Internet News Record 14/09/09 - 15/09/09 LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.

Edition

Is Chavez helping Iran build the bomb?

By Anthony Boadle (Front Row produce weapons of mass
Washington) destruction,” Alvarez wrote to
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:54:11 AM Morgenthau.
The ambassador said the DA’s
Veteran Manhattan DA Robert suspicions about Iranian factories
Morgenthau is on Hugo Chavez’s were “particularly irresponsible”
case. because they produce food, Swayze's animals
Morgenthau warned last week at farming equipment, plastic goods, played a big role in
Washington’s Brookings bicycles and dairy products. actor's life - USA Today
Institution that Iran is using “Sadly, your claims bring to
Venezuela’s financial system to memory the allegations of (Most Popular - Google News)
avoid international sanctions so it weapons of mass destruction that Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:55:32 AM
can acquire materials to develop were said to exist in Iraq and led
nuclear weapons and missiles. He to that country’s invasion and the Dog Whisperer is starting
urged more scrutiny of the consequent loss of many Arab and magazine 'Cesar's Way'
“emerging axis of Iran and American lives,” Alvarez wrote. Cool cats: Someone cut the AC,
Venezuela” in an op/ed article in The diplomat said the district please? Comment
the Wall Street Journal, in which attorney was feeding “an Recommend
he said a number of mysterious unfounded and dirty campaign” Patrick Swayze had a love for
Iranian factories had sprung up in against Venezuela. animals that helped him through
remote parts of Venezuela. Without hard evidence to show, his difficult days while he was
Chavez’s man in Washington, rule of thumb is my enemy’s military presence in neighboring is Morgenthau fear-mongering? dying of pancreatic cancer.
V e n e z u e l a n A m b a s s a d o r enemies are my friends. His last Colombia. And he swears he has What do you think? He and his wife Lisa Niemi had
Bernardo Alvarez, called the trip abroad included visits to no intention of developing an Photo credit: Reuters/handout two wonderful dogs, a Poodle
a l l e g a t i o n s “ o u t r a g e o u s … Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, atomic bomb. (Chavez speaks next to Iran’s named Lucas, and a Rhodesian
unfounded and irresponsible” in a Belarus and Russia. He loudly Besides vast oil reserves, A h m a d i n e j a d i n T e h r a n ) , Ridgeback puppy named
letter to the district attorney seen announced plans to buy Russian Venezuela has large deposits of Reuters/Brendan McDermid Kumasai. They also enjoyed
by Reuters. tanks and anti-aircraft missiles. uranium, though there are no (Morgenthau at Reuters Financial training show horses.
True, leftist President Chavez But Chavez maintains the signs of any plans to mine them. Regulation Summit in New York, Animals can be an enormous
has done little to endear himself to weapons are needed to defend “ V e n e z u e l a w o u l d n e v e r April 24, 2009) comfort during bad times as you
Americans. A fierce critic of the Venezuela, which he says is participate, directly or indirectly, can see in the photo above
United States, his foreign policy threatened by a growing U.S. in any project to help any country showing Swayze and his wife
with their dogs by the lakeside in
Ohio death row inmate denied stay (AP) Yale apologizes for 'Killer Cover Letters' e-mail (AP) May.
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) (AP) READERS: Tell us how your
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:06:38 AM 9 seconds ago 2009-09- Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:50:45 AM 11 seconds ago 2009-09- pets have come through for you.
15T06:35:26-07:00 15T06:35:02-07:00
Linda B buzzed up: Prince Harry Susan buzzed up: Prince Harry
turns 25, gains access to income turns 25, gains access to income
2 Politics/ Internet News Record

The First Draft: After the crash, pushing for financial reform
By David Alexander (Front large stakes in banks and other needed to ensure private insurers hand when he came by,” Kennedy wasn’t the most sentimental,
Row Washington) firms over the past year as it tried face enough competition to force said. emotive guy,” he said. “For us
Submitted at 9/14/2009 7:07:50 AM to stabilize the economy in the them to control costs. “I remember the Secret Service this was an enormous revelation,
midst of recession and financial The late Senator Edward after the event were wondering in a sense, because this book
President Barack Obama tries to collapse. Kennedy’s memoir “True whether he’d gotten poisoned really was one where he talked
revive his push for financial Obama’s financial reform effort Compass” is out on Monday and because they didn’t know it was a about his feelings and emotions at
reform on Monday. has hit resistance in Congress, as his sons, Representative Patrick button he’d gotten stuck with. It various points in his life.”
The president heads to Wall has his bid for an overhaul of the Kennedy and Ted Kennedy Jr., was the first time that I remember For more Reuters political news,
Street on the anniversary of the U.S. healthcare system. spoke with the morning shows ever feeling that this was click here.
collapse of Lehman Brothers to A new poll in The Washington about their father and his book. something that was a daily part of Photo credit: Reuters/Larry
try to make his case for stricter Post on Monday showed public Patrick Kennedy recalled the his life that he had to worry Downing (Obama meets with
regulatory oversight of U.S. opposition to Obama’s healthcare first time he became aware of the about.” economic team in March);
markets. reform is high but could ease a constant threats his father faced. Patrick Kennedy said the book, Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (People
He’ll also be discussing how he little if the president dropped his “On the campaign trail in 1980, I completed over the past year as line up to sign condolence book at
plans to wind up government bid for a government-run public remember one time I was with my his father struggled with the Kennedy’s Senate office after his
involvement in the financial health plan to compete with dad and someone took one of the cancer that killed him, was a death in August)
sector. private insurers. (campaign) buttons … They took revelation to him.
The federal government took Obama argues a public plan is the pin out and they jammed his “Everybody knows my dad
Internet News Record Politics/ Finance/ 3
US retail sales surge
Senate names room for fallen by 2.7% in August
Kennedy brothers (Financial Times - US
homepage)
Electronic
By Thomas Ferraro (Front Row
Washington)
chandeliers, it has hosted hearings
on the sinking of the Titanic
Kennedy’s U.S. attorney general
— was assassinated during his
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:25:29 AM Arts misses
Submitted at 9/14/2009 4:48:03 PM cruise ship (1912), the Watergate
scandal (1973), and the explosive
own run for the White House.
Earlier this year, in the same
US retail sales climbed at the
fastest rate in more than three with Madden?
The Kennedy family is the only confirmation hearings for then years last month as the popular By Steven Mallas
room, the Senate health “cash for clunkers” rebate
one to send three brothers to the Supreme Court-nominee Clarence committee, which Edward (BloggingStocks)
U.S. Senate, and the fallen trio Thomas that involved charges of programme succeeded in spurring
Kennedy had chaired, approved a a broader revival in consumer
Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:30:00 AM
now has one of the most historic sexual harassment (1991). bill that became an initial marker
rooms on Capitol Hill named in demand, official figures showed Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT),
Edward Kennedy, one of the in the mushrooming battle to on Tuesday.
their honor. most effective U.S. lawmakers overhaul the U.S. healthcare Sony Corp ADR (SNE),
Without dissent, the Senate ever, died of cancer last month The swelling cost of energy also Electronic Arts (ERTS),
system. inflated wholesale prices in
approved a resolution on Monday following nearly a half century in “May the Kennedy Caucus Activision Inc (ATVI),
to rename the Caucus Room in the the Senate. In 1962, he was August. A separate report from Technology
Room stand as a monument to the labour department revealed
Russell Senate Office Building elected to the Senate seat earlier three brothers who devoted their The news for video games isn't
“The Kennedy Caucus Room.” h e l d b y h i s o l d e r b r o t h e r , that the producer price index rose improving, I'm sorry to say. My
considerable talent and energy to by 1.7 per cent on a summer surge
Measuring 74 feet by 54 feet, President John Kennedy, who was serving the country that they colleague Mark Fightmaster
the Russell Room is one of the assassinated in 1963. in petrol prices. recently discussed the
loved, and that loved them back,”
oldest and largest Senate Five years later, Robert said Senator Chris Dodd, a chief disappointing industry sales
assembly rooms outside the U.S. Kennedy — elected to the Senate sponsor of the resolution. results observed in the month of
C a p i t o l . F e a t u r i n g t h r e e after serving as President August. As he pointed out, total
revenues for the sector have now

Have lessons been learned on Wall Street?
By Tabassum Zakaria (Front
Row Washington)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 3:08:00 PM
President Barack Obama went to
Wall Street on the one-year
anniversary of the Lehman
Brothers collapse to make a push
for greater regulation of the
financial industry.
He’s proposing creating a
“resolution authority” to end the
concept that some firms are “too
big to fail.” And Obama is hoping
that financial regulatory reform
gets passed this year.
Obama had some words for
those who defend the status quo
or argue for less regulation.
“There will be those who engage
in revisionist history or have
selective memories, and don’t
seem to recall what we just went
through last year,” he said.
Some critics say reform is
needed, but Obama’s plan is just
not the right prescription for what
ails the financial industry.
Mark Calabria, director of
financial regulation studies at
Cato Institute, says Obama’s plan
would “make bailouts a
permanent feature of the
regulatory landscape.”
He argues that “real reform”
would be fixing Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, the tax code and
monetary policy, and that
implementing Obama’s plan
could mean the next financial
crisis would be bigger than the
current one.
What do you think? Is Obama’s
plan the fix needed for Wall
Street, or something else?
Photo credit: Reuters/Larry
Downing (Crowd outside Federal
Hall where Obama spoke on Wall
Street)
dropped six times in a row.
Oh, that doesn't feel nice at all. I
own shares of Activision
Blizzard(NASDAQ: ATVI), and I
have to admit, the trend does send
an icy chill down my spine. But
I'll bet shareholders of Electronic
Arts(NASDAQ: ERTS) feel even
worse. August, of course, is a big
month for them. The latest version
of the Madden football franchise
is released during the latter part of
summer. Unfortunately, this year's
game seems to have been a
disappointment in terms of units
sold.
Continue reading Electronic
Arts misses with Madden?
Electronic Arts misses with
Madden? originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Sep
2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds. Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
4 Politics/ Top News/ Internet News Record

Somali anger at US raid

(BBC News | Americas | World foreign forces may help to fuel le Sage told the BBC's Network
Edition) extremism, instead of combating Africa programme that Nabhan's
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:52:27 AM it, our correspondent says. death, if confirmed, would
The US last launched a major severely hamper the network's
Somali Islamists will avenge the strike in Somalia in May 2008, ability to operate in the region.
killing by US forces of a top al- killing al-Shabab's military leader But he said new leaders would
Qaeda suspect in Somalia, a top al and at least 10 others. probably emerge to take Nabhan's
-Shabab commander has told the The raid led to protests by place.
BBC. villagers and critics say it had BBC defence correspondent
Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh little effect on al-Shabab's Nick Childs says the raid seems to
Nabhan is believed to have been capabilities. be something of a departure from
killed in a US military helicopter French connection? recent US tactics in Somalia,
raid. Analysts say Nabhan is one of which have tended to use long-
US agents have been hunting the most senior leaders of al- range missile strikes and aircraft
Nabhan for years over attacks on Qaeda's East Africa cell. to try to get at militant suspects.
a hotel and an Israeli airliner in This latest US raid into Somalia, Earlier reports had quoted
Kenya in 2002. carried out by Joint Special witnesses as saying the troops
It is believed he fled to Somalia Operations Command, would wore uniforms with French
after the Mombasa attacks and have had several aims. insignia and had flown from a
was working with the al-Shabab Firstly, it would be about ship bearing a French flag.
Barack and Bill lunching, group.
The al-Shabab commander, who
spoke on condition of anonymity
"settling scores" - killing or
capturing a man the FBI believes
was instrumental in al-Qaeda's
But the French military strongly
denied involvement.
During 2007 and 2008 the US
can burgers be far away? as he was not authorised to speak
publicly, said the insurgents
attacks in East Africa.
A second aim would be to show
carried out air strikes against
Somali Islamist groups it accused
By Tabassum Zakaria (Front shown a keen appreciation for w o u l d r e t a l i a t e a g a i n s t U S al-Qaeda's senior operatives that of links to al-Qaeda.
Row Washington) burgers. interests. there is no safe hiding place, even The US and France both have
Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:20:14 AM There must be a good burger "They will taste the bitterness of in a country whose militants troops stationed in neighbouring
joint in the area — although we’re our response," he told the BBC's effectively drove out US forces 15 Djibouti.
So we hear that current President guessing since it’s Wall Street, Mohammed Olad Hassan in the years ago. Monday's assault comes several
B a r a c k O b a m a a n d f o r m e r it’s probably Kobe beef and that’s capital, Mogadishu. Thirdly, the raid's planners weeks after a French security
President Bill Clinton are going to probably not in the budget, what Somali sources told the BBC would be hoping to throw both al- adviser held by militants in
do lunch today. with the deficit and all… that six helicopters were involved Qaeda and al-Shabab off-balance, Mogadishu managed to get free.
It will follow Obama’s big THIS JUST IN: The presidents in the attack on Monday afternoon disrupting their plans. Although A colleague seized at the same
financial regulation speech being are lunching at Il Mulino, the fare on two vehicles in the southern Nabhan's loss will be felt, reports time remains in captivity.
delivered to Wall Street on the on the menu looks a tad more coastal town of Barawe, which is of his death at US hands are Somalia has not had a
anniversary of the Lehman culinary-involved than burgers… controlled by al-Shabab. almost certain to trigger revenge functioning central government
Brothers collapse. UPDATE: Lunch is over, no A US official was quoted by attacks in the region. since 1991.
Wondering how much appetite burgers were had, the presidents Reuters news agency as saying He is suspected of bombing an Rival Islamist factions are
they’re going to have after a opted for fish… special forces had flown by Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan battling forces loyal to the weak
speech on financial collapse and Click here for more Reuters helicopter from a US Navy ship port city of Mombasa, and trying UN-backed government, which
during an almost inevitable political coverage and fired on a vehicle that they to shoot down an Israeli airliner in controls only small parts of the
discussion about healthcare Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin believed was carrying Nabhan - 2002. capital Mogadishu.
reform — the issue that turned Lamarque (Obama receives his whose body was then taken into The authorities in Kenya also Al-Shabab are said to have links
i n t o t h i s p a s t s u m m e r ’ s order at Ray’s Hell Burger in US custody. regard him as a suspect in two to al-Qaeda, and to have been
discontent. Virginia). Reuters/Dylan Martinez Our reporter says the raid has attacks on US embassies in the reinforced with foreign fighters.
We don’t know what’s on the (Clinton eats chip at pub in raised concern among Somalis. region in 1998. Print Sponsor
menu for the presidential meal, England) They fear such attacks by US-based Somalia expert Andre
but they have in the past both
Internet News Record
Even Internet Hitler hates Kanye - msnbc.com
(Most Popular - Google News)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:02:57 AM
Seconds after Kanye West
performed the mortal sin of
stepping on Taylor Swift’s “Best
Female Video” acceptance speech
at MTV’s Video Music Awards,
the Internet achieved consensus:
West is officially the worst person
who ever lived. Ever.
Storming the stage like a rabid
Banff photo-crashing squirrel, the
hip hop auteur/awards show
histrionic snatched the
microphone from the young,
blonde country singer and
announced, not for nothing,
Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a
Ring on It)” was “one of the best
videos of all time.”
Boos echoed within Radio City
Music Hall, resonating across the
World Wide Web already
saturated with VMA chat.
Celebrities and commoners joined
forces in outrage.
“Kanye west is the biggest piece
of s**t on earth. Quote me. My
heart goes out to Taylor Swift….”
tweeted Pink, the singer who shot
West serious stink eye as she
passed him at the performance
hall.
“F**K U KANYE. IT’S LIKE U
STEPPED 0N A KITTEN.” read
Katy Perry’s Twitter feed.
“What's worse is that, unlike
most of the jaded egotistical stars
on these shows, Taylor seemed
genuinely honored by it when she
started speaking,” wrote J.R.
LeMar, this guy I know from
Facebook. “It was supposed to be
one of the highlights of her young
Mission Accomplished: Electric Motorcycle Hits 150 mph
By Chuck Squatriglia (Wired
Top Stories)
career, but that dips**t came in
and ruined it for her.”
Nurtured on rudeness and
fertilized by the desecration of
everything sacred, the Internet
finally found something that made
even it recoil in disgust. “WHY I
NEVER!” the World Wide Web
exclaimed, clutching the handle of
its old-timey spectacles, having
morphed into Margaret Dumont,
the scandalized aristocrat 0f Marx
Brothers movie films.
Twitter buzz tracker Trendrr
recorded 293,024 “Kanye” tweets
in the hour following West’s stage
crash, and Mashable social media
blogger Pete Cashmore
immediately announced the
incident as the VMA’s “YouTube
Moment,” that “shareable event,
perhaps staged — that’s
guaranteed to be at the top of
YouTube and Digg by the
morning (not to mention all the
sharing on Facebook and
Twitter).”
Kanye “CAPS LOCK” West is
already famous for his outbursts,
be it on his blog, at awards shows,
or that one time during a
Hurricane Katrina relief benefit
when he made Mike Myers really
uncomfortable by deviating from
the teleprompter to announce
“George Bush doesn’t care about
black people.”
This time, however, "There was
no reason for Kanye West to get
involved and tell us something we
already knew," pointed out
feminist fashion blog Jezebel.
Following Sunday’s VMA
incident, West attempted to
apologize on his blog in his
Jeremy Cleland sets an unofficial
record for electric motorcycles
with an average of 150.059 mph
standard CAPS LOCK style,
writing in part:
“I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO
TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER
FANS AND HER MOM. I
SPOKE TO HER MOTHER
RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID
THE SAME THING MY
MOTHER WOULD’VE SAID.
SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I
LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT
BEING A CHEERLEADER
AND SHE’S IN THE
B L E A C H E R S !
… … … … … … … … ”
The post was removed soon
after, though not before it was
copied everywhere. You can find
transcript on dlisted, the celeb
gossip blog that said of the West’s
temporary post, “Good lord, I
want to Fabreze(sic) that entire
statement, because it reeeeeeks of
Henny barf, microwaved s**t, and
Taylor Swift's tears (aww). You
can tell this is every shade of
NOT SINCERE, because he only
used ten zillion exclamation
points instead of ten zillion and
one.”
Even YouTube Hitler offered an
expletive-filled rant less than 24
hours after the VMAs. Certainly
you’ve already received a million
forwards of the Barack
Obama/Kanye West video
mashup, the one in which the
“YOU LIE!” shouted by Rep. Joe
Wilson (R-S.C.) during President
Barack Obama's joint session of
Congress is replaced with Kanye's
Beyonce' rant. (After which
Obama mumbles, “that’s not true
…”)
Well, in a certainly-not-safe-for-
during back-to-back runs of one
mile each at Bonneville Speedway
west of Salt Lake City.
Top News/ Tech News/
work satire on the subject, one
speedy comedian added the
Kayne West-hating zeitgeist to the
popular YouTube Hitler meme —
a scene from the 2004 German
film“Der Untergang”(“The
Downfall”) creative types use as a
template for social satire, adding
humorous subtitles to Hitler’s
bunker meltdown scene.
Expletives fill the text as Hitler
is made to rant about his disgust
with West. "I just bought Air-
Yeezys for 800 dollars!” Hitler
screams. “And I can't return
them!"
Why even American Idol
sweetheart Kelly Clarkson called
Yeezy an expletive on the
Internet, as she joined outraged
masses responding so rudely to
rudeness.
One might point out, that for all
his Hennessey-swilling
interruptyness, West has yet to get
potty-mouthed. Alas, the havoc
West wreaked didn’t stop with his
stage storming.
Those who spent Sunday night
watching some sort of organized
sporting event, enjoying the USA
Network’s “NCIS” marathon or
on the West Coast, received the
added insult of hearing the
spoilers. It was these poor victims
who, upon checking their social
network accounts, learned of this
horrific cultural catastrophe
second hand!
While those in the know built “I
hate Kanye West” and “Vote for
Taylor Swift” Facebook groups
and contemplated the correct
Twitter avatar flair with which to
properly exhibit their ‘Ye disdain,
5
those behind the news found
themselves feeling lost,
completely out of touch.
Sandy Hollingsworth Morgan,
this other person I know from
Facebook, came to the emergency
aid of friends who spent the
evening with others watching a
movie. When it ended, the party
attendees immediately accessed
their Facebook accounts, as is the
custom of the day, only to log on
to a world they no longer
understood.
“All of them were like, ‘What
did Kanye do?’ ” Morgan said.
She instructed her friends (via
Facebook status update, natch) to
remain calm and to proceed
immediately to YouTube, were
they quickly caught up on the
hubbub. “All of this took place in
about three minutes,” Morgan
said. “Isn’t the Internet cool?”
Indeed. As we suffer through
following weeks, perhaps months,
of bloviating over The VMA
Incident, we may forget what
Morgan observed. “This would
not have happened when I was
Taylor Swift's age,” she pointed
out.
“If I had missed something, I
would've been hoping that some
news channel, that I happened to
be watching just at the right time,
would play a clip. We didn't have
no stinkin' InterWebs!”
Follow Helen A.S. Popkin on
Twitter or friend her on Facebook,
where she is always sincere, as
illustrated by her frequent use of
ten zillion and one exclamation
points!!!!!!!!
6 Top News/ Finance/ Internet News Record

Autopsy results expected on Yale grad student (AP)

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) homicide but declined to say how there's a murderer walking around comment Monday on the lab or long-term goal was to become a
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:28:42 AM she died, citing the pending police on campus," said Sultan, a Le's involvement with it. laboratory pathologist and said it
investigation. chemistry student. Le's office was on the third floor would require about 12 years of
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Police are analyzing what they Police found Le's body about 5 of the five-story building, where higher education.
state medical examiner's office call "a large amount" of physical p.m. Sunday, the day she was to authorities found her wallet, keys, "I just hope that all that hard
said Tuesday that it would release evidence, but have not gone into marry Columbia University money and purse. work is going to pay off and I'm
the results of an autopsy of a Yale detail. graduate student Jonathan Yale closed the building really going to enjoy my job," she
University graduate student amid At a meeting of medical school Widawsky, lovingly referred to on Monday so police could complete said.
indications that police were students and teachers Monday, her Facebook page as "my best their investigation, according to a No one answered the door
preparing to make an arrest in her Yale president Richard Levin said friend." The couple met as message sent to Yale students and Monday at the Widawskys' gray
killing. police have narrowed the number undergraduates at the University staff. Scientists are being allowed ranch-style home in Huntington,
A spokeswoman for the chief of potential suspects to a very of Rochester and were eagerly in only to conduct essential N.Y.
state medical examiner's office small pool because building awaiting their planned wedding research projects, and only under "He is a very nice young man,"
told The Associated Press that the security systems recorded who on Long Island. the supervision of a police officer. next-door neighbor George Mayer
cause of Annie Le's death would entered the building and what Police have said Widawsky is They said the building would said of Jonathan Widawsky, a 24-
be released after 3 p.m. Tuesday. times they entered, the Yale Daily not a suspect and helped reopen as early as Tuesday under year-old seeking his doctorate in
The office had been withholding News reported Tuesday. He said detectives in their investigation. increased security. physics. "His family, they're all
its report to assist the police the appropriate people are being The building where the body On Monday afternoon, Yale just wonderful people very, very
investigation. monitored, the newspaper said. was found is part of the university officials apologized for an e-mail nice people."
New Haven police did not Yale spokesman Tom Conroy medical school complex about a sent out earlier in the day The death is the first killing at
return calls Tuedsay morning. and Robert Alpern, dean of the mile from Yale's main campus. It notifying students about a job- Yale since the unsolved
They have said that Le's killing m e d i c a l s c h o o l , d i d n o t is accessible to Yale personnel search workshop named "Killer December 1998 death of Yale
was not a random act and that no immediately return calls Tuesday. with identification cards. Some 75 Cover Letters." The e-mail was student Suzanne Jovin. The
students are believed to be The killing took place in a video surveillance cameras distributed the same day the chief popular 21-year-old senior was
involved in the death. heavily secured building monitor all doorways. medical examiner's officer stabbed 17 times in New Haven's
Several news organizations accessible only to students and Her body was found in the identified Le's body. East Rock neighborhood, about 2
r e p o r t e d t h a t p o l i c e w e r e university employees. It was the basement in the wall chase a deep Philip Jones, assistant dean of miles from campus.
interviewing a possible suspect first killing at Yale in a decade. recess where utilities and cables Yale College, said the workshop's ___
who failed a polygraph test and Hundreds of students attended a run between floors. The basement title is common, but its use was Associated Press writers Dave
has defensive wounds on his Monday night prayer vigil and houses rodents, mostly mice, used inappropriate at the time. The Collins and Pat Eaton-Robb in
b o d y . N e w H a v e n p o l i c e some students say Le's death is for scientific testing by multiple university was not intending to New Haven, Conn.; Susan Haigh
spokesman Joe Avery denied still troubling. Yale researchers, said Robert cause more distress, Jones said. in Hartford, Conn.; Frank Eltman
those reports Monday. "I'm not walking at nights by Alpern, dean of the Yale In the Sierra foothills in Huntington, N.Y.; Juliet
ABC News, WNBC-TV, The myself anymore," said student University School of Medicine. community east of Sacramento Williams in Placerville, Calif.;
New Haven Register and the New Natoya Peart, 21, of Jamaica. "It Le was part of a research team where she was named "Most and AP news researcher Rhonda
H a v e n I n d e p e n d e n t c i t e d could happen to anyone, anytime, headed by her faculty adviser, likely to be the next Einstein" in Shafner in New York contributed
anonymous sources in their anywhere." Anton Bennett. According to its high school, Le was remembered to this report.
reports. The Register and WNBC- Twenty-year-old Muneeb Sultan Web site, the Bennett Laboratory as a high achiever who knew early
TV also identify the possible said he's shocked that a killing was involved in enzyme research on that she wanted a career in
suspect as a lab technician. could take place in a secure Yale that could have implications in medicine.
The state's chief medical building. cancer, diabetes and muscular In a Union Mine High School
examiner ruled Le's death a "It's a frightening idea that dystrophy. Bennett declined to yearbook from 2003, Le said her
Intel sets out case against record EU fine
(Financial Times - US watchdog failed to evaluate the ($1.6bn), lawyers for the US concluded that Intel had abused products.
homepage) evidence properly and “materially chipmaker have argued. its dominant market position and
Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:34:13 AM infringed” Intel’s rights of The fine was imposed by the used illegal sales practices to
defence in an investigation that European Commission in May encourage computer
Europe’s top competition led to a record fine of €1.1bn after a long-running probe manufacturers to carry its
Internet News Record Top News/ Finance/ 7

Katrina stamps out memories of terrible storm Ivan (AP)

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) though they have rebuilt. north as Pennsylvania before Orleans and hit Alabama's anymore."
Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:24:58 AM "We kind of got forgotten," she curling south through Florida Orange Beach hard enough to Reminders of the hurricane
said. again and hitting the Louisiana- collapse condominium buildings. extend miles off the coast into
GULF SHORES, Ala. – People The experts who track Texas coast as a tropical storm a Some empty beachfront lots are places like the south Alabama
who lived through Hurricane Ivan hurricanes remember Ivan for its week after it struck Alabama. still littered with storm debris; a town of Atmore, which was
can't forget the haunting images colossal size and strength. In a precaution that turned out few beachfront homes have yet to without power for about two
left by one of the strongest storms Born off the west coast of to be a dress rehearsal for Katrina be fixed. weeks after Ivan brought down a
ever recorded: condo towers Africa, Ivan was the most a year later, thousands of people The cleanup went on for years, storm of limbs on residential lots.
collapsed in roiling surf, powerful hurricane ever to evacuated from the Louisiana leaving debris piles more than The little town that relies on
splintered homes or flat slabs, approach the Gulf of Mexico from coast as Ivan roared north. three-quarters of a mile long and lumber and jobs at a state prison
fragments of highways lost in a the Southeast and one of four Hundreds more sheltered in the 70 feet high around Pensacola. still has empty slabs where homes
sea of sand. They wish others hurricanes to hit Florida in 2004. Louisiana Superdome in New "We've just gotten our last 30 used to be.
remembered, too. It strengthened and weakened in Orleans, which would fail properties cleaned up here this "Probably the most noticeable
Not quite a year after Ivan all pulses, reaching Category 5 on the miserably as a shelter of last year," said Tony Kennon, mayor thing is the number of trees that
but submerged entire Caribbean Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale resort when Katrina flooded the of Orange Beach. are no longer here," said Mayor
islands, slammed into the three times with winds of 155 city. Thousands of brown, broken Howard Shell. "It will take years
Alabama and Florida coasts, mph or higher. The storm was blamed for 92 trees still stand in public areas that and years for those to recover."
deluged the Eastern Seaboard and "It was a Category 5 storm not deaths by the time it ended: 39 in were covered by saltwater for It will take longer still for
looped back for a torrential run once but three times ... and Grenada; 25 in the United States, days, and Alabama's state park on people to the west of Ivan's path
through Texas and Louisiana, Category 5 storms are very rare," including 14 in Florida; 17 in the coast has yet to be rebuilt. The to recover from Katrina, blamed
Katrina set a new standard for Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman with Jamaica; and 11 more total in the rubble of the park's old hotel and for more than 1,600 deaths in
hurricane horror. Ivan's terrible the National Hurricane Center in Dominican Republican, convention center lay on the Louisiana and Mississippi and for
toll more than $14 billion in Miami, said Monday. "If not for Venezuela, the Cayman Islands, beach like skeletal remains for $81 billion in damage, making it
damage in the U.S. alone, and (Katrina) in '05, Ivan and '04 Tobago and Barbados. months. It was only this summer the nation's costliest hurricane.
nearly 100 dead in all became an would be the ones that are Michael Foley, co-owner of a that the state opened a new park Remarkably though, they've
afterthought. remembered." waterfront restaurant at Pensacola fishing pier to replace the one been getting help from their
Having flattened miles of resort Ivan crossed the Caribbean Beach, said many of his neighbors Ivan destroyed. neighbors since the earliest days
property and caused flooding and south of Cuba, submerging most are frustrated by the way Ivan Veterinarian Gus Mueller of their Katrina troubles. The
tornadoes throughout the of Grenada and Grand Cayman seems lost in the national worked at The Zoo of Northwest Pensacola area had healed enough
Southeast, Ivan remains the fifth- Island, where an estimated 95 consciousness, despite its massive Florida for 17 years until it shut in the year after Ivan, said Ed
costliest hurricane in U.S. history, percent of the buildings were devastation. down recently, a late casualty he Schroeder of the Pensacola Bay
a fact long since lost on those who damaged or destroyed. It made "People here do feel forgotten, lays at Ivan's feet. The zoo was Area Convention and Visitors
didn't study it or suffer through it. landfall at Gulf Shores on Sept. but they are resilient," Foley said heavily damaged by the storm and Bureau, to house 2,500 families
"It was enormous, a tremendous 16, 2004, as a Category 3 storm from his business, Surf Burger. never got back on its feet displaced by Katrina.
storm," said Anita Williams, with 120-mph winds and a huge "We are back up and running." completely, he said.
whose Gulf Breeze, Fla., home surge. Ivan left much of Pensacola "It was a big tourist attraction,
was wiped out by Ivan. She and Ivan's remnants tracked north Beach in rubble. It wrecked a certainly an educational thing,"
her husband are still in court and turned east, bringing record coastal span of Interstate 10 just Mueller said of the small facility.
fighting for insurance money, flooding and power outages as far as Katrina would do outside New "We're not going to have that
Look for TJX to draw those frugal consumers, like a magnet
By Joseph Lazzaro TJX), and can tolerate moderate share in the era of the frugal originally appeared on
(BloggingStocks) risk, now's the time to establish a consumer. BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Sep
Submitted at 9/14/2009 6:00:00 PM position to have a chance at Continue reading Look for TJX 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see
outsized gains. to draw those frugal consumers, our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Stocks to Buy If Off-price family apparel and M a r s h a l l s a n d H o m e G o o d s like a magnet Permalink| Email this| Comments
you haven't purchased shares of h o m e f a s h i o n r e t a i l e r T J X chains) is poised to gain market Look for TJX to draw those
The TJX Companies(NYSE: (operator of the T.J. Maxx, frugal consumers, like a magnet
8 Top News/ Finance/ Tech News/
Google turns page on news content
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:48:33 PM
Google has unveiled a service
called Fast Flip to let users
consume news more quickly and
to boost the flagging fortunes of
the news industry.
The product is designed to
mirror the way readers flick
through magazines and
newspapers.
Google has teamed up with
more than 30 providers such as
the BBC to provide what it calls a
new reading experience.
The search giant was recently
called a parasite for making
money aggregating content it did
not create.
"I don't believe we are part of the
problem. I believe we are part of
the solution," Google's vice-
president of search, Marissa
Mayer, told BBC News.
"We have tried to build
platforms and tools that build a
healthy, rich eco-system online
that is supportive of content. This
is a new way of looking at
content."
Earlier this year, Wall Street
Journal chief Robert Thomson
called the search company and
other aggregators such as Yahoo
"parasites or tech tapeworms in
the intestines of the internet".
The news industry has been
Court rejects SEC settlement with BofA
(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 4:31:29 PM
A US federal judge on Monday
issued a sharp rebuke to the
Securities and Exchange
struggling with how to broaden
the size of its online audience and
how to make money from content
it has long given away free.
Last month, media mogul
Rupert Murdoch said he hoped all
of his major newspapers would be
charging for online content by the
end of June next year.
Preferences
Fast Flip imitates a conventional
print publication by offering
screenshots of the web pages
containing relevant articles.
The stories are organised
following a number of different
criteria. For example, readers will
be offered articles that have been
popular all day, that reflect their
personal preference or that have
been recommended by friends.
Users who want to dig deeper
into the story can click through to
the publisher's website.
To make money, Fast Flip also
serves up contextual adverts
around the screenshots.
Publishers who have signed up
to provide content to the service
will share in that revenue; that
was proof, said Ms Mayer, that
Google was keen to help the
industry at a time when it was
clearly struggling.
"We are excited to team with
publishers and look at a new
possibility for how people might
consume news online and how to
monetise it," said Ms Mayer.
Commission by throwing out a
$33m settlement between the
regulator and Bank of America,
calling the agreement “cynical”
and setting the stage for a trial
next year.
Jed Rakoff, a US district judge,
Google admitted that there was
no "magic bullet" to quickly solve
the challenges the publishing
industry faced but it added that
"we believe encouraging readers
to read more news is a necessary
part of the solution".
Ms Mayer said the science
behind this was simple.
"Advertising responds well when
you have engaged users.
"If you have users that stay on
the site for a long time and who
do a lot of page views, all of those
are good measurers because you
will have a better chance to
engage them with the ads and
learn from their behaviour what
type of ads to target," explained
Ms Mayer.
Hands-on control
Ms Mayer told TechCrunch 50,
a conference aimed at start-up
companies, that Google co-
founder Larry Page had asked
why the web was not more like a
magazine, allowing users to flip
from screen to screen seamlessly.
Delegates were told that one
reason had to do with media-rich
content that took time to load -
five to 10 seconds.
"Imagine if it took that long to
flip a magazine page," said
Krishna Bharat, a distinguished
engineer at Google who led the
creation of the Google news
service.
"We wanted to bring the
said the agreement – to settle
allegations that BofA made
misleading statements to
shareholders – was a “contrivance
designed to provide the SEC with
the facade of enforcement”.
advantages of print media, the
speed and hands-on control you
get with a newspaper or
magazine, and combine that with
the technical advantages of the
internet. We wanted the best of
both worlds," said Mr Bharat.
Ms Mayer revealed that initially
they thought a solution to the
problem posed by Mr Page was "a
decade away".
She explained that Google had
long been trying to harness
increased speed, "shaving a
millisecond here and another
millisecond there".
But Ms Mayer said that the
success of Fast Flip was down to
having a specific problem to
solve.
"A big part of innovation is
having the right goal and asking
the right question," she said.
Initially Fast Flip will
concentrate on audiences in the
US. The BBC is the only UK-
based media outlet to have a
presence on the site, due largely
to its popularity in America.
Other publishers involved
include Cosmopolitan, Marie
Claire, Elle, Popular Mechanics,
Slate, Salon, the New York
Times, the Washington Post and
ProPublica.
Print Sponsor
Startups Launch, Seeking Riches at TechCrunch50
By Ryan Singel (Wired Top
Stories)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 4:52:00 PM
Fifty startups will launch in two
Internet News Record
Options update: Tire
manufacturers volatility
low into Obama tariffs
on Chinese tires
By Paul Foster
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:00:00 AM
Filed under: Options, Goodyear
Tire and Rubber (GT)
Cooper Tire & Rubber(NYSE:
CTB) rallied to $15.60 on
September 14 on news President
Obama decided to side with the
United Steelworkers and impose
temporary tariffs on Chinese car
tires. CTB October option implied
volatility is at 66, November and
January is at 68; below its 26-
week average of 79, according to
Track Data, suggesting decreasing
price movement.
Goodyear Tire(NYSE: GT)
closed at $17.78. GT overall
option implied volatility of 56 is
below a level of 190 from
November 2008 and above its 52-
week low of 54 from July,
according to I Volatility,
suggesting larger price movement.
Option Update is provided by
Stock Specialist Paul Foster of
theflyonthewall.com.
Options update: Tire
manufacturers volatility low into
Obama tariffs on Chinese tires
originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Sep
2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
days at the TechCrunch50
conference, all seeking to make
their millions, or at least get a lot
of users while trying.
Internet News Record Top News/ Finance/ Tech News/ 9

Yale student's killing wasn't random, police say - CNN

(Most Popular - Google News) graduate program in February, she compared crime
Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:28:00 AM pharmacology, told CNN that the and safety at Yale with other Ivy
building where Le's body was League schools for a piece for B
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut found had good security, and only magazine, published by the
(CNN)-- The killing of Yale certain people could enter, let medical school.
student Annie Le was not random alone access specific areas. He Among the tips she offered:
a n d c o u l d o n l y h a v e b e e n said the circumstances suggested Keep a minimum amount on your
committed by one of a small there could be a "murderer among person. When she walked over to
number of people with access to us." Watch report on police the research building on Tuesday,
the building where her body was saying killing was no random act she left her purse, credit cards and
found, authorities said. » cell phone in her office.
Students at Yale attend a Thomas Kaplan, editor in chief On Monday night at Yale,
candlelight vigil for Annie Le of the Yale Daily News, said Le's several hundred people turned out
Monday night. killing had left Yale students for a vigil for Le.
Le's body was found hidden in a shocked and wary. Her roommate, Natalie Powers,
wall in the basement of a Yale "Only Yalies had access to that said Le "was as good a human
medical research building Sunday, basement, and that seems to point being as you'd ever hope to meet."
the day she was supposed to be to someone in our community "She was also really tenacious
married. The 24-year-old graduate being involved in this," Kaplan and had a sense of humor that was
student had been missing for s a i d . " T h a t ' s w h a t i s s o never far away, and she was
almost a week. Bloody clothes f r i g h t e n i n g . " tougher than you'd think by just
were found hidden above tiles in a No suspects were in custody,
drop ceiling elsewhere in the but investigators were questioning Security cameras captured video "She was just so excited about looking at her," Powers said.
of Le as she entered the four-story this wedding and everything from, "That this horrible tragedy
building, investigators said. several people in the case, police h a ppened at all is
Her killing was not a random said. Watch how Le's body was lab building at 10 Amistad Street, you know, her flowers to her
about 10 blocks from the main wedding dress and just certain incomprehensible, but that it
a c t , N e w H a v e n P o l i c e found »
spokesman Joe Avery said. He campus, on September 8. After details about it," Flores told happened to her, I think, is
Authorities have not described poring over hours of surveillance HLN's Nancy Grace. "We talked infinitely more so. It seems
would not elaborate. the clothes that were found, nor
Yale University President said to whom they might have tapes, authorities said they had not about this back in 2008. She was completely senseless."
found images of her leaving the a l r e a d y t h i n k i n g a b o u t t h e CNN's Mary Snow, Susan
Richard Levin told students belonged. Teams of investigators C a n diotti, Katie Ross and
Monday: "We know everyone that at a Connecticut State Police lab building. Watch timeline leading weather, whether June, July was
was in the basement. There were worked through the weekend up to Le's death » going to be too hot, August, so LaNeice Collins contributed to
limited number of people in the processing and examining the Le was to be married Sunday on September, would it be nice?" this report.
New York's Long Island to Watch Flores describe Le's plans All About New Haven• Federal
basement and we passed that on to bloodstained clothes. Bureau of Investigation• Yale
police. There is an abundance of Jonathan Widawsky, a graduate for "her dream day" »
Kaplan said a Yale police student at Columbia University. Le was from Placerville, University
evidence." official told the paper that the
Yale professor Gary Rudnick, clothes were not what Le was Her friend Vanessa Flores said California, and seemed to have
who interviewed Le when she wearing when she entered the Le was overjoyed about getting been well aware of the risks of
applied for admission to the building. married. crime in a university town. In

Citi explores sale of government stake Cave Divers Risk Their Lives to Explore the
(Financial Times - US options to facilitate a sale of the capital through a stock offering as
Underworld
homepage) government’s 34 per cent stake in well as enabling the government By Hadley Leggett (Wired Top Heinerth takes us on a
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:19:47 AM the troubled financial giant. to sell part of its stake, which was Stories) photographic tour of her cave
People close to the situation said acquired as part of a capital Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:00:00 PM diving exploits, and the
Citigroup has asked its Citi’s bankers were looking at injection to support the bank. technology she uses to stay alive.
investment bankers to study ways the company could raise Photographer and diver Jill
10 Top News/ Finance/ Gadgets/
US film star Patrick Swayze dies
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 1:41:09 AM
Please turn on JavaScript. Media
requires JavaScript to play.
Swayze fought his disease in
public
Dirty Dancing film star Patrick
Swayze has died aged 57, his
publicist says.
Annett Wolf said that the US
actor, who had been battling
pancreatic cancer for nearly two
years, died with family at his side
on Monday.
Swayze was diagnosed with
advanced stage four pancreatic
cancer in January last year.
The actor had been starring in
US TV show The Beast since
being diagnosed with the disease.
He had also planned to write a
memoir with his wife.
"Patrick Swayze passed away
peacefully today with family at
his side after facing the challenges
of his illness for the last 20
months," said a statement by
Annett Wolf quoted by the
Associated Press.
No other details were given.
Jennifer Grey, who co-starred
with Swayze in Dirty Dancing,
said in a statement: "Patrick was a
rare and beautiful combination of
raw masculinity and amazing
grace. Gorgeous and strong, he
was a real cowboy with a tender
heart.
"He was fearless and insisted on
always doing his own stunts, so it
was not surprising to me that the
war he waged on his cancer was
so courageous and dignified."
Please turn on JavaScript.
Media requires JavaScript to play.
Patrick Swayze speaking in
2006: "I'm torn between guy
movies and heart movies"
Rob Lowe, who played in a
number of films with Swayze,
said: "Patrick lived a thousand
lifetimes in one lifetime. He was
an expert dancer, he wrote hit
songs, he starred in hit movies, he
was an amazing horseman.
"But the thing I will remember
him most for was his amazing
love affair with his wife Lisa."
Demi Moore has also paid
tribute to her co-star in the hit
film Ghost, saying: "Patrick you
are loved by so many and your
light will forever shine in all of
our lives."
She added: "I love and will miss
you Patrick."
Greg Kilday, the film editor for
Hollywood Reporter, said Swayze
was "in the tradition of a
performer like Gene Kelly, who
invested dance and romance with
a real masculine athletic appeal".
Swayze's dream
In January, Swayze admitted he
might only have two years to live,
but denied he was near death.
In a US TV interview, he
admitted he was "scared" and
"going through hell".
"Am I dying? Am I giving up?
Am I on my death bed? Am I
saying goodbye to people? No
way," Swayze told TV
interviewer Barbara Walters.
"I keep dreaming of a future, a
future with a long and healthy
life, not lived in the shadow of
cancer but in the light," he said.
The film star's biographer,
Wendy Leigh, who wrote the
book Patrick Swayze One Last
Dance, said he had endured
physical pain throughout his life.
'Determined'
"As a high school athlete he
injured his knee tremendously
badly, yet he still carried on
playing football," she said.
Please turn on JavaScript.
Media requires JavaScript to play.
Stars including Sharon
Osbourne, Nick Cannon and
David Hasselhoff paid tribute
"As a dancer he had all sorts of
injuries and Patrick learnt to live
with pain, to fight pain.
"When he got diagnosed with
this awful, awful disease he was
determined to fight it and actually
he lived far longer than most
people who are diagnosed with
stage four pancreatic cancer,
which was what Patrick had."
Pancreatic cancer is one of the
most virulent forms of cancer
which medical experts say has a
5% five-year survival rate.
Print Sponsor
Internet News Record
Wall St boosted by
data and upgrades
(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:59:11 AM
US equity futures were
indicating a positive open for
Wall Street early on Tuesday, as
economic data and a number of
stock upgrades boosted sentiment.
In economic news, retail sales
for August rose the most in more
than three years, boosted by the
“cash for clunkers” car buying
programme. That sets up a
positive third quarter for
consumer spending, economists
said.
Daily Crunch:
Snuggled Edition
By Bryce Durbin (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:00:26 AM
Got $2 million? You can buy a T
-rex skeleton. Because why not?
Concept: Tie with built-in bottle
opener
Two-person Snuggie costs
$350, is made from Icelandic
wool
MIT students build $150 space
camera
It shouldn’t be this difficult to
upgrade a hard drive
Internet News Record Top News/ Gadgets/ Tech News/ 11

Leno launches prime-time television Obama renews Cuba trade

experiment - Reuters embargo
(BBC News | Americas | World Critics see it as a missed
(Most Popular - Google News) retain audiences and cut costs in when we quit a show, we actually Edition) opportunity to signal a further
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:01:33 AM the face of declining advertising left." Seinfeld even wore a tuxedo Submitted at 9/15/2009 1:30:09 AM willingness to ease relations
revenue and increased for the big night. between the two countries.
By Chris Michaud competition from videogames and 'PRONOUNCED DEAD' US President Barack Obama has Mr Obama has lifted some of
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jay social networking. The first night also featured a extended the 47-year-old trade the restrictions allowing Cuban-
Leno launched his NBC prime- "This IS the actual show," Leno faux interview by Leno with embargo against Cuba for another Americans to visit relatives
time TV talk show on Monday -- began, adding, "I apologize for Obama, which spliced the year. whenever they want and send
a venture whose success or failure my face being all over the place," president's answers from a serious In a statement, Mr Obama said money home.
is being closely watched by the a reference to the extensive media interview with the comic's that it was in the US national The two sides are once again
industry -- with familiar offerings publicity about the new show. questions, tailored for humor. interest to extend the Trading h o l d i n g d i r e c t t a l k s o n
including a topical monologue After a monologue that included "What do you think of my new With The Enemy Act which immigration and later this week
and chats with fellow comedian jokes about President Barack show?" Leno asked about the covers the trade embargo. US officials travel to Cuba to
Jerry Seinfeld and a repentant Obama and healthcare reform and experiment, before the shot cut to It is largely a symbolic step discuss resuming direct mail
Kanye West. the controversy about West and Obama intoning, "I guarantee you because the final decision rests services.
Leno, who ended his 17-year singer Taylor Swift from Sunday's this will be pronounced dead." with Congress. The Cuban authorities have
late-night run on "The Tonight MTV Video Music Awards, Leno "It crashes and burns," Obama Under legislation from 1996, the described these changes as little
Show" in May, began his new p r e s e n t e d a f i l m e d s k e t c h added when Leno posed a follow- Helms-Burton Act, the embargo more than a cosmetic coat of
NBC show by greeting a few featuring Dan Finnerty of "The up query. can only be lifted when Cuba is paint, but the US administration
audience members on stage, Hangover" entertaining car-wash Monday's show also featured an d e e m e d t o h a v e b e g u n a continues to demand that Cuba
s h a k i n g t h e i r h a n d s a n d patrons. appearance by West, who before democratic transition. must first show signs of reform
exchanging a few words against a Leno plans to have only one performing "Run This Town" Cuba has been under a financial, before lifting the embargo.
background of sectioned, brightly celebrity guest each night. But with Jay-Z and Rihanna, again trade and travel ban since 1962 - Print Sponsor
lit columns. Seinfeld, the show's premier on- apologized for hijacking 19-year- one of the last surviving remnants
His show will appear Monday set guest, shared screen time with old country music star Swift's of the Cold War.
through Friday at 10 p.m. It is the Oprah Winfrey, who appeared on moment in the spotlight at the
first prime-time talk show on U.S. tape after Leno told Seinfeld he Video Music Awards. West had MIT Students Build Space Camera For $148
television in decades. was unable to book her. grabbed the microphone from (Duct Tape Included)
Leno's move from his "Hi Jerry," she chirped, and then Swift after she won best female
comfortable 11:30 p.m. late-night conducted a brief chat with pop video for "You Belong With By Charlie Sorrel (Wired Top rockets, boosters and expensive
home to the nightly prime-time Seinfeld from which Leno was Me." Stories) control systems, they filled a
slot traditionally occupied by playfully excluded. West then declared that the Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:59:00 AM weather balloon with helium and
expensive scripted drama on Ribbing Leno on the widely award should have gone to hung a styrofoam beer cooler
leading U.S. networks is being covered end of his "Tonight Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video. Two MIT students put together a underneath to carry a cheap
scrutinized by the television Show" run, which was quickly Continued... low-budget rig to fly a camera Canon A470 compact camera.
industry. General Electric Co's followed by his new program, high enough to photograph the
NBC network is struggling to Seinfeld cracked, "In the 90s curvature of the Earth. Instead of

Microsoft's Zune HD already cracked open and photographed

By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 8:52:00 AM
Considering that even now only
a swath of Zune HD owners are
able to update their software in
order to -- you know -- have a
working device, we can
understand Anything But iPod's
eagerness to stop trying and just
crack open Microsoft's newest
entrant into the portable media
player market. Without getting
too gushy, we can definitively say
that the innards look just as sexy
as the exterior, but unfortunately
internal WiFi chip (amongst other
things) remains a mystery. Hit the
read link for a nice gallery of
closeups, but be sure and shield
your screen from any lingering
cube passers.
the make and model of the Filed under: Handhelds,
Portable Audio, Portable Video
Microsoft's Zune HD already
cracked open and photographed
originally appeared on Engadget
on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:52:00
EST. Please see our terms for use
of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
12 Top News/ Gadgets/
`Preventive' terror raid targets NYC
apartments (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:21:57 AM
NEW YORK – The investigation
of a suspected al-Qaida associate
prompted the "preventive" raid of
three New York City apartments
but authorities said the target of
any terror attack plan remained
unclear.
The searches early Monday
came after the man, who was
under surveillance for possible
links to the terrorism network,
visited New York City over the
weekend and then left the area,
said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.
Investigators issued warrants to
search the residences for
explosives material but did not
find any, according to a person
briefed on the matter who was not
authorized to discuss the case and
requested anonymity.
Sen. Charles Schumer said the
law enforcement action was
unrelated to President Barack
Obama's visit to the city Monday.
"There was nothing imminent,
and they are very good now at
tracking potentially dangerous
actions, and this was preventive,"
said Schumer, D-N.Y.
Both lawmakers were briefed
Monday by law enforcement
officials.
TC50: Control Any PC Game With Your iPhone With iMo
By MG Siegler (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:41:17 AM
One of the cooler iPhone apps to
Two U.S. intelligence officials,
who requested anonymity because
they were not authorized to
discuss the case publicly, said the
target of any purported attack or
who would carry it out remained
unclear.
Authorities have not found any
weapons ready for use that would
indicate an attack was imminent,
they said. Nevertheless, one of the
officials called the threat very real
and emphasized the urgency of it.
New York Police Department
spokesman Paul Browne
confirmed that searches were
conducted in the borough of
Queens by agents of a joint
terrorism task force.
Residents in the Flushing
neighborhood of Queens on
Monday described officers armed
with search warrants swarming
their immigrant neighborhood at
about 2:30 a.m.
Akbari Amanullah, a cab driver
who lived in an apartment with
four other natives of Afghanistan,
said when he arrived home from
work afterward, he was told that
one of his roommates had been
taken away.
No arrests were announced.
Neither the FBI nor the NYPD
would discuss the whereabouts of
the al-Qaida suspect or whether
launch last year was SGN’s iFun,
which let you use your iPhone or
iPod touch to control games on
your computer screen. But iFun only works with SGN’s own
anyone was being held for
questioning in New York.
A White House spokesman said
Obama, who spoke on Wall Street
on Monday, had been briefed on
the investigation.
The person familiar with the
case said the raids were the result
of previous law enforcement
surveillance of people.
The investigation was
continuing.
One man at a three-story brick
apartment building in the
neighborhood confirmed Monday
that authorities had been at his
apartment, but he wouldn't
identify himself or comment
further. Nearby resident Kabir
Islam said he saw FBI agents and
police officers surrounding the
apartment when he arrived home
after 3 a.m.
Amanullah said about a dozen
FBI agents went to his nearby
fifth-floor apartment at about 2:30
a.m.
___
Associated Press writers Eileen
Sullivan, Lara Jakes and Pamela
Hess in Washington and Adam
Goldman in New York
contributed to this report. Barrett
reported from Washington.
Internet News Record
Military robot 'hops' over
walls
(BBC News | Americas | World The programme is being funded
Edition) by Darpa, the US military's
Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:06:52 AM research arm.
Earlier this year, Sandia
Please turn on JavaScript. Media National Laboratories awarded
requires JavaScript to play. the contract to build the next
The robot is able to leap over generation of the hopper to
fences and walls Massachusetts-based robotics firm
Video footage has been released Boston Dynamics.
of a robot that can leap over Researchers at Sandia have tried
obstacles more than 7.5m (25ft) out the robot on a variety of
high. different surfaces.
Most of the time, the shoebox- The semi-autonomous, GPS-
sized robot - which is being guided gadget could be used for
developed for the US military - s u r v e i l l a n c e i n u r b a n
uses its four wheels to get around. e n v i r o n m e n t s .
But the Precision Urban Hopper Its developers say this could
can use a piston-actuated "leg" to p o t e n t i a l l y r e d u c e t r o o p
launch it over obstacles such as c a s u a l t i e s .
walls or fences. Testing and delivery of the
The robot could boost the P r e c i s i o n U r b a n H o p p e r i s
capabilities of troops and special p l a n n e d f o r l a t e 2 0 1 0 .
forces engaged in urban warfare, Print Sponsor
say researchers.
games like iGolf. A new startup,
iMo, launching today at
TechCrunch50, expands the
ability to all PC games.
Internet News Record Top News/ World/ Tech/ 13

House to Discipline Wilson for 'You 10% of Afghan poll

Lie!' Outburst - FOXNews sites face recounts
(Most Popular - Google News) session. Rangel, D-N.Y., or Rep. John (World news and comment southern Afghanistan, where
Submitted at 9/15/2009 2:38:52 AM "We're not the British parliament Murtha, D-Pa., or others. from the Guardian | Karzai would expect strong
for a reason," said Kristie Greco, The resolution is "privileged," guardian.co.uk) support from his fellow ethnic
• Photos spokeswoman for House Majority meaning whenever it is introduced Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:46:57 AM Pashtuns, although Kippen said
Sept. 9: Rep. Joe Wilson of Whip Jim Clyburn, D- the measure goes to the front of that all provinces were affected by
South Carolina is seen shouting S.C.,."Ignoring the issue sets a the legislative line. It is unclear Votes from more than 2,500 the recount order. The ECC has
"you lie!" at President Obama precedent for bad behavior." who will call up the measure. centres to be audited because of already thrown out ballots from
during his speech to Congress in Greco described the resolution A "resolution of disapproval" is possible irregularities, election 83 polling stations, all in areas of
Washington. (AFP) as "direct" and "non-partisan." not one of the four forms of official says support for Karzai.
House Democratic leaders have "It goes directly to conduct on discipline typically meted out in A UN-backed monitoring body The country's election
decided to formally discipline the House floor," Greco said. the House. The most commonly has ordered Afghanistan's election commission originally hoped to
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., on Most Democrats in the House used means of punishment are commission to recount ballots declare a certified winner this
Tuesday for his jeer last week at appear poised to sanction Wilson. expulsion, censure, reprimand or from about 10% of the country's week but fraud claims have
President Obama during a joint But many Republicans argue that fine. polling stations because of pushed that timeline back by
session of Congress. since the South Carolina For instance, in 1997, former suspicious totals in last month's weeks, leaving the country in
The punishment is expected Republican has already House Speaker Newt Gingrich presidential vote, an official said political limbo at a time when the
take the form of a "resolution of apologized, this step is was both reprimanded and fined today. Taliban is unleashing a record
disapproval," which is a milder unnecessary. House Speaker for his book deal. Rep. Barney The figure raises the possibility number of attacks.
version of other more traditional Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opposed Frank, D-Mass., was reprimanded that Hamid Karzai's lead could The most recent preliminary
means of congressional discipline punishing Wilson until Clyburn in 1990 for ethical breaches tied drop below the 50% threshold, results had Karzai leading with
like a censure or fine. Wilson can and other Democratic leaders to a male prostitute. Republicans forcing the country to hold a 5 4 % o f t h e v o t e , a g a i n s t
avoid the rap on the wrists by persuaded her to change her mind. tried to censure Rep. Pete Stark, R second-round runoff between the Abdullah's 28%. If enough votes
apologizing to his colleagues on Critics say Democrats are only -Calif., in 2007 for comments he p r e s i d e n t a n d h i s n e a r e s t are eliminated due to fraud
the House floor, but Wilson -- prolonging the issue and hurting made on the House floor about challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. complaints, Karzai's tally could
who already apologized directly themselves by pushing for further President Bush. But Democrats Ballots from more than 2,500 fall below the key 50% mark. The
to the White House -- has said action against Wilson. voted to set aside that effort. polling sites would need to be latest results reflected 93% of
that's not going to happen. Republicans may use the Wilson A simple majority vote is recounted, said Grant Kippen, the polling stations, with 5% of the
Wilson bellowed "You lie!" at resolution to try to embarrass needed to approve the resolution head of the Electoral Complaints votes still to be counted and the
Obama during his address. It's Democrats Tuesday, by bringing against Wilson. Commission, which is led by remaining 2% quarantined for
against House rules to call the up the alleged ethical lapses of three international and two suspected fraud.
president a "liar" or accuse him of House Ways and Means Afghan commissioners. Grant said it was not clear how
"lying" when the House is in Committee Chairman Charlie Last week the ECC ordered much longer the ECC and IEC
A f g h a n i s t a n ' s i n d e p e n d e n t would need to complete the fraud
iPhone/iPod touch debrickification clinic election commission, the body in investigations and recounts,
charge of the vote, to recount and although he has hinted that weeks
By Erica Sadun (The Unofficial informal, interactive debricking- Continue reading iPhone/iPod audit ballot boxes from stations of work remain. "We need to be
Apple Weblog (TUAW)) clinic this evening (14 September, touch debrickification clinic that had 100% turnout or where a thorough about the job that we
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:25:00 PM 9:30pm ET) for hands-on therapy. TUAW iPhone/iPod touch candidate received more than 95% need to do," he said.
We'll look into a variety of fix-it debrickification clinic originally of the valid votes. • Afghanistan
Filed under: How-tos, iTunes, lore that may (or, sadly, may not) appeared on The Unofficial Apple The number of stations affected • Hamid Karzai
T r o u b l e s h o o t i n g , i P h o n e , help you get your device back to Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Sep by the order had proved to be • United Nations
L i v e b l o g , i P o d t o u c h G o t working order. Check in with the 2009 21:25:00 EST. Please see more than 2,500, Kippen said. guardian.co.uk© Guardian
troubles? Feeling the mobile discussion to see whether there's a our terms for use of feeds. There were about 26,300 polling News & Media Limited 2009 |
device blues? Is your iPhone or tip that might help. Read| Permalink| Email this| stations across Afghanistan on Use of this content is subject to
iPod touch seemingly bricked Click this link or "Read More" Comments election day. our Terms & Conditions| More
without a recovery solution after below to see & participate in the The most serious allegations of Feeds
the 3.1 update? Join us for an CoverItLive event. fraud have been lodged in
14 World/ Gadgets/
Actors lead tributes to Patrick Swayze
By Helen Pidd, Matt Weaver
(World news and comment
from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:16:35 AM
Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg
and Rob Lowe mourn passing of a
'real cowboy with a tender heart'
• Datablog: Every Patrick
Swayze film - and how well it did
at the box office
Actors who starred alongside
Patrick Swayze in his best-known
films have begun sending tributes
to the former dancer turned actor
who has died aged 57 from
pancreatic cancer.
Jennifer Grey, who co-starred
with Swayze in Dirty Dancing led
the tributes, releasing a statement
that said: "Patrick was a rare and
beautiful combination of raw
masculinity and amazing grace.
"Gorgeous and strong, he was a
real cowboy with a tender heart.
He was fearless and insisted on
always doing his own stunts, so it
was not surprising to me that the
war he waged on his cancer was
so courageous and dignified."
Writing on Twitter Demi
Moore, who played Molly,
fiancee to Swayze's character
Sam, in the 1990 film Ghost said:
" Patrick you are loved by so
many and your light will forever
shine in all of our lives."
In another message, slipping
into character, she said: "And in
the words of Sam to Molly. 'It's
Zune HD Disassembly Reveals Touching Dedication [Zune Hd]
By Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:10:00 AM
While some may note the
amazing Molly. The love inside,
you take it with you.'
Whoopi Goldberg, who also
appeared in Ghost, said: "Patrick
was a really good man, a funny
man and one to whom I owe
much that I can't ever repay. I
believe in Ghost's message, so
he'll always be near."
Swayze went public with his
illness in spring last year, and
worked while he underwent
treatment. He was writing a
memoir and recently made The
Beast, a well-received cable TV
series about a veteran FBI agent.
Days ago it was reported he had
left hospital to be at home with
his wife, Lisa Niemi, his
childhood sweetheart from
Houston.
Swayze had said that he opted
not to use painkillers while
making The Beast because they
would have taken the edge off his
performance, but he never shied
away from the fact his time may
be running out. When he first
went public, some reports gave
him weeks to live, but his doctor
said his situation was
"considerably more optimistic"
than that.
"I'd say five years is pretty
wishful thinking," Swayze told
ABC TV's Barbara Walters early
this year. "Two years seems likely
if you're going to believe
statistics. I want to last until they
find a cure, which means I'd better
get a fire under it."
prominent placement of the
NVIDIA Tegra, others will check
the inside of the case. The
inscription reads " For Our
Swayze will be best
remembered for Dirty Dancing,
made in 1987. As the snake-
hipped dance instructor Johnny
Castle, he taught Frances "Baby"
Houseman to dance, and won the
hearts of teenage girls with the
immortal line: "No one puts baby
in the corner."
Dirty Dancing, which was made
for a modest budget and almost
scrapped by its studio, became a
massive box-office hit, earning
Golden Globe nominations for
both of its stars and spawning the
Oscar-winning hit single (I've
Had) The Time of My Life. The
film reaped $64m (£39m) at the
US box office and $214m
worldwide.
Swayze co-wrote and performed
the song She's Like the Wind for
the movie's soundtrack, which
went to No3 in the music charts.
The film remained widely popular
more than two decades later and
recently spawned a stage musical
version.
The 1990 film Ghost cemented
Swayze as a favourite. It was an
even bigger hit than Dirty
Dancing, with a domestic box
office take of more than $217m,
and $505m around the world.
After his early success,
Swayze's personal life took a turn
for the worse. Unable to cope
with his father's death and sister's
suicide in 1994, he repeatedly
lapsed into alcoholism. In 1996 he
broke both legs in a horse-riding
Princess" and serves as a tribute
stunt; in 2000 he made an
emergency landing in his Cessna,
and appeared to attempt to
remove a crate of drink from the
plane.
But in recent years he had made
a comeback, playing Nathan
Detroit in the West End revival of
Guys and Dolls in 2006.
Writing on Twitter Larry King
said: " Patrick Swayze was a
wonderful actor & a terrific guy.
He put his heart in everything. He
was an extraordinary fighter in his
battle w Cancer."
His early work included Francis
Ford Coppola's 1983 film The
Outsiders, where Swayze played
alongside Rob Lowe in a star-
studded lineup.
"He was an expert dancer, he
wrote hit songs, he starred in hit
movies, he was an amazing
horseman. But the thing I will
remember him most for was his
amazing love affair with his wife,
Lisa," Lowe said.
"He played my brother twice, in
The Outsiders when I was 17, and
then in Youngblood.
"Tonight I lost a brother."
• Patrick Swayze
• United States
Helen Pidd Matt Weaver
guardian.co.uk© Guardian
News & Media Limited 2009 |
Use of this content is subject to
our Terms & Conditions| More
Feeds
to a Zune team member who
passed during development. [
anythingbutipod]
Internet News Record
Zune HD Will Have
Apps like Twitter and
Facebook, Plus 3D
Games [Zune Hd]
By Danny Allen (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:30:00 AM
Have you noticed all the Zune
HD unboxing galleries around the
Interwebs right now? While it hits
stores today, no one's been able to
completely review it
yet—Microsoft has only just
posted the required Zune 4.0
software online.
We're working on the full
review as I type this, but while
you wait:
• Zune HD Hands On: Photos
and Video Tour
• Zune HD TV Interface
Walkthrough
• Microsoft Says No Zune HD
Outside the U.S (For Now)
New features in the Zune 4.0
software include quickplay, smart
DJ, mini mode, mixview, and the
Zune Marketplace with apps and
games. Microsoft says it plans
Twitter and Facebook apps later
this year, and some of the first 3D
games for the Nvidia Tegra-
powered player will be Project
Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition,
Vans Sk8: Pool Service, and
Audiosurf Tilt. (Meanwhile, older
Zunes can update to software 3.2)
And as you can see below,
Xbox 360 streaming is on the
way... [ Zune.net and
PRNewsWire]
Internet News Record World/ Gadgets/ Tech News/ 15

Freed Iraqi shoe thrower tells of torture in jail

By Martin Chulov (World news me," he told the news conference. the headquarters of his employers, seems most likely that Zaidi will
and comment from the "And here I want to warn all my the al-Baghdadiya television travel to Greece to address health
Guardian | guardian.co.uk) relatives and people close to me station, he said he had "vowed to concerns. He also has a standing
Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:45:41 AM that these services will use all the victims" that he would take invite from the Libyan leader,
means to trap and try to kill and revenge. Muammar Gaddafi, as well as the
'My flower to the occupier': liquidate me either physically, He described the press offer of citizenship and $100,000
Defiant journalist Muntazer al- socially or professionally." conference with Bush as "an from the Venezuelan president,
Zaidi stands by protest against The reporter said he was abused opportunity I could not waste". Hugo Chávez.
visiting George Bush immediately after his arrest, and His brother Uday told Reuters: Zaidi told his brothers from
The Iraqi journalist who threw the next day. He said he was "Thanks be to God that Muntazer prison during the past few days
his shoes at George Bush has beaten with iron bars, whipped has seen the light of day. I wish that he wants to continue working Sony Ericsson's
marked his release from jail by with cords and electrocuted in the Bush could see our happiness. with Iraq's underclass as well as
angrily defending his action and backyard of the building in the When President Bush looks back those disadvantaged by the six- £530 Pureness is
claiming he was tortured after his Green Zone. and turns the pages of his life, he year occupation.
arrest. "In the morning, I was left in the will see the shoes of Muntazer al- But his life is sure to be 'iconic' not ironic
Muntazer al-Zaidi's supporters cold weather after they splashed Zaidi on every page." transformed dramatically. His By Thomas Ricker (Engadget)
and family gave him a rapturous me with water," he said. Zaidi's family had been told not supporters and regimes across the Submitted at 9/15/2009 7:57:00 AM
welcome, sacrificing six sheep to He went on to defend his assault to hold a highly visible public Middle East are determined to
mark his release and hanging on Bush. "Simply put, what celebration to mark his release. hail Zaidi as a David and Goliath There's nothing typical about
laurels of flowers around his neck. incited me toward confrontation is Nine months on, the shoe- figure who finally did what Sony Ericsson's Pureness handset
Wearing an Iraqi flag, Zaidi the oppression that fell upon my throwing incident remains highly leaders in the region had been too so why should details about its
gave a detailed account of being people and how the occupation embarrassing to the prime cowed to do. launch differ? Brand Republic, a
tortured after his arrest, and wanted to humiliate my homeland minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who Zaidi's three brothers had said magazine focused on advertising,
vowed to reveal the names of by placing it under its boots," he seems determined not to allow the that they feared for his life. A quotes Sony Ericsson's director of
senior officials in the Iraqi said. Iraqi journalist who humbled brand new four-bedroom house marketing, Cathy Davies, saying
government and army who he said Zaidi said "throwing shoes George Bush to be feted with hero bought and furnished for him by that the low-spec'd (said to lack
h a d b e e n i n v o l v e d i n h i s against the war criminal Bush" status. his employers is set to remain GPS, camera, WiFi, and gasp, a
mistreatment. was his answer to the cries of But in Zaidi's one-bedroom empty until Zaidi's security can be touchscreen) candybar with
Appearing with a missing front those bereaved by the conflict. apartment in the riverside suburb assured. translucent display will go on sale
tooth, he told of beatings, "The criminal murderer is of Rashid, family members were • Muntazer al-Zaidi: the Iraqi in November for £530 at
whippings and electric shocks standing here expecting us to dancing and preparing food, even shoe thrower Selfridges and "design museum
after his arrest. He said he now throw flowers at him; this was my through it is Ramadan, the holy • Iraq shops." And if it wasn't already
feared for his life, and believed flower to the occupier." month during which Muslims are • Middle East clear (get it?), SE says that it's
US intelligence agents would Zaidi also talked of seeing forbidden from eating and Martin Chulov positioning the device as "an
chase after him. "many, many massacres in every drinking during daylight hours. guardian.co.uk© Guardian iconic niche product, not mass-
"These fearful services, the US inch of our homeland" and of In contrast to yesterday, Zaidi's News & Media Limited 2009 | market." In other words, Harrods
intelligence services and its "witnessing the screams of three brothers were remaining Use of this content is subject to shoppers need not apply.
affiliated services, will spare no victims and the cries of bereaved tight-lipped about his next move. our Terms & Conditions| More [Via Techradar]
efforts to track me as an insurgent women". His employers were anticipating Feeds Filed under: Cellphones
revolutionary ... in a bid to kill Speaking through a translator at him returning to work. However it Sony Ericsson's £530 Pureness
Airlines Help Terminal Man Clean Up is 'iconic' not ironic originally
appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15
By Brendan Ross (Wired Top other people reading this who are on. But I will say it was Sep 2009 07:57:00 EST. Please
Stories) using the All You Can Jet pass to completely within the rules — I see our terms for use of feeds.
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:00:00 AM explore JetBlue’s route map, so didn’t leave airport property. And Read| Permalink| Email this|
I’m going to hold off on saying it didn’t cost me a dime. Comments
W i t h a l o n g s t o p i n F t . how I pulled it off. I don’t want
Lauderdale I had time to catch a anybody stealing my technique
real shower. I know there are and making it harder for me later
16 World/ Gadgets/ Tech News/ TV Internet News Record

Somali insurgents vow US revenge

By Ewen MacAskill (World Reuters. it accused of running training Mogadishu. A witness, Abdi
news and comment from the A US official said two men camps in Somalia for local and Ahmed, told the Associated Press
Guardian | guardian.co.uk) travelling in a car in Somalia were foreign fighters. A Pentagon that six helicopters "buzzed" the
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:45:34 AM killed when helicopters opened spokesman, Bryan Whitman, village before two of them opened
fire yesterday, and two others declined to comment "on any fire. The helicopters then landed
'They will taste the bitterness of were wounded and captured. alleged operation in Somalia", as and white foreign soldiers got out,
our response,' says al-Shabab Another official said it was most did the White House. he said.
commander after death of Saleh likely that Nabhan, who had been Bill Clinton's administration A witness on the ground said Official Xbox 360
Ali Nabhan on the FBI wanted list for several drastically reduced its military they took only two wounded men, 802.11n Wi-Fi Adapter
Senior members of Somalia's years, had been killed. involvement in Somalia after the but a US official said they also
insurgency vowed revenge today Witnesses on the ground said Black Hawk Down fiasco in 1993, took Nabhan's body. Muhammad Coming Soon [Xbox
for a US raid that killed a senior al military helicopters strafed a car but George Bush resumed limited Ali Aden, a bus driver who drove 360]
-Qaida commander high on the carrying Nabhan, killing some military operations, with an attack past the burnt-out car minutes
FBI's most wanted terrorist list. passengers and wounding others, by one of its gunships on later, said: "There was only a By Danny Allen (Gizmodo)
Saleh Ali Nabhan, 28, a leader s o u t h o f M o g a d i s h u . T h e suspected al-Qaida members in burning vehicle and two dead Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:09:44 AM
of al-Shabab, a group closely helicopters landed and took the 2007. The Obama administration, bodies lying beside it."
linked to al-Qaida, was killed wounded men, and possibly fearful of growing al-Qaida Some locals reported that the If you want to stream 1080p TV
yesterday by helicopter-borne US N a b h a n ' s b o d y , w i t h t h e m , influence in the Horn of Africa, foreign troops had French flags on shows and movies from the
special forces. He was alleged to w i t n e s s e s s a i d . has indicated a willingness to their uniforms, but the French Zune/video store this fall, your
have been involved in the Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, a provide more military and defence ministry denied having a 360 needs to be hard wired to
bombings of US embassies in Somali militia that has been economic support for the military presence in the area at the your router, or on an 802.11n
Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 that battling al-Shabab and is allied government against insurgents time. France has troops stationed network. Knowing this, Microsoft
killed 229 people. He was also with the UN-backed government such as al-Shabab. in neighbouring Djibouti. In May is readying an official 802.11n
accused of involvement in attacks of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, praised On a visit to Africa last month, last year, US aircraft killed the adapter.
in 2002 on a hotel in Mombasa, the US raid. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary then leader of al-Shabab, Aden We also just found out that the
Kenya, popular with Israelis, in "We are very pleased with the of state, met Ahmed, who controls Hashi Ayro, in Duasmareb. Zune HD will soon be able to
which 15 people died, and a helicopters that killed the foreign only a small portion of the • Somalia wirelessly stream stored video to
botched missile attack on a plane a l - S h a b a a b f i g h t e r s , " a country, and promised him • Al-Qaida an Xbox 360. Problem is, the
carrying tourists from Mombasa spokesman, Sheikh Abdullahi support in the fight against the • Global terrorism Zune HD only has
to Israel. Sheikh Abu Yussuf, told Reuters. group. • US foreign policy 802.11b/g—notorious for
"They will taste the bitterness of "God sent birds against those who "Certainly if al-Shabab were to • United States spluttering HD content. While
our response," an al-Shabab attacked the holy mosque, the obtain a haven in Somalia which Ewen MacAskill Microsoft's "Smooth Streaming"
commander told the Associated Ka'ba, millennia ago. The same could then attract al-Qaida and guardian.co.uk© Guardian technology should be great for
Press. way, God has sent bombers other terrorists actors, it would be News & Media Limited 2009 | standard-def, I'm kinda skeptical
"Al-Shabab will continue against al-Shabab. We hope more a threat to the United States," she Use of this content is subject to about the HD side of things.
targeting western countries, aircraft will destroy the rest of al- said. our Terms & Conditions| More But anyway, an official 802.11n
especially America ... we are Shabab, who have abused Islam Yesterday's attack took place Feeds adapter for the 360? Sounds good
killing them and they are hunting and massacred Somalis." near Roobow village, in Barawe to me. It's hit the FCC, and we'll
us," a spokesman, Sheikh Bare The US had tried several times district, an area controlled by al- let you know pricing/availability
Mohamed Farah Khoje, told in the past to kill Nabhan, whom Shabaab about 150 miles south of when Microsoft fills us in. [ FCC]

Sept. 15, 1947: Association for Computing Machinery Sneak Peek: this Sunday's Mad Men
Gets Whirring By Bob Sassone (TV Squad) episode will be great, but isn't staff of Sterling Cooper.
By Randy Alfred (Wired Top regional group to advance their Submitted at 9/15/2009 8:00:00 AM "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Filed under: Video, Reality-
Stories) burgeoning field. It doesn't stay Agency" a terrific title for a Mad Free, Mad Men
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:00:00 PM regional for long. I'm not someone who thinks that Men episode? In this sneak peek Permalink| Email this| |
a TV episode title (or book title or below, Lane Pryce and his Comments
A bunch of computer pros start a film title or song title) irritating assistant John Hooker
automatically means that the have a big announcement for the
Internet News Record World/ Finance/ Entertainment 17

Fonda apology over anti-Israel Cramer on BloggingStocks:

petition U.S. should take its Citi
By Ben Child (World news and
comment from the Guardian |
this the letter allowed good people
to close their ears and their
Palestinian-Israeli director Elia
Sulieman, among others,
profit and skedaddle
guardian.co.uk) hearts." proponent Elle Flanders said the By Jim Cramer
Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:22:40 AM However Fonda pointed out that letter was not targeted at Israeli (BloggingStocks)
her decision had been based on film-makers themselves, "but Submitted at 9/15/2009 8:30:00 AM
Fonda regrets signing letter anger over the suspicion that rather the frame".
o b j e c t i n g t o T o r o n t o f i l m Toronto was being used by the She said: "Our campaign was Filed under: Market matters,
festival's decision to showcase Israeli government to boost its meant to begin the dialogue that Citigroup Inc. (C), Cramer on
films from Tel Aviv newly launched campaign to TIFF missed out on – one that BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
Jane Fonda has apologised for "rebrand" the country. "Arye refuses the Israeli government's From TheStreet.com Network
signing a petition decrying the M e k e l , t h e I s r a e l i f o r e i g n attempt to shift attention away • Wells Fargo Scandal the Least
decision by organisers of the ministry's director general for from the conflict that it maintains of Its Worries
Toronto film festival to showcase cultural affairs, has said that and worsens daily." • Lehman Anger: One Year
films from the Israeli capital, Tel artists and writers must be Israeli film-maker Samuel Later
Aviv. enlisted in order to 'show Israel's Maoz, whose film Lebanon won TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer
In a post on the Huffington Post prettier face, so we are not the Golden Lion at Venice at the says if the government sells its
blog yesterday, Fonda said she thought of purely in the context of weekend, has been among the Citi stake in dribs and drabs, it
had signed the letter, which has war'," she said. "The protesters most vocal critics of Fonda's could leave a large gain on the
b e e n f i e r c e l y c r i t i c i s e d b y felt it was wrong for the much- decision. He told the Observer: table.
Hollywood luminaries such as respected festival to be used in "The point of a film like mine is Now that the lock-up for the
Jerry Seinfeld, Natalie Portman this manner." to open a dialogue, to get people government on its
and Sacha Baron Cohen, "without The original protest letter was talking to each other about Citigroup(NYSE: C) ( Cramer's would think that the government's
reading it carefully enough, written by a group of Toronto- important issues. This is Take) stake has come and gone about to give up a buck and break
without asking myself if some of based film-makers angered by the something you can't do if films the U.S. has several ways to sell even on the thing.
the wording wouldn't exacerbate festival's decision to put Tel Aviv are boycotted. It makes no sense its gigantic stake in the bank and Continue reading Cramer on
the situation rather than bring at the centre of its inaugural City to boycott art. Maybe I wouldn't right now it looks like it is BloggingStocks: U.S. should take
about constructive dialogue". to City programme. It was then have won if Jane Fonda was on considering all the wrong ones. its Citi profit and skedaddle
She continued: "In the hyper- signed by more than 1,500 the jury, but she wasn't." Professionals know that you Cramer on BloggingStocks:
sensitised reality of the region in supporters, including director Guy The Toronto film festival runs never turn a gain into a loss and U.S. should take its Citi profit and
which any criticism of Israel is Maddin, actor Viggo Mortensen, until Saturday. the government's got a gain on its skedaddle originally appeared on
swiftly and often unfairly branded author Naomi Klein and musician • Festivals shares. So what the heck? Dispose BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Sep
as anti-Semitic, it can become David Byrne. • Israel them. We don't want the 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see
counterproductive to inflame Yesterday the film-makers held Ben Child government to play market with our terms for use of feeds.
rather than explain and this means a press conference refuting claims guardian.co.uk© Guardian its stock. If you read the Permalink| Email this| Comments
to hear the narratives of both they advocated a boycott of the News & Media Limited 2009 | commentary on this site you
sides, to articulate the suffering on festival over the Tel Aviv focus. Use of this content is subject to
b o t h s i d e s , n o t j u s t t h e Speaking alongside Toronto film- our Terms & Conditions| More
Palestinians. By neglecting to do m a k e r J o h n G r e y s o n a n d Feeds

Jennifer Grey Remembers 'Dirty Dancing' Co-Star Patrick Swayze

(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:04:00 PM
Actress Jennifer Grey, who
appeared alongside Patrick
Swayze in his star-making turn in
'Dirty Dancing,' remembers the
late actor.
"Patrick was a rare and beautiful
combination of raw masculinity
and amazing grace," Jennifer
recalled fondly in a statement to
ET. "Gorgeous and strong, he was
a real cowboy with a tender heart.
He was fearless and insisted on
always doing his own stunts, so it
was not surprising to me that the
war he waged on his cancer was
so courageous and dignified.
When I think of him, I think of
being in his arms when we were
kids, dancing, practicing the lift in
the freezing lake, having a blast
doing this tiny little movie we
thought no one would ever see.
My heart goes out to his wife and
childhood sweetheart, Lisa Niemi,
to his mom, Patsy, and to the rest
of their family."
18 World/ Finance/ Internet News Record

NY smoking ban may be taken Before the bell: Stocks

outside futures drift ahead of retail,
By James Meikle (World news
and comment from the
Times reported today, suggesting
it "might not be logistically
most restaurants in 1995,
followed by prohibition in
inflation data
Guardian | guardian.co.uk) possible to enforce a ban across workplaces and indoor public By Melly Alazraki
Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:33:34 AM thousands of acres". places in 2003, three years before (BloggingStocks)
Cigarette makers Phillip Morris bans came into force in Scotland Submitted at 9/15/2009 7:40:00 AM
City officials may ban smoking USA did not like the idea at all. and four years before they were
in parks and outside spaces "We believe that smoking should introduced in England and Wales. Filed under: Before the bell,
Smokers in the "land of the be permitted outdoors except in The Department of Health in International markets, China,
free" are finding themselves very particular circumstances, England said today it had no plans Market matters, Citigroup Inc.
increasingly less free to pursue such as outdoor areas primarily to extend smokefree areas, saying (C), Bank of America (BAC),
their habit. designated for children," a such moves were up to local Economic data, Federal Reserve,
New York City officials are the company spokesman said. authorities. Financial Crisis U.S. stock futures
latest to consider banning But the ban plan from the city's New York set Britain and other meandered on Tuesday morning, are expected to have risen 2%,
smoking in their parks and outside health commissioner, Thomas US authorities another public the one-year anniversary of the according to Thomson Reuters.
spaces – and where the US leads, Farley, won some backing from health example recently by Lehman Brothers bankruptcy that While excluding autos, sales are
the UK often follows. the council's speaker, Christine requiring its restaurants to list marked the financial crisis forecast to have climbed only
Having driven smokers outside Quinn. Fines should be modest, calorie counts on their menus. The meltdown. Investors will focus on 0.4%, it is a reversal of July's
their workplaces and enclosed she said, but "conceptually, that's UK government's Food Standards retail and wholesale inflation data 0.6% decline.
public places, city authorities are an idea I'm very, very interested Agency has said it hopes a set to be released ahead of the Continue reading Before the
considering limiting the options in and open to". voluntary scheme will be widely opening bell, as well as a speech bell: Stocks futures drift ahead of
for a quick puff. Such bans remain rare but are followed. from Federal Reserve Chairman retail, inflation data
The possibility of extending increasing, with California in the • New York Ben Bernanke. Before the bell: Stocks futures
s m o k e f r e e l e g i s l a t i o n w a s vanguard. State legislators there • Smoking Several economic reports are drift ahead of retail, inflation data
outlined in a public health policy have prohibited smoking in all • United States due out this morning: originally appeared on
document (pdf). However the state parks and on parts of • US healthcare • At 8:30 a.m. Eastern, retail BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Sep
mayor, Michael Bloomberg – who beaches, two years after Los James Meikle sales data for August will be 2009 07:40:00 EST. Please see
has championed anti-smoking Angeles extended its existing ban guardian.co.uk© Guardian reported. It is expected the data to our terms for use of feeds.
programmes but is up for re- on playgrounds and beaches to News & Media Limited 2009 | show the impact of the Cash for Permalink| Email this| Comments
election – appeared to qualify the parks. Chicago still allows Use of this content is subject to Clunkers program as well as the
extent of the restrictions. He smoking in many of its parks, but our Terms & Conditions| More rise in gas prices. Overall, sales
wanted "to see if smoking in b a n s i t a t b e a c h e s a n d Feeds
parks has a negative impact on p l a y g r o u n d s .
people's health", the New York New York banned smoking in

GE to increase its solar power production

By Connie Madon GE already has a foot in the Immelt, GE's chief executive GE to increase its solar power
(BloggingStocks) market, but up to this point it has officer, told the Financial Times production originally appeared on
Submitted at 9/15/2009 8:00:00 AM produced only $200 million in that energy was "clearly one of BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Sep
sales. the big industrial businesses filled 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see
Filed under: General Electric GE made a minor acquisition in with what I would call seismic our terms for use of feeds. Read|
(GE) the solar field with the purchase change, whether it's clean energy Permalink| Email this| Comments
G e n e r a l E l e c t r i c of Astropower, and it acquired a or scarcity of resources."
Company(NYSE GE) plans to stake in PrimeStar Solar. Now GE energy market and sees it as a Continue reading GE to increase
ramp up its solar power division. is taking a long-term view of the multi-billion dollar industry. Jeff its solar power production
Internet News Record
Obama's Financial Reform - A Distraction from the Real
Issues
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:20:42 AM
By Simon Johnson
President Obama’s speech
yesterday was disappointing. As a
diagnosis of the problems that let
us into financial crisis, it was his
clearest and best effort so far. He
didn’t say it was a rare accident
for which no one is to blame;
rather he placed the blame
squarely on the structure,
incentives, and actions of Wall
Street.
But then he said: our regulatory
reforms will fix that. This is hard
to believe. And even the President
seems to have his doubts, because
he added a plea that – in the
meantime – the financial sector
should behave better.
The audience was comprised of
our financial elite, but the Wall
Street Journal reports“not one
CEO from a top U.S. bank was in
attendance” (p.A4). How’s that
for demonstrating respect,
gratitude, and a willingness to
behave better?
Louis Brandeis, of course,
would have seen things
differently. The author of “ Other
People’s Money: And How The
Bankers Use It,” was under no
illusions concerning the
underlying financial power
structures and how they operated.
He would have regarded an
appeal to the better nature of
bankers as somewhere between
humorous and sad.
The only thing that will make a
difference is regulation. This is
the lesson of the 1930s in the US
– the regulations imposed at that
time created a financial sector that
did not impede growth after
World War II; basic
intermediation (connecting savers
and borrowers) worked fine and
destabilizing frenzies were
avoided. During this period, the
financial sector came up with
venture capital, ATMs, and credit
cards – arguably the three most
important financial innovations of
the past 100 years, and much
more helpful of real innovation
than anything you’ve seen since
1980.
President Obama claimed that
three regulatory proposals will
make the system safer.
“First, we’re proposing new
rules to protect consumers and a
new Consumer Financial
Protection Agency to enforce
those rules.” This is a very good
thing, and of course the banks are
adamantly opposed. But this
Agency will not by itself bring us
financial stability; that requires
change at the level of how banks
and other financial institutions are
operated.
Second, he talked about “gaps
in regulation”; this is international
finance bureaucrat code for mush
(doesn’t the President know
this?). The specific potentially
interesting pieces he put under
this heading were run together in
this paragraph,
While holding the Federal
Reserve fully accountable for
regulation of the largest, most
interconnected firms, we’ll create
an oversight council to bring
together regulators from across
markets to share information, to
identify gaps in regulation, and to
tackle issues that don’t fit neatly
into an organizational chart. We’ll
also require these financial firms
to meet stronger capital and
liquidity requirements and
observe greater constraints on
their risky behavior. That’s one of
the lessons of the past year. The
only way to avoid a crisis of this
magnitude is to ensure that large
firms can’t take risks that threaten
our entire financial system, and to
make sure they have the resources
to weather even the worst of
economic storms.
Making the Fed responsible for
the largest firms could work, but
only if the Fed throws out pretty
much everything about the
Greenspan doctrine of cleaning up
after financial messes, rather than
preventing them. There is no
indication they are moving in this
direction.
The oversight council is
unlikely to make a difference. If
you ask someone, “Who is
responsible for this problem?” and
they answer, “Well, we have a
committee,” does that make you
feel better or worse?
The administration will not tell
anyone the exact capital and
liquidity requirements they are
proposing, but close observers of
the internal administration process
have taken to calling the likely
increases “dinky”. Remember, the
last time our financial system
showed this taste for risk and a
comparable level of incompetence
(prior to 1935), it had equity
relative to assets roughly three
times current levels (e.g., put into
tier one-equivalent terms). There
is no proposal on the table, either
in the US or within the G20, that
is even remotely in the right
ballpark. President Obama has put
his finger on the problem but is
apparently unwilling to do
anything about it.
The most remarkable phrasing
is probably,
Even as we’ve proposed
safeguards to make the failure of
large and interconnected firms
less likely, we’ve also proposed
creating what’s called “resolution
authority” in the event that such a
failure happens and poses a threat
to the stability of the financial
system. This is intended to put an
end to the idea that some firms are
“too big to fail.”
It is very hard to understand
how the administration can say
this with a straight face. Certainly
a resolution authority would help,
but all bank interventions are
negotiated receiverships or
conservatorships of some kind.
When banks are failing, they need
a lot of money fast and you have
them over a barrel. But if they are
vast, complex, and – remember
this – cross-border, then taking
them over or shutting them down
can be scary, whether or not you
have a “legal authority”. Please
point out to me (a) what the US is
pushing the G20 to implement in
terms of a cross-border resolution
authority, and (b) how you would
intervene in a bank like Citi ( C)
without a cross-border authority.
This rhetoric around this issue is
completely not serious – in fact,
it’s a distraction from the real
issues.
And, of course, the real issues
were not mentioned at all.
1) The largest financial
institutions have to be made
smaller — aim to make them
Economy/ 19
under $100bn in assets, roughly
the size of CIT Group ( CIT)
which even this Treasury was
willing to leave to its own
devices. We can do it with
legislation now or by regulatory
fiat next time the behemoths get
into trouble, but we should do it
before they ruin us.
2) The people who run banks
like to talk about “skin in the
game” in various contexts, but
they generally have only a small
proportion of their wealth at risk
in these financial institutions. This
is not a panacea of course, but it is
completely fair to ask them to
stake a large part of their fortunes.
If they respond that this is not fair
because all kinds of things can
happen that are beyond their
control, you should say, “Agreed
– so split your bank up and
manage something much
smaller.”
3) The revolving door between
Wall Street and Washington is out
of control. There is no way people
should be able to go directly (or
even overnight) from a failing
bank to designing bailout
packages to benefit such banks. In
any other industry, in any other
country, and at any other time in
American history, this would have
been seen as an unconscionable
conflict of interest. Let’s get our
principles back and impose a 5
year moratorium on such flows in
either direction.
4) The way the Fed operates
means that, in the absence of
tough regulation, the finance
industry has at its disposal the
world’s greatest ever bailout
OBAMA'S page 21
20 Economy/
The Simple Economics of Student Loan Crises
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:03:53 AM
Yesterday, my students heard
my second lecture on supply and
demand. You know, the one in
which we examined how
government policies like rent
control and the minimum wage
can affect market outcomes.
Those are important examples,
and I dutifully discussed both of
them. But I must admit they also
feel a smidgen stale – how many
millions of students have seen a
lecture on rent control and the
minimum wage?
To spice things up, I threw in a
third example of government
intervention: the market for
guaranteed student loans. As I
mentioned a few weeks ago, the
government has a major program
in which it provides guarantees
for private student loans. Under
the program, lenders are protected
against the risk of future defaults
by the student borrowers. In
return for providing these loans,
the lenders receive interest
payments that are limited by a
formula that is specified in law.
(These payments are determined
completely separately from the
amounts that are charged to
students which, for simplicity, I
will ignore in what follows.)
This program is currently the
focus of a major political battle:
the Obama administration has
proposed eliminating the program
and replacing it with direct loans
from the government (which
currently account for a much
smaller portion of the market).
But I didn’t get into that larger
debate in class. Instead, the reason
I focused on this program is that it
has experienced two crises in
recent years:
• In 2006 and 2007, the crisis
was kickbacks. In their
enthusiasm to win more business,
private lenders were offering
“inducements” to schools and
student loan officers in order to
get preferred access to students
who wanted loans.
• In 2008, the crisis was a lack of
lending. In large part because of
the financial crisis, private lenders
had no enthusiasm whatsoever for
making loans. As a result, there
was a real risk that students might
not be able to get loans.
As I told my students, I think
both of these crises had the same
root cause: the fact that the
government, rather than market
forces, determined how much
lenders were paid for making
guaranteed student loans. In both
cases, the government got the
payment levels wrong, and the
crises followed soon thereafter.
Back in 2006 and early 2007,
the government had set payment
rates too high. Lenders thus
competed aggressively among
themselves to win as much of the
market as they could. Some of
that competition had arguably
beneficial effects (e.g., some
lenders passed benefits on to
students), albeit at a notable cost
to the taxpayer. But the
competition also took on unsavory
characteristics, as in the kickbacks
to the university officials in
charge of deciding which lenders
would get preferred access to
students.
To their credit, the folks in
Washington correctly diagnosed
this problem. Late in 2007, the
Congress passed and the President
signed a bill that reduced the
amount that lenders were paid.
Unfortunately, those reductions
happened at the start of a financial
crisis that dramatically increased
the cost of private lending. In
micro-speak, the private lending
market experienced a negative
supply shock. And all of a sudden,
lender payments were too low.
Lenders thus threatened to flee the
student loan market, which could
have left millions of students
without funding for their
education.
Again to their credit, the folks in
Washington stepped up and
eventually found a solution to this
problem (which involved more
financial engineering than I want
to discuss right now). But it was a
painful process.
To me, one attraction of this
(admittedly simplified)
description of recent student loan
crises is that it focuses on a
different type of government price
-setting than the usual examples.
Rent control and the minimum
wage are situations in which
policymakers believe that market
prices are “wrong” (either too low
or too high), and the point of the
policies is to try to correct that
(which turns out to be easier said
than done).
The point of the student loan
example, however, is that similar
problems arise even when the
government is trying to get prices
“right”(i.e., to choose prices that
are just high enough to get private
lenders to provide all the
guaranteed loans that students
want). In practice, the government
is hard-pressed to know what the
“right” price is, and thus even
sincere efforts will often result in
prices that are too high (spawning
kickbacks) or too low (spawning
shortages).
I did not have time to get into
this in class, but this line of
reasoning ends up quite agnostic
about the future role of
government in the student loan
market. Someone with a free
market perspective could easily
conclude: aha, government price-
setting doesn’t work, so we
should allow the marketplace to
determine the interest rate that is
paid to lenders. At the same time,
however, someone more
amenable to government
intervention could easily
conclude: aha, this system of
setting payments for private
lenders is fundamentally flawed,
we might as well have the
government make the loans itself
(as the Obama administration has
proposed).
The direct loan approach would
certainly eliminate the Goldilocks
question of whether private
lenders are being paid too much,
too little, or just enough. But a
full comparison of the two
programs should consider many
other factors, e.g., budget costs
and the relative capability of
private lenders and the
Internet News Record
government in making loans and
managing loan portfolios. I will
leave such a comparison for
another day. For now, my point is
simply to suggest this might be an
interesting example for other
micro classes.
Note: I have, of course,
skimmed over some pesky details
of how this works in the real
world.
First, I chose to present this as a
situation in which the government
is trying to set the “right” price,
but sometimes makes errors. Of
course, one could also portray this
as a situation in which interest
groups compete to influence the
payment rates. In that case, the
payments are the result of a
political process in which
charging the “right” price is only
one consideration. (That changes
the story, but not the underlying
microeconomic message.)
Second, one could argue that the
private loan market wouldn’t have
worked in the depths of the
financial crisis even if market
forces were in full force. After all,
many other financial markets
seized up at the same time,
without any government price-
setting. Fair point. However, the
fact of government price-setting
meant that the payment rates
couldn’t move up at all to address
even part of the crisis. Even if
market forces alone couldn’t have
avoided the entire crisis, the
absence of those forces made the
crisis more severe (until the
government stepped in with plan
B).
Internet News Record
Late in, first out
(The Economist: News
analysis)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 5:17:27 AM
Sep 14th 2009
From the Economist
Intelligence Unit ViewsWire
Brazil is the first Latin American
country to emerge from recession
Brazil is the first Latin
American country to emerge from
recession—and one of the earliest
among the G-20 countries to have
done so—following a 1.9%
quarter-on-quarter expansion in
economic activity in the April-to-
June period. Whereas the global
environment remains difficult and
the export sector therefore
continues to struggle, the strength
of domestic demand has propelled
the economy to the start of a
recovery.
The second-quarter rebound
came after two consecutive
quarters of shrinkage (1% in the
first three months of 2009 and
3.4% in the last three months of
2008), which had put Brazil into a
technical recession. This
relatively short recession was the
first for Brazil since 2003. The
quick economic rebound is
attributable to the strength of
domestic demand, particularly
household expenditure, which
grew by 2.1% in the second
quarter. Exports of goods and
services grew by 14.1%, while
imports rose by 1.5%, government
consumption grew barely, at
0.1%, while gross fixed
investment was flat quarter on
quarter. Year-on-year shrinkage
On a year-on-year basis, the
economy still contracted, by
1.2%, in the second quarter of
2008, though this was at a slower
pace than the 1.8% shrinkage
recorded in the first quarter.
Private consumption increased by
3.2% year on year (up from just
1.3% in the first quarter).
However, government spending
rose by just 2.2%, the smallest
increase for more than three years.
Investment continued to fall back,
with gross fixed capital formation
down 17% on a year earlier (the
sharpest such contraction since
the data series began in 1996).
Exports of goods and services fell
by 11.4%, easing from the 15.2%
decline of the first quarter.
However, imports fell more
steeply, by 16.5% compared with
a drop of 16% in the first quarter.
Domestic drivers
Still, the finance minister,
Guido Mantega, highlights the
fact that Brazil was one of the last
major economies to fall into
recession in 2008, and one of the
quickest to bounce back. This is
testament, he says, to Brazil’s
strong macroeconomic
fundamentals and effective fiscal
and monetary policies. He expects
the recovery to speed up in the
third and fourth quarters; whereas
GDP shrank by 1.5% year on year
in the first half of 2009, he
expects it to grow by 3.5% in the
second. This would bring full-
year growth to 1%.
The second-quarter result was
somewhat stronger than the
Economist Intelligence Unit had
been expecting. As a result, we
now see GDP growth finishing
the year closer to zero, rather than
our most recent projection of a
1% contraction. Brazil’s growth
rate will strengthen in 2010,
assuming a mild global recovery,
reinforced by the boost to
household expenditure from
monetary easing and lower
inflation. This will also help
investment to stage a (partial)
recovery in 2010, supported also
by a turn in the inventory cycle.
Public spending will pick up with
the approach of the October 2010
presidential election. We
presently forecast that real GDP
will expand by 3.3% in 2010,
although this is below the Mr
Mantega’s current expectation of
4% or better. Fairly resilient
The mildness of Brazil's
recession—which is especially
notable considering the high base
of comparison—also reflects the
high degree of diversification of
the economy and trading partners,
as well as the solidity of the
financial system. The latter
cushioned Brazil from the fallout
of the global financial crisis that
hit last year. And even though
exports are down significantly
from a year earlier, they account
for just 13% of GDP—a much
smaller share than in China, Japan
and Germany (where exports
reach around 40% of GDP).
Consequently, the impact of the
global demand downturn has been
more muted for Brazil.
Indeed, various banks and credit
-risk agencies have pointed to
Brazil’s resilience to external
shocks as the reason to maintain
its relatively positive credit
ratings. Standard & Poor’s and
Fitch Ratings both assign an
investment-grade rating to
Brazil’s sovereign debt, and
Moody’s is considering to
upgrade its rating to the same.
Further, while the government
has implemented counter-cyclical
fiscal policies, the cost of these
has not been very large.
According to Mr Mantega, they
have cost the equivalent of 1-
1.5% of GDP, as opposed to 13%
of GDP for China and 6.7% of
GDP for the US. The stimulus
measures have included seven
consecutive months of interest-
rate cuts that put the benchmark
rate at a record low of 8.75% (an
easing cycle that seems to have
ended for now); tax breaks for
purchases of cars, consumer
durables and household
appliances; and enhanced credit
supplied by state development
banks.
Given the relatively low cost of
the stimulus package, Brazil’s
economy and fiscal situation will
be in better shape than those of
many other G-20 countries next
year. Mr Mantega believes that
the current fiscal stimulus will
have run its course by the end of
this year, by which time the
economy will have its own
growth momentum and will not
need renewed fiscal support.
Brazil’s quick recovery also will
be good news for other
neighbouring Latin American
countries, whose economies are
closely integrated with that of
South America’s behemoth.
Argentina, in particular, could see
expanded demand for its exports.
Brazil’s automotive sector, for
instance, is tied to that of
Argentina, and has been
experiencing healthy performance
in recent months.
Back to top ^^ Readers'
comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
Economy/ 21
OBAMA'S
continued from page 19
machine. Our financial elite
knows this and is acting
accordingly.
Brandeis was scathing about the
individuals behind the financial
structures. For him, it was about
power and it was about control.
He was appalled by how big
finance operated and he worked
hard – an uphill slog – to rein it
in.
But Brandeis never saw
anything like what we have now
experienced, with regard to the
amount of taxpayer money that
the banks are able to expropriate
when downside risks materialize.
The big banks that Brandeis
feared did not, in the end,
dominate the 20 th century. But
they are back now, with
unfettered power and an
arrogance that spells trouble.
Ultimately, we will put the
banks back in their regulatory box
or they will bankrupt us all.
America, China
and protectionism:
Wearing thin
(The Economist: News
analysis)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 5:14:44 AM
America, China and
protectionism
Sep 14th 2009
From Economist.com How
strong is Barack Obama's belief in
free trade?
ALTHOUGH Barack Obama
alarmed free traders last year with
AMERICA, page 23
22 Economy/ Gadgets/ Tech/
German politics: A closer contest?
(The Economist: News
analysis)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 12:37:49 AM
German politics
Sep 14th 2009 | BERLIN
From Economist.com A
televised debate in Germany gives
a boost to the election campaign
FRANK-WALTER
STEINMEIER, Germany’s
foreign minister, is unlikely to
become chancellor after
parliamentary elections are held in
two weeks’ time. But he delivered
a decent performance in the only
televised debate of the campaign
on Sunday September 13th
against the incumbent, Angela
Merkel. He may have done
enough to make the election a
tighter contest.
Mr Steinmeier’s Social
Democratic Party(SPD) is trailing
in the polls more than ten points
behind Ms Merkel’s Christian
Democratic Union(CDU), its
partner in the “grand coalition
government”. A long-time
bureaucrat who has never run for
public office, Mr Steinmeier
needed to convince sceptical
voters that he has the heft to do
Ms Merkel’s job. Realistically, he
is hoping just to do well enough
to deny the CDU a chance to
govern with its preferred coalition
partner, the liberal Free
Logitech Lapdesk N315 features slide-out mouse pad
By Doug Aamoth
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:30:00 AM
Logitech’s got a new lap board
doodad on the market called the
Portable Lapdesk N315. It’s a $30
Democratic Party(FDP).
The debate was not a brawl.
Both coalition partners agreed that
they had governed rather well and
left viewers with the impression
that they would not mind doing so
for another four years. But when
they clashed, it was Mr
Steinmeier who seemed surer of
himself and stood up for positions
more likely to resonate with
voters. Ms Merkel wants
Germany to continue producing
nuclear power until renewable
sources of energy can replace it.
“That is the wrong path”,
countered Mr Steinmeier, who
wants Germany to stick with a
plan to shut nuclear plants by
2021. His position chimes with
German fears.
He also jeered that Germany’s
economy would have to grow by
9% a year to pay for income-tax
cuts that are favoured by the CDU
and FDP. There was little
disagreement over policies
required to get beyond the
economic crisis, but Mr
Steinmeier seemed the more
determined to punish fat cats and
purge the economy of the
misguided values that caused the
troubles. Ms Merkel spoke of
exporting Germany’s model of a
social-market economy. Her rival
said the model needs a “new start”
and spoke of a “crisis in people’s
accessory with a non-slip grip and
slide-out mouse pad.
There I go again, putting all the
pertinent details in the first
paragraph with total disregard for
how I’m going to fill out the rest
of the post. Oh, it fits laptops up
heads”.
Ms Merkel is hobbled by the
fact that she wants to swap
coalition partners. She has
governed for four years at the
head of a big-tent coalition that
catered more often to the “social”
values of the SPD than the
conservative ones of her own
CDU. Now she aspires to govern
with the FDP, whose pro-business
policies are at the opposite end of
Germany ’s political spectrum
from those of the SPD. Ms
Merkel wants to embrace the FDP
without appearing to embrace its
ideology (as she did as a
candidate in 2005 and nearly lost).
Now the most she can say is that a
CDU-FDP coalition would be
politically stable and would lift
Germany more quickly out of
recession than any other. “Growth
creates jobs” is her mantra.
Ms Merkel’s vagueness seemed
clever when the crisis was at its
peak and Germans appeared to
crave stability above all. But now
growth is resuming and mass
unemployment has so far been
avoided. Voters may therefore be
willing to take a harder look at
what a CDU-FDP coalition would
actually mean. With Ms Merkel
unwilling to say, Mr Steimeier’s
view may convince some voters: a
comeback for nuclear energy,
growing inequality and amnesty
to 15.6 inches. And it’s washable.
for the culprits responsible for of
the economic crisis.
Mr Steinmeier barely has a
chance to oust Ms Merkel as
chancellor. The SPD must share
the left-leaning vote with the
Greens and with the ex-
communist Left Party, with which
it refuses to govern. It might in
theory be able to lead a three-
party “traffic light” coalition with
the Greens and the FDP, but the
FDP has ruled this out. It would
require a massive shift in voter
preferences for the SPD to surpass
the CDU vote, allowing Mr
Steinmeier to supplant Ms Merkel
as the head of a grand coalition.
Around 40% of voters were
undecided before the debate. To
those unacquainted with him, Mr
Steinmeier demonstrated that
electing him might not be such a
gamble. Instant polls suggest that
voters found Ms Merkel more
competent and still preferred her
as chancellor. But nearly half said
their opinion of Mr Steinmeier
had improved. Mr Steinmeier's
chance of winning the election
remains remote, but it is not quite
as far-fetched as it was before.
Back to top ^^ Readers'
comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
The $30 price tag seems a little
bit on the pricey side but you may
be able to find it for less at
various retailers. If you have a
sweet apartment with a spiral
staircase like the dude in the
above photo, though, you’re
Internet News Record
WebKit going
3D with
WebGL
By Megan Lavey (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 9/14/2009 2:00:00 PM
Filed under: Gaming, Internet
Tools
There will be a day in the not-
too-distant future when playing
3D games in your browser --
without extra plugins like Flash or
Unity-- will be a reality.
The WebGL project, which has
quickly made the blogging rounds
this morning, combines aspects of
HTML 5, JavaScript, and the
OpenGL 3D drawing engine in an
effort to create 3D graphics that
appear right in your browser.
Thus far, it's only beginning to
show up in WebKit (the engine
powering Safari and Google
Chrome), but the glimpses as seen
in the video above really show the
power in these browsers.
[Via Download Squad]
TUAW WebKit going 3D with
WebGL originally appeared on
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Mon, 14 Sep 2009
14:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
probably not to worried about
spending $30 on something like
this.
Portable Lapdesk
N315[Logitech via OhGizmo!]
Internet News Record
AMERICA,
continued from page 21
protectionist-sounding
pronouncements on the campaign
trail, such as one about the need to
renegotiate NAFTA, optimists
among them dismissed this as
mere posturing designed to
placate restive trade unions. Yet a
decision by the White House to
impose punitive tariffs (35% for
the first year, falling by five
percentage points a year, to 25%
in the third year) on Chinese-
made pneumatic tyres now raises
serious doubts about Mr Obama’s
commitment to free trade.
The duties are to be imposed on
September 26th under a part of
American trade law known as
“Section 421”. The American
government argues that these
tyres are being imported into
America from China in “such
increased quantities and under
such conditions as to cause or
threaten to cause market
disruption to domestic producers”
of competing tyres.
America imported tyres worth
$1.3 billion from China between
January and the end of July this
year. Under the terms of China’s
accession to the WTO in 2001,
countries have the right to impose
tariffs in response to a “surge in
imports” from China. But there is
always scope for dispute about
Genworth Financial Poised to Be a Comeback Kid
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:03:25 AM
Genworth Financial ( GNW) has
been featured on my blog
Financial Tides, has been in my
Jim Van Meerten/ BarChart S&P
500 fund on Marketocracy for a
few weeks and has been a great
performer lately. GNW is a
what constitutes enough of an
export surge to justify the use of
tariffs, and China has already
notified the WTO of its intention
to file a case against America. It
has also said that it is considering
the imposition of retaliatory tariffs
on American exports of car parts
and chicken meat.
Poultry and tyres sound like
small change in the context of the
economic relationship between
the two big economies. But Eswar
Prasad, a professor of trade policy
at Cornell University and a former
head of the IMF’s China desk,
argues that the American action
and Chinese retaliation may
presage “more protectionist
measures to come from both
sides”. He notes that China could
retaliate much more broadly than
by raising a few tariffs: it could,
for example, supplement its
implicit export subsidies,
including an undervalued
exchange rate, with more explicit
measures to support its export
industries and block imports. This
could “easily ratchet up into a
broader trade war and inflict
economic damage on both
countries”.
The decision to use Section 421
is a disturbing one. John
Veroneau, a lawyer and a former
comeback story. Lately some of
the rating agencies have given
them a bad rap, but we know the
poor record the rating agencies
have had recently.
GNW is in the "Lifestyle
Protection" business. That's the
new fancy name for insurance that
protects income: Life Annuities,
Disability, Long Term Care and
Life Insurance. It has some major
deputy trade representative, points
out that this particular rule
“doesn't require any finding of
unfair trade practice by
China…Chinese tyre exporters
were not found to be doing
anything wrong or illegal.” This
means that it is hard for the
administration to pass off the
decision as being about tougher
enforcement of existing trade
agreements, which has been the
focus of Ron Kirk, the new
American trade representative,
since his appointment.
Mr Obama’s decision also
marks a clear break with recent
American policy. His predecessor,
George Bush, had four
opportunities to take such a step
against China, but in each case
chose not to do so. Mr Veroneau,
who worked on those cases,
argues that “based on their
negotiations with the Clinton
Administration on Section 421,
China expected this tool to be
used, if ever, only in the rarest
and most exceptional of cases”.
So China’s pique is
understandable, as are worries
that this could lead to a slew of
other American industries
demanding protection against
competition from Chinese
imports.
competition in Allianz ( AZ),
ING, AIG& AXA. The whole
industry is poised to make a
comeback because of a flight
from securities to safety and as
the investment climate brightens
so should GNW's bottom-line.
Why am I so high on GNW
when the rating agencies aren't:
1 - GNW recently was awarded
a BIG contract with the Teacher's
Economy/ Entertainment
Simon Evenett, a trade
economist at the University of St
Gallen in Switzerland, argues that
Mr Obama’s decision is a clear
affirmation of the power of
American labour unions in
shaping its trade policy. It appears
that Mr Obama is desperate to
shore-up support from unions and
the left of the Democratic Party
for health-care reform—his most
pressing domestic concern—and
is prepared to risk repercussions
on trade.
If so, heightened economic
tensions between America and
China are a heavy price to pay.
Mr Prasad says that “an escalating
trade war between these two large
economies has the potential to
disrupt the world trading system”.
The China-America spat also
comes soon before the leaders of
the G20, the group of big rich and
emerging economies, meet in
Pittsburgh on September 24th.
Global co-operation has been
crucial amid efforts to encourage
economic recovery. It would be a
tragedy if it that were derailed by
posturing over tyres and chicken.
Back to top ^^ Readers'
comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
Retirement Fund of Texas - one of
the largest retirement funds in the
US to provide Long Term care for
its members.
2 - BarChart has it rated as a
96% BUY with 12 of its 13
technical indicators a BUY and
only one hold.
3 - The stock has hit 10 new
highs in the last 20 trading
sessions for a monthly gain of
23
Kanye West
Apologizes Again
on 'Jay Leno'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 7:57:00 PM
Jay Leno premiered his new
television show, "The Jay Leno
Show," on NBC on Monday
night, and Kanye West appeared,
apologizing for the third time for
upstaging Taylor Swift last night
at the VMAs.
"It's been extremely difficult, I'm
just dealing with the fact that I
hurt someone," West told Leno.
"I only wanted to help people,
my entire life, I always wanted to
give and do something… I
immediately knew in this situation
that it was wrong… It was
actually someone's emotions that I
stepped on. I'd like to be able to
apologize to her in person," he
went on to say.
46%
Recommendation: BUY -
presently trading at around 11 and
I'd place a protective stop at its 50
Day Moving Average at 8. Move
the stop up as the stock rises but
sell if it trades below its 50 DMA.
Disclosure: I have no postions
in GNW Genworth Financial at
time of posting.
24 Economy/ Gadgets/ Entertainment Internet News Record

Tax Technicalities Trip BRT Realty

Trust
(Financial Sector and Stocks 31, 2008, no distributions will be One can only assume that BRT
Analysis from Seeking Alpha) required in 2009 in order for us to expected to fully offset the
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:12:18 AM retain our REIT status. taxable income from the sale of
Oops. Today's hastily-released the EPR shares with bad debt
Apparently, there is a reason press release (coming at the deductions from worthless
while REITs include this risk awkward time of 3:56 p.m., portfolio loans -- a position that
f a c t o r i n t h e i r S E C f i l i n g instead of after the market close) must not have materialized upon
boilerplate: suddenly announced that BRT final review of the tax return.
The U.S. federal income tax w o u l d b e p a y i n g a s p e c i a l A similar situation was
l a w s g o v e r n i n g R E I T s a r e dividend on BRT's common disclosed by fellow mortgage
complex. shares of $1.15 per share. REIT Anworth Mortgage ( ANH)
BRT Realty Trust ( BRT) Only mortgage REIT nerds like two weeks ago, although its tax
learned this lesson the hard way. me would care about the sudden reversal did not require any CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LXIII: Bobby Kotick
The mortgage REIT, which bills about-face, but the special additional distribution by says Guitar Hero going plug-and-play, developers
itself as a hard money lender dividend was declared at the latest Anworth.
specializing in bridge loans and possible moment -- mere hours Regardless of what technical tax kept in state of 'skepticism, pessimism, and fear'
short-term commercial real estate before BRT is required to file its interpretations caused the snafu, By Tim Stevens (Engadget) indicating that they live within a
loans, has been unable to collect 2008 federal income tax return. liquidity-strapped BRT is having Submitted at 9/15/2009 7:32:00 AM corporate environment of
from its economically-sensitive Of course, to avoid taxes at the to dish out $1.3 million in cash "skepticism, pessimism, and fear"
borrowers and unable to continue corporate level, BRT had to and issue 2.4 million shares to Y o u k n o w t h o s e A t a r i with the hope of "keeping people
originating new loans. distribute 90% of its 2008 taxable satisfy the distribution controllers that let you play Atari focused on the deep depression,"
This development is obviously income before filing its 2008 tax requirements and maintain REIT games without actually having an and that he wants to take "all the
not surprising news; the Company return, so the date of the dividend status. Atari? That, it seems, is the future fun out of making video games."
itself suspended its cash dividend is not coincidental. Just another reason why of the Guitar Hero franchise, with So, then, that My Chemical
in December 2008, noting that As noted in the release, BRT's investing in REITs isn't that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Romance edition of the series
BRT "will likely report a tax loss taxable income came as a result of straightforward -- and why indicating that new titles from the should be announced any time
for the tax year ended December selling its highly-appreciated investors should be careful before c o m p a n y w i l l b e p l a y a b l e now.
31, 2008" due to the negative stake in Entertainment Properties investing in the five new "independent of a console." It's [Via Joystiq]
effect of the credit crisis on Trust ( EPR), which generated mortgage REITs coming public in perhaps a natural step, as the Filed under: Gaming
revenues and earnings. quite a bit of precious cash for a the next two weeks. franchise's developers must surely CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LXIII:
Even as recently as August, company who has suffered a Disclosure: No position in any spend half their time frantically Bobby Kotick says Guitar Hero
BRT reported in its 10-Q that ($0.70) per share cash operating stocks mentioned. porting games from PS3 to Xbox going plug-and-play, developers
[S]ince we will report a taxable loss for the nine months ended 360 to Nintendo DS to graphic kept in state of 'skepticism,
loss for the year ended December June 30, 2009. calculator to... well, you get the pessimism, and fear' originally
picture. Kotick also said some appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15
New Pics: 'The Biggest Loser: Second Chances' First wondrous things that will make Sep 2009 07:32:00 EST. Please
Challenge those Activision coders slouch see our terms for use of feeds.
even further into their chairs, Read| Permalink| Email this|
(ETonline - Breaking News) second chance is last season's Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels developers who already were Comments
Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:00:00 AM Daniel Wright, who was the return to train the 16 contestants surely fearing for their jobs,
biggest-ever contestant on the eager to get their second chances
NBC's hit series "The Biggest show -- until this new cast when at a new lease on life. "The
Loser" returns tonight with a Daniel is outweighed by Shay Biggest Loser" premieres tonight
special theme of "second Sorrells. Alison Sweeney hosts at 8 p.m. on NBC.
chances," and returning for his the popular series, and trainers
Internet News Record
Green.view: A spotless record
(The Economist: Daily
columns)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:36:28 AM
Green.view
Sep 14th 2009
From Economist.com The sun
has gone quiet
IT IS almost exactly 400 years
since Galileo turned his telescope
on the sun and saw it to be an
imperfect orb covered in spots,
quite unlike the teachings of
Greek cosmology. If his
observations had been made four
centuries later, he would have
drawn a different conclusion. The
sun has recently shed its spots,
prompting sceptics to renew their
claims that climate change is not
anthropogenic but rather
heliogenic.
Sunspots are a bit of a mystery.
They appear as dark patches in the
photosphere—the surface layer of
the sun—that come and go.
Normally the number of sunspots
peaks every 11 years, coinciding
with times when the sun’s
magnetic field is at its strongest.
As the field wanes, the number of
sunspots falls to a trough at which
point the sun’s magnetic field
Crop Circles: Google Logo Mystery Deepens
By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 10:11:23 PM
Looks like Google is at is again
with another mysterious logo
unveil. They sent out a tweet with
the latitude and longitude
51.327629, -0.5616088 and a
twitpic with a new “crop circles”-
themed logo. The logo also
appears to be the logo for the
Google homepage on September
15th, as many users report seeing
reverses direction and starts to
regain its strength.
As early as 1801 William
Herschel, a British astronomer,
suggested that when sunspots
were plentiful the Earth would be
warmer. He supported his
hypothesis by reference to
variations in the price of wheat
published in Adam Smith's
“Wealth of Nations”.
More recently, solar scientists
and climatologists have played
down the role that sunspots might
play in climate change. Certainly
they do affect the amount of
radiation coming from the sun.
The dark sunspots are encircled
by brighter areas, so when they
are plentiful, the sun shines more
brightly than when they are
sparse. Yet the overall variation is
tiny, just 0.1% of the sun’s total
output, which seems insufficient
to be the cause of a warming
Earth.
Yet there is a curious historical
correlation between sunspot
cycles and global temperatures.
Between 1645 and 1715, for
reasons unknown, there were very
few sunspots. At the same time,
Europe and North America
it on the company’s homepage.
The latitude and longitude that
were tweeted out correspond to
Surrey, England, where one
enterprising soul noticed a “
flying saucer” sighting by a
family car on the 15th, back in
Economy/ Gadgets/ Tech/ 25
experienced bitterly cold winters
in what has come to be known as
the Little Ice Age. There is also
some evidence that the southern
hemisphere was similarly
affected. But correlation is not
causation.
Might the sun be going through
another extended period of
inactivity? Certainly it is the
quietest that it has been for almost
a century. Weeks and sometimes
months go by without a single
sunspot. Solar scientists have
been waiting since December
2008 for signs that sunspot
activity is picking up but so far
without success. Sony Ericsson and Canon
That has prompted some to
speculate that the Earth may be
entering another cool period that
Will Change the World in
could offset the warming caused
by greenhouse gases trapping heat September [Rumors]
in the planet’s atmosphere. Only By Danny Allen (Gizmodo) done by its Swedish office, and
time will tell, but your Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:24:29 AM the invite below is roughly
correspondent is thankful that any translated as:
influence of the sun on climate A little over-dramatic, right? Just During this fall, Canon will
change would be benign. like Sony Ericsson's puffed-up make one of its largest and most
Back to top ^^ Readers' claim to change how we listen to important launches in the
comments music…forever, on September company's history and we hope
The Economist welcomes your 21st. A new Walkman-phone? you can attend. During a
views. Separately, Canon says its luncheon, you are invited to listen
September 29 event will be "one to CEO Jouko Tuouminen,
of the most important in its Marketing presiden Monica
history."
The events are in no way
Forsberg and trend analyst
Magnus Lindkvist, talking about
1985. related. I mention them together tomorrows trends and factors of
Check out the logo and let us simply to serve as two very recent success in the continually more
know what you think. It also examples of extreme PR blow- digitalized everyday life.
appears the “l” in the logo has hardness. Seriously lame. Sony Ericsson will be
gone missing this time, whereas Or not? Who knows, maybe Webcasting its shindig, and you
last time it was the “o” — it they'll surprise me. I'll be very can register here: [ Sony Ericsson
seems like an alien abduction happy if Canon turns out the 1D via Mobile Phone Helpdesk via
theme of some sort is brewing, Mark IV digital SLR. Engadget| Canon Rumors]
but what is the big picture here? Canon's product launch will be
Anybody have any guesses?
Reviews: Google
Tags: crop circles, Google,
google logo
26 Economy/ Gadgets/ Entertainment Internet News Record

Fixing Financial Instrument

Accounting
(Financial Sector and Stocks constant guidanceand however: the other comprehensive
Analysis from Seeking Alpha) interpretation in practice, as income statement would have to
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:05:04 AM companies seek to maximize the be displayed on the same page as
amount of assets in the amortized the income statement. It couldn't
In response to the financial cost category. just be a basement for hiding ugly
crisis, the IASB has speed-balled I've written a comment letter economic activity: the statement
a p r o p o s a l t o r e j i g g e r t h e regarding the proposal, which is of OCI would havenew
a c c o u n t i n g f o r f i n a n c i a l not yet on the IASB's website - prominence.
instruments. Issued in July, with but you can see it here. This is a very different path
the comment period ending This project may seem like an from where the IASB is heading,
y e s t e r d a y , t h e p r o p o s e d exercise in hair-splitting, but it and a much better one, I think. It's
accounting would give investors a isn't. Everyone wonders about the possible the two standard setters
new prism through they can view fate of IFRS convergence; this will go their separate routes. If
financial statements. project may be pivotal in that they do, convergence - in the
Only two kinds of accounting quest.
would exist for financial The FASB has also undertaken
short term, at least - will be
stopped in its tracks. It's possible
Freecom's MediaPlayer II
instruments: amortized cost or fair a project to improve financial
value. But they can't look at the instrument reporting but has a
that the IASB will come around to
the FASB's thinking, though NAS and media streamer
same financial instruments both much more investor-favorable there's no indication it's imminent.
ways - a batch of financial approach, yet one that is fair to
instruments would be classed one all. So far, it calls for the
It's also possible FASB will be
coerced into coming around to the
aims high, scores low
way or the other. You wouldn't inclusion of fair values and IASB's thinking: the G-20 By Tim Stevens (Engadget) streaming side, with an inability
see financial instruments reported amortized cost on a firm's balance meeting will be taking place in Submitted at 9/15/2009 8:28:00 AM to open H.264 or WMV9 files,
at amortized cost, with a fair sheet - at the same time. All of the less than two weeks and you and while it can decode high-
v a l u e f o r t h e s a m e h o l d i n g information that any party would never know if the US delegates Freecom has released enough definition MPEG2 files, it fails to
reported at fair value. want is displayed right from the will use US accounting diverse disk-based products over play them smoothly. It can open
It's a cloudy prism for investors. start. Changes in fair values of convergence as a means to getting the past few years to inspire hope DivX and Xvid files, and can
And the criteria for determining financial instruments that are something they want from the EU. that its latest attempt to bridge the even play DVD ISO files, but,
w h a t g e t s a m o r t i z e d c o s t currently carried at amortized cost Let's hope not. The FASB's idea network-attached storage and sadly, that's where the positives
treatment and what gets fair value would be shunted through the is too good to waste. media streamer divide would end for this £115 ($190), 500GB
treatment is a dog's breakfast of burial grounds known as "other succeed. Not the case, according multi-tasker.
rules and management intentions - comprehensive income." to Register Hardware's review. Filed under: Home
something prone to require One major improvement, File copies to the device were E n t e r t a i n m e n t
quick enough over USB, but once Freecom's MediaPlayer II NAS
New Video: LL Cool J's 'NCIS: Los tethered on Ethernet got rather and media streamer aims high,
slow (10 minutes for a 1GB file, scores low originally appeared on
Angeles' Rap! 36 minutes for 1,024 1MB files), Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009
and even worse over WiFi (14 and 08:28:00 EST. Please see our
(ETonline - Breaking News) release of Exit 13. 44 minutes, respectively). So, that terms for use of feeds. Read|
Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:01:00 AM "This song is the musical whole NAS aspect doesn't exactly Permalink| Email this| Comments
interpretation of what I felt after work out. Neither does the
Check out LL Cool J's new meeting with NCIS agents,
single, inspired by his role on experienced Marines and Navy
"NCIS: Los Angeles"! Seals," LL Cool J says. "It
Entitled "NCIS: No Crew Is represents the collective energy in
Superior," this is the first new the room. I was so inspired, I
recording from the "NCIS: Los wrote the song on set."
Angeles" star since the 2008
Internet News Record
The HP ENVY 13 and 15 combine Voodoo Magic with Apple
Macbook Pro design
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:47:29 AM
There is simply no denying that
the new HP Envy 13 and 15 look
like an HP-ified Apple unibody
MacBook Pro. Even the trackpad
is a single, large glass button that
supports gestures thanks to 3rd
party software. I’m not saying
they don’t look great, but
seriously, someone copied off of
Steve Jobs’ test. Good thing that
these notebooks seem to have the
power and poise to stand as HP’s
flagship line.
While the Apple MacBook Pros
are milled out of a single block of
alumium, the HP Envy line takes
a similar, but different approach.
These notebooks are constructed
out of magnesium and then coated
with aluminum, which provides a
very MBP look and feel, but it’s
technically not as solid.
The Envy 13 rocks a Radeon
HD 4330 discrete GPU that
powers the 13.1-inch WXGA
display. An Intel Core 2 Duo
powers the rest while the optional
Slim Fit Extended-Life battery
can provide up to 18-hours of life
while the standard kicks the can
around 7 hours. (wow) However,
the small size does come with
some compromises. The Envy 13
doesn’t have an optical drive or an
Ethernet port. Both are of course
available as an extra accessory.
The Envy 15 however doesn’t
lack anything. In fact, it has pretty
much everything a user would
want in a high-end notebook: a
Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of
DDR3 RAM, room for two SSDs,
a 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD
4830 GPU, 15.6-inch LED backlit
display, a VGA webcam with
nightvision, and all of this in a
package that’s 1-inch thin and
only weighs 5.18-pounds.
Let’s hope you weren’t thinking
that these high-end HP notebooks
wouldn’t command a MacBook
Pro type price. They do. The Envy
13 and 14 will be available on
October 18 starting at $1,699 and
$1,799, respectively. Precision-
Crafted, High-Performance
Notebooks Are Bright, Thin,
Deliver Superb Experience
HP today redefines the premium
notebook PC experience with the
introduction of the HP ENVY sub
-brand, which offers customers
precision-crafted, high-
performance models featuring HP
Metal Etching and concierge
service and support.
The new HP ENVY 13 boasts
the brightest display in its class,
and the HP ENVY 15 is the
company’s fastest consumer
notebook PC ever.
“HP ENVY includes the latest in
materials and technology inside
and out and pushes the
technological and performance
boundaries of what can be done in
sleek, powerful and lightweight
notebook PCs,” said Ted Clark,
senior vice president and general
manager, Notebook Global
Business Unit, Personal Systems
Group, HP. “Discerning
consumers will get a premium
experience and performance.”
With HP ENVY, the focus is on
designing an entire premium
experience to satisfy the most
demanding customers — from the
products to the packaging to the
service and support.
Breakthrough HP Metal Etching
on the lid and palmrest of the
ENVY 15, and on the palmrest of
the ENVY 13, subtly signals
luxury. The combination of
materials provides exceptional
mobility and a compelling metal
look and feel, while using energy-
Gadgets/ 27
responsible manufacturing
methods.
The HP ENVY line — building
upon the Voodoo ENVY legacy
— includes leading-edge
components optimized to yield
power and performance. To offer
consumers the best audio
experience available on a
notebook PC, HP partnered with
Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ to develop
a unique, high-performance audio
software solution. Available
exclusively on the HP Envy,
Beats Audio offers users playing
music or audio through
headphones or external speakers
the optimal sound experience —
the way the artist intended it.
The lightweight heavyweight:
ENVY 13
The ENVY 13 balances style
and substance. Carefully crafted
details inside and out will satisfy
the cravings of demanding mobile
customers.
The HP Radiance display is
twice as bright as other notebook
displays in its class — 410 nit (a
measurement of display
brightness) — and provides an
exceptional movie and photo
experience, even in high ambient
light conditions. With 82 percent
color gamut (versus standard 45-
60 percent), photos appear richer
with amazing color depth.
Additionally, with fast 8-
millisecond response time,
customers can view movies with
TV-like performance.
The ENVY 13’s strong
performance is delivered in a
small frame — less than an inch
thin and weighing 3.74 pounds. 1
ENVY page 30
28 Gadgets/
Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ Adds HDMI, Ethernet, DTS, and
Dolby Digital [Home Theater]
By Jesus Diaz (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:31:44 AM
Seagate woke up and smelled the
coffee, adding a much needed
1080p HDMI output port,
Ethernet connectivity, and Dolby
Digital and DTS 2.0 to their
FreeAgent Theater HD Media
Player. The new FreeAgent
Theater+ also gets new video
codecs.
The list of supported formats
now include MPEG-1 MPEG-2
(VOB/ISO), MPEG-4
(DivX(R)/Xvid formats), DivX
HD, Xvid HD, AVI, MOV,
MKV, RMVB, AVC HD, H.264,
WMV9, VC-1, M2TS, and
TS/TP/M2T. On the audio front it
includes AAC, MP3, Dolby
Digital, DTS, ASF, FLAC,
WMA, LPCM, ADPCM, WAV
and OGG. It can also display
JPEG files up to 20 megapixels,
BMP, GIF, PNG and TIFF.
The FreeAgent Theater+ also
includes two additional USB ports
to add more hard drives, and
Seagate says that they will have a
USB Wireless Adapter in
October, to integrate the device in
802.11n Wi-Fi networks. The
audio output also uses the
obligatory optical S/PDIF port.
You can get it now for
$150—without hard drive—and
$290 with 500GB. The Wi-Fi
adapter will come later for $70.
OK, Seagate, now that you
smelled the coffee, bring me a
cuppa and a bagel, please.
Seagate's New FreeAgent
Theater+(TM) HD Media Player
Enhances the Enjoyment of
Digital Home Movies and Photos
Bring Your Digital Media to
Internet News Record
through various methods and
stored on the PC, yet the
computer is not the ideal way to
enjoy these photos and videos,"
said Terry Cunningham, senior
vice president, Seagate Branded
Solutions. "The FreeAgent
Theater provides the easiest way
to view and enjoy video and
photos on your HDTV. Simply
load up a Seagate FreeAgent
Go(TM) hard drive and drop it
into the FreeAgent Theater+ HD
media player dock. It's a behavior
we've all been familiar with for
years with VHS and DVDs, but
now with digital HD enjoyment."
The new FreeAgent
Theater+(TM) HD media player
solution includes:
HDMI with 1080p HD video
playback for high-definition
content viewing
Dolby(R) Digital and DTS(TM)
2.0 + Digital Out audio support
surround sound where available.
Life with True HD and Dolby(R) your external hard drive to your selection. Unique docking system
D i g i t a l S u r r o u n d S o u n d television or home entertainment T h e S e a g a t e F r e e A g e n t eliminates fumbling with cables
Technology center. After loading the drive T h e a t e r + H D m e d i a p l a y e r and connections
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., with your favorite movies, videos, includes two additional USB ports Ethernet connection for
Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ music and pictures from the home f o r c o n n e c t i n g o t h e r U S B accessing shared content on your
— Seagate (Nasdaq: STX), the PC, simply slide it into the attached storage devices. Also network or streaming of content
worldwide leader in hard disk FreeAgent Theater+ dock to get incorporated into FreeAgent from the Internet
drives and storage solutions, instant access to your digital Theater+ is an Ethernet port for The optional wireless
today unveiled its new FreeAgent media library. With the FreeAgent network connectivity, which connectivity feature, expected to
Theater+(TM) [Plus] HD media Theater+ player, you can just sit allows access to digital media be available in October, will allow
player, the next generation home back, relax, point, click and enjoy through your home network. you to access stored content on
theater solution designed to as digitally captured memories Seagate intends to launch a USB any networked computer in the
instantly and easily connect your and your favorite movies come to Wireless Adapter in October to home at your fingertips
digital media library to your home life in 1080p HD video, DTS(TM) enable this same access with Two additional USB ports and
entertainment system. 2.0 + Digital Out, or Dolby 802.11n wireless connectivity to a one front-mounted port for digital
The FreeAgent Theater+ HD Digital technology. The interface home network. Enjoy it all, with cameras and additional storage
media player leverages a docking is easily navigated with the the included new and improved devices
s y s t e m u n i q u e t o S e a g a t e included remote control, and you remote control, from the comfort Simple sync software for PC
FreeAgent Go(TM) portable can choose from video, photos or of your couch. and Mac(R) computers
drives and accessories, providing music with the up/down arrows "There is so much media that is
a quick and easy way to connect on the remote to make your now being captured and created
SEAGATE page 33
Internet News Record Gadgets/ 29

Seagate listened, releases the updated the FreeAgent Theater+

HD
By Matt Burns (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:07:05 AM

When Peter Ha reviewed the

original FreeAgent Theater HD,
he loved the UI and the ease of
use with the external hard drive.
What he didn’t like was the lack
of video file support and that it
was called HD but didn’t have an
HDMI output. Thankfully Seagate
payed attention because the new
FreeAgent Theater+ HD now
plays back pretty much
everything: MPEG-1, VOB/ISO,
MPEG-4, DivX HD, Xvid HD,
AVI, MOV, MKV, RMVB, AVC
HD, H.264, WMV9, VC-1, M2Ts,
TS/Tp/M2T. Plus, the new model
also has an HDMI output and a
Ethernet jack. Peter can’t
complain now. (but he will
anyway)
We have one of these in and
we’ll have the review posted soon
enough. I have higher hopes for
the device now that it supports all
those file formats and can stream
media off of a local network. Got
any burning questions about the
FreeAgent Theater+ HD?
SEAGATE’S NEW
FREEAGENT THEATER+™
HD MEDIA PLAYER
ENHANCES THE ENJOYMENT
OF DIGITAL HOME MOVIES
AND PHOTOS
Bring Your Digital Media to
Life with True HD and Dolby®
Digital Surround Sound [Plus] HD media player, the next system unique to Seagate music and pictures from the home and your favorite movies come to
Technology generation home theater solution FreeAgent Go™ portable drives PC, simply slide it into the life in 1080p HD video, DTS™
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — designed to instantly and easily and accessories, providing a quick FreeAgent Theater+ dock to get 2.0 + Digital Out, or Dolby
September 15, 2009— Seagate connect your digital media library and easy way to connect your instant access to your digital Digital technology.
(NASDAQ: STX), the worldwide to your home entertainment external hard drive to your media library. With the FreeAgent The interface is easily navigated
leader in hard disk drives and system. television or home entertainment Theater+ player, you can just sit with the included remote control,
storage solutions, today unveiled The FreeAgent Theater+ HD center. After loading the drive back, relax, point, click and enjoy
its new FreeAgent Theater+™ media player leverages a docking with your favorite movies, videos, as digitally captured memories
SEAGATE page 31
30 Tech/ Entertainment
ENVY
continued from page 27
The exterior’s aluminum and
magnesium construction provides
durability in a sleek design. An
etched-metal palmrest further sets
the PC apart from others, and a
VGA webcam 3 optimized for
low light also is included.
HP placed the same focus on
design into its optional Slim Fit
Extended-Life Notebook Battery.
Taking the form of a “slice,” it
preserves the sleek look of the
ENVY 13 while giving users up
to 18 hours of battery life with the
extended-life battery. 2 The
standard battery is user-
replaceable.
ATI Switchable Graphics
technology dynamically switches
between ATI Mobility Radeon™
HD 4330 discrete graphics and
the Intel® integrated graphics
processor for either high-powered
graphics processing or low power
consumption for long battery life
without booting the notebook.
The Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor
provides the power of dual
processor cores while delivering
extended battery life when the
notebook is unplugged.
Designed with the most
demanding mobile user in mind,
the ENVY 13 notebook’s
premium AC adapter is small and
light. It draws minimal power, has
built-in surge protection and
includes a rubberized strap that
keeps the cables organized and
the adapter from slipping off a
slick surface. An optional HP
Whoopi Goldberg, Stars React to Passing of Patrick Swayze
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 6:26:00 PM
Patrick Swayze's former co-stars really good man, a funny man and
are speaking out to ET and one to whom I owe much that I
remembering the beloved star. can't ever repay. I believe in
W h o o p i G o l d b e r g , w h o 'Ghost's' message, so he'll always
USB Ethernet Adapter also is
available.
The performance powerhouse:
ENVY 15
This lean, mean, dream machine
is HP’s fastest consumer
notebook. The full metal case
features a sleek, subtly crafted,
laser-etched metal design on the
lid that is repeated on the
palmrest. The magnesium alloy
casing provides lightweight
durability in a 1-inch thin, 5.18-
pound package. 1
Customers have maximum
speed and mobility with the future
Intel Core i7 processor 4 and up
to 16 gigabytes (GB) of DDR3
1,066-MHz system memory in
four SODIMM memory slots.
Versatile storage options include
the ability to add two solid-state
drives in a RAID-0 configuration
to improve the overall speed of
the ENVY 15 while providing
excellent disk performance.
Creative users will appreciate the
ENVY 15 notebook’s
performance and full versions of
Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo
X2 and Corel VideoStudio® Pro
X2 for creating photo and video
content.
Power users and gamers can
take advantage of premium
graphics performance via ATI
Mobility Radeon HD 4830
graphics with 1 GB of dedicated
video memory for visually intense
applications, DirectX® 10.1
games and high-definition video
delighted audiences alongside
Swayze in the 1991 hit film
'Ghost,' tells ET: "Patrick was a
playback.
A choice of two 15.6-inch HP
Brightview high-resolution LED
backlit displays, including the
Full High Definition LED HP
Ultra BrightView Widescreen
Display with up to 300-nits
brightness, provides a superb
display experience for a notebook
in this class. A Nightvision VGA
webcam that is optimized for low-
light or zero-light conditions is
standard on the HP ENVY 15,
incorporating an infrared LED
that assists the webcam 3 by
providing the necessary
illumination in dark
environments.
The ENVY 15 has an optional
Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook
Battery, giving users up to seven
hours of battery life. 2
Designing the ENVY
experience
The HP ENVY line includes a
360-degree approach to product
design — from the products to the
packaging:
• Building upon HP’s success
with instant-on technology, HP
QuickWeb allows customers to
access key applications without
booting the PC. In less than 30
seconds, users can access the
Internet, music, videos and
photos, and email. 3
• HP Clickpad integrates the
buttons into the touchpad and
allows for fluid movements, while
also allowing users to disable the
clickpad if desired.
be near."
California Governor and former
actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
released this statement to ET:
• The keyboard’s direct-action
keys (versus typical function
keys) allow users to quickly
access often-used commands such
as print and volume adjustment.
• Minimal desktop clutter and
trial software adds to notebooks’
simplicity.
• An optional external optical
drive complements the ENVY
design and gives users the
flexibility to carry the extra
weight only when necessary. Two
USB ports also transform the
drive into a dock for additional
capability.
• The ENVY 13 and 15 are
presented in streamlined paper
carton boxes using minimal ink.
Included in the packaging is a
simplified setup poster and
documentation contained within
an SD card.
Concierge service and support
The ENVY experience extends
to premium service and support
via the award-winning HP Total
Care program. This includes
expert agents dedicated to
addressing ENVY customers’
questions via phone, online chat
and email as well as next-day
shipping for hardware customer
service.
Pricing and availability
The HP ENVY 13 and ENVY
15 are expected to be available in
the United States on Oct. 18 with
a starting price of$1,699
and$1,799, respectively. 5
Internet News Record
Old Music Conference
Shuts Down, Blames
'Piracy'; New, Better
Event Shows Up Instead
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 11:53:32 PM
This is really great. Wolfgang
Senges writes in to update us on
how a group of passionate people
who believe in a more bottom up
approach to reinventing the music
industry were able to put together
a fantastic looking music
conference in just weeks, called
all2gethernow(disclosure: they
asked me to come and present, but
I was unable to make it). The
story behind the event is that
Popkomm, one of the bigger
recording industry events, held in
Germany each year, was canceled
this year, with the guy behind it
blaming "piracy" rather than, say,
the economy and structural
changes in the industry. A bunch
of folks in Germany who knew
better decided to show
Popkomm's organizers how to
organize a better event these days,
and scrambled, pulling together a
fun-looking event to be held at the
exact same time as Popkomm had
originally been scheduled. I'm
sorry I couldn't attend, as it really
looks like it should be an
excellent event. Either way, it
shows not only how events can
work, but how the whole industry
is shifting. The top-down model is
changing, and the bottom up one,
where more people are
empowered, is taking over.
Permalink| Comments| Email
This Story
Internet News Record
SEAGATE
continued from page 29
and you can choose from video,
photos or music with the up/down
arrows on the remote to make
your selection.
The Seagate FreeAgent
Theater+ HD media player
includes two additional USB ports
for connecting other USB
attached storage devices. Also
incorporated into FreeAgent
Theater+ is an Ethernet port for
network connectivity, which
allows access to digital media
through your home network.
Seagate intends to launch a USB
Wireless Adapter in October to
enable this same access with
802.11n wireless connectivity to a
home network. Enjoy it all, with
the included new and improved
remote control, from the comfort
of your couch.
“There is so much media that is
now being captured and created
through various methods and
stored on the PC, yet the
computer is not the ideal way to
enjoy these photos and videos,”
said Terry Cunningham, senior
vice president, Seagate Branded
Solutions. “The FreeAgent
Theater provides the easiest way
to view and enjoy video and
photos on your HDTV. Simply
load up a Seagate FreeAgent
HP prettifies Mini 110 with three-dimensional design by Tord Boontje
By Doug Aamoth
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:02:19 AM
If you follow the Dutch design
scene as closely as I do, you’ll be
thrilled to hear that the one and
only Studio Tord Boontje has
created “the industry’s first three-
dimensional PC surface
technology” and worked it into
Go™ hard drive and drop it into
the FreeAgent Theater+ HD
media player dock. It’s a behavior
we’ve all been familiar with for
years with VHS and DVDs, but
now with digital HD enjoyment.”
The new FreeAgent Theater+™
HD media player solution
includes:
* HDMI with 1080p HD video
playback for high-definition
content viewing
* Dolby® Digital and DTS™
2.0 + Digital Out audio support
surround sound where available.
* Unique docking system
eliminates fumbling with cables
and connections
* Ethernet connection for
accessing shared content on your
network or streaming of content
from the Internet
* The optional wireless
connectivity feature, expected to
be available in October, will allow
you to access stored content on
any networked computer in the
home at your fingertips
* Two additional USB ports and
one front-mounted port for digital
cameras and additional storage
devices
* Simple sync software for PC
and Mac® computers
* Intuitive user interface with
HP’s Mini 110 netbook line.
Okay, I’ll admit that I don’t
actually follow the Dutch design
scene as closely as I should
because I don’t know what the
hell HP is talking about here. Ah,
some clarification:
“The HP Mini 110 features the
debut of HP Imprint 3-D, the
industry’s first 3-D PC surface top cover are used to make the art
technology. Multiple layers on the appear to float on the surface
DVD-style navigation
* Support for Windows® XP,
Windows Vista®, Windows® 7,
and Mac OS® X operating
systems, as well as
* NTFS, FAT, FAT32, HFS+
file support
* Component video and
Composite video support
* Optical S/PDIF audio and
Stereo RCA sound options
The software included with
FreeAgent Theater+ HD media
player is a rich media-specific
synchronization application that
enables the automatic transfer and
organization of all photo, music,
video and movie files stored on
your computer.
Technical Specifications
The Seagate FreeAgent
Theater+ HD media player now
supports even more Audio/Video
and sound formats including
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (VOB/ISO),
MPEG-4 (DivX® /Xvid formats),
DivX HD, Xvid HD, AVI, MOV,
MKV, RMVB, AVC HD, H.264,
WMV9, VC-1, M2TS,
TS/TP/M2T, JPEG files up to 20
megapixels, BMP, GIF, PNG and
TIFF. Audio formats supported
include 5.1 channel surround
sound, where available, and
popular digital audio formats
Gadgets/ Entertainment 31
Rob Lowe
including: AAC, MP3, Dolby Remembers Patrick
Digital, DTS, ASF, FLAC,
WMA, LPCM, ADPCM, WAV
Swayze
and OGG. The FreeAgent (ETonline - Breaking News)
Theater+ player also offers Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:50:00 AM
support for SAMI (smi), SRT and
SUB subtitles. To download and Rob Lowe remembered his
transfer content to a Seagate friend and co-star Patrick Swayze
FreeAgent Go portable drive on Monday night at the Toronto
using a Windows XP, Windows Film Festival.
Vista or Windows 7 operated PC, The actor told ET, "Patrick lived
a 256MB RAM and an available a thousand lifetimes in one life.
USB port is required. Mac He played my brother twice and
computer users must be running so I feel like I lost a brother
Mac OSX 10.4.11 or 10.5.6 or tonight."
later and have an available USB Rob walked the red carpet along
port. FreeAgent Theater connects with Jennifer Garner, Ricky
to any TV with composite, Gervais, and more celebs for the
component video or HDMI premiere of their new comedy,
connection and stereo, optical 'The Invention of Lying.'
S/PDIF or HDMI audio
connection
Pricing and Availability
The Seagate FreeAgent
Theater+ HD media player is
available immediately via
Seagate.com and other online
retailers. It comes as a stand-alone
unit for use with any USB storage
device for a manufacturer’s
suggested retail price (MSRP) of
$149.99, or bundled with a
500GB FreeAgent Go drive for a
manufacturer’s suggested retail
pri
while casting shadows onto lower CPU, 10.1-inch LCD, 2.68
layers. This new technology pounds – the Mini 110 has been
brings a depth to Boontje’s available for a while, after all.
intricate pattern of plants and This new design has somehow
animals.” gotten heavier, though: up from
Um… that’s… cool? Other than 2.25 pounds. Maybe all those
that, the Mini 110 will ship on crazy 3D layers add some heft.
October 18th for $399 with Press release
Windows 7 Starter preinstalled.
The actual hardware looks like it
hasn’t changed much – Atom
32 Gadgets/
Add the Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 to the Windows 7 Mulitouch
Laptop List [Notebooks]
By Joanna Stern (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:53:00 AM
Don't say we didn't tell you.
Windows 7 is bringing the
multitouch laptops and Fujitsu's
T5010 is jumping in the pool too.
It can't do four way touch like the
ThinkPadT400s, but it will take
two fingers no problem.
You will have to pick up the
LifeBook T5010 with its new
capacitive touchscreen with Vista
until you can get it with Win 7 on
October 22, but it will still
support the same two finger
gestures like zooming and
panning. You just won't get the
touch pack fun in Vista. It will,
however, come with a pen for
writing on screen.
Fujitsu is touting that this
convertible swings both ways. Uh
yea, it can swing from tablet into
a standard notebook with the
"industry's first bi-directional
swivel hinge."
Here is one thing we are
learning quickly: multitouch
lappies aren't budget. Like
Lenovo's new multitouch, $1,800
ThinkPad x200T, this one starts at
$1,759. [ Fujitsu]
Fujitsu Adds "Touch" to Its
Flagship LifeBook T5010
Convertible Tablet PC
Begins Rollout of New
LifeBook Mobile PC Series
Designed to Exploit Anticipated
Windows 7 Features
Sunnyvale, CA, Sept. 15, 2009
Fujitsu gave mobile users in
North America another reason to
choose the LifeBook(R) T5010
convertible tablet PC today,
announcing the convenience of
multi touch input. The new dual
digitizer's touch screen function
on the 13.3-inch display offers a
new level of interaction by
supporting two-finger touch for
actions including panning,
rotating, flicks and zooming. With
seamless switching between pen
and touch, users can change tasks
on the fly, from casual surfing to
detailed editing or writing.
The Windows Vista(R)-based
LifeBook T5010 convertible
tablet PC is the first in a line of
new LifeBook platforms and form
factors designed to take advantage
of the advanced capabilities of
Microsoft's soon-to-be- launched
Windows 7.
News Highlights
• NEW optional dual digitizer
(active digitizer/capacitive touch)
with two-finger support for
gestures including zoom, rotate,
and flicks; stylus support for
inking, editing/annotating files
• Converts from tablet into a
standard notebook with keyboard
input using the industry's first bi
-directional swivel hinge
• Weighs approximately 4.5
pounds in weight-saver
configuration
• 13.3-inch mercury-free WXGA
bright LED backlight LCD with
wide
viewing angles
• Modular bay, which supports
an optical drive or optional
second
battery
• Optional mobile broadband
support on select models (AT&T
integrated broadband connect
Internet News Record
and Verizon Wireless mobile
broadband built in)
• Enterprise manageability
support with Intel active
management
technology
• Optional Microsoft(R)
Windows 7 Professional, Vista
Business,
XP Downgrade
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo
processor technology
• Full-size, spill-resistant
keyboard with touchpad
• Optional integrated webcam
and (standard) dual digital
microphones
• Full suite of security features:
dedicated SmartCard slot,
integrated fingerprint sensor,
security panel, BIOS and hard
drive password protection,
embedded TPM 1.2,
Computrace(R) BIOS agent.
• Priced starting at $1,759 (1)
with an active digitizer and
priced starting at $1,859 with a
dual digitizer option. Users can
choose from a recommended
configuration, or they can
customize their LifeBook T5010
convertible tablet PC using the
Fujitsu Configure To Order
(CTO) program. Available
immediately through the Fujitsu
website and select retailers/e-
tailers(2).
Internet News Record
SEAGATE
continued from page 28
Intuitive user interface with
DVD-style navigation
Support for Windows(R) XP,
Windows Vista(R), Windows(R)
7, and Mac OS(R) X operating
systems, as well as NTFS, FAT,
FAT32, HFS+ file support
Component video and
Composite video support
Optical S/PDIF audio and
Stereo RCA sound options
The software included with
FreeAgent Theater+ HD media
player is a rich media-specific
synchronization application that
enables the automatic transfer and
organization of all photo, music,
video and movie files stored on
your computer.
Technical Specifications
The Seagate FreeAgent
Theater+ HD media player now
supports even more Audio/Video
and sound formats including
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (VOB/ISO),
MPEG-4 (DivX(R)/Xvid
formats), DivX HD, Xvid HD,
AVI, MOV, MKV, RMVB, AVC
HD, H.264, WMV9, VC-1,
M2TS, TS/TP/M2T, JPEG files
up to 20 megapixels, BMP, GIF,
PNG and TIFF. Audio formats
supported include 5.1 channel
surround sound, where available,
and popular digital audio formats
including: AAC, MP3, Dolby
Digital, DTS, ASF, FLAC,
WMA, LPCM, ADPCM, WAV
and OGG. The FreeAgent
Theater+ player also offers
support for SAMI (smi), SRT and
SUB subtitles. To download and
transfer content to a Seagate
FreeAgent Go portable drive
using a Windows XP, Windows
Vista or Windows 7 operated PC,
a 256MB RAM and an available
USB port is required. Mac
computer users must be running
Mac OS X 10.4.11 or 10.5.6 or
later and have an available USB
port. FreeAgent Theater connects
to any TV with composite,
component video or HDMI
connection and stereo, optical
S/PDIF or HDMI audio
connection
Pricing and Availability
The Seagate FreeAgent
Theater+ HD media player is
available immediately via
Seagate.com and other online
retailers. It comes as a stand-alone
unit for use with any USB storage
device for a manufacturer's
suggested retail price (MSRP) of
$149.99, or bundled with a
500GB FreeAgent Go drive for a
manufacturer's suggested retail
price (MSRP) of $289.99. The
FreeAgent Theater+ Wireless
Adapter is expected to be
available in October as a separate
accessory through Seagate.com
for $69.99.
Gadgets/ Tech/ 33
MLM Company Accuses
Blogging Critic Of Trademark
Infringement Over Metatag Usage
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) lawyer claimed that the original
Submitted at 9/15/2009 2:31:38 AM letter was from "a new person
working in our compliance
A bunch of folks have sent in the department" who apparently went
news that MonaVie, a company I a bit too far. But, that the
must confess I've never heard of - company still felt the use in
- but which apparently is a typical metatags was a violation of
multilevel marketing deal, this trademarks. That seems hard to
time involving something to do believe for a variety of reasons, as
with acai berries -- is threatening no moron in a hurry would
a critical blogger for the sin of c o n f u s e a b l o g c r i t i c a l o f
mentioning the company name in MonaVie with the company itself.
metatags. Well, actually, they This certainly sounds like an
threatened him over a lot more in abuse of trademark law in an
their legal nastygram to the attempt to stifle speech.
blogger's domain registrar. Permalink| Comments| Email
However, when the good folks at This Story
The Consumerist asked MonaVie
for clarification, the company's

Spark's egg-shaped VTube media player won't fit neatly in

your AV rack
By Darren Murph (Engadget) outside of its unorthodox design. of seeing this on US soil are slim.
Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:16:00 AM The unit packs HDMI / [Via Cloned In China]
component / composite video Filed under: Home
Much like Sony's PlayStation 3, outputs, an Ethernet jack and a Entertainment
Spark's VTube clearly wasn't Toslink optical audio output, and Spark's egg-shaped VTube
designed to sit nicely in-between those who dig internal storage can media player won't fit neatly in
a 7.1-channel AV receiver and a slap a 2.5-inch HDD within to your AV rack originally appeared
cable set-top-box. Engineered in keep those old Office clips handy. on Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009
some backwoods lab about 30 Predictably, it also supports pretty 09:16:00 EST. Please see our
kilometers south of Shenzhen, the much every file format known to storage if need be. It'll only run terms for use of feeds. Read|
so-called VTube looks to be a man, and the built-in USB port you around $130, but the chances Permalink| Email this| Comments
pretty standard media player ensures that you can add external
34 Gadgets/ Tech/ Internet News Record

Seagate launches FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player, we go

hands-on
By Darren Murph (Engadget) a FreeAgent Go USB 2.0 hard $289.99 bundle, which throws in
Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:39:00 AM drive(sold separately or in a a 500GB FreeAgent Go drive.
bundle) or whatever you shove Have a look at retro exemplified
Remember when Seagate into those USB sockets. You can in the gallery below.
introduced its Betamax-esque count on 1080p output and a Gallery: Seagate launches
FreeAgent Theater HD way back pretty standard UI, and while it's FreeAgent Theater+ HD media
at CES this year? Of course not -- wired-or-die right now, Seagate's player, we go hands-on
you were locked onto the Palm hoping to pop out a USB WiFi Filed under: Home
Pre keynote. At any rate, the next adapter ($69.99) for it next Entertainment, Storage,
generation of that very device month. Networking
somehow made it through the We've yet to really put this Seagate launches FreeAgent
product development stage and player through its paces, but we Theater+ HD media player, we go
now sits in our very hands, and can say for sure that it's not made hands-on originally appeared on
we have to say, it's no more for abuse. The mostly-plastic box Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009
modern in person than it is in is staggeringly light, and one drop drive at your disposal, and if the cheaper options on the market, 09:39:00 EST. Please see our
press shots. Equipped with the from atop your AV rack could you've selected any other portable but it still can't beat Popcorn terms for use of feeds. Read|
usual assortment of ports (HDMI, lead to utter disaster. Furthermore, HDD, you'll have to deal with Hour's heralded lineup when it Permalink| Email this| Comments
component, composite, Toslink, this is really only useful for those connecting it the old fashion way comes to value and format
Ethernet and two USB) ports, the wound tightly around Seagate's and ditching the "clean look." At support. Those looking for an all-
FreeAgent Theater+ HD media finger; the bulk of its functionality $149.99 sans an HDD, it's one of in-one deal can opt for the
player gets all of its content from relies on having a FreeAgent USB

Brief Insight Into the Life of a Convicted Hacker

By Stan Schroeder answers), it’s a fascinating one of the top teams in the CTF updated. On my Linux box I use
(Mashable!) opportunity: I bet many of you and I thought they were custom kernel hardening patches
Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:43:43 AM wanted to know the motivations, completely awesome. So I looked to make memory corruption bugs
habits and the moral values of them up and mailed the leader, pretty hard to exploit. OpenSSH is
I love Reddit’s self-post such a person. asking how to become a hacker. firewalled and only accepts a
category. For those unfamiliar The author sums it up nicely in He told me to buy “Hacking connection from your ip if you
with a self-post, it’s a Reddit post the introduction: “I never hacked Exposed” and read it from cover visit a custom port-knocking page
that links back to itself; it’s useful anything for financial gain and I to cover 5 times, then I would on my webserver. Basically the
f o r q u e s t i o n s , p o l l s a n d don’t consider myself a criminal. begin to understand how it is only service listening is apache,
discussion. While often misused, I’m actually a pretty nice guy.” possible to hack into computers. without PHP.On my desktop and
the community at Reddit rewards However, the folks at Reddit have NIPRnet-big. It’s a pretty basic book, it mostly laptop I don’t have any services
and votes mostly for interesting c o m e u p w i t h s o m e v e r y qgyh2Typically, how secure are c o v e r s s p e c i f i c h a c k i n g listening at all.
ones, and there’s a very cool one interesting questions (not all are modern web sites? techniques but also introduces Check out the entire thread here.
at the front page today. attempts at humor, mind you), and 1094795585: Not very secure. s o m e c o n c e p t s l i k e b u f f e r Image courtesy of iStockphoto,
In it, a convicted young hacker the answers are well worth your SQL-injections are everywhere. overflows. Then you just need to depo881 Reviews: PHP,
who got into hacking at an early time. Here’s a small sample of cup: …How does one begin to experiment and read, hacking is a iStockphoto, linux
age, got caught by the authorities, interesting questions and answers get to a level where you were, lot about experience, you can’t Tags: hacker, reddit, social
was given a suspended prison from Reddit: hacking into computers… learn everything from a book. media
sentence and got slapped by huge mikm: Without naming 1094795585: The way I got orezpraw: How do you secure
fines, answers questions about specifics, how big was your s t a r t e d w a s t h a t I s a w a your own system?
himself. Provided it’s genuine highest-profile target? documentary about hackers at 1094795585: I keep my services
(and it seems that way from the 1094795585: Fortune-500-big. defcon, they were interviewing to a minimum, and I keep them
Internet News Record Tech/ 35

TechCrunch50: Show me the money

By Caroline McCarthy "I think it's a really slick a system that every day crawls the
(Webware.com) interface but I would just be Internet and pulls in thousands of
Submitted at 9/14/2009 4:00:00 PM worried," Tony Hsieh said. "It just actual ticket sales," Groetzinger
seems like a lot of work to have to explained. "We're also pulling in
( C r e d i t : C N E T / J o s h go through and decide which ads other external factors that we
Lowensohn) (to run)...my question is how does know to drive ticket prices." For a
SAN FRANCISCO--The world it scale as a publisher grows." baseball game, for example, it can
of Web 2.0 has been criticized for The next start-up was another come down to the weather, the
being too much about the nifty advertising platform, DataXu. The starting pitcher, and whether there
ideas and not enough about raking focus of DataXu's product is a are popular concerts in town.
in the dough. So there were likely data dashboard where publishers "Right now we're testing at about
more than a few sets of ears in the can buy ads through ad exchanges 75 to 80 percent accuracy, and
a u d i e n c e o n M o n d a y a t like Google's and Yahoo's with a that's going up every day as our
TechCrunch50 that perked up at highly refined algorithm that system learns."
the start of the third batch of start- promises to show the right ads to SeatGeek, which says it's
ups presenting: "New Advertising the right people at the right time-- already profitable due to ticket
& Monetization Platforms." for example, that news- and sports purchases made by alpha testers,
The judges included such -related ads get more reception in also offers a product to brokers
Silicon Valley marquee names as the morning--and then tracks the and other ticket sellers that retails
Google executive Marissa Mayer, success of an ad campaign with for between $2,000 and $10,000
i n d u s t r y v e t e r a n M a r c all sorts of analytics. per year, and plans to roll out an
Andreessen, Sequoia Capital's President and CEO Mike Baker insurance product later this year.
Roelof Botha, YCombinator called DataXu's offering "rocket The company's founders said they
founder and investor Paul science," adding that the did consider using the algorithm
Graham, and Zappos CEO Tony u n d e r l y i n g t e c h n o l o g y w a s to simply run a reselling business
Hsieh, who sold his company to actually used by NASA for a themselves, which they said
Amazon this summer. Mars mission plan. "What we're would have required significant
The first company to present doing is actually using machine- upfront costs. SeatGeek in its final
w a s 5 t o 1 , a n a d v e r t i s i n g learning techniques to take vast form does not.
technology company that tackles amounts of data with a small The fourth company in the set
the seemingly unsolvable problem positive-action subset, which is was HealthyWage, which
of filling up remnant advertising very consistent with the Internet addresses the hot-button issue of
inventory that can't be filled up by advertising problem: there are health care and weight loss by
premium or direct sales--and very few clicks and even fewer letting individuals track their diet
which often ends up getting filled actions," Baker said, while and exercise habits, network with
b y a d s t h a t a r e c h e a p a n d declining to provide any real trade other members, and track progress
irrelevant. 5to1's model lets site secrets. "We're applying on top of --and then compensates them
owners and publishers fill up their that the concept of control financially if they meet their
ad inventory as though it's a systems." goals. The money comes from
music playlist. SeatGeek co-founder Jack companies that advertise on the
"What we're talking about here is Groetzinger explains how his site and "invest" in its members,
total control by the publisher," service can save people money on and if members invest their own
founder and CEO James Heckman tickets.(Credit: CNET / Josh money in their health goals, they
said. "No ad is going to show up Lowensohn) Microsoft's Bing Travel do. Co- around $15 billion, Groetzinger receive a bigger return when they
that you don't like." (He described Up next was something much founders Jack Groetzinger and said. meet that goal.
typical remnant ads as "the more consumer-focused, and that Russ D'Souza explained that SeatGeek pulls in ticket prices Responses were mixed--the
dancing fat bellies and the punch- left the audience pretty impressed: sometimes ticket prices can drop from secondary sellers such as judges seemed to find it
the-monkey ads.") SeatGeek, which forecasts concert unexpectedly at the last minute-- StubHub or Craigslist and then interesting but wanted more
B u t s o m e j u d g e s w e r e and sports ticket prices, much like and sometimes they don't. forecasts where they might go
lukewarm on 5to1. airline price applications like The secondary ticket market is based on an algorithm. "We have TECHCRUNCH50: page 40
36 Tech/ Internet News Record

Voice chat coming to Facebook

By Daniel Terdiman
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:00:00 AM

The new Vivox voice chat

system for Facebook will allow
any user to start a conversation
with anyone on their friends list.
The service will also be available
to third-party developers who
want to integrate voice into their
applications.(Credit: Vivox)
Look out, Facebook users: Here
comes voice chat.
Sometime in the next few
weeks, the social network's tens
of millions of users will begin to
be able to have high-quality voice
conversations, even as its third-
party developers are able to start
including voice in their
applications.
The new technology is not being
offered by Facebook itself,
however. Instead, it's from Vivox,
a Boston-based company that
provides the integrated voice
service for virtual worlds like
Second Life and EVE Online, and
which already has more than 15
million users worldwide.
The service, which is currently
in closed beta, will allow
Facebook users to have high-
fidelity conversations with anyone
on their friends list. Each user, Perhaps more importantly, the new service. But while some see it as a continuum of that they won't want to be getting
however, will have to download according to Vivox co-founder people may decide that they don't communications with the people I voice chat invites from people
Vivox's plug-in. But once Monty Sharma, the company is want to use a tool that requires a want to stay in touch with." they've friended but might know
installed, the service works almost making its technology available to plug-in, many others may well Another social media expert, only peripherally.
seamlessly with Facebook, and is any third-party Facebook find that it's worth the trouble in Gnomedex organizer Chris Pirillo, "When these tools come about,"
intended for everything from one- application developer, meaning order to be able to easily start a was even more effusive about the Pirillo said, "it becomes less
to-one chat to large group that almost any app, from games conversation that rivals, or even potential for a full-fledged valuable (to have too many
discussions. to utilities, can have a voice betters, phone call quality. Facebook voice chart system. friends) and actually promotes a
Further, even non-Facebook component. One person who may be an "It is about time," Pirillo said. "I cleaner ecosystem."
users will be able to participate, as For now, it's not clear how early adopter is Charlene Li, a guarantee you this is going to bite Great for retailers
Vivox plans to offer free dial-in many of Facebook's users will well-known social media into Skype." To Li, giving third-party
numbers that will allow anyone to choose to adopt Vivox's consultant, and the co-author of For Pirillo, the Vivox system Facebook developers the ability to
call into an existing conversation, technology, and for the time the book Groundswell. will provide a valuable incentive integrate voice chat into their
much as is possible today with being, at least, Facebook is not "I would (use voice service on for Facebook users to streamline
call-in phone conferences. involved in any way in promoting Facebook)," Li said, "because I their friends lists since it's likely
VOICE page 38
Internet News Record Tech/ 37

TechCrunch50: Businesses that match you up

By Josh Lowensohn will later be verified by Red
(Webware.com) Beacon to weed out any false ones
Submitted at 9/14/2009 6:50:00 PM --although that's not yet available.
The service will also be limited to
SAN FRANCISCO--At the the Bay Area until the company
TechCrunch50 conference( sees how well it does.
coverage), I'm a little surprised we The third matchmaking service,
haven't seen any dating sites yet. Mota Motors, aims to make car
After all, the economy may be in buying and selling easier. It asks
shambles, but the Internet never straightforward questions about
ceases to come up with new ways your car's condition, then scans an
to help people meet. index on the Web to give you a
Matchmaking is still in the air recommended sale price. It's
though--and this time there's hooked up to a number of service
money involved. providers to help sellers get their
Local Bacon, Red Beacon, and car certified or fixed up before a
Mota Motors, three newly sale. It can also write a
announced start-ups have a very description for you, including any
similar aim: doing something selling points, meaning that you
better than Craigslist, and making don't need an English degree to
money off it. In Local Bacon's write elegant prose about your
case, it's helping job seekers and 1987 Honda.
employees find each other by For buyers, Mota Motors offers
simplifying data. For Red Beacon, tools that offer advice and
it's helping people more easily suggestions on questions to ask,
find service providers, then get or things to check before making
them to execute a job. And for a purchase. This includes a
Mota Motors, it's about linking up partnership with Pep Boys that
car buyers and sellers while has Pep Boys repair technicians
offering some hand-holding to doing a standardized inspection
make the process a little easier. that gets posted to the car's info
Out of the three, Local Bacon is page to help you make sure it's
the most risky. It's asking help focus who applies for jobs, on its road map that will help out an order for whatever you
not a lemon and warn you on any
employers to work with a uniform as well as keep the company e m p l o y e r s s o r t t h r o u g h need; its system then goes out and work that needs to be done.
format for job listings, so that all afloat. It also helps provide tools a p p l i c a t i o n s b y s k i l l s e t , finds people to do it for you. On
So which of these three would I
submitted jobs look the same and for both applicants and employers educational background, and the other end, service providers use? Considering I've got a car
are easier to parse and search in t o m o n i t o r a n d m a n a g e more. For now that's something can put out a quote for how much that needs selling, Mota Motors
Local Bacon's job finder. This is applications. For instance job they have to keep track of on their they would do the job for, then doesn't sound like such a bad idea.
great for people trying to find seekers can get notified when own. you as the service seeker can you
And as a soon-to-be buyer of a
based on certain qualifications, their application has been looked Red Beacon connects you with get to pick the one you want.
at by the employer. That's service providers--even if you To help users choose providers, used car, I really dig the idea of
although it requires employers to having a system of verifying a
reformat their listings, which can something you don't usually find need them right away.(Credit: companies get ratings and reviews used car to let me know what
be a pain if they're sending it out out until you get called in for an CNET) from previous consumers, along
to several job listing sites at once, interview. For people looking for someone with any photos they've taken to work it needs done. Of course the
or have certain qualifications that Local Bacon simplifies job to a one-time job and those who back up that work. Red Beacon caveat with Mota Motors, as well
as the others is that they're
may not fit into Local Bacon's l i s t i n g s b y h a v i n g a l l i t s want to do it, there's Red Beacon. also pulls in the aggregate rating currently limited by location. For
template. e m p l o y e r s w o r k w i t h a It helps people request a local from Yelp's API.
It's also requiring job applicants standardized job description service, then compare prices from Companies that want to be Local Bacon, it's the greater New
to pay 99 cents per job to apply. format.(Credit: CNET) l o c a l p r o v i d e r s . I t h a s a included have to manually add York area, while Red Beacon and
Local Bacon hopes that fee will The company said it's got tools scheduling tool that lets you put their information, something that
TECHCRUNCH50: page 38
38 Tech/
VOICE
continued from page 36
applications may mean a big
victory for retailers. She pointed
out that a company like
Overstock.com may find it
extremely valuable to put out a
Facebook app with voice built-in-
-without having to build the voice
system themselves--because it
would give people a way to
quickly and easily chat with their
friends about products they see.
"Retailers don't have to put in
chat themselves," Li said. "They
can just put in Facebook chat.
That's where it starts getting very
interesting."
And to Pirillo, the ability for
Facebook friends to have a voice
chat during, say, a game of
Scrabble, is a very "smart"
innovation that means users can
streamline the number of different
tools they're running
simultaneously.
To be sure, Vivox's offering is
not the first to make voice
possible for Facebook users,
though it may well be the most
seamless.
Other options have included
Equals' Party Line, which offers
group chat for up to five people,
and, of course, a work-around like
Skype.
Vivox argues that its technology
Compare The Old and the New Google, Side By Side
By Stan Schroeder
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 11:33:54 PM
*Update: it seems that
comparegoogle.com has stopped
working, but you can also check
out a similar service called
www.comparecaffeine.com.
Remember Google Caffeine?
rises above anything else
available today because of its
scope and scalability. For one, the
Vivox system has been proven on
services like Second Life and
EVE Online--and is about to be
built into a series of online
Electronic Arts games, beginning
with Command & Conquer 4
Tiberian Twilight--and has been
shown to support thousands of
simultaneous users on a single
channel. Further, the company
said that because it already has
more than 15 million users, it
doesn't anticipate any problems
handling the flood of new users
that could come when the
Facebook system is rolled out.
But while experts like Li and
Pirillo think that voice chat is a
natural extension for Facebook,
there are some who feel that the
technology make take some time
to catch on in certain segments of
the Facebook ecosystem,
particularly one of the most
popular, social games.
There are millions of people
who play social games from
developers like Zynga, Playfish,
and others, and together the
segment makes up one of the
largest on the social network. But
because social gaming is largely
It’s the new Google search engine
that’s going to replace the old
one. We’ve tested it thoroughly,
and while we’ve seen some signs
of improvement, the change is far
from dramatic.
The test version of Caffeine has
been available on
www2.sandbox.google.com for found a simple site, called
about a month, but now we’ve Compare Google, that lets you
asynchronous--meaning users
don't have to be online at the same
time to enjoy playing games
against each other--voice chat
may not present as much utility.
"For social games, I don't see a
strong need for (voice chat) yet,"
said Siqi Chen, the CEO of Social
Business, a leading Facebook
social games developer. "I do see
a shift for more synchronous
game play over time, but it hasn't
really been happening for most
games."
In part, Chen said, that's
because among friends who like
to play games together, it's fairly
uncommon to be online at the
same time. In addition, social
games are built around short play
sessions.
But he allowed that over time,
as people spend more and more
time on Facebook, there may well
be an opportunity for social game
developers to launch more
engaging games that are built
around longer session times, and
which might work well with voice
chat.
At Vivox, no one is expecting
that tens of millions of users will
immediately start using its voice
chat technology. But the company
is aware that it will likely see a
significant spike in usage, and is
ready to handle it when it comes,
said co-founder Sharma.
And Sharma suggested that
while it may be too early to know
exactly how the company will
monetize its Facebook integration,
there are some obvious
opportunities in microtransactions
and audio ads that users would
hear before being put into a voice
channel.
For now, it's also too early to
tell just how much of a game-
changer any new voice chat
system will be. But based on
Vivox's track record, it is certainly
one of the few companies well-
positioned to jump headlong into
a community as large as that of
Facebook.
And to Pirillo, adding a
seamless voice chat system is a
natural, and just one step on the
path toward where we may well
be going in the near future: fully
functional video chatting across
the entire social network.
"Is it revolutionary? No," Pirillo
said of Vivox's offering. "Is it
evolutionary? Absolutely."
Originally posted at Geek
Gestalt
compare the results between the
old (current) Google engine and
Caffeine. There are no options to
speak of, just a search box and
two sets of results, but you don’t
really need much more for a quick
test.
As far as the results go, the
changes still seem rather subtle,
but one has to admit that Google
Internet News Record
TECHCRUNCH50:
continued from page 37
Mota Motors are limited to
Northern and Southern California
respectively.
Originally posted at Web
Crawler
Why Do Content
Creators Get Control
Over Derivative Works?
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 5:44:21 PM
Doug Lichtman's latest IP
Colloquium takes on the question
of derivative works, mainly
discussing the infamous Harry
Potter Lexicon reference guide
that a judge recently barred from
publication. In the program,
Lichtman talks with the General
Counsel of Warner Bros. studios,
Jeremy Williams, and Anthony
Falzone from Stanford's Fair Use
Project. Unless you're really into
some of the very very narrow
details of copyright law (such as
the differences between the
various sections in copyright law),
much of the discussion may not
Search is functioning quite well as
it is, so it’s hard to expect
dramatic improvements in this
area.
Reviews: Google, Google
search
Tags: Google Caffeine, Search
Internet News Record Tech/ 39

Google testing Fast Flip for Google News

By Tom Krazit (Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 4:00:00 PM

Google Fast Flip, a new service

in testing for Google
News.(Credit: Google)
Google is testing a service that
will let newshounds read Web
pages of magazines and
newspapers like they were
flipping through an old-fashioned
paper copy.
Marissa Mayer, vice president
of search products and user
experience, plans to demonstrate
Google Fast Flip later on Monday
at TechCrunch50. It's a Google
Labs project that expands the
presence of publishers on Google
News, organizing and displaying
authorized screen grabs of news
stories--not snippets--within the
Google News site.
For example, readers will be
able to scroll through a series of
screen grabs bearing the alongside Fast Flip pages. story. Others grouse about the Google News. Mayer hinted that for the moment, criticism of Fast
publisher's logo that display Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice way bloggers who are merely something like this was coming in Flip will probably be muted.
stories on the weekend's NFL president of digital operations at writing and commenting on a May, when she testified before Nisenholtz acknowledged that the
games or Kanye West's opinions the Times, called Fast Flip "a piece of original reporting can Congress that "the structure of the Times is trying lots of things these
on best female video of the year, modest R&D project" designed as sometimes get more exposure on Web has caused the atomic unit of days to gauge what works in Web
also allowing them to browse by an experiment to gauge click- Google News than the author or consumption for news to migrate publishing. "We're in the business
categories organized around through rates and traffic, rather publisher of the original story. from the full newspaper to the of learning around here in part,
Google News sections, the most than any sort of money-making Readers will be able to see a individual article." and we felt that this was an
popular stories, or news sources. venture. He declined to comment portion of the article, but will But Fast Flip requires publishers interesting test."
They'll be able to read some of the on how much revenue Google have to click through for the to showcase more of their content This isn't Google's only attempt
story within a section of the Fast would be sharing with the paper. whole thing. Publishers will get a than a simple Google News listing to work with an industry that has
Flip site but will need to click Google News, of course, has cut of the revenue from ads sold requires, which could allow been so critical of the company in
through to the publisher's Web been a lightning rod for criticism on the right hand rail.(Credit: readers to completely skip the past. Google is also said to be
site in order to read the full story. from the struggling newspaper Google) clicking through after getting the testing a micropayments service
Fast Flip is being tested in industry. Some publishers believe Fast Flip gives publishers more gist of the story from the first few for other publishers that don't
partnership with 36 publishers, that Google News siphons their of what they want: a chance to paragraphs. On the other hand, a want to embrace the free-content
including The New York Times, content and discourages readers share in the ad revenue generated more attractive presentation of the movement.
Newsweek, and Salon.com, which from clicking through to the by Google News combined with story could attract more clicks Originally posted at Relevant
will get a portion of the revenue source of the story by including the spotlight and traffic that than a single headline might. Results
from ads that Google plans to sell the headline and a snippet of the comes along with inclusion in Since it's a partner-only service
40 Tech/
TECHCRUNCH50:
continued from page 35
information about exactly how it
would work. "I definitely like the
idea and I know for us health care
costs have been going up," judge
Hsieh said. "I think the idea of
paying someone to do something
is interesting, but I think that you
may want to figure out how to
separate the actual incentive from
the example of losing weight in
this situation...some of them may
need a different incentive."
Andreessen, who said he
"love(s) this idea," asked how it
could potentially lower health
care costs for companies, and
wondered just how much
investment would be needed for,
say, a seriously obese person to be
willing to make that change.
Mayer said she was "skeptical"
of the start-up's potential for
success. "What's to stop Weight
Watchers or someone else from
rolling out the same kind of
company-based incentive?" she
asked.
So HealthyWage is dedicated to
making people change their life
habits; its successor at
TechCrunch50, RackUp, is
dedicated to "changing the way
people buy and spend their
money," CEO Mark Rochman
said. How? It's a gift card auction
site. You bid a dollar amount to
fill up an empty gift card from a
retailer (participants include
American Airlines and AMC
movie theaters). But you can earn
bonuses on the dollar value so that
the winner ends up with more
than he or she actually paid, since
there's some strategy involved
(bigger bonuses if you bid high,
fast, and early). Auctions are 60
seconds in length.
A demo of how RackUp's 60-
second auction system works.
Rapid-fire, nail-biting retail has
proven to have some appeal, as
evidenced by the cult success of
Woot.com, Groupon, and Twitter
fire-sale deals from the likes of
airline JetBlue. "We are already
spending that money every day on
those brands," Rochman
explained, adding that he'd gone
through the requisite research to
make sure that it's actually legal
and isn't constrained by any
gambling laws. "So why not take
60 seconds of our life (and) have
fun?"
RackUp makes money by taking
a cut of what retailers pay,
Rochman said. The judges
seemed to like it, too.
Udorse's Geoffrey Lewis
pitches his start-up's clothing
tagging service.(Credit: CNET /
Josh Lowensohn)
The final "New Advertising &
Monetization Platforms"
presentation came from Udorse,
which can embed endorsements in
photos on photo-sharing sites--
clothing lines worn, products
displayed, venues and businesses
where photos are taken, for
example. About a dozen major
brands have signed on, including
fashion brands Armani Exchange
and American Apparel; Udorse
will launch with an iPhone app, a
Javascript plug-in for blogs, and
Facebook and Twitter apps.
Unfortunately, Udorse tags can't
be displayed on the actual
Facebook photo-sharing app; it
needs its own app built on the
Facebook platform.
Udorse users can earn an
affiliate cut of endorsements and
either opt to have them delivered
through PayPal or donated to a
charity.
"I really loved it," Marissa
Mayer said, "I always said that
this would be one of the primary
ways that social networks make
money."
But not all the judges were sold.
"I do think it's a little weird, like if
you and I were friends, so that
you could get paid so that I could
look like you and dress like you,"
Hsieh--who is in the apparel
industry himself--said,
complimenting Udorse CEO
Geoffrey Lewis on his energetic
presentation. "If tomorrow you
and I were wearing the same
outfit because I saw you wearing
it on Facebook, that'd be just
creepy."
"Is there an anti-product
placement foundation that I could
donate the money to?"
Andreessen joked.
Apple TV: What
happens now?
By Mel Martin (The Unofficial
Apple Weblog (TUAW))
Submitted at 9/14/2009 1:00:00 PM
Filed under: Accessories,
Analysis / Opinion, Hardware,
Multimedia, Video, Apple TV As
Steve Sande has reported, Apple
has discontinued the 40 GB Apple
TV unit, and dropped the 160 GB
unit U.S. $100.00. The large
capacity set top box now sells for
$229.00, the price that the now-
eliminated 40 GB unit used to sell
for.
Apple has continuously referred
to the Apple TV unit as a 'hobby',
perhaps a way to explain less than
stellar sales figures. It's way
overdue for some kind of update
and new features; perhaps an 'all
you can eat' rental program
similar to the Netflix model.
At the same time, the Apple TV
service has had plenty of issues:
everything from failures to
authenticate users, to (for the last
few days) an inability to browse
the HD rentals beyond titles
starting with the letter 'B.'
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene
Munster had recently predicted
that Apple would drop the 40 GB
unit and lower the price of the
remaining 160 GB unit, a
prediction that turned out to be
spot on. Munster has also
predicted Apple would add DVR
capabilities to the device.
Now, if only Apple would let
that mysterious USB port on the
back of the Apple TV allow more
Internet News Record
storage, and fix the service
glitches, a lot of people would
celebrate.
Some price adjustments for
rentals would also be welcome. It
is cheaper to rent Blu-ray titles at
Blockbuster overnight then get the
same title from Apple. Yes, you
have to go get it, but the picture
quality is better on the Blu-ray
disk.
It's hard to figure out exactly
where Apple should go with this
device. I don't find the YouTube
content compelling on a hi-def
screen. Rentals are fine, but
severely limited by the MPAA
rules that only let me keep the
rental for 24 hours. We're starting
to see YouTube and Netflix being
built into both TV sets and some
new DVD/Blu-ray players, which
will further diminish the Apple
TV value. Hopefully Apple is up
to something, or the 'hobby' will
remain a half-baked idea that
never took off.
Thanks to Jeremy for the the tip.
TUAW Apple TV: What
happens now? originally appeared
on The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Mon, 14 Sep 2009
13:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Internet News Record
Google Fast Flip: The platypus of
news readers
By Rafe Needleman
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:37:00 PM
Google on Monday released an
experimental new content browser
called Fast Flip that makes it
possible to see a curated set of
content sites using a physical
"turn the pages" metaphor. Fast
Flip pages are cached by Google
and load very quickly, which is
cool. And if your brain is stuck in
1969 and you want to pretend that
new-fangled computer in front of
you is a microfilm reader, it'll feel
natural to use.
Fast Flip is a good solution for
putting a magazine or newspaper
online, and it makes scanning
even a more modern Web feed
really fast. But it still feels forced.
It's an intermediate online format
that gives you an experience that's
even more linear than a print
publication, and it provides less
overall context than you can get
from a moderately well-design
Web site.
Dozens of sites are participating
in the Fast Flip
experiment.(Credit: Screenshot by
Rafe Needleman/CNET)
In Fast Flip, neither standard
Web rules nor print layout
concepts apply. For example, in
Fast Flip, you can only scan left
and right (page by page). You
can't read down the page. If you
click anywhere on the page, you
leave Fast Flip and go to the Web.
Links don't work. And multimedia
doesn't work on the page either.
Fast Flip previews are, in fact, flat
graphics files, which explains
their lack of interactivity. On the
mobile versions of Fast Flip,
zooming in on a column is likely
to leave you with text at a
readable size but displayed on a
column that's too wide to read
without scrolling back and forth,
making the feature rather useless.
Hey Google, wasn't HTML
invented for a reason?
Fast Flip also displays Google
ads alongside publisher content. I
presume Google will share
revenues with content providers,
but this scheme does take control
over advertising away from
publishers.
Mind you, I'm not opposed to
the creation of different ways to
get people into stories. An old
mantra in publishing is to provide
"multiple entry points" for
readers. If I get users to my pages
from Fast Flip that I otherwise
wouldn't get, who am I to argue?
But Web designers have spent the
past 10 years building sites that
work in browsers, and Fast Flip
by its existence tries to tell
publishers that there's still life left
in the old print-based, dead page
model. I think we've moved
beyond that.
You can quickly flip forward or
back through pages, or jump to a
particular page by clicking on its
thumbnail view.(Credit:
Screenshot by Rafe
Needleman/CNET)
Here's what I'd like to see
instead: first, I agree with the Fast
Flip designers that loading pages
takes too long and that caching
pages in a Web app is a good way
to bring speed back to content
browsing. But can we do it with
real pages instead of static
graphics? Second, the idea that
there's a recommended linear
reading order of pages on a site is
intriguing, even if the order is
simply chronological. But I don't
think readers want to be locked in
to that order. How about we give
readers standard forward and back
content navigation buttons (not
browser forward and back) to take
them through a site in addition to
the hyperlinks they're used to?
Fast Flip is clearly an
experiment, and as I said, if it gets
more people to read online
content, I'll applaud it for that
alone. But I'm not going to
actually like it from a technical
perspective, or as a user, until it
gives publishers, designers, and
readers more control over their
content.
See also: Zinio.
Originally posted at Rafe's
Radar
What's up, Dock? Give
your Dock a little class
with Dock Library
By Steven Sande (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 9/14/2009 3:00:00 PM
Filed under: Software, Cool
tools, Odds and ends, Snow
Leopard Let's face it; the Mac OS
X Dock is pretty boring. I mean,
other than the little glowing blue
LED underneath active
applications that a lot of people
can't see anyway, it's just a
boring, opaque white reflective
shelf. Wouldn't you like to add
some excitement to it?
Well, you still can't relive the
glory of your high school athletic
prowess and put that dusty third-
place trophy for shot-put on the
shelf, but you can make the Dock
look nicer with Dock Library. It's
a shareware application from
Dative Studios that enables quick
switching of your Dock styles.
TUAW covered this little
application in 2008, but we have a
lot of new readers who may not
be aware of how Dock Library
works.
Dock Library doesn't come with
a bunch of built-in styles; for
those, you need to go to sites such
as LeopardDocks.com or
LeopardDocks.net, both of which
have a variety of free Dock
templates ranging from the
commonplace to the absurd.
After installing Dock Library, I
chose the nice "Coffee Table
Rounded" Dock design (see
Tech/ 41
below), which looks like
beautifully finished wood and has
rounded corners. What's really
nice is that those blue LEDs really
show up under my active
applications now, and that Dock
Library works with Mac OS X
10.6.1 Snow Leopard with no
issues.
I'm curious to find out what
bizarre or cool Dock templates
our readers would like to see --
your ideas might be just the thing
to stimulate some creative
designer to submit a new template
to the LeopardDocks sites. Leave
your comments below.
[via Download Squad and
Sizlopedia]
TUAW What's up, Dock? Give
your Dock a little class with Dock
Library originally appeared on
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW) on Mon, 14 Sep 2009
15:00:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
42 Tech/
WHY
continued from page 38
be that interesting. There were a
couple of things worth noting,
however. I tended to think that
Williams' views on fan fiction
made a lot of sense -- where he
basically said that studios
recognize that it's a bad idea to
substantially copy the original
work, but could be controlled by
the original publisher via a
"derivative work" claim of
Section 106(2) in the Copyright
Act.
But, to me, this seems ridiculous
Internet News Record
give the original creator the right
Gist opens up, adds
to derivative works. I recognize
that may be an extreme, but take a
look at cases like recent banning
noise and friends filters
of an unauthorized (and, By Josh Lowensohn
apparently, not very good) sequel (Webware.com)
to Catcher in the Rye. I can't see Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:00:00 AM

stop fan fiction, and that the
studios have to learn to let go of
trying to control everything. I was
actually quite surprised that
Lichtman pushed back on this
point, with an argument that, to
me, makes little sense: suggesting
that if an artist could potentially at
some future time benefit from
creating their own such works,
then any derivative work should
be seen as infringing and likely
stopped.
I thought that Falzone did an
excellent job rebutting such
suggestions from Lichtman later
in the podcast, leading to some
points at the end where Lichtman
recognizes that many of the issues
around whether or not derivative
works should be allowed are
actually redundant to questions of
fair use. But he does claim that
there are a few situations where
fair use and derivative works don't
overlap. However, I had trouble
finding any that make sense.
Lichtman gave an example of a
teacher's answer key to a college
textbook, where he notes that the
answer key probably doesn't
on a basic common sense reading.
I can't fathom how anyone can (at
least honestly) claim that
copyright really has an
idea/expression dichotomy and
then say that Section 106(2)
makes any sense at all. What's
wrong if someone else wants to
produce an answer guide to an
original textbook? Why would it
ever make policy sense to deny
such a right? In most cases, you
would assume that the original
creator of the textbook would
have a better understanding of the
topics and the answers, so an
"unauthorized" answer key is
unlikely to be as valuable. But
why should it be prevented? On
top of that, if the answer key is
just answering questions, then
how could it be infringement?
Those answers are accurate
"facts" responding to questions. If
an answer key is infringing, then
wouldn't that make student
answers infringing as well?
In listening to the podcast, the
only thing I could think was that I
can't come up with a single
example where it makes sense to
any reasonable explanation for
how a society that prides itself on
freedom of expression and
encouraging creative works would
ever deny such a right. It does not
harm the original work in any
way. It does not remove the
ability of the original creator to
create their own derivative work
in any way. And it's hard to
imagine a situation in which an
unauthorized derivative work
would take away from the ability
of the original creator to profit.
Does anyone honestly think that if
J.D. Salinger wrote an actual
sequel to Catcher in the Rye
people wouldn't buy it because
they'd already bought the
unauthorized sequel written by
some other guy?
So if it's true that copyright only
protects the expression and not
the idea, how does control over
derivative works make any sense
at all?
Permalink| Comments| Email
This Story
Communication organization
tool Gist is opening up to
everyone on Tuesday, and has
come a long way since we
profiled its private beta offering further by turning on and off what
kinds of content sources you want
back in January. It can still plug
into your Gmail, Outlook and to see.
Despite removing the private
LinkedIn accounts and help
organize things like personal registration, Gist will remain in
beta and free of charge, although
information, appointments and
past correspondence. But since a paid subscription service is on
the horizon. This will be aimed
then it's added other sources like
Salesforce, Facebook, and less at casual users looking to
track information about friends
Twitter. In fact, the company says
it's Twitter's third largest API and more for business users who
want to get quick (or detailed)
partner, pulling in all of its users'
contacts' tweets in real time. news flybys of contacts and
clients before an important
All of this information is
funneled into Gist's dashboard, meeting--kind of like what a good
personal assistant would offer.
which now lets you tag contacts to
make groups of people you Previously: Gist hopes to solve
your e-mail overload woes
regularly follow. It also lets you
filter how much of a contact's Gist gives you a quick look
back at your correspondence with
timeline you want to see from the
last 24 hours, all the way to the someone, as well as incoming
news and social feeds from
last three months. This can help
cut down on some of the noise as them.(Credit: CNET)
Originally posted at Web
well as give you a broader
overview of what they've been up Crawler
to, something you can tweak

Kanye West On Jay Leno: I’m Ashamed [VIDEO]

By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!) Jay Leno’s new primetime show, antics became the buzz of the NBC:
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:37:49 PM where the musician said that he’s media and the Web. After Do you think this is the end of
“ashamed” of crashing Taylor watching it, it seems fairly clear buzz about the VMAs, or will
President Obama thinks he’s a Swift’s acceptance speech at that Sunday’s antics were not Obama’s “jackass” comment and
jackass. Hundreds of thousands of Sunday night’s Video Music staged, as Leno nearly brings the Leno interview continue to
tweets have expressed similar Awards. Kanye to tears in asking about make this the week’s big story?
sentiments. And this evening, Kanye had already been what his recently deceased mother Tags: jay leno, kanye west,
Kanye West was one of the first scheduled to perform of the show, to the schedule after last night’s would think of his actions. taylor swift, vmas
guests on the premiere episode of but the interview was only added Here’s the interview in full, via
Internet News Record
The Difference Between Reporting
And Discussion
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:40:00 PM
On a daily basis we tend to get a
couple comments here or there
from people who insist that I
shouldn't have written a certain
post. Some of them are from the
small group of folks who make
sure to complain about every post
here (what a life they must lead).
Others are from people who like
some of the stuff I write, but get
upset if I venture into a particular
topic area. A common refrain on
some of them are that I shouldn't
comment at all on certain topics
because I'm not an expert in those
topics or because they don't fit
into the categorization of what
those people think this site is
about. I have to admit, I've always
found these comments slightly
amusing and slightly perplexing.
As I've said before, I view the
posts on this site as a part of a
larger conversation, not as any
sort of "reporting" or journalism.
When you have a conversation
with friends/colleagues/strangers,
you will almost always express an
opinion on something perhaps
without "fact checking" every last
bit of it. And from that you learn.
Fred Wilson did a great blog
post recently, where he discussed
the same basic concept, pointing
out how people complain
whenever he dips into politics or
healthcare -- outside of his official
realms of expertise. But he points
out that it's his blog and he sees
no reason not to speak his mind: I
am not an expert in everything I
write about. But that is not going
to stop me from speaking my
mind about things other than
venture capital and web startups.
It might annoy or piss some
people off. It could even hurt our
business because those people are
less likely to do business with me
or our firm.
But I've made the decision to
put myself out there, speak my
mind publicly, and say what I
think. And I am going to continue
to do it.
There are plenty of regular
readers of this blog who don't
agree with me on most of my
political views. People like Andy
Swan, JLM, Dave in Hackensack,
Steve Kane and many others. But
they've never suggested that I
shouldn't speak my mind. They
leave comments arguing that I'm
wrong. And you know what?
They've opened my mind to other
viewpoints and I have to say that I
am more open minded about their
views than had they not taken the
time to articulate them sensibly
and articulately.
If you really think I am full of
s**t, let me know in the
comments, but please don't
suggest that I don't have the right
to speak my mind. We live in an
open society where everyone has
this right. And that's exactly how I
feel as well. I really enjoy the
discussions held on this blog, and
hope to actually expand them in
the near future. At the same time
that people complain about some
of the topics I pick, others
complain that we're sometimes
too narrowly focused on certain
other topics. We've been
discussing how to balance all of
this, and I'm hopeful that we have
some useful solutions coming up
that will allow the topics under
discussion here to expand, while
still being engaging. But, no, not
all of them will fit into what some
people think this site has to be
about -- and most of them will be
an effort at further discussion,
rather than what people decide is
"reporting." But, just as we
suggest that companies adapt to
changing times, so too, do we
hope to adapt and grow as well --
all with the goal of adding more
value (and not taking away value).
We're always looking to connect
with fans, and we'd love to get
your thoughts in the comments
here on how best to cultivate more
discussions.
Permalink| Comments| Email
This Story
Tech/ Sports 43
Apple aims to ease iPhone
purchasing at the Apple Store
By Joachim Bean (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 9/14/2009 5:00:00 PM
Filed under: Retail, iPhone
While Apple has taken many
steps to make the iPhone easier
and more available to purchase,
Apple could take more steps to
make the process easier and
quicker. MacRumors is reporting in-store. These optimizations
could come as early as tomorrow,
that Apple is about implement
"iPhone Activation Zones" inside so keep your eye out for any
changes.
Apple Stores. They would
included employees, which will TUAW Apple aims to ease
iPhone purchasing at the Apple
be known as "iPhone Experts,"
who will be identified by unique Store originally appeared on The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
clothing and name tags, and will
be dedicated to activating and (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Sep 2009
17:00:00 EST. Please see our
setting up iPhones for customers.
Also, customers would be able to terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
pre-authorize their purchase
online and have their iPhone Comments
almost ready for them to purchase
American Indians group takes
'Redskins' name to U.S. Supreme
Court
By Associated Press the Redskins trademarks declared
(ESPN.com) invalid. A U.S. Patent and
Submitted at 9/15/2009 6:19:59 AM Trademark Office panel ruled in
their favor in 1999, but they've
WASHINGTON -- A group of since suffered a series of defeats
American Indians who find the from judges who ruled that the
Washington Redskins name plaintiffs waited too long to bring
offensive wants the Supreme their suit in the first place.
Court to take up the matter. A lawyer for the group says he'd
The group late Monday asked like to see the court decide once
the justices to review a lower and for all whether the Redskins
court decision that favored the name defames Native Americans.
NFL team on a legal technicality. Copyright 2009 by The
The seven Native Americans Associated Press
have been working through the
court system since 1992 to have
44 Tech/ Tech News/
HOW TO: Use Facebook’s
@Mentions Status Tagging
By Barb Dybwad (Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:54:38 PM
As you may know, Facebook
rolled out its planned new feature
that lets you “tag” other users in
your status updates earlier today.
It’s very similar functionality to
@replies on Twitter, and most
folks will be pretty familiar with
how it works and why you’d want
to use it. Still, there are some
differences to note, and some may
appreciate a basic walkthough of
how the new feature works.
Facebook’s version of the
feature, like Twitter, also uses the
@ symbol to invoke. However
instead of having to simply know
or remember the person’s
username you’d like to tag,
Facebook will generate an auto-
suggest dropdown based on what
you’ve typed after the @ symbol:
This is a nice touch considering
that the scope of Facebook’s
status tagging feature goes beyond
just being able to tag your friends.
You can also tag pretty much
anything you’re connected to in
the Facebook universe:
companies, brands, artists and
shows — anything that has a
Facebook Page. You can also tag
events and groups you’re a part
of.
Once the item you’re wanting to
tag appears in the list, all you
have to do is click on it to select it
and include a linked version of
that entity in your status update:
Unlike Twitter, the @ symbol
won’t actually remain as a part of
your update; it’s merely the
syntax that invokes the tagging
feature itself. Instead, the full
name of the person, page, event or
group you tagged is now
contained in your status update,
contextually linked to its actual
page. When your friends see your
status update, they’ll be able to
click on any of those links to find
out more and possibly friend, fan,
join or attend whatever you linked
to:
Here’s an example of using a
status update to tag an event:
And here’s the result after I’ve
selected the correct event I want
to tag in the update:
One complaint we have about
the new feature is that it only
works in your status updates, or if
you post to someone else’s wall
using the Share widget on their
page. That means you can’t tag
anyone inside of comments,
which to us — and probably most
other folks who are used to
Twitter’s implementation of this
feature — seems like a “missing”
feature. It doesn’t really matter
where the conversation is
happening, and I may have
occasion to want to tag something
inside a discussion thread just as
frequently as I might in a status
update.
Apparently we’re not the only
ones who have griped about this
already, because Facebook’s
Randi Zuckerberg mentioned in a
spot on CNN today that a lot of
folks had been requesting tagging
within comments. She said
Facebook is now considering that,
and “it may happen.” We’ll be
keeping a close eye on it of
course, and will let you know if
and when we hear about tagging
coming to comments as well.
Otherwise, as you can see, the
new status tagging feature is fairly
easy to use, and could help direct
you and your friends more easily
to other content around Facebook
they might also like. However, we
don’t see too many of our friends
making use of it quite yet — have
you been making any use of the
new status tagging feature yet?
Have you noticed your friends
making use of it? Share your
experience so far in the
comments. Reviews: Facebook,
Twitter
Tags: facebook
Internet News Record
So Appy Together: iPhone and
Android Apps, Visualized [Pic]
By Stan Schroeder
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:56:19 AM
Recently we’ve written about the
habits of iPhone and Android
users, noting that iPhone users are
twice as likely to purchase apps.
However, reading about these
and similar stats is one thing, and
seeing them all in one image is
download the most apps, even
another. The folks from more than iPhone users? Well,
iSmashPhone.com have put
now you can find all these stats,
together a nicely designed and many more, in the image
infographic, comparing various
below. Click here for a bigger
app-related stats for the iPhone, version.
iPod Touch and Android devices.
[Image courtesy of
Did you know, for example, that iSmashPhone] Reviews: Android
iPhone users, on average,
Tags: android, apps, iphone,
download 1 paid app per month? iPod Touch
Or that iPod Touch users
ReadWriteWeb's Top 5 Web
Trends of 2009
By Richard MacManus
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 11:10:00 PM
Last week we ran a series of
posts outlining the 5 biggest
Internet trends of this year:
Structured Data, Real-Time Web,
Personalization, Mobile Web /
Augmented Reality, Internet of
Things. Effectively this was
ReadWriteWeb's State of the Web
2009. are clickable, should you wish to
We've now compiled the main explore a certain topic more.
points into a single presentation, Sponsor
available on Slideshare and • Structured Data
embedded below. You can view • The Real-Time Web
the presentation in full screen by • Personalization
clicking the "full" button at the • Mobile Web & Augmented
bottom of the presentation. You Reality
can also download the • Internet of Things
presentation as a Powerpoint file. Discuss
All of the links in the presentation
Internet News Record Tech/ Sports 45

Good Old Fashioned Rant On Google Helps People Get Their

Overbearing Copyright Holders Data Out Of Google
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) valued that box of pencils at these are dedicated fans: precisely By Michael Masnick (Techdirt) for a while, but has only just now
Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:46:03 AM £500,000 and arrested the kid. the same audience who in days of Submitted at 9/14/2009 7:45:59 PM been publicly "announced." It's
Yikes. yore would've filled C90 cassettes difficult to think of too many
A bunch of folks have been I wasn't sure I was going to with songs taped off the radio. In Too many companies these days other companies that would do the
submitting stories about the write about it, but then a lot more its heyday, the Radio 1 Sunday are focused on ways to keep you same thing. Of course, it's easy to
o n g o i n g f i g h t b e t w e e n of you also pointed to this evening Top 40 countdown locked-in somehow or another, so think of independent or competing
multimillionaire artist Damien beautiful old-fashioned rant by constituted the biggest file- it's quite refreshing to find out companies that might do this --
Hirst and a teenager he had Charlie Brooker where he does a sharing portal in British history, that Google is now officially but we usually hear about the
arrested. If you don't recall, the lovely job tying the "Damien with millions of users hooked up announcing its Data Liberation original company suing anyone
kid had created some collages, Hirst puts a kid in jail" story to simultaneously, mercilessly Front, which does exactly the who tries to free up data. Good
where some of them included an the new effort to kick file sharers downloading content to their tape opposite: systematically helping move by Google to offer the
image of a jewel-encrusted skull offline in the UK. Basically, decks. you to get your data out of service itself.
that Hirst supposedly made and they're both stories about huge, The government and the music Google's services so that it can be Permalink| Comments| Email
sold for insane amounts of money ridiculous wealthy copyright industry should cheerfully view used elsewhere. Apparently the This Story
(reports put it at £50 million). holders totally overreacting to a these people as eager young group has been working on this
Hirst, apparently got so upset by a rather minor inconsequential addicts. Let them have their illicit
16-year-old kid using the image in infringement. The whole thing is
h i s o w n a r t w o r k , t h a t h e good, but here's a taste: The vast
free samples because once they're
hooked, they'll cough up later: Brady keys Pats' late rally
threatened to sue the kid, and majority of people who illegally when they've got more money,
forced the kid to hand over the download music from the internet
artwork and to pay £200 to Hirst. do so because they bloody love
when the tracks are easier to find
via legitimate means, or when
over Bills in return
A bunch of other artists started music. They're resorting to theft they go to see an act they only By Associated Press for a touchdown by Aaron
creating more artwork using because they're either too skint to discovered via free illegal (ESPN.com) Schobel, the first time he had a
Hirst's skull in protest. But the afford 79p per track (often downloads play live (and pay £30 Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:33:27 AM pick returned for a TD since Dec.
whole thing got more bizarre because they're students), or for a ticket, £30 for drinks, and 26, 2005.
Fast Facts • Randy Moss led all receivers
lately, after the teen stopped by a because what they're looking for £30 for a poster and T-shirt). • In his first regular-season game with 141 receiving yards, his 60th
Hirst exhibit and took a box of i s t o o o b s c u r e t o f i n d b y Permalink| Comments| Email since Week 1 of the 2008 season, career game topping the 100-yard
pencils that were in one of the commercial means, or because it's This Story Tom Brady threw two touchdown mark. That broke a tie with
"sculptures" and left a "ransom been leaked and isn't officially passes to Ben Watson in a span of Marvin Harrison for the second
note" demanding his own artwork available and they're just too 1:16 late in the fourth quarter to most in NFL history.
back. Except, the police have damn excited to wait. In the main, give the Pats their 12th straight • In his Bills debut, Terrell
win over the Bills. That's tied with O w e n s c a u g h t t w o p a s s e s ,
the Chargers-Raiders for the matching his single-game low
longest active streak by one team from 2008, for 46 yards.
over another in the NFL. • The Bills have now lost their
• Brady finished with a career- last three MNF games by a
high-tying 39 completions in 53 combined four points.
attempts for 378 yards with two • Rapid Reaction
scores and an INT. His -- ESPN Stats & Information
interception was returned 26 yards
46 Tech/ Tech News/ Tech Blog Internet News Record

What exact processor is inside the new Yammer Adds

iPod touch? TUAW digs deeper
By Joachim Bean (The
Unofficial Apple Weblog
(TUAW))
Submitted at 9/14/2009 12:00:00 PM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion,
Rumors, iPod touch Sure, the
biggest mystery around the new
iPod touch is the omission of the
heavily-rumored camera, like the
one found on the new iPod nano.
However, there is some
speculation and wondering in
what is actually at the heart of the
new iPod touch.
As you may know, all devices
that run iPhone OS are powered
by a processor based on the ARM
architecture. These processors,
like Intel and PowerPC
processors, come in many
different speeds. As Apple did
with the iPhone 3GS, improved
performance (including OpenGL
ES 2.0 support for better gaming
and graphic support) is touted as a details on the processor in the new our terms for use of feeds.
feature in the new 32GB/64GB
iPod touch models (the 8GB iPod
Microblogging to Microsoft
Outlook & Windows Mobile
By Steven Walling
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 2:00:00 PM
Yammer is a "Twitter for the
enterprise" platform that (to our
dismay) won TechCrunch50 last
year. A year later the enterprise
microblogging space is growing
rapidly and Yammer is still
moving forward, along with
competitors like Socialcast and
Socialtext Signals. Today
Yammer has announced a pair of
Microsoft-centric additions that
t o u c h r e t a i n s t h e s a m e processor is inside the new iPod should be big for business users:
performance as it did last year). touch? TUAW digs deeper an Outlook plug-in and a
It's still unclear what the exact TUAW What exact processor is Windows Mobile app. Outlook is
details are for the new processor, inside the new iPod touch? still huge in the enterprise, and a
but here at TUAW, we've done TUAW digs deeper originally decent working integration with it
some digging to find out more appeared on The Unofficial Apple should be an easier sell than any
information about it. Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Sep other kind of desktop access.
Read on for more technical 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see Sponsor
Any enterprise microblogging
iPod touch. Read| Permalink| Email this| and messaging apps worth their
Continue reading What exact Comments salt have some kind of desktop
app by this point. Most of them,
other aspects to Outlook. Users
can then message and reply to
colleagues, upload attachments,
and do basically everything that
the AIR app does.
The fundamental difference is
that the plug-in takes
microblogging to where many
enterprise users are already
spending a lot of their time. A
prime example is how users will
be able to CC an email to either
their whole Yammer network or
to a specific group. As for the
other app, Windows Mobile may
not be quite as vital as Outlook
but it still has a robust presence in
the enterprise mobile market.
One of the persistent
dilemmmas with standalone apps
like Yammer is that (even with
desktop and mobile apps) it is
never easy to include it in
preexisting workflows. It's always

Monday morning stuffff including Yammer, have started

out with Adobe AIR. The big
harder to sell an enterprise app
that doesn't play nice with
systems already in place.
(Scripting News) R o s s , J o e H e w i t t , M a t t being a dork and not seeing them advantage with AIR is that it's Integrating Yammer with two
Submitted at 9/14/2009 11:13:32 AM Mullenweg and Joseph Scott. You as being in competition. After all, cross-platform. But getting users Microsoft products that continue
can skip to the last five minutes of they're not commercial products. to start using yet another app on to hold mind share in the
Chuck Barris used to announce the podcast, it's worth listening to. W h a t I c a r e a b o u t i s their already cluttered desktop enterprise world is a step towards
The Gong Show as just some Usually we choose older folk as decentralizing the realtime web, isn't always successful. solving this problem. Discuss
stuffff. inspiration, but we have to so we're not dependent on one With the Outlook plug-in, an
Of course our stuffff is very remember that youth, in the right c o m p a n y . B o t h m e t h o d s extra pane is added alongside the
serious. hands, is itself inspiring. accomplish that. The real problem
A new Rebooting The News I posted a proposed addition to is centralization.
with guest Dan Gillmor. One of the rssCloud walkthrough. Andy Oram at O'Reilly wrote a
our best. Dan drills into just what Typepad announced support for stirring ode to decentralization. At
rssCloud is and realtime. He's one Pubsubhubub. I predict on Twitter one time O'Reilly was a big
of the best interviewers out there. that we will bridge it with proponent of P2P. Maybe they
It was my turn this week to name rssCloud so support of one will will be once again?
inspirations, and I chose Young g e t y o u c o m p a t i b i l i t y w i t h
People, as exemplified by Blake th'other. Earlier I admitted to
Internet News Record
Personal Relationship Manager Gist Launches to
Public
By Sarah Perez
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 7:01:20 AM
When we first looked at the
personal relationship manager
Gist back in October of last year,
we were intrigued. Here was an
online service that had a real
purpose: to help you make sense
out of your email's data. Gist does
this by analyzing the relationships
in the hidden social network that
is your inbox and then determines
who and what's important. It's like
your own personal CRM system.
At the time of our initial review,
Gist was still in a closed private
beta. Today, the closed trial has
ended and everyone can now try
Gist. They company has also
added some new features to
coincidence with the launch.
Sponsor
What's Gist?
Gist is not a system for the
casual email user whose main
communications involve sending
email forwards to friends and
pictures of the kids to mom and
dad. Instead, Gist is designed to
help the professional email user
who often opens up their inbox
only to feel like it's helplessly out
of control. How do you know
what the most important
communications are? How can
you stay up on what your email
contacts are doing? Gist aims to
solve these problems.
Through ongoing analysis of
your email, Gist determines
what's important based on the
frequency and types of
communications that occur. It
then provides you with the
following: profiles, insights, and
actions. Profiles include both
individual and company profiles,
insights are the relevant
information about your most
important contacts, and actions
are the ability to share news and
contact details using the online
service.
When you're signed into Gist,
you're presented with a dashboard
where boxes display key
information like your top emailed
contacts, news about those
contacts, upcoming events, email
attachments, and links. All this
information is automatically
retrieved from your inbox with no
effort on your part. It's as if your
email inbox serves as the backend
database for this unique
relationship management system.
Tabs at the top of the page let
you move from the dashboard to
sections where you can focus on
People or Companies specifically,
organizing them into groups,
tagging them (a new feature),
removing those you don't need to
track, managing their importance
levels via sliders, editing them,
and much more. You can also
click to view individual contacts
and companies edit the data there
if need be.
New Features
One of the new features
included in this updated public
Tech News/ TV 47
integration with Salesforce. Not
only can you pull data into Gist
via the CRM system, you can now
set up a Gist widget of sorts that
displays right in Salesforce itself.
Here, you can stay current on
news, blogs, tweets, and other
version of Gist is the ability to relevant information from your
Sons of
pull in contacts from Salesforce. Salesforce contacts.
This is a helpful addition to Integration with Twitter and the
Anarchy: Small
program which also supports ability to share via Twitter and
G m a i l , O u t l o o k , g e n e r a l Facebook round out the new
Tears
Email/IMAP accounts, LinkedIn, features in this latest beta build. By Danny Gallagher (TV
Facebook, and Twitter. You can Since many business folks can't Squad)
import your own CSV file, too. be bothered to friend and follow Submitted at 9/15/2009 2:46:00 AM
With additional software, Gist their contacts on Twitter, Gist
can be integrated right into does it for you. It doesn't actually (SO202) - "Unraveling the
Outlook and Salesforce. The follow users on your behalf in matriarch will destabilize them.
Outlook integration is done via a your own Twitter account, but it They're all little boys who need a
plugin which pops up a separate pulls in their tweets from their strong mommy."
window where you can access publicly available timelines right The thing I'm starting to love
info on people, companies, into Gist. You can then respond or about this show is the way it
e v e n t s , m e s s a g e s , a n d share information via Twitter or switches gears on just about any
attachments. The plugin was Facebook - an important step in incline. They are so swift and
available previously, but has been m a n a g i n g a n d m a i n t a i n i n g sudden that the law should go
updated in the new version. The communications in today's tech totally "nanny state" and require
company decided to go with a pop savvy business world. You can me to wear a helmet during each
-up type of plugin for a few still share items via email or flag week's episode.
r e a s o n s . F o r o n e , b y n o t them for later, as you could with For example: in this week's
implementing it as an email previous Gist versions, too. chapter, we see the aftermath of
sidebar (like Xobni does, for For now Gist remains a free Gemma's rape and the toll it takes
instance), Gist data can be service, though a more advanced on her as she tries to keep it from
accessed from any screen in paid version is in the works for the club. Then the very next shot
Outlook whether that's your inbox the future. Gist is also working on is of Tig, played by Kim Coates
itself, a contact's details page, a their mobile offerings but have and some random fishnet whore
meeting request form, etc. They nothing to announce as far as slowly waking up with hangovers
also made the plugin work more specialized mobile applications that could stun an elephant,
like a mini-browser so it could just yet. New users can sign up for together in a spent 69.
perform its actions quickly while Gist now here: www.gist.com And I ain't talking about a
not slowing down Outlook in the Discuss broken down '69 Chevy.
process. Continue reading Sons of
Also new today is Gist's Anarchy: Small Tears
Filed under: Episode Reviews,
Reality-Free, Sons of Anarchy
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
48 Tech News/ TV Internet News Record

Jive Extends its Reach into Social Whitney on Oprah: part

interview, part intervention
Media By Allison Waldman (TV
Squad)
By Steven Walling forums, photo and video sharing
(ReadWriteWeb) sites, as well as popular social Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:12:00 AM

Submitted at 9/14/2009 11:00:42 PM networks like Facebook and

Twitter. Yesterday was the season
Jive, a leader in "social business In the past Jive has stressed premiere of The Oprah Winfrey
software" for enterprise creating a channel of Show and the big "get" -- as you
collaboration and community probably know -- was a two-part
platforms, has added social media A few of Jive's competitors in c o m m u n i c a t i o n b e t w e e n interview with Whitney Houston.
customers in a community and
e x p e r t i s e t o i t s r e p e r t o i r e . the community platform space, employees in an intranet. Now According to Oprah, this was the
Through social media monitoring such as Lithium, have added the best interview she's ever done.
they're adding a connection to
tools from Radian6, the new Jive ability to integrate social networks parts of the Web outside the Now, was that hype or was it
M a r k e t E n g a g e m e n t l e t s like Facebook and Twitter into corporate control, and we think really a great interview?
companies track and respond to their corporate sites. But Jive that's a big step for enterprise Judging by part one, it was a
the social Web in real time. clearly prefers to use software that pretty powerful interview for
software platforms.
Radian6 is the kind of software already shows prowess in a There are plenty of companies Oprah. She was on her game. The penetrating.
that we've called the future of feature set, rather than develop setting was an empty theater, just Continue reading Whitney on
who've recognized the importance
social media monitoring for something from scratch. of Twitter and Facebook for Oprah and Whitney. Presumably, Oprah: part interview, part
businesses. By integrating it into Just like the integration of this was a no-holds-barred intervention
S A P ' s B u s i n e s s O b j e c t s f o r business. But Jive is offering the
software known for collaboration first complete line of session, so I expected Oprah to Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler
under the control of the enterprise, analytics, Jive chose to take communication from social ask the tough questions about Talk, Celebrities, Talk Show,
Jive is wasting no time in trying advantage of competence Radian6 n e t w o r k s t o c u s t o m e r Whitney's dysfunctional marriage Reality-Free
to connect its customers with has in social media. By including communities and collaborative to Bobby Brown, her drug use, the Permalink| Email this| |
people outside company-run its technology Jive can use RSS software behind the firewall. days she spent holed up in a Comments
communities. feeds, Google alerts, and email stupor. It wasn't exactly A&E's
Sponsor between employees to track blogs, Discuss Intervention, but for Oprah, it was

Google Adds Semantic Web, Facebook Support for Video

Search
By Jolie O'Dell
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 6:00:04 PM
Google announced today support
for enhanced markup for video
search. This will allow
webmasters to include important
information, such as titles and
descriptions, in machine-readable
HTML along with the JavaScript
or Flash videos themselves.
In a blog post, video search
project manager Michael Cohen
wrote, "We wanted to offer
webmasters an additional tool, so
today we're taking a page from
the rich snippets playbook and
announcing support for Facebook
Share and Yahoo! SearchMonkey
RDFa."
Sponsor
Google's "rich snippets," as we
previously reported, use
structured data open standards
such as microformats and RDFa
to give users more detailed
previews of the information
contained on a web page.
Both the Facebook Share and
RFDa markup formats will enable
webmasters to give Google - and
video-searching users - vital
details, including video titles and
descriptions. Like other semantic
web technologies, these details
allow our search engines to
become smarter, our results richer
and more relevant. And by
allowing webmasters to specify
the content type as video content,
users' searches for video will yield
more results with greater
relevancy.
"While we've become smarter at
discovering this information on
our own," Cohen writes, "we'd
certainly appreciate some hints
directly from webmasters."
Yahoo! SearchMonkey, a
semantic search technology which
we've covered extensively in the
past, gives webmasters the
opportunity to create descriptions
about content - in this case, online
video. With these machine-
readable descriptions, the search
engine extracts structured data
about videos and renders that data
as enhanced search results.
The Facebook Share markup
format also allows for the
inclusion of metadata with video
content. Discuss
Internet News Record
ReadTwit: All the Links From Your Microsoft hopes to turn
Twitter Stream in A Filtered RSS it around with Zune HD
Feed
By Jolie O'Dell
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 6:30:12 PM
In these hard times, it takes
something pretty nifty to get us to
write about a Twitter app; our
eyebrows rose an inch or two
when we were told about
ReadTwit, an RSS application
that makes Twitter smaller, faster,
and better for those who need to
find and consume interesting
links.
ReadTwit scrapes the tweets
from everyone you follow and
throws any links therein into an
RSS feed just for you, with dupes
deleted and URL shorteners
eliminated. Users are then able to
control the display, filter out
users, or ban hashtags. Read on
for screenshots and more.
Sponsor
McEnroe's Defense Out of Bounds
By Greg Couch (FanHouse)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:02:00 PM
by Greg Couch
Filed under: U.S. Open, WTA
NEW YORK -- So now John
McEnroe has become the judge
and jury over the debate about
Serena Williams and the line
judge who had the nerve to call
foot fault.
Think about that. John
McEnroe's trademark, equal to his
great tennis, is that he spent his
career being a jerk to linespeople.
Next up, you can go to Michael
Vick for advice on proper pet care
As you can see, ReadTwit is
compatible with a few good feed
readers; we decided to test the app
in Google Reader.
As soon as we clicked the
Google Reader link, we were
subscribed and checking out some
very real-time news from our
friends around the web, complete
with images and summaries from
the linked-to pages:
And here's a look at ReadTwit's
filters and display options in
action:
or Brett Favre on the right time to
retire.
This is the absurd, but it isn't
funny. McEnroe is fueling a
debate that has grown to
Tech News/ Tech Reviews Sports 49
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:01:00 AM
downloaded.
Nonetheless, this is still
Microsoft, one of the biggest
A related Firefox add-on, Microsoft will take another technology companies in the
Tweecious, posts all the links in swipe at the iPod on Wednesday world and well known for its
your Twitter stream to your when it launches the latest version patience.
Del.icio.us account. Still, we of the Zune media player. "You can make the argument
prefer ReadTwit's filtering After three years and untold this is Microsoft's first real shot to
capabilities and Google Reader millions spent on the line, getting it right," said Stephen
integration. Microsoft's hopes of cutting into Baker, vice president of industry
ReadTwit is a product from iPod's big lead are now on the analysis for The NPD Group.
Lionite, a two-year-old web dev Zune HD, with its 3.3-inch "Remember, the bar doesn't have
shop in Israel. "One of us came up multitouch screen, streaming- to be set all that high for them to
with the idea," reads their About music feature, and the ability to b e s u c c e s s f u l . N o b o d y i s
page, "and it seemed simple playback video, with the help of supposed to unseat iPod...and
enough, so we said 'What the an HDTV, in 720p. A 16GB Zune Microsoft now has a product that
heck?' The project took several HD is available at retailers for they seem to be more confident
days from concept to launch." $219.99 and a 32GB will cost in."
Although they acknowledge the $289.99. That confidence may come in
app's not a life-changer, the But at this point in Zune's part from an upgrade that some
ReadTwit team is correct in e v o l u t i o n t h e r e ' s p l e n t y o f have called the best Zune yet.
stating that it makes a common skepticism that the Zune can close Zune HD features a new OLED
web service easier to use. Many the gap on Apple. A Zune-iPod (organic light emitting diode)
thanks to Ezra Butler for the comparison has for too long screen and will send high-def
pointer. Discuss resembled a late-round prize fight, video to a HDTV using a new
the kind where the challenger is Zune AV dock, sold separately.
cut, swollen-eyed and wobbly "Consumers can buy or rent HD
legged but refuses to go to the c o n t e n t f r o m t h e Z u n e
canvas. Zune sales are falling, a Marketplace," Microsoft said in a
top manager has moved on and statement, "sync that content to a
something much bigger than what's perhaps most worrisome is Zune HD and take it with them to
tennis, tantrums and foot faults. that the category is becoming play back on a large screen HD
This thing has exploded into a passe. TV in the home or on the road."
social fight that's lining up in While Apple also tries to kick- The 16GB is available in black
large part, but not entirely, along start lackluster iPod sales-- and the 32GB is available in
racial lines. Mariotti: Serena's upgrading Nanos with such "platinum" at retail locations.
Legacy Damaged| Blackistone: features as a video camera and Customers can purchase Zune in
Outburst Reflects Society voice recording--CEO Steve Jobs red, green, or blue in both
McEnroe's Defense Out of has steered consumer interest capacities from Zuneoriginals.net.
Bounds originally appeared on away from straight digital music Zune HD will also play games,
Fanhouse Tennis on Mon, 14 Sep players and into smartphones. HD Radio, and offers music-
2009 21:02:00 EST . Please see Apple has sold more than 30 recommendation software, called
our terms for use of feeds. million iPhones over the past two Smart DJ.
Permalink| Email this| Linking years and seen more than 1.8
Blogs| Comments billion iPhone applications
50 Tech Tips/ Internet News Record

From the Tips Box: Password Safety, Quick Look Tricks, and
Torrent Tracking [From The Tips Box]
By Rosa Golijan (Lifehacker) feature that lets you choose
Submitted at 9/14/2009 5:00:00 PM torrents to download. But you are
out of luck if you are on a tracker
Lifehacker readers remind us to that doesn't have this feature.
take care of the skeletons lurking What if you are browsing along at
in our passwords, highlight some work and find a torrent that you
lesser known Quick Look want?
functionality for OS X users, and We know about web.ui, but I
demonstrate some clever methods couldn't get it to work, and I think
to track torrents. you have to have an open port, so
Don't like the gallery layout? that nixes using it at work.
Click here to view everything on The hack I came up with uses
one page. the application Read It Later.
About the Tips Box: Every day All you do is set your torrent
we receive boatloads of great program to download from your
reader tips in our inbox (tips at personal Read It Later RSS feed.
lifehacker.com), but for various Then, when you find a torrent,
reasons—maybe they're a bit too you right click on the torrent file,
niche, maybe we couldn't find a and click "Read It Later". Done.
good way to present it, or maybe Obviously, your torrent program
we just couldn't fit it in—the tip won't download the web pages
didn't make the front page. From and articles that you also have
the Tips Box is where we round tagged on Read It Later.
up some of our favorites for your This also works on the iPhone
buffet-style consumption. with the Read It Later Pro
Quicker Full Screens with application ($2.99). The pro app
Quick Look has a "tap to save" feature where
Claudio has a quick tip for Mac you can tap on links and save
OS users: them to your Read It Later feed.
I found out something about A lot of people can't help but Instead of having to remember are also popularly revealed from Now you are remote controlling
Quick Look that I hadn't read have skeleton key passwords. which password goes to which files kept on your computer. torrents with the iPhone!
about anywhere before and I There are lots of reasons for it, account, for those skeleton-key However, this isn't part of the Pretty simple! Works like a
thought was cool. If you hold and everyone knows it's a bad fanatics, just use two passwords. main method, just an option. charm.
down alt/option when you press idea. Still, though, some, maybe One for big websites, such as Do you have a global method Keeping Tattoos Covered at
the space bar, the Quick Look even most people use skeleton YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc., for selecting passwords—or do Work
goes straight to a full screen. I key passwords. Skeleton key and another for small websites, you generate unique, secure Photo by daphonque
find it useful when opening many passwords can be very hard to which have a higher chance of passwords for every site you Brianna told us about how she
paged PDFs, or videos in Quick guess (i.e. kc923kja92l), but it can revealing your password, whether register with? Does it differ deals with her work dress code:
Look. be very easy to compromise you want to or not. I.e. sites that between large, "trusted" sites and My job doesn't allow for visible
Keep Track of the Skeletons in someone's entire online identity - aren't mainstream, aren't as big or smaller ones? tattoos and while most of mine are
Your Passwords maybe even a bank account or accountable, etc. Examples would Keep Track of Torrents for easy to cover, I've got one on the
Photo by llamnudds two. be local e-shops for your area, a Later Download back of my neck that shows
Daniel wrote in with some For those that must use the same local website, or something of the Adam Rekerdres tells us how he whenever my hair is up. I used to
advice for those who use skeleton passwords for multiple things, it's sort. keeps track of the torrents we find be stuck either keeping my hair
passwords (i.e., single passwords a good idea to split them up into Another derivative of this while browsing at work: down or trying to cover
t h a t g e t y o u i n t o m u l t i p l e two categories: Big websites and m e t h o d i s a d d i n g a n o t h e r We all know that sites like
accounts) or base passwords: small websites. password for IM Clients, which Mininova have a bookmarking FROM page 51
Internet News Record
Google's Data Liberation Front Details How to
Free Your Data from Google [Cloud Computing]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 2:00:00 PM
Google's new Data Liberation
Front is designed to help you
liberate your data from any
Google service with as little pain
as possible, so you're not locked
into Gmail, for example, just
because all your old email is
there.
It's easy to fall in love with a
great service and completely
forget about the importance of
controlling your own data. The
Data Liberation Front is a team at
Google that aims to keep your
data free and accessible so you
can move to any service you
want—Google or not—ideally
because you like it, not because
you feel trapped there. From the
Google Public Policy blog:
Imagine you want to move out
of your apartment. When you ask
your landlord about the terms of
your previous lease, he says that
you are free to leave at any time;
however, you cannot take all of
your things with you - not your
photos, your keepsakes, or your
clothing. If you're like most
Sprite Migrate Makes Changing Smartphones Simple [Downloads]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 4:30:00 AM
W i n d o w s
Mobile/Symbian/BlackBerry/And
roid: If you've got an itch to flee
your smartphone for another
platform entirely, the prospect of
manually dragging over your data
is daunting. Sprite Migrate, a free
people, a restriction like this may
cause you to rethink moving
altogether. Not only is this a bad
situation for you as the tenant, but
it's also detrimental to the housing
industry as a whole, which no
longer has incentive to build
better apartments at all.
Although this may seem like a
strange analogy, this pretty
accurately describes the situation
transfer application, makes it easy
to transfer pretty much
everything.
Sprite's beta Migrate
application, free until Dec. 1,
should be installed on both the
phone you have now and, when
you get it, the phone you're
moving to. From the phone being tell it to grab bookmarks, call
left behind, load up Migrate and logs, contacts, SMS databases,
my team, Google's Data
Liberation Front, is working hard
to combat from an engineering
perspective. We're a small team of
Google Chicago engineers
(named after a Monty Python skit
about the Judean People's Front)
that aims to make it easy for our
users to transfer their personal
data in and out of Google's
services by building simple
Tech Tips/ 51
FROM
continued from page 50
everything up with make up. But
then a friend gave me the
stupidest, yet best suggestion
ever: wear a scarf. It's easy to pull
import and export functions. Our o f f e v e n i n a p r o f e s s i o n a l
goal is to "liberate" data so that environment and it keeps my
consumers and businesses using tattoo covered. I still don't have a
Google products always have a good solution for the one on my
choice when it comes to the upper arm..other than longer
technology they use. sleeves.
Right now the site demonstrates Does anyone have any solutions
the easiest way to liberate your for Brianna's other tattoo? How
data from Google services ranging do you cover your own? Do you
from Blogger and Calendar to even need to cover them up or
Gmail, Reader, and YouTube. does your job allow for visible
The site isn't just about how to body art?
escape from Google services,
though. It also details how to
bring your data to Google apps
from other web services.
Even though most people don't
give it all that much thought, data
lock-in is a serious issue—it's
why we rounded up several free
tools to back up your online
accounts just last month. Google's
apps still aren't perfect on this
front, but hopefully this initiative
will improve their data export
capabilities as well as set a good
example for other companies.
Data Liberation Front[via Google
Public Policy Blog]
photos, and anything else it can Migrate does exactly what it says.
find. It dumps all that into a single It's a free download for Windows
file you can transfer by microSD Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian,
or email, and you simply load up and Android phones. Sprite
Migrate on a new phone and load Migrate[Sprite Software via
that file in. Download Squad]
We lacked a second smartphone
to grab and transfer Migrate data
with, but Download Squad and
online reviewers report that
52 Tech Tips/ Sports
Extend Your Battery Life with the Right Browser
[Battery]
By Azadeh Ensha (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 3:00:00 PM
It's tough to get things done on
your laptop when your battery's
gone dead. We previously showed
you 15 ways to score more battery
juice, but as it turns out, using the
right browser can also help.
Tech analysis web site
AnandTech ran a "browser face-
off" to see which browser, among
those tested, fared better in the
battery preservation department.
Specifically, they continually
loaded three web sites
(AnandTech and two unnamed
sites) on three laptops (a Gateway
NV52 and NV58, and an ASUS
Eee PC 1005HA), testing each
computer's battery life using
Safari (version 4.0.3), Chrome
(version 2.0.172.43), Firefox
Remains of the Day: If You Printed the Internet
Edition [For What It's Worth]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 4:00:00 PM
We see what it might be like if
you were to print the entirety of
the internet, photographers want
to take back their rights to shoot
pictures more freely, and
torrentiers think that it's time to
sink the Pirate Bay.
• If You Printed The Internet …
Web site CreativeCloud illustrates
the kind of resources you'd need
to print the entirety of the internet
(hit the link to see more like the
image above). [CreativeCloud]
(version 3.5.2), Internet Explorer
(version 8.0.6001.18813), and
Opera (versions 9.6.4 and 10 Beta
3) browsers.
The results? The inevitable
margin of error (e.g., network
issues, notebook brands, and so
on) aside, their tests showed that
• It's Time To Sink The Pirate
Bay, and Replace It BitTorrent
weblog TorrentFreak suggests
that it's time to move on from the
Pirate Bay, but that many new
Pirate Bays will take its
place—the RIAA's eternal
problem. [TorrentFreak]
• Home Delivery: The New York
Times Serves Up Some Malware
Some New York Times readers
saw their browsing session
hijacked yesterday by a slew of
bum ads redirecting users to
trashy "install this antivirus" ads. Terrorist
[NYT]
Internet News Record
but if you're really desperate to
get the most from your laptop
battery, it offers some interesting
insights. (For our part, we can't
imagine using IE8 just for the
battery boost.) If you want to see
how the various browsers match
up on more substantive tests,
check out our most recent browser
Big Unit
performance tests.
Browse the full post for all the
Moves Closer
relevant details. If you're looking
for more ways to extend your to Return
battery life, check out previously By Jeff Fletcher (FanHouse)
mentioned system monitoring Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:35:00 PM
in some cases, there was a 30% software BatteryCare for more
difference between the worst detailed battery information and by Jeff Fletcher
browser, Safari, and the best one, one-click battery savers. Browser Filed under: Giants, MLB
(um) Internet Explorer 8. In fact, F a c e - O f f : B a t t e r y L i f e Injuries SAN FRANCISCO --
IE8 even beat out Firefox with E x p l o r e d [ A n a n d T e c h v i a Randy Johnson faced hitters in
AdBlock installed. Gizmodo] two simulated innings on Monday
This battery test isn't the afternoon and then said he could
ultimate measure of a browser, be ready to be activated within a
couple days.
"If I get up tomorrow and feel
fine, hopefully I'll come off the
DL," Johnson said. "What my role
is, I don't know."
Johnson, 46, has been out for
photographers. more than two months with a torn
• Wired's Guide to Hoaxes: How rotator cuff. He said it's still torn,
to Give — and Take — a Joke b u t t h r o u g h r e h a b a n d
Wired thinks it's time everyone strengthening exercises, he's built
l e a r n h o w t o g i v e a g o o d it back to the point that he could
pranking—and take a joke. pitch out of the bullpen. Giants
[Wired] manager Bruce Bochy didn't say
• Apple's TuneKit iTunes LP w h e t h e r J o h n s o n w o u l d b e
format appears aimed at Apple activated or how he'd be used.
TV iTunes LP—announced last Big Unit Moves Closer to
week—appears to have been tailor Return originally appeared on
-made to look good and play well Fanhouse MLB Blog on Mon, 14
w i t h A p p l e T V s — w h i c h Sep 2009 20:35:00 EST . Please
• I'm a Photographer Not a incidentally dropped in price just see our terms for use of feeds.
A site dedicated to this morning. [Apple Insider] Permalink| Email this| Linking
p r o t e c t i n g the rights of Blogs| Comments
Internet News Record
Google Fast Flip Gives a Print Look
and Feel to Google News [Google]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 4:45:00 PM
Google Labs released a new
experimental news tool today
called Google Fast Flip—"a new
reading experience that combines
the best elements of print and
online articles."
(Click the image above for a
closer look.)
In theory, I guess that may
sound like a good idea. In
practice—well, it comes off like a
ridiculous step backwards. Here's
the problem Google says they're
trying to solve:
One problem with reading news
online today is that browsing can
be really slow. A media-rich page
loads dozens of files and can take
Tech Tips/ Tech Reviews 53
Gist opens up, adds
noise and friends filters
(CNET News.com) cut down on some of the noise as
well as give you a broader
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:00:00 AM
overview of what they've been up
Communication organization to, something you can tweak
tool Gist is opening up to further by turning on and off what
everyone on Tuesday, and has kinds of content sources you want
come a long way since we to see.
as much as 10 seconds to load how fast it is, so maybe it's just profiled its private beta offering Despite removing the private
over broadband, which can be me), and when they did load, I back in January. It can still plug registration, Gist will remain in
frustrating. What we need instead occasionally ended up looking at into your Gmail, Outlook and beta and free of charge, although
is a way to flip through articles images like this: LinkedIn accounts and help a paid subscription service is on
really fast without unnatural I may be judging it too harshly organize things like personal the horizon. This will be aimed
delays, just as we can in print. for an experimental new tool, but information, appointments and less at casual users looking to
The flow should feel seamless and frankly, I don't see the point for past correspondence. But since track information about friends
let you rapidly flip forward to the users. Fast Flip does come in a then it's added other sources like and more for business users who
content you like, without the m o b i l e v e r s i o n f r i e n d l y t o S a l e s f o r c e , F a c e b o o k , a n d want to get quick (or detailed)
constant wait for things to load. Android and iPhone users for Twitter. In fact, the company says news flybys of contacts and
Imagine taking 10 seconds to turn finger-swiping through news, it's Twitter's third largest API clients before an important
the page of a print magazine! which seems at least a little more partner, pulling in all of its users' meeting--kind of like what a good
The problem is, Fast Flip is useful. contacts' tweets in real time. personal assistant would offer.
made up of images—you know, If you give it a try, let's hear All of this information is Previously: Gist hopes to solve
the unsearchable stuff that slows what you thought—like it or lump funneled into Gist's dashboard, your e-mail overload woes
down page load speeds—as it—in the comments. Read news which now lets you tag contacts to Gist gives you a quick look
opposed to text—the stuff that f a s t w i t h G o o g l e F a s t make groups of people you back at your correspondence with
loads in no time. I actually waited F l i p [ O f f i c i a l G o o g l e B l o g ] regularly follow. It also lets you someone, as well as incoming
a couple of seconds for images to filter how much of a contact's news and social feeds from
load several times while trying it timeline you want to see from the them.(Credit: CNET)
out (others are commenting on last 24 hours, all the way to the
last three months. This can help
54 Tech Reviews Internet News Record

Voice chat coming to Facebook

(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:00:00 AM

The new Vivox voice chat

system for Facebook will allow
any user to start a conversation
with anyone on their friends list.
The service will also be available
to third-party developers who
want to integrate voice into their
applications.(Credit: Vivox)
Look out, Facebook users: Here
comes voice chat.
Sometime in the next few
weeks, the social network's tens
of millions of users will begin to
be able to have high-quality voice
conversations, even as its third-
party developers are able to start
including voice in their
applications.
The new technology is not being
offered by Facebook itself,
however. Instead, it's from Vivox,
a Boston-based company that
provides the integrated voice
service for virtual worlds like
Second Life and EVE Online, and
which already has more than 15
million users worldwide.
The service, which is currently
in closed beta, will allow
Facebook users to have high-
fidelity conversations with anyone
on their friends list. Each user, according to Vivox co-founder people may decide that they don't communications with the people I voice chat invites from people
however, will have to download Monty Sharma, the company is want to use a tool that requires a want to stay in touch with." they've friended but might know
Vivox's plug-in. But once making its technology available to plug-in, many others may well Another social media expert, only peripherally.
installed, the service works almost any third-party Facebook find that it's worth the trouble in Gnomedex organizer Chris Pirillo, "When these tools come about,"
seamlessly with Facebook, and is application developer, meaning order to be able to easily start a was even more effusive about the Pirillo said, "it becomes less
intended for everything from one- that almost any app, from games conversation that rivals, or even potential for a full-fledged valuable (to have too many
to-one chat to large group to utilities, can have a voice betters, phone call quality. Facebook voice chart system. friends) and actually promotes a
discussions. component. One person who may be an "It is about time," Pirillo said. "I cleaner ecosystem."
Further, even non-Facebook For now, it's not clear how early adopter is Charlene Li, a guarantee you this is going to bite Great for retailers
users will be able to participate, as many of Facebook's users will well-known social media into Skype." To Li, giving third-party
Vivox plans to offer free dial-in choose to adopt Vivox's consultant, and the co-author of For Pirillo, the Vivox system Facebook developers the ability to
numbers that will allow anyone to technology, and for the time the book Groundswell. will provide a valuable incentive integrate voice chat into their
call into an existing conversation, being, at least, Facebook is not "I would (use voice service on for Facebook users to streamline applications may mean a big
much as is possible today with involved in any way in promoting Facebook)," Li said, "because I their friends lists since it's likely
call-in phone conferences. the new service. But while some see it as a continuum of that they won't want to be getting
Perhaps more importantly, VOICE page 56
Internet News Record Tech Reviews 55

Better Place software tallies electric cars' charge

(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:00:00 AM

Better Place founder Shai Agassi

is ready to show off that he's
applying his software industry
experience to improve electric
vehicles.
At the Frankfurt Auto Show on
Tuesday, the electric car service
company will show off in-car
software designed to ensure that
electric car drivers have enough
charge to keep driving.
Code-named AutOS, Better
Place's software alerts drivers to a
car battery's charge status and
points them to battery charging
spots and swapping stations in the
company's network.
In conjunction with the launch,
partner Renault is also expected to
debut a concept car called Fluence
ZE, a five-seat all-electric
passenger car that will be able to
operate at Better Place's battery-
swapping stations. The two
companies have committed to
producing 100,000 of the sedans,
which have a 100-mile-driving
range, for Better Place customers
in both Israel and Denmark by
2016.
Better Place's answer to range rolls up to a spot and a machine "It's an energy-management The more information that a network without causing crippling
anxiety: software that keeps you slips in a fresh battery. system for ensuring that you person provides, such as a trip's spikes in electricity demand.
informed about charging The business model mimics the never get stuck basically," he destination and starting point, the The arrival of hundreds of
options.(Credit: Better Place) cell phone business where explained. "We relieve you from more accurate the information and thousands or millions of plug-in
One of the biggest challenges to consumers purchase a plan that having to start guessing and driver profile is, Goodman said. electric vehicles onto the grid
introducing plug-in electric covers a certain number of miles dealing with that." "Based on how your react, the complicates life for utilities and
vehicles to consumers is "range for a monthly fee, which also Goodman said that the software software will adjust," he said. grid operators. If vehicle charging
anxiety," or the fear of not being includes free access to charge "learns" from a person's driving Built using Windows Embedded en masse causes big spikes in
able to replenish a car battery. spots and swapping stations. habits. For example, the system and running Intel Atom demand, utilities will need to add
Better Place's solution to the Better Place owns the batteries, can tell a driver that there's a processors, the software taps into additional capacity by building
shorter range that battery electric rather than the car owner. battery swapping spot nearby. If the existing diagnostic messaging more power plants.
cars offer is to build a network of The software, too, is a key piece the driver ignores the alert, it will system in cars. A screen shot of how Better
charge spots at people's homes, of easing range anxiety because it adjust and offer other options, Utilities, too Place's energy-management
offices, and public places. In will inform consumers of their such as other charge spot or Behind the scenes is another software can be used with a
addition, the company has fueling options, said Sidney swapping spots, and tell drivers portion of the overall AutOS mobile device.(Credit: Better
developed automated battery Goodman, the vice president of how they can go with the current system designed to ensure that
swapping stations, where a driver auto alliances at Better Place. charge. Better Place can operate the BETTER page 56
56 Sports
VOICE
continued from page 54
victory for retailers. She pointed
out that a company like
Overstock.com may find it
extremely valuable to put out a
Facebook app with voice built-in-
-without having to build the voice
system themselves--because it
would give people a way to
quickly and easily chat with their
friends about products they see.
"Retailers don't have to put in
chat themselves," Li said. "They
can just put in Facebook chat.
That's where it starts getting very
interesting."
And to Pirillo, the ability for
Facebook friends to have a voice
chat during, say, a game of
Scrabble, is a very "smart"
innovation that means users can
streamline the number of different
tools they're running
simultaneously.
To be sure, Vivox's offering is
not the first to make voice
possible for Facebook users,
though it may well be the most
seamless.
Other options have included
Equals' Party Line, which offers
group chat for up to five people,
and, of course, a work-around like
Skype.
Vivox argues that its technology
BETTER
continued from page 55
Place)
To prevent spikes, the charging
rate of plug-in electric vehicle
batteries can be adjusted, which is
called smart charging. Topping
off a battery overnight, for
example, could be done over
several hours and not impact the
driver.
In Better Place's case, its back-
end software was written to
ensure that it will not exceed the
amount of electricity it has
rises above anything else
available today because of its
scope and scalability. For one, the
Vivox system has been proven on
services like Second Life and
EVE Online--and is about to be
built into a series of online
Electronic Arts games, beginning
with Command & Conquer 4
Tiberian Twilight--and has been
shown to support thousands of
simultaneous users on a single
channel. Further, the company
said that because it already has
more than 15 million users, it
doesn't anticipate any problems
handling the flood of new users
that could come when the
Facebook system is rolled out.
But while experts like Li and
Pirillo think that voice chat is a
natural extension for Facebook,
there are some who feel that the
technology make take some time
to catch on in certain segments of
the Facebook ecosystem,
particularly one of the most
popular, social games.
There are millions of people
who play social games from
developers like Zynga, Playfish,
and others, and together the
segment makes up one of the
largest on the social network. But
contracted from utilities. In the
first two countries it will operate--
Israel and Denmark--it plans to
make bulk power purchases from
utilities and use its software to
stay within its budgeted amount,
Goodman said.
Energy management is expected
to be an important component to a
coming wave of plug-in electric
vehicles built for everyday use.
Nissan's battery-electric Leaf has
software to monitor and manage
because social gaming is largely
asynchronous--meaning users
don't have to be online at the same
time to enjoy playing games
against each other--voice chat
may not present as much utility.
"For social games, I don't see a
strong need for (voice chat) yet,"
said Siqi Chen, the CEO of Social
Business, a leading Facebook
social games developer. "I do see
a shift for more synchronous
game play over time, but it hasn't
really been happening for most
games."
In part, Chen said, that's
because among friends who like
to play games together, it's fairly
uncommon to be online at the
same time. In addition, social
games are built around short play
sessions.
But he allowed that over time,
as people spend more and more
time on Facebook, there may well
be an opportunity for social game
developers to launch more
engaging games that are built
around longer session times, and
which might work well with voice
chat.
At Vivox, no one is expecting
that tens of millions of users will
immediately start using its voice
battery charge. It has energy-
saving features, such as allowing
a consumer to turn on air
conditioner with a mobile phone
while a car is still plugged in to
conserve battery power.
Better Place is in the process of
building out the charging and
battery-swapping infrastructure in
Israel in Denmark which are
projected to be operating in 2011
with early pilots this year and
next, Goodman said.
Internet News Record
chat technology. But the company
is aware that it will likely see a
significant spike in usage, and is
ready to handle it when it comes,
said co-founder Sharma.
And Sharma suggested that
while it may be too early to know
exactly how the company will
monetize its Facebook integration,
there are some obvious
opportunities in microtransactions
and audio ads that users would
hear before being put into a voice
Del Potro
channel.
For now, it's also too early to Arrives -- And
tell just how much of a game-
changer any new voice chat Plans to Stay
system will be. But based on By Greg Couch (FanHouse)
Vivox's track record, it is certainly Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:45:00 AM
one of the few companies well-
positioned to jump headlong into by Greg Couch
a community as large as that of Filed under: U.S. Open, ATP
Facebook. NEW YORK -- He fell flat on his
And to Pirillo, adding a back, stretched out his freakishly
seamless voice chat system is a long wingspan, and the tallest
natural, and just one step on the man ever to win a major tennis
path toward where we may well championship started bawling like
be going in the near future: fully a little baby. He thought about his
functional video chatting across parents, his friends, his life, his
the entire social network. dreams.
"Is it revolutionary? No," Pirillo Certain things are impossible,
said of Vivox's offering. "Is it are absolutes. The name of major
evolutionary? Absolutely." title winners in tennis can be any
off the following list:
Federer, Nadal.
But that big baby, who kept on
crying and crying, was Juan
Although the company has Martin del Potro. He won the U.S.
gotten a lot of attention for its Open Monday, beating Roger
novel business model, Better Federer 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-
Place so far has only signed on 4), 6-2.
Nissan-Renault as a partner Del Potro Arrives -- And Plans
willing to produce electric to Stay originally appeared on
vehicles with switchable batteries. Fanhouse Tennis on Tue, 15 Sep
Some executives from other auto 2009 00:45:00 EST . Please see
m a k e r s h a v e s a i d t h a t t h e our terms for use of feeds.
swapping system is not practical Permalink| Email this| Linking
because battery sizes are not Blogs| Comments
standardized.
Internet News Record
Showers may be far dirtier than we think
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:00:00 AM
As if we didn't already have
enough germs and toxins to deal
with in our home environments
(the lead in our paint; flame
retardants in our furniture; indoor
air quality and even the resulting
air purifiers; to name a few), we
now get to fret over another
perpetrator: the showerhead.
Researchers at the University of
Colorado at Boulder have just
published a study in the
Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences finding that
about 30 percent of the
showerheads in nine cities
(including New York, Chicago,
and Denver) carry "significant"
levels of Mycobacterium avium, a
pathogen that is linked to
pulmonary disease.
Biofilms clinging to the insides
of showerheads can harbor up to
100 times the levels of pathogens
found in background municipal
water, according to a new
University of Colorado
study.(Credit: Glenn Asakawa,
University of Colorado)
Moreover, the M. avium
pathogen was often clumped
together with other pathogens in a
slimy biofilm that clings to the
insides of showerheads at more
than 100 times the levels found in
municipal water.
"If you are getting a face full of
water when you first turn your
shower on, that means you are
probably getting a particularly
high load of Mycobacterium
avium, which may not be too
healthy," says lead author Norman
Pace, a distinguished professor in
the Molecular, Cellular and
Developmental Biology
department who won the nation's
highest award in microbiology in
2001, as well as a MacArthur
Foundation"genius grant" for his
work.
In addition, research at Denver's
National Jewish Hospital suggests
that the increase in pulmonary
infections in the U.S. in recent
decades may be the result of
people taking more showers and
fewer baths, Pace says. Even
those who are careful never to
swallow the water spurting from
showerheads can inhale the
pathogens, which are distributed
from water droplets into the air.
Cigarette smoke is the most
common cause of pulmonary
disease, according to the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,
Tech Reviews Sports
but general air quality also plays a
role. Some 7.6 million U.S. adults
were diagnosed with chronic
bronchitis(a type of pulmonary
disease) in 2007, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Symptoms of pulmonary disease
that has been caused by M. avium
can include weakness, shortness
of breath, and a persistent, dry
cough; obviously the immune-
compromised, such as pregnant
women and the elderly, are more
prone to experience such
symptoms, says Pace.
Previous studies by Pace and his
colleagues have found massive
enrichments of M. avium in the
soap scum commonly found in
places such as the surface of vinyl
shower curtains. In 2006, Pace
and colleague Mark Hernandez
found that high levels of M.
Avium in indoor pool
environments led to pneumonia-
like pulmonary conditions in
workers known as "lifeguard
lung."
Pace says that people with
strong immune systems are
probably in very little danger of
being compromised, but he
suggests that there is a higher risk
associated with plastic
showerheads than metal ones.
And if all that isn't enough to
swallow, water monitoring in the
U.S., according to Pace, is
"frankly archaic."
57
Juan Martin del Potro
Upsets Roger Federer
at the US Open
By Shane Bacon (FanHouse)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:32:00 PM
by Shane Bacon
Filed under: U.S. Open
Call 2009 the year of the fallen
giant. A month after friend Tiger
Woods lost a 54-hole lead in a
major championship for the first
time in his career, Roger Federer
lost in a Grand Slam final by a
guy not named Rafael Nadal.
Juan Martin del Potro did the
unthinkable on Monday at the
U.S. Open, defeating the 15-time
Grand Slam champion after losing
the first set to Federer in Arthur
Ashe Stadium. Del Potro took the
match in five sets, winning 3-6, 7-
6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 for his first Grand
Slam title.
More: Clijsters Wins Women's
Side
Juan Martin del Potro Upsets
Roger Federer at the US Open
originally appeared on Fanhouse
Tennis on Mon, 14 Sep 2009
20:32:00 EST . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
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58 Apple Sports Game Internet News Record
Sproles' TD at :18
iPhone OS 3.1 Update Causing Crashes On boosts Chargers
iPhone 3G’s past Raiders
By Liam Cassidy without the passcode lock Apple does this, it says, in order By Associated Press
(TheAppleBlog) activated. I’ve owned each iPhone since to maintain the integrity of the (ESPN.com)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 8:00:10 AM In all cases, only a hard reset the first generation device, and product, its features and the Submitted at 9/15/2009 5:49:26 AM
returned the handset to proper cheerfully installed each OS experience we pay top-dollar to
It just wouldn’t be an iPhone OS w o r k i n g o r d e r , b u t o n l y enjoy. Fast Facts
update the same day it was made • Darren Sproles capped an 89-
u p d a t e w i t h o u t t h e u s u a l temporarily. Reading through the available. Generally I’ve seen Either Apple can’t follow its
accompanying cries of anguish different reports shows that users own rules, or it’s talking utter yard drive with a 5-yard TD run
improvements in overall system with 18 seconds to play, giving
from end-users, now, would it? It have tried different ways to fix the performance, but battery life has rubbish.
seems Apple just can’t get the problem, including removing and I’m fully aware the three San Diego its 12th straight win
been all over the place, sometimes over Oakland. That ties the
update process right; and there’s reinstalling all applications, improved by an OS update, different models of iPhone
really no good excuse for it. wiping all personal data and currently in the wild have Patriots-Bills series as the longest
sometimes made much worse. active streak by one team over
Over on the Apple Support user settings and even full system I’ve celebrated as the system different hardware configurations,
discussions forum several threads restores via iTunes — all to no but that’s no excuse. If Apple another in the NFL.
performance steadily improved, • Philip Rivers completed 24 of
are quickly growing around a avail. then swore as it declined… until cannot its own software updates
common theme; the iPhone OS To add to the drama, some 3G to work across all three of its own 36 passes for 252 yards with one
the next update put things back on TD and an INT.
3.1 update is causing iPhone 3G’s owners report drastically reduced track. And so on. models, it should not make
to slow down and, in many battery life since the 3.1 upgrade. updates available for all three • LaDainian Tomlinson rushed
As I see it, there are really only for 55 yards and scored his 23rd
reports shared by frustrated users, So once again, an iPhone OS two explanations for this sadly- models. At least, not until it’s
handsets are simply shutting upgrade is causing end users grief. done the most exhaustive of stress career touchdown (rushing and
familiar iPhone OS update drama; receiving) against the Raiders --
down, seemingly at random. Despite the fact it’s a closed either Apple’s iPhone OS tests to work out all the bugs.
A selection of the most popular platform developed by one It has been five days since the most by any player against
development teams are Oakland.
posts at this time go by the company (not an open-source free incompetent, or Apple’s quality iPhone OS 3.1 was made
provocative titles; 3.1 turned my -for-all). Despite the fact that available to the public and iPhone • The Raiders lost their season
standards are far lower than we opener for the seventh straight
iPhone slow – unusable and there are only three platform like to think. 3G customers started
lacking in all tasks, 3.1 Update configurations for this device. experiencing problems with their year, the longest active streak in
Harsh words? No, not at all. the NFL.
Problem – Hangs, Two very Despite the careful attention iPhones are either expensive, or handsets. Still no word yet from
strange bugs found in 3.1, 3.1 Apple would have us believe each Apple. Not even a simple “We • Rapid Reaction
extremely expensive. But we buy -- ESPN Stats & Information
killed 3G – unable to restore, third-party app is subjected to them because we know we’re hear you, we’re looking into it.”
WIFI Issues and Mysterious prior to approval (and let’s not buying more than a product; C’mon Apple. You can do
r a n d o m t o t a l s h u t d o w n s forget the sandbox environment in we’re buying a swathe of better than that. You bragged last
following 3.1 update. which apps operate). functionality, wrapped-in an week that you’ve sold more than
At the time of writing, the Despite all of these checks in elegant user experience other thirty million iPhones. How many
problems seem to be limited to the place that ought to provide Apple smartphones have yet to match. of those sales are 3G’s? Don’t
iPhone 3G. Users report that their with a foundation for trouble-free Apple keeps its underlying those customers deserve a little
phones refuse to respond after: updates, the company seems to software under close guard, more respect? Read the Report, "
• exiting applications have extraordinary — and cautiously approving some third- Surveying the Mobile App Store
• unlocking the handset after b e w i l d e r i n g — d i f f i c u l t y party contributions while Landscape." Only at GigaOM
auto-lock has kicked-in releasing stable, bug-free updates dispassionately denying others. Pro.
• waking from standby with or to the iPhone OS.

Skate 3 throws down in May 2010

By David Hinkle (Joystiq)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:39:00 AM
The rumor is true: Skate 3 hits
the streets next May. But this time
around, EA's skateboarding
franchise takes the action outside
of San Vanelona, bringing players
to the new town of Port
Carverton. That isn't the only new
thing the third installment offers,
however, as the trailer promises
players will be able to "team up"
and shows skaters performing
new tricks, such as the dark slide.
So much for being the only
skateboarding game around, eh?
Skate 3 throws down in May
2010 originally appeared on
Joystiq on Tue, 15 Sep 2009
09:39:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
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Internet News Record
iTunes 9: Deconstructing LPs & Extras
By Chris Ryan (TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 9:00:41 AM
Leading up to Apple’s music
event last week, rumor sites had
been circling about a new format
from Apple that would provide
additional content, like lyrics,
liner notes, video interviews and
more. The rumors came true as
Apple announced yet one more
way to spend more money inside
iTunes: iTunes LPs for music and
iTunes Extras for video. Here’s
what they look like up close.
Deconstructing the LP
When you purchase an iTunes
LP (for this example, I’m using
Tyrese Gibson’s MAYHEM!),
you actually end up downloading
the songs included and the
animated content in a new format,
called. itlp. This new format is (in
this example) a very big file, a
little over 400MB. Not only does
it take a while to download that
content, but if you start to fill your
library with several of these,
you’ll run out of room very
quickly.
For diehard fans, iTunes LPs are
simply amazing. In MAYHEM!,
the additional content is an
animated comic book that comes
to life with spoken dialog. As
more and more artists sign onto
Patrick Swayze succumbs to pancreatic cancer at 57
By Danny Gallagher (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 2:04:00 AM
Some more sad news from
Tinseltown. Movie star and recent
television star Patrick Swayze has
lost his 20 month battle with
pancreatic cancer at his ranch in
Los Angeles. He was 57 years
creating iTunes LPs, these will
become big time components of
true music enthusiasts. Let’s just
hope new iTunes LPs are released
more frequently than the
GarageBand Artist Lessons.
And Now for Video
Apple also announced iTunes
Extras for video content, allowing
quick scene selection and other
animated “behind the scenes”
content available in these
exclusive packages. For many,
this could be the real deciding
factor between opting to purchase
a new movie on DVD or Blu-ray
versus purchasing it within
iTunes. The end result, while
perhaps not equal in terms of
additional content, is a complete
movie experience, with a
substantial amount of
supplemental content.
Unfortunately, iTunes Extras are
only available when purchasing
content from iTunes; they are not
available with movie rentals.
If you purchase content from
iTunes on your iPhone and that
content supports iTunes LP or
iTunes Extra, the base content
(songs or movie) will download
immediately to your device. The
LP and Extras content will
download to your computer the
next time you sync your iPhone or
old.
Barbara Walters will air the
actor's final television interview in
a one hour special titled Last
Dance tonight at 10 PM eastern/9
PM central on ABC.
He's probably best known for
his work on the big screen in
movies like Ghost, Dirty Dancing
and (of course) the timeless Road
iPod touch. Upon doing so, be
sure to go to “Store” and click
“Check For Available
Downloads” to download the
additional content.
A Good Start
The iTunes Store currently has
12 iTunes LPs available (and even
some of those are pre-orders) and
15 movies featuring iTunes
Extras. Though Steve likes to
attribute Apple’s new iTunes LP
concept to a desire to pay homage
to classic LPs that included bonus
content, one can’t help but think
that these extra features are
offered to persuade users to
purchase complete albums instead
of a la carte downloads. The
concept is very trendy and will
definitely turn heads, but will the
majority of our music collection
House, a movie that became a cult
sensation for all the wrong
feature iTunes LPs? Probably not.
Will we have them for some of
the big time major artists? Maybe.
What about iTunes Extras for
movies? Will this stop some
people from ripping their own
DVDs and purchasing the content
from iTunes? Perhaps. It’s
unlikely that anybody (or perhaps
this is a challenge to the
Handbrake team) will be able to
reverse engineer the .itlp format to
allow users to have their own
ripped DVDs with all special
features play natively within
iTunes.
At the moment, iTunes LPs and
iTunes Extras are only playable
within, you guessed it, iTunes 9.
Others have already noticed,
however, that the interface for
these could definitely support
interaction through touch, so
perhaps eventually we’ll see the
ability to sync these content types
with our iPhones, iPod touches or
even Apple TVs.
Now the question is passed to
you. What do you think? Is it
worth it? Have you pre-ordered
Pearl Jam or downloaded The
Doors yet? Read the Report, "
Surveying the Mobile App Store
Landscape." Only at GigaOM
Pro.
reasons and helped birth the sense
of humor of MST3K and
Rifftrax's Michael J. Nelson. But
like all Hollywood actors, he
made his presence known on the
small screen, and his reach goes
much further than his recent
venture into cable drama glory
with A&E's The Beast.
Continue reading Patrick
Apple TV Game 59
Put on your rose-colored
glasses for the first 3D
Dot Game Heroes trailer
By Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 11:59:00 PM
From Software's homage to
classic 8-bit gaming in upcoming
Japanese release 3D Dot Game
Heroes has been expressed in the
first trailer. Sure, it absolutely
reeks of the original Legend of
Zelda, but in an updated, tongue-
in-cheek kinda way. It certainly
doesn't hurt that, visually
speaking, it's stunning from
beginning to end.
We've got screenshots and the
gorgeous video above, but only a
Japanese release date so far --
how about some love for the rest
of the world, eh?
Gallery: 3D Dot Game Heroes
(PS3)
Put on your rose-colored glasses
for the first 3D Dot Game Heroes
trailer originally appeared on
Joystiq on Mon, 14 Sep 2009
23:59:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
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Swayze succumbs to pancreatic
cancer at 57
Filed under: Obituaries, Reality-
Free
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60 Apple Internet News Record

Apple Open-Sources Grand Central 160GB Apple TV Gets

Dispatch Price Cut, 40GB
By Andrew Bednarz This contains the APIs that
(TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 2:00:37 PM
developers call to schedule blocks
of code into queues.
Discontinued
• xnu is the kernel that runs OS By Charles Jade
One of the most compelling new X, originally developed for (TheAppleBlog)
feature in Snow Leopard is Grand NEXTSTEP before Apple took Submitted at 9/14/2009 7:30:48 AM
Central Dispatch, which can make NeXT and Steve Jobs back. xnu
it easier for developers to write stands for “X is Not Unix” and Those disappointed that the
software taking advantage of the has been open-sourced from the music event last week failed to
multiple cores in our computers. start because it included code update Apple’s all but forgotten
set-top box, may find hope in the Oppenheimer said plainly that the
On Sept., 10 Apple released the from FreeBSD. DVR concept “just doesn’t fit
user library component of Grand other operating systems like • llvm is a relatively new “Low company’s move to lower the
Apple’s business.” Sadly, that
Central to the open source L i n u x m a y p i c k u p t h e Level Virtual Machine” compiler price of the 160GB Apple TV by
technology. This encourages the technology that is ultimately $100, to $229. business to date has been forcing
community. the Apple TV into the role of an
We previously discussed Grand wider adoption of the technology, designed to replace gcc which That new price for the 160GB
iTunes Store kiosk in the living
Central Dispatch, but the essence which makes it stronger for all generally compiles much Unix model was the old price for the
room.
is that the operating system’s parties. It’s a win-win scenario. software. While not technically 40GB model, which is no more,
So, whither Apple TV? The
kernel is the only entity that One just has to look at the required for Grand Central and that is cause for speculation in
price cut/storage bump provides a
knows all of the processes that are success of WebKit, the underlying Dispatch, it supports a key itself.
glimmer of hope, assuming the
running on the system, so it’s in foundation of the Safari web requirement: blocks. Blocks are At the beginning of the month,
change is not a final, indifferent
the best position to determine how browser that was adopted by a n e x t e n s i o n t o t h e C AppleInsider reported Piper
attempt to stimulate lagging sales,
t o r u n t a s k s c o n c u r r e n t l y . Google to drive its Chrome programming language that make Jaffray analyst Gene Munster
but let’s pretend it’s not. Clearly,
Developers no longer have to browser. Apple is clearly seeing it trivial to define portions of code noting long wait times for the
the future of content consumption
guess as to the most efficient the advantages of open source — that can easy be scheduled and 40GB model, resulting in
in the living room will be
number of threads to spawn, or and even if it didn’t mean to run concurrently. predictions of a minor upgrade at
streaming. If the Apple TV is to
make assumptions about the ( A p p l e d i d n ’ t o p e n - s o u r c e With all three components of the then rumored Apple event.
survive, Apple needs to
available computing resources. WebKit as it originated from the Grand Central Dispatch now That would be followed by a
acknowledge this in a big way,
While Grand Central Dispatch open source kHTML), it’s reaping available for the open source major upgrade of the Apple TV
creating “channels” in the
is a boon for Snow Leopard and the benefits of the open source community, it is an even more later this year, one that might
software for the major players:
OS X developers, it doesn’t help community’s constant code exciting prospect. Finally we can include DVR capabilities. That
Netflix, Hulu, even Amazon
the rest of the computer world, improvements. really capitalize on our multicore first prediction proved to be
Video on Demand. Sure, that will
and certainly doesn’t contain Ultimately, Grand Central computers. The next 12 months incorrect, and, unfortunately,
D i s p a t c h c o n s i s t s o f t h r e e DVR capabilities will not be impact iTunes rentals and video
enough of an advantage to will be interesting. Read the sales, but not as much as a failed
convince developers who don’t components, each of which are Report, " Surveying the Mobile coming to the Apple TV, either.
product that ends up being
already develop for OS X to start. now open for public consumption, App Store Landscape." Only at Again via AppleInsider, Caris &
canceled. Read the Weekly
However by open-sourcing the improvement and adoption: GigaOM Pro. Company analyst Robert Cihra
Update, " Will Real-Time Google
Grand Central Dispatch APIs, • In the user-space side is the put an end to the DVR speculation
Traffic Maps Really Help?" Only
Apple is most likely hoping that newly open-sourced libdispatch. about a week later at a meeting
at GigaOM Pro.
with Apple CFO Peter
Oppenheimer. At that meeting,
Internet News Record Apple TV 61

AT&T Already Activating iPhone New book gets behind the

MMS for Some scenes with Letterman, Leno,
By Darrell Etherington carrier settings update was Robin Williams and more
(TheAppleBlog) required before the service would By Nick Zaino (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 6:48:13 AM work or the icon would even Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:02:00 AM
appear. AT&T’s activation
iPhone users in the U.S. are suggests that no change on the Anyone who's interested in the
eagerly anticipating AT&T’s user’s end of things is actually Leno/Letterman relationship, the
Sept. 25 MMS activation date, but required to get things up and feeding frenzy in the late 70s and
for some at least, the wait is running, which isn’t what AT&T early 80s when networks were
already over. Many are already spokesman Brad Mays originally sweeping up stand-up comedians
seeing the switch thrown that seemed to suggest: and changing their lives
enables MMS on their devices, The service will be enabled with overnight, and the importance and
according to a thread over at a software update on the launch mechanics of getting a spot on
HowardForums, a mobile phone date. Customers can obtain the Johnny Carson's Tonight Show
message board. update from iTunes, just like all needs to read William
AT&T is taking a staggered other iPhone updates. Knoedelseder's new book, I'm
approach to the activation of this Once activated, iPhone 3.0 users Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and
long-awaited iPhone OS 3.0 will be able to send photos, High Times in Stand-Up
feature, probably in an effort to videos, audio, address book Comedy's Golden Era.
minimize the effects of the contact info and Maps locations The centerpiece of the book is
rollout. If my own experience is via the Messaging app on their the labor discontent between
any indication, the vast majority devices. By default, an MMS opt comedians and the Comedy Store
of network strain resulting from activation, you should see a new out is attached to all AT&T that kicked up in 1979, when
Continue reading New book
MMS will occur when users first “Cellular Data Network” menu iPhone owners’ accounts, which comedians saw the money coming
gets behind the scenes with
activate it, after which most will item in the General > Network must be removed prior to MMS into the venue and started to
Letterman, Leno, Robin Williams
p r o b a b l y o n l y t o u c h i t settings page, and a small camera f u n c t i o n i n g . I f y o u ’ r e wonder why some of the working
and more
sporadically. icon will appear in the lower left- experiencing problems, contact Filed under: Late Night,
comics there had to borrow
Judging by this staggered hand corner of your Messages AT&T to make sure this has been money for breakfast. It's a
Celebrities, Reality-Free, Jay
introduction, AT&T’s primary app, which will allow you direct lifted on your account. compelling and unexpected story,
Leno
concern with the MMS rollout is access to either the device’s Let us know if you’ve received and it collects names big and
Permalink| Email this| |
to minimize the impact to its camera or your pictures folders. MMS activation yet, where you small from television history
Comments
network, which is already Oddly, the reports seem to are, and how you find the service
along the way.
suffering under the strain of so indicate no correlation at all so far (any noticeable network
many iPhone users, and which has b e t w e e n c a r r i e r b u n d l e o r effects, for example). Read the
already caused some to jump ship software version installed on their Report, " New Metrics for the
in search of better quality and device, or their physical location, Mobile Ad Market." Only at
consistency. and the activation of MMS. When GigaOM Pro.
If you’re one of the lucky Apple originally introduced MMS
people to benefit from early in iPhone 3.0, here in Canada a
62 Apple TV
iPod Touch Missing Camera Mystery Solved?
By Charles Jade
(TheAppleBlog)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 11:00:53 AM
Despite protestations by Steve
Jobs that the evolution of the iPod
touch has always been towards
gaming, the deconstructionists at
iFixit may have found the missing
camera link in its latest teardown.
Prior to the Apple event last
week, rumors of a camera in the
iPod touch had been circulating
for months. Some of the most
convincing evidence included
video of a case and circuit board
with a camera. However, shortly
before the third generation device
was unveiled, new rumors of
technical problems with the
camera module suggested delayed
availability. The Apple Event and
Steve Jobs interview with the
Helen Hunt may take on Maura Tierney's
Parenthood role
By Allison Waldman (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:33:00 AM
When Maura Tierney had to
leave Parenthood because she
needs to undergo treatment for
breast cancer, there was
speculation about who might
replace her since the NBC project
would be resuming. Well, the
name that's come to the fore as
Maura's replacement is a good
one. Oscar and Emmy-winner
Helen Hunt is in discussions for
Parenthood, and usually if they're
New York Times supposedly
cleared all that up, except maybe
not.
Source: iFixit
According to iFixit, there is
space for a nano-style video
camera in the iPod touch, but not
enough for a still camera like the
iPhone. This new information,
combined with previous rumors
and photos, suggests the strong
possibility of a future touch with a
camera. As to why Apple did not
include a camera in the third
generation iPod touch, perhaps
technical issues were to blame, or
perhaps it was a desire to keep a
certain amount of feature distance
between the iPod touch and
iPhone. That would explain the
other big find from iFixit.
It appears the Broadcom chip in
the iPod touch supports 802.11n,
talking and it's in the trades, it's
close to being a done deal.
If I were advising her and she
cared about what I think, I'd tell
as well as containing Bluetooth
2.1 + EDR and an FM radio
module. The techs at iFixit
speculate that if antennas were
built in, and if the iPhone OS
were to support it, one could
stream music in a car that was
Helen to take it. While Helen's
TV experience was in a sitcom,
Mad About You, she's better in
dramedy. That's what As Good As
It Gets was, and it got her an
Oscar!
Continue reading Helen Hunt
may take on Maura Tierney's
Parenthood role
Filed under: Other Drama
Shows, OpEd, Celebrities,
Casting, Reality-Free
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
appropriately equipped with
Bluetooth. Those are some huge
advantages over the iPhone,
which only supports 802.11 a/b/g
and has no FM radio.
Seeing as the iPhone earns more
income for Apple than the touch
Internet News Record
through revenue sharing, it would
be no surprise if the touch was
crippled to protect iPhone sales.
Disappointing, but not surprising.
We’ll likely see all these features
in both the touch and the iPhone
in the future, and pay for them in
another upgrade cycle, too. That’s
expected, but wouldn’t it be great
if just once Apple created a
product that was as
technologically advanced as it
could be, rather than as it should
be to protect the company’s
sacred margins? Read the Weekly
Update, " Will Real-Time Google
Traffic Maps Really Help?" Only
at GigaOM Pro.
Internet News Record Picture Sports 63

Offense Finally Roaring for

Tigers
By Jim Henry (FanHouse)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 10:41:00 PM

by Jim Henry
Filed under: Auburn, SEC The
Auburn Tigers are suddenly fun to
watch again.
A bottom-feeder on offense a
year ago, the undefeated Tigers
are ranked among the nation's
leaders in a number of categories
after two weeks. Drum roll,
please.
Auburn currently ranks second
in the nation in rushing offense
(345.5 yards per game) and fourth
nationally in total offense (572.5).
The Tigers are eighth nationally
in first downs (28) and have had Offense Finally Roaring for
at least 27 downs in each of their Tigers originally appeared on
first two games, while tying for Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog
the national lead with 162 plays on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:41:00
run from scrimmage. Auburn is EST . Please see our terms for use
also one of just seven teams of feeds.
nationally that has played two Permalink| Email this| Linking
games that has not allowed a sack Blogs| Comments
this season, nor have the Tigers
thrown an interception.
Galleries: Unleash your inner curator U.S. Open Diary: Juan Martin
By Heather Champ (Flickr theme, an idea or just because. you on your way:
Blog)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 1:06:40 PM
Here are a few favourites from
our preview:
What is a gallery?
Seriously, how is a gallery del Potro def. Roger Federer
And, don’t miss Contemporary different than favorites, sets and
There’s a long list of features Black & White Portraiture The
that we’ve wanted to develop for Future Is Now, Half Sky, Half
collections?
How do I make a gallery?
3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2
o u r m e m b e r s . G i v i n g o u r Water, tea, Heaven for Book How do I find out if my photo (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
members a way to celebrate the People, beautiful fish, the blue Submitted at 9/14/2009 10:54:26 AM
or video has been added to a
creativity of their fellow members hour. We’d like to thank our gallery?
has always been high on that list. g e n e r o u s m e m b e r s w h o How do I remove my photo The Journal provides minute-by-
Today, we’re thrilled to launch participated in our galleries from a gallery? minute analysis of todays U.S.
our newest feature: galleries. preview. You can see even more Be sure to read all our gallery Open mens singles final won by
F o r w h a t e v e r y o u f i n d of their work in Explore / FAQs for the full poop. If you’ve sixth-seed Juan Martin del Potro
interesting, fascinating, or mind- Galleries. feedback or encounter bugs, of Argentina over top-seed Roger
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way to curate up to 18 public click on the new “Add to gallery” Forum. (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 at Arthur offers commentary on the match.
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U.S. page 64
64
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continued from page 63
Getty Images Juan Martin del
Potro admires the U.S. Open
winner’s trophy after beating
Roger Federer to win his first
Grand Slam title.
Federer’s run to five straight
U.S. Open titles was
unprecedented and unlikely to be
match anytime soon. His loss here
actually will set up an interesting
2010 for the men’s game. Can del
Potro continue his rapid rise to the
top and threaten Federer for the
top ranking? Andy Murray will
have to deal with the pressure of
being the best player never to
have won a major. Djokovic
seems to have suffered from some
confidence issues as fans started
to turn against him this year due
to perceived cockiness. He
regained some fans by showing
more of his lighter side here in
N.Y. Roddick will continue to be
a threat at majors due to his big
serve. The question for him will
be how much long he wants to
fully commit to being a top player
as he still has some flaws in his
game. Will the loss to Isner push
him to improve his return game?
What about young American Sam
Querrey? He won the U.S. Open
Series. Will he be able to use that
as a springboard to further success
next year?
Federer showed some chinks in
his confidence during his
struggles in beating Nadal. Will
he be able to rebound from this
loss as easily as he says he will in
his post-match news conference?
And lastly, the big wild card is
Rafa’s health. Knee problems and
his abdominal injury definitely
affected him here. Will he be able
to regain the form that took him to
No. 1? Many questions in men’s
tennis now and I can’t wait to
watch.
8:44: Federer served on 50% on
his first serve and double-faulted
11 times. As we mentioned over
four hours ago and as Carl Bialik
predicted in the Count, one of the
big keys to the match would be
Federers serve. Sixty-two
unforced errors by Federer and
only converting 5 of 22 break
points may cause Federer to have
a sleepless night.
Federer started out being the
aggressor in the match, winning
10 of 11 net approaches as del
Potro battled nerves. DPs
forehand started to heat up in the
second set and Federer only won
8 of 15 approaches to the net in
the second set. By the fifth set,
Federer only approached the net
four times.
Addressing some of the points
raised earlier in the blog, I think
del Porto will be the player to
watch on tour next year. It will be
interesting to see if he can transfer
the confidence hes gained by
winning this tournament to the
other Grand Slams. At 20 years,
355 days, he becomes the fifth-
youngest man to win the US Open
title in the Open Era. He should
look at the fourth youngest man
on that list, Marat Safin, as an
example. Safin extremely gifted
and talented, never quite lived up
to his potential and actually
played his last Grand Slam this
year at the Open.
In his post-match news
conference, Federer said he was
disappointed but this loss will be
easy to get over. He said he
played hard and tried everything
he could, so he has to hand it to
del Porto.
8:25: And Federer hits a
backhand long on the third match
point and Juan Martin del Potro is
your U..S Open champion!
DP collapses on the court in joy.
He turns 21, next Wednesday
Sept. 23, but perhaps the bubbly
will be flowing a little early.
8:21: Federer flubs a shot badly
and there’s two championship
points for DP.
8:20: Federer was successful
early in the match by attacking the
net whenever possible. But DP
appears locked in right now.
8:19: Federer hasnt been very
sharp. 58 unforced errors as his
forehand goes long on the first
point off DPs serve. DP wins
points on a 102 mph and a 91 mph
first serve. Its 5-2 DP and he is
one game away from the title.
Were at the four-hour mark.
8:16: DP appears to be
conserving his energy for his own
service games. He’s going for a
winner on almost every return. Its
not a bad strategy as his forehand
has been vicious. Federer holds
and its 2-4.
8:13: The 2003 clip also shows
that Federer has never lost in this
tournament since the USTA
painted the courts blue. Watching
the 1991 Connors/Krickstein
match during this weekends rain
delays, it actually was difficult
following the ball on the
monocolored court. DP holds for
a 4-1 lead.
8:08: CBS shows a clip of the
last time Federer lost at the U.S.
Open. Federer, rocking some
facial hair, lost a four-setter to
David Nalbandian. The Argentine
usually got the better of Federer
as a junior and actually won their
first five meetings on the senior
circuit. Federer holds and is now
down 1-3.
8:04: It’s a festive atmosphere
in Ashe as the crowd is clapping
during the changeover. Let’s see
if Federer can dig out of this early
hole in the final set, serving
against the wind.
8:00: The 6-foot-6 del Potro
tumbles to the court after lunging
to hit a Federer passing shot at the
net. It’s a shaky game for DP but
after fighting off a break point, he
is able to hold for a 3-0 lead.
7:57: DP with a cross-court
forehand winner to break Federer.
It’s 2-0 for the Argentine.
7:54: Regardless of the
outcome, I think Juan Martin del
Potro has announced his arrival as
a force to be reckoned with. He
overcame a very shaky start to
take this match the distance. It’s
an impressive performance. He
holds to begin the set, serving
with the wind.
7:51: There’s a bit of a break as
Federer takes a bathroom break. A
look at both men’s career five-set
records. Federer is 16-12. Del
Potro is 2-2.
FIFTH SET
7:49: Federer hits his forehand
long and DP wins the fourth set, 7
-5 in the tiebreak. We’re headed
for a fifth set.
7:48: DP leads 5-4 in the
tiebreak with two serves coming
up. The set will be on his racket.
7:45: And a fan yells “Out!”
during the point, a point that the
linesman called in. Federer
complains to the umpire and
challenges the call. It’s Out!
Federer wins the challenge and
now DP is complaining that the
umpire took too long to let
Federer decide if he wanted to
challenge the call. And I thought
Hawk-Eye was supposed to
eliminate heated arguments with
the umpires. 5-2 Del Potro.
7:41: Federer double-faults to
begin the tiebreaker. Worth noting
DP is playing with the wind as he
runs out to a 3-0 lead.
7:39: Federer punctuates his
service game with an ace. Hes
now up 6-5 in the fourth. Still one
game from the match. Weve run
Internet News Record
out of superlatives to describe
Federer’s career. Whats the only
gap in his resume? Never having
beaten Rafael Nadal in a Grand
Slam other than Wimbledon?
Never winning an Olympic gold
in singles? Although Federer won
an Olympic gold medal in doubles
with Stanislas Wawrinka in
Beijing, he has failed in three
attempts to win an Olympic gold
in singles. Working in his favor
for London 2012 though, is I
think tennis will be held at the All
England Club, where Federer has
won six Wimbledon titles.
7:35: Two groans go out in the
crowd. One after DP hits what
appears to be a winner down the
line on break point that is returned
by Federer, the other after he nets
the return ball. DP blows two
break chances at 5-all.
7:28: Federer is now one game
from winning the match and DP is
serving into the wind. It could be
game-set-match in a matter of
minutes.
7:26: Serena Williams’s Nike
Sphere React Cool Athlete
Women’s Tennis Dress retails for
$100. Temper not included.
Caroline Wozniacki’s Stella
McCartney adidas dress could be
worn for the U.S. Open final or
the homecoming dance. Cost:
$130.
Meanwhile, did the outfit worn
by U.S. Open women’s champion
Kim Clijsters look familiar?
Maybe because it was part of the
Fila Heritage Collection also worn
by Anna Chakvetadze, Agi
Szavay and Svetlana Kuznetsova
during the tournament.
7:25: For the second set in a
row, DP blows a 4-3 led on his
serve. Federer breaks back to even
the set at four. Once again, Darth
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Federer sucks the life out of his
opponent.
7:22: DP serves at 4-3 in the
fourth. Meanwhile, I wanted to
address a request from a reader to
expound more on the outfits that
players are wearing. After this
match ends, check out WSJs
Fashion Week coverage.
Watching this tournament the
last two weeks, you cant help but
notice the distinct outfits,
especially on the women. I just
wonder if a recreational tennis
player would actually buy these
outfits to wear during their
weekly game.
7:13: DP hits a winner after a 21
-stroke rally and high-fives the
fans in the front row. Randy Moss
just dropped a pass from Tom
Brady on first down. Is this the
first dual live-blog in WSJ.com
history?
7:11: Programming note: New
England wins the toss and is set to
receive. If youre in front of a TV,
feel free to tune into the football
game. No worries though, Ill be
here live-blogging until the
conclusion of this tennis match.
The Patriots are actually wearing
their old-school red jerseys with
the logo they had when they got
crushed by the Bears in the 85
Super Bowl. Coincidentally, the
loudspeakers in Ashe are playing
Bob Segers Old Time Rock and
Roll
7:10: Federer, serving into the
wind, gets broken at love. DP runs
to his chair for the changeover.
7:07: If DP doesnt hold serving
with the wind, this match could be
over quickly. He saves a break
point and its 2-all in the fourth set.
6:59: The energy appears to
have been sapped from DP and
the crowd. DP just saved two
break points serving into the
wind. He capped the game off by
ripping a cross-court forehand
winner.
6:49: Credit for this observation
goes out to my colleague Jessica
Marmor, who has pointed out that
Federer bears a resemblance to
Quentin Tarantino. Don’t believe
me? See for yourself. Will Anna
Wintour put Mr. Tarantino on the
cover of Vogue?
FOURTH SET
6:48: And a groan in the Ashe
media room as DP double faults
on set point to give Federer a 6-4
set win and a two-sets-to-one
lead. Federer is so good, that he’s
become a villain.
6:45: Overheard in the media
room in Ashe: “Was that umpire’s
name James or Jake?” For the
record it’s Jake. Jake Garner —
the man who had the audacity to
tell Federer to “Be Quiet” Some
advice for Federer’s twin
daughters Charlene and Myla: I
wouldn’t advise telling your
father to be quiet.
6:44: Cursing on CBS! Let’s
hope the FCC isn’t watching.. or
listening.
6:42: Federer is showing a bit of
frustration and continues to have
an animated discussion with the
chair umpire during the
changeover. Let’s hope he doesn’t
get called for a foot fault.
6:39: The CBS commentators
note that the wind has really
picked up in Ashe. If youre
watching this match on TV, its
worth noting that the player on the
top of the screen is hitting the ball
into the wind. It could explain
why both players just had their
serve broken while on that side.
6:36: The unshakable Darth
Federer breaks right back to even
the third set. DP smacks the net
with his racket.
6:32: JUAN MARTIN DEL
POTRO just broke Federer to take
the lead for the first time in the
match. It bears repeating though:
DP held a two-sets-to-one lead
against Federer in the French
Open semis in June. DP said he
learned a lot from that match.
We’ll see.
6:26: With the match tied up, it
is a good time to debate: Is del
Potro the most talented young
player in the game today? Will
Andy Murray break through and
win a major? Can Andy Roddick
and Novak Djokovic be more than
one Slam wonders? Djokovic
played pretty really well yesterday
and still lost to Federer in straight
sets. It’s encouraging to see that
DP didn’t let this match get away
from him. Federer still appears to
be struggling with his first serve,
though.
6:20: The CBS broadcast just
showed Gwen Stefani and her
husband Gavin Rossdale sitting in
Federer’s box. Apparently
Rossdale and Federer are good
friends. Whatever happened to the
band “Bush” that Rossdale
fronted?
6:18: DP appears to have found
the range with his forehand, but
he misses a backhand down the
line at deuce on Federer’s serve.
Federer holds and it’s 2-1 on
serve in the third set.
6:14: A ball flies into the stands.
The guy who catches the ball
walks up a couple rows and hands
the ball to a little girl. The crowd
applauds politely. This is
definitely a tennis crowd.
6:13: Del Potro was certainly
the hottest player on tour this
summer. He opened the summer
by defending his Legg Mason
Tennis Classic title in
Washington, D.C, beating Andy
Roddick in the final. The
following week at the Rogers Cup
in Montreal he beat Nadal and
Roddick, before losing the final to
Andy Murray. If he wins today,
he will have beaten the Top 3
players in the world this year.
THIRD SET
6:10: Reader Rodolfo predicts
that DP will end 2010 as the
world number one. With Nadal
struggling with injuries, its nice to
see a player pushing Federer.
6:07: Federer saves two set
points but DP hits a forehand
winner on the third set point and
wins the tiebreak 7-5 to level the
match at a set apiece.
6:04: They switch ends tied at 3
in the tiebreak. Federer is serving
against the wind. McEnroe says
hed rather be at DPs end. His
observation proves true as DP
wins two straight points. Hes two
points from the second set with it
on his racket.
6:03: A reader just commented:
Roger is invincible on hard
surface. Maybe in a few years
your man will prevail but not
today. It raises a really interesting
question. Is DP a future star on
the ATP Tour? Regardless of
today’s outcome, DP will climb to
No. 5 in the rankings.
5:59: And we are tied at 6-6 and
are headed to a tiebreak. First man
to seven takes the second set. DP
wins the first point, hitting a shot
over Federer’s head that barely
lands inside the baseline.
5:54: DP holds his serve to go
up 6-5. He’s actually living up to
his pledge. In his post-match
interview yesterday, DP told the
fans “But tomorrow, I’ll fight
until the final point for you, for
everyone, to show good tennis.”
5:51: The crowd roars its
approval as DP breaks to even the
second set at 5-all. I may have to
revise my Monday-night plans.
5:49: Crowd laughs as Federer
passes up an opportunity to hit a
65
shot between his legs after DP
lobs a shot over Federer’s head on
a net approach. If you haven’t
seen the replay of the between-the
-legs shot he hit yesterday, stop
reading this blog and go watch it
now.
5:45: It must be love as Federer
is one game away from taking a
two-sets-to-love lead. Meanwhile,
I hope the USTA comes up with a
better slogan next year. I know
love “means” nothing in tennis,
but the slogan means nothing to
me.
Meanwhile, DP holds serve at
love. It’s 4-5 second set. Federer
serves to win the set after the
changeover.
5:38: Ha! McEnroe says he
thought he heard a foot-fault call
while Federer serves on the same
end of the court that Serena was
serving at on Saturday night. It
was just crowd noise, but
something tells me Federer
wouldn’t blow up if the linesman
did make that call.
5:36: Federer himself jokes
about his nicknames in this “It
Must Be Love” US Open
commercial.
5:35: As CBS went to break
earlier, Dick Enberg called
Federer “The Maestro from
Basel.” Does anyone have a
preferred nickname for RFed?
The ones I’ve heard are: Swiss
Maestro, Fed Express, Darth
Federer, Federer the Shrederer;
Magician of Precision. As a Star
Wars fan, I am partial to Darth
Federer, especially as his
precision seems to suck the life
out of his opponents.
5:31: Del Potro is showing some
more emotion. He pumped his fist
after winning his last service
game. He hit a winner and
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pumped his fist again after
winning the first point on
Federer’s serve. If he starts to
rally, this Ashe crowd will really
get on his side.
5:29: It’s 2009, and I can barely
get a WiFi signal in Ashe
Stadium. Do you think the USTA
can get this fixed for next year?
5:23: Mary Carillo says the 6-
foot-6 DP is better than Roger
Federer at “being tall.” McEnroe
snickers.
5:19: The one-hour mark of the
match. Dick Enberg notes that “a
three-deuce game on Fed’s serve
is almost news.”
5:16: DP isn’t happy. Federer
hits a serve but DP wasn’t ready.
He states his case to the umpire
and actually wins. They replay a
point that was originally a Federer
ace.
5:15: The media room was
surprisingly empty but Ashe
stadium appears almost filled to
capacity. The fans appear to be
trying to rally DP.
5:13: A big roar goes up as DP
earns two break points.
5:05: Since it’s quickly looking
like I might be home in time for
MNF, it’s worth mentioning a
great stat from today’s WSJ
Count column. The New England
Patriots will play the Buffalo Bills
and the San Diego Chargers will
take on the Oakland Raiders. Both
have won 11 straight times vs
their opponent. Federer has won
six straight against DP. Which
underdog has the best chance of
winning? I say go T.O. and the
Bills!
5:04: DP double-faults twice in
the opening service game to give
Federer a quick break and a 1-0
lead in the second set.
5:01: While they break after the
first set, lets talk about Gabby
Sabatini. She was always
overshadowed in her era by Steffi
Graf and Monica Seles. But she
did enter the Tennis Hall of Fame
in 2006. She was also the first
woman from Argentina to win a
Grand Slam title: the 1990 US
Open. She reached a career-high
ranking of No. 3 and stayed in the
top-10 from 1986-1995.
SECOND SET
4:58: Federer caps off the first
set 6-3 with an ace. Dick Enberg
on CBS notes that Federer is 167-
4 when he wins the first set. This
match may be over before the
Bills and Patriots kick off tonight.
4:57, part two: And CBS shows
Guillermo Vilas in the crowd!
4:57: Speaking of Argentinian
tennis players, Gabriela Sabatini
was one of my favorite players in
the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Interestingly, in a 2006 interview
with German ZDF radio, Roger
Federer admitted to having a
crush on Sabatini growing up.
4:55: Federer is 10 for 10 in
approaches to the net. Triple set-
point Federer.
4:51: Continuing the Argentina
theme, if Federer wins today, he
will win his 62nd career
tournament, tying Guillermo Vilas
for sixth on the Open Era title
leaders list. Vilas is Argentina’s
most famous tennis legend.
4:50: DP saves a break point in
his service game. McEnroe notes
that Federer’s serve is starting to
fall over slightly, and this could
be the opening DP needs as his
nerves wear off. Down 2-4, DP
wins the first two points off Fed’s
serve.
4:45: For what its worth, the last
player to beat Federer at Flushing
Meadows was DPs countryman
David Nalbandian. Nalbandian
beat Federer in the round of 16 in
2003. (Note: Federer won the first
set in that four-set match.) 6-3, 6-
7(1), 4-6, 3-6.
4:42: A closer at Federers 40-
match, six-year winning streak at
the Open. He has only lost 15 sets
during this span. Igor Andreev
took Federer to five sets in 2008,
with the key being he won the
first set. It doesnt look like its
going to happen here. Federer
holds serve again. Its 4-1, opening
set. Federer appears to want to be
the aggressor in the match,
looking to move in when he has a
chance. He closes out the game
with a net-volley winner.
4:41: Del Potro loses a
challenge. Both players have a
poor success rate in challenges.
DP is at 17 challenges, five
overturned. Federer is at 19
challenges, five overturned.
4:35: Federers outfit rundown
— Nike Dri-FIT Open Men’s
Tennis Black Polo with red collar:
$65; Black Nike Dri-FIT Men’s
Tennis Shorts $50; Nike Zoom
Vapor VI Tour Men’s Tennis
Shoe $115; Nike Dri-FIT Men’s
Tennis Red Wristbands $10; Red
Nike Bandanna $10. Five U.S.
Open trophies: Priceless.
4:34: While they are on their
first changeover, just a note about
what each player is wearing. It is
Fashion Week in New York after
all. Federer is sporting his Darth
Federer all-black outfit with a red
headband. Del Potro is wearing an
all-black outfit as well, except he
is wearing a sleeveless black T-
shirt. He has a yellow headband
on.
4:33: Its 3-0 Federer in the
opening set. DP will need to calm
the nerves.
4:29: Point of the early match so
far. On his fifth break point,
Federer hits a cross-court running
forehand to break del Potros
serve. DP had control of the point
and just watched the ball fly by in
shock.
4:20: Federer opens the match
by holding serve. John McEnroe
on the CBS telecast notes that
Federer seems more relaxed at the
start and is moving much better.
FIRST SET
4:11: One last note from the
Williams press conference. Serena
said she doesn’t think her foot
touched the line but added that
she would like to give the
lineswomen a big hug.
4:09: Popped into the Williams
sisters press conference. Serena
says she wants to move on. Venus
is playing big sister and defends
Serena after a reporter presses her
on the events of Saturday night.
4:00 p.m. ET: In a Count blog
post today, my colleague Carl
Bialik notes that Federer serving
to del Potro will be the key to the
match.
Entering the final, both players
actually have the same number of
aces, 74. They are tied for second-
most in the tournament, behind
John Isners 80 (done in four
matches.) Whoever hits more aces
today, will likely lead the
tournament and would be the fifth
player this decade to win the title
and hit the most aces.
During his five-year win streak,
Federer has actually only led the
tournament in aces once, with 75
in 2007.
Pre-match: The television
Internet News Record
networks and tennis fans may
have been hoping for an eighth
Federer-Nadal final in a Grand
Slam and first at the U.S. Open,
but instead its Federer against the
player with perhaps the brightest
future on the ATP Tour. While
the Federer Express seeks to roll
to a sixth straight U.S. Open
championship and 16th career
Grand Slam title, del Potro is
vying for his first Grand Slam title
and sixth career tournament
victory.
At age 20, the sixth-ranked del
Potro is the youngest player in the
top 10. The 6-foot-6 Argentine is
also the first player from
Argentina to make the U.S. Open
final since Guillermo Vilas in
1977. Del Potro is 0-6 lifetime vs.
Federer, including losses in this
year’s Australian Open
quarterfinals and the French Open
semifinals. At Roland Garros, del
Potro held a two sets to one lead
before losing 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2, 1-6,
4-6. A loss today and del Potro
would complete the Grand Slam
of losing to Federer at each of the
four majors. In 2007, he lost to
Federer in the Wimbledon second
round in straight sets.
Federers win at Wimbledon put
him one ahead of his buddy Tiger
Woods in the major championship
count. While Tiger was shut out
this year, Federer is going for his
third major title of 2009. Federer
described his between-the-legs
shot that set up match point vs.
Novak Djokovic “the greatest
shot” he has ever hit.
The Swiss Maestros shot was
reminiscent of Tigers chip at the
16th hole in the final round of the
2005 Masters.
Internet News Record
Clijsters Wins and No One Throws a Tantrum
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 7:05:38 AM
Kim Clijsters wasn’t upstaged
Sunday. Her 7-5, 6-3 victory over
Caroline Wozniacki capped a
triumphant return to the U.S.
Open, a title she won in 2005 but
couldn’t defend because of a wrist
injury. The winning moment for
the unseeded Belgian was all hers,
unlike her semifinal victory over
Serena Williams, who launched
into a profanity-laced harangue
against a lineswoman after being
called for a foot-fault penalty at
the end of that match. Associated
Press For her next trick, Kim
Clijsters will play minor-league
baseball, then un-retire again.
Clijsters retired from tennis two
years ago to get married and start
a family, but earlier this year she
decided to return, getting a wild
card to play in the U.S. Open.
With husband Brian Lynch and 18
-month-old daughter Jada
watching from the stands,
Clijsters became the first mother
to win a major since Evonne
Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
“Twenty-four hours after her
semifinal match with Serena
Williams ended in a wrenching
rage, the 26-year-old Belgian
struck a blow for sweetness and
light,” ESPN’s Greg Garber
writes. “Melanie Oudin, the 17-
year-old from Georgia, was a
lovely storyline, but she departed
in the quarterfinals. This felt more
like the stuff of legend.”
That Clijsters was so successful
only three tournaments into her
comeback is heartwarming in
itself. Better still, she brought the
focus back to tennis after
Saturday night’s ugliness. “With
Clijsters, the tour’s Miss
Congeniality, and Wozniacki,
who hails from the happy land
that berthed children’s author
Hans Christian Andersen, it was a
final that had no foil, no foot
faults and moved along merrily as
if the two were playing at a club
in Brussels or Copenhagen,”
Sports Illustrated’s Richard
Deitsch writes. “At 10:58 p.m. in
front of 23,351 windblown fans at
Arthur Ashe Stadium, Clijsters
ended a 13-stroke rally with an
overhead smash, a fitting end to a
smashing run in New York.”
At CBS Sports, Art Spander
writes that “even if Wozniacki
had played and won more
matches on tour in the last year
while Clijsters only a few months
ago was playing housewife, not
tennis, Kim’s experience showed.
Winners never lose the skill or the
drive that made them winners.”
Not everyone has a problem
with Serena’s outburst, for which
she was fined $10,000. (She was
also fined $500 for smashing her
racket.) The New York Daily
News’s Filip Bondy thinks it
might be good for women’s
tennis.
On the men’s side, Juan Martin
del Potro stunned Rafael Nadal in
straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, and
will meet Roger Federer, who is
eyeing his sixth straight U.S.
Sports 67
the Rams absorbed a 28-0 offensive explosion prompted the
whitewash from the Seattle Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Sid
Seahawks, the St. Louis Post- Hartman to venture that these
Dispatch’s Bryan Burwell is Vikes could become almost as
heartened that new coach Steve good an offensive juggernaut as
Spagnuolo had the Rams play the 1998 team that scored 556
hard until the final whistle, trying points. But Yahoo Sports’s Dan
to bring mental toughness to a Wetzel says it’s too early to get
team that’s lost a kazillion games excited about Favre.
Open title. (You can catch a live the past two seasons. It’s the start of a new era in
blog of that match right here Quarterback Matthew Stafford, Indianapolis, where Jim Caldwell
tonight.) The match-up between the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, replaces Tony Dungy as head
the Argentine and the Swiss star will have a steep learning curve coach, William C. Rhoden writes
looks pretty appetizing to the on a Lions team that’s now lost 18 in the New York Times.
Boston Globe’s Bud Collins.* * * straight. He was only 16-of-37 Caldwell’s Colts eked out a 14-12
Cincinnati losing its NFL passing for 205 yards and three win over Jacksonville.
opener Sunday? Not news. That’s picks, but he rushed for a TD in Finally, Super Bowl finalist
what the Bengals have done in Detroit’s 45-27 loss to New Arizona started the season with a
recent years. It’s how they lost to Orleans. Mitch Albom knew it 20-16 loss to San Francisco,
Denver that fans will be talking wasn’t going to be easy for leaving the Arizona Republic’s
about for years. The Broncos’ rookie. “He would throw on the Dan Bickley to wonder whether
Brandon Stokley caught a tipped money and he would throw last year’s success was an
pass that should have been batted nowhere near the intended target,” aberration.* * *
down and raced 87 yards for the Albom writes in the Detroit Free Michael Jordan led the Chicago
winning score with 11 seconds Press. “He was high and he was Bulls to six championships during
left in what should have been a low and he was true and he was his NBA career, electrifying fans
Bengals win. Instead, Denver won false. He was, as is often said of with his monster dunks and last-
by the ugly score of 12-7. teenaged conversation, all over second buzzer-beaters. Jordan has
“This only happens in video the place, and considering hes 21, always been hypercompetitive,
games and volleyball,” Paul thats not surprising.” but if you ask Yahoo Sports’s
Daugherty grouses in the Mark Sanchez, another rookie Adrian Wojnarowski, Jordan
Cincinnati Enquirer. “And here. It quarterback fared better in the should have shown some humility
happens here. A black cloud New York Jets’ 24-7 rout of during his induction Friday night
lingers, on the bluest of days. The Houston. Perhaps the pep talk into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bengals are a shrinks lifes work, from Joe Namath helped key the – Tip of the Fix cap to reader
their fans make Sisyphus look like victory, Gary Myers writes in the Don Hartline.
a girly-man. What happened New York Daily News. Found a good column from the
Sunday amounted to cruel and In his Minnesota debut, Brett world of sports? Don’t keep it to
unusual, though. Even here.” Favre threw for only 110 yards yourself — write to us at
Like Cincinnati, St. Louis and and a touchdown, but Adrian dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll
Detroit did what they do best, Peterson rushed for 180 yards and consider your find for inclusion in
albeit less spectacularly. While three scores in the Vikings’ 34-20 the Daily Fix. You can email
win over Cleveland. The Garey at ris84rap@gmail.com.
68 Sports
Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher's season is over after
wrist injury
By ESPN.com news services
(ESPN.com)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 7:51:16 PM
Urlacher's Season Over After
Wrist Injury Urlacher's Season
Over After Wrist Injury VIDEO
PLAYLIST
• Urlacher's Season Over After
Wrist Injury Urlacher's Season
Over After Wrist Injury
• What's Next For Bears
Defense? What's Next For Bears
Defense?
• Dr. Kaplan Injury Analysis Dr.
Kaplan Injury Analysis
• Rodgers On Week 1 Win,
Urlacher Injury Rodgers On Week
1 Win, Urlacher Injury
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Finally
healthy after two years, Bears
linebacker Brian Urlacher
launched his regular season by
making a run at Aaron Rodgers,
lowering his shoulder and
plowing over the Packers
quarterback in the first quarter.
His 10th season was off to a
good start. And then, it was over.
Chicago's star linebacker
underwent surgery Monday to
repair a dislocated right wrist, was
put on injured reserve and will not
be back this season, a major blow
for a team with high expectations.
Decade of Dominance
Brian Urlacher, who underwent
surgery Monday to repair a
dislocated wrist, has stood among
the best linebackers in the NFL
since his rookie season of 2000:
There was no immediate word
from Urlacher other than a text
message to the Chicago Tribune
that said simply: "season is over."
But coach Lovie Smith said
Urlacher clearly was
disappointed.
"He had put himself in position
to have an outstanding year,"
Smith said. "He was playing well
in the game before he went down
with the injury. Even after the
injury to his hand, the competitor
in him wanted to continue to play.
It's a tough break. There's no way
around it, but he's been injured
before and he's come back
before."
During Monday's procedure,
Urlacher had multiple pins
inserted in the wrist, a source told
ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
Urlacher will wear a cast for 11 to
12 weeks and then undergo a
month of rehabilitation.
The injury occurred in the first
quarter of Sunday night's 21-15
loss at Green Bay, though it was
not clear when. Urlacher briefly
shook his wrist after tackling
Packers running back Ryan Grant
late in the period, though Smith
said he wasn't sure when the
injury happened.
Urlacher played in the second
quarter, but left on the Packers'
first drive of the second half.
"Talk about a guy that's a great
leader," said Hunter Hillenmeyer,
who replaced Urlacher at middle
linebacker. "First, he plays an
entire half of football with a
dislocated wrist. I don't think
there's many people who can do
something like that."
The arrival of Pro Bowl
quarterback Jay Cutler sent
expectations in Chicago soaring in
the offseason, though he threw
four interceptions and looked
average at best in the loss.
Now the Bears are without the
longtime face of the franchise and
a stalwart defender in a division
with top-tier running backs in
Grant and Vikings star Adrian
Peterson along with elite
quarterbacks such as Rodgers and
Minnesota's Brett Favre.
The 31-year-old Urlacher, a six-
time Pro Bowler, appeared to be
in better shape after being limited
by a bad back and neck the past
two years. Urlacher had started 49
consecutive games. He missed
seven games in 2004, and the
Bears went 0-7 in those contests.
He looked like his old self
midway through the first quarter
when he flattened Rodgers just as
the quarterback released a pass
downfield that a leaping Donald
Driver juggled and dropped.
Later, with about four minutes left
in the quarter, Urlacher took down
Grant for one of his three tackles
and Packers guard Josh Sitton
landed on him.
Urlacher got up and briefly
shook his wrist before walking
away with what looked like
nothing more than a minor injury.
"No one knew the severity of it,"
linebacker Lance Briggs said.
"We knew that it had to be
checked out. Now we know."
Smith dismissed the idea of
moving Briggs to the middle,
meaning the job is Hillenmeyer's
for now. He also did not rule out
bringing in help from the outside.
The Bears had been in contact
with free-agent linebacker Derrick
Brooks, a league source told
ESPN NFL Insider Adam
Schefter on Monday, but they
informed the former NFL
Defensive Player of the Year that
they intend to go with their
younger players for now.
"They just want to take more
time with their decision," Brooks
said.
Brooks, who was cut by Tampa
Bay in February, has a good
relationship with Smith dating to
his days on the Buccaneers' staff.
Zach Thomas, who was cut by
Kansas City earlier this month,
might also be a possibility in the
future.
Neither of those two veterans
would appear to have much
"special teams value," something
Smith said the Bears would be
seeking in a new linebacker. To
fill that void, the Bears agreed to
terms on a one-year contract with
former Jaguars linebacker Tim
Shaw on Tuesday.
Shaw appeared in three games
last season and 14 in 2007. He has
17 special teams tackles in his
Internet News Record
career.
Chicago could also be short-
handed in other areas, too, with
Pittsburgh coming to town on
Sunday.
Tight end Desmond Clark took
a hard hit after making a catch in
the third quarter and left the game
with a rib injury. He had little to
say Monday, other than this:
"Report that to the fans -- I'm OK.
Just got a little shot to the back;
I'm all right."
Smith simply said Clark has a
rib injury that will be evaluated.
Left guard Frank Omiyale also
went down for several minutes
moments after spraining his ankle
and limping off the field.
Linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa and
cornerback Trumaine McBride
also suffered sprained knees. The
Chicago Tribune reported that
Tinoisamoa wore a heavy brace
after Sunday's game but is day to
day.
The biggest hit for a defense
looking to regain its dominant
form after two mediocre seasons
was losing Urlacher, though.
"It's disheartening, but we've still
got a job to do," defensive tackle
Anthony Adams said.
Information from ESPN.com
NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert,
ESPNChicago.com's Jeff
Dickerson and The Associated
Press was used in this report.
Internet News Record
Juan Martin Del Potro denies Roger Federer 6th
U.S. Open title in row
By Associated Press
(ESPN.com)
Submitted at 9/14/2009 10:43:02 PM
SC Highlight Of The Night SC
Highlight Of The Night VIDEO
PLAYLIST
• SC Highlight Of The Night SC
Highlight Of The Night
• U.S. Open Championship
Match Recap U.S. Open
Championship Match Recap
• Bud Collins, Luke Jensen
Recap U.S. Open Bud Collins,
Luke Jensen Recap U.S. Open
NEW YORK -- Normally so
cool, so consistent, so in control
of his emotions and his matches,
Roger Federer let the U.S. Open
championship slip from his grasp.
Two points from victory against
inexperienced, unheralded Juan
Martin del Potro of Argentina,
two points from a sixth
consecutive title at Flushing
Meadows and a record-extending
16th Grand Slam overall, Federer,
quite simply, fell apart Monday.
He railed at the chair umpire.
His legs grew weary. His double-
faults mounted. He could not
figure out a way to stop the 6-foot
-6 del Potro from pounding
forehand after forehand past him.
In a result as surprising for who
lost as how it happened, the sixth-
seeded del Potro came back to
win his first Grand Slam title by
upsetting the No. 1-seeded
Federer 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4),
6-2.
Slaying A Giant
Juan Martin del Potro did the
unimaginable Monday by beating
Roger Federer (right) at the U.S.
Open. In fact, Federer hadn't
dropped a match there since the
fourth round in 2003. Here's a
look at the last two players to
defeat Federer at the U.S. Open:
"Can't have them all," Federer
said.
He had won 40 consecutive
matches at Flushing Meadows. He
had won 33 of his previous 34
Grand Slam matches. And he has
made the final at 17 of the past 18
Grand Slam tournaments, 21
overall.
Del Potro? This was the 20-year
-old's first Grand Slam final, and
he was 0-6 against Federer until
now. But after handing Rafael
Nadal the most lopsided loss of
his Grand Slam career in the
semifinals Sunday, del Potro
came back the next day and
rattled Federer.
Until Monday, Federer was 2-5
in Grand Slam finals against his
nemesis, Nadal, and 13-0 against
everyone else. Somehow, del
Potro never seemed intimidated
by the setting or the man many
consider the greatest tennis player
in history.
The usually unflappable Federer
argued with chair umpire Jake
Garner during a changeover,
using a profanity and saying,
"Don't tell me to be quiet, OK?
When I want to talk, I talk."
Del Potro, meanwhile, managed
to have the time of his young life,
high-fiving front-row fans after
winning one point, and reveling in
the soccer-style serenades of
"Ole!" ringing through the
stadium.
The 4-hour, 6-minute match was
the first U.S. Open final to go five
sets since 1999, and there were no
early signs to indicate it would be
this competitive -- much less end
with del Potro down on his back,
chest heaving, tears welling, a
Grand Slam trophy soon to be in
his arms. He is the first man from
Argentina to win the U.S. Open
since Guillermo Vilas in 1977.
Vilas was in the stands Monday,
sitting one row behind Jack
Nicklaus.
One simple indication of the
difference in age and status of the
two finalists: The 28-year-old
Federer's guest box was full, with
pals such as rock-star couple
Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale
and Vogue editor Anna Wintour
seated alongside Federer's parents,
wife and agent. Only three of the
15 available seats were occupied
in del Potro's box.
Federer took a 3-0 lead in 15
minutes, winning one point by
racing about 5 feet wide of the
doubles alley for a defensive
backhand, then sprinting the other
way for a cross-court forehand
passing winner that he celebrated
by yelling and shaking his fists.
He even took time to watch a
replay on a stadium video screen.
Not quite the "Did he really just
do that?!" sort of trick shot
Federer pulled against Novak
Djokovic in the semifinals -- a
back-to-the-net, between-the-legs,
cross-court passing winner to get
to match point -- but pretty
spectacular, nonetheless.
But del Potro eventually got
going, swinging more freely and
taking full advantage of Federer's
serving woes: 11 double-faults
and a first-serve percentage of
only 50.
Used to traveling without a full-
time coach, Federer generally is
quite adept at making mid-match
adjustments and dealing with
opponents' switches in strategy.
But it was del Potro who realized
he needed to put full belief in the
strength of his 100 mph forehands
and not worry about too much
else.
That tactic worked, and Federer
never found a way to counter it,
losing leads in the second set and
the fourth set. He was up 5-4 in
the fourth, and at 15-30 on del
Potro's serve, Federer needed only
two more points to become the
first man since Bill Tilden in 1920
-25 to win the American Grand
Slam tournament six years in a
row.
Del Potro held steady there, and
Federer would never come that
close again.
Copyright 2009 by The
Associated Press
Sports Game 69
'Project
Needlemouse' (not
really) revealed!
By JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 2:00:00 AM
The " Project Needlemouse"
reimagining of Sonic the
Hedgehog has been exclusively
r e v e a l e d o n
ProjectNeedlemouse.com, and it's
more spectacular than we could
ever have imagined. It delivers
exactly what Sonic fans have
clamored for: a brand new, fully
2D sidescrolling Sonic adventure,
with appearances only by Sonic
and Tails, and an emphasis on
pure speed. The best thing about
it: you can play the game right
now, in your browser.
Okay, so it's a joke created by
someone who beat Sega to the
domain name, parodying another
fan-created " Needlemouse" Sonic
game. But that's still less of a
disappointment than the real
Project Needlemouse will
probably be.
[Via GoNintendo]
'Project Needlemouse' (not
really) revealed! originally
appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15
Sep 2009 02:00:00 EST. Please
see our terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
70 Sports Game Internet News Record

The Count: When Federer Serves To Morneau Shut Down With

Back Injury
Del Potro By Pat Lackey (FanHouse)
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) can win his first major and end Submitted at 9/15/2009 12:36:00 AM

Submitted at 9/14/2009 10:15:33 AM Federer’s streak of consecutive

U.S. Open titles at five. by Pat Lackey
Juan Martín del Potro’s 6-foot-6 One other tip for del Potro: If Filed under: Twins, AL Central,
frame has helped him produce 74 the same set of officials calls the MLB Injuries After Monday's 6-3
aces at the U.S. Open, tied for final match, challenge and win over the Indians that kept the
second most in the tournament, challenge often. Djokovic Twins hanging on the edge of the
including six in his stunningly challenged eight calls on Sunday, AL Central division race, Ron
routine, straight-sets dispatch of and seven were overturned. That’s Gardenhire began his post-game
Rafael Nadal in their semifinal service games, including 98% in a success rate of 87.5%. In all press conference by announcing
Sunday. Associated Press Del his last three matches, all against other men’s matches, just 27% of that first baseman Justin Morneau
Potro’s return has been his key top 15 opponents who rank in the challenges were successful. Since is done for the season because of
strength in his run to his first top 16 in winning return games. successful challenges don’t cost a stress fracture in his back. Short
Grand Slam final. On his return, though, he’s won anything, Djokovic probably of an injury to Joe Mauer, this
Roger Federer’s artistry just 27% of games, including just should have challenged even more was the worst news the Twins
returning serve climaxed in the three of his last 30 return games. close calls. Federer, who’s had his could receive at this point in the
shot of the tournament, when he This is no aberration. Heading own struggles with challenges, season. nearly impossible.
scrambled back on a lob, lined up into the tournament he’d won sought review on six calls and got The Twins sit at exactly .500, 5 Morneau Shut Down With Back
a shot between his legs with his 90% of service games, best on two overturned, not an eye- 1/2 games behind Detroit for first Injury originally appeared on
back to the net and hit a winner tour, but just 25% of return opening rate. place in the Central. With just 18 Fanhouse MLB Blog on Tue, 15
past a stunned Novak Djokovic. games, which ranked 20th. What’s baffling about the games remaining, a comeback Sep 2009 00:36:00 EST . Please
That set up three break points and would have been a tall task even see our terms for use of feeds.
Those percentages for del Potro Djokovic stats is there’s no Permalink| Email this| Linking
three match points, and Federer heading into the Open were 84% evidence the 22-year-old Serbian with Morneau in the lineup.
converted to advance to the final a n d 2 8 % , r e s p e c t i v e l y . I n has any special acumen when it Without him and his 30 homers, Blogs| Comments
against del Potro in straight sets. Flushing, he’s stepped up both comes to challenging calls. He 100 RBIs, and .878 OPS, it seems
But the match-up to watch in sides of his game, winning 87% was 0-for-7 before the match. Nor
Monday’s final isn’t del Potro of his service games and a had prior Federer opponents been
serving to Federer. It’s Federer, remarkable 44% of his return the victims of an unusually large
the world No. 1 and defending games — including six of 12 in number of adverse calls. In his
champ, serving to the 20-year-old his domination of Nadal on first five matches, just three
del Potro. Sunday. If his strength can challenges out of 13 by his
Federer has become one of the overcome Federer’s, as it did opponents were successful —
most dominant servers on tour. He when he broke Federer four times lower than the overall men’s
has just as many aces as del Potro in the first three sets of their success rate for the tournament.
in his six matches, and has held French Open semifinal, del Potro
serve in a remarkable 93% of his

Review: Wet
By Justin McElroy (Joystiq) while you slow-mo dive and slide side its bread is buttered. And see our terms for use of feeds.
Submitted at 9/15/2009 9:00:00 AM is fun. Fun enough to build an that's the murder side ... of the, Permalink| Email this|
entire game around without too um, bread. Comments
You have to love a game that much ancillary garbage? Yes. A Gallery: Wet
works solely on the strength of its thousands times yes. Continue reading Review: Wet
convictions. Deep down in the Sure, Artificial Mind and Review: Wet originally
very core of its rockabilly heart, Movement has sexed it up with a outstanding music, but Wet is a appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15
Wet knows that shooting dudes gritty grindhouse feel and some game that never forgets on which Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please
Internet News Record
LGJ: Come As Your Avatar, Smells
Like Lawsuit? Nevermind
By Mark Methenitis (Joystiq)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 1:00:00 AM
Each week Mark Methenitis
contributes Law of the Game on
Joystiq("LGJ"), a column on legal
issues as they relate to video
games:
The well publicized dispute
over the use of an avatar of Kurt
Cobain in Guitar Hero 5 has
provided a good backdrop to
discuss the 'right of publicity.' For
anyone who doesn't want to take
time to read the stories, here's a
summary. Guitar Hero 5 includes
Kurt Cobain as an unlockable
playable avatar, much like
previous titles in the series have
done with other rock stars. Shortly
after release, Courtney Love
expressed her distaste at the use of
Kurt, and Activision has stated
Love signed an agreement
allowing the use. Since then, other
former Nirvana members have
stated they think the avatar should
be limited to performances of
Nirvana songs.
Kurt's in-game likeness is
governed by the part of the law
called the 'right of publicity,' also
called the 'right of personality' or
'personality rights.' In the US, that
is unfortunately a complicated
subject. Unlike other intellectual
property rights, the right of
publicity is governed by the
states, not federal laws. So, unlike
copyright or trademark, the exact
rules of the right of publicity
game change in every state. This,
of course, makes the topic
difficult to discuss and analyze,
but there are some general
theories about the right that can be
discussed on a universal level.
Continue reading LGJ: Come
As Your Avatar, Smells Like
Lawsuit? Nevermind
LGJ: Come As Your Avatar,
Smells Like Lawsuit? Nevermind
originally appeared on Joystiq on
Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:00:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of
feeds.
Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Game 71
NPD provides stats on
game promotion, platform
cross-ownership
By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)
Submitted at 9/15/2009 3:00:00 AM
breakdown of gaming console
cross-ownership. It goes like this:
Nearly 40 percent of PS3 owners
The NPD Group's steady stream also own Wiis or Xbox 360s, 18
of gaming industry studies percent of Xbox 360 owners have
continues today with a fascinating PS3s, and few Wii owners also
look at the game purchasing possess 360s (26 percent) or PS3s
community. Here's the most (14 percent).
surprising statistic to come from To see this information
the study -- in a poll asking what presented in a manner that doesn't
methods gaming enthusiasts used resemble the makings of an SAT
to gather information about new Prep logic puzzle, check out the
titles, 41 percent of participants NPD Group's press release.[
chose the "word of mouth" Image]
response. This far outweighs the NPD provides stats on game
ratio of gamers who draw promotion, platform cross-
information from advertisements, ownership originally appeared on
social networking sites and hands- Joystiq on Tue, 15 Sep 2009
on time with games at a friend or 03:00:00 EST. Please see our
relatives' house. terms for use of feeds.
The other bit of information Read| Permalink| Email this|
(which will likely serve as Comments
ammunition in some misguided
fanboy war) is a chart showing a