Liberty Newspost Mar-29-10 by Liberty Newspost

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- 29/03/10

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Government moves to ban legal high miaow-miaow (Top stories from Times Online)

Professor Les Iversen, interim chair of the council, said it would be unclear how many Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:59:01 AM deaths the drug had caused until Plans to ban the legal high full post-mortem examinations mephedrone will be announced and inquests had been held. by the Government later today But he added at a meeting of after new evidence emerged the council in London: "We will linking it to 25 deaths in the be recommending to the Home UK. Secretary a number of additional Alan Johnson, the Home actions he might consider in Secretary, will act on advice a d d i t i o n t o b r i n g i n g t h i s from the Government’s drug substance under the Misuse of advisers o f f i c i a l l y Drugs Act 1971." r e c o m m e n d i n g t h a t t h e He warned of the dangers to s u b s t a n c e , a l s o k n o w n a s young people of taking the drug, miaow-miaow, be outlawed. known on the streets as miaowThe move will come despite a miaow and M-Cat, and said the sixth resignation from The rapid spread of the drug was Advisory Council on the "almost out of hand". Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) Professor Iversen said: "This overnight. drug is being taken by young The ACMD was told at a people, in particular those who meeting earlier today of 18 have never taken illicit drugs, in deaths in England and a further the belief that it is legal. seven in Scotland in which "Our message must be: it is not mephedrone or a similar drug safe and it is not legal." have been implicated. He will meet the Home

Secretary later today to give the council’s formal advice on mephedrone and similar compounds. Mr Johnson will announce that the Government intends to legislate and that with all-party agreement the ban can be in force before the general election. He will brush aside the latest resignation from the council, which has thrown into question whether he can legally act on their advice. Dr Polly Taylor, a vet, quit shortly before her term of office was due to expire, accusing ministers of failing to take scientific advice seriously. A Home Office spokesman said:"We have said we intend to act immediately on receipt of the ACMD's advice and this is still our intention. "Based on its current formation the ACMD is still able to fulfil its statutory role and provide advice on mephedrone today on

which we can act." Mephedrone use has spread rapidly throughout the UK since it emerged at a pop festival on the Isle of Wight in July last year. The council was told that the most serious effects include blood vessels becoming restricted so the fingers go blue, increased blood pressure and heart rates of 100 beats per minute, hallucinations and changes to body temperature. It has also been reported to cause chronic insomnia, skin rashes, dilated eye pupils and blurred vision, dizziness and light-headedness. The drug also causes users to have a reduced appetite, dry mouth, facial flushing and goosebumps. It causes increases in euphoria and, like Ecstasy, feelings of empathy and increased sociability. The council was told that the

Ears-On With V-Moda Remix Remote Headphones Charlie Sorrel (Wired Top Stories)

V-Moda’s cellphonecompatible earbuds annoyed me the second I squeezed them into

my canals. Then, bit by bit, they grew on me, until now they’re the favorite set of headphones I

have on test in Gadget Lab’s Spanish bureau.

evidence on how dependent users become on the drug is slender although some users report craving for mephedrone and indulging in repeat dosage in a single drug-taking session. Schools are reporting a growing problem of absenteeism by pupils who have taken the drug and there are reports of users stealing to fund their habit. Drug suppliers are already stockpiling mephedrone in anticipation of huge profits to be made if it is banned and the price rises. A street trade in the substance is developing and dealers are selling it in clubs to youngsters. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Will Republicans aid financial reform? | Thomas Noyes Thomas Noyes (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

Emboldened by their success, Barack Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill wasted little time in placing financial reform next on Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:47:33 AM The political faultlines of the agenda. They are betting that f i n a n c i a l r e f o r m a r e n o t a few Republicans will resist the breaking cleanly along party temptation to go for all the lines, as Republicans break rank marbles by simply opposing any to support it bill. Will the GOP block financial Two Republican senators had reform to extract revenge for a l r e a d y b r o k e n r a n k s t o h e a l t h c a r e ? J o h n M c C a i n , negotiate a bill with Democrat grumpy on a good day, was Chris Dodd, who chairs the outright cranky over the passage Senate finance committee. Last of healthcare reform, promising week, Dodd decided to press the "no co-operation for the rest of issue by releasing his own draft the year" on any legislation. legislation, though he was But not all Republicans agree careful to leave the door open they should be the "party of no". for further negotiations with his The conservative author (and Republican colleagues. Dodd's f o r m e r G e o r g e W B u s h bill, which runs 1,120 pages, speechwriter) David Frum would create a new consumer criticised fellow Republicans for protection watchdog, regulate trying to turn healthcare reform the exotic derivatives that have into Obama's Waterloo instead spiralled out of control and build of trying to get their ideas a firewall between commercial included in the bill. According b a n k i n g a n d i n v e s t m e n t to Frum, the result was that " b a n k i n g . when we went for all the After the near-death experience marbles, we ended with none". of healthcare reform, one might Frum's remarks generated so t h i n k t h a t D e m o c r a t s i n much heat among conservatives Congress would be wary of that he resigned from the t a k i n g o n a n o t h e r l a r g e , American Enterprise Institute complex bill that expands before the week was out. government involvement in the

private sector. But instead of making things harder, Dodd said that the recent passage of healthcare reform"strengthened our hand" on financial reform. One Republican senator, Bob Corker of Tennessee, who has been talking with Dodd, thinks his party made a"major strategic error" by walking away from bipartisan negotiations on financial reform, giving Democrats a political advantage. Making things even more complicated for Republicans, another of their senators, Richard Shelby, has engaged in separate talks with Dodd. With the bankers being blamed for the current recession, it seems likely that several other Republican senators will be looking for ways to support financial reform rather than just dig in their heels. Over in the House, the GOP is sounding more intransigent. House minority leader John Boehner urged a gathering of the American Bankers Association to hang tough in the face of threat of reform, saying, "Don't let those little punk staffers take advantage of you and stand up for yourselves."

The political faultlines of financial reform are not breaking cleanly along party lines. The anger at the banking bailout can be felt across the political spectrum. Many libertarians, and more than a few liberals, still fume at the government coming to the rescue of the feckless bankers who brought this all on themselves. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke bear the burden of having carried out a necessary but unpopular bailout, and make easy punching bags for conservative and liberal populists alike. Their detractors have criticised proposals to hand additional regulatory powers to either the Treasury or the Fed. But it's hard to imagine the GOP stoking Tea Party populism by blocking regulation without being seen as siding with the banks. I don't think we will see angry voters shouting "Keep your hands off my hedge funds!" at town hall meetings this summer. Just saying no will not work for the Republicans on financial reform. The public interest is too compelling for

Congress to do nothing. The financial industry will have to accept regulation as the price for having been bailed out by the government. And if Republicans are reluctant to lead on financial reform, they should at least get out of the way. • This article was amended on 29 March. The original version said Senator Corker's comment about a "strategic error" was in relation to healthcare reform. It was about the financial reform bill. This has been corrected. • Financial crisis • US economy • United States • Obama administration • Banking • Republicans • Democrats • US politics Thomas Noyes guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Totally cool tilt-shift minature fake photographs (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/29/2010 12:57:00 AM

Tilt-shift miniature faking photographs make real-life

photographs look like miniature scale models—wrap your mind around that for a second. The technique involves using PhotoShop to make a shallow

depth of field and increasing the

intensity of colors. Check out all the examples at Digital Artist Toolbox. More PhotoShop tips and tricks.

Photo credit: Lenny the Lens Permalink| Leave a comment »

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Put patients at the heart of healthcare | Robin Llewellyn Robin Llewellyn (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 3/29/2010 2:00:00 AM

The clinics and health institutions working for Native Americans are quietly pioneering holistic, costeffective methods Clinicians in the Native American Community Clinic in Minneapolis have long been treating the uninsured and creditors, despite Minnesota boasting high levels of insurance coverage and a network of not-for-profit institutions. Senator Amy Klobuchar claimed that Minnesota served the president as " a paragon of how you can do things right", but away from the media's focus on the famous Mayo Clinic, a healthcare service which has received little coverage also operates within the state. The clinics and health institutions working for Native Americans are quietly pioneering holistic, costeffective methods that place the patient at the heart of recovery. Native Americans are more than twice as likely to suffer from diabetes as the rest of the

population, and their community endures higher levels of alcoholism (pdf), HIV, heart disease and a range of cancers. The clinic's response has been to encourage patients to take responsibility for their health through learning about diet and lifestyle, with the clinic operating cooking classes, walking programmes, and a fitness centre in addition to providing primary care services. Executive director Lydia Caros says: "One of the things that we've really stressed ever since we opened is to try and have programming that gets individuals involved in their own healthcare, as opposed to this passive 'We're here, show up and we'll take care of you' or 'Your healthcare is the doctor says this, take that'." Native Americans were originally entitled to free healthcare through treaties between the tribes and the government following the Indian Wars, with the Indian Health Service (IHS) providing services on reservations and in many urban areas. Kaiser Foundation media fellow Mark Trahant argues that despite their

detractors, Native American health services can inform the national healthcare debate: "The Indian healthcare system is by far and away underfunded. That said, it's a lot closer to what the world spends than what we spend, and the system had to come in that direction. Warren Buffet said that we've got to go from 17 % GDP to about 9 % GDP [health spending]. The only way you get there is a system that looks very like the Indian health system." The IHS spent$2,349 per patient in 2008, whereas spending per US resident was estimated at on average $8,160 in 2009 (pdf), but an ability to stretch resources is not the only characteristic of Native American health services which are increasingly operating outside of federal IHS control. The Minneapolis Native American Community Clinic was established independently in 2003 and receives no IHS support, while across the country tribes had gained responsibility for 54% of the IHS budget by 2008. A success story has been the South Central Foundation in

Anchorage, Alaska, which has gained global attention among health professionals with its achievements since passing from IHS control to Alaska Native ownership. Its "customer/owners" (rather than "patients") define their needs and the foundation then assists them in their efforts at recovery, with a focus on integrating personal care rather than letting disjointed teams of specialists provide an array of medication. This approach has been codified into the organisation's"Nuka" model of care (pdf), which, by recognising that the bulk of spending was to counter chronic and long-term ill health, identified the customer as the one with the most control over health spending. American society as a whole faces broadly similar, albeit lesser, challenges in terms of chronic ill health. Nationally, six million hospitalisations a year are due to heart disease, 7.8% of the population have diabetes, and about one-third of the population is obese. In looking at patients as human beings whose health threats relate to their lifestyle,

Jessica Alba to join judges on `Project Runway' (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:42:32 AM

rusted buzzed up: After week of

wins, Obama turns to Afghanistan (AP) 24 seconds ago 2010-0329T07:44:45-07:00

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

awareness, culture, and personal motivation, clinicians working in the Native American community have developed participatory approaches that could enhance the care available to the wider population. Lydia Caros argues: "We make it cultural because we're dealing with this (Native American) culture but it's certainly replicable in terms of any culture. Our approach is just: 'What do you want to do to invest in your own healthcare, your own health progress?' I know that change is coming because people are realising that the only way health will get better is when people are more involved in it." â&#x20AC;˘ US healthcare â&#x20AC;˘ United States Robin Llewellyn guardian.co.ukÂŠ Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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MPs face 30 per cent cut in expenses limit (Top stories from Times Online)

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, are more draconian than expected and Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:42:34 AM could result in more MPs MPs who live outside London announcing that they intend to face a cut in their expenses of 30 stand down over the next per cent or £16,000 a year as fortnight. part of a tough settlement Many face a future in onefollowing the scandal over their bedroom flats farther away from claims, the head of the new Westminster than their current Parliamentary watchdog said bases. today. Sir Ian said that the £60,000 But Sir Ian Kennedy risked resettlement grant would not be controversy by announcing that paid in future because it was he will continue to allow one p a r t o f t h e r e m u n e r a t i o n family member to be employed package rather than expenses, per MP, despite 59 per cent of although he would "look afresh" t h o s e w h o a n s w e r e d t h e if the expenses watchdog were consultation telling the new given responsibility for pay as watchdog this was wrong. well. MPs personally lobbied Sir Ian Existing MPs who are reto continue employing their elected will be banned from spouses and c h i l d r e n , claiming mortgage interest after p r o m p t i n g q u e s t i o n s o v e r two years rather than the whole w h e t h e r t h e h e a d o f t h e Parliament, forcing an earlier watchdog takes the views of than expected sale of many MPs more seriously than those homes. of the public. MPs who claim mortgage The expenses scandal started interest during this period will w h e n a T o r y M P , D e r e k be forced to pay back any Conway, was found paying his "profit" which they make in that son without evidence that he time, although the definition was carrying out any work. and mechanism for doing this The changes, outlined by the has yet to be decided. If house

prices rise, MPs could, in effect, be asked to hand back all the money they claim in two years' time. Only MPs with children under 5 will be able to claim an extra allowance which takes into account their family circumstances. The maximum that can be claimed by MPs in one year for accommodation and costs relating to their constituency office will be £40,957 for out-of -London MPs and £26,915 for London MPs. The current figures are £56,915 and £40,192 respectively. This means out-of-London MPs will face a cut in allowances by £16,000 while London MPs face a reduction of around £13,000. "London" MPs will be defined as those who live within 20 miles of Westminster or can reach any part of their constituency within 60 minutes by public transport at peak rate, meaning a total of 128 MPs in the new Parliament will be unable to claim for extra accommodation. All MPs will be forced to travel

standard class rather than first class, although ministers will still be allowed to travel first class under the government expenses scheme. Sir Ian, the chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, said: "No longer will MPs benefit from a slack allowances system. This system brings MPs’ expenses into line with those in most other areas of life. Expenses will be reimbursed only for legitimate costs, backed up by receipts. "There will be complete transparency, so that members of the public will see, in detail, expenses claimed by MPs. The rules will be backed up with tough new measures and abuse of the system will not be tolerated." This system will come into force in the next Parliament with the first expenses paid in late June. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Roy Greenslade: Paparazzi scuffle ends in hospital - and jail Roy Greenslade (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:16:35 AM

A scuffle between two photographers at Los Angeles airport who were trying to get shots of singer Pixie Lott ended up with one in hospital and the other in jail. Stefan Saad was arrested on suspicion of assault and later released on bail. The second snapper, who was not named, was treated at a local hospital. Source: Irish Independent/Press Association • United States Roy Greenslade guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

7 needs of curators (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/29/2010 3:56:00 AM

Sure, curation is a big buzz word, but when it comes down to it, what are the truly essential

roles of a good real-time curator? Robert Scoble (popularly known as @Scobleizer) offers seven needs of real-time curators on his blog. Here are just a few:

• Real-time curators need to bundle. • Real-time curators need to reorder things. • Real-time curators need to distribute bundles.

Permalink| Leave a comment » Read the full story at Scobleizer. Curate your favorite news by setting up a personalized MyAlltop page.

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Heather Mills 'took advantage of ex-nanny' (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

She said Mills, who was living with Sir Paul at his Peasmarsh estate at the time, ''was really nice and genuine'' at first and when she told her she had Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:00:29 AM Published: 3:00PM BST 29 been offered another job she Mar 2010 asked if she would like to come Sara Trumble, 26, said her and work for her instead. former employer became rude She said her role was not and highly strung after she and specifically set out but she the ex-Beatle divorced in 2008. understood she would be She also claimed former model looking after her and Sir Paul's Mills was unsympathetic s i x - m o n t h - o l d d a u g h t e r towards her when she went B e a t r i c e . through a difficult pregnancy, Miss Trumble, who lived with forcing her to accompany her on her family in nearby Westfield, trips abroad. said that from April 2004 she Miss Trumble, who was paid was employed to look after £260 a week by Mills, said she Beatrice from 10am to 6pm, five felt she was a hard-working days a week. and loyal worker but in return However she soon found she her former boss took advantage was often expected to stay well of her. into the evening while she O p e n i n g h e r c a s e f o r waited for Mills and Sir Paul to c o m p e n s a t i o n b e f o r e a n return home from their various e m p l o y m e n t t r i b u n a l i n engagements, but received no Ashford, Kent, Ms Trumble extra pay. said she met Mills when she Miss Trumble, who kept a diary came in for beauty treatments t h r o u g h o u t m u c h o f h e r where she worked at Hilden employment, said her hours Health Club in Rye, East changed as Beatrice grew older Sussex, in the summer of and began going to nursery and 2003. she was then expected to help

with housework as well. Miss Trumble also said that following the couple's separation in May 2006 her job changed further as custody of the little girl was shared between Mills and Sir Paul and he hired his own nanny to look after her when she was with him. "Heather was very bitter towards Paul," she said. "I was, I believe, a great source of comfort and support for Heather at this time." Earlier the tribunal was delayed due to legal argument over whether information from their divorce proceedings should be used as evidence. Miss Trumble's solicitor Nick Fairweather argued that the High Court judgment made following the divorce was "highly relevant" as "one of the parties has been found to lie under oath". Sitting at the back of the hearing room, Mills uttered a long "no" as Mr Fairweather said it should be used as it demonstrated her credibility. "She (Mills) was found by a

High Court judge under the forensic scrutiny of the High Court to have lied," he said. But Caroline CramptonThomas, representing Mills, said using the judgment would "unfairly prejudice" her client. After considering the matter, tribunal judge Steven Vowles said it should not be used on the grounds of its late disclosure and lack of relevance. Dressed in a navy blue pinstripe blazer and jeans and wearing black stiletto heels, Mills muttered to her friends throughout Miss Trumble's evidence. The former nanny is seeking compensation from Mills on the grounds of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal and also claims she suffered changes to her employment terms following her maternity leave. The case continues. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Cuteness: Animals getting tickled [videos] (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:27:15 AM

What better way to kick off your week than with an adorable collection of videos showing animals being tickled? Well, unless you have a clip of puppies, kittens, and broccolieating hamsters skipping together under a rainbow. The Huffington Post gathered up the sweetest viral videos of toads, monkeys, and rats getting tickled that will surely brighten up your Monday. Full collection of videos at Huffington Post. Oodles of “awwwww” cuteness. Permalink| Leave a comment »

Tom Hanks reveals upcoming movie cast via Twitter (Holy Kaw!)

on the microblogging site. The actor and all-around good guy Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:14:56 AM posted a Twitpic of the casting Tom Hanks seems to have wall, forcing movie sites to do gotten in to the swing of some squinting to figure out the Twitter, revealing the cast of his movie’s other stars. A few eagle upcoming flick, Larry Crowne, -eyed film website folks made

out, amongst others, Julia

Roberts, Cedric the Entertainer, shall remain nameless. George Takei, and Wilmer Full story at Monsters and Valderrama in the pic. Good for Critics. Tom, using Twitpic to post More celebrities and Twitter. interesting things, other than Permalink| Leave a comment » semi-naked photos of himself like some other celebrities that

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Remains found in Cambodia thought to be of Errol Flynn's son

Source: Feds pick Delaware, Tenn. for ed grants (AP)

(World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

excavation in the same province in search of a US pilot who was shot down and then killed, Um Sam An, a senior provincial police official, said. Flynn, an actor who turned to photojournalism, covered the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia before his capture at the age of 28. Several documentary films and books have appeared about Flynn and colleagues who suffered the same fate. His Tasmania-born father was a leading star in films of the 1930s. • Cambodia • United States

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Submitted at 3/28/2010 9:00:00 PM

Geely is the first Chinese company that will be in charge of a global auto brand. That said, I think we need to give some praise to Ford CEO Alan Mulally. Continue reading Geely Purchasing Volvo from Ford Geely Purchasing Volvo from

Ford originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

thought to have been executed. John Johnson, a US embassy spokesman, said Australian Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:07:35 AM David MacMillan and Briton Photographer Sean Flynn, who Keith Rotheram handed over the went went missing in 1970, remains on Friday. believed to have been captured They were sent to the Hawaiiand killed in Cambodian war based prisoner of war/missing in Forensic tests will be conducted action accounting command on what two searchers believe (JPAC), which deals with a r e t h e r e m a i n s o f t h e accounting for missing US Hollywood swashbuckler Errol citizens from past wars. Flynn's son, who disappeared "Obviously there is nothing during the Cambodian war 40 conclusive and tests need to be years ago, the US embassy said conducted," Johnson said. "Each today. case is different, so it is difficult Sean Flynn, a photographer, to speculate on how long the w a s a m o n g a t l e a s t 3 7 analysis may take." journalists who were either The search for Flynn began not killed or listed as missing during long after he and close friend the 1970-1975 conflict between Dana Stone disappeared in the t h e U S - b a c k e d L o n N o l province of Kampong Cham in government and the North 1970. Vietnamese-supported Khmer Freelance "bone hunters" have Rouge. also taken up the search for both A number of journalists were missing journalists and US known to have been captured by service personnel. Some proved the Khmer Rouge, and are to be swindlers who demanded

money from relatives of the missing. "Over the years, a number of us have tried to resolve the fate of our mates. Not only have fellow media been on this quest, but officials from the US, Japan and France," Tim Page, a colleague who searched for Flynn, wrote last week. Page expressed concern about how MacMillan and Rotheram had allegedly conducted their search. "It was not a forensic dig – they used an excavator and uncovered a full set of remains, which they removed from the site," Page said. He said nine foreigners, mostly journalists, were thought to have been held in the area of the excavation at the time of Flynn's disappearance. Page said the MacMillan and Rotheram excavation was carried out in March, while in January, JPAC conducted an

Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:38:32 AM

rusted buzzed up: After week of wins, Obama turns to Afghanistan (AP) 25 seconds ago 2010-0329T07:44:45-07:00 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Gallery: Sexy, Strange New Timepieces Debut at Basel Watch Fair Mark McClusky (Wired Top Stories)

Take a look at the most eyecatching, attractive and just plain weird new products from the annual Basel Watch Fair this month.

Geely Purchasing Volvo from Ford Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:00:00 AM

Filed under: Deals, Ford Motor (F) Yesterday, China's Zheijang Geely Holding Group purchased Volvo cars from Ford( F) for $1.8 billion. The Wall Street

Journal, among others, is touting this acquisition as proof that China's economic rise is "reshaping large swaths of global business, as its huge market and increasingly powerful companies play a growing role in industries from t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s cars to natural resources to e q u i p m e n t . "

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Legal high mephedrone linked with 26 deaths in UK (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

after taking mephedrone or similar drugs since they first emerged around 18 months ago. There was also one case reported on Guernsey, where Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:23:54 AM By Martin Evans authorities are considering Published: 2:23PM BST 29 making the stimulant a Class A Mar 2010 drug. Mephedrone – which has the Professor Iversen explained that street name "miaow-miaow" and full post mortem results and can be bought on the internet inquests would be needed f o r a s l i t t l e a s £ 4 – w a s before it could be established if previously thought to have the drug had directly led to been implicated in the deaths of their deaths but he said the seven people nationwide. figures were extremely But figures revealed by the w o r r y i n g . Advisory Council on the Misuse "I'm sure that you like us are of Drugs (ACMD), suggest q u i t e a l a r m e d b y t h e s e the true toll could be at least increasing statistics of three times that number. possible deaths attributed to this Professor Les Iversen, chair of drug," he told a public the ACMD, which is expected meeting today. to advise the Home Secretary Campaigners have been urging today to introduce an immediate the Government to ban the drug ban, said the latest research, after it was linked to a number which was collated last Friday, of deaths of youngsters. suggested 18 people in England Earlier this month teenagers and eight in Scotland had died Louis Wainwright and Nicholas

Smith, both 19, from Scunthorpe, collapsed and died after taking the stimulant. Detectives fear they could have died as a result of a contaminated batch. Mephedrone, which is part of the cathinone category of narcotics, is similar in structure to amphetamines and creates a sense of well being and energy for the user. It is currently sold legally via the internet as a plant food and is usually snorted in a similar way to cocaine. Experts said the explosion in its popularity over the last 18 months was virtually unprecedented and there was mounting evidence as to the damaging side effects of the drug. Professor Iversen said users, who had sought medical help, had reported feelings of agitation, vomiting and seizures, increased body temperature,

heart rate and blood pressure. The statistics regarding the suspected deaths involving mephedrone were provided by the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths based at St George's University of London. John Corkery, the programme manager, said the figures represented a conservative estimate as not all suspected cases are likely to have been identified. But he also stressed that the presence of mephedrone in post mortem toxicology does not necessarily imply that it caused or contributed to a death. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

UK Police Tell Cybercafe Owners 'We're Not Asking You To Spy On Users... But Spy On Users' Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Submitted at 3/29/2010 1:45:50 AM

Over in the UK, police are apparently going around to various cybercafes and telling the owners and operators to be observant about what customers are doing, even to the point of examining the hard drives of the public computers after people have used them. Amusingly, the police then say, "It's not about asking owners to spy on their customers..." -- except that it is. The recommendations specifically included "encouraging people to check on hard drives." But that's not spying? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Rio Tinto Staff Sentenced to Prison in China Mark Fightmaster (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Law, China, Rio Tinto plc ADS (RTP) A Shanghai court early Monday decided that four Rio Tinto ( RTP) employees were guilty of

accepting bribes and stealing state secrets. According to reports, Australian national Stern Hu received 10 years in prison, Wang Yong received 14 years, Ge Minqiang was sentenced to were also some fines for Hu eight years, and Liu Caikui was associated with the charges. All sentenced to seven years. There

four of the accused plead guilty to bribery, but argued the size of the bribes offered. Continue reading Rio Tinto Staff Sentenced to Prison in China Rio Tinto Staff Sentenced to Prison in China originally appeared on BloggingStocks on

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Civil servants and axed IT to pay for Morning Reading Tory tax cut nospam@example.org (Scott Jagow) (Marketplace Scratch Pad)

(Top stories from Times Online)

he said. The Tories said they would also save employers up to £150 for Submitted at 3/29/2010 3:26:28 AM every worker, relative to Thousands of public sector Labour's plans, by raising posts would be left unfilled and thresholds. It would cut the cost major IT projects would be to employers of Labour's plans axed under Tory plans to ease by more than half, Mr Osborne Labour’s national insurance said. The package has been hike, George Osborne said costed at £5.6 billion by the today. Institute for Fiscal Studies. This will generate £6 billion in The party would raise the s a v i n g s , a l l o w i n g t h e primary threshold for employees Conservatives to partially by £24 a week and the upper reverse next year’s national earnings limit by £29 a week. insurance rise which they claim They would raise the secondary would leave seven out of ten threshold at which employers working people be better off. start paying national insurance The Shadow Chancellor used for employees by £21 a week. the first press conference of the The party said that this would election season to outline the leave every insurance payer detail of their changes to earning between £7,100 and national insurance thresholds. £45,400 up to £150 better off in Mr Osborne said the Tories contrast with existing Labour w o u l d h a l t t h e n a t i o n a l plans. insurance increase for anyone Mr Osborne called the national earning under £35,000. insurance rise "the economics of Under Labour's plans it would the madhouse" and said that the hit everyone earning more than cost of reversing "Labour’s tax £20,000. The change would on jobs" had been priced at £5.6 make seven out of 10 working billion by the Institute of Fiscal people better off by up to £150, Studies The announcement

came hours before Mr Osborne will face his rivals for Number 11, Alistair Darling and Vince Cable, in a televised debate on Channel 4. He said he had identified five areas of government savings, helped by two advisers: Sir Peter Gershon, Gordon Brown’s former efficiency chief, and Dr Martin Read, the former head of Logica. The two advisers have identified £12 billion of waste that can be saved in 2010. However £6 billion are falls in health and international development, whose budgets are protected by the Conservatives, and any savings in these areas would be reinvested. The defence budget is subject to a comprehensive spending review so will not be altered immediately. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

up…you buy twice the house you can afford. You live better. And you make more money. Those days are over. But, not Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:57:19 AM Good morning. Hope you had everyone realizes it. a good weekend. Where’s the Finding a job is hard, even for o u t r a g e o v e r F a n n i e a n d the most educated(NPR) Freddie? A good question to “I think the recession in a way is start the week: pretty traumatic,” says Max Fannie and Freddie: The Caldwell, managing principal biggest bailout(New York Post) for Towers Watson, an HR It is highly likely that taxpayers consulting firm. The healthy will lose well over $200 billion r e s p o n s e , h e s a y s , i s f o r — and it may well pass $300 graduates to start managing their billion. When the history of the own career development, and crisis is all written, these two rely less on employers to institutions will turn out to be p r o v i d e t r a i n i n g a n d the most costly of the financial a d v a n c e m e n t . sector — worse than AIG, Day Traders 2.0: Wired, angry C i t i g r o u p o r B a n k o f and loving it(New York Times) A m e r i c a / M e r r i l l L y n c h … “There’s this idea out there that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac retail investors are dumb,” says are where they are because they H o w a r d L i n d z o n , t h e c o were run as the largest hedge founder of StockTwits, which funds on the planet. curates a gusher of stock tips The housing market isn’t going a n d f i n a n c i a l n e w s a l e r t s to “recover”(Christian Science tweeted by 20,000 regular Monitor) contributors. “Well, it turns out What would you rather have, a that the institutional investors mutual fund growing at 10% per are pretty dumb. They nearly year…or a house that goes up blew us all up with leverage.” by 10% per year? The house! Because you can live in it…and show it off. So you leverage

Workspace tools come to Adobe's Acrobat.com Josh Lowensohn (Webware.com)

Adobe is introducing a new feature for its Acrobat.com service that lets users share and

work on files with one another. Originally posted at Web Crawler

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Rio Tinto sacks four executives jailed in China for bribery

Before the Bell: Futures Point to a Higher Start

(Top stories from Times Online)

Melly Alazraki (BloggingStocks)

admitted to commercial espionage. Sam Walsh, the company’s iron Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:50:42 AM ore chief executive, described Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian the behaviour of the four mining giant, has sacked four workers as “deplorable”. iron ore executives after a He said: “We have been Chinese court sentenced them to informed of the clear evidence jail terms ranging from seven to presented in court that showed 1 4 y e a r s f o r c o m m e r c i a l beyond doubt that the four espionage and taking bribes. c o n v i c t e d e m p l o y e e s h a d Within hours of Australian a c c e p t e d b r i b e s . ” citizen Stern Hu and his three Mr Walsh declined to comment Chinese colleagues being on the charges of stealing convicted, Rio Tinto to limit commercial secrets which were damage to its business interests heard in a closed court last in China. week, because the company The company announced it had “has not had the opportunity to sacked the four executives and consider the evidence”. said it hoped the case would not Mr Hu was sentenced to seven affect its trade with the world’s years for taking bribes and to largest steel producer. five years for stealing business Mr Hu, Wang Yong, Ge secrets, the Shanghai Number Minqiang and Liu Caikui all One Intermediate People’s pleaded guilty to accepting Court ruled. bribes during negotiations over The court said Mr Hu would iron prices, but disputed the serve parts of the sentences amounts and aspects of the concurrently, reducing his jail accusations. One of the four had term to 10 years. Mr Wang,

accused of taking 75 million yuan (£7.5 million) in bribes, received the longest sentence, of 14 years. The two other Rio staff, Mr Ge and Mr Liu, were sentenced to eight years and seven years respectively. All four stood passive while the sentences were read out. Mr Hu’s usually dyed black hair was now white. Tao Wuping, a lawyer for Mr Liu, said: “I think all of them were already mentally prepared to appeal both the bribery and secrets convictions.” Jin Chunqing, a lawyer in the Mr Hu’s team, said the defence team were gathering to decide their next step. He said: “We haven’t decided yet if we would appeal.” Appeals in China have about a one per cent chance of success. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 3/29/2010 8:30:00 AM

Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, Ford Motor (F), Market Matters, Verizon Communications (VZ), Economic Data, Rio Tinto plc ADS (RTP) U.S. stock futures advanced Monday ahead of reports on personal income and spending was set to kick off a busy and amid general optimism regarding the global economy and as Greece planned a bond issue. Monday marks the beginning of a shortened week with nonfarm payroll report due out on Friday when market are closed. Overseas, Asian markets closed with gains after Japan reported its retail sales jumped 4.2%, driven by higher demand for cars, energy and machinery. Retail sales rose 2.3% in

January. In Europe, markets also climbed encouraged improving economic sentiment in the European Union in March, due mainly to Germany and by the announcement of a eurozone aid plan for Greece. The euro also strengthened. Continue reading Before the Bell: Futures Point to a Higher Start Before the Bell: Futures Point to a Higher Start originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Three More Banks Fail Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks)

remains alarming. Two banks in Georgia and one in Florida hit the skids, bringing the 2010 Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:30:00 AM total to 40. F i l e d u n d e r : R e c e s s i o n , The victims this time around Financial Crisis were McIntosh Commercial The bank failure rate slowed a Bank in Carrollton, Georgia, Cartersville, Georgia, and West bit last week, but the tally U n i t y N a t i o n a l B a n k i n

Bank of Key West, Florida. Together the three bank failures are expected to cost the FDIC insurance fund approximately $213.6 million. Continue reading Three More Banks Fail Three More Banks Fail

originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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NOFX's Fat Mike 'spiked fans drink Strong 2009 Results for with urine' Insurance Sector Sean Michaels (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

low. Although the 43-year-old played acoustic versions of several of the punk band's tunes, Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:39:56 AM Punk band's singer Fat Mike is the heart of the show was a said to be under investigation string of sordid "true" stories – for allegedly putting his own touching on rape, suicide and urine in a bottle of tequila he the alleged smothering death of shared with his audience at his mother. "By the time he Austin festival started talking about his T h e s i n g e r o f N O F X i s relationship with his father, all reportedly under investigation of Mike's friends who were after secretly spiking fans' standing near me had noticeably drinks with urine at a SXSW changed their demeanour," the concert. Fat Mike ended his set blogger reports. Fat Mike also of dark songs by revealing the played a new song, thick with subterfuge in a video. foreshadowing: Drinking Pee. The Pinpoint music blog reports "As Mike finished his last song, t h a t F a t M i k e , r e a l n a m e he announced that he had a M i c h a e l J o h n B u r k e t t , video that he had prepared swaggered into the Emo's especially for this evening," the Annex venue wearing the face blogger recalls. "The mood in paint of his character Cokie the the building was completely Clown. Holding a bottle of fucked at this point. Upon Patrón Añejo tequila, he poured instruction, his videographer 40 shots for himself and others hooked up the same camera he in the crowd before taking the had been recording on the entire mic and bringing the Austin time to a 20-something inch TV festival to a new, GG Allinesque that was positioned stage left.

His camera man rewound through the entire footage to reveal a scene that occurred kitty-corner to the artist entrance of this venue." The video showed Fat Mike urinating into the same Patrón bottle he seemed to have brought into the club – and poured from for dozens of fans. "I confirmed that urine was not classified as a biohazard waste and not subject to the risks of legal ramifications of blood, semen, or feces," Fat Mike told TMZ in an interview. The Austin health department is now reportedly looking into the incident. • Punk • United States Sean Michaels guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Tom Johansmeyer (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:30:00 AM

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Good news Look for big numbers from the property/casualty sector of the insurance industry for full-year 2009. Light catastrophe losses were a big help, leaving more cash in the coffers to benefit from the recovering financial markets following the September 2008 crisis. Reinsurance companies, in particular, will benefit from the light catastrophe activity of 2009. Among 52 publicly traded insurance companies, rating agency Fitch reports, the incurred loss ratio fell to 65.8%, a decline of 1.8 percentage points, and the expense ratio increased to 28.5% (up 0.6 percentage points). This caused

Study: Blogging is good for teens (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:00:00 AM

Researchers studying the blogs of teens have found that the blogging allows adolescents to build a sense of community and

enrich relationships with their friends and peers. The team from Ohio State University examined 100 teen bloggers from around the U.S. using Xanga as their sharing platform and discovered that the majority

Full story at Live Science. All about teens. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment » used the site to share positive information.

underwriting profits for the entire group to improve, as indicate by the overall combined ratio of 94.3% for 2009, down from 95.5% in 2008 (a lower combined ratio s a positive development). Continue reading Strong 2009 Results for Insurance Sector Strong 2009 Results for Insurance Sector originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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British Airways strike latest: Q&A (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

as normal on Saturday across both airports. While there is no real dispute about Gatwick, Unite says in total over the weekend only 300 of 2,200 Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:29:27 AM Published: 2:29PM BST 29 people rostered for duty did Mar 2010 so. q. How many flights operated q. So who is winning? today? a. BA said they were pleased a. BA says it ran a complete with the number of cabin crew long and short haul operation reporting to work. Unite says out of Gatwick. At Heathrow, it was swamped by members the airline said 70 per cent of wanting to take part in the long haul and 55 per cent of picket. short haul flights operated q. How much damage has the normally. The airline said 75 per strike caused? cent of customers arrived at a. BA has been successful in their destinations despite strike safeguarding a significant action. proportion of its schedule, but q. So how many flights were at some cost. Not only has it had cancelled? to pick up the bill for leasing a. BA refuses to say, Unite, the aircraft but also bookings will union organising the action, says be down as passengers choose a significant number were other airlines. grounded. q. How much has the strike cost q. How many Unite members the airline? defied the strike call? a. BA says the strike has cost a. According to BA 63 per cent them £7 million a day, but Unite of cabin crew reported to work claim the real amount is twice

that. q. What happens next? a. The second strike finishes tomorrow. Expect cancellations throughout the week and, unless agreement is reached, another four day strike at the weekend. q. What will happen the rest of the week? a. The airline says the strike action will mean further cancellations at Heathrow on March 31 and April 1 as BA gets its aircraft, pilots and cabin crew back to their correct positions around the world. BA says flights will operate as normal from Gatwick. q. What about my flight? a. Check on www.ba.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Victoria Jackson: 'I Am the Tea Party People'

Happy Passover!

(Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/28/2010 7:50:27 PM

A classic Fox News moment, as SNL alumni Victoria Jackson puts the “nutjob” in right wing nutjob. Steve Doocy brings her on to demonstrate that tea

partiers aren’t extremists, but it doesn’t quite work out as planned. “I AM the tea party people,” says Jackson, and “The President’s a Communist.” Media Matters Video

John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:20:03 AM

Happy Pesach to all you swell folks. Yo ho ho and a bottle of schmalz! Here are two videos from some of our Passovercelebrating friends.

Warner Bros. Looks for Anti-Piracy Interns Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:56:43 AM

The UK arm of Warner Bros Entertainment is looking for students to spy on digital pirates. It seems logical: Students know about piracy, many of them have committed acts that would be considered digital piracy, so why not hire them as counterintelligence? The actual description of the job has, according to TorrentFreak, been taken from the vacancy at The University of Manchester. It sounds rather ominous. Here’s an excerpt: “During the 12 month internship, duties will include: monitoring local Internet forums and IRC for pirated WB and NBCU content and in order to gather information on pirate sites, pirate groups and other pirate activities; finding new and maintaining existing accounts on private sites; scanning for links to hosted pirated WB and NBCU content and using tools to issue takedown requests; maintaining and developing bots for Internet link scanning system (training provided); preparing sending of infringement notices and logging feedback; performing trap purchases of pirated

product and logging results; inputting pirate hard goods data and other intelligence into the forensics database; selecting local keywords and submitting local filenames for monitoring and countermeasure campaigns and periodically producing research documents on piracy related technological developments. Various training will be provided.” The salary is quite good for a student: £17,500 salary for a year’s work. However, you might experience backlash from, well, many corners of the Internet. Furthermore, as suggested by TorrrentFreak, we’re sure that some devious students will become double agents: accept the job, feed only very minor things to Warner Brothers, but track their anti-piracy activities from the inside. It’s only natural in the world of spies. Tags: piracy, Spy, warner brothers

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'Removing crucifix would violate my Economists Tell Spanish Gov't Its New Copyright faith', Christian nurse tells tribunal Laws Are A Mistake (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:01:21 AM

Published: 2:50PM BST 29 Mar 2010 Shirley Chaplin, 54, claims discrimination on the part of the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust Hospital, saying it tried to prevent her from expressing religious beliefs. The trust says the policy was nothing to do with the crucifix specifically, but motivated by health and safety concerns about patients grabbing necklaces. In a 71-point statement Mrs Chaplin, who wore the crucifix to the tribunal in her home city of Exeter, said she was ''personally convicted'' to wear the emblem, given to her as a confirmation gift in 1971. In one of the points, she said: ''I have been a nurse for roughly

30 years and throughout that time I have worn my crucifix. "The crucifix is an exceptionally important expression of my faith and my belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. To deliberately remove or hide my crucifix or to treat it disrespectfully would violate my faith.'' There are at least four reasons why it is so important, she told the tribunal. Firstly, to remind her of Jesus dying on the cross to remove her sins. Secondly, she said, ''wearing the cross identifies me with Jesus and physically 'taking up my cross' by wearing it around my neck helps me to live the life Jesus wanted, by denying myself and following him''. Third, it is part of her identity, and fourth it is a ''motivation'', and wearing the cross visibly, rather than hiding it beneath clothes, ''creates my accountability in my Christian

Bad Paintings of Barack Obama (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/28/2010 2:22:55 PM

Bad paintings of Barack Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; an idea whose time

has come. Featuring this surreal

lifestyle''. Mrs Chaplin was appointed in 1994 and promoted to an Egrade nurse in 2001, the court heard. Asked if she thought health and safety issues are a reasonable excuse to remove jewellery, she said they ''might be''. Six bishops and Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote a letter to the Sunday Telegraph attacking the ''apparent discrimination'' against churchgoers. They said Mrs Chaplin's example was ''yet another case in which the religious rights of the Christian community are being treated with disrespect''. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

proposed legislation only benefits the major labels and Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:21:33 AM artists "at the expense of users We recently pointed out that, and lesser-known artists." They f o l l o w i n g s e v e r a l v e r y further say that it would be more reasonable copyright lawsuit effective for the entertainment rulings in Spain (that recognized industry to explore new business private copying shouldn't be models instead of clinging to an illegal, and that secondary old model that has proven to be liability didn't make sense), the ineffective. Spanish gov't was backing "The Internet has changed the copyright reform, supported by playing field and there are new the entertainment industry, and r u l e s t h a t w o u l d a l l o w a would basically make Spanish substantial reduction in property copyright law mimic all the r i g h t s , " P r o f e s s o r P a b l o mistakes found in many other Vazquez said commenting on countries. Thankfully, some the report. The researchers economists are speaking up to therefore advise the Government let the Spanish gov't know that to stop its war on piracy and this sounds like a terrible come up with legislation that mistake. As TorrentFreak notes: w o u l d a l l o w f o r r e d u c e d The report, published by the copyright terms . You may e c o n o m y r e s e a r c h c e n t e r recognize the name of one of the FEDEA, harshly criticizes the professors involved. Michele Government's plans to clamp Boldrin is the co-author of down on the file-sharing public. Against Intellectual Monopoly, They say that the current and took part in our CwF+RtB stunner with a south-of-the- proposals are a "useless and an experiment last year, and even border/flying underpants theme, ineffective way to defend the co-wrote a nice guest post on showing Obama with what artists because it is already an the site. appears to be a taco on his head. ancient form of fighting piracy." Permalink| Comments| Email A c c o r d i n g t o p r o f e s s o r s This Story Fernandez and Boldrin, the

Finally, Wireless Headphones With Clean, Clear Audio Christopher Jones (Wired Top Stories)

Most people think wireless headphones are synonymous

with "crap." These new 'phones from Sennheiser prove

otherwise.

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How to Work with an Executive Search Firm Elizabeth Wasserman (Inc.com) Submitted at 3/28/2010 11:14:00 PM

The search for great talent for your business often requires more than Google.To grow your business, you might need a special type of search expert -an executive search firm -- to assist in attracting, interviewing, and hiring mid- to senior-level employees. Executive search firms have long been used by big businesses but more small and mid-sized firms are realizing that they can also benefit from paying these consultants to help draft accurate and enticing job descriptions, generate a pool of qualified candidates for toplevel jobs, vet references, and speed the hiring process. While the economic slowdown saw the executive search industry lose about one third of its revenues, dropping from $11 billion in 2008 to $7.4 billion in 2009, business has started to pick up again in 2010 as many business sectors are recovering and hiring again. “When you engage and retain an executive search firm, it is not a matter of just putting ad in the paper and seeing who the best person is that applies. At the senior executive level, it’s very crucial to find the best person you can,” says Peter Felix, president of the Association of Executive Search Consultants ( AESC). “The

whole purpose of proactive recruitment is to bring into consideration candidates that might not be otherwise identifiable in the market. They may not respond to an advertisement. It opens up a whole range of candidates who might not have been aware of or shown interest in your appointment.”The cost of a bad hire can be considerable. It can cost your firm time and money and its competitive edge in the marketplace. Tackling an executive search on your own can also distract your senior staff from managing and growing the business while they search for the right hires. The following pages will detail the different types of executive search firms, how to find the right search firm for your business, and how to best work with your recruiter to find and hire the right candidate.How to Work with an Executive Search Firm: Types of Executive Search Firms and FeesWhen it comes to filling a critical position that effects the strategic direction of a business, some executives may figure that they can save a bit of money by handling the search in-house. “They may end up looking at a

prospect list of five to 10 people,” says Craig Buffkin, CEO of The Buffkin Group, a boutique retained search firm with offices in Nashville, New York, and Stamford, Conn. “An executive search firm that knows their space can help them look at a field of 150 qualified candidates.”In addition to sourcing job candidates, search firms can help a business narrow down what type of candidate with what type of qualifications they need, write a job description that is accurate and appealing, and ultimately deliver qualified candidates who can pass a rigorous hiring process, Buffkin says. Before looking for an executive search firm to help you fill key positions, you need to understand that the different types of search firms and how they structure fees. There are typically three types of search firms: Contingency Firms. Contingency firms are transaction-oriented -- they are paid only if you hire a candidate they present to you, and generally focus on mid- to lower -level positions. Contingency firms work on a percentage (typically 20-30 percent) of the candidate’s first year total cash

compensation. “Hiring managers must provide timely feedback to contingency firms, thus illustrating your firm’s commitment to hire a candidate,” says Timothy J. Augustine, principal of Atwell LLC, a national land development consulting firm, and author of How Hard Are You Knocking? The Job Seekers Guide to Opening Career Doors. “As with any service-based business, contingency firms will focus their efforts based on the real potential to generate revenue and will prioritize their time and energy on realistic opportunities.” Retained Firms. A retained search firm typically has an exclusive relationship with the employer and is hired for a specific period of time to find a candidate. Retained firms are paid a higher percentage (typically 30–35 percent) of the estimated first year compensation regardless of whether a candidate is hired. “Most assignments are paid in three installments, typically onethird of the total fee to initiate the search, one-third when quality candidates are presented and interviewed, and one-third when the position is filled,”

Augustine says. “Retained search firms are often more focused on a consultative relationship, and invest the appropriate time to learn about your company, the details of the position and the characteristics of the right candidate, and provide a research team with various resources to assist you with the search.” Retained firms are best-suited for seniorlevel management positions where there are fewer qualified candidates. Container Firm. A container firm blends the fee structure of contingent and retained services. Container firms are paid an upfront fee, typically $5,000 - $8,000 to initiate the search and require a percentage (typically 20-25 percent) of the candidate’s first year compensation once the position is filled, Augustine says. Dig Deeper: Adding an Executive Recruiter to Your Management Team How to Work with an Executive Search Firm: Selecting the Right FirmOnce you have identified the type of firm you need, it’s time to find the right firm for your business needs. There are a variety of criteria you should consider in selecting firms to consider, such as knowledge of your sector, personal references, and where they are located. “You should HOW page 14

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HOW continued from page 13

use a firm that has experience placing candidates in positions similar to your open position in your industry,” Augustine says. “As you interview different firms, look for industry experience, recruitment strategies, network and reach. In addition, find a firm that will represent you and your firm’s culture in an ethical and honest way.”Buffkin adds that it’s important to find a firm that understands your business or the position you are seeking to fill. Some firms specialize in placing chief executive officers or chief marketing officers or chief financial officers. Ask the company what relevant searches they have conducted in the past two years for similar positions and see how that matches the job you are seeking to fill. Another factor to consider is the chemistry you have with the person who will be conducting the search, Buffkin says.Here are other factors to consider:Check ReferencesAfter you find firms, it’s important to check their references. “Contact corporate clients to understand the quality of candidates presented, integrity, competency, timely feedback and representation that the recruiter provided to the market,” Augustine says. “Contact a few candidates that were placed by the search firm to better understand the candidates’ perception, how the

opportunity was presented, the representation of the firm and offer, and the recruiter’s business acumen and honesty.”Understand Efficiency MetricsRecruitment firms use various metrics for benchmarking purposes. Augustine recommends the following as some of the best recruiting metrics to use: Days to first submittal Days to fill a position Submittal to interview efficiency ratio Interview to offer efficiency ratio Offer to close efficiency ratio Diversity ratio Retention percentage Average salary of filled positions Make Sure the Recruiter Understands Your NeedsEnsure the recruiter clearly understands the position you are trying to fill. “The recruiter must clearly understand the role, responsibilities, qualifications and appropriate experience needed for the position,” Augustine says. In demonstrating this, the recruiter should dedicate time to gather information about your company, and understand the key selling features of the employer, business culture, and employees. The recruiter should be willing to spend time discussing with you the problem that the company faces, the culture, and develop an understanding of the specific personality, skills, knowledge, and education desired in a

potential candidate, Felix says. Dig Deeper: How to Turn Social Media Networks into Your Recruiter How to Work with an Executive Search Firm: Getting Started with the Search ProcessThe first order of business when you decide to hire an executive search firm is to get in writing a report that shows your consultant understands the level and type of experience you need in a job candidates, the background and technical skills necessary, responsibilities of the job, and any interpersonal skills you seek, Felix says. The consultant should help you take this information and write a formal job description that both helps market your firm to potential candidates and is honest about what the job entails. The recruiter will also help you determine salary and other compensation you need to attract the right candidate. Understanding How the Search Firm WorksDifferent recruiters may find their candidates in different locations or screen them in different ways. You need to understand these differences and make sure that they meet your company’s criteria in vetting job candidates. Here are factors to consider: Sourcing. The recruiter’s sourcing strategy and the resources they utilize to locate candidates is critical. “The

recruitment firm should leverage an extensive resource network that includes industry research, internal research teams, candidate databases, industry information, competition, and Internet tools to help them identify the target market,” Augustine says. Felix adds that a firm should also consult with the business’ executives to see if they have preferences -- for example, if they want to consider candidates currently employed by competitors or not. Provide a list of companies you want them to approach. Chances are you know your competition better than they do. Screening. The firm must be able to qualify potential candidates after conducting a number of telephone and face-to-face interviews, which should allow them to present a more defined list to the employer, Augustine says. In addition, some recruitment firms utilize selection assessment tools that are benchmarked against your firm’s criteria. Interviewing. The recruiter should present you with a short list of the best candidates for face-to-face interviews with your firm. These candidates should have already been thoroughly assessed and interview and your recruiter should be able to discuss each candidate’s resume, qualifications, personal strengths and motivation. It is critical to meet candidates so

that your interview team can compare and select the best person for the position. But the recruiter should help you prepare for the interviews. “Prior to scheduling interviews, the recruiter should present and review any interview notes, the candidates’ qualifications, and expectations for the firm and position,” Augustine says. Evaluation and selection. Once the interviews are complete, review your notes with the recruiter and discuss the strengths and weaknesses so that you can zero in on the right candidate. Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes you may need to broaden the search. “Follow-up communication is critical to a solid relationship with a recruiter,” Augustine says. “Many firms maintain agreements which establish specific parameters of communication and conduct, such as response time and evaluation within 48 hours of resume receipt or interviews, and clear evaluations and expectations from the hiring manager. A strong partnership cultivates open feedback about your company such as competitiveness of your salary structure, incentive programs, market share within a certain geographic area, new competitors, and market perception.” HOW page 22

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Smart Design's iPad ... Circa 1989 Tom Dair (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/29/2010 8:04:35 AM

As we all await that moment when we can finally get our mitts on an actual iPad, it's important to realize that the idea of a tablet computer is not a new one. In fact it's been over 20 years in the making. How do I know this, you may ask? I know because a little over 20 years ago Smart Design (along with a few other firms) was asked by Apple to develop concepts for a tablet device. The Mac products at that time were basic and beige by today's standards. The Macintosh portable had been introduced in 1989...about as big as a medium sized suitcase; the joke was that it was more "luggable" than portable. The rest of Apple's lineup consisted of the classic Mac SE and the hulking Macintosh II, typical of desktops at that time. In 1989 there were no brightly colored computers, no cool graphic cases, and no sleek silver laptops. There was no Newton, no iPod, and certainly no iPhone. Sony owned the portable music market with the cassette equipped Walkman. In 1989 the World Wide Web was still an idea. The two-page project design brief from Apple included a line drawing of a rectangular slab form with a few basic dimensions, an indication of the

screen size and approximate weight. The client asked for the delivery of two designs in the form of non-working appearance models and five images of each design showing how people would use them.

The project timeline was 30 days--start to finish. Who could ask for a more exciting project? This was about the future, and in that future, computers would be cool personal devices. Computers

would be as much about entertainment and fun as they would be about productivity. Computers would take pictures and play music on high quality built-in speakers. Computers would be mobile

and you might even be able to use them outdoors! My partners Davin Stowell, Dan Formosa, Tucker Viemeister, and I wasted no SMART page 16

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SMART continued from page 15

time getting to work. A week or so later, two concepts started to emerge from the pile of sketches and crude mock-ups. The first concept, which Tucker and Dan led, closely followed the minimum rectangular requirement but boldly suggested that the case would be made from aluminum with precisely machined holes for the speakers and details. A slit-like opening on the top surface enabled the insertion of a memory card (credit card size) for storing applications and files. We thought that someday, catalogs and magazines would arrive in the (snail) mail in the memory card format for viewing on such a device. (What were we thinking?) A high quality lens positioned on the top edge would allow people to capture images for direct viewing on the screen. To protect the screen and to give the tablet a folio/briefcase appearance, a brown leather cover was added. The cover was secured closed with magnets and a handy loop was sewn in to hold the bone-like stylus in place during transit. For the second concept, Davin

and I wanted to propose a design that was much more sporty and robust, a design that said: take me outdoors, use me at the construction site, take me camping, and play me like a guitar--or possibly even use me on a walk in space. To promote this notion, we surrounded the rectangular form factor with an oval ring that fashioned a carrying handle and encouraged people to use the device in a portrait orientation, as well as the traditional landscape format. The built-in camera (activated by clicking the top of the stylus) could be used for capturing images, and advanced software allowed the user to draw or make notes on the image. This was our Guitar App (take that Rock Band) which allowed people to play along with Roy Orbison on the memory card. You would use your fingers to strum--hey, it's the first "multitouch" screen! Adjacent to the screen was the speaker area covered in real fabric and the stylus resembled a high tech yellow pencil. One could enter information with the pointy end of the stylus and

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delete with the pink colored digital erasure end. The oval ring provided a base allowing the device to angle up for desktop viewing, as well as scanning from books, newspapers, and magazines. Needless to say we were very excited as we packed up the two models for shipment off to Apple. We even figured out a way to make the screens light up when they took them out of the box. About a week later we received a message from the client informing us that they had received the two designs. After that, we never heard another word from them again. We heard from some designer friends that IDEO was chosen to continue the project. Then, a few days later we saw someone from IDEO and they said they thought we got chosen. Who knows? Four years later, Apple came out with the Newton and the rest is the history we all know. Now 21 years later, pads, pods, and tabs are hot. Technology can now support our "radical" vision of the future. While Smart Design has not worked with Apple much in that time,

The SportsLodge: Oh, for Pete's Sake!

FanHouse TV (FanHouse We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t imagine that anyone is Main) likely to get their iPad early, but you never know: with the Submitted at 3/28/2010 2:45:00 PM Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:12:00 AM hundreds of thousands of preTwitter is aflame with reports orders, mistakes could happen. Roger slams the state of heavyweight boxing, analyzes that the iPad has started to ship. Charlie Sorrel (Wired Top Stories)

we have continued our journey with technology both in terms of the hardware and the software. On a recent project, we envisioned how magazines and newspapers might play out in the new tablet world. You'll find out more about that in my next post. Stay tuned! Read more of Tom Dair's SmartDesign blog Browse blogs by other Expert Designers Tom Dair, co-founder and president of Smart Design, runs the company's San Francisco office. He directs the firm's Insights and Strategy discipline, where he has pioneered techniques for achieving better design through an understanding of user behavior, business factors, and technology trends. Dair holds 19 patents for products ranging from complex medical devices to children's toothbrushes. His designs have won a variety of awards and are featured in a number of museum collections.

Pete Carroll's first "big" move with the Seahawks and dissects the NFL rule changes for overtime.

Senate Hearing in Philly Focuses On Laptop Spying (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 3/29/2010 2:49:00 AM

An electronic privacy expert is urging Congress to update wiretap laws to include secret video surveillance as a Senate subcommittee ponders the issue in Philadelphia. Monday's field hearing is being led by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. It comes amid a lawsuit that accuses a Pennsylvania school district of spying on students through webcams on school-issued laptops. Lower Merion school officials say they were only trying to locate missing computers. Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation is scheduled to testify. Bankston says wiretap laws should include videotaped surveillance the same way they protect secret audio recordings. No one involved in the Lower Merion lawsuit is expected to testify. ÂŠ 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.

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iPad Slays Tablet Competitors with Killer Apps Kit Eaton (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:07:52 AM

Over the weekend a huge number of leaked images gave away what some of the first tranche of iPad apps will look like. Guess what? Everything we guessed about how exciting iPad will be has just been proved true--this thing's apps will rock. A few weeks back I wrote about one simple iPad app, and how it may indicate the Microsoft Courier-vanquishing powers of the iPad. The idea wasn't to upsell the prospects of the app concerned (PadNotes,) but to spark your imagination off with the sort of future advanced pieces of software that'll be available, and to illustrate that the misconception that the iPad is just an "oversized iPhone" is completely false. Well, check out the slew of apps screenshots that turned up in a posting over at BoyGeniusReport. These app snapshots underline one thing: The iPad is going to be a transformational mobile computing device. Check out the life-organizer app Bento for starters (screenshot below.) Its iPad implementation looks gorgeous, pretty much how an

iPad multitouch app should appear, and the clever syncing with a desktop installation of the full Bento code means it's extremely versatile. Then peep at Omnigraffle--a full-featured graph drawing package that'll delight math and physics students planning to use the iPad to take notes during lectures. Its UI seems absolutely aligned with what one would imagine a multitouch-screened tablet PC would be capable of. My personal fave from the list is Big Oven--a recipes and grocery-shopping app that makes perfect sense: Prop the iPad up in its stand in the

kitchen, and use its large touchscreen to read your recipes from as you potter around in the kitchen...with some good cooking music playing from the iPod app at the same time. These are just screenshots, of course, and the real proof of the pudding is in the eating--in this case, when we get our hands on these apps to try them out. They do act as an extremely promising indicator for the success of the iPad, though. You'll probably see a few more app stories like this pop up during iPad week, because probably even more than for the iPhone, the killer feature of the

iPad will be the vast library of existing apps and these new iPad-specific designs. The ready availability of the software and the seamless App Store experience Apple's cooked up will probably mean Apple steals huge chunks of the tablet marketplace before any serious competition arrives on sale. The App Store is the thing, it seems: It's a whole new industry, spawning many a copycat, and if Apple can wind its predicted iAd mobile ad system into it too, then it'll be a serious revenue stream for the company. Our only worry is that Apple needs to overhaul the Store sometime

pretty soon, and in a more meaningful way than just slapping CoverFlow on there to aid app browsing--with all these hundreds of thousands of apps on sale, it's going to get tricky to find the content you really want. [ BGR] Head over to this link if you want to see the huge slew of other screenshots too. Read more iPad coverage To keep up with this news, and non-Apple stuff too, follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter. That QR code on the left will take you to my Twitter feed also.

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Inc. 5000 Applicant of the Week: Smashing Ideas Sarah Kessler (Inc.com) Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:00:00 AM

As applications for the 2010 Inc. 500 | 5000 arrive, we thought it would be worthwhile to shine a spotlight on some of the companies that are vying to appear on our ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. (For more information and to apply, go to http://www.inc.com/inc5000app ly/2010/.) One that caught our eye was Seattle-based Smashing Ideas.In 1996, Smashing Ideas was on the cusp of innovation when three friends, Ben Yenter, Glenn Thomas, and Evan Clarrissimeaux brought animation to the web. Working out of their parents' basements, they focused on making cartoons that used flash animation and helped bring Nickelodeon cartoons like Sponge Bob and Dora the Explorer to the internet. As technology changed, so did their company. Marketing played an increasing role in their projects, and eventually demand for this

service sparked their growth to more than 65 employees. Smashing Ideas now focuses on interactive branded content, including games, websites, and phone applications. Only the studio's catchy name has remained constant."As you look at the transition of the internet itself, in 1996 we were fairly limited in what we could do in terms of file size, bandwidth and download speeds," says CEO Stephen Jackson, who was recruited for the top position in 2005 by the founders, all of whom remain active in the company. "As speeds increased, the company then evolved."Unlike many traditional advertising companies that have added digital branches, Smashing Ideas started in the digital space. Employing a bevy of illustrators, animators, programmers and developers,

the company creates games such as "Penguins of Madagascar: The Revenge of Blowhole," which had over 3 million gameplays in its first three weeks on Nick.com. Branded content like this allows users to interact with the brand in a way that Jackson says other forms of advertising can't achieve."I don't believe in today's environment that an agency can survive without doing digital," Jackson says. "It's such a large portion of how to create an ongoing relationship with your customer that can be two-way." It's not just games that can be interactive. The other fifty percent of Smashing Ideas's revenue comes from creating sites, phone apps and user interfaces. The company is also making an effort to expand into multi-screen development. For instance, the company recently helped Sony Ericsson introduce

a successful game to multiple devices. Smashing Ideas created a version of the game that came pre-loaded on new Sony phones, while created a web-based version that could be played on desktops and on Facebook. All three versions were tied together so that, regardless of how the game was accessed, users' scores were matched against the same high-score board.This is just one of many evolutions that have aided the company's 58 percent annual growth rate over the past ten years. And it expects to continue its growth trend into next year. The company is planning to grow its mobile and devices division by 45 percent in 2010 as well as add between five and 10 employees.

Helvetireader 2 Strips Down and Simplifies Google Reader [User Scripts] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:40:00 AM

Firefox/Chrome/Opera/Safari (with user script support): The original Helvetireader gave Google Reader a facelift, with a singular font and emphasis on keyboard shortcuts. Helvetireader 2, unofficially released, provides even fewer graphical controls, and the author admits it's not everyone's cup of tea. More »

Sunday Afternoon Music: Tom Waits, 'Poor Edward' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/28/2010 3:17:12 PM

From the exceptional album Alice, Tom Waits tells the troubling tale of “Poor Edward.”[Video]

Did you hear the news about Edward? On the back of his head He had another face Was it a woman’s face Or a young girl They said to remove it would

kill him So poor Edward was doomed The face could laugh and cry It was his Devil twin And at night she spoke to him Of things heard only in hell They were impossible to

separate Chained together for life Finally the bell tolled his doom He took a suite of rooms And hung himself and her From the balcony irons Some still believe he was freed

from her But I knew her too well I say she drove him to suicide And took poor Edward to hell

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Work Smart: Taming Your Voicemail in Two Easy Steps Gina Trapani (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:46:44 AM

In an email age where text is king, voicemail feels like a big waste of time. First, there are those insufferable voice prompts you have to sit through in order to get your messages or leave one. Then you're waiting for the person who left the message to get through the small talk and to their point, so you can jot down anything important with your free hand. Voicemail is a necessary evil for anyone with a cellphone. But there are two ways you can make leaving and receiving messages faster and easier. First, stop listening to your voicemail and start reading it. Several services, both free and paid, will retrieve your voicemail for you, transcribe it into text, and email you the results. You read faster than callers can talk, so these services save you the time of checking for and listening to messages. While automatic voice-to-text transcripts won't be word-for-word perfect, they

get the gist of the message across. Google Voice, YouMail, Jott Voicemail, and CallWave are five online services that will email you transcripts of your voicemail messages for free or a small fee. Second, know how to get right to the beep. You know the drill: You call someone, hear their voicemail greeting, and then you get this:

"Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system. At the tone, please record your message. To leave a call-back number, press five. When you've finished recording, you may hang up or press one for more options." That's 10 seconds of your life you can never get back, multiplied by every voicemail you leave. While most systems

offer a key to skip these superfluous instructions, it's a different key depending on what service the person you've called uses. New York Times tech columnist David Pogue came up with a combination that covers all three major cell carriers in the US: One Star Pound. The One key skips to the beep on Sprint and AT&T, the Star works on Verizon, and the

Pound is for T-Mobile. Using the combination in that order-One Star Pound--will get you right to the beep on most cellphone voicemail systems. You can even help your friends save a few seconds of their day. Make your voicemail greeting something like, "Hi it's Gina. Press 1 to skip right to the beep." (Remember, 1 for AT&T, * for Verizon, and # for T-Mobile.) Leaving and retrieving voicemail the old-fashioned way is a waste of time. With voicemail transcripts and one star pound, you can reduce the amount of time you spend listening to robots and chit-chat. Gina Trapani is the author of Upgrade Your Life and founding editor of Lifehacker.com. Work Smart appears every week on FastCompany.com. Last week: Do Your Worst Task First (Or, Eat a Live Frog Every Morning) Image Via Flickr( http://www.flickr.com/photos/lu machrome// CC BY-SA 2.0)

Weather Underground for Chrome Provides Simple, Instant Weather Updates [Downloads] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)

conditions and forecast data comes fast, simple, and without a lot of gimmick-y offers. A W e a t h e r U n d e r g r o u n d ' s Chrome extension built around

Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:00:00 AM

the

service

offers

WUnderground's data in a toolbar button icon, mouse-over details, and a mini-page when clicked. More Âť

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Apple's iAd Could Bite a Chunk Out of Google's Mobile Ad Business Kit Eaton (Fast Company)

actual technicalities of the way iAd will work are shrouded in that famous Apple mystique and It's iPad week folks, so expect a mystery. deluge of excitement about We've been expecting news of tablet PCs, e-publishing, TV this sort ever since Apple spent shows and whatnot: Kicking us around $300 million buying off is a juicy rumor that Apple's Quattro Wireless in January. soon to launch a new "iAd" Quattro calls itself the "leading mobile advertising platform, g l o b a l m o b i l e a d v e r t i s i n g ready to smack Google where it company," which is surely a hurts. matter of opinion since This news comes from competing AdMob would MediaPost, who've heard from probably fight for that title too. the requisite insider sources that AdMob, remember, was bought Apple is due to announce this up by Google, reportedly at the new system on April 7th--which very last moment as Apple was is timed nicely to ride the rear in deep discussions to buy it flank of the huge wave of press first. It's the Google threat that's that the iPad's launch will result p r o m p t e d A p p l e t o g e t a in on the 3rd. The Apple execs footprint in this market of in question are referring to it as course, along with the promise Apple's "next big thing" and that it'll be a multi-billion dollar n o t e t h a t i t ' s s u p p o s e d l y game in a very short while. revolutionary (in the words of We can gleam a few gems from Jobs himself.) Sadly, that's Quattro's Web site that may about all we know so far--the indicate what iAd is going to be Submitted at 3/29/2010 8:23:53 AM

like. Combined with numerous Apple patents about advertising and location-aware systems, we can guess that the techies at Cupertino have built on Quattro's "QElevation" code for "dynamic targeting" which can "optimize every impression."

Google does have some of its own ad patents in this space too-but given the seemingly tense situation between the two companies right now, we're guessing Apple will be stepping carefully around Google's patents, and leveraging its own

IP to make this new system work. The result is likely to be an uber-precise, user-targeting ad placement system with an associated analytics package that Apple may wind into the iPhone's code so developers can access it through apps. It's unlikely that we'll see some of Apple's more exotic ideas, like roadblock OS-level ad placements, or an ad-supported OS...yet. And this is just guesswork, but we think it's likely to be near the mark. We've only got a week to find out. [via MediaPost] To keep up with this news and other interesting non-iPad things this week follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter. That QR code on the left will take you to my Twitter feed too.

First Look: Kobo for iPad Erica Sadun (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/29/2010 8:00:00 AM

Filed under: iPad Here's yet another iPad app that caught my eye via a video preview. KoboBooks takes advantage of iPad-style design

to offer a simple, elegant eBook reader. I love how all of the attention to detail (from bookmarks and page views, to brightness, font, and background settings) really exemplifies how apps can work on the iPad. Check out those gorgeous popup menus! Long time TUAW

friend Jim Dovey sent over this video for us to look at. It's unclear whether Apple is going to (or, really, should) give this app a green light. KoboBooks is in direct competition with its iBooks reader and their support for Project Gutenberg eBooks.

Though, if Apple does reject it, that would be a shame. Kobo is beautiful to look at. It is designed with obvious love, and a clear simple feature set. This is another app that I'm looking forward to trying, assuming that it makes it to App Store. TUAW First Look: Kobo for

iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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New Museum Architects Ryue Nishizawa, Kazuyo Sejima Win Pritzker Prize Alissa Walker (Fast Company) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:23:47 AM

In a move that surprised everyone ( even us!), the Pritzker committee made history today by naming Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima as recipients of the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize. It's only the second time that the award has gone to a woman, the second time the award has gone to a duo, and the first-ever award for a male-female duo. "For architecture that is simultaneously delicate and powerful, precise and fluid, ingenious but not overly or overtly clever," reads the jury citation. "For the creation of buildings that successfully interact with their contexts and the activities they contain, creating a sense of fullness and experiential richness; for a

singular architectural language that springs from a collaborative process that is both unique and inspirational; for their notable completed buildings and the promise of new projects together, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa are the recipients of the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize.â&#x20AC;? The Japanese Sejima and Nishizawa, who practice under the name SANAA, have worked together since 1995. They are probably best known for their New Museum of Contemporary Art building on the Bowery in New York City, a stacked, wiremesh wrapped sculpture that nodded to its in-transition surroundings. Their biggest major building was just completed in Switzerland, the undulating concrete planes of the Rolex Learning Center which appear

to rise naturally out of the site. The Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art opened in 2006 and features hundreds of curved glass panels that make up most of the exterior and interior walls. More glass wraps the circular

landmark structure for the Zollverein School for Management and Design in Germany. [youtube 5HsZbmhI954] SANAA was also chosen to design the Serpentine Pavilion in 2009, an honor bestowed upon many of their now-fellow Pritzker laureates. A ceremony for the duo will be held on May 17 in New York City where they will receive a $100,000 grant. You can see the official media kit here. Top photo by Takashi Okamoto; Rolex photo by Hisao Suzuki; Glass Pavilion photo by 2 1 s t C e n t u r y M u s e u m o f Ralph Lieberman; all photos Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, courtesy SANAA. Japan, which has no front or [ Pritzker Prize] back, making for a truly accessible, public building. A cube with seemingly-random punched-out windows that flood the interiors with light created a

Four made-for-iPhone headsets from Sony Megan Lavey (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:00:00 AM

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, iPhone Sony has introduced four new sets of earphones designed for the iPod/iPhone: Three earbud and one over-the-ear style.

Engadget reports that only the MDR-EX38iP($39.99 USD, pictured) is available now. The other three models -- the DREX300iP($99.99 USD), MDRE10iP (No price given), and the DR-V150iP($39.99 USD) -- are expected to be released in May. The earbuds will feature in-line microphones, and different v o l u m e c o n t r o l s , b u i l t - i n colors for the MDR earbuds.

They are powered by Neodymium drivers that range from 9 to 13.5 mm. The DRV150iP is aimed toward DJs, and has a 30mm ferrite driver. The MDR-E10iP will come in pink, gold, blue, or grey; the MDR-EX38iP is available in black and white. TUAW Four made-for-iPhone

headsets from Sony originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Before making an offer to a candidate, the search firm can help you conduct background checks, checking educational and employment references although many will farm out criminal and civil background checks to third parties that specialize in this work, Felix says. If you have narrowed the list down, you should participate in some of the reference checks, he adds. “Work with the recruiter to determine who will present and close the offer,” Augustine says. “This process should include notes from the interviews and a solid closing strategy to address financial questions and expectations, opportunities within the firm and the outlook of their career growth.”The most fruitful search firm partnerships are founded on trust, open communication, and a commitment from each party.

Cultivating a true partnership with a recruiter will enable you to attract, hire, and retain the best people in your industry. “Remember to realize that these are consultants in human capital and strategic issues as well as being recruiters for a particular position,” Felix says. Dig Deeper: The Power of Weak Ties in Recruiting Related Links: TechTalk: Recruiter Markets via Social Networks An executive search firm for lawyers finds that it can use viral marketing over social networks to sign up attorneys, make contact with legal employers, and get referrals. Once Bitten After an investment bank suffered the consequences of a bad hire made by its executive search firm, it now puts prospective recruiters through a rigorous test. The 4 hiring Practices of Highly Successful Organization Finding

the right person for the right job fuels success.Recommended Resources: Headhunters.com Includes an online recruiter directory by industry and location. National Personnel Associates Resources for employers including “Find a Recruiter” and articles. Riley Guide Links to salary and compensation information. The Association of Executive Search Consultants Links to free resources for employers, recruiters, and job hunters. CorporateConnect A free service for HR and line managers run by AESC to provides access to search industry news and reports, and executive recruitment training and services.

DNS Screwup Accidentally Extends Great Firewall Of China To Chile And The US? Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

spreading China's network censorship overseas. China tightly controls access to a A bit surprised this story didn't number of Web sites, using g e t m o r e a t t e n t i o n , b u t technology known colloquially apparently some sort of DNS as the Great Firewall of China. networking "error" meant that The issue was reported certain computers in both the Wednesday by Mauricio Ereche, US and Chile came up against a DNS admin with NIC Chile, the infamous Great Firewall of who found that an unnamed China-- meaning many sites local ISP reported that DNS were suddenly inaccessible q u e r i e s f o r s i t e s s u c h a s (and, one assumes, Google sent Facebook.com, Twitter.com and folks to Google Hong Kong): YouTube.com -- all of which Security experts are not sure have been blocked in China -exactly how this happened, but were being redirected to bogus it appears that at least one ISP addresses. I'm reminded of the recently began fetching high- case when Pakistan tried to l e v e l D N S ( d o m a i n n a m e block YouTube and ended up server) information from what's blocking YouTube around the known as a root DNS server, globe. Just a bit of a scary based in China. That server, reminder of how fragile and operated out of China by interconnected the internet can S w e d i s h s e r v i c e p r o v i d e r be at times. N e t n o d , r e t u r n e d D N S Permalink| Comments| Email i n f o r m a t i o n i n t e n d e d f o r This Story Chinese users, effectively Submitted at 3/29/2010 3:55:20 AM

Brightcove eyes iPad's Flash void with HTML5 (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:59:45 AM

Apple's iPad hits stores on Saturday.(Credit: James Martin/CNET) Brightcove, an online video platform provider, is looking to fill the Apple iPad's Flash void

with HTML5 video. The company on Monday announced the Brightcove Experience for HTML5, which allows customers to publish video for devices like Apple's iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch ( Brightcove blog, statement, There's a big scrum over video formats highlighted by the backbackground).

and-forth between Apple and Adobe Systems over Flash. Meanwhile, Google is pushing HTML5 for video. Toss in H.264 as a standard and things can get messy for video publishers. Read more of " Brightcove aims to fill Apple iPad's Flash

void with HTML 5" at ZDNet's Between the Lines. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Militia members charged with police Was Twitter’s Success Hard to Predict in 2006? -killing plot (AP) Apparently, No [VIDEO] (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

homemade bombs at the funeral, killing more, according to newly unsealed court papers. WASHINGTON – Nine The indictment includes suspects tied to a Christian charges of seditious conspiracy, militia in the Midwest are possessing a firearm during a charged with conspiring to kill crime of violence, teaching the police officers, then attack a u s e o f e x p l o s i v e s , a n d funeral in the hopes of killing attempting to use a weapon of more law enforcement people, mass destruction— homemade f e d e r a l p r o s e c u t o r s s a i d bombs. Monday. The indictment charges U . S . A t t o r n e y B a r b a r a members of the group conspired McQuade said agents moved on "to levy war against the United the group because the Hutaree States, (and) to oppose by force members were planning a the authority of the government violent reconaissance mission of the United States." sometime in April — just a few The charges follow FBI raids days away. over the weekend on locations Members of the group called in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Hutaree are charged in the case, According to investigators, the including their leader, David Hutaree view local, state, and Brian Stone, also known as f e d e r a l l a w e n f o r c e m e n t "Captain Hutaree." personnel as a "brotherhood" Once other officers gathered for and an enemy, and planned to a slain officer's funeral, the attack them as part of an armed group planned to detonate s t r u g g l e a g a i n s t t h e U . S . Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:40:30 AM

government. Eight suspects have been arrested by the FBI, and one more is being sought. Of the eight captured, seven are due in court later Monday. Andrew Arena, head of the FBI's field office in Detroit, said the case "is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society. The FBI takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States." ___ Associated Press Writer Mike Householder contributed to this story. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Submitted at 3/29/2010 1:56:25 AM

In September 2006, when Twitter was still in its infancy (and MySpace reigned the social networking space), 747 Media conducted a feasibility study for Twitter, describing what the service is about to 20somethings and asking them what they thought. You can see the answers in the video below, and they’re quite amazing. Although previously unfamiliar with the service, the people in the video accurately describe nearly all the important aspects of Twitter – it’s web based (and therefore not spamming your phone), it’s a great way to scan your friends’ lifestream (i.e. what they’ve been up to all day), it’s a great way to share your location with everyone, it’s very much like a group SMS, and adding videos and pictures into the mix could improve the experience

tremendously. These might seem obvious today, but back in 2006. smartphones weren’t very popular, and Twitter has started seriously integrating locationbased features in the last year or so. So, there you have it: sometimes you just need to ask people what they want, and they’ll give you great answers on how to evolve your service. Twitter Feasibilty Study Excerpt 2006 from 747 Media on Vimeo. [Thanks, Andrew] Reviews: Twitter, Vimeo Tags: social media, study, trending, twitter

Keyword Bookmarks Catalogs Handy Firefox Keyword Strings [Firefox Tip] Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:30:00 AM

Firefox: Keyword bookmarks in Firefox provide an awesome way to turn your static

bookmarks into active tools. need to interact with popular Web site Keyword Bookmarks sites. More » catalogs the bookmarks you

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A conversation with Microsoft's marketing strategist (CNET News.com)

it turned Windows into the stodgy PC guy played by John Hodgman. SAN FRANCISCO--David "Ultimately they made the Webster had a pretty busy year choice to anthropomorphize the in 2009, trying to convince the hardware platform to a human world that Windows 7 was their being," Webster said. "In so idea and adding the word Bing d o i n g t h e y a r e m a k i n g a to their collective vocabulary. statement about our customers, That said, Microsoft's chief not just our products. I think a marketing strategist doesn't lot of the work that we do really foresee much time to rest. This does do a nice job of taking that year, all Webster has to do is back and saying 'we're proud of persuade consumers that Office who our customers are as they is cool, that Mom and Dad need are proud of us.'" their own Xbox, and that a That effort will likely spill over Windows Phone can be a as Microsoft looks to do more credible alternative to the consumer-oriented advertising iPhone. Luckily, Microsoft is for Office 2010. willing to spend a few bucks to Webster notes that while many do all that. people use Office for mundane "We're in a mode now where we tasks, the software also has are spending more money on surprising uses, ranging from a advertising...than we have ever person who plans race course spent before," Webster said, tracks in OneNote to people during a lunch meeting last designing needlework in Excel. week. Microsoft doesn't break One friend of Webster does his out figures, but the company is Passover seder in PowerPoint expected to spend roughly the with embedded sound clips from same amount on advertising in Charlton Heston in "The Ten 2010 as it did last year. Commandments." David Webster isn't the typical "Office has a richer story to tell 'Softie. Not only is he far from than we sometimes give them R e d m o n d ( h e l i v e s i n credit," he said. "People actually Connecticut), but he's got more do a fascinating array of things." experience picking brand names One of the challenges for than writing code.(Credit: Webster and his team is that Microsoft) Microsoft's marketing dollars Microsoft plans to continue are split between categories using the voice of customers to where it is the 800-pound gorilla speak for the company. Webster --like Windows and Office--and said that Apple created a great those where it is the upstart, opportunity for Microsoft when such as Bing and Windows Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:00:00 AM

Phone. Although it is nice to be the leader, Webster says that products like Bing give the company more of a chance to experiment with new types of advertising. For Windows, Microsoft plans to continue the current "Windows 7 is my idea" campaign, which Webster insists still has legs. "We really think that we touched a nerve there," Webster said. It says we made your priorities our priorities. We focused on the things that you care about in focusing our R&D efforts." That idea could span to other parts of the Windows business beyond the operating system, he said. "It's actually an interesting way to think about talking about IE or Windows Live or even some of the PCs that our (hardware)

partners are bringing to market." Not all of Microsoft's bets last year paid off. For example, the company signed a deal for Windows 7 to sponsor a variety show by the creators of "Family Guy," only to promptly pull the sponsorship when the event proved too risque. Webster said that's probably an example where the company has a challenge both protecting the brand and keeping it relevant for a new generation. "On the one hand, you can say 'Had you ever seen the Family Guy?'" Webster said. "Clearly we had. The issue was, if you want to reach a more student population, if you want to give Windows some cultural relevance with the younger population, 'Family Guy' is a property certainly (that could do that)." He said that the idea sounded

good on paper. "It's not crazy," he said. That said, as the event got closer and the company saw the scripts, it became clearer that it was not such a great fit. "I always say we reserve the right to wake up smarter every day and make better decisions. As we learned, as we got closer, we were able to call an audible (and pull out)." And, while the idea of house parties for Windows 7 might have been a good idea, Webster concedes the companion instructional videos were "cheesy." But, all-in-all, he said he applauds the fact that Microsoft is willing to push the envelope more. "In the tech space, when you look at the companies competitively that we are going up against, I don't see a lot of risk taking, of being out there, in the moment," Webster said. On the phone front, Webster notes that Microsoft has a challenge in going up against Apple, which is both the market leader and spends a fortune on its advertising for the iPhone. But he said, the big brands-Apple, BlackBerry, and Android --have kind of established their niche in the smartphone market. "We're coming back to this party after the other guys have already played their hand," he said. "From a design standpoint, CONVERSATION page 34

E-reader News Edition

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Why AT&T should buy you a femtocell (CNET News.com)

is why they come with features to keep your neighbors from sponging off your network. Femtocells, network widgets But this, too, is backwards that ease the problems that many thinking. The carriers should be suffer trying to use their mobile encouraging your neighbors to phone at home, are going to be use your femtocell. Again, it's selling like hotcakes soon. all the more network capacity But here's what I'm thinking. they don't have to route through You shouldn't have to buy the cell towers. And if the yourself a $150 femtocell. They carriers were paying for the should be coming with your femtocell in your home, you next-generation mobile phone-wouldn't feel so proprietary for free. about sharing the network. Let me explain. Granted, it's your broadband Don't feel bad if you haven't connection they'd be degrading heard of a femtocell. But don't by playing Farmville on their be surprised if you hear more iPhones. But again, if your about them soon, because carrier is buying you a they're a hot item. Market femtocell, you'd probably be research firm iSuppli forecasts coming out ahead. unit shipments to grow from Of course femtocells cost 571,000 in 2009 to 1.9 million money, and carriers can't be in 2010--and to continue surging excited about spending it. They to 39.6 million by 2013. could, though, be selective Femtocells are small, lowerabout awarding the accounts power radio transmission issued femtocells. For example, stations that provide a 3G about dropped calls and slow to build and upgrade their build, and are expensive to femtocells could only go to network connection to your network speeds on your iPhone, mobile phone networks, and maintain. And even under the people who pay for new phones phone. They plug into your pay attention. Even if you don't when those networks fall short, best of conditions, it can be with unlimited data plans, or to h o m e b r o a d b a n d n e t w o r k . have your own femtocell, t h e y s u f f e r d i s s a t i s f i e d tough to get a signal into those in heavy-traffic areas AT&T has begun selling them somebody nearby who does is customers and churn as those buildings. where dropped calls are a in the United States, Vodafone one more person freeing up a c u s t o m e r s l e a v e f o r t h e Femtocells of course also can problem. They could even be is doing so in the United communication channel on the competition as soon as their be--and are--installed at work built into wireless network Kingdom. nearest cell phone tower. contracts expire. Femtocells can locations, too, helping out with routers supplied with broadband Market researcher iSuppli The hardware isn't free, of deliver capacity quickly to the business phone traffic. Here, service as a perk for those who f o r e c a s t s b i g g r o w t h f o r course, so carriers can be painful patches on the network too, there could be incentives b u y p r e m i u m b r o a d b a n d femtocells.(Credit: iSuppli) f o r g i v e n f o r t h e l a c k o f coverage maps, distributing for carriers: use us for your subscriptions from those same Here's the beauty of femtocells. excitement about the idea of communications duties more corporate mobile account, and carriers. They deliver mobile phone giving them away. But it's a evenly and targeting the loudest we'll give you femtocells. There are plenty of hurdles. network capacity very precisely matter of comparison: carriers complainers. Naturally, if you're paying for R e g u l a t o r y m a t t e r s m i g h t to the people who need it. a l r e a d y a r e f a c e d w i t h Cell towers, in contrast, take you own femtocell, you might WHY page 31 All of you folks who complain tremendous, never-ending costs forever to approve, cost a lot to feel proprietary about it, which Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:30:07 AM

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Three ways to score an iPad, even if you didn't reserve on time Erica Sadun (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/28/2010 11:30:00 PM

Filed under: iPad You've finally made up your mind. You want an iPad; you need an iPad; you are totally getting an iPad. Just one problem: You waited too long. You didn't get your reservation in on time and now you can't pre -order. So what can you do? Apple is no longer accepting day-of-release reservations; they simply don't have the stock to guarantee April 3rd shipments. Are you out of luck? Is there nothing left to be done? Worry not. TUAW has been hard at work figuring out the best strategies you can use to get a beautiful shiny new iPad into your hot sweaty little hands without breaking the law, clicking on a flashing "Win an iPad!!!1!!11" advertising banner, or committing armed robbery. Here are three practical ways you might yet be able to score an iPad on the 3rd. 1. Call your local Best Buy to see if they're stocking iPad units Start with Best Buy. All the Best Buy stores that have Apple Solutions Consultants and Apple in-store Mini Stores will be carrying 15 pads per store. You can check the Best Buy website to find out whether your local store is part of in this ASC program (search by state in the middle of the page, look for the

stores marked with a *); if so, call to confirm stock on the 3rd. It may even be worth your while camping out at an ASC store with a nice McBreakfast early on the morning of the 3rd, in the anticipation that each store really gets its 15 units. There are approximately 675 iPad-friendly Best Buys out there; let your fingers do the walking and be ready to linewait or dash out early Saturday morning. 2. Call your local Apple Store to find out when they will release their reserved iPads Current reports suggest that reserved iPads remaining unpurchased will be released to sale at 3:00 pm local time, on a per-store basis. Check with your local store now, or on the day of, and find out when that actual time will be.

If you haven't managed to do a Best Buy deal by early afternoon of the 3rd, you may want to grab some lattes around 2:30 pm (assuming a 3 pm release) and hang out at the Apple Store, waiting for one of those units to come free. If you have several stores nearby, check at 1 pm to find the store that has the most "not yet picked up" units. It wouldn't hurt if you showed up with a tray of, say, chocolate chip cookies or brownies for the Apple Store employees. Just saying. [ Don't really bring cookies. -Ed.] For all you know, the store reps might simply say "Come on over, we have some for immediate purchase" when you call. Some stores are expecting (according to anonymous TUAW tipsters) a 10% "bump" in stock quantities, especially in

large cities like New York and San Francisco. It is unlikely that any store will reveal their bump in advance, so these are calls you really need to make on the afternoon of the 3rd itself. 3. Buy one off someone else at the store. There's a fair number of people who reserved two units, deciding to wait until the last minute to choose which model they would settle on. Find someone who is only going to buy one of their two reserved units and offer them a little financial incentive to let you get in on the second. You can hover at the store on the day to try to find someone (a big "Reserved 2? Only want 1?" sign might help) or, you can track down a "reserved but will not buy the second unit" partner over Craigslist in advance.

It will probably cost you less than you'd expect and you won't have to wait until the end of the day for a reserve unit release. Make your offer attractive (at least a nice iTunes gift card) but not desperate. You don't want to plant seeds of doubt as to how much that second unit would fetch on eBay. Alternatively, catch your consumer on the way out, instead of the way in. If you're frantic for your iPad, if money is no object, how about offering people departing the store more than what they paid? The realworld cost plus a small (or large) bonus might swing the deal. As Joshua Topolsky from our sister site Engadget puts it, "If someone offered me double, I probably would take it." And THREE page 32

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Tech/ Gallup Poll/

Toyota to supply hybrid technology to Mazda

WHY

(CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:07:50 AM

Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor announced a deal under which Japan's top automaker will supply its hybrid technology under license to Mazda, in the latest linkup within the fast-changing auto industry. Japan's No.1 and No.5 carmakers have been discussing the possibility behind the scenes since last spring as the popularity of gasoline-electric cars surged in Japan with the help of generous government subsidies. Hybrid cars, which improve fuel efficiency by twinning internal combustion engines with electric motors, are seen as crucial for automakers to boost sales in the coming years as governments introduce stricter environmental regulations. Gasoline-electric cars have enjoyed a burst of demand especially in Japan over the past year as the government introduced an exemption from certain taxes for gasolineelectric and other nextgeneration vehicles for a threeyear period. "Hybrids are spreading fast in Japan, and launching a model in

the domestic market has become an urgent task," Mazda Executive Vice President Masaharu Yamaki told a joint news conference in Tokyo. "That is one of the reasons why we decided to seek this agreement with Toyota," he said. The dashboard display of the hybrid-powered 2010 Toyota Prius includes fuel consumption and power usage information.(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET) Mazda said it aimed to begin selling a vehicle that combines Toyota's hybrid system with its own next-generation gasoline engine in Japan by 2013. Key components such as battery packs, controls units, inverters and regenerative braking units will be procured from Toyota suppliers. The agreement underscores a growing need for smaller carmakers to find partners to fill the technology gap without draining their limited resources. Among others, archrivals Daimler and BMW are also working together on hybrid development. A Toyota-Mazda pairing also highlights a distancing of Mazda from top shareholder Ford Motor, which is among the few

automakers today with a proprietary hybrid system after it initially licensed technology from Toyota. Ford and Mazda continue to share some vehicle platforms and operate joint factories, but insiders say relations have cooled to match the U.S. automaker's diminished stake in the Hiroshima-based automaker, from a controlling 33.4 percent. In late 2008, Ford sold all but 13 percent of its Mazda stake, which was further diluted to 11 percent when the latter issued $1 billion in new shares to raise money to invest in hybrid and other technologies. "Our relationship with Ford remains solid," Yamaki said, adding that Mazda had judged that procuring hybrid parts from Toyota's suppliers in Japan was more efficient than working with Ford. Toyota, a pioneer in hybrid technology with at least a 12year lead on most rivals, currently supplies its hybrid system to Nissan Motor, which uses it in its Altima sedan for the U.S. market to clear regulations there. Nissan plans to switch to its own hybrid

system with a new model later this year. Toyota Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada said the deal with Mazda could indirectly help to lower procurement costs as more hybrid vehicles enter the market. The deal will likely be a boon for Toyota's key hybrid suppliers such as affiliates Denso and Aisin Seiki, as well as Panasonic, which operates a battery joint venture with Toyota. Mazda, the maker of the Mazda6/Atenza and other sporty cars, has a goal of raising its fleet's fuel economy by 30 percent mainly by improving its internal combustion engines by 2015 compared with 2008 levels. It has said it would gradually add electric components such as hybrid systems mainly beyond 2015. Yamaki declined to disclose Mazda's plans for hybrid launches outside Japan. Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

continued from page 29

intrude, particularly where radio -frequency interference is an ongoing issue. Femtocells stop working when the power goes out. Upgrades to 4G would incur new expenses. And the complicated system of handing off a phone connection from one cell tower to another when people are on the move gets even more complicated with femtocells. But even with these issues, femtocells hold promise as a way to ameliorate the worst mobile phone congestion problems. Some people with poor mobile phone connectivity might be thinking spending the money is worth it for improved coverage. The way I see it, though, is that we're already paying mobile phone network operators plenty for our subscriptions, and it's up to them, not us, to fulfill their promises. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Uninsured Americans Skew Independent, Politically (All Gallup Headlines) Submitted at 3/28/2010 8:00:00 PM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Americans who lack health

insurance are predominantly independent in their political orientation. Given this, the

healthcare reform effort could enable the Democrats to tap into this population for greater

support in coming elections.

Tech/ Tech News/

E-reader News Edition

Top 10 Funny Dog Videos on YouTube Amy-Mae Elliott (Mashable!)

show emotional expressions? This super-sweet Japanese pooch certainly can, with the There are plenty of funny translation appearing to be that videos on YouTube but the ones he gives his owner the loveliest that get us spitting our tea all canine smile, cutest ear wiggles over our monitors and give us and waggliest tail whenever he the best giggles are animal- comes into view. A heart-melter themed affairs. if there ever was one. 3. Talking Man’s best friend doubles as a Dogs clown on notable occasions, Forget expressions — these many of which this selection of hounds can vocalize. Hit play YouTube favorites captures to and listen up for “hello”, “I want great comedic effect. it”, “run around” and the big Keep reading for some hilarious finale “I want my momma”. doggie antics caught on camera, Someone get these dogs a in which we’re fairly certain no s h o w … 4 . D O G v s . canine was hurt in the making of BALLOONS II, This Time It’s — except for the pride of the Personal pooch in vid number 10 — How much fun can one dog there’s no coming back from have popping 100 balloons in 77 that in the dog self-respect seconds? Seems like it’s some stakes. 1. The ORIGINAL kind of personal mission for this Stains from “It’s Me or the little terrier to rid the world of Dog” the evil “spheres of doom.” Hit Just take a look at those unholy the arrow to see it play out — cupcake eyes as this poor pooch and we’ll warn you, it doesn’t i s f o r c e d t o c o n t r o l h i s end well for the balloons. 5. confectionery obsession. We Sleepwalking Dog feel ya buddy, we really do. 2. Poor old Mr Sleepy Head Smile Dog sleepwalks right into the wall. Convinced your dog’s face can This clip is only surpassed in Submitted at 3/28/2010 8:51:16 PM

skateboarding bulldog as he seems to have doing it. 9. Funny Dog – Prison Break Your heart will be in your throat as you watch this plucky pup’s daring escape from his confines. As well as watch the main action, may we funniness by Buzkit the Sleep recommend you check out the Walking Man, but including that other pups that appear to be one would not make that much silently willing him on while sense in a dog-themed round-up, one even gives him a little wave now would it? 6. Weimaraner goodbye at the end. He lives Sniffs Dog Farts and Makes a happily after, by the way. 10. Funny Face Dalmation Riding a Bike Brilliant. 7. Buddy’s Funny Why? seems the obvious Barking question when first watching There are funny noise clips this popular Japanese snippet, aplenty on the ‘Tube for French but as the dog seems under no bulldogs and pugs (and in fact d i s t r e s s w e s o o n s t o p p e d any animal that’s been bred so q u e r y i n g a n d j u s t s t a r t e d it’s face is all mushy, sadly enjoying. Look! It’s a dog! resulting in breathing and Riding a bike. When do the vocalizing “issues” for many) training wheels come off is what but this chirpy little fella’s odd we want to know. Reviews: bark has been enjoyed by nearly YouTube three quarters of million dog- Tags: dogs, funny, videos, viral fanciers around the globe. 8. videos, youtube Skateboarding Dog The YouTube sensation, since featured on an Apple iPhone ad, it’s as much fun to watch this

THREE continued from page 30

he's a tech geek! What would Joe or Jane Normal Consumer say? They'd probably say yes. Figure out exactly what a day-of-release iPad is worth to you. Doing a departing-the-store deal might

Grow Bags Create a Low-Maintenance Garden Anywhere [Stuff We Like] Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:30:00 AM

Maybe you want to get started gardening with just a few herbs, but, like us, feel like a natural born plant killer. Grow Bags provide breathe-able, portable containers you can plunk down just about anywhere to grow herbs and small vegetables. More »

Android Devices Crave Google's Attention Priya Ganapati (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/28/2010 9:00:00 PM

just snag you the unit you're after. Thank you, TUAW tipsters (both anonymous and, um, nonymous). TUAW Three ways to score an iPad, even if you didn't reserve

on time originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

As more Android-powered gadgets like e-readers and tablets appear on the market, Google is ignoring them. Google's focus on smartphones leaves makers of other Android devices out in the cold.

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E-reader News Edition

James Cameron: Innovation Trumps Any Piracy Threat

Digg’s Empty Search Results Promote Burger King’s Double Cheeseburgers Adam Ostrow (Mashable!) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:45:51 AM

Burger King –- no stranger to clever social media marketing Mike Masnick (Techdirt) Cameron's claim that innovation want to own it, have it on a campaigns–- is taking over trumps "piracy," which he made iPhone when they want it, and Digg’s empty search results Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:50:00 AM onstage at CTIA:"In film we they want the social experience pages. Specifically, the fast Nearly a year ago, Techdirt have definitely felt threatened of going to the cinema. These food chain is placing ads r e a d e r P a r k e r M a s o n h a d by piracy," he said. "We saw the are really different experiences. p r o m o t i n g i t s $ 1 d o u b l e s u b m i t t e d a s t o r y t o u s , music industry crash and burn in And I think they can all co-exist c h e e s e b u r g e r s w h e n y o u suggesting that the amazing its efforts to stop it. But with G4 i n t h e s a m e e c o - s y s t e m . " conduct a search on Digg that visuals and 3D + IMAX aspect (I think he meant 4G wireless) Indeed. It's great that he's yields no results. of Avatar was a perfect example and Moore's Law, you can't recognizing this. The other The “error” message reads: of adding value to movies that fight it...." interesting point he made was “Looks like your search had a would give people a real reason "The music industry saw it that they're going to release the typo. Maybe you’ve got tiny to go to the theater. I actually coming, they tried to stop it, and Avatar DVD while the film is hands?” While that may or may kept that story open in a tab for they got rolled over," he said. still showing in the theaters -- in not be the reason for your empty months, intending to write it up, " T h e n t h e y s t a r t e d s u i n g part because the show is still search results, as Switched and I never got around to it -- everybody. And now it is what it doing well in the theaters. Of notes, that wording is actually a and, to be honest, I wasn't is." course, many theaters have tie-in with an ongoing BK ad entirely convinced that Avatar Instead, Cameron said he has complained about how they c a m p a i g n w h e r e p e o p l e w o u l d r e a l l y g e t a h u g e tried to innovate to give movie don't want shorter release complain that their hands are too reception. Don't I look foolish? goers a reason to go to theater. windows (or, horror of horrors, small for BK’s massive double Yes, Avatar obviously has been A n d i n c r e a t i n g a r i c h , the idea of releasing a movie in cheeseburgers. a blockbuster of blockbuster " r e i n v i g o r a t e d c i n e m a the theater and on DVD at the We’re not sure if this will be an proportions -- in part because of experience," Cameron said he same time). However, it will be exactly those points. People discovered that people are interesting to see whether the want that greater experience and w i l l i n g t o p a y m o n e y t o DVD release, while the movie is I was certainly among those experience the same content in still in some theaters, leads to at who ponied up for the full 3D different ways. Not only are least a little bump in box office IMAX version (and not the fake they willing to pay $10 or more sales for the movie, as people IMAX version either -- thanks to see Avatar on the big screen who watch it on DVD decide Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) to a friend who reminded me of in 3D, but they also will pay to they want to see it on the big Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:08:07 AM that bit of deception). own the DVD and to take it with screen. It looks like James Cameron them on their phone or portable Permalink| Comments| Email Are you an unloved member of recognizes all this as well. device. This Story digital society? Have you been Nastybutler77 was the first of a "People are discriminating about shunned by your (peer to) peers? bunch of you to point to the experience," he said. "They Then Warner Bros. has just the

ongoing ad slot for Digg –- who has reported success with other forms of social ads on its site –as a big part of the BK campaign would seem to be the unexpected nature of the ad. Nonetheless, it’s a clever tie-in by BK with an audience that we have a hunch has an affinity for $1 double cheeseburgers. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook Tags: advertising, burger king, digg, MARKETING

Warner Bros. Hiring Traitors [Piracy] job for you, Judas. More »

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CONVERSATION continued from page 28

they are all more or less locked into the decisions they have made." I pointed out that Microsoft appears to be going after a similar approach as Palm did with the Pre--positioning its device as the right phone for your whole life. "They probably did research that was similar to the research we did," he said. "I think they found some similar findings. There's a degree to which we deliver on that promise a little bit more holistically...I like our business odds." As for Natal, Webster said that Microsoft does plan a big push, but he declined to give many hints. The Xbox add-on won't use Natal in its name, though he wouldn't say how it would be branded. For his part, Webster is not your typical Microsoft guy. He was hired by Microsoft back in 2001 when he was working at branding consultant Siegel+Gale. He was pitching Microsoft for some business and was hired by Mich Mathews, the

senior vice president in charge of the company's marketing. Webster did move from the East Coast to Redmond, Wash., but eventually convinced Mathews to let him move his family back to Connecticut where he could be close to both New York ad agencies, as well as the rest of his family, which he said are all congregated within about 30 miles of Manhattan. Among Webster's ideas was the Mojave Experiment, where Microsoft filmed users' reactions with Windows Vista without telling them what operating system they were using. He's also been a big proponent of the need to do a better job of naming products. Even features within key products, he said, should be "word-of-mouthable." Webster points to the Shake and Snap features of Windows 7 as examples of features that have simple, easy-to-remember names. That was also the goal, he said, with Bing. The company had several criteria in rebranding the

search engine, he said. The company wanted a name that was one syllable and couldn't be misspelled and was as short as possible. Webster said he initially came up with "Bang." The name had a few things going for it, he noted. "It's there, it's an exclamation point," he said. "It's the opposite of a question mark." But somehow it didn't work as well when used as a verb. "Oh, I banged it' is very different than 'I binged it'," he said. In the end, he said, Bing proved to be a near-perfect choice, representing what he called "the sound of found." "We really hit the jackpot with Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) Bing," he said. Five Filters featured article: Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:02:25 AM Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, The first batch of iPads is in the Term Extraction. mail, and everyone is wondering how many of them Apple will manage to sell in the upcoming months. There is reason to believe that Apple has sold out all the iPads it had in stock – some estimate the number to be around half a million. Now, there’s more reasons to believe iPad sales so far have been phenomenal. According to Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty, Asian suppliers have revised a lot of people want their sites to their shipping forecasts for the look pretty on the iPad. So the iPad, and they now expect to internet's already starting to look play well on the iPad. Turns out, different. More »

How the iPad Is Already Reshaping the Internet (Without Flash) [Apple] matt buchanan (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:00:00 AM

The iPad doesn't run Flash. If your website uses Flash, it won't

Suppliers Expect to Ship 8-10 Million iPads in 2010 [REPORT] ship 8-10 million devices by the end of 2010. Furthermore, they expect to ship 2.5 million in the first three months of sales (March to May); however Huberty still predicts that Apple will sell (as opposed to ship) 6+ million iPads in 2010, while other analysts expect the number to be even lover, around 3-4 million. These are all just estimates, and we’ll have to wait for some real sales data to get a better idea of how well the iPad is doing, but from what we can see now, it has exceeded almost all expectations. Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, ipad

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James Cameron says watching films on an iPhone is "dumb" Chris Rawson (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

to express his disdain for the iPhone's 480 x 320 pixel, 3.5 inch screen. A couple years ago, Submitted at 3/28/2010 8:00:00 PM David Lynch ranted about the Filed under: iPhone At a press iPhone with even harsher words conference where he spoke than Cameron, saying, "Now if about the April release of the you're playing the movie on a Blu-ray edition of his latest film, telephone, you will never in a James Cameron said watching trillion years experience the Avatar on the iPhone would be film. You'll think you have "dumb." More specifically he experienced it, but you'll be said, "I don't feel that I'm cheated. It's such a sadness that making movies for iPhones. If you think you've seen a film on someone wants to watch it on an your f---ing telephone. Get iPhone, I'm not going to stop real!" them, especially if they're TUAW James Cameron says paying for it, but I don't watching films on an iPhone is recommend it. I think it's dumb, "dumb" originally appeared on when you have characters that you're going to go 3D, go big. The Unofficial Apple Weblog are so small in the frame that Get the biggest set you can, and (TUAW) on Sun, 28 Mar 2010 Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog they're not visible." then sit as close as you can 20:00:00 EST. Please see our (TUAW)) So how should we watch stand. That's my advice. Get the terms for use of feeds. Avatar according to the "King coffee table out of the way and Read| Permalink| Email this| Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:00:00 AM Filed under: iPad We've been of the World?" He wants us to slide the couch over, right in Comments tipped by virtually everyone shell out for the Blu-ray 3D front of the TV." Right. with an email address that their v e r s i o n c o m i n g o u t i n Cameron isn't the first director iPad pre-orders have begun November 2010, and then, "If shipping from Shenzhen, China using UPS Expedited service. While the iPad isn't set to be released for another 5 days, people shouldn't get their hopes up that they'll received their John Biggs (CrunchGear) t h e s a m e f o l k s w h o s e n t by a Chinese company for iPad before the official launch something to iResq. purposes unknown. However, date. In the past Apple has Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:08:53 AM The screen basically looks like the music accompanying the worked with shipping carriers to N o w h e r e E l s e f o u n d t h i s the standard iPhone 3G screen video will make your morning, hold product delivery until a delightful video of someone but a bit longer and thinner. This provided you have a glowsticks unpacking a iPhoneâ&#x20AC;&#x153;4Gâ&#x20AC;? screen, could either be a prototype, a handy. presumably sent to them from mistake, or a test screen made

iPad shipments on their way!

Is this the iPhone 4G IV Next-Gen X screen?

certain date. Of course, accidents happen, and if you do happen to get yours a day or two early, let us know. Just think, 5 days from now the Internet will be flooded with riveting iPad unboxing photos... [Thanks to the sixty thousand readers who sent this in.] TUAW iPad shipments on their way! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Queen Tea Michelle Cottle (The New Republic - All Feed)

to denounce and distance themselves from the movement’s more noxious Submitted at 3/28/2010 5:00:00 PM antics. Note to Sarah Palin: Screw the But even before this, the Tea reality show. Taking Americans Party had been plagued by on televisual tours of Alaska’s infighting—there were internal natural wonders would I’m sure l a m e n t a t i o n s a b o u t t h e be fun and lucrative, but the gig movement becoming a tool of cannot possibly take maximum the GOP, and there was even a advantage of your special lawsuit filed against an extalents. (As a general rule, leader of the Tea Party Patriots nature shows don’t traffic in who had dared to take up with high-octane demagoguery.) the Tea Party Express. More Instead, allow me to suggest a b r o a d l y , t h e m o v e m e n t ’ s better, more meaningful way to anarchic, bottom-up structure serve your country: Step up and may give its gatherings tons of save the Tea Party from itself. snap, crackle, and pop, but it is After an electrifying start and lousy for formulating and some tantalizing victories delivering a coherent message. (remember when Scott Brown This becomes ever trickier as was the new conservative the Tea Party struggles to cope Superman poised to derail with some of the wackier Obamacare?), the Tea Partiers elements that have glommed have suffered serious p.r. onto its energy (e.g., birthers, 9setbacks of late. The ugliness of 1 1 t r u t h e r s , a n d w h i t e the health-care protests at the supremacists). Pretty much Capitol and the subsequent everyone gets that Tea Partiers threats and vandalism against are mad as hell, it’s just congressional Dems who voted increasingly hard to tell about for the bill (whether perpetrated what. by actual Tea Partiers or simply With the health care meltdown, by their spiritual brethren) the situation threatens to come s p u r r e d s o m e R e p u b l i c a n to a head. Sooner rather than leaders and Tea Party organizers later, Tea Partiers will need to

decide whether to continue as a pure protest movement or evolve into a serious political party. And while Option A may seem more exhilarating—I mean, who doesn’t enjoy flouncing around in tricorner hats and brandishing teabags?—I’m rooting for Option B, in the (admittedly faint) hope that the movement could wind up having a constructive rather than destructive impact on our political system. As the economy recovers, the level of public anger and panic will fall. That’s just the way things work. But even in fat economic times, there remain plenty of angry, scared, even paranoid people around, and these people need a place to come together and be heard. For a while now, the Republican Party has tended to be that place. While the Democratic Party has been shifting to the middle in recent years, the GOP has been drawn steadily toward the angry fringe. If the Tea Party remains just some mouthy, disruptive, vaguely threatening force with no real structure or accountability, this trend is

Morgan's FT sends Spartans back to Final Four Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/28/2010 9:06:44 PM

Top Performers

Tennessee: J. Prince 12 Pts, 3 Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Michigan State: D. Summers 21 Term Extraction. Pts, 4 Reb, 1 Ast Five Filters featured article:

likely to continue, steadily poisoning the GOP. As an actual third party, however, the Tea Party could play a different role in American politics: providing a haven and platform for the disgruntled and disillusioned, while freeing the GOP to try and regain some broad-based appeal. Yes, in the short term, Republicans would likely suffer even greater losses as TP candidates siphoned off some of the GOP’s far-right supporters. (A new Quinnipiac poll found that 74 percent of Tea Partiers consider themselves Republicans or Republicanleaning Independents.) But, faced with possible extinction, Republicans would have strong incentive to retool into a party that could once again speak to independents and conservative Dems. This development would benefit the entire republic. A vibrant two-party (or multiparty) system is a good thing. What we have right now is scary. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

BeBook Neo eReader video review from BookBee Tablet (BestTabletReview.com) Submitted at 3/28/2010 11:25:19 AM

A few months ago BeBook introduced the Neo eReader to their already established family of eBook readers. Finally we have a review of the Neo by BookBee. Is it truly the One as the Oracle predicted? According to the Aussie reviewer at BookBee, the Neo — which costs a whopping $569 Australian dollars — is certainly enjoyable but does have its share of shortfalls that doesn’t necessarily stack up to, say, the Kindle (although it beats it on speed and DRM). The Neo has a touchscreen, but it’s stylus input only. That’s good if you like writing notes, but not so handy when you’d simply like to select an option from the menu without any tools in your hands. While it only costs $299 in the States (you in the “Down Under” are getting fleeced) it’s hard to get excited about E-Ink anymore, isn’t it? Maybe it’s just us. Source: BookBee via Teleread Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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FBI Raids Michigan Militia Group (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/28/2010 11:38:26 AM

A “small army” of FBI and DHS agents descended on Michigan’s Lenawee County yesterday, in an apparent crackdown on militia activity in the area: ADRIAN, Mich. (WXYZ) The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are all involved in raids around Adrian that may be connected to a militia group. The FBI conducted multiple raids throughout Saturday and into Sunday, with one of them centered on a property where known members of a militia

live. The land is owned by a man who lives in a house on the property. His sons live in two mobile homes that are also on the property. Saturday’s raids were concentrated on those mobile homes. …

also been made. An unconfirmed report indicated that at least six people were arrested coming into Michigan from Ohio. Members of a number of militia groups say that the raids are connected to raids in Indiana and Ohio. However, the FBI has not confirmed that. LGF reader “Decatur Deb” points out this website(Google cache link), which may be connected to the group: F e d e r a l a g e n t s w i l l n o t The home page includes a comment on the investigation, training video with a godawful only saying that they are serving metal music soundtrack, and this a number of search warrants and photo: that the warrants are sealed. Their YouTube channel is also Action News has learned that an still active as I write this. unknown number of arrests have

Captain America #100, Big Premiere Issue (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/28/2010 6:38:00 PM

Tonight’s photo from the Lizard Collection is a Marvel Silver Age classic: the first appearance of the revived Captain America in his own magazine, published in April 1968.

Captain America first appeared in World War II, as a sickly wimp who took an experimental drug and gained super powers. And he had an indestructible shield that he could throw like a boomerang, given to him by FDR himself. Nazis messed In the post-war 1950s Captain with Captain America at their America’s popularity declined, peril.

so he went into suspended animation as all superheroes must. In 1964, he was revived by The Avengers, and became a very popular Marvel comic in an era of campus unrest; even with that flag costume, somehow the Cap stayed cool.

Street Chic: New York ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:00:00 AM

A fitted denim blazer adds structure to a feminine frock by

Jason Wu (on Zani Gugelmann). Photo: Anne Ziegler Think you are Street Chic? Email us your photo and you could appear in ELLE.com's

Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan! Street Chic Daily.

Apple confirms Best Buy iPads at launch, what time you'll need to be there Tim Stevens (Engadget) Submitted at 3/29/2010 8:55:00 AM

We're nearly there. The mystical, magical iPad experience starts this Saturday, April 3, and if you haven't already pre-ordered your only way to get one for the weekend is going to be to fight the rush at retail. Apple has confirmed that all 221 of its Apple Stores will have the wunder-tablets on sale, and has also confirmed the Best Buy rumors, indicating that "most" of the big-box retailer's locations will have them. Stores are set to open at 9:00am, so we figure you can probably roll on over there at 8:45 or so and get a good spot in line. Apple confirms Best Buy iPads at launch, what time you'll need to be there originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Apple| Email this| Comments

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Check Out the Companies That Make ReadWriteWeb Possible Admin (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/28/2010 11:00:00 AM

Our readers know ReadWriteWeb as the blog that's ahead of the technology curve. Our sponsors know us as that, too. Once a week we introduce our sponsors to our readers and let them know a little more about who they are and what they do. You can say thanks to the companies that make ReadWriteWeb happen by tweeting them (see the link below each sponsor) or following them using our Twitter list. Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO. Sponsor Skip to info about: Tableau: Data visualization | Crowd Science: Demographic data | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | Mashery: API management services | Rackspace: Cloud computing experts | Sproutbox: Start-up investors | Aplus.net:

Web hosting | Clickatell: SMS provider |.Me: Domain Registrar | Conduit: Customized components | MyDomain.com: Domain registrar | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer Tableau Tableau Public is a free service that lets anyone publish interactive data to the web in interesting and compelling graphs. Download Tableau Public and in minutes, you can create interactive graphs, dashboards, maps and tables from virtually any data and embed them on your website or blog in minutes. Anyone can do it. You don't need to be a programmer or hire one - no language to learn, no plug-ins, no API. Your blog or website will stand out with colorful, interactive data visualizations. Bloggers using Tableau Public are averaging 3 times more reader comments. And, once on the web, anyone can interact with your graph and the data. They can re-embed your work, download the data, or create their own visualizations. Check out our gallery to see some of the cool graphs bloggers have created. Or learn how in our 5 minute video. Thank Tableau on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Crowd Science Crowd Science gives online publishers reports on the demographics and attitudes of

their audience. We at ReadWriteWeb have signed up to this new service, because demographic data is something we've struggled to get in the past. It's important for any online business to know their audience, so Crowd Science is a welcome addition to the stats armory that most of us in the Internet biz use. Sign up to get demographic data from Crowd Science. Thank Crowd Science on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography

for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program. Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Mashery Mashery is a platform for Web services, allowing companies to manage their APIs using Mashery's expertise. At the "Business of APIs" conference, Mashery CEO Oren Michels explained to the audience that while APIs are a technology, their use is a business decision. He went on to say that Mashery has helped customers such as WhitePages.com, Thumbplay, Compete.com, and Calais. Check out the white paper " Five steps to scaling your business development using Web services" to discover how you can use APIs for your business. You can find out more about APIs and their business use at www.mashery.com. Thank Mashery on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Rackspace Rackspace is one of the world's largest hosting providers, but it's also competing in the cloud computing arena. Rackspace Cloud Hosting offers a suite of services which combines a scalable web and application hosting platform (Cloud Sites)

with a cloud storage solution (Cloud Files) and on demand server instances (Cloud Servers). The addition of SliceHost a popular cloud computing and hosting provider and JungleDisk, a favorite online backup service that supports Cloud files, makes the Rackspace Cloud a powerful cloud hosting solution. Explore Rackspace's hosting and cloud computing solutions. Thank Rackspace on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Sproutbox SproutBox is an elite team of product developers, creatives, and business experts that invest their talent full-time in start-ups. SproutBox's new approach to venture capital has helped launch several successful companies including: CheddarGetter, a subscription billing and analytics tool; ScheduleThing, an online scheduling and reservations app; and Squad, a web-based collaborative code editor. To apply for start-up funding or find out more information visit sproutbox.com. Thank Sproutbox on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Aplus.net Aplus.net offers a variety of services relating to Web hosting, including shared hosting, Web design, marketing and online advertising services, search CHECK page 39

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engine optimization, ecommerce solutions, and domain registration. You can register for Aplus.net here. Thank Aplus.net on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Clickatell Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more. Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP(internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP(email to SMS), SOAP

and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here. Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible..Me .Me is a Top Level Domain of a small, south-east European country of Montenegro, which restored its independence in 21st century. Due to its unforgettable meaning and truly personal tone, most of the registration restrictions have been cancelled. Some of the prominent tech and advertising savvies recognized TLD's potential and grabbed their .Me domain name. In less than 20 months 360.000 domains were registered by people from 200 different countries.ME is perfect for " yourname.me" blog or " yourname@surname.me" email address. It is also widely used as a callto-action domain ( notify.me, retwt.me) and as a social (YouAnd.Me) or community network (Missouri.Me, Oklahoma.Me). One may also choose to send a cool personal message (WillSheMarry.Me). In addition, some of the biggest companies recognized its

branding potential and started using .ME for various purposes. Check out Facebook (Fb.Me), Wordpress (Wp.Me), USA Today (USAT.Me), Universal Pictures (Despicable.Me) or Zappos.com (Zapp.Me). It seems that some countries are luckier than others when it comes to domain names. Are you lucky enough to grab your own .ME? Thank .Me for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Conduit Conduit enables Web publishers to distribute their offerings both directly and through its global network of 220,000 publishers and their 100 million users. The Conduit platform is a powerful marketing tool that allows you to offer the best of your site through a custom App or Community Toolbar, send desktop alerts to your users, and much more. The Conduit platform opens a new world of content sharing. Your site visitors can add your content right to their browser by clicking on a branded 2go button that you place on your site. You can also share your content in the Conduit

Marketplace, where all the publishers and users in the Conduit network can grab it. The platform has been adopted by major brands such as Fox News, iWin, Major League Baseball, TechCrunch, and Travelocity, as well as thousands of small and medium organizations in 120 countries. If you would like to Conduit your website, go to www.conduit.com. Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. MyDomain.com MyDomain is a leading ICANN -accredited provider of domain name registration and online business solutions. For over 10 years, MyDomain has offered low-cost domain names and free domain services including complete DNS management. Today, sub-$10 domains without the constant upsells you'll find at some competitors are the norm at MyDomain. MyDomain's complete range of solutions include Web hosting and VPS hosting, email, SSL Certificates and more. Toopia Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the

Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here. Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer. Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk. Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support! Discuss

Lost Finale Revealed: ABC Gets Rich [Advertising] Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:31:38 AM

Lost: the television show

enjoyed by many hopeless fanatics such as yourself. Just how much is your slavish, everything associated with this unquestioning devotion to

fairy tale worth to corporate America's advertisers? A lot. More Âť

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ReadWriteStart Weekly Wrapup Chris Cameron (ReadWriteWeb)

into law as early as Tuesday after the Senate passes a small amendment known as the "fix-it Submitted at 3/28/2010 3:00:00 PM bill," though many changes In this weeks edition of the won't be seen for several years. Weekly Wrapup, we discuss the For entrepreneurs, startups and implications of the recently v e n t u r e c a p i t a l i s t s , t h e passed health care reform bill on legislation ushers in an entirely startups and small businesses, as new set of circumstances and well as some hiring tips, and 6 opportunities. 5 Hiring Tips for venture capitalists weigh in on Startups what they look for from an From knowing who to hire entrepreneur's pitch. We also next, to ethical and legal discuss how to make better use concerns, to how to interview of email, and we look into the best candidates, to how to lingering concerns about the evaluate them once they're hired s t a b i l i t y o f F a c e b o o k ' s - startups have their work cut a p p l i c a t i o n d e v e l o p m e n t out for them when it comes to platform. hiring. Sponsor If you can afford to hire a What Does Health Care Reform trained professional, someone Mean for Startups and VCs? who's skilled in evaluative In the waning moments of testing, do so. But if not, you Sunday evening (quite literally need to learn as much as you the eleventh hour), the U.S. can about how to hire the right House of Representatives passed people. Here's our contribution was some are calling the most to your endeavor. The Art of the comprehensive changes to the VC Pitch: A Roundup of Advice American health care system in from 6 VCs over 100 years. The bill passed I have a few different friends by a narrow margin of just who are trying their hands at seven votes, and could be signed entrepreneurship; some have

process simpler, quicker and will better your chances of hearing back from them. Is met with investors already, Facebook Having Problems while others are closing in on S c a l i n g I t s D e v e l o p m e n t their meeting date with Platform? anticipation and uncertainty. There is a significant risk and Based on hearing some of the r e w a r d t h a t c o m e s w i t h things they were doing to d e v e l o p i n g p r o d u c t s t h a t prepare for their meeting, I leverage third-party application thought it would be wise to programming interfaces, or roundup some of the best pitch APIs. Twitter has used its API advice I've come across not only to let others spread the word for for them but for the other first them; applications like Tweetie time entrepreneurs out there and TweetDeck help Twitter who may not know what typical reach a broader audience on a VC pitches are like. How variety of devices while making Entrepreneurs Can Make Better m o n e y f o r t h e m s e l v e s . However, downtime for a Use of Email Investors get lots of emails. service offering their API to Jason Mendelson of Foundry developers means downtime for Group wrote just this morning every service that relies on it for on how he wishes email were its API data. In the case of slower so he wouldn't suffer F a c e b o o k a p p l i c a t i o n from what he calls "Email d e v e l o p e r s , c o n t i n u i n g Compulsive Disorder." That reliability issues with the being said, there are ways to platform have become a cause write better messages when for concern. Discuss communicating with investors (or anyone who receives a lot of email daily) that will make the

Netflix Is a Sad Experience on Both the Wii and the PS3 [NetFlix] Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:35:03 AM

This video shows the Wii streaming Netflix faster and

prettier than the PS3, but it's not much faster, and the Wii can't support HD. Compared to Netflix on the Xbox 360, both implementations look downright

pitiful. [ SuperPowerBros via MaxConsole] More »

Apple Confirms: iPad On Sale At “Most” Best Buy Stores On April 3, From 9 AM Robin Wauters (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:29:57 AM

So we know that Apple’s iPad has started shipping, and this morning the company also confirmed that the device will be on sale in all 221 of its retail stores across the United States as well as “most Best Buy stores” this Saturday, beginning at 9 AM. Apple also said its retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. Furthermore, all US Apple retail stores will host special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about the product.

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Want to Test the Official Blackberry YouTube Steps Up Twitter Client? Join the Blackberry Facebook Integration, Beta Zone Shows Shared Videos Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

it. Those who previously signed up to be notified of the Twitter application's availability for beta Blackberry smartphone maker testing will likely be directed to Research in Motion (RIM) has this new service. Beta Users vs. just launched a public beta App World Testers testing site called the Blackberry To be clear, the new Blackberry Beta Zone. Here users can sign Beta Zone does not replace the up to test pre-lease versions of previously existing BlackBerry official RIM products and top) those found in the current App World Test Center. That services and provide feedback to crop of third-party Blackberry resource is designed for both the developers. At launch time, Twitter apps. Features such as R I M a n d t h i r d - p a r t y the available downloads include URL-shortening, photo-sharing, applications where as the OS 5.0 for the BlackBerry push messages, message list Blackberry Beta Zone is for Curve 8520 and 8530, an integration and filtered search official RIM apps only. Also, updated version of BlackBerry by geo-location are among the the Beta Zone will feature Messenger (5.0.1) and, for select app's included features. applications much earlier into corporate testers, Blackberry More recently, a leak posted on the development cycle. After a Polish-language blog hinted at first being tested via the Beta Enterprise Server 5.0.2. But what looks most intriguing, other improvements, such as the Zone, some RIM apps will though, is the banner image ability to edit profiles, support appear later in the App World g r a c i n g t h e n e w s i t e ' s for Twitter lists and, on devices Test Center. homepage. It clearly shows a running OS 6.0, some sort of Interested users can sign up to phone running the upcoming Twitter/Blackberry contact sync, join the new Blackberry Beta official Twitter application for i n t e g r a t i o n w i t h t h e Zone here. During the sign-up Configuration Wizard and process, you'll be asked to Blackberry. integration with universal i d e n t i f y w h a t B l a c k b e r r y Sponsor Blackberry's Official Twitter search. smartphone you own and that Although RIM makes no response will affect what App The official Blackberry Twitter mention of the Twitter app on products and services are made application has been in a closed the blog post announcing the available to you for testing beta for over a month. From Beta Zone, there's no doubt that purposes. Discuss early reports, the app is shaping as soon as the app becomes up well, and will include a available for public beta tests, number of features that rival (or this will be the first place to find Submitted at 3/29/2010 8:05:49 AM

Mike Melanson (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/29/2010 8:20:03 AM

On the one hand, when we hear about Facebook making Facebook Connect an opt-out experience, we feel a little chill run through our bones and we want to commit Facebook suicide. And then again, every time we hear about another big player on the web implementing Facebook Connect, we smile, because for us and so many others, our Facebook friend list is our de facto representation of our real-life friends on the Web. YouTube this weekend announced that it would be stepping up its Facebook integration, allowing you to see what YouTube videos all of your friends are sharing on Facebook. Sponsor It's only been since last December that the video-sharing site has had Facebook Connect capabilities, but now, as YouTube says in its blog, "when you log in to your YouTube account, you'll get a prominent invitation in the Recent Activity module (see below) to connect to Facebook, which we highly recommend that you do. In fact,

we hope to integrate more social networks with YouTube going forward". The blog also highlights "realtime sharing", saying that now, when you share YouTube videos on other social networks, it happens immediately and not 10 minutes later. We have to imagine that this has lowered the number of exasperated support requests from impatient users, as we've all come to expect things to happen instantaneously and not when the server feels like getting around to it. As for sharing, users can automatically share videos they post on YouTube to Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader. This new feature twists around the usual, making it possible for users to see what their friends are sharing on Facebook. In this case, it does not mean that they have to create the video for you to see it - if they share it, you can see that. Discuss

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Cartoon: Dial 'M' for 'My God, You're All Over the Road' Rob Cottingham (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/28/2010 1:00:00 PM

I live in a place where they've recently banned the use of mobile phones while driving, with additional penalties for texting. And I have a lot of company: Six U.S. states have prohibited handheld mobile use by drivers, and 20 won't be happy with you if you SMS from behind the wheel. (It's having an impact. I'm noticing a sharp reduction in "Totally just ran someone over" tweets from friends.) Sponsor While the focus is on safety, and rightly so, I do wonder if

there might be another benefit: inspiring more people to leave the car at home and take transit. Don't laugh (well, not until you get to the cartoon, at which point I'd kind of appreciate it if you would). A lot of us treat

mobile connectivity as a compulsion, and the enforced hour-long severing from the hive mind for twice-a-day commutes is a genuine pain point. And the growing strength of everything from location-

aware apps to augmented reality will only sharpen it. For car drivers, the freedom of the open road, as illusory as it has been for decades, is about to get more so. Mass transit may at times be crowded and uncomfortable, but with the escape to cyberspace just a few keystrokes away, buses and trains may well eclipse the car as the homes of true mobile freedom. Force me to choose between my mobile phone and my car, and I'll do my best to hang onto the phone. Your mileage, of course, may vary; what choice will you make? More Noise to Signal. Discuss

Which Celebrity Couple Staged a Break Up for the Publicity? [Blind Items] Brian Moylan (Gawker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:23:54 AM

And what bad timing, because now Sandra Bullock is getting all the ink. This singer is sleeping around, a boy bander is a drunk, and a male crooner is trying to hide the plastic surgery scars. It's not a ruse! More »

DirecTV will launch 3D capability in June, including ESPN 3D Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:30:16 AM

DirecTV will be among the first television providers to offer ESPN 3D. The channel launches this June, and DirecTV will place it alongside two other 3D channels, a 24/7 pay-per-view channel and a movies on-

demand channel. This is a markedly different approach from, say, Verizon’s FIOS, which said that it will only add 3D channels when it feels like it. If I can find an extra$2,000+(spoiler: I can’t) then it’s good news for me, being a DirecTV subscriber. (I broadcast the country’s first 3D only get Internet service via sports event last week in the Cablevision, which already

Islanders v. Rangers at the Garden.) And as much as it sounds like a broken record, the defining 3D TV moment will be this year’s World Cup. I fully expect people who have zero interest in the sport to at least be curious to check out what it looks like. Hopefully Best Buy and so forth will have the 3D matches on

display. As an aside, I will say how hilarious it is that DirecTV has announced 3D channels before it decides to carry Fox Soccer Channel in HD. Sorta lame.

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Garmin releases the Forerunner 110 GPS watch, Matt wants the pink one John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:51:45 AM

Garmin makes great GPS watches. I’ve been wearing them for years. They’ve added to that proud pantheon the 110, a SiRFstar IV watch with optional heartrate monitor designed to tell you a few simple pieces of data including speed and distance. The 110 is described as the “easiest” Garmin device out there and if you’ve ever messed with other watches, you’ll know that, while powerful, Garmin’s UI was a little rough. Inspired by the countless runners who have the same request at race expos and retail outlets – “Show me the Garmin watch that has GPS and is easiest to use” – Forerunner 110 is the ideal entry-level device for easily tracking progress and goals in exercise and training. In addition to displaying time and distance, Forerunner 110 shows pace in one of two ways, averaged out either over the current lap/mile (if auto-lap is enabled) or over the duration of the run. Runners wearing a Garmin heart rate monitor (included in some bundles or available separately) can monitor how hard they’re working while they exercise as Forerunner 110 displays current

heart rate data and features heart rate-based calorie computation. Between workouts, the simplified menu system helps users review run data, change auto-lap, set an alarm or edit the

user profile. The new chip adds better satellite reception and can last eight days on one charge in GPS standby or eight full hours of training. It comes in

“fashionable” pink and red. Sports, Click through for the full press Inspired by the countless release. runners who have the same New Forerunner 110 simplifies request at race expos and retail and streamlines GPS for runners GARMIN page 44 March 29, 2010 – posted in Into

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GARMIN continued from page 43

outlets – “Show me the Garmin watch that has GPS and is easiest to use” – Garmin’s newly announced Forerunner 110 sports watch is a sleek, intuitive and affordable solution for runners, joggers and walkers who simply want to know the most essential of real-time workout data: how far and how fast. Forerunner 110 will debut in April at the world-class marathons in Paris, Boston and London, where it will be on display at Garmin booths in each location. It will then be available at running and fitness retailers, so be sure to ask at your favorite local shop. “Forerunner 110 fills the needs of runners of all levels by focusing on simplicity without sacrificing accuracy,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Within seconds of stepping outside, you simply press start and instantly know your distance, pace and time – all without any

complicated setup or excessive accessories.” Forerunner 110 is the ideal entry-level device for easily tracking progress and goals in exercise and training. In addition to displaying time and distance, Forerunner 110 shows pace in one of two ways, averaged out either over the current lap/mile (if auto-lap is enabled) or over the duration of the run. Runners wearing a Garmin heart rate monitor (included in some bundles or available separately) can monitor how hard they’re working while they exercise as Forerunner 110 displays current heart rate data and features heart rate-based calorie computation. Between workouts, the simplified menu system helps users review run data, change auto-lap, set an alarm or edit the user profile. Water-resistant and slimmer than any other GPS-enabled fitness watch on the market,

Forerunner 110 boasts a highsensitivity SiRFstarIV GPS receiver with Garmin’s HotFix technology to quickly acquire and sustain satellite reception, perfect for wooded trails under dense trees or in the urban canyons of skyscrapers. Available in three stylish color combinations – black/gray, charcoal/red and gray/pink – Forerunner 110 looks fashionable on the run, in the office or out on the town. Lasting up to 8 hours in GPS/training mode and up to three weeks in power-save mode, Forerunner 110 can be an everyday watch even on an off day of training. Users can save time by charging the battery and uploading workout data to Garmin Connect at the same time through an easy-to-use USB connection, which also is used to upload free software updates quickly from www.garmin.com. Because Forerunner 110 stores

Who Wants In Google's Experimental Fiber Network? (Map) [Google] Mark Wilson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:40:00 AM

The short answer? Everyone wants in Google's experimental The company received "1,100 1Gbps fiber optic network(s). community responses and more

than 194,000 responses from individuals" after announcing their plans. And these requests span the entire US. More »

and displays up to 200 hours of saved history, runners can see their totals even when they haven’t had a chance to upload to Garmin Connect. But once at Garmin Connect, users can quickly and easily log their workouts, track their totals, set goals, share workouts with friends and family and participate in an online fitness community of more than 20 million activities around the world. Garmin Connect displays metrics such as time, distance, speed, elevation and heart rate. This information is shown through charts, illustrations, reports and a variety of map representations including street, photo, topographic, and elevation maps as well as the popular Google Earth application.

Next Photoshop to Fix Images, Make Sandwiches, and Enlarge Your Penis Automagically [Humor] Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:00:00 AM

I'm sure Photoshop CS5 Content-aware fill works with magic. It can remove trees, fix sun glare, or extend landscapes with a single click. But did you know that you can use it to make a sandwich and do your homework? More »

Trader Talk With Art Cashin Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:55:27 AM

Art Cashin, head of floor operations at UBS, has the latest buzz from the NYSE

Airtime: Mon. Mar. 29 2010 | 9:18 AM ET Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Archos 7 Android Tablet could be shipping as early as next week Tablet (BestTabletReview.com) Submitted at 3/28/2010 4:11:48 PM

The Archos 7 Android Tablet There are a lot of people who are looking forward to the Archos 7 Android Tablet. This cheap MID tablet is retailing for only $179 in the U.S. (at least for the 2GB base model) and takes all the great things from the Archos 5 and repackages it in a larger and more affordable form. At a 7-inch size, it certainly appeals to many who want something larger than a 5inch and not as hulking as 9 or 10-inch tablet. According to Carrypad, we could be seeing the 8GB version of the Archos 7 Android Tablet shipping as soon as next week. Several German websites (including Geizhals and Amazon.de) have the Archos 7 Android Tablet listed between €179-€199 and shipping “within the next 7 days.” Now this could just represent some overzealous retailers

anxious to get the A7 posted for sale. However, it fits the Archos modus operandi pretty well. We saw a European release for the Archos 9 PC Tablet first followed by a UK and ultimately U.S. release months after launch. Archos could be releasing the more expensive version first and follow up with the 2GB at a later date. There’s still no official word on when the A7 will be released in the U.S. or exactly how much the 8GB version would cost. Just a note of warning for those looking to buy. As with the

Archos 5, Archos has released a previous model in the past. The Archos 7 Internet Media Tablet is sold most everywhere and ranges between $400 to $520. Make sure that you’re buying the Archos 7 Android Tablet if you are looking for the one discussed in this post. Source: Carrypad Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:48:17 AM

By Charles Clover and Isabel

Tablet (BestTabletReview.com) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:29:47 AM

Have your touchscreen and scroll wheel too Don’t look now but it’s the return of the scroll wheel! A particular Chinese Shenzhen company has decided to sell an “iPad” that really looks like an older iPod Video fell into some transmutagenic ooze. We would call it a clone, but it appears that they’ve been Gorst in Moscow Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: growing it from some old Apple Published: March 29 2010 PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, DNA. Korea IT Times has a picture and brief mention 08:02 | Last updated: March 29 Term Extraction. (though they fail to identify the 2010 12:48 company) of a new iPad Five Filters featured article: counterfeit. This particular

At least 37 killed in Moscow metro blasts (Financial Times - US homepage)

Shenzhen has an iPad, that looks like an iPod, that I had in February of last year Shenzhen product features a touchscreen with stylus input, 4GB of storage, WiFi and Bluetooth connection and plenty of Apple logos placed all over it. We guess you could fool someone if they were looking at the back of the device, but once seeing the front you’d probably get laughed at. The iPod/iPad will cost 2,000 yuan (about $290 U.S.) and will most likely be available through an export company (or eBay) next month. Source: Korea IT Times via Engadget Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Stats: iPhone OS is still king of the mobile web space, but Android is nipping at its heels Vladislav Savov (Engadget)

constituting a cool 42 percent of AdMob's smartphone audience in the US. With the EVO 4G AdMob serves north of 10 a n d G a l a x y S r a p i d l y billion ads per month to more approaching, we wouldn't be than 15,000 mobile websites and surprised by the little green applications. Thus, although its droid stealing away the US data is about ad rather than page share crown, at least until Apple impressions, it can be taken as a counters with its next slice of pretty robust indicator of how magical machinery. Looking at web usage habits are developing the global stage, Android has a n d c h a n g i n g o v e r t i m e . also recently skipped ahead of Android is the big standout of Symbian, with a 24 percent its most recent figures, with share versus 18 percent for the G o o g l e l o y a l i s t s n o w smartphone leader. Together Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:18:00 AM

with BlackBerry OS, Symbian is still the predominant operating system in terms of smartphone sales, but it's interesting to see

Applications (to be found at the TheAppleBlog link) and ArcTechnica's own mobile user numbers corroborate these findings. Stats: iPhone OS is still king of the mobile web space, but Android is nipping at its heels originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:18:00 both falling behind in the field EST. Please see our terms for of web or application usage, u s e o f f e e d s . P e r m a l i n k which is what this metric seeks ArsTechnica| AdMob| Email to measure. Figures from Net this| Comments

CubeSail parachute to drag old satellites from orbit, keep atmospheric roads clear Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:49:00 AM

It's not something laypeople think about very often ( space debris, for those wondering), but it's clearly on the minds of boffins at the University of Surrey. Over the years, the amount of defunct equipment hovering around beyond our view has increased significantly, with some reports suggesting that over 5,500 tonnes of exhausted kit is currently hanging around somewhere up there as a result of "abandoning spacecraft." In order to prevent the problem from growing (and

to possibly reverse some of the damage), the CubeSail has been created. Put simply (or as simply as possible), this here parachute could be remotely deployed once a satellite had

accomplished what it set out to do, essentially dragging it back through a fiery re-entry that it would never survive and clearing out the orbital pathway that it was using. We're told that

it'll be ready for deployment in late 2011, but for now you can check out an all-too-brief demonstration vid just beyond the break. Continue reading CubeSail parachute to drag old satellites from orbit, keep atmospheric roads clear CubeSail parachute to drag old satellites from orbit, keep atmospheric roads clear originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Science Daily, University of Surrey| Email this| Comments

We Will Never Give Up on the '80s [Monday Box Office] Richard Lawson (Gawker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:42:54 AM

This weekend dragons scorched the earth, Alice fell even further down that money-lined rabbit hole, and a '10s comedy about the '80s did some pretty rad business. More Âť

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iPad Camera Connection Kit If it were my newspaper I'd... DOS developers), my first PC finally surfaces for pre-order, (Scripting News) ran PC-DOS. I could have had my software running on the PC still absurdly overpriced Most days I stay away from in hours, but I chose the slower Submitted at 3/29/2010 5:32:02 AM

Darren Murph (Engadget)

making predictions, or giving people advice, but today is an exception. With the iPad about If you'll recall, Apple had no to ship, and the news industry qualms revealing the iPad on the ropes, it seems like a Camera Connection Kit at its ' good time to put a stake in the Latest Creation' event back in ground, make a prediction, offer J a n u a r y , b u t t h e s o l u t i o n l u g a r o u n d t w o e x t r a some advice. seemingly dropped from the peripherals, but if that were the But first a story... Back in 1981, f a c e o f t h e E a r t h s h o r t l y case, this thing just wouldn't be I was an Apple developer and thereafter. Even as cases, an Apple, now would it? was among the first to get an keyboards and all sorts of other G a l l e r y : i P a d C a m e r a IBM PC (it shipped that year). iPad accessories surfaced for pre C o n n e c t i o n K i t The PC was a great advance -order, the camera kit remained iPad Camera Connection Kit over what Apple had been nowhere to be found. Over the finally surfaces for pre-order, offering. I called it a "big blank weekend, the $29 adapter s t i l l a b s u r d l y o v e r p r i c e d machine" because it had 640K bundle finally found a home at originally appeared on Engadget m e m o r y a n d c o u l d h o s t the outfit's website (with a "late on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:49:00 relatively large and inexpensive April" ship date), offering users EST. Please see our terms for hard drives. a pair of dongles to support u s e o f f e e d s . P e r m a l i n k The IBM PC came with a USB and SD cards. Of course, iLounge| Apple| Email this| choice of operating systems. one could easily argue that the Comments 1. CP/M -- then the leading OS, iPad should have native support installed on most computers, for both of these widely used including Apple's. formats without forcing users to 2. UCSD P-system -- a very popular system, largely because Apple was an early adopter. My software at the time, ThinkTank, was written to run under the Psystem. 3. PC-DOS -- a new operating Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:49:00 AM

route because I could tell, easily, which OS was going to win. Now, in a way, a newspaper is to the iPad what the OS was to the IBM PC. The one that gets installed first is going to have a huge advantage over the ones that come second or third. A newspaper is an advertising platform, and the iPad probably will be a hot reading platform, and the apps (ads) will seek out system created by Microsoft for the hot newspaper the same way IBM. At the time Microsoft guys like me bet on PC-DOS wasn't a very big company. and ignored CP/M and UCSD. So the best price for a Apple was much larger, so was the publisher of the leading newspaper on the iPad is $0. spreadsheet, and the publisher of (Sorry. I know this isn't what the the leading word processing news guys want to hear.) And if you can get Steve to software. The prices of the three products bundle your newspaper so that were, respectively: $450, $550, every iPad user gets a free subscription, then, when you $40. So which of the three became look at yourself in the mirror the default choice? Do I have to you'll be looking at one smart and newly rich person! even ask? PS: Remember yesterday's Even though I had made a huge investment in the P-system, and story about the quarterback. there were far more CP/M developers (there were zero PC-

US Treasury to sell 7.7bn Citi shares (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:41:26 AM

The US Treasury said on

Monday that it would sell its 7.7bn of Citigroup shares, in a move that would allow it to pull back its support of the bank. The US currently holds a 27 per

cent stake in Citi, which required a government bail-out in 2008 after it nearly collapsed. The Treasury said on Monday that it would use “various

means” to sell its common Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: shares of Citi into the market in PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, an “orderly and measured” Term Extraction. fashion. Five Filters featured article:

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HTC Desire Black Edition confirmed, coming to Orange UK in late April Vladislav Savov (Engadget)

but also the special Black Edition, which will be exclusive to Orange in the UK. The more Remember that little guy up familiar model will be arriving there? We spotted video of the on the carrier's shelves some Black Edition Desire exactly a time early next month, with the week ago, but had few details to darker, edgier Desire making a go with it aside from the fact it fashionably late entry in the existed. Now we have word l a t t e r p a r t o f t h e m o n t h . from Conor Maples, Orange Screenshot of the relevant tweet Continue reading HTC Desire UK's PR guru, saying that the after the break. Black Edition confirmed, operator will stock not only the [ I m a g e c o u r t e s y o f coming to Orange UK in late standard-issue gunmetal Desire, A n d r o i d S u o m i . f i ] Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:24:00 AM

Learn from quarterbacks (Scripting News)

mean, he's running the wrong way.' Well he does it to find Submitted at 3/28/2010 3:57:09 PM some little bit of room so he can Nick Bergus transcribed a bit see what's out there. So, in the from Rebooting the News #44. news industry, they're never I said this to Jay about the willing to do that. They're execs in the news industry. always standing right at the "It's like in football. When the scrimmage line, not budging an quarterback gets the ball, the inch. And of course what quarterback always turns back happens -- they get tackled and runs a few yards back every goddamn time and they before even thinking about can never throw the ball." passing the ball. And you think, Yup. 'Why is the quarterback doing that? He's giving up yardage. I

April HTC Desire Black Edition confirmed, coming to Orange UK in late April originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink EuroDroid| Twitter| Email this| Comments

'Breaking Bad' - 'Caballo Sin Nombre' Recap Jason Hughes (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/29/2010 1:00:00 AM

(S03E02) Last season, we had to wait until the end to see what the cold open was all about each week. This time around, the scary pair of bald Mexicans worked their way into the main story almost immediately, even if it's still unclear what their objective is. In fact, the climax at the White house that wrapped this episode had so much going on, it was almost overwhelming. Vince Gilligan and company continue to take things slow, after the bombshell revelation that Walter laid on Skyler last week. Walter's clearly in a state

of crisis, and he's becoming unraveled completely because of it. He's without direction and focus. Everything he did for the past two seasons he did for his

family; albeit misguided and taking things way, way too far. He at least had a purpose and there was always a goal behind the production of meth: making enough money to keep his family going after he died ... then to pay for his treatment and surgery ... then to pay for Holly, the new and unexpected baby. Now, he's lost everything and he's lost in response. Continue reading'Breaking Bad' - 'Caballo Sin Nombre' Recap Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad, Reality -Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Pros and Cons of the iPad in Education Mark Crump (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:29:56 AM

While Liam opined about the challenges an iPad can face in education here, I thought I’d tackle some potential real-world pluses and minuses from the viewpoint of a college student — I’m not going down the road of high school students; I’m so far removed from that environment, I remember learning Fortran in my school. I think the iPad is going to succeed in education marvelously for students and teachers.’ I’m not a full-time college student, but I’ve been pursing a degree at night for the last four years (Technical Communications, so my focus on educational tools tends to revolve around writing). I’ve used Macs and iPhones as tools for the entirety of my collegiate career. When I started thinking of the possibility of using my iPad as a single-source solution — mostly to reduce weight by leaving my MacBook at home — I came up with a series of pluses and minuses I’ll personally face with the iPad. My focus here is taking notes in class first, and doing coursework second. Although, I’m a night student, I don’t think how I use technology is different from a full-time student. I use my laptop to take notes in class,

research and study in the library, and work on my homework at home. I am hoping the iPad will let me start leaving my MacBook at home for everything but the mostintensive tasks. I’m going to take a look at how I think the iPad could help me in school, or be problematic. Pros

Better battery life/Light weight: OK, so the “10 hours of battery life” is likely wishful thinking. But so is the “up to 7 hours” on my MacBook Pro. My best time with the MBP is about four hours, so, it’s not unreasonable to think I’ll get about six to seven hours on the iPad. The iPad can shave three

pounds off a college student’s shoulders. My biology book was over five pounds. My MacBook is four. The iPad is 1.5. When you’re carrying a ton of books around, weight starts to matter. The iPad can shave nearly three pounds off a college student’s shoulders compared to using a MacBook,

not to mention the weight savings if you were able to replace most or all of your books with the iPad. Also, its size and function make it very easy to quickly throw into your bag and go — just hit the home button and toss it in your bag. PROS page 50

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PROS continued from page 49

The instant on is nice as well — no more waiting for your MacBook to power up to make a quick note or look something up. “Bag of Holding” for class materials: In D&D, a bag of holding was how we got around the game’s encumbrance rules. At least one party member would have one, and it became the gigantic suitcase we’d have to sit on to close, but it fit in our pockets. Printing out an entire course-load of lecture materials, lecture supplements, lab reports, sports scores, fantasy draft rules, team standings, notes, research materials and cited sources will quickly bulge a notebook to bursting, requiring industrialstrength banding to keep closed. With an iPad, I can keep all that on a device slightly larger than a composition notebook. Plus, I can quickly adjust my fantasy roster when my starting pitcher ends up needing Tommy John surgery. Easier to do work in the library: My college has a large, fourstory spacious library, yet it seems space and power is always at a premium — no doubt due to one person taking up a large, four-person table. When I’m doing research in the stacks, being able to use the iPad in tight quarters will be a boon. Also, I won’t need to

worry as much about finding a comfortable table near a power outlet. I’m never comfortable in a chair with my laptop, but I’m hoping the iPad will be a little more comfortable for use sitting down. It will also be great for reviewing class material in the hall before an exam. No laptop stigmata: Whenever I use a laptop in class, I’m always leery of what the teacher thinks of it. While none have had a problem with it, I’ve never liked having the laptop screen be a wall between the teacher and I. The iPad will sit on the table and act much more like a traditional notebook. Single-tasking may let me focus better: In the “I’m a bad student” category, when I’m taking notes, I’m also checking my e-mail, IMing, and following the Red Sox game during periods when the lecture fails to hold my attention. I’m hoping the iPad not being capable of multitasking might help me focus a little better. Say, anyone know how many innings Wakefield went today? Seriously, though, one of the reasons I don’t take notes by hand is my handwriting is illegible. If I can take notes distraction-free on the iPad, I’ll be thrilled. Yeah, I know I can turn off Wi-Fi and go into full screen mode, but I don’t. Cons

Lack of e-textbooks: Hopefully this will change, but the Kindle DX was marketed as a potential e-textbook reader, and a quick scan of the textbooks section of the Kindle store yielded slim results. I was able to find my Biology book on CourseSmart, who is claiming to be releasing an iPad version of their reader, but other than that, I came up empty. After lugging around a five-pound biology book last semester, I’d have been thrilled to have a e-textbook. Hopefully, Apple will partner with textbook publishers as part of iBooks, but if Amazon and Barnes & Noble haven’t had much traction here, I’m not betting heavily this will change soon. No camera: While some people have bemoaned the missing camera for its video chat purposes, in the previously mentioned biology class, I found it a lot easier to take an iPhone pic of a diagram the teacher drew on the board than attempt to recreate it in my notebook. The ability to take a photo on my iPad and quickly integrate it into my notes would be fantastic. More on iPad • Apple Planning iAds Service to Take on Google Mac Love • Ship Date for New iPad Orders Slips Mac Love • iPad to Offer 30,000 Free e-

Books at Launch Mac Love • iBookstore Pricing Leaked: Cheaper Than Expected Mac Love

Google Voice app, but since I need an Internet connection to use it, I’m OK with a web app. However, if there’s a specific application you need for a class, No citation/equation support: if there isn’t a similar app OS X Pages does a decent job at already in the App Store, you’re handling citations, albeit via out of luck. third-party tools. Almost all of No full-size keyboard my papers require some sort of (speculation): One of the big APA citations. While I expect I unknowns for me is how the can get the bulk of a paper keyboard will fare in real-life written on the iPad, handling usage — it might not be that citations looks like it could be bad, or doing any sort of longproblematic. Granted, this isn’t f o r m w r i t i n g c o u l d b e a deal-breaker, it’d be easy to unbearable. I’m OK with using simply put the proper citation the small Apple keyboard (it’ll reference in-place — (Crump likely be a permanent resident in 440) — and then insert the my carry bag, but I’d love to proper citation with the source just use the iPad. Also, the lack on my MacBook. However, I of travel is something that bugs can see not being able to me about the Apple keyboard, complete and submit a paper so the iPad keyboard could be solely on the iPad. I am also hard for me to get used to. I’m a d m i t t e d l y s p o i l e d b y ok with the iPhone keyboard, technology; I couldn’t build a but that’s for light typing and bibliography by hand now if my I’m usually using just my grade depended on it. Also, I’m thumbs. I’m also leery of touch lucky I’m a communications typing on it. major, but, if you’re in a major I’ll be getting my iPad on April requiring equations during note 3 and my next class starts April taking, this could be a problem 12. I’m looking forward to — hopefully, there will soon be seeing how this new gadget an app for that. works in school. Locked-down/Walled Garden: For the most part, Apple controlling the gates of the App Store hasn’t caused me much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Sure, I’d have loved a native

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Teri Hatcher Hatches Open Wealth of Advice to Women

Ship Date for New iPad Orders Slips Charles Jade (TheAppleBlog) Submitted at 3/28/2010 9:27:50 PM

Facts, supposition, and rumors swirl around the iPad as the April 3 launch nears, the biggest news being Apple has pushed back ship dates for new orders. As of Saturday, all new orders of Wi-Fi iPads show a ship date of April 12, and the option to reserve a Wi-Fi iPad for local Apple Store pickup has been discontinued. 3G iPads continue to show late April for shipping. Curiously, 9to5Mac has reports of Apple charging credit cards for both the Wi-Fi and 3G iPads, but those remain unsubstantiated rumors. More substantiated are multiple reports that Best Buy will have a few iPads on April 3. TUAW reports that approximately 675 Best Buys will have just 15 iPads per store on April 3, with an additional 15 possibly coming the following week. More on iPad • iPad to Offer 30,000 Free eBooks at Launch Mac Love • iBookstore Pricing Leaked: Cheaper Than Expected Mac Love • CBS Video Content Coming

(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/29/2010 2:03:00 AM

to the iPad Via HTML5? Mac Love • Apple Dominates Mobile Internet Devices: Report Mac Love

month DigiTimes was blaming Wintek for the iPad launch being delayed until April. Moving from wild rumors to educated guesses, Apple 2.0 has been following sales estimates At this point it seems like from the AAPL Sanity Board at Apple could be looking at an Investor Village. By tracking iPad sellout launch weekend, order numbers submitted by ebut what does that mean for mail and accounting for other you? purchases, the estimated count If you are a doubter, you might for pre-orders is now 240,000. point to everyone’s favorite That number does not include in Asian Apple rumor site passing -store reservations, educational, itself off as a newspaper. and enterprise orders, but Boy According to DigiTimes, Apple Genius Report supposedly had a has been forced to switch its contact reporting 150,000 iPads supplier of touch panels from reserved for pickup as of March TPK to Wintek. Of course, last 15.

Regardless of the pre-orders numbers, the slip in ship date by Apple makes it apparent the company is selling every iPad it can make. While that’s good for Apple, it’s bad news for those who haven’t ordered one yet. If you want a Wi-Fi iPad on April 3, your best bet is Best Buy in the morning and an Apple Store in the afternoon. Those who reserved an iPad at an Apple Store have until 3:00 to pick them up, or the units will be returned to the shelves, or more likely to the next person waiting in the “magical” line.

Teri Hatcher is cracking open her experiences as a woman and serving them sunny side up with "A Chick's Guide to Life." According to Variety, the "Desperate Housewives" star will launch GetHatched.com in conjunction with Disney in May. She described the website to Variety as "empowering" and promises it will "provide, with humor, insight and vulnerability, solutions to the needs and obligations of today's modern women." The Wisteria Lane resident will give advice to her fellow ladies out there in cyberspace via articles, blogs, and webisodes. Hatcher, working with a staff, will oversee the creative and editorial content. DisneyFamily.com will produce the website.

US consumer spending continues to rise (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:32:17 AM

US consumer spending picked

up for the fifth month running in February, lifting hopes that consumers could add momentum to the economic recovery.

Personal consumption expenditure rose by 0.3 per cent to $34.7bn last month, commerce department figures showed on Monday. This

followed an increase of 0.4 per PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, cent in January and was in line Term Extraction. with economists’ expectations. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools:

TV/ Entertainment/ Economy/

'Smallville' Producers Sue the WB and CW Brad Trechak (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:21:00 AM

Hollywood in-fighting is nothing new, and it's usually pretty interesting. The latest example is that the current producers behind'Smallville' are suing both Warner Brothers and the CW. The accusation is that the company is "short-selling" the show to the network and thereby cutting the producers out of potential profit. Money has always seemed a problem for the show. While 'Smallville' does not have the worst special effects in history (that award goes to classic'Doctor Who'), it does sometimes appear to be made on a shoestring budget. In this recessionary environment, it should be no surprise that everybody is fighting like wolves for a bigger piece of the pie. More's the pity since the show has gotten better in the last two or three years.

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'FlashForward,' 'ER' Stars Grab Roles in Pilots

Carrie Underwood Offers Up Wedding Details

Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

ET has the latest... Carrie Underwood may be busy with her tour, but it hasn't stopped the bride-to-be from getting in a bit of wedding planning! The country crooner reveals all new details about her big day! In an all-new interview with CMT Radio Live, the singer said she and fiance Mike Fisher are,"working on it, little bits here and there," and that they have decided to forgo the wedding cake. "We're kind of doing cupcakes," she says. "I consider myself a very traditional person -- and more than anything we're getting married and that's the important part -- but we want everyone to have a good time so we're doing some things like that that are a little different."

Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:02:00 AM

If you've been keeping track of all of the casting and pilot news that's been happening the past several weeks, you know that there are approximately 91,000 new pilots being filmed. About six of them will actually make it to the air. Here's the latest: Christine Woods of 'FlashForward' has landed a role in NBC's 'Perfect Couples.' a The curious thing is the long- comedy about three different term effect. Will the producers married couples. 'FlashForward' for the tenth season now be fans shouldn't panic over this replaced? Will this be the final casting though. Woods would nail in the coffin to make the stay with that show if it gets a show's tenth season its last? second season. Besides, there are many other reasons to panic What do you think? Filed under: Industry, OpEd, about FlashForward. In other news, 'ER's' Goran Smallville, Reality-Free P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | Visnjic and Katee Sackhoff will star in ABC's 'Boston's Finest,' Comments about an ex-cop and a detective trying to figure out some mysterious conspiracy that has hurt them both. Yup, another show will a conspiracy angle, and yet another show with a

Rio executive sentenced to 10 years in jail (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:29:27 AM

By Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai Published: March 29 2010 08:22 | Last updated: March 29 2010 15:29

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

good-looking man and woman team up to fight evil (see also 'The X-Files,''Fringe' and several other shows). Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:01:00 AM

TV/ Entertainment/

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'The Simpsons' - 'The Greatest Story Ever D'Ohed' Recap Jason Hughes (TV Squad) Submitted at 3/29/2010 3:05:00 AM

(S21E16) It's always tricky to try and mix comedy with Jerusalem. Unless you're willing to throw caution to the wind and risk offending various religious groups and individuals, you almost always wind up with something that's bland and lame. For'The Simpsons,' cutting edge and risque seems to be a thing long in their past, and the latter product is what we got. Everything from Sacha Baron Cohen's aggressive tour guide to the jokes and the storyline in general didn't work this week. I'm not sure if it's because the writer, Kevin Curran, was trying too hard not to offend Muslims, Jews or Christians, but he wound up wringing every bit of humor out of the episode. Normally, at least one or two

jokes can hit, even in a bad episode of 'The Simpsons,' but this one actually got painful to continue sitting through. Continue reading'The Simpsons' - 'The Greatest Story Ever D'Ohed' Recap Filed under: OpEd, The Simpsons, Animation, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Sundays with Seth: Knight of Payne Jason Hughes (TV Squad)

Newlywed Bethenny Frankel Tweets: I'm a Real Housewife (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:51:00 AM

Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:26:00 AM

Bringing in fresh voices from time to time on a veteran series can really energize things. That's what happened this week, as Seth MacFarlane's former writing assistant, Spencer Porter, stepped up to the big leagues and scripted one of the most unique episodes of'Family Guy' in a very long time. In fact, in thinking about it now, I'm not even sure if there were any of the show's trademark cutaways. Instead, we got tons and tons of surreal adventure right there in the main script. Stewie found Brian's script in order to set up Brian's adventure, and then spent the rest of the episode with a massive head wound. Considering Stewie's popularity,

"The Real Housewives of New York City" reality star Bethenny Frankel took to her Twitter account following her Sunday wedding to Jason Hoppy, calling her wedding day the "best night of my life." "I'm a real housewife! On way to honeymoon. Best night of my life," Frankel tweeted. "Your it was a brave move to remove messages were so beautiful & him from the episode for so sentimental. Have a great week tweeps!" long. Continue reading Sundays with The "real housewife," who is seven months pregnant, and her Seth: Knight of Payne Filed under: Other Comedy beau wed at the Four Seasons S h o w s , O p E d , A n i m a t i o n , Hotel in NYC, and guests Episode Reviews, Reality-Free i n c l u d e d c a s t m a t e s A l e x P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | McCord, Ramona Singer and "Today" show co-host Hoda Comments Kotb. Singer told People.com, the event was the "Rolls Royce of weddings!"

'Dancing With the Stars'' Erin Andrews Amazed by Pamela Anderson (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/29/2010 2:15:00 AM

ET joined "Dancing with the Stars"' Erin Andrews and her pro partner Maksim

Chmerkovskiy during a rehearsal for tonight's show, and Erin dished about being surprised by flowers and a note from her ballroom competitor Pamela Anderson.

"It was so amazing," Erin told ET. "Maks and I had just gotten back to the trailer, and I walked in and I saw the flowers. We read the card, and it was the most fabulous card. It said,

'Break a lash. Love, Pamela.'" The ESPN sideline reporter was so thrilled to find the gift that she shouted at the top of her lungs for Maks, who thought something had happened, so "I

walked out without my pants," the hunky pro dancer explained.

Entertainment/ Sports/

Jessica Alba to Guest Judge Reality Show (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:45:00 AM

Jessica Alba, who got her start on the TV show "Dark Angel," is returning to the small screen as a guest judge on a trendsetting show. The actress, 28, will join the panel on the clothing design competition show "Project Runway" to help judge a challenge in which the

remaining six contestants must create an ensemble for an "opinionated celebrity," the Associated Press reports. They will later discover that the celebrity is actually show host Heidi Klum. Alba will appear on "Project Runway" this Thursday, April 1, on Lifetime. Previous celebrity judges include Nicole Richie and Molly Sims.

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Christian Militants Attacked by FBI and Gay Sex Pics [Jesusfreaks] Hunter Walker (Gawker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:47:16 AM

A militant, Midwestern Christian group called the "Hutaree" was reportedly the target of government raids this attacked by internet trolls armed weekend. Their leader, Raddock with gay porn. More Âť "RD" Merzonick, was arrested, and now, their web site is being

NCAA Tournament Diary: Elite Eight (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 3/28/2010 10:01:15 AM

Reuters Duke forwards Mason Plumlee (left) and Miles NCAA page 55

Source: St. Louis Rams will wait for private Sam Bradford workout before making draft decision Chris Mortensen (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:41:44 AM

Awful Clubs and Soulless Condos, Together at Last [Real Estate] Hamilton Nolan (Gawker) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:29:03 AM

Are you one of those "young people whose true religion is music?" Marketing consultants have determined the proper place for you to live: in a gleaming, Miami Beach-style condo on West 30th street. Where music lives! More Âť

While the St. Louis Rams are very likely to select Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the first pick in next month's NFL draft, a team source said they won't make a final decision until after the team orchestrates a private workout for him on April 19, just three days before the draft's first round. Bradford will have his first public workout on Monday in front of the Rams and other NFL teams at Oklahoma's pro day in Norman. He has been

working out with former NFL quarterback coach Terry Shea, who has scripted a 63-throw session that will include a wide variety of passes. The first 13 throws will be to stationary receivers. A team source said the Rams aren't looking to be "wowed" by Bradford, knowing this is his first full-blown throwing session since he underwent right shoulder surgery to reconstruct the AC joint he damaged during his junior season. The team has analyzed Bradford's college game video and team doctors are comfortable with his

medical data, the source added. SRams coach Steve Spagnuolo was scheduled to have breakfast with Bradford a few hours before the quarterback's noon ET workout Monday. Spagnuolo and general manager Billy Devaney also visited with Bradford earlier in the month in Gulf Breeze, Fla., where he was rehabbing and working out. Bradford returned to Norman last week to continue his preparation for today's session. The Washington Redskins, who select fourth in the draft, also have scheduled a private workout with Bradford on April

15. All workouts must be conducted on Oklahoma's campus, in accordance with league policy. Bradford also is scheduled to spend two additional days with both the Rams and Redskins at their facilities in April. Chris Mortensen is a senior NFL analyst for ESPN. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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NCAA continued from page 54

Plumlee celebrate a basket in the final minutes of the second half against Baylor. Journal staffer David Kesmodel and guest blogger William Snyder offer commentary on the NCAA tournament’s eighth day. Kesmodel will be in St. Louis at the Midwest Regional final — won by Michigan State over Tennessee 70-69, while Snyder will comment on the South Regional final — won by Duke over Baylor 78-71 — and the CBS telecast. Get all the latest NCAA news and scores here. Follow the Twitter feeds of coaches, players and observers of NCAA tournament teams before, during and after the games. 1:54 pm | by David Kesmodel In St. Louis, we have a matchup of two teams that failed to live up to preseason expectations but that have jelled at just the right time. Michigan State (27-8), a fifth seed, has battled injuries and some occasional internal bickering to reach its seventh Elite Eight appearance under Tom Izzo, who is 5-1 in regional finals. The Spartans lost four of six games at one point this season, and were bounced by Minnesota from the Big Ten tournament in the quarterfinals. Tennessee (28-8), a sixth seed, has had plenty of its own troubles. All-SEC forward Tyler Smith, probably its best player, got kicked off the team in January after he and three

teammates were pulled over for speeding and the police found two guns that belonged to Smith, a bag of pot and some alcohol. Smith, convicted of illegally possessing a firearm, is now playing pro ball in Turkey. The three teammates -- Brian Williams, Cameron Tatum and Melvin Goins -- all dealt with various game suspensions. The Vols collected wins over Kansas and Kentucky, but got stomped by Kentucky by 29 in the SEC tourney. One of the many keys to this game will be whether Michigan State can continue to dominate in rebounding. The Spartans lead the nation in rebound margin with 9.0 per game. Tennessee needs to try to shut down hot-shooting Durrell Summers, and the Spartans must prevent Tennessee, with its depth and size, from getting easy looks inside. These are both balanced teams, with no starter averaging more than 12 points a contest. Almost without question, the most important factor in this game will be how well Tennessee senior forward Wayne Chism manages his relationship with his beloved orange headband. The other night against Ohio State, he took it off with about 12 minutes left after missing several layups. He then scored 12 points to help propel the Vols to their first trip to the Elite Eight. "Me and my

headband have an agreement -when I get mad, he's got to come off," he said Saturday. 2:23 pm | 0-0; just before tipoff | by David Kesmodel This is the Midwest regional final, but the bright orange colors of Tennessee dominate the crowd. Maybe there are Spartans fans who think they can play some weird hex on the Vols by donning orange over their green. For Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, a win today would be the pinnacle of his career. OK, I know I am going to take a rap for that from you Division II fanatics. Pearl coached the University of Southern Indiana's Screaming Eagles to the D-II crown in 1995. 2:23 pm | by David Kesmodel And we are under way in St. Louis. Tennessee has first possession. The Vols are gunning for their first Final Four today. 2:25 pm | Tennessee 3, Michigan State 0; 19:23 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Maze drills a three to give Tennessee the opening lead. 2:27 pm | UT 11, MSU 6; 17:25 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Wayne Chism has hit two three -pointers early in the game and the Vols are 4-for-4 from the field. 2:28 pm | UT 11, MSU 8; 16:45 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel

Verne Lundquist is calling the play-by-play of this game for CBS, and this is just another sporting event for the grayhairedÂ broadcaster. In modern times, he called Christian Laettner's famous shot in a 1992 regional final, as well as a key birdieÂ putt by Jack Nicklaus in the 1986 Masters. Earlier in his career, I heard, he did radio when the Chicago Cubs won their lastÂ World Series title, and he landed an exclusive interview with James Naismith after he secured a couple of peach basketsÂ inside a gym in Springfield, Mass., in 1891. 2:29 pm | MSU 14, UT 14; 16:12 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel This game is off to a fast start. Both teams are on fire. Durrell Summers already has eight points for Michigan State. 2:32 pm | MSU 16, UT 16; 14:48 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel MSU sophomore forward Delvon Roe sinks a hook shot to even the score after an acrobatic basket by Tennessee's J.P. Prince, who followed his dazzling play by saluting the boisterous Tennesse fans as he stormed back down the floor. 2:34 pm | MSU 18, UT 16; 13:17 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Goins missed a tough shot for Tennessee, and Summers puts the Spartans up for the first time.

2:35 pm | MSU 21, UT 16; 12:54 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Draymond Green, the Big Ten's Sixth Man of the Year, gives the Spartans a four-point lead and gets fouled. He converts the free toss. 2:38 pm | MSU 21, UT 19; 12:12 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Melvin Goins sinks a three for Tennessee. 2:40 pm | MSU 21, UT 21; 11:13 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Tom Izzo is trying to reach his sixth Final Four as the head coach of Michigan State and give the school its eighth visit to the national seminifals. He's lost just once in a regional final. That was in 2003 in San Antonio, when Texas beat Michigan State by nine. Isn't it fitting that Izzo, coach of teams that rarely disappoint in the clutch and are very physical, is a native of Iron Mountain, Mich.? 2:43 pm | UT 24, MSU 22; 10:24 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel The Volunteers are shooting a blistering 75% from the field, and the Spartans aren't far behind at 61.5%. These two teams could score in the 90s if this pace continues. 2:44 pm | UT 26, MSU 22; 10:00 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel NCAA page 56

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NCAA continued from page 55

Wayne Chism is still wearing his orange head band. He must like how things are going so far. 2:47 pm | UT 28, MSU 22; 9:17 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel The Vols got Durrell Summers to pick up his second foul. They'd love to have him sitting on the pine. He scored 45 points in the last two games for MSU and already has 10 today on 4for-5 shooting from the field. 2:48 pm | UT 28, MSU 24; 8:56 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Chris Allen just halted a Volunteers run with two of three free throws. 2:49 pm | UT 30, MSU 24; 8:10 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel I've only been to Knoxville once, but I feel like I'm back listening to these Volunteer fans loudly cheer on their five. 2:56 pm | UT 30, MSU 29; 6:55 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel These teams would love a chance to go to Indy next week and play the Butler Bulldogs, who are the best thing to happen to Indianapolis sports since the Colts beat the Bears to win the Super Bowl three years ago behing Tennessee alumnus Peyton Manning. I still remember sitting in my dorm room at Indiana University in 1993 and watching Butler upset the Hoosiers in a nonconference game. That was just the

beginning of their rise. 2:57 pm | MSU 33, UT 32; 6:08 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Michigan State regains the advantage on two free throws by Korie Lucious, the junior guard from Detroit. 2:58 pm | UT 34, MSU 33; 5:20 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Scotty Hopson drives inside for a layup as the Vols retake the lead. 2:59 pm | UT 34, MSU 33; 4:21 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel The Vols have cooled off a bit. They're shooting 57% from the field. Michigan State is shooting 52%. 3:03 pm | UT 34, MSU 33; 3:36 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Steven Pearl, son of Vols coach Bruce Pearl, just nabbed a nifty offensive rebound. Steven chalked up three fouls in eight minutes to go along with an offensive board, a block and a steal in Friday's upset of Ohio State. Not a pretty stat line, but his team won a huge game. 3:05 pm | UT 37, MSU 35; 2:30 left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel Melvin Goins steals the ball and drills a jumper on the fast break, but Draymond Green answers for the Spartans with a deuce. 3:06 pm | MSU 37, UT 37; 1:51 left, 1st Half | by David

Kesmodel Raymar Morgan ties the score for MSU with an offensive rebound and layup. 3:12 pm | UT 39, MSU 37; 51 seconds left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel There are still a few Northern Iowa fans left in the Edward Jones Dome, despite the Panthers' loss Friday night to the Spartans. This city's bar owners -- and the U.S. division of Anheuser-Busch InBev based here -- seemed to thrive Friday night as fans of UNI drowned their sorrows with what looked like a lot of Bud Light and Busch to me. 3:12 pm | UT 41, MSU 37; 34 seconds left, 1st Half | by David Kesmodel A beautiful pass from J.P. Prince to Wayne Chism, who scored easily. 3:19 pm | Tennessee 41, Michigan State 39; Halftime | by David Kesmodel Tennessee's Brian Williams swatted a shot by Raymar Morgan out of bounds with one second left in the half. But Draymond Green, the sophomore from Saginaw, scored on a smooth inbounds pass to cut the Vols' lead to two. The Spartans own a 17-10 rebounding edge, but Tennessee is shooting 56% from the field, including six of nine shooting from three-point land. An excellent Elite Eight contest so far.

3:38 pm | UT 41, MSU 39; 19:44 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel At halftime, Tom Izzo told his team to win it for injured star Kalin Lucas and all the people who invested their hard-earned money in Detroit's auto industry for too long. 3:39 pm | UT 45, MSU 40; 17:40 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The crowd is rocking after a J.P. Prince slam dunk gives the Vols a five-point lead. 3:40 pm | UT 45, MSU 42; 17:14 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Raymar Morgan hits two free throws and has 10 points as the senior tries to get back to the Final Four after last year's titlegame loss. 3:42 pm | UT 47, MSU 42; 16:23 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Bruce Pearl got his team fired up at halftime by promising to shave his head and wear orange bobby socks at the Vols' next practice. 3:47 pm | MSU 50, UT 50; 15:11 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Durrell Summers just drilled a three to tie the game and was fouled on the shot. His 13 points lead all scorers, but he has three personal fouls. Expect Izzo to keep him in and pray he doesn't commit his fourth anytime soon. Wayne Chism has 10 points to lead the Vols -- and, yes, the

headband remains perched atop his 6-foot-9 body. 3:51 pm | MSU 51, UT 51; 13:50 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Spartans are just three of 11 from three-point land. Brian Williams just tossed up a free throw for Tennessee that failed to hit the rim, but he got the next one to tie the game. 3:51 pm | MSU 53, UT 51; 13:27 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Raymar Morgan scores inside. Tennessee has lost just once all year when leading at halftime, but it will have a tough time denying the Spartans another Final Four berth. 3:54 pm | MSU 56, UT 51; 12:16 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Korie Lucious, the 5-foot-11 sophomore guard from Milwaukee, nails a three after Tennessee fails to grab a rebound. MSU's crowd has sprung to life in the Edward Jones Dome. For Lucious, it was just his first successful attempt from outside the arc in six tries. 4:00 pm | MSU 56, UT 51; 11:54 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel History is definitely on the Spartans' side. They have won two NCAA championships -the last one 10 years ago -- and been to seven Final Fours. Tennessee made the NIT Final NCAA page 57

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Four a few years ago, but this is as deep as they've ever been in the Big Dance. 4:02 pm | MSU 59, UT 51; 11:28 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Spartans have their biggest lead of the game, thanks to a three-point play by Draymond Green. 4:03 pm | MSU 59, UT 55; 10:24 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Bobby Maze hits two free throws. Bruce Pearl was just trying to get Volunteer Nation to "raise the roof" here. The crowd dutifully responded, and I was blinded by orange as they rose in unison. 4:05 pm | MSU 59, UT 55; 9:02 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The scoring pace has really slowed down, and the Vols are hurting themselves with turnovers. They have 10 in the game, while the Spartans have eight. 4:07 pm | MSU 59, UT 55; 8:41 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Spartans failed to get a shot off before the shot clock expired. Several tufts of hair from Tom Izzo's head sailed toward the rafters. 4:08 pm | MSU 61, UT 59; 7:30 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Brian Williams scored on an offensive rebound after Scotty Hopson missed a three for the

Vols with hands in his face. 4:11 pm | MSU 61, UT 59; 7:00 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel This game looks like just another barnburner in the Midwest regionals in St. Louis. Both games went down to the wire on Friday night. I'll be shocked if this one doesn't. 4:15 pm | MSU 61, UT 60; 7:00 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Hopson hits one of two free throws to cut the Spartans' lead to a point. And, yes, for those of you scoring at home, Wayne Chism is still wearing that headband. 4:16 pm | MSU 66, UT 64; 4:40 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Draymond Green, playing a terrific game off the bench for the Spartans, scores on another three-point play and has 13 points. 4:17 pm | MSU 66, UT 64; 4:24 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Brian Williams, the 6-foot-10 center for Tennessee out of the Bronx, just missed two free throws, failing to hit the rim on the second one. 4:18 pm | MSU 66, UT 66; 3:38 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Vols are 13 of 19 from the stripe, while the Spartans are 15 of 18. 4:20 pm | MSU 66, UT 66; 3:20 left, 2nd Half | by David

Kesmodel Korie Lucious gets whistled for a traveling call after the Vols tie the contest. Tennessee will have a chance to take the lead following a media timeout. The Vols are shooting 53.5% for the game from the field, while MSU is at 46.9%. 4:22 pm | MSU 69, UT 66; 2:26 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Chism just missed a close shot for the Vols that would have given them the lead. Summers followed with a three to put the Spartans up. 4:25 pm | MSU 69, UT 68; 1:56 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Brian Williams dunks after snaring a rebound off a missed three-pointer by Chism, cutting the Spartans' edge to one point. Williams has been big on the glass for Tennessee. 4:26 pm | MSU 69, UT 68; 1:35 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Vols have the ball back for a chance to take the lead after a jump ball following a crazy missed shot by MSU's Raymar Morgan. 4:27 pm | MSU 69, UT 68; 1:08 left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Spartans have the ball and will try to take as much as a four -point lead in this classic Elite Eight game. 4:28 pm | MSU 69, UT 68; 28 seconds left, 2nd Half | by

David Kesmodel Melvin Goins just fouled Korie Lucious after several offensive boards by the Spartans keep the ball at their end. Lucious is 3 for 3 at the stripe but misses the first. 4:30 pm | MSU 69, UT 68; 11.2 seconds left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Sophomore guard Scotty Hopson heads to the free-throw line with a chance to give the Vols the lead. He is just two for four from the stripe today. He got fouled throwing up a jumper. 4:31 pm | MSU 69, UT 69; 11 seconds left; 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Spartans call timeout after Hopson coolly buries his first foul shot. Hopson -- who hails from Hopkinsville, Ky. -- has 10 points for the Volunteers. 4:32 pm | MSU 69, UT 69; 1.8 seconds left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel Hopson missed his second FT, and Raymar Morgan got hacked at the other end. He can win the game at the line. 4:34 pm | MSU 70, UT 69; 1.8 seconds left, 2nd Half. | by David Kesmodel Raymar Morgan hits the first free throw to give the Spartans the lead. Tennessee calls timeout. The Vols will need a miracle to win or send this game into overtime. Morgan is getting set to head back to the freethrow line.

4:35 pm | MSU 70, UT 69; 1.8 seconds left, 2nd Half | by David Kesmodel The Spartans take a 30-second timeout. Tom Izzo will try to get yet another stellar defensive play out of his club to prevent the Vols from scoring after the free throw by Morgan. 4:37 pm | MSU 70, UT 69; 1 second left, 2nd Half | by David Kemodel Raymar Morgan just chucked the ball at the hoop -- a clear attempt at a miss which sadly looked like one of my genuine efforts at a free throw. Brian Williams rebounded for Tennessee, and the Vols quickly called timeout. But they have just 1.0 second left on the clock, desperate for a shot that would win this game. They do have Verne Lundquist, who called Christian Lattner's famous shot in a regional final, over here. That could be a good sign. 4:38 pm | Michigan State 70, Tennessee 69; Final | by David Kesmodel Chism threw the ball to J.P. Prince, who took a dribble near midcourt and heaved the ball to the hoop. It was no good, and Michigan State is headed to the Final Four for the second straight season and the seventh time under Tom Izzo. 4:43 pm | by David Kesmodel The Spartans will play Butler in Indianapolis on Saturday in a NCAA page 58

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battle of fifth seeds. Raymar Morgan hit the game-winning free throw and finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Durrell Summers led the Spartans with 21 points in yet another fine NCAA performance. The Vols, who shot 51% from the field but hurt themselves with 67% freethrow shooting, placed four scorers in double figures. Tennessee was led by Chism, who kept his headband on the whole game, with 13 points. 4:54 pm | by William Snyder The swan song of the Elite Eight pits Duke versus Baylor to be the South Region's representative in the Final Four. Duke hasn't been to the national semifinals since 2004, but for Baylor, the dry spell is decades longer. The Bears' last trip to the Final Four was 1950. In case you missed Friday's match-ups, Baylor moved on with a thorough dismissal of St. Mary's -- the last of the Cinderellas -- 72-49. The Bears' quickness was on display as their guards kept the pace of Thoroughbreds. Duke had more of a challenge with 4-seed Purdue, but pulled away in the second half to win 70-57. The Blue Devils' winning run was orchestrated by Jon Scheyer, who had been ice-cold in the tournament, but scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half to pull Duke away. Against Purdue, Zoubek and Miles Plumlee were plucking

rebounds like they were lowhanging fruit. The Blue Devils ended the game with a plus-21 margin. But Baylor's front line is much bigger and stronger, than the Boilermakers'. Josh Lomers, Ekpe Udoh and Quincy Acy have held their own in the paint, and likely won't be intimidated by Duke's big men. So, that means the battle for this game will likely be on the perimeter. Both schools have tag -team guard combinations -Scheyer and Singler for Duke; Carter and Dunn for Baylor -and whichever sharpshooter can get the hot hand, will put his team in control. With the player match-ups nearly identical, the secondplace Big 12 team might rely on one intangible factor: homecourt advantage. Tonight's game tips in Houston, only a couple of hours from the Waco campus. Expect plenty of green in the stands. 5:00 pm | by William Snyder So, anyone know how far out in advance companies record commercials for the tournament? Roy Williams is all over the TV screen, but I'm guessing the groups he's pitching for weren't expecting UNC to have a 16-16 season. 5:06 pm | by William Snyder You know how the bracket competitions will give poor performers a restart with the Sweet 16? I imagine we could all use a reset for the Final Four,

too. So far, we have Butler, West Virginia and Michigan State. (Either Duke or Baylor will take the last spot.) I'd love to see the percentage of brackets that had either UK or Kansas in the Final Fourâ¦99.9%? 5:07 pm | Duke 0, Baylor 0; 20:00 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Time for the tip. Coach K is jonesin' for his 12th Final Four. Baylor just wants to keep the dream alive. Andâ¦Dunn takes the ball on the tip and sets up the offense. Singler sizes up to Dunn. That'll be a fun one to watch. 5:09 pm | Duke 0, BU 0; 19:10 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder First two possessions and a turnover for each team. Duke seemed a bit surprised to find really tall defenders under the basket. Baylor, like I mentioned pregame, has the most formidable frontcourt Duke has seen in the tournament. Carter for Baylor gets pinned in a double-team and calls a timeout. 5:10 pm | Duke 0, BU 0; 19:10 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Apparently it was a full timeout less than a minute in. Commercials, commercials, commercials. 5:13 pm | BU 3, Duke 2; 17:55 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Dunn takes the first slice. He drills a three over Singler and

then a possession later Singler picks up a touch foul trying to defend him. Advantage (granted only two minutes in): Dunn. 5:16 pm | Duke 5, BU 3; 16:58 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder BU is running with the pace they want, but they can't make a shot (1-for-5). Nolan Smith hits a three for Duke. Underneath the basket Lomers and Zoubek are playing rough. We'll see how much the refs let them get away with. 5:18 pm | BU 6, Duke 5; 16:02 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Ekpe Udoh is stealing Dunn's thunder for BU. The long-armed center dunks over Zoubek and gets fouled (he makes the plus1). On the defensive end he swats away a Nolan Thomas jump shot. He's got the sizable Baylor crowd on its feet. 5:20 pm | BU 6, Duke 5; 15:00 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder I'm in a prognosticating mood at the first TV timeout. Based on how many whistles we've already had (Lomers and Zoubek each have a foul), I'm guessing three players will foul out tonight. 5:23 pm | BU 7, Duke 5; 14:48 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Singler heads to the bench with his second foul. (See, I'm on to something.) He's replaced by freshman Andre Dawkins.

Tough for Duke, but we'll see if Dawkins can keep the pressure on Dunn. 5:24 pm | BU 9, Duke 9; 12:49 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Clark Kellogg is commenting on the size of players' hands. I know it's been a long weekend, but I find this unsettling. (What he was referring to was Quentin Acy's hands for Baylor being too small to palm the ball for a dunk, which he bricked hard.) 5:28 pm | Duke 14, BU 13; 11:32 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Singler's replacement -Dawkins -- hits a long three to put Duke up by the same number. On the other end, though, Acy makes a move inside, hits the shot and picks up a foul. The infraction? It's on Zoubek. That makes two for him and two starters for Duke in early foul trouble. Oh boy, another TV timeout. Mute, please. 5:31 pm | BU 14, Duke 14; 10:39 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder And now Lomers sets up his second foul. Lucky for BU they have a laundry list of big men to replace him. He picked up the foul setting a screen for Tweety Carter. The stellar point guard has been rendered ineffective in this game thanks to Scheyer's pressure defense. NCAA page 59

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5:33 pm | Duke 20, BU 16; 9:22 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Duke is starting to figure out BU's zone defense, going 4-for5 in three-point land. Nolan Smith has the soft touch this evening, with half of Duke's points. 5:33 pm | Duke 20, BU 16; 9:22 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Duke is starting to figure out BU's zone defense, going 4-for5 in three-point land. Nolan Smith has the soft touch this evening, with half of Duke's points. 5:37 pm | Duke 25, BU 18; 7:02 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder The next few minutes are going to test BU's maturity. Duke is having a field day beyond the arc, and Baylor can't seem to adjust on defense. On their end, BU is getting flustered by the tight man-to-man, making sloppier and sloppier passes. Duke is on 11-4 run, and Dunn has faded away for BU. 5:40 pm | Duke 25, BU 22; 6:12 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder I spoke too soon. Out of the timeout, Dunn hits two free throws and then connects on a shattering alley-oop from Carter. He's got 11 points and puts BU within striking distance. 5:44 pm | Duke 27, BU 25; 4:44 left, 1st Half | by William

Snyder Singler has been shooting from la-la land tonight. He's 0-foreverything and they're pretty spectacular misses. Lucky for him, Nolan Smith is making up for his whiffs. On the opposite end, Carter hits a 3 and gets BU within two. 5:47 pm | Duke 27, BU 25; 3:42 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder During the last TV timeout of the half (triggered by a Carter turnover) let's take a look at the stat sheet. Pretty much all even on rebounds (13 for BU; 11 for Duke) and field-goal percentage, BU is at 42 and Duke is at 40. The difference is with three-pointers. Duke is caliente, shooting 55%. BU isn't too shabby either at 40%. 5:48 pm | Duke 29, BU 26; 2:53 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Zoubek picks up foul three. More fouls than points is no way to go through life, son. (He's got a goose egg on the score sheet.) Lucky for Coach K he has a revolving door of big guys this year and sends in Miles Plumlee. 5:50 pm | Duke 29, BU 28; 2:18 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Dunn disappeared for a bit, but he's keyed-in on the basket now. He swipes the ball away from Mason Plumlee, goes the length of the court and throws it home for his 13th point. BU is within

one and surfing the momentum wave. Coach K wants to talk about it. Timeout. 5:53 pm | BU 35, Duke 29; 1:14 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder BU gets their run now, hanging 17 to Duke's 4. Their zone has made the adjustments and is taking the ball away from the Blue Devils with ease. Another turnover for Duke! That's three in a row. Carter hits a three on the other end to put BU up six. Apparently that's Duke's largest deficit of the tournament. (Crazy, right?) 5:56 pm | BU 35, Duke 32; Halftime | by William Snyder Nolan Thomas drops another three for Duke, giving him 12 for the night and throwing a little ice water on BU's fans. Carter gets the last shot of the half but is way short on a three pointer. The buzzer sounds and we're halfway through. 6:11 pm | by William Snyder Some takeaways from the first half: Once BU realized they were faster than Duke (and could keep control of the ball) they started to light it up. Dunn has carved the lane effortlessly and Acy takes honors for the best big man between the two teams with 8 points and 4 boards. For Duke, they're happy to have BU keep up with a zone defense, because it leaves the perimeter wide open. Duke shot 60% from outside of the line

and BU seems confused as to how to stop that bleeding. We're tied on turnovers and rebounds (14 and 7, respectively). Twenty minutes left to fill the last seat at the Final Four dinner table. 6:15 pm | BU 35, Duke 35; 19:40 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Duke made two baskets and had four turnovers over the last seven minutes in the first. They take possession to start the second and Scheyer drains a three. They'll need more of it to win this one. 6:17 pm | BU 42, Duke 37; 18:12 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Udoh throws in an uncontested rebound after a Carter miss. On the next possession, he finds and open Jones for a three. BU is working inside and out. 6:20 pm | BU 44, Duke 41; 17:52 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder In five seconds Josh Lomers picks up his third and fourth fouls. The first was on Singler, who finally made it on the score sheet with one free throw. The second was on Scheyer while shooting a three. He punishes Lomers making all of his foul shots. Obvious alert: Lomers heads to the bench. 6:22 pm | BU 44, Duke 44; 16:15 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Courtesy of the foul line, Duke

has tied it. They can't sink a shot from the floor. In fact Singler just missed a layup. Lucky for Duke, the refs are helping soften their lousy shooting with makeup chances on the line. 6:28 pm | BU 46, Duke 45; 15:02 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Now the teams are trading free throws. BU ekes back ahead by a point on two makes by Dunn. 6:31 pm | Duke 49, BU 46; 13:38 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Duke put together a little spurt to get up by three, but the good news turns sour when Zoubek picks up his fourth foul on a rebound attempt. So both big dudes are resting for BU and Duke. BU can't make anything of the possession, though. It's been four minutes since their last basket. 6:33 pm | Duke 49, BU 47; 12:10 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder BU isn't even playing close defense on Singler anymore. They're leaving him open in the corners. Even though the ace hasn't hit a field goal yet in the game, this could be playing with fire. 6:37 pm | Duke 49, BU 47; 11:45 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder TV timeout and I'm noticing a lot of census ads today. I know it's a public service, and all, but NCAA page 60

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it's cutting into time that could be dedicated to funny beer commercials. Think about it CBS, this probably isn't your target audience for government reminders. 6:38 pm | Duke 49, BU 47; 11:17 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Udoh is everywhere. On an inbounds pass, Plumlee went for a shot and Udoh sends it flying downcourt. Carter picks it up on the break and dishes it to Jones, who gets hammered by Plumlee. He's got three fouls now. Jones with a chance to tie, misses both. 6:40 pm | Duke 51, BU 51; 9:39 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Udoh gets another block and that gives BU six for the night. Duke, on the hand, has zero. And Udoh again! Carter finds him on a cut and he opts for the two-handed jam. Tie game. 6:44 pm | Duke 51, BU 51; 9:39 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Stretch time. Traditionally this is where Duke drains a couple of threes to start pulling away. But BU's quickness and Singler's frigid shooting might be an obstruction to that game plan. Coach K wants to go over the script with his guys in a full timeout. 6:45 pm | Duke 53, BU 51; 8:49 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Singler chunks up a cinder

block of an attempt on one possession. On the next, Scheyer finds him wide-open but he stutters, opting to pass instead. The jinx is doing a little tap dance on his shoulder. 6:47 pm | Duke 53, BU 53; 8:10 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder I guessed three men going to the bench with five fouls and we have our first. An ovation, please, for Josh Lomers, who's heading to the bench with eight minutes left and a piddly four points. 6:49 pm | Duke 53, BU 53; 7:45 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Stat time during the TV timeout. Somehow BU is shooting 48% from the floor, despite a cold streak over the last couple of minutes. Duke is making a mere 34% of their field goals. Lucky for the Blue Devils, they're spending plenty of time at the foul line where they've been lights-out, sinking 12-of-13 for 92%. Dunn leads BU with 15 and Smith has 20 for Duke. 6:53 pm | Duke 54, BU 53; 6:38 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder This game has gotten so slow (Duke missed 10 of their last 11) that Clark Kellogg is now commenting on the free-throw shooting style of Zoubek. He makes one to put Duke up by a point. But, really guys? This is an Elite Eight game. It should be

a little more thrilling. 6:57 pm | Baylor 57, BU 57; 5:17 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder BU inches up by three on, you guessed it, free throws. Dunn hits a pair. On the other end, Duke clanks a three but gets the rebound and Scheyer makes up for the miss. Tied again. 6:59 pm | Duke 60, BU 59; 4:10 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Udoh gets his fifth block and that brings us to another statistical nugget. BU has outscored Duke by a factor of two (36 to 18) in the paint. Unfortunately for the Bears, Duke has 9 three-pointers to their 4. 7:01 pm | BU 61, Duke 60; 3:36 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Ekpe Udoh drops a dandy of a left-handed fader to put BU up by one. He's having a marquee night with 13 points, 6 boards, 6 assists and 5 blocks. Oh, but the whistle blows again on the other end and after the Duke will be shooting two after Baylor's 10th team foul. 7:05 pm | Duke 64, BU 61; 3:14 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Smith goes to the line, makes one, misses the second but Duke gets the rebound. Smith finds it in his hands again and pops a three. He has 27 for the night and put the Blue Devils up by the same.

7:06 pm | Duke 67, BU 61; 2:18 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder What did I tell you? Duke was waiting for their chance to drain a couple of threes. After Smith's, Scheyer hits one and Duke is up six with only a couple of minutes left. BU needs a basket to stay in it. And they'll get a chance from the line. Udoh makes a move and Zoubek fouls him, ending his night. (For the record, that's two foul outs. I predicted three.) 7:09 pm | Duke 70, BU 62; 1:36 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder This could be it for BU. Off another Singler miss, Thomas pulls in the rebound, puts in the basket and gets fouled. He makes the and-1 and BU is down eight with little time left. (Duke has made 23 secondchance points to BU's 11.) 7:13 pm | Duke 72, BU 62; 1:08 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Official timeout after Scheyer calls a Duke timeout under defensive pressure from BU. Scheyer threw what looked like an elbow after the ref called time and then Acy reacted for BU by bumping into him. But the refs only give the technical to BU. So, two shots for Scheyer and the ball. He makes both. This one is all but over. 7:15 pm | Duke 72, BU 64; :47 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder

BU misses a couple of threes before Udoh gets a layup to fall. They call a quick timeout, but I don't know what plays they can concoct on the white board to get back into this one. 7:18 pm | Duke 76, BU 68; :22 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder BU is making quick shots, but they can't get steals on the inbounds and are thus forced to foul. Duke is not slipping up on the foul line, so it's slipping away from the Bears. 7:20 pm | Duke 76, BU 71; :09 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Dunn drops a three to cut it to five, but with under 10 seconds left, they're playing for pride. UnlessĂ˘ÂŚthey can steal an inbounds pass. 7:22 pm | Duke 76, BU 71; :09 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder BU keeps the hammer down on defense and forces Duke to take a timeout before a five-second call. Maybe, just maybe, they can make something happen. Remember UNC scored 8 points in 17 seconds against Duke once... 7:25 pm | Duke 78, BU 71; Final | by William Snyder Singler was fouled on the inbounds and makes both. BU is out of time and options. Game Over. Duke gets the last spot in the Final Four. NCAA page 63

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Duke Seniors Do It Old-School Thomas George (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/28/2010 3:50:00 PM

Filed under: Duke, March Madness, NCAA Tournament South Region HOUSTON -"We're not that good," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said on the Reliant Stadium floor after rambling down a ladder, net cut, Baylor sliced, South Regional won and his 11th Final Four appearance with the Blue Devils secured. He was saying he has had deeper teams and better teams, but this 105th edition of Duke basketball (it only seems like Kryzyzewski has coached them all) is way over the top in character, fight and senior warriors. His trio of seniors -- forward Lance Thomas, center Brian Zoubek and guard Jon Scheyer (left to right, photo right) -- took the old-school route to Final Four glory. There was nothing microwave about their journey. They went 22-11 as freshmen, 28-6 as sophomores and 30-7 last year. Yet, no Final Fours. They were labeled underachievers. They lacked Duke blue and royal blood. A sham. A bunch of louses. But this trio never stopped fighting, believing, working. Old-school values, sure, but the difference when you're "not that good."

The Duke assistant coaches will tell you that Scheyer, Thomas and Zoubek did not spend a second griping and moping and doing the things that kill a team, that kill a program. That this trio is the team's rock. And they have been that for each other. When it was over, after they had popped Baylor 78-71 in front of a Baylor-friendly crowd of 47,492, Zoubek said the seniors just looked at each other. No words needed. Thomas explained: "It was a good 10 seconds or more, just that look into each others' eyes that captured four years in only 10 seconds. We made it. It was a moment to cherish. It will live my lifetime. It was our moment to share. And we were in that moment." They were into this game. What a finish for all three. Duke trailed 35-32 at halftime. But late in the game, Zoubek took a charge that swung momentum, Thomas swiped a couple of offensive rebounds that set up big follow-up shots for his teammates and Scheyer, off one of those rebounds, nailed a three-point shot that helped snuff Baylor. A case for Duke where good things came in threes. "We know," Zoubek said of the ridicule, the criticism that follows a Duke freshman class when it is about to exit for good

without at least a Final Four date, let alone a championship. The standards are that high. That is one of the reasons you come to Duke. You embrace that. You are confident you can and will achieve that. Truth is these Duke seniors have reached the Final Four. Their team is good. They do belong. Not just in the Final four, but right there snuggled among the fondest in the Duke family. And since the rival North Carolina Tar Heels won it all last year ... "I watched some of the championship game last year but I couldn't even watch their awards ceremony -- it hurt that much," Zoubek said. "It just highlighted our failures more. One thing you learn in our area is that Carolina has a love-fest, North Carolina State has its

following and Duke, well, we are sort of the left-out group. We have great fans in that area but not as many as those teams. I like to think it is because of Duke's standards and envy and jealousy more than anything else.'' But what do you do when that "standard" is not being met? You dig a little deeper, work a little harder, master the little things and shine on the biggest stage. That is what Duke did here. This Baylor bunch was wicked and rugged and hardnosed and really good. Both teams had their hands on their knees and hands on their hips in the final minutes -- simply drained -- but Duke possessed a little extra. The will and skill of three seniors who would not be denied. They are the lone No. 1 seed in the Final Four. Their battle against West Virginia next Saturday is a testament to Scheyer, Thomas and Zoubek. Scheyer played all 40 minutes against Baylor and scored 20 points. Thomas gabbed nine rebounds -- eight on the offensive end. And Zoubek contributed nine more rebounds, plus two assists and two steals, before fouling out late. Their play, their leadership, was much more than just statistics or words. Each one sported bruises from

this game, from this season. In the locker room, Thomas had a three inch scar across his forehead, blood in the crease, the cut still fresh. Few can imagine the wounds -- inward -of coming to Duke and in four years not maximizing, not marching where each freshman class is expected to march. They stopped the madness. They stood on the podium to accept the South Regional trophy. And though the Duke team is 13 players strong, there that trio of seniors was again, clustered together on stage. Inside the locker room afterward, they were not far from each other. "We worked so hard," Scheyer said. "We've had some sad locker rooms to end the season in each of the last three years. We have the great ability to tell each other the truth." Before Sunday night, the truth hurt. Truth is these Duke seniors have reached the Final Four. Their team is good. They do belong. Not just in the Final Four, but right there snuggled among the fondest in the Duke family. That really means something to Scheyer, Thomas and Zoubek. Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook

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Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger won't report to Steelers Adam Schefter (ESPN.com)

Roethlisberger will report to the team. Last week, Steelers coach Mike Pittsburgh quarterback Ben T o m l i n s a i d h e e x p e c t e d Roethlisberger will not report to Roethlisberger to arrive with the t h e S t e e l e r s o f f s e a s o n rest of the Pittsburgh veterans. c o n d i t i o n i n g p r o g r a m . The quarterback also skipped Team spokesman Dave Lockett voluntary workouts with the says the two-time Super Bowl team two weeks ago. quarterback is not expected to The conditioning work involves join his teammates this week for no on-field practicing, but voluntary offseason workouts instead emphasizes weight that begin Monday. lifting and getting into football After discussing whether shape. Roethlisberger's presence would Roethlisberger is accused of create too much of a distraction, assaulting a 20-year-old college the decision was made for him student in a Georgia nightclub n o t t o a t t e n d t h e t e a m ' s on March 5, but charges have offseason program, according to not been filed. Roethlisberger's a source. lawyer says the quarterback Such workouts are not open to c o m m i t t e d n o c r i m e . A n reporters, but a large number i n v e s t i g a t i o n i s o n g o i n g . were expected at the Steelers Roethlisberger also is being headquarters Monday because sued by a woman who says he R o e t h l i s b e r g e r h a s n o t raped her in 2008 at a Lake commented on the Georgia Tahoe hotel. He denies the incident since it occurred earlier allegation and has asked for this month. counter-damages. It remains uncertain when The Steelers aren't scheduled to Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:38:03 AM

begin on-field practicing until April 19, when they begin OTAs -- NFL shorthand for organized team activities. Such practices resemble those held during the season and starting quarterbacks usually take part in most sessions unless they are injured. Despite the strong start to Roethlisberger's career -- he has taken the Steelers to two NFL titles and three AFC Championship Games in six seasons -- and the estimated $66 million left on his $102 million contract, the Steelers are clearly upset with the quarterback's offfield problems. Team president Art Rooney II has met with Roethlisberger, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also plans to meet with the quarterback at an unspecified time. Tomlin also has been in constant contact with Roethlisberger. "We take this issue very seriously," Goodell said on

March 22. "I am concerned that Ben continues to put himself in this position. Rooney said the Steelers are "in a situation [where] we're going to let this investigation play out and then go from there." The NFL has not said if Roethlisberger might be suspended if he is charged in the Georgia case. Despite Roethlisberger's problems, Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert said the team does not anticipate drafting a quarterback in the early rounds next month. Adam Schefter is an NFL reporter for ESPN Insider. Information from The Associated Press contributed to Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) this story. Five Filters featured article: Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:07:21 AM Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, From How To Get Focused Term Extraction. comes this simple yet usable guide to email: Hat tip Mike Panzner Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. Enforcers originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

APB video preview needs more Enforcers JC Fletcher (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/29/2010 10:29:00 AM

The violence in this APB video is jarring. Staff from Realtime Worlds will be talking about one of the game's features, like character customization, and

then the camera cuts to a few criminals casually interacting, in order to show off the variety of character appearances. Then, one of them pulls out a machine gun and starts spraying bullets. Were the other guys just wearing the wrong colors?

Aside from the juxtaposition of design discussion and graphic violence, this preview also introduces locations found in the game and fleshes out the Enforcers vs. Criminals gameplay. APB video preview needs more

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Jim Kelly as Buffalo Bills diplomat? Tweet says Tim Tebow dined

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7:30 pm | by William Snyder Well it certainly wasn't spectacular for Duke, and much ESPN.com news services and 107), have started nine p l a y e r s t o B u f f a l o a n d like their entire season, they (ESPN.com) different quarterbacks since eventually wanted to become squeak by. But the clock resets Kelly retired. Trent Edwards part of an ownership group that next week where they'll be the Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:41:05 AM and Ryan Fitzpatrick split time would keep the Bills in western sole 1-seed. It's familiar turf for Coach K, but his team will be Hall of Fame quarterback Jim in 2009, with Fitzpatrick taking New York. Kelly kick-started his public the reins in Week 6. "You have to start with the head up against a defense-heavy West campaign to pull his former The quarterback who led the coach and you have to start with Virginia team that's just as team back into the NFL fold B i l l s t o f o u r A F C finding a good signal caller," capable from three-point land as Sunday night. championships has said a key to Kelly said, according to the the Devils. (Remember, that's It began with Tim Tebow. a return to greatness for the USA Today report. "You look at what got them through the first The former Florida Gators franchise begins under center. Indianapolis. You look at h a l f l a s t n i g h t a g a i n s t q u a r t e r b a c k a n d H e i s m a n "Whether it's Tim Tebow, Pittsburgh. You look at New K e n t u c k y . ) Trophy winner dined with Kelly whether they'll have a shot at England. You look at what Nolan Smith was the go-to man a t a d o w n t o w n B u f f a l o him when draft time comes ... Drew Brees is doing in New tonight, with a career-high 29 steakhouse as Tebow visited the you have to look at the top three Orleans. San Diego. All the points. Scheyer was right on his Bills in advance of April's draft, quarterbacks in the draft, really teams that are doing well, they tail with 20. BU can be proud of the defensive effort that it levied according to a Twitter post by study them," Kelly said to USA all have quarterbacks. Kelly's wife, Jill. Today in November. "And you "The teams that are struggling, on Duke's other star shooter, "He's a class act and a great look for a guy with good they don't have a quarterback," Kyle Singer. He had five points, guy," Kelly said of Tebow, character, good leadership Kelly added. "You need that guy all from the line. This is his first according to his wife's post. ability and good arm strength." behind center, not only the guy college career game where he K e l l y h a s b e e n a v o c a l The Bills went to four straight who can throw the ball and didn't make a shot from the supporter of Tebow and has Super Bowls from 1990 through make big plays. But to be the made it little secret he'd like to the 1993 season with Kelly at leader and be able to pull people see the team draft him. quarterback. But there's been together." "I wish I could say more," Jill little to shout about in Orchard Information from ESPN NFL Kelly wrote. "If only I were Park lately: Coach Dick Jauron Insider Adam Schefter was used there too! LOL! It was a great was fired in November and 2009 in this report. night! Now before U go 2 bed - was the team's 10th consecutive Five Filters featured article: pray for our Buffalo Bills!" season without making the Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: The Bills, who hold one draft playoffs. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, pick in each of the first four Kelly said he sought to offer Term Extraction. rounds (overall Nos. 9, 41, 72 assistance in luring coaches and

field. LaceDarius Dunn had 22, but despite the prolific scoring, didn't have the total impact from earlier tournament games. Ekpe Udoh was the Bears all-star tonight with a slew of impressive numbers (18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks are three). Baylor was a lot more impressive in the tournament than they were given credit for at the tip of the first game last week. They held their own and should be a force next year with Udoh likely leading the offense. Ready for the withdrawal? Six days until the next tip-off. I can feel the shakes starting already.

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Broken Down Like Obama, I Now Pick West Virginia Jay Mariotti (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/28/2010 4:10:00 PM

Filed under: NCAA Basketball It wasn't long ago when Bob Huggins, now the toast of every country road and mountain mama in West Virginia, was stumbling through a field sobriety test with vomit stuck on the driver's side of his automobile. Asked by a policeman to say the alphabet from "E'' through "P,'' he mumbled, "E, F, G, H, I, K, L, N, Z,'' according to the officer's report. This sad episode of drinking and driving came two years after Huggins suffered a massive heart attack, the result of a hard-driving coaching career marred by too many sideline tantrums, media confrontations, rules violations and law-breaking players, including one who allegedly punched out a 2,000-pound horse four times during a traffic stop. Doesn't it figure, then, that he would rise through his private hell six years later and become the newest favorite to win the most charmingly dysfunctional NCAA basketball tournament

Happy Pesakh! Larissa Zimberoff (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:00:24 AM

on record? Have you ever seen a sports event when so many great games funneled to the final seconds and the difference between the so-called favorite and underdog was so minuscule? And can any bracket -owner in this country say -- in all honesty -- that they had Butler, West Virginia, Duke and battered Michigan State in their Final Four? No wonder President Obama fled to Afghanistan. March mangled his bracket and forced

him to seek other pursuits. It's fun, admittedly, to see an outlaw like Kentucky's John Calipari have his coaching flaws handed to him, unable to adjust when Huggins, he of the man-to-man defensive principles, befuddled the celebrated UK freshmen with a 1-3-1 zone. For $31.65 million, Calipari is not supposed to falter in the East Regional final, then let stars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins go the one-and-done route and instantly enter the NBA draft.

For all the adoration in the Commonwealth directed his way, Calipari could become a pariah quickly if he doesn't reach a Final Four soon. The good news for the rest of us is that Kentucky, at least this spring, won't be the third Calipari team to vacate a Final Four berth because he used an illegal player. But there's still plenty of time for that.

Starting at sundown today Jewish people around the world will be celebrating the Spring festival called Passover. The holiday symbolizes freedom, which is something we can really get behind. The best part of the celebration? The food of course. Traditional foods eaten at the sedar meal are matzoh, gefilte fish, brisket and wine. The White House held their very first sedar last year, I wonder what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re making this year? Photos from sassyradish, Boaz Guttman, The Tattered Coat, Doug20022 and gnuf. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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VOTE: NHL FanHouse Report: Big Ben Won't Grinder of the Year Attend Steelers' Offseason Workouts

Christopher Botta (FanHouse Main)

for players you will rarely find on their team's top line. Among the kinds of players eligible for Submitted at 3/29/2010 1:00:00 AM the honor: checking forwards, Filed under: NHL Awards penalty killers, designated Together with Hockey Nation, hitters, agitators, fighters and NHL FanHouse is presenting intangible performers. three end-of-season awards to Share NHL FanHouse polled 24 gentlemen who would most NHL coaches, pro scouts and likely not be considered for broadcast analysts over the last honors elsewhere. This is a week. NHL FanHouse staffers program we are very proud to also placed their votes. Perhaps create and we take seriously. the best explanation of this Most of all, we hope you award is summed up by the participate and spread the word. amount of emails we received Over the last two weeks, we from NHL coaches that said, p r e s e n t e d c a n d i d a t e s f o r "(Player X) can play on my Defensive Defenseman of the team any day." Year and Assistant Coach of the Here are the 12 candidates for Year. Our third and final award Best Grinder of 2009-10. Vote of the season will go to the Best in the poll and explain your Grinder of 2009-10. selection in the comments: "Grinder" is an allencompassing term we're using

Matt Snyder (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/28/2010 2:45:00 PM

Filed under: Steelers, AFC North When the Pittsburgh Steelers begin their offseason conditioning workouts Monday, they will do so without their starting quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger will not report to the program, according to ESPN.com. When Roethlisberger will join his teammates is uncertain at this point, but it appears Steelers' management and Big Ben himself believe his presence would be too much of a distraction for the rest of the team. Roethlisberger has been accused of assaulting a 20-yearold women back on the night of March 5, but no criminal

Linux support dropped from PS3 Firmware 3.21 Andrew Yoon (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/29/2010 12:22:00 AM

charges have been filed to this point. Roethlisberger, 28, has led the Steelers to two Super Bowl championships in the six years he's been at the helm in Steel City. His career record as a starter is 59-26 and he's been to the Pro Bowl once. He threw for 4,328 yards and 26 touchdowns last season.

It's rare for a company to announce a firmware update that removes functionality from a product, but that's exactly what Sony is doing with the upcoming release of PS3 firmware update 3.21 on April 1st. The rarely utilized, but nonetheless useful, ability to install another operating system ( Linux) on the PS3 will be removed in the upcoming system software revision, a feature that was already LINUX page 66

NintendoWare Weekly: WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase, Ogre Battle 64, Metronome JC Fletcher (Joystiq)

game, but Showcase also has a load of new microgames on its own. WarioWare D.I.Y. isn't the only Joining Showcase on the Wii is, new WarioWare out this week. believe it or not, a Nintendo 64 Well, it sort of is, because game on Virtual Console! And WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase is on DSiWare ... a metronome full list after the break. basically an extension of the DS and an instrument tuner? See the Submitted at 3/29/2010 9:39:00 AM

Gallery: WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase (WiiWare) Continue reading NintendoWare Weekly: WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase, Ogre Battle 64, Metronome NintendoWare Weekly: WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase,

Ogre Battle 64, Metronome originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Microsoft's Major Nelson Gamercard cracked by hacker [update] Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)

images from Kotaku reveal an odd spam statement ("ANY A C C O U N T $ 1 0 0 Microsoft podcaster and Xbox PAYPAL!!!!!!!!"). A website by spokesperson Larry "Major the name of " LiGHTzz" has a Nelson" Hryb's Gamercard has v i d e o t h a t p r o c l a i m s fallen victim to a hacker (or responsibility for the hacking hackers) sometime this evening. and even offers up a YouTube A quick check on Xbox.com video advertising his services to reveals the account is still being others -- the name Yasiel effected right now (though we Rodriguez, a resident of Miami, have to imagine someone over Fl., is registered to the domain in Redmond is hard at work on a name in question. fix) has been fixed. We've contacted Microsoft Hryb's account info was altered regarding the matter and will t o r e f l e c t s o m e . . . r a t h e r keep you updated on a response offensive pejoratives, and (discussed a bit by Xbox's Submitted at 3/29/2010 2:50:00 AM

Stephen Toulouse on Twitter, in the meantime). Proceed with caution after the break to see the NSFW image if you wish -we'd suggest against it. Continue reading Microsoft's Major Nelson Gamercard cracked by hacker [update] Microsoft's Major Nelson Gamercard cracked by hacker [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

removed in the PS3 Slim. SCEA's Patrick Seybold explains that the removal of said functionality is necessary "due to security concerns ... [and] will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system." This move may be a response to recent claims that the PS3 has been " hacked." The language used in Seybold's post reminds us of another Sony platform that's been plagued by rampant piracy: the PSP. While the move seems to be a preventative measure on Sony's part, the early response to the removal of Linux support has been passionately negative.

Undoubtedly, there will be few that will be genuinely inconvenienced by this decision. However, the rest of us have good reason for some dread: who can look forward to the prospect of downloading and installing a firmware update that offers no added functionality? [Thanks to everyone that sent this in!] Linux support dropped from PS3 Firmware 3.21 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

The Best of Big Download: March 22 28 John Callaham (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/29/2010 3:00:00 AM

Filed under: Mac, PC, Meta (about Joystiq) By the time you read this, the inaugural PAX East will be nothing but a

cherished memory. However, that wasn't the only big event which occurred in the world of PC gaming this past week. Here's a handful of the biggest BEST page 67

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stories from the last seven days: Exclusive Features • Reviews: We give our final verdicts for Dragon Age Origins - Awakening and Gratuitous Space Battles - The Order. • Boot Disk: Our retro game feature looks at the original Black and White. • All You Need To Know: We give you the 411 on the upcoming Western shooter Lead and Gold. • Freeware Friday: Our popular look at free PC games checks

out 10 Second War. Continue reading The Best of Big Download: March 22 - 28 The Best of Big Download: March 22 - 28 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Around the Net In Media: News Corp. To Charge For UK Web Sites In June (MediaPost | Media News)

the two titles will cost 1 pound ($1.49) per day or 2 pounds for Submitted at 3/28/2010 7:54:15 PM a week. Subscribers to the print News Corp will charge readers versions will get free access. for online versions of its UK Two business newspapers -- the T i m e s a n d S u n d a y T i m e s Financial Times and News newspapers beginning in June, Corp's Wall Street Journal-becoming the first media firm to charge readers for online access test consumers' appetite to pay but consumer publications have for mass-market news online. so far not followed, fearing a Access to two new Web sites for massive loss of readers. In

Earth Hour 2010 finale Cris Stoddard (Flickr Blog) Submitted at 3/28/2010 8:36:08 AM

March 27, 2010 at 8:30pm local time was Earth Hour. Across the world, as the Earth Hour approached, people, cities, and

famous landmarks turned off the lights and lit up the candles. See more Earth Hour photos from all over the world in the Earth Hour 2010 group. Photos by BAPS UK, Caryn B e a r m e i s t e r , s h h f l i g h t s , Hughes, Flipped Out,

January, The New York Times said it would start charging readers for access to online articles from next year. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Ford sells Volvo to Geely: Devolving Volvo

i a n d o u b l e y o u , redgedeparlemonde and jliebs5. (The Economist: News Five Filters featured article: analysis) Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Submitted at 3/28/2010 10:29:32 AM PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. Ford sells Volvo to Geely For both buyer and seller, the deal is worth the risks Mar 28th 2010 | From The Economist online IT TOOK more than a decade for Ford to create what it called its Premier Auto Group around a executives said that the video bunch of classy European library could be expanded if ad brands—starting in 1987 with response is positive. its purchase of Aston Martin, Five Filters featured article: followed by the acquisitions of Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Jaguar, Volvo and then Land PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Rover. It all proved a terribly Term Extraction. expensive distraction. Now, it has taken Ford three years of tricky negotiations to dismantle the group, selling the European

Around the Net In Media: Spike TV Launches Fight Site (MediaPost | Media News)

Fighter," and will feature every episode and every fight from seasons one through 10 of that MTV Networks-owned Spike show. In the season 11 premiere, TV is expanding its relationship a number of fighters will have to with the UFC, creating a battle in the octagon to see who branded destination site for fans advances. Only clips from the of mixed martial arts. The site, fights will make it on air, with UltimateFighter.com, will be the entire bouts being posted on tied to the 11th season of the the new site. Spike series "The Ultimate Visitors will also be able to Submitted at 3/28/2010 7:54:25 PM

look at pages for individual fighters, and can watch exclusive highlight packages created just for the site. If they watch a fight, they can skip straight to specific moves executed by either of the fighters, or to the knockout blow. Clips from UFC pay-perview events will not be available on the site, though Spike

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marques at a considerable loss. Aston Martin went to a Britishled consortium in 2007, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was snapped up by Tata of India in 2008 and, on March 28th, a deal was signed to sell Volvo to Geely, a small but vastly ambitious Chinese carmaker. The sticker price is $1.8 billion, a fraction of the $6.45 billion that Ford paid for Volvo in 1999. The cost to Ford is worse even than those figures suggest: it has had to support the Swedish carmaker through years of losses and even now it faces further expenses associated with the sale to Geely that will eat up much of the meagre sum it is getting for Volvo. Over the years Volvo's design and production have been closely integrated with Ford's, so much so that it will take years to unstitch them. The sale agreement, which both sides hope to finalise in the third quarter of this year, includes a promise from Ford to continue providing Volvo with such things as engine and powertrain technology for the time being, just as it promised Tata that it would continue to support JLR. When Geely's interest in Volvo was made public in the middle of last year, there were some doubts about whether Ford would want to take the risk of

letting its technology and other intellectual property leak out to a fast-growing Chinese firm that could one day be a serious rival. The announcement of Volvo's sale says "safeguards" have been agreed to stop this happening. But it also says Volvo will be able to sublicense some of Ford's technology to others, including Geely. Although Volvo represents only a small part of Ford's output, swallowing it will be a big challenge for Geely: last year it sold just 330,000 carsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;most of them in Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which is about the same as Volvo sold worldwide. Unlike most big Chinese carmakers, Geely is privately owned and, in recent weeks there had been some doubts about whether it would get the financing needed for the purchase. However, those doubts were dispelled when Chinese state banks (and hence, it is assumed, the government in Beijing) said they would back it. Geelyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chairman and founder, Li Shufu, calls himself the Henry Ford of China. He and his managers like to talk big, promising to increase output to 2m vehicles by 2015. However, Mr Li's talk about entering the European market in 2007 and breaking into North America by the following year proved to have little substance.

The harsh truth is that most cross-border takeovers of carmakers have been disappointments (to name but a few, Daimler and Chrysler, BMW and Rover, and indeed Ford's purchase of Volvo and the other European marques). It will be a remarkable achievement for Geely if it bucks that trend. But for Volvo the deal has several attractions: it will gain access to China's rapidly growing car market; and, if Geely keeps its promises, it will retain its current management and its factories in Sweden and Belgium. Volvo, having lost so much money under Ford's wing, might do better under a more focused and autonomous management. If so, Geely will get a good return on its investment and a jump-start on entering the international market, as well as gaining an attractive range of premiumpriced cars to sell at home. Ford's focus For Ford, its failed attempt to build a European-led range of premier marques has been a drain of both cash and management time. This is still true of Volvo, even though it is no longer doing as badly as it was in the depths of the economic downturn. Having struggled through the financial crisis without a government bail

-out, Ford has the moral high ground over its archrivals, GM and Chrysler. But its noble abjuring of handouts has left it with a weaker balance-sheet than perhaps any of the world's top ten carmakers. The meagre proceeds from the Volvo sale will be little help in themselves, although at least Ford will earn profits from selling key parts to Volvo for the next few years, while being spared from having to pump investment into the Swedish firm. And at least it can say it has been more successful in its European divestments than GM, which struggled to offload Saab and decided in the end not to sell Opel. Ford's management can now devote more time to greater priorities: rebuilding their core American market; and making progress on a strategy called "One Ford", under which all the company's models worldwide will be built on a small number of common platforms. Success on this is vital if Ford is to adapt to consumers' shift in tastes away from big gas-guzzlers toward smaller cars on which the profit margins are slender. Unfortunately, the deal does little to solve the motor industry's biggest problem: growing overcapacity, especially in mature markets. Indeed, as with the JLR sale,

Ford is handing production capacity to an ambitious emerging-market rival with plans to grow big in Ford's core rich-country markets. That said, neither Volvo nor JLR is big enough to matter much either way in denting Europe's overcapacity. Perhaps a bigger worry for Ford should be the risk of intellectual property leaking out to Volvo's Chinese buyers. But this risk already exists in the joint ventures Ford has entered into in China with Chang'an, another Chinese manufacturer. Privately, Western motorindustry bosses assume that whatever safeguards have been agreed on paper, some of their technology will leak out to their Chinese business partners. But they see this as a part of the price for doing business in, and with, China. Given the vast growth potential of its market, it is assumed to be a price worth paying. Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Moscow bombings: Terror in Moscow

Around the Net In Media: White House Gate Crashers on 'Real Housewives of DC'

(The Economist: News analysis)

striking absence of panic in the capital, but no immediate sense of public numbness; ordinary Submitted at 3/29/2010 12:02:16 AM commuters went on with their Moscow bombings Fearing the daily routines. wider consequences of a bomb The first public figure to attack on the Moscow metro address the Russian people was Mar 29th 2010 | MOSCOW | Kirill, the patriarch of the From The Economist online Russian Orthodox Church, who TWO terrorist bombers on the is extremely active in all stately Moscow metro killed at least 37 matters. Dmitry Medvedev, people and injured 102 in the Russia’s president, has not yet morning rush hour on Monday made a formal statement, but March 29th. The first explosion, w a s s h o w n b y R u s s i a n which killed 22 people and television conducting a meeting injured 12, struck just before with stone-faced officials from 8am at the Lubyanka metro various ministries, and pledging station, a few hundred feet from to pursue terrorists “without the Kremlin and next to the hesitation and to the end”. headquarters of the Federal Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime Security Services, the successor minister, who is travelling in to the KGB. The second bomb Siberia, said he cut short his trip went off at Park Kultury, by the and pledged that terrorists “will main circular road in central be eliminated”. Moscow, killing at least 15. Russia has grown tragically The Russian security services familiar with terrorist attacks said two female suicide bombers over the past two decades, from the north Caucasus were during which it has fought two responsible. The bombs might brutal wars in Chechnya, in the have been operated with the use 1990s. But Moscow has not of mobile phones, which work seen attacks such as these since unhindered in the Moscow August 2004, when a bomb on metro. Russia’s emergency the Moscow metro killed nine services appeared to be working people. Last November a bomb in an orderly and co-ordinated on the Nevsky express, which way, cordoning off only the travels between Moscow and St areas immediately affected by Petersburg, killed 26 people and the explosions. Other metro injured 100. lines remained open, with trains Chechnya itself has been running regularly. There was a relatively calm in recent years

under the thumb of the local strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, installed by Mr Putin as Chechen president in 2007. But violence has spread to neighbouring republics, particularly Ingushetia and Dagestan, both of which have descended into a state resembling civil war. Yet although killings and explosions have become daily occurrences in these north Caucasian republics, in Moscow they are not considered to be attacks on Russia itself. Mr Medvedev has described the situation in the north Caucasus as one of the greatest threats facing Russia. Yet corruption and brutality among Russia’s security and military services have undoubtedly contributed to the growth of extremism in the region. In Ingushetia, for example, corrupt officials have paid off insurgents to keep their lucrative fiefs. Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Ingushetia’s president, who moved to root out corruption, was almost killed in a terrorist attack last June. Russian state television channels were quick to draw parallels between the Moscow bombing and similar attacks in London in 2005. Terrorist assaults on soft targets are hard to prevent, but in Russia trust in

the police and security services is particularly low. In the past few months corruption scandals and violent attacks by policemen on ordinary people have dominated the news. Several riot-police officers recently told an opposition journal, t he New Times, that they were often called upon to raid businesses or guard criminal bosses. Big terrorist attacks have in the past been used by the Kremlin to justify tightening its grip on power and curbing the opposition. The second war in Chechnya, in 2000, which helped to propel Mr Putin into his presidency, was accompanied by a move to bring Russian television under Kremlin control. In 2004, after the school siege in Beslan, in North Ossetia, Mr Putin scrapped regional elections. It would be unfortunate if the Kremlin, rather than overhauling its security agencies and reviewing its north Caucasus policy, opts to act in similar fashion now. Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

(MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 3/28/2010 7:54:34 PM

Tareq and Michaele Salahi won't say how they got into President Barack Obama's first State Dinner. But it's confirmed they will be the most visible members of the upcoming Bravo series "The Real Housewives of D.C." Bravo cameras were on hand as the Salahis arrived for that ill-fated White House event -- the couple has now been fully embraced as the focal point of the series, expected to premiere in July. The Salahis are contractually prohibited from talking about the show, but they've already shot all 12 episodes of the premiere season. And early next month at a studio in Washington, D.C., and are already booked to appear with Matt Lauer on May 27. The couple is not going to be prosecuted for the White House debacle. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Is There Excess Bullishness or Malaise (or both)? Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture)

evidence people are coming out of their bunkers. I see it already in Manhattan, but we have lots of Wall Street bonus cash sloshing around. When the rest of the country feels better about the economy, it might create a virtuous cycle of hiring and spending . . . Or, hiring and spending will make the rest of the country feel better about the economy. Either way, retail sales might be the early signal . . . > Source: Americans Say They Missed 73% Rise in S&P 500 as Economy Surged Mike Dorning Bloomberg, March 24 2010

Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:30:54 AM

I am having a hard time reconciling the claims of excess sentiment with lots of other data and anecdotal evidence. Consider for example this Bloomberg article, with the telling title Americans Say They Missed 73% Rise in S&P 500 as Economy Surged. O f course they missed it! They were either a) listening to Wall Street analysts and strategists; 2) were watching financial TV coverage of the crisis; III) were normal emotional Human Beings unable to detach themselves from their own neurobiology. In all three examples above, the related thread was the behavior of organic matter. When it comes to investment, Carbon based goo tends to be a poor element in the decision making process. Here is an excerpt: “Americans are down on the economy and the markets even as stocks and growth indicators are up. By an almost 2-to-1 margin Americans believe the economy has worsened rather than improved during the past year,

according to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted March 19-22. Among those who own stocks, bonds or mutual funds, only three of 10 people say the value of their portfolio has risen since a year ago. During that period, a bull market has driven up the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index more than 73 percent since its low on March 9, 2009. The economy grew at a 5.9 percent annual pace during last

year’s fourth quarter.” The most intriguing data point to me is the belief that the economy has worsened over the past 12 months. The public is technically correct; much of the data is modestly lower than it was 12 months ago. However, the rate of change is far, far less than it was. The parachute has opened, and the free fall is over. However, unlike Phil Gramm, I cannot dismiss the public’s concern as a mere mental

recession. The obvious missing element is job creation, and that is the most likely reason for the negative sentiment. Public sentiment is a very important factor impacting spending decisions. I suspect that if we were to get three or four months of 100k plus job creation, that would go a long way towards moving the sentiment needle. Until then, we meed to closely watch retail sales data for

http://www.bloomberg.com/app s/news?pid=20603037&sid=aTp .Sf7cvYvU See also: New York Helicopter Commute for $200 a Day Signals Revival Esmé E. Deprez Bloomberg, March 26 2010 http://www.bloomberg.com/app s/news?pid=20601109&sid=aW z55bmEsxa8& Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Research Brief: Easter Spending Up; Food Tops Gifting (MediaPost | Media News) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:15:23 AM

50% Retracement October 2007-March 2009 Plunge David Rosenberg (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/29/2010 6:00:41 AM

David A. Rosenberg is Chief Economist & Strategist at Gluskin Sheff,where he focused on providing a top-down perspective to the Firm’s investment process. Prior to joining Gluskin Sheff, David was Chief North American Economist at Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch in New York: > > ~~~ For the first time in this yearlong bear market rally, the S&P 500 has not endured a daily decline of at least 1% over a one -month time frame. January was no more than a hiccup and has seemed to have emboldened the

view that any decline is a blip and a buying opportunity. The mantra is that after breaking technical threshold over technical threshold in what can only be described as a classic 1930-style bounce off a depressed low, we will now see a 61.8% retracement of the October 2007-to-March 2009 plunge, which would put 1,230 as the next key resistance point for the S&P 500. Interestingly enough, that would take the market back to where it was when Lehman collapsed. Of course, back then: • The dividend yield was 2.4%, not 2.0%; • The unemployment rate was 6.2%, not 9.7%; • Industry operating rates were 73%, not 69%; • Housing starts were 822k

annual rate, not 575k; • New home sales were running at a 436k annual rate, not 308k; • The Case-Shiller home price index was 162, not 146; • The level of retails sales was $366 billion, not $356 billion; • Auto sales were running at a 12.5 million annual rate, not 10.3 million; • The level of employment was 136.3 million, not 129.5 million; • Real personal income excluding government transfers was $9.5 trillion, not $9 trillion • The level of manufacturing shipments was $429 million, not $384 million • Consumer confidence levels were at 61, not 46 • Credit card delinquency rates were 4.6%, not 5.8% • Bank-wide residential loan default rates were 5.3%, not

10.1% • Commercial bank credit was $7.3 trillion, not $6.6 trillion • The fiscal deficit was $500bln, not $1.5 trillion. It makes absolutely perfect sense for the market to head back to those 2008 levels if and only if the broad array of macro indicators can manage to head back to the levels prevailing at that time as well. The jury, shall we say, is still out on that one; with deference to the impressive surge the market has managed to turn in and the wall of worries it has either been able to climb or merely dismiss out of hand. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

According to the NRF 2010 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, Easter holiday celebrants will spend slightly more this year with the average person expected to shell out $118.60, up from $116.59 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $13.03 billion. While spending on most items will remain the same as last year, children can expect more jelly beans, flavored marshmallows and even gifts in their Easter baskets this year. The average person will spend $17.29 on candy, compared to $16.55 last year, and $18.16 on gifts, up from $17.30 last Easter. Other holiday purchases include clothing ($19.03), food ($37.45), flowers ($7.84), decorations ($6.34) and greeting cards ($6.30). "With signs of spring popping up everywhere, shoppers are eager to get their hands on bright, colorful Easter merchandise," said Tracy Mullin, President and CEO, NRF. "Warmer weather and special holiday promotions are the perfect mix to get people out of their homes and into stores as spring approaches." When it comes to buying Easter RESEARCH page 72

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merchandise, Americans will shop at: • Discount stores (64.8%) • Department stores (33.2%) • Florists or gift/greeting card stores (22.0%) • Online (13.1%) • Specialty clothing stores (7.0%) • Catalogs (3.7%) While 25-34 year-olds will be spending the most this Easter at $136.79, nearly three-quarters of young adults ages 18-24 will buy gifts this year, and will spend an average of $125.85 on Easter merchandise. Average 2010 Easter Spending by Demographics Demographic Category Anticipated Spend Per Person Adults 18+ $118.60 Men 127.62

Women 110.04 Income 97.25 $50K+ 145.42 Age 18-24 125.85 25-34 136.79 35-44 124.66 45-54 117.54 55-64 106.82 65+ 98.72 Location North East 137.56 Mid West 99.56 South 117.59

West 128.16 Source: NRF/BIGresearch, March 2010 Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch (who conducted the study), concludes "... After spending the last few months indoors and out of the snow, many Americans are looking forward to celebrating a great day with family and friends." For additional information, or sample charts, please visit the National Retail Foundation here. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Prepping Your Home for a Sale (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

Buyers are on a blind date with your home, and they want love at first sight. So make it pretty. Steve Vieux got rid of heaps of stuff -- including things belonging to his brother, who had once been a roommate -and spent $2,500 to have his house cleaned, the interior repainted, the exterior powerwashed, and his tiny yard spruced up. If time and money allow, replace lighting and plumbing fixtures, cabinetry hardware, and maybe those harvest-gold appliances. The new stuff needn't be top-of-the-line, just clean and current. Agent Janis Morgan advises her clients in San Antonio to add granite countertops to make their kitchens "pop". Agent Bob Bower of California's Silicon Valley urges sellers to pay for home and termite inspections (about $650 to $750 for both) and fix as much of the little stuff as they can before putting a house on the market. Then he presents the reports and a "work completed" worksheet to buyers, a strategy that he says inspires higher offers. With the basics taken care of, it's time for staging -- window dressing your home to increase

its appeal. Staged homes sell more quickly and at the top of their price range compared with similar homes that aren't staged. Stagers declutter if you haven't, rearrange furniture to improve traffic flow and create a sense of spaciousness, and make your decor less reflective of your personal tastes. If your home is vacant, they bring in furniture so buyers can imagine themselves living there. Home sellers spend an average of $1,800 to stage a home, but the cost can be $5,000 or more. Agents may provide staging as part of their fee. (For more information on home staging, read 6 Ways to Stage Your Home for Less Than $1,000) One bit of good news for sellers: Agents say contractors, including stagers, are anxious for the work. Bower suggests asking for two or three bids and playing them one against the other. When you're ready to show, "pretend you're giving a party," says Morgan. Hide the cat box, don't leave the bed unmade or laundry on the floor, and open the curtains and leave all the lights on. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

E-reader News/

E-reader News Edition

Android Devices Crave Google's Attention (Wired News) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 3/28/2010 9:07:57 PM

Android’s smartphone army is at least 20 phones strong, plus a ragtag rear guard of e-book readers, tablets and set-top boxes. But those oddball devices bringing up the rear are running into an unexpected challenge: neglect by Google. Android had been created by Google as an operating system for all mobile devices, not just smartphones. The Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of companies that support Android, includes gadget makers that are not just focused on making smartphones. Yet, the search giant has been treating other gadgets running Android as second-class citizens, denying them their own centralized app store and dragging its feet on putting in place a framework that would allow developers to easily create apps for these devices. “Today Google is 100 percent focused on smartphones,” says Kevin Kitagawa, the director of strategic marketing for MIPS Technologies, whose processor architectures are used for homeentertainment and networking devices. “Their compatibility tests only allow certification for these type of devices but we hope soon that Google will extend its support to other

Android devices.” Though Android is free and open source, Google exercises control over what devices can access the Android Market’s applications and receive extensive developer support. And, currently, only smartphones running Android qualify. That leaves other devices out in the cold. Take Spring Design’s

Alex e-reader: The Alex runs Android and will start shipping next month, but the device hasn’t been certified by Google, and so it will have no access to the Android Market. Spring CEO Priscilla Lu says she’s confident Google will certify the Alex once the ereader has gone through a few changes. “We will get the certification as soon as the

cellular connection is enabled,” says Lu. “The difficulty is in getting the cellular module approved by the FCC.” “The Alex is really a smartphone with E Ink,” says Lu. Not so fast. Google requires “all hardware components have the same software APIs as defined in their SDK to be compatible,” says

Kitagawa. “This provides consistency to third-party developers that access these components,” he says. That means devices always need to have some key components, such as touchscreens with a specified minimum resolution, a certain number of navigation keys, WiANDROID page 74

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Fi, camera and accelerometer. Devices such as the Alex ereader or a digital picture frame don’t conform to these requirements. “What Google has is a set of hardware requirements, down to the number of buttons and resolution of the screens,” says Al Sutton, who runs a company called FunkyAndroid that offers app stores for Android devices that are not supported by Google. “Anyone can put Android on their device but at this point, if it’s not a smartphone they can’t pass the certification test that will let them into the app store. In late 2007, Google unveiled the Android as a Linux-based, free, open source operating system for mobile devices that can be adopted by any hardware manufacturer. The announcement opened the doors for many major electronics manufacturers that were looking to create new devices but wanted an operating system that would go beyond the traditional Linux or Windows. Among those are Dell, whose upcoming tablet, the Mini 5 will run Android. Separately, Google announced Chrome OS, another Linuxbased operating system targeted at netbooks, PCs and other

devices. Both Android and Chrome OS would allow developers to create apps for the platform but Google has never made it clear what kind of devices should run which operating system, Chris Hazelton, research director, mobile and wireless with the 451 Group. That means many consumer electronics makers rushed to put Android on their devices, largely because Android came out long before Chrome was even on the radar screen. “At this point, I am not clear where Android ends and Chrome OS begins,” says Hazelton. “I hope Google is having conversations with device vendors and they are mapping out where each OS has the advantage and how they are going to build an ecosystem of developers to create apps for both.” MIPS and other companies say Google is trying to do that, but its attention has been divided and progress has been slow. So far, Google has offered certification tests to ensure compatibility only for Androidbased smartphones and Google’s Android Market app store remains limited to smartphones. As a result, last year, a group of

40 companies, mostly manufacturers from Japan, created the Open Embedded Software Foundation. The Foundation aims to create standardized development platforms for Android in consumer devices beyond the mobile phone, which would allow for proliferation of apps for set-top boxes and TVs. “You are going to to see applications that are really tailored for the living room,” says Kitagawa. “We are talking of apps that can be accessed through a remote control and optimized for large screens.” A few app developers such as Home Jinni, an app for set-top boxes and TVs that run Android, are trying to pass Google’s compatibility tests, anyway. Home Jinni is a mediacenter software based on open standards that collects content from different sources such as the web and peer-to-peer networks and offers support for voice applications. Shidan Gouran, CEO of Home Jinni, says though the Android Market in its current form doesn’t have a place for his app, he is confident Google won’t keep the doors shut on gadgets other than smartphones for too long. For now, Gouran is inking deals

individually with companies like MIPS to put the Home Jinni app on devices. Meanwhile, he’s also created a version of the Home Jinni app for the Android Market so it can reach more users. “The Android app store is not there yet for apps created for TVs, but I am pretty confident Google wants a piece of that market so it will make a place for us soon,” says Gouran. Google declined to comment for this story. See Also: • New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android • Android’s Rapid Growth Has Some Developers Worried • Strapped to Android, HTC Takes a Dizzying Ride to the Top • AT&T Plans 5 Android Smartphones in 2010 • Google, Dish Network Reportedly Test Android-Based Satellite TV

The iPad: Granny's Computer? (PC World via Yahoo! News) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 3/28/2010 1:16:00 PM

Since the debut of the Apple iPad in January, I've heard more than a few people say: "Oh, that'd be great for my mom!" Or father, grandmother, grandfather, great aunt, and so on. You get the idea: An older relative who's relatively clueless about computers, mobile phones, and pretty much any consumer tech introduced since, say, the 8-track. Now, if you're retired, nearing retirement, or simply turning gray -- and you happen to be a digital wiz -- my apologies. I do realize there's no expiration date for tech mastery. If you're 95 and get your kicks by jailbreaking your greatgrandkids' iPhones, this blog isn't about you. It is, however, about a certain Photo: ( Niall Kennedy/Flickr) segment of the general Five Filters featured article: population that finds today's Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: personal computers -- laptop or PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, desktop, Mac or PC -- a bit too Term Extraction. intimidating. The seniorfriendly Samsung Jitterbug cell phone-- which essentially mimics the functionality of yesteryear's landline -- is more their speed. Smartphones? Too small. Too many tiny buttons, icons, and menus. IPAD: page 75

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Entourage Edge e-book has too many flaws (Everett Herald) (Yahoo! News Search Results for e-readers) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:16:10 AM

NEW YORK — E-book readers are a fun category of gadgets, because their shape is not yet set in stone. While one laptop is much like the other, manufacturers are still experimenting with e-readers, trying to figure out how best to take the book into the digital age. So how about an e-book reader that actually opens like a book? That seems like a good idea, given that the book in its current form has about 2,000 years of popularity behind it, after supplanting scrolls. But appearances can be deceiving. The $499 Entourage Edge, which came out last week, looks like a small laptop when folded. Hold it by the spine like a book, and it opens to reveal two screens. On one side is an “electronic ink” screen for reading. On the other is a fullcolor touch screen that can be used not just to buy books, but to surf the Web, play music and write e-mail.

Unfortunately, this is less of review and more of a word of warning: The Edge doesn't do its job. It has a couple of flaws that are enough to make it a failure. Then it has one huge flaw that is enough to make it a failure with no help from other flaws. The big flaw is atrocious battery life. The Edge doesn't go into a proper standby mode when closed, so its battery is drained after about 10 hours of inactivity. The only way to make it last longer is to turn it off completely. But when you turn it back on, it takes a minute and a half to boot up. That's way too long, considering that you can flip open a paper book and start reading in a few seconds. Other e-readers, such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, last longer on standby and turn on faster. Entourage Systems Inc., the startup behind the product, says it's working on getting the Edge to consume less power when closed, and hopes to be able to send a software update out in June. The other problems with the

Edge are that it's heavy, at about 3 pounds. The Kindle weighs two-thirds of a pound. For $499, you'd expect the Edge to have cellular wireless access for book and newspaper downloads, as the $259 Kindle and the $400 Sony Reader Daily Edition do. Instead, it has only Wi-Fi access. The flaws aside, the Edge is an interesting device. It's the most capable e-reader yet, but it's likely to hold that honor for less than two weeks, until Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet comes out April 3. The Edge's color touch screen is powered by Android, Google Inc.'s software for cell phones. It can play music and movies in addition to surfing the Web. You can tap out e-mails or notes on the screen. You can plug in USB “thumb drives” and SD cards to load files. The Edge comes with its own online book store, but it can also show books from other stores, if they're in the right format (ePub with Adobe DRM). However, to read books from other stores you have to download them to a computer, then transfer them to

the Edge through a USB cable or a memory card. It's tough to design a good user interface that stretches over two screens with very different characteristics. Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nook is a prime example. Like the Edge, it pairs an e-ink screen with a color touch screen, albeit a much smaller one. That's a confusing setup. It constantly forces users to switch their gaze between the screens to figure out what to do. The Edge does better in this regard, because more functions are manipulated from the large touch screen. It still feels awkward that you can control the color screen by touching it while you need to pull out a stylus to use the e-ink screen. And some functions send you hunting from screen to screen.Maybe the iPad will show people that reading on LCDs isn't so bad, after all. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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The Jitterbug PC Which leads us to the iPad. As a device that bridges the gap between smartphone and laptop, Apple's new tablet may be the ideal personal computer for technophobic seniors (or the tech-wary of any age, perhaps). The iPad is very light, weighing just one and a half pounds, and its (paper) notebook-like dimensions make it easy to hold and carry around the house. Better yet, the iPad doesn't look anything like a computer. There's no telltale keyboard, clamshell design, or mouse pad. The visual clues that make the technophobe's blood run cold -I can't use a computer-- aren't there. The Big Remote The iPad reminds me a little of those giant TV remotes designed for seniors. Both devices are jumbo versions of their conventional counterparts - that is, if you accept the argument that the iPad is really an oversized iPod Touch. (OK, it's not, but let's save that discussion for another time.) And there are similarities between the oversized icons on iPad's Home screen and the oversized buttons on a jumbo remote. Of course, the similarities end there. But as you can see, both devices do share a few ergonomic benefits for sightIPAD: page 76

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challenged seniors. The iPad is a sofa-surfing device, a gadget best suited for users who don't spend long stretches at a time at a desk, where a laptop or desktop would be more ergonomic. And it's not meant to replace a smartphone, a petite gadget built for mobility. Rather, it fills a niche that could meet the needs of seniors quite well. No Keyboard, No Problem But shouldn't a real computer have a physical keyboard? Not necessarily. The iPad is consumer device designed for Web-surfing, e-reading, photosharing, social networking, emailing, and so on. None of these tasks requires extensive

typing, and the iPad's screen keyboard should suffice. If it doesn't, the $69 Apple Wireless Keyboard is always an option. Potential Drawbacks The iPad's multitouch interface may be intuitive, but its easy-tolearn attributes don't necessarily make it ideal for a keyboardhating senior. Various studies have shown that elders have reduced sensations to touch, pressure, and vibration, all factors that may reduce the effectiveness of the touchscreen UI. In addition, the verdict is still out on how well the iPad functions as an e-reader. The device's bright, backlit display sure does look pretty, but it's

likely to strain the eyes of many a bookworm -- far more than the duller, drabber (yet ergonomically superior) E-ink screens found on the Amazon Kindle and other e-readers. So is the iPad the PC for the AARP? We'll find out. Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter(@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

PopSci/

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Shotgun Slug Replaces Lead with Electronics to Deliver a Nasty but Non-Lethal Jolt Nicole Dyer (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now) Submitted at 3/29/2010 7:06:37 AM

Shock bullet It's midnight. You're a cop patrolling the wrong side of town when you spot a mugging. The assailant is about 40 feet away, out of range of your stun gun. You shout, but he darts down an alley. It's a dead end. The crook picks up a bottle, hurls it at your head, and makes a break for the street. You draw your gun. And so goes the "capability gap," one of the trickiest situations in law enforcement. For an officer in the field, this is a danger zone spanning 35 to 65 feet in which an assailant is beyond the range of Tasers and yet near enough to throw a deadly object, pushing an officer one step closer toward the use of deadly force. "Plain and simple, we need a less lethal option that works within throwing range," says Sid Heal, a retired commander with the Los Angeles sheriff's department and a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense. That's where the Extended Range Electronic Projectile, or XREP, comes in. Unlike Taser's conventional stun gun, which shoots tethered probes up to 35 feet to deliver an incapacitating

jolt, the company's new XREP is a 12-gauge wireless projectile that can be fired up to 100 feet from any pump-action shotgun. It sails through the air like a normal slug yet induces muscle paralysis on impact. "It takes everything that's a Taser and puts it in a slug-like device," Heal says. Logistically, the biggest engineering challenge was miniaturization. With a Taser, two probes attach to the

assailant, arcing up to 50,000 volts of electricity, enough to penetrate clothing. The XREP, on the other hand, uses just 500 volts to allow for smaller circuitry. Instead of arcing the current, it sends it directly into the body via barbed electrodes that pierce the skin. Lead XREP engineer Mark Hanchett says the key isn't so much the voltage but the waveform. The current, shaped to mimic electrical signals in the body, jams the

nervous system. "The waveform is the secret sauce," he says. Since its debut last year, the XREP has been fired successfully four times in the line of duty. Taser is now working on a grenade version for the Department of Defense that will be capable of launching up to 200 feet. That tricky capability gap? Consider it bridged. Slug and Shotgun: Each 12gauge "bullet" is designed to fire

from any pump-action shotgun. John B. Carnett Design Highlights on the Electronic Shotgun Slug Nose: On impact, four electrified barbs on the nose of the projectile hook into the skin, delivering a small, localized shock across a six-inch area. This is merely a prelude to the bigger shock that will soon follow. The force of the impact breaks a series of pins that allow the projectile's chassis to separate from the nose and dangle downward from a live copper wire. Barbs: If the assailant fails to grab the wire to complete the circuit, six longer barbs on the projectile can also penetrate the skin. With the plastic sheathing removed on impact, the halfinch electrodes-called "chollas," after a fierce cactus plant native to Arizona's Sonoran Desert-pop out like spikes and swing into the body. Hand Trap: The assailant's natural instinct is to grab the dangling wire and rip out the barbs, but the wire is pulsing with current-touching it allows electricity to flow from the first set of electrodes in the nose of the projectile to the assailant's hand, which contracts from the shock and squeezes tight around SHOTGUN page 78

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the wire so he can't let go. Electricity now freely flows through his body, causing about 20 seconds of paralysis. Fins: When the slug leaves the shotgun, three fins deploy from its tail, helping the projectile stay on track as it sails up to 100 feet toward its target. Inside the Shell: Paul Wootton Transformer: This converts energy from the battery to discharge 1.3 milliamps of current for 20 seconds. The power is relatively weak; in comparison, a wall outlet delivers about 20 amps. More important is the way the current propagates and interacts with electrical signals in the body. "If you get the waveform right, you can overwhelm the nervous

system," says Taser engineer Mark Hanchett. Microprocessor: Once the circuit is complete, an onboard computer commands the voltage capacitor to fire, modulating the intensity, duration and shape of the current. Power: Two lithium batteries power the microprocessor and electrical circuitry. Shell: The circuitry is potted inside shock-absorbing plastic to ensure that it survives the force of the shotgun blast and collision with the target.

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impact on the global PV market in the years ahead requires an understanding of the factors that influence demand for this technology, and of how these factors interact when determining technology selection in PV markets. After a comprehensive analysis of more than 160 manufacturers, extensive data collection, and analysis that spanned three months, it is possible to trace the evolution of key aspects of the industry over the next three years. The following set of insights emerges as a result. 1. Thin film capacity will exceed 10 GW by the end of

2012. Thin film manufacturing capacity grew from just 349 MW at the end of 2006 to over 4.4 GW by the end of 2009, more than doubling every year, which reflected the attractiveness of investment in thin film due to the impact of the polysilicon shortage during that time. From 2010 onwards, the rate of expansion is expected to slow significantly; this reflects more sober plans in the aftermath of global oversupply, low consequent capacity utilization, and the lack of financing. Still, there will be FUTURE page 79

The Future of Thin Film: Beyond the Hype info@greentechmedia.com (Greentech Media: Headlines)

PV represented a technology that could be manufactured using glass' high-throughput Submitted at 3/29/2010 4:00:08 AM coating process instead of the 2002 - 2008: The Promise slow, cumbersome batch From only 17 MW in 2002 to process of traditional crystalline 966 MW in 2008, thin film's rise silicon wafer-based PV -- an over the last decade has been a p p r o a c h t h a t h a d o n e remarkable indeed. Fueled by h u n d r e d t h t h e f e e d s t o c k the greatest success story in the r e q u i r e m e n t . PV industry -- cadmium The search for alternative telluride producer First Solar -- technologies led to a tidal wave the technology has captured the o f investment and i m a g i n a t i o n o f i n d u s t r y entrepreneurial activity in thin participants and interested f i l m , w i t h 4 6 c o m p a n i e s observers alike. First Solar entering the market between r e p r e s e n t s t h e d i s r u p t i v e 2004 and 2008, as well as $1.8 potential of thin-film PV in full: b i l l i o n i n v e n t u r e c a p i t a l h i g h t h r o u g h p u t ( 1 , 0 1 1 investment in the space. As megawatts in 2009), competitive market share rose from a mere e f f i c i e n c y ( 1 1 % ) , a n d a n 3% in 2001 to 12% in 2007, industry-leading cost (currently companies spoke confidently of 83 cents per watt), enabling hundreds of megawatts of significant profit (the only pure- production at below a dollar per play solar company to be listed watt being within arm's reach. It on the S&P index). From market was only a matter of time before entry in 2002, the company has t h i n f i l m w o u l d r e p l a c e gone on to become the largest c r y s t a l l i n e s i l i c o n a s t h e PV module producer in the dominant PV technology, finally world. The basis for this enabling the long sought-after remarkable turnaround was a dream of grid parity. fundamental insight on part of 2009 - 2010: Trials, investor/entrepreneur Harold T r i b u l a t i o n s McMaster in the early 1980s: Or so the hype went. As of that "the essential cost element 2010, only one other company of large area solar arrays was besides First Solar -- tripleglass, and [he] could treat the junction amorphous silicon firm actual solar cell as simply a United Solar -- has produced in different kind of coating on excess of 100 MW annually. glass." In other words, thin-film The cost structure of most

amorphous silicon, considering its low efficiency, is barely competitive with crystalline silicon, and CIGS producers have encountered technical issues in manufacturing that have forced them to delay commercial production since 2007. To make matters more difficult, capital constraints made banks and developers shy away from thin film in favor of more mature and abundant crystalline silicon modules for projects in 2009. First Solar aside, one would have to admit that the results have yet to live up to the talk. As Asian crystalline silicon PV producers continue to ramp down costs and increase capacity beyond the gigawatt level, the question must be asked: will results ever meet expectations, and if so, when? In other words, will thin film fulfill its potential and make meaningful inroads into the solar energy landscape, creating new markets in the process? Or will it be relegated to a bit-player role in the growth of the global PV market? 2010 and Beyond: Inching Towards Inflection As detailed in GTM Research's just-published report Thin Film 2010: Market Outlook through 2015, assessing thin film's FUTURE page 78

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over 10 GW of thin film capacity by the end of 2012, and there is room for upside adjustment if demand grows faster than expected. Amorphous silicon is expected to constitute a dominant majority at 5.65 GW, while CdTe and CIGS will have roughly even capacity share at 2.47 GW and 2.11 GW respectively. 2. Best-practice producers across all technologies will achieve costs of 80 cents per watt by the beginning of 2012, but there will be significant variation across producers. The figure below displays forecasted module costs for the beginning of 2012. CdTe costs are expected to drop to about 70 cents by this time. While possible tellurium price spikes present some risk to these numbers, the threat is limited by a thinner film and higher feedstock utilization from efficiency gains. In the case of amorphous silicon, it is expected that single-junction technology will hit its practical efficiency ceiling (8% to 8.5%) for many producers by 2012, and will start getting phased out thereafter. Tandem-junction, which just began to spread its wings in 2009, will take its place and become more representative of the a-Si market, at 10% efficiency. Costs for these technologies are expected to range from $0.80 to

$1.20 per watt. CIGS should show an exponential improvement in costs from 2010 to 2012, due to the commercialization of highthroughput manufacturing through roll-to-roll processes by a few producers. For these firms, costs could be as low as 80 cents a watt. On the other end, smaller fabs that persist with glass substrates could be up to 50% more expensive, at $1.25 per watt. 3. First Solar will continue its dominance, remaining the largest thin film manufacturer in the world over the next three years. First Solar is expected to maintain its lead as by far the largest thin film manufacturer in the world, with over 2 GW of capacity spread across its plants in Germany, France, Ohio, and Malaysia. It will be followed by Sharp (tandem-junction a-Si), Showa Shell Sekiyu, a.k.a Solar Frontier (CIS), Solyndra (cylindrical CIGS), and QS Solar (double junction a-Si). Put together, the 20 largest firms in 2012 (by capacity) made up almost 90% of total thin-film production in 2008, implying that most of the top current producers should continue to be amongst the biggest in the industry in the near term. They also make up almost two-thirds of total thin film capacity in 2010 and 2012. 4. CIGS and amorphous silicon (particularly turnkey line

production) will likely not see meaningful market share before 2013, after which cost reductions and efficiency improvements will finally start to drive a competitive product offering at an adequate margin. This is also the time horizon required for bankability concerns to be alleviated for thin film companies with quality modules. The chart below displays thin film market share for two scenarios, a "lowpenetration" scenario where overall market share stagnates at 21% by 2012, and a "highpenetration" share that assumes a share of 30% by this time. In both cases, there is limited opportunity for a-Si and CIGS producers after assuming 90 percent utilization for First Solar. 5. High-margin thin film production will be a game played by the select few. A return to "normal" silicon prices over the next five years and the dramatic improvements that Chinese manufacturers have made in conversion cost and silicon utilization will mean that the window of opportunity for thin film is small and is constantly contracting. In particular, amorphous silicon will be a low-margin product for most manufacturers. There is a serious need for producers to differentiate themselves from one another in this space, and those that have had a head start

will have a significant advantage in developing differentiated products. Singlejunction a-Si will become obsolete by 2012, as its cost/efficiency combination will no longer result in a profitable product. 6. All signs point to one of the venture-backed CIGS companies (Solyndra, Nanosolar, MiasolĂŠ) emerging as successful representatives of this technology. The future of CIGS as a low-cost technology lies in producing it on flexible substrates at large scale. At the same time, flexible substrates also have lower efficiencies, meaning that continual R&D investment will be required to improve efficiencies and drive competitiveness. For the most part, CIGS on glass will be a niche market. The past year saw three VC-backed flexible substrate firms (Nanosolar, Solyndra, MiasolĂŠ) enter into commercial production and achieve key technological milestones. It is likely that most of these companies will fail, but the few successful firm(s) will ramp up production and drive cost reduction in an exponential fashion. At this point, who these will be exactly is far from clear. 7. The coming years should see a great deal more consolidation than has been witnessed so far in the thin film industry. Many companies that lack the cushion provided by a large corporate

parent will lose the race between profitability and solvency. Midsized amorphous silicon companies will be especially susceptible to this trend, as there is a natural fit for companies that use equipment from the same vendor (as in the example of Sontor and Sunfilm). In the case of CdTe and CIGS, this will take the form of the selling and licensing of IP assets (as has been witnessed in the case of CIGS startup Daystar). Evidence for this thesis comes from the figure below, which displays mid-year capacity utilizations for CIGS and amorphous silicon. While GTM Research still sees the thin-film industry as having significant promise, both in terms of altering the global PV as well as the overall energy landscape, the time horizon for this looks to be further off than it seemed in 2007 and 2008. Only past 2013 will thin film adoption, the case of First Solar aside, begin to really take off, and developments over the next three years will play a crucial role in determining the exact pace of this transition. Lest the delays and difficulties cause the faithful to be discouraged and the skeptics to be dismissive, a little history may shed a lot of light. It was not until 2002, almost 20 years after its inception, that First FUTURE page 80

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Solar shipped commercial product. Founder Harold McMaster had confidently predicted that "in five years SCI [First Solar's previous incarnation] will be able to produce a watt of solar energy for 60 cents"; this was in 1998, meaning that he will have been off by more than a decade. In both cases, therefore, success would arrive a lot later than expected. But arrive, to put it mildly, it did.

Make the Most of Health Care Reform

For more information on Thin Film 2010: Market Outlook through 2015, and to download the executive summary, go here. (Kiplinger Personal Finance) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Who will benefit from the new PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, health-care-reform law over the Term Extraction. next few months, and how can those people make the most of it? Two key groups will benefit from the new law within the next six months. Here’s what they need to know.

Recent grads and young adults. The law requires insurers to let dependent children stay on their parents’ policies until age 26, which will help college graduates who don’t have a job with benefits. However, the new rule won’t take effect until September 23. About half the states currently have laws permitting grown kids

to stay on their parents’ policies until at least age 25 or 26 (see the National Conference of State Legislatures table for a list of each state’s rules). But new grads in other states may still need to find coverage for a few months before the law kicks in.

year fee. The site’s other plus is that it gives clients access to share classes with prohibitively high minimums. Under InvestForLess’s arrangement with Scottrade, the service can drop its initial minimum investment for many funds to $100 once its members’ total assets in a given share class meet the minimum initial investment for that class (not all fund families permit this kind of aggregation, but InvestForLess will make use of the option for all fund families that do). For example, the listed minimum on the site for the institutional share class of Pimco Total Return ( PTTRX) is currently $100,000. But once InvestForLess reaches that threshold, it can drop the minimum for its members to $100. You’ll pay a $17 transaction fee to Scottrade to

buy that share class. But considering that the expense ratio is just 0.46% for the institutional class, compared with 0.75% for the Class D shares ( PTTDX), which are sold without a sales charge by many discount brokers, it may make more sense to pay the transaction fee. For investors, this new service is an obvious win. “The more opportunities investors have to purchase quality investments at a low cost, the better off we all are,” says Diahann Lassus, an adviser and former chairwoman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. But for brokers and advisers who earn their livelihoods from sales commissions, and for the fund companies that rely on these sales channels,

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Buy Load Funds Without the Load (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

InvestForLess, despite looking and smelling like a broker, is Score one for investors. structured as a registered If you ever thought about i n v e s t m e n t a d v i s e r , w i t h investing in a terrific fund but Scottrade as its custodian. So didn’t to avoid paying a fat sales InvestForLess members have charge, you will rejoice at the access to the same share classes arrival of a new service that that are available to other takes the “load” out of load advisers on the Scottrade f u n d . A W e b s i t e c a l l e d network. Among the load funds InvestForLess allows investors available without commission to buy load funds without are all 12 featured in Our paying a commission and, in Favorite Broker-Sold Funds. some cases, to invest modest If this seeming loophole is so amounts in low-cost fund share easy to exploit, why hasn’t c l a s s e s t h a t o f t e n w o u l d anyone come up with this model o t h e r w i s e r e q u i r e i n i t i a l before? “Any registered adviser minimums of $100,000 or more. could have done this in the InvestForLess is sort of like the past,” says Kevin Knull, chief Costco of mutual funds. It executive of InvestForLess, charges $250 per year for which is based in White Stone, membership in its platform. Va. That no one has done so is Once you join, you can buy the presumably because loads, “adviser” or “institutional” share which typically run up to 5.75% classes of funds on its platform for stock funds, are so lucrative for free. This is possible because for the people who sell the

funds. Granted, $250 may seem like a mighty sum if you currently use a discount-brokerage platform and buy only no-load, notransaction-fee funds. But the figure is dwarfed by the size of the typical sales charge. For example, someone investing $10,000 in the Class A shares of Growth Fund of America (symbol AGTHX) would save the initial $575 sales fee, quickly offsetting the first year’s membership cost. By getting Growth Fund of America’s lowcost F-1 share class ( GFAFX) through the InvestForLess service, the customer would also save $7 a year in annual fees. Should you decide you don’t want to purchase any more funds through the site, you could transfer your fund shares to your ordinary brokerage account and avoid the $250-per-

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Finance/

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Why the Health Care Bill May Eventually Curb Medical Costs (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

private plans but not eliminate it. Private payers currently pay Make no mistake: The health higher costs because hospitals care bill’s biggest change will and doctors charge them more to be to extend care to about 32 compensate for care that is million Americans who have no provided to those without insurance now. It will also stop insurance as well as those in insurers from canceling Medicare and Medicaid. coverage for many people who F a m i l i e s U S A r e c e n t l y get sick or who have exceeded estimated that families pay coverage caps. But on the long about $1,000 more on average road to winning passage, the each year because of this cost original goal -- slowing the shifting. g r o w t h o f m e d i c a l c o s t s Obviously, with more of the (bending the cost curve, in uninsured covered, this cost Washington parlance) was shifting should be affected, but moved to the backseat. given the fact that half of the Still, there are many provisions newly covered will be in in the bill that can save in the Medicaid, cost shifting will still long term. Most are pilot g o o n , s i n c e M e d i c a i d programs that need to be tested reimbursements are below to see if they work -- a process market. A 2008 actuarial study that will take about five years. by Milliman, a consulting and O t h e r c o s t c u t t i n g m o v e s actuarial firm, found that depend on details that regulators Medicaid reimburses hospitals will have to fill in. And some at an average of 67% of private big ones depend on Congress plan rates and pays doctors at an having the political will to average of 53%. follow through. “Most of the Several Medicare pilot projects steps represent a down payment could bring systemwide reforms on delivery system reform. to the health care delivery More will need to be done,” system and yield significant cost says Ken Sperling with Hewitt savings. The law orders pilot Associates, a benefits consulting p r o g r a m s i n v a l u e b a s e d firm. hospital purchasing, payment Covering most of the uninsured bundling, preventable hospital should reduce cost shifting to readmissions and accountable

care organizations. If successful, these changes would be expanded to the entire Medicare program and would become mainstream as private payers followed suit. “Medicare is a great laboratory for delivery system innovation,” says Sperling. The hospital value-based purchasing pilot will launch in fiscal year 2013 and will base Medicare payments to hospitals on quality and outcomes. accountable care organizations focuses on coordinating the overall care delivered to Medicare patients. (Hewitt estimates that these organizations can be 10% to 15% more efficient and deliver better quality.) "Payment bundling" involves paying for services based on an episode of care rather than on fee-forservice. Bundled payments could create more incentives for efficient treatments and could be adjusted based on outcomes, say health care policy experts. "Preventable readmissions" would penalize hospitals if a patient comes back when that could have been avoided. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects this to save about $2.1 billion over 10 years.

An independent commission with the job of reining in Medicare cost increases also has promise. The 15-member Independent Medicare Payment Advisory Board will be created in 2014 and will make recommendations to Congress to reduce costs and improve quality for Medicare beneficiaries. When the program’s cost projections exceed certain targets, the board’s proposals will take effect unless Congress passes an alternative that would achieve the same savings. The CBO estimates that this could yield substantial savings of $22 billion over 10 years and $7 billion a year beginning in 2019. But if history is any guide, getting the board’s recommendations passed could be a tough sell. Earlier efforts by Congress to rein in Medicare reimbursements to physicians, for example, have been deferred year after year. “Politics often trumps policy,” says Sperling. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Until then, they could remain on their parents’ policies under COBRA, but the price can be steep -- often $200 to $300 per month or more, depending on the policy. If they’re healthy, they may get a better deal on their own. In most states, people in their early twenties can buy health insurance for $150 per month. It will be easy to shop for a policy starting in 2014, when the law establishes insurance exchanges to help people buy coverage. But until then, a good place to shop is at eHealthInsurance.com, or find a local agent at www.nahu.org. And even after the law starts requiring insurers to cover dependents until age 26, it may not help everyone. “The legislation did not specify exactly who will be eligible for coverage through the extension through age 26,” says Tanya Schwartz, policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most states that let grown kids stay on parents’ policies do not require the kids to be claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns. But the new law could impose that requirement. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will be creating the regulations over the next few months to spell out those details. Some states may continue to offer more-generous rules. It will also be important to see MAKE page 83

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InvestForLess poses an undeniable threat. “It could carve out a niche from their business,” Lassus says. In fact, InvestForLess originally launched with Charles Schwab & Co. as its custodian, and it had been operating for several weeks on Schwab’s platform until Schwab unexpectedly terminated the relationship in early March. “Schwab’s Advisor Services platform is designed for independent investment advisers who provide personalized investment advice,” says Schwab spokeswoman Alison Wertheim, implying that Schwab took issue with the do-it-yourself format of InvestForLess. But considering that Schwab acts as the custodian for some 6,000 advisers, who entrust approximately $590 billion in fee-generating assets with the firm, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to imagine that protecting other advisers’ interests could have come into play. Knull stresses that he isn’t trying to make war on the

advisory profession. “Most investors need some advice,” he says, “but advisers should be able to justify their fees.” To this end, he’s building a network of fee-only advisers (who don’t accept commissions) to be affiliated with the site. Conflicts with fund companies that rely heavily on advisers and brokers could pose further hurdles for the fledgling firm. “To establish an account with American Funds, we require than an investor use an adviser,” says American Funds spokesman Chuck Freadhoff. “InvestForLess appears to be a registered investment adviser and as such would meet that requirement, but we are reviewing its business model.” However, American Funds may be swimming against the tide of the industry, which is moving ever closer to eliminating the divide between load and no-load fund families. Longtime load shop Pimco started offering noload Class D shares 12 years ago to supplement its roster of load-bearing alphabet-soup fund shares. More recently, Eaton

Vance, Putnam and several other load shops have started offering no-load or load-waived shares of some of their funds on certain discount-brokerage platforms. That InvestForLess is furthering this trend “doesn’t surprise me,” says David Speck, managing director of Speck Caudron Investment Group. “Think about what’s happened in this industry over the years. First there were negotiated commissions. Then there were discount brokers. Then there was the increased presence of no -load funds.” The common thread? Expanding access and falling costs. If this sounds too good to be true or if you get the willies thinking about entrusting your money to a new advisory firm, you can take comfort in InvestForLess’s relationship with Scottrade. As custodian, Scottrade has actual possession of client assets and sends out members’ monthly account statements. (By contrast, convicted swindler Bernard Madoff had no custodian and

sent investors’ statements directly from his office.) Members can even use Scottrade’s brick-and-mortar offices for dropping off paperwork. InvestForLess is also currently working to bring Fidelity on board as a second custodian, in which case new members would choose which of the two firms they want to take possession of their assets. For penny pinchers, the site opens up a universe of funds that was previously unavailable. And for investors who work with advisers paid on commission or through assetbased fees, the site gives you an alternate way of accessing the same funds you’re already invested in, for a fraction of the cost. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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how the extended coverage will be priced. Under many state laws now, you do not have to pay extra to keep an adult child on your policy if you would have kept a family policy to insure younger siblings. But if the insurer bases premiums on the number of children, or if you’re insuring only one child and could otherwise switch from family coverage to coverage for a single person or couple, compare that extra cost with the price of buying an individual policy for your young adult. Use the same strategy to determine whether it's a better deal to keep your kids on your policy under the new law or to have them get their own policy. If your child does buy his or her own coverage, a great way to lower the cost is to raise the deductible -- especially if he or she rarely visits the doctor and needs insurance primarily for catastrophic coverage. If the deductible is at least $1,200 for self-only coverage, the child can qualify for a health savings account and make taxdeductible contributions that can be used tax-free for medical expenses in any year. People

with self-only coverage can contribute up to $3,050 to an HSA in 2010. HSAs still exist under the new law but with a higher penalty (rising from a 10% tax to 20%) on any amount withdrawn for nonmedical expenses before age 65. People with health issues. The new law appropriates $5 billion to establish a temporary highrisk pool to provide coverage for people with health issues, starting 90 days after the law was signed (June 23) and remaining in effect until 2014, when insurers will be prohibited from rejecting anyone because of preexisting conditions. The new national high-risk pool will be particularly helpful for people who have trouble finding coverage in states that don’t have open high-risk pools now, including Arizona, Florida and Nevada. But there is a big catch: You need to be uninsured for at least six months to qualify for the new national high-risk pool. Many state high-risk pools, on the other hand, currently let you in if you’ve been rejected by an insurer and don’t require you to

be uninsured. It’s dangerous to be uninsured, especially if you have medical issues, so exploring your options now is a good idea. See the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans for a list of states with high-risk pools and contact information to see whether you can qualify for coverage as soon as possible. Some of the states with highrisk pools that work well may be able to continue running their own pools, but new plans (or one national plan) will still need to be set up to cover the states that don't have a working highrisk plan now. The new plans must follow the provisions of the law, which includes consumer protections such as limiting the maximum out-ofpocket spending to $5,950 for individual coverage or $11,900 for families. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.