Saturday, December 31, 2011

Samsung Galaxy Note Headed To The US Early Next Year

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/GeekyGadgets/posts/10150460068895967

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Porsche Design BlackBerry P'9981 on sale now, but only at Harrods (Digital Trends)

BlackBerry P9981 Porsche DesignHow fitting that RIM and Porsche Design has chosen one of the world?s most famous luxury department stores, Harrods in London, as the exclusive seller of its luxury BlackBerry P?9981 phone.

Announced at the tail end of October but with no firm release date attached, the flashy device has now gone on sale there, where it?s priced at a mere ?1,275, or a touch under $2,000.

That?s SIM-free of course, but admittedly the price would probably only be considered ?mere? by regular Harrods patrons, as it?s considerably more than the standard Bold 9900 on which it?s based.

Like its cheaper cousin, the P?9981 has a 1.2Ghz processor, 768MB RAM, a 2.8-inch 640 x 480 resolution touchscreen and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video recording. It?s separated by that eye-catching design, the brushed metal fascia and the hand-wrapped, all-leather rear panel.

BlackBerry OS 7 has been treated to a Porsche Design makeover too, as it uses a custom UI and has the popular augmented reality app, Wikitude World Browser, pre-installed.

Available with either English or Arabic as the standard language, anyone keen to get their hands on this genuinely exclusive BlackBerry will have to make the journey to Harrods ? or at least their flunky will anyway ? as it?s only available in-store and not online. However, we?re willing to bet they would send one out with your weekly order of Dom Perignon if you asked nicely.

Phonearena.com spoke to a Harrods representative, who described the P?9981 as ?in very high demand and selling fast.?

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 phones are bricking themselves, RIM acknowledges

RIM officially launches BBM music service

HTC profits jump 68-percent, shipments 93-percent over the last year

Porsche Design P?9981 Blackberry Smartphone

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20111230/tc_digitaltrends/porschedesignblackberryp9981onsalenowbutonlyatharrods

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Iowa ad war: late starting but nasty

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, make a stop at his campaign office, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, make a stop at his campaign office, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry greets local residents during a campaign stop at the Blue Strawberry Coffee Company, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? At least $12.5 million and counting has blanketed the airwaves ahead of next Tuesday's Republican presidential caucuses, with hard-hitting commercials awash in ghoulish images and startling claims. Most are coming from a proliferation of new independent groups aligned with the candidates.

To hear the ads tell it, Newt Gingrich is a "serial hypocrite," Rick Perry "double dips" as governor and the "liberal Republican establishment" is plotting to anoint Mitt Romney as the party's presidential nominee. The attacks, the bulk of the commercials on the air, reflected the volatile state of the race five days before the first votes of the GOP presidential nominating contest.

After a slow start, the ads in Iowa are coming on fast and furious.

On Thursday alone, at least five new commercials were rolled out, including one by Perry castigating his rivals as Washington insiders and saying: "The fox guarding the henhouse is like asking a congressman to fix Washington: bad idea." An outside group aligned with Romney, Restore Our Future, rolled out a new spot that criticizes Gingrich and asks: "Haven't we had enough mistakes?"

In the final days of the Iowa campaign, most of the ads are deeply negative, thanks in large part to the proliferation of outside groups, known as super PACs, that are doing the dirty work for candidates they support. Gingrich has been the biggest target, withering under attacks from Ron Paul and Rick Perry's campaign as well as from several outside groups like the one aligned with Romney. Polls show that Gingrich's standing in Iowa has slid accordingly.

"I call it ad wars whack-a-mole ? this endless attacking in all directions, trying to slam down anyone who is surging to the top," said David Perlmutter, a University of Iowa journalism professor who studies political communication. "This is the most negative I've ever seen it. The ads are so blatantly negative I would have told you 10 years ago this would never fly in Iowa."

It's a different landscape in the campaign advertising world than four years ago when Barack Obama won Iowa's Democratic caucuses and Mike Huckabee carried the Republican side. Social media has intensified the advertising binge, with many spots debuting on TV but also going viral across the web at almost no cost to the campaigns that sponsor them. Candidates are making heavy use of online advertising to target voters based on location and other demographic information.

Campaigns are also producing video specifically for the YouTube audience, like a new 90-second Romney video excerpting a speech Obama delivered in Iowa days before winning the Democratic caucuses in 2008.

"Well, Mr. President, you've had your moment ... this is our time," Romney says in the spot.

On Thursday, Jon Huntsman's campaign ? which can't afford to put commercials on TV and is competing only in New Hampshire ? hit at Paul in a new web video that highlights comments about race and gays in newsletters Paul used to put out. The ad asks: "Can New Hampshire voters really trust Ron Paul?'"

But nothing has altered the environment more than super PACs, which are facing their first test in a presidential campaign since a Supreme Court decision two years ago eased restrictions on campaign spending by corporations, unions and individuals.

Much of $12.5 million spent to date in Iowa, a figure confirmed by ad tracking firms, outside groups and the GOP campaigns, has been spent in just the past few weeks, much of it paying for negative ads.

The pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, has been by far the most influential in Iowa, helping to bolster the former Massachusetts governor's position in the state he lost in 2008, crippling that campaign.

The group formed by Romney allies has spent at least $2.7 million in the state. The vast majority has been used to trash Gingrich, the former House speaker whose sudden surge in the polls earlier this month has been summarily halted in recent days. In ad after ad, Romney's allies have berated Gingrich for ethical "baggage," accepting $1.6 million in consulting fees from federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac and pledging to tackle climate change in an ad with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Another new ad from the group goes after both Gingrich and Perry for being "liberal on immigration."

Perry, the Texas governor, has defended his state's policy of allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities, while Gingrich has spoken out against deporting those who have lived in the U.S. for many years without permission to be in the country.

The ad also chides Perry for taking advantage of a loophole in state law that allows him to supplement his governor's salary with his $90,000 annual pension, even as Perry has used his own ads to rail against congressional salaries.

Romney has stepped up his advertising presence in Iowa, driving a largely positive message while his allies have made it easy for him to avoid attacking his Republican rivals.

"In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense. And I intend to make it because I have lived it," Romney says in a new uplifting 60-second commercial he began airing Thursday.

Gingrich, for his part, has railed against the Romney allies' ad blitz but has refused to respond in kind. A pro-Gingrich super PAC has begun fighting back, running ads in Iowa claiming the Republican establishment is "attacking him with falsehoods."

The ad warns: "Don't let the liberal Republican establishment pick our candidate."

But the assist from the pro-Gingrich group Winning Our Future may be too little, too late. A new CNN-Time poll found Gingrich now in fourth place in Iowa, behind Romney, Paul and Rick Santorum.

Other Republican hopefuls have super PACs that support them, including Perry and Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator has run no ads of his own but has seen his position in Iowa strengthen in recent days in part by $327,000 in ad spending from a super PAC called the Red White and Blue Fund.

Our Destiny, a super PAC backing Huntsman, has run ads in New Hampshire for the former Utah governor. Huntsman is skipping the Iowa caucuses to focus on New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 10.

Perry has run the most campaign ads in Iowa, spending at least $3.9 million so far. His ads have offered a smattering of sometimes conflicting messages ? promoting his conservative Christian faith in one to calling for a part-time Congress in another.

"I'm an outsider who will overhaul Washington," Perry says in his latest ad, while pledging anew to end "Obama's war on religion."

Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry super PAC, has also been on the air for weeks in Iowa.

The heavy spending hasn't seemed to help Perry much ? polls have consistently shown him trailing in the state, though he has gained some ground.

Paul has also been on the air for months and has not been shy about hitting his opponents. His latest ad, titled "Washington Machine," hits Gingrich as a "serial hypocrite" and Romney as a "flip flopper."

Cash strapped and struggling in polls, Michele Bachmann will run TV commercials a day before the caucuses. Her campaign has run radio ads and she's sought free media on a bus tour through Iowa's 99 counties.

___

Associated Press writers Brian Bakst in Iowa and Jack Gillum in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-29-Campaign-Iowa%20Ad%20Crush/id-53b111e4a93645f6afad402d665d1888

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

The 7 Things Your Friends and Family Should Have Gotten You From Amazon [Toolkit]

Sorry, you didn't get what you asked for. You didn't even get what you could politely pretend to use. Luckily, Amazon's a trove of exchangeriffic items, and we've got seven picks for you at every budget. Suck it, extended family! More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/U95axrEp-hw/

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Samsung takes a bite out of Apple

As the camera zooms in from a bustling San Francisco street scene, a young woman in thick brown frames and a blue cardigan waits in line, texting as she sings, ?Nine hours down, and we?re almost in the door!?

The scene then shifts to Chicago, where more hip twentysomethings stand in line. A guy in a sweater and red beanie asks, ?If it looks the same, how will people know I upgraded??

More related to this story

The targets of derision in the ad are obvious: Apple Inc., its newest iteration of the iPhone, and the cross-section of its most loyal fans willing to camp out and wait hours to get their hands of the latest gadget from the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant.

The company behind it, though, is slightly less obvious, given its pervasive but understated presence in the global mobile market: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The commercial eventually shifts, and those waiting in Apple?s lineups see people using slick Samsung phones and blurting out remarks like, ?Whoa, what?s she got there??

The sprawling South Korean company, which makes everything from fridges and washers and dryers to TVs and high-end smartphones and tablets, has struck a newly confident tone.

That Samsung hasn?t been ridiculed itself for the Apple-mocking advertisement is testament to how far the company has come. It is wrapping up a banner year, surpassing Apple to become the world?s largest smartphone manufacturer ? shipping 27.8-million smartphones in the third quarter compared with Apple?s 23.8-million, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. (Apple had only recently overtaken Nokia Corp.)

?Apple doesn?t own innovation and design out there right now,? says Brian Wallace, a vice-president of strategic marketing at Samsung, who joined the company this year from Canadian smartphone giant Research In Motion Ltd. ?It was time to stand up and say, ?Here?s an alternative.? ?

Samsung?s commercial went viral ? it was viewed more than four million times on YouTube. More impressive is the way it has reshaped the wireless phone market, seizing on Google Inc.?s free Android operating system and trying to out-innovate Apple on the hardware front. Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity who tracks hardware manufacturers, said Samsung?s recent growth is likely to continue. He raised his estimate for the company?s fourth quarter by about three million units, and now thinks Samsung will move 34.5-million smartphones in the quarter.

?Samsung?s smartphone share gains are impressive as the company continues to materially grow smartphone sales despite the launch of the iPhone 4S,? Mr. Walkley wrote in a recent note to clients. ?We believe Samsung will extend its Android leadership position during [the fourth quarter] to over 40 per cent of total Android units sold.?

In October, Samsung Electronics announced a 37-per-cent increase in third-quarter revenue from its telecommunications division, driven by strong sales of Samsung Galaxy phones. The unit posted an operating profit of 2.52-trillion won (more than $2-billion Canadian).

Apple remains a force in the smartphone space, of course. Its newest iPhone, though similar to the one that preceded it, came with Siri, the ?digital assistant? that responds to voice commands, and has sold extremely well. Apple has also had some success in emerging markets such as China and Brazil, where Samsung and other lower-cost handset makers like Nokia are much more established. The success of Apple and Samsung has hurt sales at other Android-using smartphone makers, such as Taiwan?s HTC Corp.

In some countries, ?People are looking at these phones as their first computer,? says Paul Brannen, Samsung?s Canadian vice-president for mobile. Samsung?s smartphone revenue in Canada has grown 50 per cent, year-over-year, with unit shipments up 9 per cent, he notes.

Samsung?s growth in both the high- and low-end markets has also further squeezed Waterloo, Ont.-based smartphone giant RIM. In the U.S., RIM has lost ground to high-end devices running Android, but analysts are also noticing a proliferation of cheaper Android phones in emerging markets where RIM has long been dominant.

When asked if RIM could have taken direct aim at Apple with a television commercial like Samsung?s, Mr. Wallace laughs, then falls silent for a few seconds before he replies. ?Do you really expect me to answer that?? the former RIM executive says. ?You can imagine my answer to that. I think there was a time.?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sony, Samsung dissolve joint venture

Japan?s Sony Corp. and South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. are dissolving their joint venture in liquid crystal display panels as Sony tries to stanch years of losses in its TV business.

Sony said Monday that Samsung will buy all of Sony's shares in the joint venture for about 1.08 trillion Korean won ($954-million) subject to a final agreement.

The joint venture called S-LCD was set up in 2004. Sony, which fell behind in flat panel TVs, invested in a Samsung panel factory to ensure a steady supply of panels for its LCD TVs.

Sony?s TV operation has lost money for seven straight years and the company is straining to return that key business to profit.

The prices of TVs as well as panels have been dropping so it makes more sense to buy panels at the market rate than to invest in production.

Sony, which makes Bravia TV sets, does not make its own LCD panels.

It said it will enter a new partnership with Samsung to buy panels, and will also continue buying panels from other manufacturers.

Sony said it will suffer a loss of ?66-billion ($864-million) for the third quarter of this fiscal year, which ends later this month, because of the declining value of investment in S-LCD.

Getting out of the production venture will produce substantial savings after January, 2012, when the deal is completed, according to Sony.

It was still unclear how Sony's profit forecast for the fiscal year through March of 2012 will be affected, company spokesman Takashi Uehara said.

Associated Press

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/samsung-takes-a-bite-out-of-apple/article2283873/?utm_medium=Feeds:%20RSS/Atom&utm_source=Globe%20Investor&utm_content=2283873

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

5 die of food poisoning at Mexican rehab center (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Medical officials say five recovering drug addicts died and dozens of others were sickened by soy sausage served for Christmas dinner at a rehabilitation center in western Mexico.

Authorities were investigating whether the poisoning at the center in the city of Guadalajara was accidental or intentional. Drug cartels have taken over rehabilitation centers in parts of Mexico, forcibly recruiting addicts as hit men and smugglers. The invasions have led to mass shootings at the centers that have left dozens dead.

Alhy Daniel Nunez is a spokesman for the Red Cross in the western state of Jalisco, where Guadalajara is located. He said Monday that 37 people remained hospitalized, three of them in serious condition.

(This version CORRECTS numbers in first paragraph).)

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Take My Advice

In June, a woman wrote about the impending funeral of her beloved great-aunt. She said her aunt had always been a vibrant person and wanted to put the ?fun? in funeral when her time came: party hats, confetti, a bonfire. The niece wanted to carry out these wishes, but the other older relatives were threatening to boycott the funeral. I suggested that it wasn?t fair for someone to dictate from beyond the grave that people who are grief-stricken party and celebrate, and that a more traditional funeral, followed by an Irish-wake-style get-together, would work better. I heard back from the niece, who said she read both her letter and my response to her dying aunt. The aunt liked my advice and told her niece a traditional funeral would be fine, and that she?d like if everyone got together for a party the following day. The aunt died three days after the letter was published. The niece wrote: ?We had a rather subdued funeral, but the next day we had a wonderful barbecue. Pictures were pulled out of attics and everyone shared memories. We cried, we laughed, but mostly, we celebrated Auntie?s life!?

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Forums: Custom backplate giveaway, iPhone 4S insurance, wallpaper challenge, guitar interfaces, holiday recipes

It’s the holidays and the forums are bursting at the seems with cheer… and more! If you happened to miss out on any of today’s or this weekends events make sure you get caught up either here on the blogs or in the TiPb forums — and stay tuned...


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NBA season finally set to tip off on Christmas

Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, left, and Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul, right, hug before an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles on Monday, Dec. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, left, and Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul, right, hug before an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles on Monday, Dec. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) prepares to dunk the ball as Los Angeles Lakers' Andrew Bynum, lower left, Devin Eubanks (3) and Derek Fisher, back right, watch during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

New York Knicks' Amare Stoudemire, second from left, Baron Davis, third from left, Carmelo Anthony, second from right, and Tyson Chandler, right, cheer on teammates from the bench in the closing seconds of the Knicks' 88-82 win over the New Jersey Nets in an NBA preseason basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Finally, the conversation changes.

It's time for the NBA to ditch the dollars and nonsense of the lockout for the alleys and oops in Lob City, the new nickname for the suddenly exciting Los Angeles Clippers.

For months, all the talk was about lockouts, salary caps and mediation. Now there are games that count as a new season begins Christmas Day.

For all practical purposes, Clippers fans have been locked out of competitive basketball for the better part of three decades. Now they get entertainment of the highest order ? watching Blake Griffin throw down lob passes from Chris Paul.

The 2011-12 season, shortened to 66 games, debuts Sunday when five marquee games will be played from morning deep into the night. This marks a first step for the league as it looks to bury a damaging offseason marred by a five-month labor dispute and several stars trying to force their way out of town.

The day begins with Boston and New York and then goes to an NBA Finals rematch with Miami at Dallas. Next up is Chicago at the Lakers, followed by the small-market special ? Orlando at Oklahoma City ? before CP3 makes his regular-season debut as a Clipper at Golden State in the nightcap.

"The lockout was hectic for everybody," Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley said. "We were bored! Now we feel like we've got a purpose in life. We can do what we do best."

It's time.

It's time for Derek Fisher to be seen in Lakers gold, not Brooks Brothers gray.

It's time for postgame news conferences with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, not post-meeting sessions with David Stern and Adam Silver.

It's time for Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks to defend their title on the court, not for Jeffrey Kessler and the players' union to defend their decision to disband in the courts.

"I don't even want to talk about the lockout any more, man!" Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant said. "It was just so frustrating to go through that and everything that went on, us meeting and not meeting and not coming to an agreement and fans getting upset with us. It was tough. But I'm glad we got through it."

It didn't look so good for a while. Once the dispute was finally settled, a whole new drama broke out with Paul and Dwight Howard looking for trades out of New Orleans and Orlando.

Howard eventually softened his stance, but his future is still the focus in Orlando.

"I don't think our situation is going to go away," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But I think it'll be a lot more focused on the games than there has been (focus) on the lockout."

The Lakers thought they had a deal for Paul, but Stern, acting as the owner of the Hornets, nixed that, and another crisis was born. The Clippers swooped in at the end, seizing some of the spotlight from Kobe and the Lakers for the first time since, well, ever.

"Hey, that's got to be driving Kobe," Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said. "That should drive (Pau) Gasol and (Andrew) Bynum and those guys and Derek Fisher to say, 'Hey, no way I'm going to let them take over Los Angeles.'"

The two teams met twice in the preseason, and the rivalry quickly escalated. Bryant injured his wrist on a hard foul in the first game and Lakers agitator Matt Barnes shoved Griffin to the court in the second game.

That wasn't the only miniseries infused with more intensity and energy than any exhibition game in recent years.

The Timberwolves were buoyant after finishing their second game against the Bucks with a 12-0 run to finish the preseason 2-0. James and Quentin Richardson were seen trading shoulder blocks all the way down the floor in Miami's preseason finale against Orlando.

"That's our sanctuary. When we get out between the lines and we're playing, that's all that matters," Richardson said. "And that's definitely our escape from anything going on, or anything negative or anything like that."

The melodrama surrounding Paul's request to be traded from New Orleans could have ripple effects throughout the Western Conference. The Lakers have been grousing since losing out on Paul and sending Lamar Odom to Dallas, but they weren't the only team hurt by that decision.

The Rockets had agreed to send Kevin Martin and Luis Scola to the Hornets as part of a three-team deal that would have landed them Gasol. Instead, they had to abandon any designs on signing Nene, go with Sam Dalembert in the middle and do some serious damage control with Scola and Martin.

While all the drama was unfolding, the Thunder have been playing the role of the young, hungry contender, ferociously working while no one was watching and preparing to throw nothing but haymakers as soon as the bell rings.

The Heat are back for another run at the title. James, Wade and Chris Bosh had the whole league against them after a presumptuous welcome ceremony on South Beach. But the spotlight hasn't been quite as bright while everyone has been looking toward the Clippers and Magic, where Howard's wishes seem to change by the day.

"It's good to see other guys around the league get that attention," Wade said. "I think they got enough of us last year. It's good to see other teams, other franchises, get that spotlight for a while. Hope they enjoy it."

The fan hunger is there as well. The Clippers sold out their game against the Lakers, and the first in that series was the most viewed preseason game in NBATV history.

The Timberwolves had 15,000 people attend their home preseason game against the Bucks, and another 2,500 turned out for a free practice on a Monday afternoon just to get a glimpse of Ricky Rubio.

More than 10,000 fans watched a free practice with the New York Knicks, and the Thunder's rabid fan base packed the arena for Durant's return to the court.

"We had to sacrifice a little bit of time and there were some harsh words thrown our way, but at the end of the day, everybody got what they wanted, which was basketball," Durant said. "That's what we worked hard for, is to play the game of basketball. We had to work the business part out and now we're just back to basketball."

Let the games begin.

___

AP Sports Writers Tim Reynolds in Miami, Anne M. Peterson in Portland, Ore., Kyle Hightower in Orlando, Fla., and freelance writer Murray Evans in Oklahoma City contributed to this story.

___

Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http:www.twitter.com/APkrawczynski.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-24-BKN-NBA-Begins/id-0dbcb987ec4641b9bae11a8cba1d97a5

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Another Soyuz rocket launch fails

Russia's recent poor launch record has continued with yet another Soyuz rocket failure.

This time, a Soyuz-2 vehicle failed to put a communications satellite into orbit after lifting away from the country's Plesetsk spaceport.

Debris is said to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere near the western Siberian town of Tobolsk.

In August, a Soyuz failure on a mission to resupply the space station led to a six-week suspension of flights.

Friday's rocket was carrying a Meridian-5 satellite, designed to provide communication between ships, planes and coastal stations on the ground, according to RIA Novosti.

It was a Soyuz-2.1b, the most modern version of the rocket that has been in service in various forms since the 1960s.

The failure is said to have occurred seven minutes into the flight. Sources being quoted by the Russian media talk of an anomaly in the rocket's third stage.

"The satellite failed to go into its orbit. A state commission will investigate the causes of the accident," the spokesman of Russia's space forces, Alexei Zolotukhin, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

August's botched launch involved a Soyuz-U. An inquiry into that incident eventually traced the problem to a blocked fuel line, again in the third stage of the vehicle. But the U and 2.1b Soyuz variants use different engines in this segment of the rocket, so no immediate parallels between the two incidents can be drawn.

Friday's failure now puts a major question mark against the next Soyuz launch, scheduled for 26 December from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This flight is intended to put in orbit six satellites for the Globalstar satellite phone company.

And it will raise concern again among the partners on the International Space Station (ISS) that there may be systematic problems in the Russian launch sector.

Following the retirement of the American space shuttle in July, the Soyuz rocket is the only means of getting astronauts and cosmonauts to the ISS. August's failure saw manned flights stand down even longer than the six weeks for unmanned Soyuz rockets, and the hiatus put a severe strain on the operation of the space station.

Russia has experienced a number of launch mishaps in the past 13 months.

On 18 August, the week before the loss of the space station mission, a Proton vehicle failed to put a communications satellite in its proper orbit.

Back on 1 February, a Rokot launch also underperformed with a similar outcome.

And on 5 December last year, a Proton carrying three navigation spacecraft fell into the Pacific Ocean. This particular failure is widely believed to have contributed to the decision of the Russian government to replace the then space agency chief, Anatoly Perminov.

Vladimir Popovkin took over as the head of Roscosmos in April.

The rocket failures come on top of the loss of Phobos-Grunt, Russia's most ambitious planetary mission in decades. It became stuck in Earth orbit after its launch in November and will probably fall back to Earth next month.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16317099

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BC-FBN--NFL Concussions-Miami,1st Ld-Writethru, FBN

BC-FBN--NFL Concussions-Miami, 1st Ld-Writethru,29121 former players sue NFL over concussionsEds: Adds quotes from lawsuit and background.Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) ? Nearly two dozen former NFL players are suing the league over severe and permanent brain damage they say is linked to concussions suffered on the job.

The complaint filed Thursday in Miami follows a similar one in Atlanta earlier this week. It is the latest in a series of recent lawsuits against the NFL by ex-players.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of ex-Miami Dolphins teammates Patrick Surtain, Oronde Gadsden and 19 other players. It accuses the NFL of deliberately omitting or concealing years of evidence linking concussions to long-term neurological problems.

The NFL denies the charges and says player safety has long been a priority.

The players claim the NFL made misrepresentations about the seriousness of their injuries "with the intent of inducing NFL players, including Plaintiffs, to return to play as soon as physically possible after having suffered a football-related concussion and to promote an aggressive style of football that would attract viewers."

According to the lawsuit, following numerous studies on the risks of concussions, the NFL created a committee of researchers and doctors in 1994 to study concussions.

The committee was supposed to be independent, but members were affiliated with NFL, the lawsuit said, and the group did not include a doctor specializing in neurology or other brain research. When the committee published its findings in 2003, it stated "there was no long term negative health consequence associated with concussions," according to the complaint.

The former players are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.

The lawsuit notes that in 2010, the NFL replaced the leaders of its research committee, and that the new leadership described the data used in the past by the NFL to counter the long-term effects of concussions as "infected" and lacking in science.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-23-NFL%20Concussions-Miami/id-bc7ca7cd5bf14efdac6d93d75cb2279f

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Chinese 'water army' hijacks online product reviews

Bob Holmes, consultant

Looking for online product reviews before you buy holiday gifts? Watch your step. Many of those "user reviews" may come from professionals paid to post favourable comments about their employers' products and denigrate their competitors', says a computer scientist who worked undercover in the industry.

Fortunately, though, there may be a way to spot the fakery automatically.

Cheng Chen of the University of Victoria, Canada, worked as a paid poster in China's "Internet water army", so-called because its soldiers flood websites with posts about particular products. In a paper posted on arXiv, Chen and his colleagues describe how project managers organise teams of paid posters, supplying them with comments and video clips to post, and setting rules for when and how often to post, so that they avoid appearing part of a coordinated campaign.

To see if they could recognise paid posters despite this deception, Chen's team focused on online comments relating to a dispute between two Chinese antivirus companies. The researchers sifted through two months' worth of comments on one of China's leading internet news sites and pulled out 552 users who commented on the antivirus companies. Based on his experience in the industry and the contents of their posts, Chen suspected 70 of these might be paid posters.

These suspected paid posters had a higher proportion of new comments (as opposed to replies), posted more often but for a shorter period of time, and were more likely to post similar comments several times than posters not suspected of being paid.

Sure enough, when the researchers applied these criteria to comments on a second news site, the suspected paid posters they flagged matched Chen's subjective classification with a false-positive rate of 1 per cent and a false negative rate of 10 per cent. With a little more refinement, the algorithm could lead to software that screens comments automatically, they say.

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Sea cucumbers: Dissolving coral reefs?

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2011) ? Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems that support enormous biodiversity. But they are at risk. Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the ocean, threatening reefs and other marine organisms. New research led by Carnegie's Kenneth Schneider analyzed the role of sea cucumbers in portions of the Great Barrier Reef and determined that their dietary process of dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surrounding reef accounts for about half of at the total nighttime dissolution for the reef.

The work is published December 23 by the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Reefs are formed through the biological deposition of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Many of the marine organisms living on and around a reef contribute to either its destruction or construction. Therefore it is crucial that the amount of calcium carbonate remain in balance. When this delicate balance is disrupted, the reef ceases to grow and its foundations can be weakened.

In order to fully understand a reef's ability to deposit carbonate and grow, it is necessary to understand the roles that the various elements of sea life play in this process. This is especially important because increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is predicted to decrease the amount of carbonate available due to acidification.

The research group set out to examine the role that sea cucumbers play in the reef environment.

Schneider's team included Carnegie's Ken Caldeira, as well as Jacob Silverman, of the Israeli Limnology and Oceanography Institute; Maria Byrne and Erika Woolsey, both of the University of Sydney and the latter also from James Cook University; and Hampus Eriksson of Stockholm University.

They studied the growth and dissolution of One Tree Reef, which surrounds One Tree Island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Focusing on an area of the reef known as "DK13," they found that sea cucumbers were abundant. They collected some of these sea cucumbers and placed them in aquaria to study the effect on sea water resulting from the sand and rubble transported through their gut system as part of their digestive process.

As part of another ongoing study in this area, the team found that the coral reef was dissolving at night. They found that sea cucumbers play a crucial part in this process. They live off the bits of organic matter in the carbonate sand and rubble that they ingest; in this process, their digestive systems produce acids that dissolve parts of these carbonate minerals. The dissolved carbonate minerals are then released into the surrounding environment. The researchers found that these lowly organisms might be responsible for half of the CaCO3 of the reef observed at night.

The burning of coal, oil, and gas releases CO2 into the atmosphere, which is later absorbed by the ocean, causing the ocean to acidify. Ocean acidification is expected to slow reef growth. With slower reef growth, the dissolution of CaCO3 within the guts of sea cucumbers is expected to become even more important to the reef CaCO3 budget.

"Even though the sea cucumbers dissolve CaCO3 on the reef, in a lagoon such as the one at One Tree Reef, where there is limited seawater exchange with the surrounding ocean, they can be important in recycling of nutrients to support primary productivity. They also increase sea water buffer capacity to partially offset ocean acidification effects, helping to maintain the overall health of the coral reef," Schneider said. "Although sea cucumbers may play a part in reef dissolution, they are also an important part of an incredible marine environment."

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Friday, December 23, 2011

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Panama Bound - 8 Startle Aspects to take into consideration Prior to Using the Relocation Plunge You have not even unpacked the suitcases from your sun-drenched family vacation to Panama in addition to a nonetheless, compact voice is tickling your creativity, whispering, "I could dwell there." Who has not seasoned drifting off to daydream of residing in the tropical paradise where all people is tanned, affreux back again and pleasant? Visions of staying liberated from hip-confining stockings or neck-stretching ties appeal on your senses. Emancipation from raking fall leaves or shoveling winter season snow drifts arouses your feelings. You even begin rehearsing your retirement speech which begins with the words "take this career and..."This may be the way you envision your freshly transformed life with the pina colada colored eyes of a turista. (tourist) But just before you take the relocation plunge you have to initially contemplate what I get in touch with the "startle factors" (aka the unanticipated but well documented things) and discover rational methods to overcome them.Will you have the option to adjust to a foreign atmosphere?As your life stands currently, you will get within your auto and generate from your community waving to persons you have got lived around and socialized with for years. You find ease and comfort in realizing specifically in which every single products is found within your favourite grocery store and how to consult for goods within the native hardware retail store. Before choosing to generate a move to some Spanish-speaking state you have to ascertain how adaptable that you are on the improvements you will knowledge in the vastly diverse social atmosphere. Will you miss that over-the-fence chat using your nosey neighbor? Will you will get pissed off in case you can not obtain that particular food product you will be utilized to canada jakke eating? Could you tackle walking into the hardware retail outlet devoid of understanding the best way to ask for your simplest item? Could you prevail over this to begin with startle variable? Start off by meditating on releasing all you already know regarding the life that you are currently dwelling. Your mantra will be, "things won't be just how I am accustomed to. Issues will never be just how I'm accustomed to." Though it truly is bad grammar, repeat it fifty instances, then wake up and notice that Panama ain't Kansas and get ready your brain for just a tradition adjustment.Simply how much of the "stuff" is it possible to are living with no?As you are choosing to relocate, search all over your finely appointed dwelling. 1 of your main startle variables is going to be to decide what to consider, what to sell and what to offer away. Many years of gathering what I name "dustables" stand in among you and the fact of the simplified life-style. In reality you can't (or shall I say "shouldn't") provide all of your things with you. So, very long in advance of the 40 foot shifting container is dumped in front of your door you will have to make your listing of "must haves," and "can't bear to element withs." Then do like Santa Claus. Make your listing; verify it two times, then 3 times and as much as 10 times. Then be great to all by yourself and judge to maneuver with only what is going to suit easily inside the container.The amount does one truly like hot weather conditions?All people loves to obtain away to hot temperatures and the beach front, primarily just after remaining overwhelmed up by a extreme winter season. But when you love acquiring seasonal wardrobes you'll want to understand that in Panama you'll find only two seasons, dry and moist, which implies you need to exchange your spring coats, your fall sweaters as well as your winter season jackets for ponchos and umbrellas. Since the temperature continues to be continual and easily warm during the 12 months you could keep your summer time wardrobe providing it really is cotton and will not call for ironing. In spite of everything, ironing is over-rated. And if you might be in the incredibly hot flash stage, be sure to convey two or three great hand followers. That way you might search chique instead of sweaty.Do you like open air markets?Personally, I discover no larger thrill than going into the open-air markets around the weekends. It is undoubtedly a single strategy to turn into wholly immersed from the tradition. You will see fruits and vegetables that you under no circumstances knew existed, permit on your own know how to arrange. But it is simply not Kroger's. The aisles are usually not clean and huge, the sprinklers usually do not come on to lightly mist the produce, there is absolutely no hypnotizing track record Musak and very little is pre-weighed and wrapped in crystal clear cellophane offers. There aren't any check-out registers, no coupon codes to redeem, you do not receive a receipt so you will probably be intelligent to carry your personal environmentally-friendly bags. There are actually, nonetheless, three genuinely great things regarding the market place: there exists never ever a monotonous moment; there exists usually a pleasant delicacy to discover; and in some cases often-hurried husbands appreciate the marketplace! These three variables make for an enjoyable marketplace working experience.The amount of do you like your partner?Consider observe. I didn't inquire "how a lot do you 'love' your partner?" I realize you love him/her, but simply how much does one LIKE...? I think you get my drift. A strong partnership, a friendship, must exist with the spouse since you are going to devote extra time collectively than you ever before have prior to. No area for ennui in Panama. You are likely to drop by the market, to your financial institution, to perform other buying, into the restaurant, touring, even on the hardware keep, (yes, towards the hardware retailer) Jointly! You'll understand that a person of you can converse improved Spanish compared to other, as a result, are going to be needed to translate and continue very important discussions with vendors, taxi motorists, waiters and nearly everyone you must do business with though another one particular stands close to hunting like window dressing. My recommendation in case you need help in this particular area will be to obtain a number of spouse and children self-help books for the Kindle and read them with each other.Can you manage "bad hair" days?This will likely audio shallow, but is there everything worse than a collection of "bad hair" days? The nice issue about Panama is you will soon discover that your bad hair day is just a normal hair day and you also search like all people else. I am not becoming chauvinistic for the reason that men and ladies endure equally through the bad hair syndrome. The key will be to have a good haircut/style that falls again into spot if the wind blows or even the humidity steams the freshness from your coif then go about your online business. All things considered, you are retired now, so who cares?Could you drive like a mad man/woman?When i moved from Atlanta I figured that I could handle anything when it came to craziness on the highway. Was I mistaken! What I knew while in the states as "road rage" I exchanged for the expression "road insanity" in Panama. Get comfort and ease in recognizing the main difference amongst street rage and road insanity. Road rage is personal and another person could find yourself seriously hurt. Highway insanity is random. You just take place for being there when someone else is engaging in what they typically do. Yes, you could possibly even now end up receiving critically hurt, but not less than it was not private. The key to getting ready for highway insanity in Panama and all of Central America is usually to apply actively playing video clip games that will sharpen your reaction time. Discover to intention your vehicle wherever you want to go then will not hesitate. You should not anticipate the opposite driver to be courteous. Anticipate what I phone "what the h..." moves. And by all suggests, never get angry as it will not likely improve a factor. Just do because the locals do. Blow your horn, wave your hand (nobody finger salutes, make sure you), shout a little something inaudible out your window and go about your merry way. Once again, this ain't Kansas and "we are not used to driving like this" won't perform right here. Check out it using this method. You're no more viewing NASCAR. You might be in fact to the track.How typically does one "need" to see your grandchildren?The true secret term the following is "need" not "want." If you will be the sort of Nana and PeePaw who just are not able to reside without the constant slamming of your screen door, the commands to show off the lights along with the need of "stay from the fridge until finally goose jakke I finish making ready lunch" then another seven startle variables will not even make any difference. But, check out it within a new light. Picture how gratifying it'll be to introduce your grands to all the enjoyment and excitement that may be Panama: from the up to date, fast-paced Panama City on the colorful, laid back again Caribbean fashion of Bocas del Toro; canada goose parka from azure colored oceans teeming with whales, dolphins and various ocean daily life to emerald mountains prosperous with tropical natural world; to friendly little ones who like to play outside to diverse surroundings that beg for being explored. You and your grand young children will understand a whole new meaning to top quality time when you create long lasting reminiscences. And, they're going to consider you will be the best grandparents ever before (this can be the most important startle factor of all). The fee of currently being elevated to these kinds of higher esteem? Priceless!When you scored between 6 and eight with regard to stuff you can deal with you will be prepared to just take the relocation plunge. When you scored 4 or five rethink your daily life and pray about it before making the transfer. In case you scored reduced than 4 consider vacationing in Panama a number of additional occasions ahead of building a decision.Panama is actually a amazing spot to dwell but initial you must acknowledge the startle things and adjust your brain to just accept the circumstances. Take part with the lively on the internet discussion boards where by you can chat with expats who've taken the plunge. Overview the forum archives and learn threads that debate the various way of living differences. Give all by yourself not less than 6 months to reside in Panama to knowledge first-hand should you could make the mental adjustment. Do all these details by having an open thoughts and in time the startle factors is not going to seem to be as startling.

Source: http://www.mycustomer.com/blogs/canadagoosep/canada-goose-parka/canada-goose-parka

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FAA issues rules to prevent tired airline pilots

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, with Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Michael Huerta, speak to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, with Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Michael Huerta, speak to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

(AP) ? Rules aimed at preventing airline pilots from flying while dangerously fatigued were issued Wednesday by the Federal Aviation Administration, a move safety advocates have been urging for more than two decades.

The rules update current pilot work schedule regulations, which largely date back to the 1960s, to reflect studies on how much time pilots need for rest and an understanding of how travel through time zones and the human body clock's response to light and darkness can affect performance.

Carriers have two years to adapt to the new rules. The FAA estimated the cost to industry at $297 million over 10 years, a fraction of the $2 billion a year that an airline trade association had estimated a draft proposal released by FAA over a year ago would cost.

The airline industry had opposed the draft rule as too costly for the safety benefits it would achieve. But FAA officials made substantial changes to the final rule to lower the cost. Several expensive reporting and training requirements were eliminated.

The new rules come nearly three years after the deadly crash of a regional airliner flown by two exhausted pilots. Family members of the 50 people killed in the accident near Buffalo, N.Y., have lobbied relentlessly for more stringent regulations.

The rules should be named in honor of those families who pushed successfully for action, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a news conference. "This is a big deal," LaHood said. "This is as far as our government has ever gone" to protect the traveling public from pilot fatigue.

The rules would limit the maximum number of hours a pilot can be scheduled to be on duty ? including wait time before flights and administrative duties ? to between nine and 14 hours. The total depends upon the time of day pilots begin their first flight and the number of time zones crossed.

The maximum amount of time pilots can be scheduled to fly is limited to eight or nine hours, and pilots would get a minimum of 10 hours to rest between duty periods, a two-hour increase over the old rules. Pilots flying overnight would be allowed fewer hours than pilots flying during the day.

But cargo carriers ? who do much of their flying overnight when people naturally crave sleep ? are exempted from the new rules. The FAA said forcing cargo carriers to reduce the number of hours their pilots can fly would be too costly compared to the safety benefits.

Imposing the rules on cargo airlines like Federal Express or United Parcel Service would have added another $214 million to the cost, FAA officials said.

The exemption for cargo carriers runs counter to the FAA's goal of "one level of safety" across the aviation industry. Pilots unions were critical of the exemption, pointing out that cargo pilots suffer from fatigue the same as pilots for passenger-carrying airlines. And, while cargo planes aren't carrying passengers, the risk to the public on the ground from an air crash is just as great.

"To potentially allow fatigued cargo pilots to share the same skies with properly rested passenger pilots creates an unnecessary threat to public safety. We can do better," said Robert Travis, president of the Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS pilots.

LaHood said he plans to invite top officials from cargo airlines to meet with him next month so that he can urge them to voluntarily follow the new rules.

The charter airlines that transport nearly 90 percent of U.S. troops around the world had also lobbied heavily for an exemption to the new rules, saying military missions could be jeopardized. But FAA officials rejected those pleas.

The rules will prevent about one and a half accidents a year and an average of six deaths a year, FAA officials said. They will also improve pilots' health, officials said.

Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for the Airlines for America trade association, said the group is reviewing new rule. "As we have said previously, we support changes to the rule that are science-based and that will improve safety," she wrote in an email.

Researchers say fatigue, much like alcohol, can impair a pilot's performance by slowing reflexes and eroding judgment. The National Transportation Safety Board has been campaigning for two decades for an overhaul of pilot work schedule rules. An effort by the FAA in the late 1990s to develop new rules stalled when pilot unions and airlines were unable to find common ground.

That effort was revived after the February 2009 crash Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo. Neither pilot appeared to have slept in a bed the previous night. The flight's captain had logged onto a computer in the middle of the night from an airport crew lounge where sleeping was discouraged. The first officer had commuted overnight from Seattle to Newark, N.J., much of the time sitting in a cockpit jumpseat. They could be heard yawning on the ill-fated flight's cockpit voice recorder.

However, by a 2-1 vote the NTSB decided not to cite fatigue as a contributing factor to the crash. The board agreed that the captain's incorrect responses to a stall warning caused the accident, and that other pilot errors contributed to the crash. But investigators said it wasn't possible to determine whether those errors were the result of fatigue.

But LaHood and former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt vowed to put strong fatigue rules in place.

"We made a promise to the traveling public that we would do everything possible to make sure pilots are rested when they get in the cockpit. This new rule raises the safety bar to prevent fatigue," LaHood said.

The families of victims killed in the crash won congressional passage of a law requiring the FAA to issue new rules by Aug. 1 of this year, but the White House Office of Management and Budget delayed release of the rules.

Susan Bourque, who lost a sister in the Flight 3407 crash, said she was particularly pleased that the rule will require pilots to sign a statement before each flight stating that they are rested and fit for duty.

Scheduling wasn't an issue in the accident. But if the pilots had been required to sign a similar statement it might have caused them to think twice about making the flight, said Bourque, of East Aurora, N.Y.

"It's a pretty good day," Bourque said. "I'm very happy that we can look forward to more rested pilots for passengers."

Safety advocates also applauded the new rules.

The changes replace "rules that were dangerously obsolete and completely ineffective," said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va. "The rule applies fatigue science in a way that makes sense."

__

Online:

Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-21-US-Tired-Pilots/id-d67aee07875a4cfa88b48522fd09d0e1

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Democratic Republic of Congo bans text messaging

After a controversial presidential election that saw Joseph Kabila retain the office amid fierce protests, the Democratic Republic of Congo has shut down the nation's text messaging services in order to restore public order. Civil liberties concerns aside, it's proving to be highly dangerous for the one point four million deaf residents who rely on text messaging. Normally they would receive safety signals when conflict broke out in their vicinity -- leading to people being caught unawares in crossfires who would otherwise have remained indoors. Human Rights organization ASADHO has said the crackdown could lead to further deaths, especially for people in remote areas and has joined numerous others in requesting the repeal of the ban.

Democratic Republic of Congo bans text messaging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

It's Free Shipping Day. Get Guaranteed Christmas Delivery from These Stores Today [Shopping]

It's Free Shipping Day. Get Guaranteed Christmas Delivery from These Stores TodayIf you didn't realize time is running out for holiday gift ordering, perhaps Free Shipping Day will remind you. The fourth shipping holiday this year is today, Friday, December 16th. Buy from a participating store for delivery by Christmas Eve.

A representative from Free Shipping Day wrote me that these are among the best shipping deals offered now, compared to what shoppers might currently or normally get from these shops:

  • Chico's - Free shipping on all orders.
  • Puma - Free shipping on all orders.
  • Hush Puppies - Free shipping plus $10 off your order.
  • Peruvian Connection - Free shipping and up to 40% off all orders.
  • Sierra Trading Post - Free shipping on all orders.
  • Disney Store - Free shipping on any order.
  • The Body Shop - Free shipping on all orders.

There are over 2,400 other online stores offering free shipping today, however, so you definitely have a lot more choices. The free shipping is offered within the contiguous United States.

Note that some stores notorious for being more risky when it comes to timely delivery are also participating in the pseudo-holiday, so it might pay, still, to consider not just the free shipping offer.

If you've been procrastinating about placing your online order, today's a good day to finally take shopping action.

Free Shipping Day


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