make music. And then, after I’ve made a lot of money, I’d give back to charity. All photos: Chris Saunders/Fabrica Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!


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APRIL continued from page 29

animal patenting, estimates that up to 50 million animals are used in genetic engineering experiments annually in the United States alone — all in a bid to create what the group calls “unnatural new animals.” The government has rejected some of the most controversial proposed patents, including the “ humanzee,” a half man, half chimp. It was denied in 2005 because it was too human. The patent office’s 1987 decision said the government “now considers non-naturally occurring nonhuman multicellular living organisms, including animals, to be patentable subject matter.” The move, which has invoked tense ethical debate on both sides of the issue, came seven years after the Supreme Court first recognized as intellectual property genetically modified bacteria that could eat crude oil(.pdf). That decision also paved the way for the patenting of human genes — which hit a legal crossroads last month: A federal judge invalidated a human gene patent, raising doubts about the validity of 2,000 other gene patents.

One of the most controversial approved animal patents centered on the University of Texas’ treatment of beagles. The university won a patent in 2002 to infect the dogs with mold, if they lived through weeks of daily radiation doses. After a public outcry, the university disclaimed the patent in 2004 . Another controversial approval patented rabbits whose eyes were glued open so researchers could test corneal medications. Four years after the government issued the patents to Biochemical and Pharmacological Laboratories of Japan, they were rescinded in 2009 on grounds of “obviousness.” Even the methods for cloning animals are patentable, such as the process that produced Dolly, the first cloned mammal, in 1996. Ian Wilmut, who with a team of others cloned the sheep in Scotland, said the protocol would work with humans. Human cloning would help us multitask in a wired world. How to explain you’ve been cloned on your Facebook profile is another story. Source: Various

Screenshot: DuPont’s website touts the Oncomouse. See Also: • 1997: U.S. Patent Law Can’t Cope with Human Clones • 1999: Lambs Get Human Genes • 2001: Stem Cell Patent Issues Resolved • April 21, 1878: Thinking Fast, Firefighter Slides Down a Pole • April 21, 1994: Our Solar System Is Not Alone • Feb 23, 1987: 'Quintessential' Supernova Bursts on the Scene • March 18, 1987: Woodstock for Physicists • May 28, 1987: Teen Tests Soviet Air Defenses • Oct. 16, 1987: First Successful Newborn Organ Transplant • Dec. 18, 1987: Perl Simplifies the Labyrinth That Is Programming

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Accessories News: Aperlaï ELLE.com (ELLE Fashion Blogs)

architectural silhouettes has our attention piqued! Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:13:26 PM The collection is currently sold in the U.S. at Saks Fifth In it's second full-scale NYC and collection, French accessories A v e n u e , label, Aperlaï, takes a cue from www.aperlaistudio.com (site Oscar Neimeyer architecture available this week!) and Erwin Hauer sculptural Aperlaï works to create a thoroughly Twisted rope platform sandal f e m i n i n e c o l l e c t i o n o f Aperlaï Criss cross crocodile and constructivist heels and- for the leather platform sandal first time- handbags. Alessandra Lanvin, Burak Aperlaï Uyan, and Srdjan Prodanovic Tri-color platform sandal in are the brain trust behind the suede Aperlaï label. They're driven by Aperlaï the idea that "a woman should Electric blue suede and black have everything she wants- leather cut out bootie elegance, comfort and the 5 inch Aperlaï heel". Since the collection Criss cross patented blue and launched last Fall, retailers, black leather heel editors, and Hollywood have Aperlaï Five Filters featured article: taken notice. Penelope Cruz, Metallic rose platform sandal Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Amy Adams, Isabelle Lucas, Aperlaï PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, and Victoria Beckham are Peep toe platform with twisted Term Extraction. counted among Aperlaï's core gill detail celebrity following. And, for Aperlaï the editors, it's the carefully Suede bootie with fox fur considered play of textures and


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Multitasking Swiss Army Knife Cuts Sticks in Wilderness, Deals in Boardroom Michael S. Lasky (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 4/20/2010 7:00:00 PM

Multitasking Swiss Army Knife Cuts Sticks in Wilderness, Deals in Boardroom Looking for a gadget you could use to deliver a PowerPoint presentation and to amputate your own arm? Look no further than the Presentation Master, the newest tool from Victorinox. At first glance it looks like your average Swiss Army knife, brandishing the requisite scissors, miniblade, and nail file found in most tools of this ilk. But this red wonder also crams a Bluetooth remote control, a laser pointer, a USB flashmemory drive loaded with up to 32 gigs, and even an espionagefriendly biometric fingerprint reader. Because the PM is aimed at corporate stiffs who prize data security above all else, anything you load onto the flash drive is

protected with multiple layers of encryption, passwords and your fingerprint. The fingerprint reader is a tad fussy. It took about eight tries before our swipe was accepted. Were we done yet? Nope. The software asks for a second, backup fingerprint to be recognized, and it has to be from your other hand. (In case of

emergency field amputations, one assumes.) Again it took no less than eight swipes for the print to be accepted. Security measures aside, the rest of the components are pretty cool. On either side of the familiar red plastic housing is a trio of buttons: one for the laser pointer and another pair for the forward and backward

navigation of your presentation. Syncing the Bluetooth-enabled remote is much like pairing a cellphone and took about a minute to complete. It's powered by a single lithium-ion battery (the same kind found in your Timex). But despite the gadget's numerous data-protection measures, there's one bit of

security the PM lacks: airline security. Victorinox does offer a castrated version of the PM that lacks scissors, nail file and knife, the better to get past the TSA goons. No thanks. We're more than happy to check our luggage, rather than risk having this beauty confiscated. WIRED Integrated Class II laser is plenty powerful for presentations. Solid construction. Near-impervious data protection. Knife, nail file and scissors are actually usable. TIRED Registering your fingerprint takes persistence. Bluetooth drains batteries dead. Works only with Windows XP SP3 or higher. No Mac support. • Camping: Knives/Multi-Tools • Manufacturer: Victorinox • Price:$240 (16 GB) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.


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You Got Served ... By Head's Fault-Free Tennis Racket Bryan Gardiner (Wired Top Stories)

McEnroe when those drop shots occasionally fall short. The Extreme is kind of expensive. WIRED Open string pattern generates Fox News levels of spin. Bigger head size translates into an ample sweet spot and fewer shanks. Awesome for power servers and volleyers. TIRED Old-school leather grip produced bustling blisters. Twelve ounces is still a bit heavy — super-high-end rackets can weigh almost half that. Stiffer than a double shot of Wild Turkey. Hope you like fluorescent yellow and black styling. We didn't. • Manufacturer: Head • Price:$170

Submitted at 4/20/2010 7:00:00 PM

You Got Served ... By Head's Fault-Free Tennis Racket "Tennis is 30 percent physical and 70 percent mental!" my old coach liked to bark at me, usually after I had thrown my racket over the fence in disgust. Indeed, I never quite mastered that mental part, which is probably why I quit playing competitively and took up a less demanding sport: smoking cigarettes and writing gadget reviews. Still, regardless of skill, experience and mental soundness, the right racket can make a world of difference. For those looking Nadal-ize their game, Head's new YouTek Extreme Pro offers a potent blend of power and control in a nearly perfect package. Key to this racket's allure is a frame-inlay feature called d3o,

which is a specially engineered material comprised of freeflowing molecules that lock up and absorb energy on impact. It's the same stuff used in knee pads, motorcycle gear and even iPod cases. In this case, it helps the racket adapt to your swing style and gives you better control. On high-impact shots, the material binds together,

providing a big-time power boost. On lower-power shots, the material absorbs impact and gives you better touch. Initially, this didn't mean too much for my rusty game (it had been 3 years, give or take, since I picked up a racket). But once I got back into the swing of things, I really started to appreciate the racket's

versatility. Serving was particularly nice with the YouTek, and I was able to produce a few killer slices and Five Filters featured article: ample amounts of topspin. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: But it's not just big hitters that'll PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, enjoy YouTek. Players with a Term Extraction. touch game will also love the racket's ability to add some finesse to their game as well. Just try to control your inner

IMF Lowers Bank Financial Crisis Losses to $2.28 Trillion Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:00:00 PM

Filed under: International Markets, Good news Tuesday's good news comes from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Their latest forecast projects losses from the

financial crisis to total$2.28 trillion, down $533 billion from the organization's October 2009 forecast. And the reason for the improvement? You guessed it: the global economic recovery, which has reduced estimated bank write-downs and also among other benefits. The IMF, improved bank capital positions, in its revised Global Financial

Stability Report, also cut its estimate for U.S. bank losses to $855 billion, down from a $1.03 trillion estimate in October 2009. Continue reading IMF Lowers Bank Financial Crisis Losses to $2.28 Trillion IMF Lowers Bank Financial Crisis Losses to $2.28 Trillion

originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments


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Can you fight allergies with local honey? (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)

estimates around 36 million people in the United States alone suffer from seasonal You can barely drag yourself allergies, known also by the out of bed. Winter is gradually common name of hay fever and receding back into the closet of the more technical name allergic seasons once again, and you're rhinitis[source: FDA]. It may painfully aware that spring is up not improve your mood to know next. You find the thought of this, but all that pollen is facing another sunny, upbeat actually harmless. Those months vernal equinox when nature of runny nose, scratchy eyes and bursts to life anew once more headaches you endure each too depressing for words. spring is actually the result of a It's seasonal allergies. All of case of mistaken identity. Your those beautiful, fragrant flowers b o d y m i s t a k e s p o l l e n f o r and deep green grasses that damaging invaders like fungal allergy-free people just love to spores and dust mites. This coo over and pick and prune triggers the release of histamine, l i t e r a l l y m a k e y o u s i c k . a natural chemical that's part of Springtime is when trees and an immune system response. plants spread their seeds -- at Histamine causes inflammation least the pollen that becomes and irritation of soft tissue, seeds. And that pollen wreaks which leads to your suffering havoc on your body whenever [source: Bupa]. you take a breath outside. Modern medical science has You're hardly alone. The Food produced countless cures for and Drug Administration (FDA) s e a s o n a l a l l e r g i e s . T h e s e Submitted at 4/20/2010 1:00:00 PM

remedies are available both over -the-counter (OTC) and by prescription, and many work by counteracting histamines. These kinds of drugs are called antihistamines, and they tend to do the trick. But drugs often come with side effects. In addition to reducing allergies, antihistamines can also produce dry nasal cavities, drowsiness and other undesirable conditions [source: Hasselbring]. It's for this reason that some people look for more natural allergy remedies. To combat seasonal allergies, honey's considered a fine replacement for drugs. But how could honey possibly help reduce allergy symptoms? Read the next page to find out. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

RNC Spent 68% on Overhead, Cowboy Tickets (Newsmax - Inside Cover) Submitted at 4/21/2010 2:15:33 AM

An analysis by the Washington Post of the latest financial disclosure data shows extravagance by both the GOP and the Dems. Some examples: • When RNC Chairman Michael S. Steele and colleagues took several dozen party donors on a retreat last August to Jackson Hole, Wyo., golf and tennis fees were paid, whitewater rafting and trout fishing guides were contracted, and limo drivers and photographers were hired. • Last month, the RNC spent $260,476 on a single meeting in Hawaii and $14,937 on Dallas Cowboys football tickets. It also paid hefty cancellation fees to Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons hotels. • The RNC's expenditures for "office supplies" in the period through February topped $773,000, according to a Post tally, including jelly beans for Steele's office and thousands of dollars' worth of liquor and wine. • To finance an RNC event last November in Beverly Hills,

Calif., the committee spent $717 on limousines, $11,076 at Spago restaurant and $4,583 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. • The RNC spent $4,266 at a Los Angeles sports ticket broker called StubHub, but listed the expense as "lodging," and $923 at the Little Door restaurant, but listed that expense as "office supplies." • In December, the RNC also reported spending $496 for "meals" at Henri Bendel, a posh New York women's clothing store. Bendel's personnel say the store's restaurant closed four months earlier. • The RNC also listed $282 in "meals" at a fly-fishing outfitter in Boca Grande, Fla., that has no restaurant. Wines the committee bought for $982 from a Vermont vineyard were listed as "office supplies," as were smaller amounts spent at PetSmart and a men's clothier. To read the full Washington Post report Go Here Now. © All Rights Reserved. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.


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Handheld Sucker Blows Competition Away Rick Broida (Wired Top Stories)

a turbine that spins at more than 100,000 rpm. At that speed, the DC31 can suck for only about Submitted at 4/20/2010 7:00:00 PM six minutes on a single charge -H a n d h e l d S u c k e r B l o w s perfect for cleaning a staircase Competition Away covered in cat hair. Drop the The DC31 handheld vacuum is suction to a still-impressive 38 here to terminate not just debris, air-watts (a push-button mode but also Dustbusters, Dirt change) and you'll get closer to Devils, Sharks and other inferior 10 minutes, which should be portable suckers. enough to give your car seats Looking like the unholy and floor mats a once-over. And crossbreed of a power drill, a if you fumble, say, a can of French press and an aardvark, coffee, the DC31 eliminates the the DC31 also roars like a 747 evidence in a matter of seconds. when you pull its trigger. That's Like its upright cousins from because the vac's 65 air-watts of D y s o n , t h e D C 3 1 d u m p s suction power come courtesy of everything into a clear debris

chamber. Retractable dust-brush head for when you want to hit the crevices. TIRED Big, unwieldy, and weighs in at a wrist-tiring three pounds. Priced higher than many full-size upright vacuums. No wall-mount dock for charging/putting on display. • Type: Vacuums • Manufacturer: Dyson • Price:$220 chamber that's blissfully easy to empty. Let us be clear on one thing: if there's a better hand vac anywhere on the planet we'd

like to see it. Five Filters featured article: WIRED Sucks like it means it. Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: A c c i d e n t a l l y s w a l l o w e d PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, wedding rings are easy to Term Extraction. retrieve from crystal-clear debris

Limbaugh: Clinton Wrong, Obama Is THE READ: J.D. Authoritarian Salinger's Private Letters (Newsmax - Inside Cover)

Here are some key excerpts from Rush's show: • "The country is being Rush Limbaugh came out o v e r t h r o w n , r i p p e d a p a r t , swinging Wednesday on his transformed, right before our nationally syndicated radio very eyes." show, saying former President • "The reality is that it's the Bill Clinton is wrong in saying Obama crowd that doesn't like he and other hosts are fomenting government, that doesn't like the extremism. country. It's the Obama crowd Limbaugh blamed Obama for and all of their related groups the heightened tensions and said that have been protesting for as P r e s i d e n t O b a m a i s a n long as I've been alive that don't "authoritarian," who is intent on like the country; the tea party overthrowing the country. people love this country." Limbaugh also praised the tea • "I, a guy on the radio who can't party movement as a popular, raise anybody's taxes, can't send legitimate response to Obama's anybody off to war, I cannot do big government initiatives. one thing -- I can't harm you Submitted at 4/21/2010 1:47:42 AM

economically, I can't do a damn -- I am treated as an enemy of the state." • "Obama urges more opposition to us than he does Islamic terrorists." • "What is it that's remarkable about the tea party is that it's the first time an uprising of common, ordinary, average everyday citizens since the Civil War has risen up like this." © Newsmax. All rights reserved. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Ruth Franklin (The New Republic - All Feed)

discomfiting under any circumstances, but somehow it feels particularly transgressive Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:00:00 PM here, under the vigilant eye of a Displayed under glass in the security guard in a room that hushed, marbled precincts of the also houses a Gutenberg Bible. Morgan Library in Manhattan, The Morgan, which held the the letters of J.D. Salinger to his letters in secrecy until now friend Michael Mitchell feel ( a p p a r e n t l y n o t e v e n t h e incongruous. It’s not just their curators were allowed to read colloquial, occasionally profane them), has said that Salinger’s tone, instantly recognizable to death absolved the library of any anyone who has read Catcher in obligation to preserve his the Rye. Reading the personal vaunted privacy. This logic isn’t letters of America’s most famous literary recluse would be READ: page 36


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READ: continued from page 35

entirely convincing, and even the head of the literary and historical manuscripts department admits that Salinger would be “irate, to say the least, that we’re showing them.” Is there any defense for violating the wishes of a man so private that, as he confesses in one of these letters, “I don’t think I have ever in my life answered a ringing telephone without unconsciously gritting my teeth a bit”? Not that there are any shocking revelations. More than anything else, the letters remind us of how little is actually known about Salinger’s life. Mitchell designed the dust jacket for the first edition of Catcher, showing a giant red carousel horse above a black-and-white sketch of Central Park, and Salinger seems to have counted him among his closest friends. Yet this is what the record of their relationship amounts to: eleven letters over 42 years, with only a few references to visits or meetings. Were there more that Mitchell chose not to sell? (One suspects not, considering the uneven interest of this collection.) Or was this what friendship meant for Salinger? It was a friendship of affection and intimacy, with Salinger addressing Mitchell as “old fart” and sharing numerous thoughts about his writing. But the moments of intimacy, to Mitchell’s evident frustration,

seem to have been spaced out over long periods of no contact, as Salinger’s absorption in his work grew more and more complete. The friendship began in the early 1950s, when Salinger and Mitchell were living near each other in Connecticut. In the first letter, dated May 1951, Salinger gives an account of a visit to his publisher in London. He was 32 years old, Catcher was about to come out (he had already had a number of stories in The New Yorker), and he was thoroughly enjoying life. He gives a joyful account of “tearing around to theater, supper parties,” including a production of Caesar and Cleopatra with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh: “Very good, very pure,” although “the audiences here are just as stupid as they are in New York.” Afterwards he had supper at the Oliviers’ in Chelsea, “a marvellous little house, very posh evening—formal clothes, and all that.” Olivier was a “ very nice guy, very bright. He’s knocked out about his wife, which was nice to see. She’s a charmer. Naturally, while we were having drinks in the living room, some gin went up my nose. I damn near left by the window.” This is a Salinger whose voice—snappy and funny, at once worldly and naïve—hasn’t been seen in print before, except in the guise of Holden Caulfield.

Then there is a gap that lasts for all of Salinger’s publishing career. The next letter is dated October 16, 1966, more than a year after The New Yorker published “Hapworth 16, 1924,” the last work of his to be published during his lifetime. By this point Salinger has already been living in seclusion in New Hampshire for about a dozen years. There’s a bit of the old tone in his charming account of a visit to New York with his two children, Peggy and Matthew. “Her usual speed at a restaurant is a double portion of shrimp cocktail, dessert, and milk, with a pickle on the side, if available. Matthew eats lamb chops, almost exclusively.” But his mood is darker. “Thank God we had what we had, Mike,” he says of their Connecticut years. “It’s a big shitty world, and it gets shittier by the minute.” This letter and the next make it clear that Salinger was continuing to write as committedly as ever. After the children go to sleep in the hotel room, he stays up until 4 a.m. working; later, he describes going to his desk every morning at 6 a.m. and writing until noon. “I have ten, twelve years’ of work piled around, but I don’t know how soon it will be before I feel up to unloading any large part of it. I have two particular scripts [manuscripts]—books, really—that I’ve been hoarding and picking at for years. … I

don’t know, though, when I’ll feel moved to take any action with them.” In the next letter, just a few months later, he speaks openly of the significance that writing still has for him: I have stuff going that I love, but oh God, so slowly, so hesitantly. … So many middleaged disbeliefs and burdensome doubts at work in the mind. The trick is to use the disbeliefs in the work, not to shy away from them, and that seems to me what we both must do. I mean something much more complicated and subtle than that, but I’ll let it stand. I think I mostly mean that it’s more important, more necessary than ever for us, in our forties, to write and paint only what we want to, in whichever way it comes, and as slowly as it comes. There is a scribbled note in 1969 to set up a meeting, and then the letters break off till 1979. By this point Salinger is 60 years old; he has been living in New Hampshire for 26 years, and hasn’t published for the last 14. His language hasn’t changed at all, perhaps owing to his isolation: of a woman he writes that “she’ll either turn out to be a knockout or a very interestinglooking long drink of water.” But his tone has altered considerably, from darkness to anger. He writes of two “shitty literary kids” who ambushed

him for the sake of a photograph: “The wonder is that I have any kind of face at all left, grim or otherwise. Piss on ’em all.” In the next, at the end of 1983, he seems equally upset about the political situation and about the readers who continually hound him: “Murder in my heart, daily, hourly, incessantly, and you ask if I feel as nasty as ever about planetary affairs. … How ready this wretched planet is for the bomb or more Nancy Reagan.” In this letter Salinger refers to “our seemingly imperfect rythms [sic] of communication.” Mitchell seems to have chided him for his lack of contact, and if this set of letters is complete, it’s hard to blame him. In the next, not till the following Christmas, Salinger explains that, “I feel closed off from all general or personal conversation, these years, and consort with almost no one but one or two local or distant madwomen.” (He is so out of touch with his family that he flew to London to visit his daughter only to discover she was on vacation in the United States.) Apparently this did not satisfy Mitchell, because the next letter, in April 1985, responds to “the very gray mood that must have brought on your letter.” (Mitchell’s side of the correspondence, presumably READ: page 39


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What if They Repealed Obamacare? Jonathan Cohn (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:00:00 PM

On their way to Washington last week, Tea Party activists stopped in Lansing, Michigan. And among the officials who addressed them was Mike Cox, the state’s Republican attorney general. Cox recently announced he would be among more than a dozen state officials filing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of health care reform. And, at the rally, he whipped the conservative crowd into a frenzy: “Can’t you just see them running around (Washington) D.C. saying, ‘So much to spend, so much to spend, so little time to spend it’?” Most legal experts seem to think the lawsuits won’t succeed. Among other things, it turns out that the U.S. fought a large war, about a hundred and fifty years ago, in order to settle the issue of state nullification. But if the officials filing these suits seem not to understand that history--or at least, not to care about it--their opposition to the Affordable Care Act, like their supporters’, seems genuine. If they had their way, their states really would reject the new health care law. Particularly since many of these officials are running for even higher office, it’s worth asking: What would happen to their

states if they succeeded? Consider Michigan, where Cox is running for governor and where, it so happens, I live. Despite the state’s economic troubles, the percentage of residents without health insurance is actually lower than the national average. Still, it’s more than 1.1 million people-and there would be even more of them in the next few years if we were stuck with the health care system we have today. But we’re not stuck with the health care system we have today. Reform is now law of the land. And, as a result, there won’t be an increase in uninsured. In fact, the number should fall—dramatically. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the vast majority of the would-be uninsured should gain access to affordable insurance. Based on the official estimates, around 400,000 of them will get it through Medicaid, which the Act will expand. Most of the rest will get them through the new insurance exchanges--that is, the new regulated marketplaces through which individuals and small businesses will be able to purchase the same sort of coverage large businesses get. The people shopping in the exchanges should have more choices than they do today and the choices will be, by and large, good ones: plans with comprehensive basic benefits,

no exclusions or higher rates for pre-existing conditions and lower. Those who can’t afford even these reduced premiums will be eligible for generous tax credits, so that premiums never go higher than around 10 percent of income. Does Michigan’s Cox prefer a world in which families making $45,000 a year miss out on thousands of dollars in tax credits? Where people with preexisting medical conditions have to pay astronomical rates on coverage, if they can get insurance at all? Does he think those 400,000 people set to get Medicaid coverage would be better with no insurance? And, if so, has he taken this up with the professionals and hospitals struggling, every day, to provide charity care for these people? To be sure, Cox and his supporters aren’t necessarily very worried about the uninsured. Recent polling suggests the Tea Party movement is relatively affluent and their protests certainly suggest their primary concern is that reform could diminish the insurance coverage they currently have. (They seem unaware that the market will likely diminish that coverage all on its own.) The full name of the health care law is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. And there’s a reason for that “Patient Protection” part: The law also

bolsters coverage for those people who have it. It eliminates cost-sharing for preventative services. It imposes a binding appeals process for people who think insurers wrongly denied treatments. It forces insurers to spend more on patient care and less on overhead --and that’s not to mention the many people who pay for insurance now, but will pay less starting in 2014, thanks to the tax credits. Perhaps Cox should explain to Michiganders why, in his view, they should keep paying out-ofpocket fees for regular checkups, why some insurers should continue to have unchallenged authority to overrule doctors on treatment and why it’s better if stockholders take a bigger chunk out of everybody’s premium dollars. And while Cox is at it, perhaps he can explain to senior citizens why they should continue to get stuck in the donut hole of Medicare Part D--the gap in prescription drug coverage that the Affordable Care Act would gradually close. To be fair, it's not the coverage and access benefits that Cox and other state officials are talking about in their speeches. It's the threat of what "socialism" will do to medical care. It’s the burdens the new law will supposedly place on their states, businesses and citizens. But while plenty can go wrong as

the new law comes on line--just watch how quickly insurers find loopholes in the regulations-most of the state officials’ complaints don't really hold up under scrutiny. Just consider what they are saying about Medicaid. The federal government and states run Medicaid jointly, which means that if the program expands states will have to spend more money on it. But look more closely at the law: For the first ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government is going to cover 98 percent of the cost of the Medicaid expansion. The federal contribution declines after that, but only to 90 percent. So for every additional dollar the states put into Medicaid, they’re drawing in nine from Washington. Does Cox really want to turn down that money? And, oh yes, the Affordable Care Act would do one other thing. It would put in place a whole series of cost-cutting measures designed to promote quality medicine and, over time, curb the year-to-year spikes in health insurance premiums. The law would encourage coordination among health care providers, begin to scrutinize treatments for comparative effectiveness and link hospital payments to performance, WHAT page 40


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Clegg Party Alex Massie (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:00:00 PM

What, you ask, is going on? The honest answer is that no one in Britain really knows what is happening with our election. Just a few months ago, it was all very simple: Fiscal collapse and a much-loathed prime minister equals stonking victory for David Cameron's remodeled Conservative Party. The next government will still have to survive an Era of No Money, and Gordon Brown is no more popular than he was last year, but everything else has changed and an election that once promised to be somewhat dull has become a deliciously unpredictable, even absurd, spectacle. The first seeds that something odd and unusual might be growing came in the first week of the campaign, when polls reported surprisingly strong showings for the Liberal Democrats in key marginals. But it was last Thursday's televised debate that really allowed Nick Clegg, the young, hitherto little recognised Liberal Democrat leader to make a startling impression that has changed the election utterly. Clegg devised a ploy that was devilishly cunning: He reminded viewers that, despite what they may have been told, it is not actually illegal or even socially

embarrassing to vote for the Liberal Democrats. Overnight, by virtue of not being one of, as he put it, the two "old parties" (itself a cheek since the Liberals' roots go back to Gladstone and beyond) Clegg's party leapt eight points in the polls. One poll putting the Liberals-traditionally supported by roughly one in five voters-ahead of Labour seemed to be an amusing entertainment. But suddenly there were two, three, four, many polls agreeing that the Liberal Democrats were, pinch yourself, in second place. One even put them in the lead. For the last five days, Britain has been waiting for two things: the Iclandic ash cloud to move on and the Liberal Democrats to come back down to earth. Neither shows any sign of happening. All this poses a number of problems, not the least of which is that the nature of Britain's political system is such that the Liberals could "win" the election in terms of votes but actually come third in terms of seats won. The great virtue of the first-past-the-post system is its clarity in awarding victory; the problem is that this clarity depends upon there only being two viable parties. For the first time since Labour supplanted the old Liberal party in the 1920s, this is no longer the case. So, yes, the party with the

fewest votes could win the most seats, while the one with the most votes could end up with the fewest seats. And you thought the electoral college was odd? Labour support is narrow but deep, while the Lib Dems' vote is wide but thin. Out -of-date constituency boundaries also favour Labour. The playing field is so tilted in Labour's favor, in fact, that if all three parties won 30 percent of the vote, Labour would win approximately 300 seats, the Conservatives roughly 200, and the Liberal Democrats around 100. This, you may agree, is a pretty quaint way to organize a twenty-first century democracy. Then again, Britain remains a country in which descendents of royal mistresses are permitted seats in the legislature by virtue of the services their long-dead forbears rendered to long-dead tumescent kings and princes. So by that standard, the electoral system, rickety as it may be when there are more than two credible players, could be considered a mild improvement. Anyway, you can see why reforming the voting system is an urgent, long-cherished Liberal Democrat ambition. In 2005, for instance, they won 22 percent of the vote but only 9 percent of seats. Labour, by contrast, scooped up 55 percent of seats on 35 percent of the votes. The Conservatives won 32 percent of the vote but just

30 percent of the seats. Put in these terms, the system seems eccentric, I agree. Being traditionalists, the Tories are opposed to changing the way in which Britain plumps for its governments. Coincidentally, they fear that moving to a more proportional system would guarantee almost permanent left -of-center rule. Rarely do principle and self-interest come together in such happy fashion. Until recently--that is, until Gordon Brown had a suspiciously convenient conversion--Labour was also opposed to assisting the Liberals. Desperate times demand desperate measures, however, and the noblest thing a politician can do is lay down his principles for his future. So Brown now believes in electoral reform and has offered the Liberals a referendum (and a fully elected House of Lords) at some unspecified date in the future. This poses a ticklish problem for Clegg. How can he be an "agent of change" and prop up a discredited Labour government in the event of a hung parliament? The number of seats is the traditional measurement of success, and Britain's (unwritten) constitution dictates that in the event of a hung parliament in which no party enjoys an overall majority, the leader of the party with the most seats is invited by the Queen to

try and form a government. The Liberals could decide to be modern, however, and take the view that a party's share of the vote matters more than the number of seats won. This might open the door to a ToryLiberal deal, even though more Lib Dem voters would rather sleep with Labour than the Conservatives. It is all very imponderable. And who are the Liberal Democrats anyway? A rum bunch, frankly. They're made up of a few classical liberal types and rather more bearded, sandal-wearing geography teachers, many of whom, the suspicion has always been, also knit their own yogurt. In American terms, then, they're a bizarro mash-up of New Hampshire and Vermont. This is reflected in their manifesto: The Liberals want to raise tax allowances for the poor, cancel Britain's nuclear weapons, slash public spending, increase taxes for the rich, and embrace the European Union. Most importantly, they also insist that night buses taking drunken Britons back to their suburban homes should let passengers alight between stops. These, then, may be the men and women who will decide the nature and make-up of the next British government. As I say, these are strange times. CLEGG page 39


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Will Obama Pick a Politician for Supreme Court? (Newsmax - Inside Cover)

be able to bring valuable "real world experience," although Submitted at 4/21/2010 4:14:02 AM others could bring that President Barack Obama has a e x p e r i e n c e a s w e l l . chance to break with recent Leahy, who has suggested that tradition if he heeds the advice Obama broaden his search of some fellow Democrats b e y o n d t h e " j u d i c i a l urging him to look beyond monastery," is among several judges in his pick of a candidate t o p l a w m a k e r s w h o o n for the Supreme Court. Wednesday will visit Obama at Senate Judiciary Chairman t h e W h i t e H o u s e a b o u t a Patrick Leahy and former replacement for retiring Justice President Bill Clinton are John Paul Stevens. among Democrats who see The meeting, which will benefits in selecting someone include both Democratic and with p olitical or p o l i c y Republican lawmakers, is experience. scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EDT. I n r e c e n t d e c a d e s , U . S . Stevens, who turned 90 on presidents have tended to turn to Tuesday, is a leading liberal on judges to fill vacancies on the the court. Obama said he wants S u p r e m e C o u r t , a l t h o u g h to replace him with a candidate historically plenty of politicians o f i n t e l l e c t u a l h e f t a n d have been tapped for the court. consensus-building skills who " I t ' s i m p o r t a n t f o r a n could be persuasive on a court administration to look beyond w i t h a 5 - 4 c o n s e r v a t i v e judges for names, particularly m a j o r i t y . given the experience that Whomever he selects must be legislators and governors and approved by the Senate. attorneys general can bring to Obama, who is expected to the decision-making process," announce his decision in early to said Nan Aron, president of the mid-May, is looking closely at liberal group Alliance for U.S. solicitor general Elena Justice. Kagan and federal appeals court Obama is considering a list of judges Diane Wood and Merrick about 10 candidates, including Garland. politicians, judges and a former Among the potential candidates Harvard University law school who would bring political dean. He has said he hopes to e x p e r i e n c e a r e M i c h i g a n find a candidate who will Governor Jennifer Granholm understand the struggles of and Secretary of Homeland ordinary Americans. Security Janet Napolitano, the Aron said she shares that goal former governor of Arizona. and said some politicians might Although Kagan is not a judge,

she is a former dean of Harvard University law school. Her current job is to argue the government's cases before the Supreme Court. A P O L I T I C A L B A T T L E G R O U N D The Supreme Court's role in decisions on hot-button social issues such as abortion and gun ownership rights has made the nomination process a political battleground in recent decades. Analysts say the fight over Obama's court pick may be more intense in a congressional election year than it was last year when Obama tapped Sonia Sotomayor to become the court's first Hispanic justice. The controversy surrounding the Supreme Court selection process is one reason many recent presidents have looked toward candidates steeped in judicial experience as safe choices. Earl Warren, a former California governor who later become chief justice of the high court, is among several politicians who have served on the court. Warren is revered by liberals for writing several landmark decisions, including the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that banned racial segregation in public schools. William Howard Taft, who was chief justice during the 1920s and '30s, is the only former president to have served on the

court. Sandra Day O'Connor, who served on the court from 1981 to 2006, is the most recent example of a justice with substantial political experience; she had been an Arizona state senator. Lisa Kern Griffin, a law professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said O'Connor "exemplifies someone who was in touch with the impact of the court's decisions" on ordinary Americans and was "sensitive to its role in democracy." But Griffin said that does not mean a political career is a prerequisite for that kind of experience. "Justice Stevens himself, who is well known for his plain speaking, his moral clarity and his common sense, is someone who came from an elite federal appellate court," she said. "I don't think that there is any formula." © 2010 Reuters. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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CLEGG continued from page 38

A former Washington correspondent for The Scotsman, Alex Massie writes a blog for The Spectator. For more TNR, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

READ: continued from page 36

somewhere with the rest of Salinger’s papers, has not been made public.) Salinger is defensive but unapologetic. “Much of what is uncomplaining but gently, personally elegiac in your letter has a lot less to do with my prolonged absenteeism than it does with the shittiness of life on the planet.” But he does acknowledge that he has been a difficult friend, though his life, he explains, is not “tellable in any of the normal ways that friends tell each other how things are going”: For the last twenty years, and more, against very peculiar odds, despite quite a variety of interruptions, intrusions (a lot of them unnecessary and even malefic), I’ve been exploring things, looking into things with my writing, my fiction. What the result of it will ultimately be, I can’t say, and I’m not sure that READ: page 40


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Perot: Time Will Show Impact of Tea Party Effort (Newsmax - Inside Cover)

Army's college at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Perot has Submitted at 4/20/2010 4:43:57 PM pledged $6.1 million to the Texas billionaire Ross Perot foundation for the college's said Tuesday that the national p r o g r a m s i n i n t e r a g e n c y tea party movement seems to be cooperation and military ethics. doing well but that time will tell "What I do for the military is how it will effect the country, d o n e f r o m t h e h e a r t . I t ' s government and November something I feel very strongly elections. about," said Perot, a graduate of The former Reform Party the Naval Academy. presidential candidate also said Perot attracted a following he wouldn't be offering the when he ran for president in group advice anytime soon. 1 9 9 2 . H i s m e s s a g e a s a n "In a free society, you're entitled i n d e p e n d e n t , c a l l i n g f o r to do whatever you want to do. balanced federal budgets and Time will tell how effective it fiscal restraint, influenced the is," Perot told reporters in election, taking 19 percent of Kansas City on Tuesday, where the vote. he was receiving a leadership "If we could have gotten people a w a r d f r o m t h e A r m y ' s to listen then, we wouldn't have Command and General Staff dug the hole as deep as it is College Foundation. "Just as a now. It's done now and we've layman looking at it from afar, it got to fix it. The sooner we start, seems to me they are pretty well the better off we'll be. But we've organized and getting the gotta be careful." crowd." Perot's supporters were The foundation supports the typically white, middle-class

Americans who felt squeezed by Washington and a growing federal government. Perot's views on trade and business practices, despite his success at the polls, remained part of the political landscape for years. Republicans coaxed many of his supporters to their fold and in 1994 recaptured both chambers of Congress in midterm elections. The tea party movement generally unites on the fiscally conservative principles of small government, lower taxes and less spending — also Perot's ideals. Perot said it would be wrong to increase taxes to increase the size of government. Perot recommended lowering taxes on the wealthy to stimulate job creation. Perot said it remained to be seen if the movement would evolve into a third party in U.S. politics or if a leader of the

loosely organized group would emerge. Shifting the conversation back to his reason to be Kansas City, Perot expressed his admiration for the leadership, ethics and morals of the military. He said there is a chance that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan can lead the nation to economic recovery, much like those who fought in World War II. "The stress of a business situation is insignificant compared to the stress on the battlefield," he said. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

campaign in places like Idaho, Minnesota, and South Carolina talk a lot about what their citizens stand to lose as the Affordable Care Act takes effect. But the real loss will be if, somehow, the opposite were to happen--and the people living in those states were left dealing with the same dysfunctional

health care system that exists today. Jonathan Cohn is a senior editor of The New Republic. This column is a collaboration between TNR and Kaiser Health News. KHN is an editorially independent news service and is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research

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it’s any of my business. The attractive assignment or task alone is what I wanted. … What I’m mainly trying to say, though, is that I’ve felt unable to afford the marvellous distraction of first-class friendship. … I’ve needed to stew endlessly, unrelievedly in my own juice. That sentence says it all, as far as I know. … Old goat that I am, I still occasionally propose marriage to anybody who passes by my window, but always under the same old selfish terms: that I don’t have to leave my desk, my scripts and my books unless absolutely necessary or convenient. And then Salinger apparently did not write again for nearly five years, until Christmas 1990, when he sent a short postcard. Another, two years later, reports of a fire at the house that destroyed almost everything READ: page 41

WHAT continued from page 37

among other things. Does Cox think Michiganders are better off when their physicians don’t consult with one another, when they pay more for inferior treatments and when Medicare continues to pay high reimbursements to hospitals that take the simple steps necessary for preventing infections around catheters? For

that matter, does he think Michigan businesses--already struggling with health care costs --prefer a world in which the government doesn't start to reduce overall health care spending? Of course, what’s true for Michigan is true for the rest of the country. The state officials leading the nullification

organization, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. For more TNR, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.


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except his workroom, where he kept his manuscripts. The final, undated letter comes about a month afterwards, in January 1993. Here Salinger refuses Mitchell’s request for a signed copy of a book. He does it gently: “What’s wrong is that I don’t think I can sign a book anymore. I never did much of it, and the little I did had a peculiarly depressing effect on me, as though the act had nothing whatever to do with real reading and real writing and no good, possibly some ‘bad,’ could come of it. Most stuff that is genuine, anyway, is better left unsaid.” But Mitchell was apparently offended enough by this not only to end their friendship, but to sell the letters—the one thing, he surely

knew, that would hurt Salinger most. It is hard to read these letters, to quote from them, to analyze them, knowing that they come to us through a betrayal. I still have reservations about the Morgan’s decision to put them on display: they might have been kept in the files, accessible on request but not paraded before the public. But I’ve chosen nonetheless to quote from them at length here because of their obvious literary worth. Salinger’s reputation has taken some hits, and critics remain divided over the ultimate value of his work. Perhaps the “scripts” that he was “picking at” for so many years will restore him as one of the great writers of postwar America. Or

perhaps they will reflect the hermetic mind of an old crank who eschewed the “distraction of first-class friendship” to “stew” in his “own juice.” Regardless, they offer a view into the writing life of a man whose books—as the crowds at the Morgan attest—were deeply, personally important to his readers. That may not have been any of Salinger’s business, but it is ours. Ruth Franklin is a senior editor of The New Republic. For more TNR, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Colorado Utility Law Is Victory for Natural Gas Over Coal Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 4/20/2010 5:30:00 PM

Filed under: Xcel Energy (XEL) Is a recent legislative development in Colorado indicative of an energy trend? Certain energy investors and environmentalists hope so. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Monday signed into law a measure that will upgrade a coal -fired plant, Front Range, to enable it to run on natural gas. The Denverpost.com reported on the coal to natural gas

conversion Tuesday. A diverse coalition of gas companies, environmentalists, Democrats, and Republicans, found enough common ground to marshal the bill-- which was strongly opposed by the COLORADO page 42

Before the Bell: Futures Mixed on Mixed Earnings Melly Alazraki (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 4/21/2010 8:30:00 AM

Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, Earnings Reports, Apple Inc (AAPL), Market Matters, McDonald's (MCD), AT and T (T), Boeing Co (BA), Morgan Stanley (MS), United Technologies (UTX), Wells Fargo (WFC), Oil U.S. stock futures, except for the Nasdaq, slightly fell Wednesday

morning. While tech stocks got a boost from Apple's strong showing late Tuesday, investors remained more cautious as a wave of earnings from bellwether companies, as well as two companies were reported this morning. After Goldman Sachs (GS) reported strong earnings on Tuesday, helping markets recover after the hit they took when the SEC file civil fraud charges against the bank, Apple

( AAPL) posted late Tuesday a 90% jump in quarterly profit on 49% revenue growth. The unstoppable company reported hot sales across all of its major

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product lines. Nasdaq composite futures rose as a result Wednesday morning. Continue reading Before the Bell: Futures Mixed on Mixed Earnings Before the Bell: Futures Mixed on Mixed Earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Apple Stock Soars To All-Time High Following Strong Earnings Report Michael Fowlkes (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 4/21/2010 9:00:00 AM

APPLE page 42


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Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Good news, Products and Services, Apple Inc (AAPL), iPhone, Smartphones, Technology Shares of tech giant Apple Inc. ( AAPL) rose to a new all-time high Tuesday afternoon after the company posted a 90% increase in profit for its fiscal second quarter, spurred by strong sales of its popular iPhone. Heading into the earnings report, analysts had forecast $2.45 per share, but Apple shattered those estimates by posting $3.33 a share for the quarter. During the same period

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last year, the company reported earnings of $1.79 per share. Continue reading Apple Stock Soars To All-Time High Following Strong Earnings Report Apple Stock Soars To All-Time High Following Strong Earnings Report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Colorado Mining Association -through the legislature. Continue reading Colorado Utility Law Is Victory for Natural Gas Over Coal Colorado Utility Law Is Victory for Natural Gas Over Coal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Apr

2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Feeding kids' need for lessons on money Consumer Reports Shopping Blog (Consumer Reports)

I never took a class that taught me these crucial skills. But I managed to learn them on my Submitted at 4/21/2010 3:59:59 AM own because I knew I had to. So Feeding kids' need for lessons I’ve had it on my mind for on money awhile that schools should teach I’ll admit it right up front: Math math skills that are actually was never my favorite subject. It usable: Designing and keeping began with word problems in to a spending plan, banking second grade: who cares which basics, and maybe even how the train gets to Schenectady first? stock market works. And with A f t e r y e a r s o f a l g e b r a , my own daughter already geometry, and trigonometry, I expressing “what’s the point” arrived at college with virtually moans over math homework, the no usable math skills. I didn’t topic of financial literacy is topk n o w h o w t o d o b a s i c of-my-mind right now. percentages in order to figure Writing in The New York out a tip or a 75%-off sale. I had Times, Tara Siegel Bernard no clue how to balance a notes that “Most Americans checkbook. Investing? Huh? aren’t fluent in the language of

money,” and explores what some states are doing to work personal finance instruction into their curricula. “Feed the Pig for Tweens” (pig as in “piggy bank”) is surely a step in the right direction. A project of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

(together with the Ad Council and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics), “Feed the Pig” is a financial literacy course that aims to teach 4th through 6th graders sound spending and savings habits through a number of classroom activities, a Web game, even a take-home activity that involves the whole family in saving for a goal. Kids learn through the site how to keep financial journals for tracking their spending, saving and sharing, while learn to identify responsible and irresponsible financial decisions and their consequences. Specific math skills are identified:

decimals as dollars, for example, and using math to track expenses and balance a checkbook. My personal favorite: A lesson identifying the difference between wants and needs. Check out www.FeedthePig.org/tweens, and for young adults, www.FeedthePig.org(you can also follow on Facebook and Twitter).—Desiree Ferenczi Subscribe now! S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences


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'Lost' iPhone has a smaller display, and other surprises Michael Gikas (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 4/20/2010 2:04:46 PM

'Lost' iPhone has a smaller display, and other surprises The next-generation iPhone? Photo: Gizmodo In what appears to be a genuine goof, Apple has inadvertently offered a glimpse of an upcoming iPhone that confirms some expectations about where the company is heading with their smart phone. But the new model, seemingly left in a Silicon Valley bar by a careless Apple engineer, also has a few unexpected twists—notably a screen that’s smaller than that of the current iPhone 3G S. The phone, obtained by Gizmodo has a display that editors says is actually smaller (they don’t say how much smaller) than the 3.5-in. screen on the current crop of iPhones and iPod Touches. That’s both a surprise and a bit of a disappointment. A surprise because in the past year the iPhone’s screen has been eclipsed in size by that of the Motorola Droid, whose 3.7incher has in turn been dwarfed in size by the 4.3-inch screen on the HTC HD2. A disappointment in that with the growing number of apps for iPhone that could benefit from a bigger screen, including Apple’s iBooks e-books app, the display should if anything be getting

larger rather than shrinking. Size isn’t everything, admittedly, and the new Phone appears to have the higher resolution (960x640 pixels) than current models (480x320 pixels). Here’s what else Gizmodo's editors suggest is on the way: Better battery life? The newphone’s specs raise that possibility. Its battery packs 5.25 watt-hours (WHr) at 3.7 volts, compared to 4.51 WHr at 3.7V for the 3G S. Better imaging capability. The iPhone could use some camera

capabilities to remain competitive. They found phone has a front-facing video camera for chat and a regular camera on the back that’s noticeably larger than that of the iPhone 3GS, and so may offer better images. Plus there’s a flash, which is missing from all iPhones. A slightly thinner and narrower shape. The new phone is the same length as the 3G S (4.5 inches) but is notably thinner (at .37 inches, compared with 0.48 for the 3G S) and slightly narrower (at 2.31 inches, vs. 2.4). The new phone weighs 140

grams, compared with 137 for the 3G S, according to Gizmodo. So long plastic, hello metal. The phone has an aluminum border going completely around the outside, like an iPad, with a flat back that's made of either glass or ceramic or shiny plastic. It has two metallic buttons on the side for volume, instead of the plastic rocker-style button now on iPhones and Touches. And the buttons for power and mute, which have been plastic on the iPhone, also go metallic on the new phone.

A smaller SIM card. The new iPhone will apparently use a Micro-SIM (subscriber identity module), a tiner version of the removable sliver-like chip used to identify a cell subscriber to the carrier. No U.S. cell phone uses this type of SIM yet. The iPad uses a standard Micro-SIM as well. We know little as yet about some other specs like storage capacity, or of the new phone’s performance. That’s because the phone was apparently scrubbed 'LOST' page 44


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Join our live mower/tractor chat at 12 noon ET on April 29 Consumer Reports Shopping Blog (Consumer Reports)

good year to buy a lawn mower or tractor," says Sawchuk, who spent two decades designing Submitted at 4/20/2010 1:34:22 PM yard equipment for major Join our live mower/tractor chat manufacturers. at 12 noon ET on April 29 You might have seen Sawchuk If you're in the market for a in these buyer's/user's guides to lawn mover or tractor or just lawn mowers, lawn tractors, and want to cut better with your c h a i n s a w s . H e ' s a l s o n o current machine, be sure to stranger to handling your participate in the live chat we're questions, having in the posted planning for the Home & detailed answers to reader Garden blog on April 29 at 12 questions in our Lawn & Garden noon ET. forum. Peter Sawchuk, the program Submit your questions to the leader in our Tech department chat via e-mail and visit this who specializes in testing blog and follow us on Twitter at outdoor equipment, will answer Twitter.com/CRhomegarden for your questions about buying, updates. We look forward to using, and maintaining mowers chatting with you back here at and tractors. "It's really just a 12 noon ET on April 29.

Essential information: Read our latest review of lawn mowers and tractors and check out our look at electric mowers and tractors and reel mowers. If you're considering switching to an electric mower, read up on mower-exchange programs. Our Lawn & Garden Guide offers lots of advice for making the most of your outdoor space. Subscribe now! S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

'LOST' continued from page 43

clean remotely, via MobileMe, before Gizmodo could play with it. But we know it was running iPhone OS 4.0, according to the person who "found" it. Of course, there are necessarily a few caveats to this news. While the phone appears to be a genuine Apple prototype, that isn’t entirely confirmed. And even it is so, there’s no surety that this is, in fact, the new North American iPhone that’s expected this June; it might be an Asian model, for example. What do you think? Do the specs for this seeming new iPhone surprise you? Does it

seem like a better bet than some of the new Android models raining down now or soon—especially that 4G model we expect to see from Sprint later this year? — Mike Gikas and Paul Reynolds Subscribe now! S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Safety tip: Don’t feed baby with disposable plastic spoons Artemis Dibenedetto (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 4/21/2010 1:59:59 AM

Safety tip: Don’t feed baby with disposable plastic spoons When you’re on the go, those ubiquitous disposable white plastic spoons found in food courts may seem like a reasonably safe substitute for feeding baby her meals. But

unfortunately, those spoons can break in your baby’s mouth and lead to injury or choking. It’s best to use spoons designed for babies. They aren’t prone to breaking, and often have the advantage of being coated for safety and comfort (they won’t conduct heat like a metal spoon). You can find baby spoons in stores that sell baby and juvenile

products as well as the babyfood section of most supermarkets and drug stores.

Some are labeled as disposable—though you can wash and reuse them. Since they’re inexpensive, you can buy a half-dozen and keep a few handy in a zip-top plastic bag in baby’s diaper bag. Related: • Restaurant high chair safety tips• Baby food• Baby formula

Subscribe now! S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences


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Lemaire to Blame for Devils' Lack of Fire

Games to Watch on 2010 NFL Schedule

Christopher Botta (FanHouse Main)

Chris Burke (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:15:00 PM

Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:06:00 PM

Filed under: NFL Analysis With the release of the 2010 Filed under: Devils, Flyers, NFL schedule -- and even NHL Playoffs Do not blame the though the season is still months architect for what has become of away -- it's as good a time as the New Jersey Devils. any to take a glance ahead and The Devils, undisciplined and see what's in store. stunningly flat in key moments So here's a quick look at some in a playoff series against a of the best games that the 2010 rival, are now down three games slate has to offer: to one to the Flyers after a 4-1 loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday. 5 in the Flyers' barn this season - Vikings at Saints, Sept. 9: The This is not a perfect team, no -- the failure will fall on the league gets right after it with its doubt. This may not be a top players for getting out-worked 5 2010 opener, a Thursday night Stanley Cup contender, at the -on-5 from the first to the fourth NFC championship rematch in the Big Easy. Assuming that l e v e l o f t h e P e n g u i n s o r lines. C a p i t a l s . H o w e v e r , L o u Ultimately, the man most likely Brett Favre returns for his 91st Lamoriello -- inducted into the to pay the price will be Jacques season, this could be one of the Hockey Hall of Fame six Lemaire. Lamoriello has made a best games of the entire regular months ago -- did his part. The few curious firings in the past, season -- who can forget the title pieces were in place to compete but the general manager would game, when Favre's ill-timed for a spot in the Eastern be right to look for a fresh face interception set the Saints up for and voice behind the bench. a dramatic OT victory? Conference Final. - Cowboys at Redskins, Sept. Should the Devils lose Game 5 Flyers lead series, 3-1 Flyers 4, Devils 1: Recap| Box 12: Will Mike Shanahan turn at home on Thursday or Game 6 at the Wachovia Center on Score| Series Page Sunday -- New Jersey is now 0-

around Washington's fortunes? We could find out right away -a key NFC East showdown kicks off the Sunday night schedule. - Ravens at Jets, Sept. 13: Not too excited about this one? Well, it could wind up being an early AFC championship game preview. Both teams are loaded after 2009 playoff runs. Bonus: It's the J-E-T-S' first regularseason game at the Meadowlands.

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Boyle, Sharks Bounce Back to Pull Even with Avs

Hawks Owner Calls Josh Smith 'Closest Thing to LeBron'

A.J. Perez (FanHouse Main)

Submitted at 4/20/2010 7:34:00 PM

Submitted at 4/20/2010 9:00:00 PM

Filed under: Bucks, Hawks, Playoffs ATLANTA -- No need to move over, LeBron. You'll still be the marquee attraction during these NBA playoffs. But let us introduce the world to LeBron South. You might not know much about him since the Hawks play in the NBA outpost of Atlanta. Even though they're located just down the road from the Turner studios, they rarely get on TNT during the regular season. On Tuesday night, their Game 2 of an East first-round series was relegated to NBA TV. That network also is based in Atlanta, but you get the point.

Filed under: Avalanche, Sharks, Western, NHL Playoffs Dan Boyle slid across the crease on his back nine minutes into overtime to deny a pass to Colorado Avalanche forward Paul Stastny who could have but sealed another early-round exit for the San Jose Sharks with the flick of his wrist. Plays like that made it a different night for Boyle and the Sharks, as Joe Pavelski scored midway through the first overtime period to seal a 2-1 victory over the Avalanche at Pepsi Center Tuesday night. "We were happy for two minutes," Boyle said. "Two minutes after we got in here (the series) is 2-2. Not to be a party pooper, but all we did was tie up the series."

Boyle had a matter-of-fact demeanor, which still understandably contrasted to his posture after Game 3. Boyle took full responsibility Sunday night when his clearing attempt --- which was deflected slightly by the stick of Avs forward Ryan O'Reilly- landed in the Sharks' net in the first minute of overtime. Series tied, 2-2 Sharks 2, Avalanche 1: Recap| Box Score| Series Page

Chris Tomasson (FanHouse Main)

For those who missed it, it was a scintillating show by Hawks forward Josh Smith. He had a near triple-double with 21 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in the 96-86 win over Milwaukee for a 2-0 series lead. "He's the closest thing to LeBron in the league,'' Hawks

owner Michael Gearon Jr. said in an interview after the game with FanHouse. "I'm not saying he's LeBron. But just look, he gets assists, he rebounds, he blocks shots. He's a game changer. ... Just look at his stats.''

This after it finished the regular season as the third highest scoring team in the league with 271 goals. Outside of Patrick Kane's two tallies, Chicago's big guns ( Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp) have been

completely shut down. Honestly, we probably shouldn't be all that surprised by this development. Predators Lead Series, 2-1 Predators 4, Blackhawks 1: Recap| Box Score| Series Page

Nashville Shuts Down Chicago Again Adam Gretz (FanHouse Main)

a good offense. Obviously, it doesn't always prove to be true, but through the Filed under: Blackhawks, first three games of the ChicagoP r e d a t o r s , W e s t e r n , N H L Nashville series, the tight Playoffs I'm pretty sure there's a defense of the Predators has cliche out there that tells me a managed to get the best of the good defense is supposed to beat r e g u l a r s e a s o n o f f e n s i v e Submitted at 4/20/2010 7:40:00 PM

juggernaut that was the Blackhawks. After lighting the lamp just once on Tuesday night (a Tomas Kopecky goal) in a 41 loss, Chicago has managed to score just four times -- and only twice at even strength -- in this series that it now trails, 2-1.


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One million Xbox 360s sold down under Mike Schramm (Joystiq) Submitted at 4/21/2010 1:30:00 AM

Microsoft's Australian site has announced that one million Xbox 360s have been sold in Australia and New Zealand so far. Japan hit that landmark only last year, and about eight million consoles have been sold in North America so far, according to the most recent estimates. Congrats, Aussies and, erm, Newzies! To celebrate, Microsoft will be Cory Banks (Joystiq) and Invasion. I filled six hours auctioning off a few special with as many frags as my e d i t i o n c o n s o l e s t h r o u g h Submitted at 4/21/2010 9:00:00 AM controller could possibly deliver K o n s o l e s f o r K i d s w i t h Compared to the clamor and and it simply wasn't enough. awkwardly-painted portraits of congestion of downtown Seattle, Reach's new team-driven game Australian celebrities on them, Bungie's Kirkland offices are t y p e s a r e a d d i c t i v e a n d i n c l u d i n g R u s s e l l C r o w e , peaceful and serene. There's ambitious, focused on objective- comedy duo Hamish and Andy, little outside distraction and based progression and strategic and ... Kim Kardashian? We certainly no incessant honking. action. guess they're not all Australian It's a beautiful day. No one Gallery: Halo: Reach - t h e n . W h a t ' s t h e d e a l , would ever guess that, in two M u l t i p l a y e r B e t a Microsoft? Was Andrew Denton unadorned conference rooms on Continue reading Hands-on: the third floor, people are Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta LEGO continued from page 47 blowing each other up. Well, Hands-on: Halo: Reach maybe they noticed the Battle Multiplayer Beta originally C r e s t s a r e f u n c t i o n a l , Rifle in the lobby. appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 interlocking LEGOs, we can't Bungie invited media to its Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please build anything out of four of them. offices for a Halo: Reach see our terms for use of feeds. mulitplayer beta preview last P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | LEGO Harry Potter Collector's Edition magically increases the week, introducing us to four C o m m e n t s price by $20 originally appeared new game types, Generator on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 Defense, Headhunter, Stockplile 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Hands-on: Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta

too busy? What if we want a console with Yahoo Serious painted on the side? [Via VG247] One million Xbox 360s sold down under originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

LEGO page 48

LEGO Harry Potter Collector's Edition magically increases the price by $20 JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 4/21/2010 12:00:00 AM

A listing on Gamestop.com has revealed a Collector's Edition release for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii versions of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4. The package includes the game disc (yes!) as well as behind-thescenes featurettes about both the game and the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie, plus a set of four "House Crest LEGO magnets." In addition, the Xbox 360 version of the game will include an exclusive Avatar item. The price for this bundle? $70, fully $20 over the cost of the standard edition. For our $20, we'd need substantially more LEGOs. Even if those House LEGO page 47


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Hitler in the news

continued from page 47

(Scripting News) Submitted at 4/20/2010 6:26:27 PM

One of the most consistently funny memes in Internet humor are the adaptations of the final could skew t h e dramatic scene in the classic recommendations in what is my movie Downfall, where Hitler likely direction, based on GPS learns that his situation is data. hopeless. Because the dialog is A n a s i d e , e v e r h a d t h e German with English sub-titles, experience in an airport as you it has been easily adapted by w a l k p a s t a d o o r t h a t comic writers to current events automatically opens when with hilarious results. someone approaches it? The Now, of course Hitler was a same algorithm that the Droid monster -- and who knows if it's uses could be used here to keep good or bad that he is turning t h e d o o r c l o s e d i f y o u ' r e into a joke. I'll leave that for website. On each segment of my walking by the door and not into greater beings to decide. But it's trip, usually at the beginning of it. all very funny and it seems to the day, I program it with my A valid point was raised several me as if it's not only completely goal for the day. That way I can times -- if you're using the Droid f a i r u s e , b u t a f a n t a s t i c instantly see how I'm doing by to locate an emergency service, p r o m o t i o n f o r t h e m o v i e . simply turning the Droid on, like a hospital, you want the R e g a r d l e s s , t h e c o p y r i g h t visiting the Maps app and maps app to ignore your vector refreshing. and just tell you where the 2. Even if I haven't used the closest emergency room is. No Maps app to plan my day, doubt there's a difference there's always GPS. It can plot between a life-saving doctor and out a series of samplings, and a mood-saving Starbucks. unless I'm traveling in circles Proximity is too crude a (happened yesterday in Central measure sometimes, sometimes Park), it should be pretty we want our algorithms to be obvious whether my goal is east aware of where we're going. or west of where I am. At least it That is, to be vector-aware.

Vector-awareness, day 2 (Scripting News) Submitted at 4/21/2010 3:25:27 AM

I'm kind of disappointed that there wasn't much uptake on other blogs re what comes after location-- but not really surprised. There's an almost unconscious presumption that anything innovative will come with an earth-shaking Steve Jobs-like announcement, not with a short and simple blog post. Regardless I think it's an important idea, one worth beating the drum about. Kris Cobbaert voices a frequent concern -- how could my Droid know what my intentions are? How could it know which direction I'm going in? It's a good question, but I wouldn't have suggested this if I hadn't already very clearly told it where I am going, in at least two ways: 1. The Droid has a very nice Maps app that's obviously a Droidization of their Maps

holders have filed a takedown notice, apparently, and all the Hitler humor is now gone from YouTube. Oy! Open Video Alliance: Hitler "Downfall Meme" gets taken down. No doubt there will be a great Hitler video reacting to this event. Can't wait. In the meantime, enjoy this video of Hitler learning that Gizmodo has the new secret iPhone.


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DARPA Plans Upgrades to SPHERES Satellites: Smart Visual Navigation, Force-Field Thrusters Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 4/20/2010 11:40:13 AM

Little hover-spheres will steer themselves around obstacles inside and outside the ISS, wirelessly share power, and more The MIT-designed SPHERES (that's Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellite) aboard the ISS -- those little globes that fly around like tiny satellites even though they are confined to the station's interior -- are in line for some big upgrades from DARPA. And in true DARPA fashion, the hardware updates are bold: aside from designing the next generation of spheres, DARPA wants the current models to be fitted with visionbased autonomous navigation and force fields. SPHERES was created by DARPA so researchers on the ground -- chiefly a group of grad students at MIT -- would have a real-world test bed for formation flying algorithms. But anticipating other research opportunities, the SPHERES were built with expansion ports that allow new hardware to be installed on the CO2 propelled satellites. Now DARPA is ready to start plugging in said experimental hardware to see

what works, with the eventual goal of taking SPHERES outside of the ISS. DARPA's first order of business: a vision-based nav system that will let two SPHERES create 3-D models of other objects in space and perform relative navigation maneuvers based solely on their own vision. To wit: The target object should be assumed to be moving and possibly tumbling, and its state will not be a priori known to the

ground to start shaping the vision for the next generation of SPHERES, which will operate both inside and outside the ISS, coming and going through the smaller Kibo lab airlock. Topping the list of requirements: "Ability to operate both inside and outside of ISS," "substantial maneuvering capability," and "safety features enabling semiautonomous operations in the proximity of ISS." To top it all off, DARPA wants to tap the collective wisdom of the crowd to develop cluster flight algorithms for the SPHERES, purportedly to raise awareness of super-neato science, technology, and mathematics opportunities among high school and college students, but also to see if crowd -sourcing complex systems even observer SPHERES (except f o r c e f i e l d s b e t w e e n t w o works (and, presumably, for the through their own sensors). orbiting SPHERES so they can algorithms). Once a 3D model of the object reorient each other without Noticeably absent from the is constructed, the two observer resorting to their thrusters. And upgrades to the floating spheres SPHERES will perform relative as long as you're configuring is a means to train a Jedi knight navigation (as demonstrated that hardware, DARPA says, on the peculiarities of the Force. through some test maneuver) "another goal of this program But with a meager $4 million in solely by sensory reference to thrust area is to demonstrate grants to spread across the the target object and its 3D wireless power transfer through varying and ambitious goals of model. resonant inductive coupling," so the SPHERES project, perhaps But if visual navigation and 3- two SPHERES orbiting in the light saber tech will have to D mapping doesn't tickle the t a n d e m c a n s h a r e p o w e r wait. technophile in you, this next b e t w e e n t h e m . [ DARPA via The Register] obejective should: DARPA DARPA's third objective wants to deploy electromagnetic simply wants engineers on the


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Stylish Fraunhofer Lab-in-a-Wristwatch Warns of Impending Medical Emergencies Before They Strikes Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 4/20/2010 1:08:02 PM

According to Megadeth there are 99 ways to die, but many of those -- blood clots, dehydration, heart attacks -- can be hard to detect except with a thorough medical examination. But since we can't spend all of our time under doctor's observation, a team of European researchers, including Fraunhofer Institute scientists, is developing a lab-on-a-chip wristwatch that monitors various bio-indicators of bodily disaster, warning wearers of impending doom before problems become life-threatening. Inconveniently, this prototype wristwatch doesn't tell the time, but it will tell an athlete if his or her perspiration shows signs of dehydration, or whether a person wearing a pacemaker is wandering too close to a dangerous electromagnetic field. It can help an elderly person ensure his or her body temperature doesn't climb too

high, and someday might even help diabetics monitor their blood sugar levels around the clock. The watch itself is actually a mash-up of several lab-on-achip technologies, and could be customized for patients based on those conditions for which they are most at risk. Technologically speaking, new ultra-small

fatal medical incidents before they get into full swing. Some of these systems are in their infancy and not necessarily suited for integration into a wristwatch device. The blood clot test, for instance, requires a prick with a needle and is generally only necessary in certain situations wherein the risk of blood clots is elevated, like when a patient is traveling by air (it's also designed for onetime use). But advances in both polymer electronics and conventional sensors have made these lab-ona-chip biosensors increasingly small and affordable, meaning in the very near future patients at risk for a battery of illness biomarker sensors emerge all could wear a diagnostic watch at the time, like saliva tests that all times, providing them with a can instantly diagnose a heart constant stream of biofeedback. attack, or single-drop, And who knows, maybe they'll disposable blood tests that can even integrate a clock into it. rapidly scan the blood for [ Science Daily] indicators of impending thromboses. By stacking them in a single sensory device, the research team hopes to provide a means of catching potentially

NASA's Earth Day Gift Runs On a 56,832-Core, 128-Screen Climate Research Supercomputer Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 4/20/2010 4:25:13 PM

Earth Week is upon us, and NASA has prepared a very special gift for the blue planet. Dwarfing the iPods that we customarily give each other to celebrate another year of existence, NASA put together NEX, a planetary datacrunching tool that uses a 56,832-core, 128-screen supercomputer to blend global satellite data and sophisticated modeling software with an online collaborative culture aimed at helping scientists work together toward better climate change research. NEX, which stands for NASA Earth Exchange, provides scientists around the globe with the kind of computer power they need to quickly draw up models and gather snapshots of land use patterns, weather systems and other ecological factors that the NASA'S page 52


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Complex Orbital Planning Will Keep Cassini Flying Seven Extra Years on Tiny Remaining Fuel Supply Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)

BeetleCam Brings You Close to Wild Animals, Without the Mauling

Submitted at 4/20/2010 3:24:51 PM

Cassini arrived in Saturn's neighborhood in 2004 for a four -year mission, but it performed so well and remained in such good shape, its mission was extended for two more years. In that time it's made countless discoveries, generated a wealth of scientific data and spawned well over 1,000 academic papers. It's also burned three quarters of its fuel. For the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab mission designers tasked with extending Cassini's mission for an extra seven years, the project became a convoluted whirl of math and politics. Here, The New York Times explains the orbital mechanics of the new Cassini mission, which has to more than double the length of the mission using just a quarter of the craft's original propellant, all while appeasing opposing scientific interests. It makes for a complicated equation, to say the very least.

Denise Ngo (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 4/20/2010 12:18:56 PM

But during the last six years, mission planners had so much practice mapping out Cassini's trajectory in the most efficient ways possible that they think they can extend the mission another seven years even though only 22 percent of the original propellant is left in Cassini's tanks. In what the Times calls "an astonishingly complex exercise in Keplerian physics and geometry," mission designers

balanced the push and pull of various research interests, Cassini's capabilities and laws of physics to map out seven years worth of loops around Saturn and its moons, pulling gravity assist maneuvers around the ringed planet and its largest moon Titan to extend the mission. After the new mission gets underway in September of this year, Cassini will make 12 passes at Enceladus, 5 at other

large moons, 56 flybys of Titan and 155 orbits of Saturn at various angles before crashing spectacularly into the planet in 2017. But a lot has to happen between now and then; check out the Times piece for the whole story. [ New York Times]

Remote-controlled camera goes on safari for you Photographing animals in the wild traditionally requires a meticulously engineered infrared camera trap and good timing. Brothers Will and Matthew Burrard-Lucas, however, ingeniously attached a DSLR camera to a four-wheeldrive remote-control buggy, thus creating the BeetleCam. The roving all-terrain camera allows the brothers to safely take photos like this one: Using oversized motors and wheels, and a bit of trial and error, the brothers were able to stabilize the BeetleCam's movements and integrate a Canon EOS 400D camera with the controller used to maneuver the buggy. The brothers headed to Ruaha and Katavi National Parks in Tanzania, where they took the BEETLECAM page 52


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agency hopes will increase the global output of useful, reliable climate data. For example, using NEX, NASA scientists were able to cobble together half-trillionpixel snapshots of global vegetation change over the past 30 years in just ten hours. That sort of data crunching would've have taken months longer without NEX's capacity for data storage and processing, not to mention access to NASA's library of Landsat images. But perhaps more importantly, NEX will bring together

researchers from across disciplines and across the globe, perhaps helping to circumvent some of the academic politicking that has stymied some earlier efforts at pulling together a comprehensive global climate study. Further, projects carried out on NEX will be available to all users, meaning not only that data sets are reusable for future projects, but data processing and analysis will all be captured, step by step, by NEX. Anyone audacious enough to try to skew the numbers will have some

BEETLECAM continued from page 51

BeetleCam for a spin. They found that with some species, like the elephants, it was best to let the animal gingerly approach the camera by itself. Others, like the notably dangerous African buffalo, were totally unfazed by the robot buggy's presence. That's not to say the trip was completely devoid of hijinks. The brothers almost lost the BeetleCam when a lioness hauled it off into the bushes. Fortunately, they were able to salvage the memory card from

the otherwise ruined camera body. As the following photograph demonstrates, the BeetleCam's damage was not endured in vain. The BeetleCam now has a new camera and plans further adventures. [ Burrard-Lucas.com]

explaining to do. Pleiades, the supercomputer that runs NEX, has a 1.4 petabyte capacity and will reside at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing HQ at the agency's Ames Research campus in California. [ PhysOrg]


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