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    Wednesday, May 27, 2009

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    Kindle rival finally makes an appearance

    It's taking awhile to get here. But the thin Plastic Logic eBook reader initially unveiled at a Demo conference in September 2008 is progressing, however slowly.

    At the All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif, this week, Plastic Logic is providing a sneak peek of its prototypical electronic reader for business.  It's the first time the touch-screen user interface was unveiled publicly.

    It features content from Fortune Magazine, the Detroit Free Press (in a real newspaper and magazine-type layouts), and other business documents. Professionals are the target customers.

    On the left side of the screen are tabs representing the most recent documents you looked at. You can turn pages with "swipe gestures" and jump ahead to pages in a document by tapping on tabs on the right edge.

    You'll be able to read bestsellers too, and Plastic Logic plans to offer a wireless store (through a combination of Wi-Fi and 3G cellular), to offer an experience somewhat similar to what Amazon has done through the Kindle Store.

    Plastic Logic has not revealed the prices yet. 

    I was certainly impressed by how the thin the reader is. It's about a 1/3 of an inch thick and weighs less than a pound. The core technology is made of transistors made out of plastics.

    Alas, you'll still have to wait awhile though -- the reader isn't likely to be available until early 2010. Color is also on Plastic Logic's roadmap too, eventually. But that's a lot further out.

    Full disclosure: Plastic Logic has a content deal with USA TODAY.

    By Ed Baig

    Photo: Plastic Logic

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    NBA rescinds Howard's technical foul from Game 4

    The NBA league office rescinded a technical foul called against Orlando Magic star center Dwight Howard in Game 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

    Taking away the technical foul is of great importance to the Magic because Howard goes back to having five technical fouls in these playoffs. A player is suspended the next game after picking up a seventh technical foul.

    Howard was whistled for a technical foul at the time his sixth technical foul in the third quarter Tuesday night when he celebrated after converted a basket. Howard was grabbed around the shoulders and waist by Cleveland's Anderson Varejao and he exalted upon making the basket anyway.

    GAME 4: Magic take 3-1 lead over Cavs

    The Magic were not happy with the call and felt Howard did not deserve a technical foul for simply celebrating on the play.

    "I guess there is no problem grabbing a guy by the neck as he goes up in the air," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But you celebrate the basket, that's a problem."

    Howard, who would go on to score 10 of his 27 points in overtime to lift the Magic to a 3-1 lead in the series, hoped the league would reconsider the penalty after a review of the game tape.

    After all, the league had wiped out a technical foul on Kobe Bryant and three of them on Denver's Kenyon Martin earlier in these playoffs. And on Tuesday the NBA changed its mind on the flagrant one foul that Magic guard Anthony Johnson was whistled for in Game 3.

    "All I was doing ... I was just playing with emotion," Howard said. "You get in the game and you score a big bucket you let your emotions take over. I wasn't taunting Varejao or anything. My thing was, it was a tough play, he grabbed me around the neck and I made the shot, so hopefully they will look at it."

    Howard already was suspended one game in the Magic's first-round series for his elbow on 76ers center Samuel Dalembert. Howard had joked after receiving his fifth technical foul of the postseason that he was going to start wearing thick elbow pads and duct tape his mouth.

    "I might have to get some duct tape for real," Howard said after Game 4.

    Contributing: Wire reports

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    NBA rescinds Howard's technical foul from Game 4

    The NBA league office rescinded a technical foul called against Orlando Magic star center Dwight Howard in Game 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

    Taking away the technical foul is of great importance to the Magic because Howard goes back to having five technical fouls in these playoffs. A player is suspended the next game after picking up a seventh technical foul.

    Howard was whistled for a technical foul at the time his sixth technical foul in the third quarter Tuesday night when he celebrated after converted a basket. Howard was grabbed around the shoulders and waist by Cleveland's Anderson Varejao and he exalted upon making the basket anyway.

    GAME 4: Magic take 3-1 lead over Cavs

    The Magic were not happy with the call and felt Howard did not deserve a technical foul for simply celebrating on the play.

    "I guess there is no problem grabbing a guy by the neck as he goes up in the air," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But you celebrate the basket, that's a problem."

    Howard, who would go on to score 10 of his 27 points in overtime to lift the Magic to a 3-1 lead in the series, hoped the league would reconsider the penalty after a review of the game tape.

    After all, the league had wiped out a technical foul on Kobe Bryant and three of them on Denver's Kenyon Martin earlier in these playoffs. And on Tuesday the NBA changed its mind on the flagrant one foul that Magic guard Anthony Johnson was whistled for in Game 3.

    "All I was doing ... I was just playing with emotion," Howard said. "You get in the game and you score a big bucket you let your emotions take over. I wasn't taunting Varejao or anything. My thing was, it was a tough play, he grabbed me around the neck and I made the shot, so hopefully they will look at it."

    Howard already was suspended one game in the Magic's first-round series for his elbow on 76ers center Samuel Dalembert. Howard had joked after receiving his fifth technical foul of the postseason that he was going to start wearing thick elbow pads and duct tape his mouth.

    "I might have to get some duct tape for real," Howard said after Game 4.

    Contributing: Wire reports

    Reuters - Yahoo CEO says talking to Microsoft "little bit"

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    Yahoo CEO says talking to Microsoft "little bit"

    Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:11PM UTC

    CARLSBAD, California (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc CEO Carol Bartz said any deal to spin off or combine its Internet search assets will require a partner with "boatloads of money," and her company is talking "a little bit" with Microsoft Corp about a potential partnership.

    Speaking at the All Things Digital conference on Wednesday, Bartz said the company's array of popular Web products, including Yahoo mail and its home page, remain the key assets that will return Yahoo to growth.

    Since taking the CEO job, Bartz has moved swiftly to revamp the company, cutting jobs, shuttering certain products and reorganizing the management structure.

    Bartz said the company would like to hold on and even increase its roughly 20 percent share of the U.S. Internet search market, but it was not necessary for Yahoo's success.

    "We are positioned as a place where people come to be informed; not just informed through a search, but informed through great content, with great editorial and great integration and a very local feel," Bartz said at the conference taking place north of San Diego.

    Yahoo is the No.2 player in the search market, behind Google Inc, which had a roughly 64 percent share of the U.S. search market in April, according to comScore.

    Bartz, 60, took the reins at Yahoo in January, replacing co-founder Jerry Yang in the wake of Yahoo's rejection of a $47.5 billion acquisition bid from software giant Microsoft.

    Yahoo and Microsoft have recently talked about various partnerships, possibly with Microsoft managing Yahoo's search advertising business and Yahoo handling display ads across Microsoft's websites, according to a source familiar with the situation.

    Asked if the talks between Yahoo and Microsoft about an Internet search deal continue, Bartz replied "a little bit."

    Bartz said any deal combining its search efforts with another company would have to meet a specific set of criteria for Yahoo.

    "There's two parties in all this. The other party has to have a boatload of money and the right technology, and give us the right data and so forth. It's that simple," said Bartz.

    Microsoft, the No.3 player in the U.S. Internet search market, is expected to provide details about improvements to its search engine at the conference on Thursday when CEO Steve Ballmer takes the stage.

    Yahoo earned $118 million in the first quarter, while its sales declined 13 percent year-over-year to $1.58 billion.

    Given the challenging economic conditions, Bartz said she believes the company is performing strongly.

    Bartz said on Wednesday that the new organizational structure, which she said makes the management and reporting hierarchies more clear within the company, will help Yahoo infuse its products with personalization and social media features.

    Yahoo is adding social networking features such as status updates to its various properties. Last week, CEO Ari Blalogh said the company was also interested in acquiring outside companies to bolster its social efforts.

    Yahoo is facing increased competition from social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. On Tuesday, Facebook, which has 200 million active users, announced it had received $200 million in funding from a Russian Internet investment firm.

    Bartz said the company's core online properties can provide an Internet experience for Web surfers that Facebook cannot match, by providing a one-stop shop for people to read the news, check their stock portfolio and take care of other online tasks.

    And she stressed Yahoo's various online products remain some of the most popular on the Web.

    Yahoo has a 76 percent reach among U.S. Internet users, said Bartz.

    (Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Andre Grenon)

    Outlook for Outsourcing Spending Brightens - WSJ.com

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124344190542659025.html?

    Wal-Mart Comes to India - WSJ.com

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124346697277260377.html?

    Reuters - Microsoft to launch new Zune later this year

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    Microsoft to launch new Zune later this year

    Wednesday, May 27, 2009 3:22AM UTC

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp plans to launch a new version of its Zune portable media player later this year in the United States, incorporating high-definition video, touch screen technology and Wi-Fi connection.

    Microsoft said on Tuesday the new Zune, its answer to Apple Inc's popular iPod digital music player, will also come with an Internet browser and a built-in HD radio receiver that offers higher-quality sound than traditional radio.

    It did not give a price or a specific date except to say it was due in the fall.

    The company added new features to Zune's music service last year, enabling users to download music wirelessly and buy songs they hear on the device's built-in FM radio.

    (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Anshuman Daga)

    Reuters - Singer Chris Brown says he's "not a monster"

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    Singer Chris Brown says he's "not a monster"

    Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:28PM UTC

    By Alex Dobuzinskis

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown said he is "not a monster" in a video message posted online this week ahead of a court hearing over a criminal charge that he beat pop singer Rihanna, leaving her bruised and bloodied.

    Brown, who is not expected to attend the hearing set for Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, does not mention Rihanna by name in the video posted on the website www.justin.tv and circulated online on Wednesday.

    But the 20-year-old singer of hits "Kiss Kiss" and "Run It" appears to address the accusations that he beat his girlfriend Rihanna in February while in a car in Los Angeles on the eve of the Grammy awards.

    "I just wanna say 'What up?' because I ain't been out there in a minute," Brown said in the video, marking the only time he has seemed publicly to address the incident beyond an initial statement in February.

    "Everybody that's haters, they just been haters. All my real fans, I love you all. I ain't a monster," he said.

    A representative for Rihanna, singer of hit songs such as "Umbrella," was not immediately available to comment.

    Brown is charged with assaulting Rihanna by "means of force likely to produce great bodily injury" and threatening to commit a crime "which would result in death and great bodily injury." He faces up to four years in prison if convicted, and has previously pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    In February, one week after the incident, he issued a statement saying "words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired." He added that he had sought counseling.

    At Thursday's hearing, Brown's attorney Mark Geragos is expected to contest the charges on grounds that a police photo of Rihanna, taken after she was beaten, should not have been leaked to the media. It showed Rihanna with her eyes closed and her lower lip bloodied and swollen.

    (Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Will Dunham)

    Reuters - AT&T says to double mobile data speeds by 2011

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    AT&T says to double mobile data speeds by 2011

    Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:4PM UTC

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Wednesday it would double its wireless data network speeds as part of an upgrade that it aims to kick off later this year and complete in 2011.

    The second biggest U.S. mobile service said its plan, which includes the expansion of its existing wireless data network from 350 metropolitan areas to 370 this year, would be covered by its previously announced capital spending budget of $17 billion to $18 billion for 2009.

    The increase to its mobile Web surfing speeds involves an upgrade of a network technology known as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) that AT&T already uses. The upgrade is expected to increase AT&T's theoretical network speed to 7.2 megabits per second from current levels of 3 megabits per second, the company said.

    However, actual network speeds can vary hugely once a network is loaded with customers. AT&T said it would have multiple laptop network cards and smartphones available to take advantage of the upgrade later this year.

    The company also said it would start tests for its next network technology upgrade with a technology known as Long Term Evolution (LTE) in 2010 and plans to start building LTE into its network in 2011.

    Its bigger rival Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, plans to already start installing LTE into its network later in 2009, a year ahead of AT&T.

    Clearwire Corp is building a rival high-speed network based on WiMax, another emerging technology.

    (Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Richard Chang)

    CNN - 'He would have found bin Laden'

    Sent from bombastic4000@gmail.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

    'He would have found bin Laden'


    Sebastian Junger found him crouched on a battlefield in Afghanistan, fighting to stay alive.

    The Taliban had the man cornered and outnumbered. A sniper's bullet came so close to the man that it plucked dirt between his feet. But Junger watched him coolly orchestrate a cunning counterattack by his soldiers -- all while discussing his favorite poetry and international news.

    "He had tremendous magnetism," says Junger, a noted journalist and author who has written bestsellers like "The Perfect Storm," and "A Death in Belmont."

    "You didn't even need to speak his language to fall under his sway. That's the only time I've ever really felt that from another person."

    The man Junger met was Ahmad Shah Massoud, the "Lion of Panjshir." Today, Massoud is a national hero in Afghanistan, but he's also become something else: the prototype for the tough but enlightened leader Afghanistan desperately needs today, some Afghans say.

    Massoud was assassinated two days before the September 11 terrorist attacks by agents linked to al Qaeda. Though he died eight years ago, his legacy looms over any would-be leader in Afghanistan, Afghans and scholars say.

    'He would have found bin Laden'

    Afghanistan's government has been accused of being corrupt and weak. Massoud had a reputation for integrity and strength, says Junger, who traveled to Afghanistan in 2000 to profile Massoud for his book, "Fire."

    "He would have been very hard for the warlords to intimidate," Junger says.

    Massoud had a reputation as a fierce nationalist who would not allow any outside group -- the Russians, Pakistan, the Taliban, even the United States -- to control Afghanistan, says Zieba Shorish-Shamley, an Afghan native and founder of the Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan.

    "All he wanted was to have Afghanistan for Afghanistan," Shorish-Shamley says. "If Massoud would have been in power, he would not sell out."

    Massoud made his name as a brilliant guerrilla leader. He was born in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, the son of an Afghan army officer. He attended college as an engineering student where he became involved in student politics.

    Massoud became Afghanistan's most famous resistance leader after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Widely read, he studied the works of famous guerrilla leaders. His army fought back nine major offensives by the Soviet army in the Panjshir Valley.

    After the Soviet army retreated, Massoud then waged war against the Taliban, objecting to their rigid interpretation of Islam and treatment of women.

    While battling the Taliban, Massoud became a bitter foe of the group's chief ally, al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden.

    Shorish-Shamley, the women's rights activist, says Massoud was assassinated just before the 9/11 attacks because bin Laden feared Massoud. Massoud's military prowess combined with his knowledge of the Afghan-Pakistan border would have made him an even more formidable threat against the Taliban with U.S. military muscle backing him.

    "If they [al Qaeda leaders] were hiding under a rock, he would have found them,'' Shorish-Shamley says. "He was that type of person. He would have found bin Laden."

    'He was a charming killer'

    Yet there are others who say Massoud wasn't that different from the warlords who try to control Afghanistan today.

    After the Soviet army left Afghanistan, various Afghan resistance leaders cobbled together a coalition government to run the country. Massoud was appointed defense minister. But a civil war soon erupted as various factions fought for control of the country. Men under Massoud's command were accused of massacring civilians.

    Paul Fitzgerald, co-author of "Afghanistan's Untold Story," says Massoud was a "charming killer."

    "He wasn't as bad at the worst," Fitzgerald says. "But from the Afghan point of view, they're all war criminals. They really didn't do any good for the Afghan people."

    The Taliban eventually stepped into the leadership vacuum created by feuding Afghan factions. When they gained control of Afghanistan, they pushed Massoud's army into the Panjshir Valley. There Massoud fought a rear-guard action against the Taliban while trying to warn the West about the global threat posed by bin Laden and the Taliban.

    Marcela Grad, author of the book "Massoud," says he was the only Afghan resistance leader who never left the country to live abroad. He fought constantly for Afghanistan's independence, but constant war didn't appear to destroy his humanity.

    "He had tranquility about him," says Grad, who journeyed to Afghanistan to talk to Massoud's friends for her book. "He brought his poetry books to battle."

    Grad says Massoud believed that his fight against the Taliban wasn't isolated but part of a larger battle against a Taliban-like Islam that threatened to spread across Central Asia.

    "If Massoud and the Afghans were not being a front against intolerance in that part of the world, we would have had al Qaeda everywhere -- it would have been much worse," Grad says.

    Junger, who had interviewed Massoud the year before, says he crushed by Massoud's death.

    "A lot of people who knew him felt that he was the best hope for that part of the world," says Junger.

    There may be another Massoud in Afghanistan's future.

    A year after Massoud's death, he was named him a "National Hero of Afghanistan." As dignitaries stepped on stage to honor Massoud, a thin adolescent with the same aquiline nose and almond-shaped eyes as Massoud stepped before the crowd.

    It was Massoud's only son, Ahmad, who was then 13 (he would now be about 20). CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, who covered the event, reported that Ahmad said that terrorists may have killed his father but not his vision of a united and free Afghanistan.

    "I want to follow in my father's footsteps," Ahmad said. "I want to secure our country's independence. I want to be my father's successor."

    Reuters - Radio Canada rapped for Obama assassination joke

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    Radio Canada rapped for Obama assassination joke

    Monday, May 25, 2009 8:5PM UTC

    By David Ljunggren

    OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's public broadcaster was wrong to show a skit that joked about the possible assassination of President Barack Obama and suggested he could be a thief, an industry panel ruled on Monday.

    The New Year's Eve "Bye Bye" comedy program -- shown by the French-language Radio Canada network -- generated more than 200 complaints. In one segment, two hosts discussed Obama's election in November 2008. Obama, who took office in January, is the first black U.S. president.

    "We're not racists. It will be good to have a Negro in the White House. It will be practical. Black on white, it will be easier to shoot him," one of the show's hosts remarked.

    The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council said it found "nothing redeeming in the allegedly comedic notion that an American president should be shot, still less that this would be easier to achieve because of the color of the president's skin. It was a disturbing, wounding, abusive racial comment".

    The show also featured an interview with an actor pretending to be Obama. The host said, "The blacks, you all look alike," and then warned viewers to hide their purses.

    The council said the comments and sketches breached regulations, adding they went "too far in terms of Canadian broadcast standards."

    The producers of the show denied the skits had been racist, saying they had meant to mock the characters making the offensive remarks.

    Complaints about Radio Canada are usually handled by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). In this case the CRTC asked the council -- which deals with commercial channels and has more experience in handling such complaints -- for advice.

    The CRTC, which is due to conduct its own probe into the show, does not have the power to fine Radio-Canada but can issue a public reprimand.

    A spokeswoman for the commission said such reprimands could cause problems for networks when it came time for them to seek renewal of their broadcasting license. Radio-Canada is due to apply for a license renewal in 2011.

    Polls regularly show that Canadians like Obama far more than they do their own leaders. Tens of thousands turned up to cheer him when he made a brief visit to Ottawa in February. A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy said she did not know whether the White House had complained about the show.

    (Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway and Frances Kerry)

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    If you know me then you know my name. I am The Black Rider and the world is my Flame. The rider writes, observes, creates, produces, and learns the world around him. Ride on. Ride on!

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