Sent from TIME Mobile. To get the free TIME Mobile application on your own BlackBerry device today, visit http://app.time.com
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2016316,00.html?xid=rss-topstories-polar
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sent from TIME Mobile. To get the free TIME Mobile application on your own BlackBerry device today, visit http://app.time.com
http://bit.ly/dzWf7e
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
This story has been sent from the mobile device of bombastic4000@yahoo.com. For real-time mobile news, go to .
Weakened Earl spins into Canada, leaving minimal damage in wake
Tropical Storm Earl made landfall near Western Head, Nova Scotia, on Saturday after passing well east of Nantucket Island and causing minimal damage in New England, forecasters said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm came ashore about 10 a.m. ET, and its maximum sustained winds are near 58 mph.
A hurricane watch was in effect for Nova Scotia from Port Lhebert to Point Tupper. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Nova Scotia's coast, Prince Edward Island and parts of New Brunswick.
The center of the storm passed 105 miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass., overnight. It had weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.
The storm was moving north at 30 mph with top winds of 70 mph and was expected to fizzle out over the gulf of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. In Nantucket, the emergency operations center was disbanded at 1 a.m., according to a assistant town manager Gregg Tivnan.
"We're pretty thankful that we didn't have a storm impact," said Mary Parker, owner of Seven Seas Street Inn in Nantucket. "We expected branches down, but we didn't have any damage to our property."
Guests couldn't get to the island for a day because ferries weren't running, Parker said. And every shop on Main Street was boarded. Now the boats are running again and Parker expects a full house for Labor Day weekend.
Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm late Friday as it passed through New England waters. Cape Cod and the islands saw heavy rains but no notable damage.
The once powerful storm was about 40 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.
Massachusetts felt "very minimal impact due to the storm," said Peter Judge, spokesman for Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. There were about 1,800 power outages and those were down to a few hundred by early Saturday, Judge said.
Flooding affect some coastal roads but not homes, and Gov. Deval Patrick lifted the state of emergency. Local emergency managers told their state counterparts: "Don't bother sending assessment teams this morning," he said. The state emergency operations center was disbanded at 7 a.m.
PHOTO GALLERY: Track Earl's impactYOUR STORIES: Ever experienced a Category 3-5 storm?
Earl had caused flooding but no injuries and little damage on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
Earl roared past North Carolina before daybreak Friday on its way up the East Coast, flooding parts of some barrier islands and knocking out electricity, but staying farther offshore than feared. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
By midday Friday, Earl had dropped to a Category 1 storm down from a fearsome Category 4 with 145-mph winds a day earlier.
President Obama on Friday declared a state of emergency in 10 Massachusetts counties, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The action frees up federal funds to save lives and protect property and public health.
On Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts, officials had closed the port of Nantucket and the airport to protect the traveling public, said Gerry Connick, innkeeper at the Century House Bed and Breakfast.
Around Martha's Vineyard, a few residents had boarded up windows, a mandatory curfew forced businesses to close by 2 p.m., and dozens of boats pulled out of Oak Bluffs Marina, harbormaster Todd Alexander said. On a normal Labor Day weekend with good weather, there would be 175 boats in the harbor. On Friday, only 32 boats had remained, tied to mooring lines for safety.
On Delaware's beaches, the hurricane probably didn't cause too much shoreline erosion, said Tony Pratt, a shoreline administrator for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
He said nor'easters often cause more destruction to the beach. Nor'easters often last for several days instead of just one and that means the storm surge will be felt over a great number of high tides, he said.
"I think we have very little to worry about with this storm," Pratt said.
Bethany Beach, Del., resident Margaret Young said Hurricane Earl proved to be mostly hype.
"They all last about one day," Young said. "Before that, the sun is bright and shining and the ocean is wild. Afterward, it takes about a day for the water to settle down."
On North Carolina's barrier islands, the Outer Banks, the sun came out Friday afternoon and traffic increased during the day, even as water in some side streets reached the axles.
Earl's skirting of the North Carolina and Virginia coast caused $25 million to $100 million in damage, said Tom Larsen, senior vice president of catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT.
A normal Labor Day brings 200,000 to 250,000 people to the Outer Banks, which have only 33,000 year-round residents, said Dorothy Toolan, spokeswoman for Dare County Emergency Management. "It's one of our biggest holiday weekends," she said.
Barbara Mosher, a reservationist at Nags Head Realty, said some visitors were coming back after evacuating earlier in the week and others were coming to start their vacations.
The parking lot outside was strewn with blue shingles from the building's roof, but Mosher said there were no reports of damage to rental properties and the outlook for the weekend was "sunny and bright."
"The storm is gone so we're back to normal sunshine and warm," she said.
In Hyde County, N.C., emergency managers were also relieved.
"We are very lucky," said Jamie Tunnell, Hyde County spokeswoman. "There was no major damage anywhere, no complete road closures or injuries."
Ferry operations, which halted Thursday, will remain suspended until the U.S. Coast Guard can make sure the channels are cleared.
Peak winds reached 86 mph on Ocracoke Island, where flooding reached 2 to 3 feet.
Contributing: Wallace McKelvey, The Daily Times, Salisbury, Md.; Associated Press
This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE6805TA20100901
U.S. delays Web traffic rules by seeking more comment
Wed, Sep 01 18:38 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. communications regulators on Wednesday put off a controversial decision on Internet traffic rules, giving industry and consumer groups a chance to forge a compromise while avoiding a politically sensitive issue ahead of the November elections.
The Federal Communications Commission has been prodding phone, cable and Internet companies for months to find consensus on the thorny issue of net neutrality -- a debate over whether high-speed Internet providers should be allowed to give preferential treatment to content providers who pay for faster transmission.
Broadband and Internet companies have held a series of face-to-face and phone meetings this summer to craft a framework on how to treat the Internet data flowing through both home connections and wireless devices.
But those talks have failed to yield a deal due to big differences over the treatment of wireless broadband in particular. At stake is how quickly handheld devices, like Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone, can receive and download videos and other content.
Rather than imposing stricter regulations that are opposed by broadband providers, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski delayed a decision by calling for more public comment. He wants to know how companies and consumers will be impacted if wireless devices are treated differently from home broadband lines.
"We have made progress over the last year -- but we still have work to do," Genachowski said.
Analysts said Genachowski, who proposed a set of open Internet rules last year, wants to tread carefully before the elections.
They also said it was unlikely the FCC would adopt draft proposals at the September 23 meeting or in October.
"The chairman could cite progress in the industry talks as grounds for delaying circulating a draft order, and postpone a decision until after the election," said Nicolaus Stifel analyst Rebecca Arbogast.
Democrats are afraid that Republicans will portray any FCC action to voters as an attempt by President Barack Obama and his party to control and regulate the Internet, analysts have said.
Some broadband providers are pointing to a proposal unveiled earlier this month by Google Inc and Verizon Communications Inc as a sign of progress. Their plan would give providers more flexibility to manage wireless broadband traffic and possibly create a fast lane.
"Even a proposal that accepts enforceable rules can be flawed in its specifics and risk undermining the fundamental goal of preserving the open Internet," Genachowski said in a statement seeking another 55 day-comment period.
Proponents of net neutrality, including public interest groups, argue consumers will be harmed if carriers create a two-tiered Internet, the top tier offering faster speeds at a premium.
Carriers such as AT&T Inc and Verizon say they need to prioritize traffic on wireless networks due to congestion and already do so on handsets to allow people to make and receive phone calls.
(Reporting by John Poirier; editing by Andre Grenon; Carol Bishopric)
Imagine this thing breathing down your back on the highway. These should be the bikes they use in the live action version of the movie AKIRA. Welcome to the Future.
click here for more news and cool stuffThe Black Rider
This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE67S29R20100829
Google acquires social networking startup Angstro
Sun, Aug 29 17:09 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc has acquired Angstro, a startup that sorts news and information across social networks like Facebook, a spokesman for the leading Web search provider said on Sunday.
Palo Alto-based Angstro has developed applications to find photos on Facebook, combine Caller ID with LinkedIn profiles and other tools for Twitter, according to the company's website.
"The struggle for open, interoperable social networks is still only just beginning," Angstro co-founder Rohit Khare said in a blog post last week.
Google, which runs the top search engine in the United States with more than two-thirds of the market, did not disclose the terms of the agreement.
The Angstro deal underscores the importance to Google of social networks in an increasingly competitive Internet search arena which it dominates.
Last week, Google launched a website for users who want to sift through news, comments and other information on the Internet in real time, letting them follow conversations on social network hubs like Facebook and Twitter in one place.
Microsoft has also announced partnerships with Twitter and Facebook to provide real-time search results.
The buying of Angstro follows acquisitions by Google earlier this year of small startups like Plink, which makes visual search engines, and video broadcaster Episodic.
check it out maaan
Thomson Reuters News Pro user bombastic4000@gmail.com wanted you to see this:
"YouTube in talks over pay-as-you-go film service: report"
LONDON (Reuters) - Google's YouTube video-sharing website is in talks with Hollywood movie studios over a global pay-as-you-go video service that could be launched by the end of the year, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Internet News
Reading this on your BlackBerry? Try the Thomson Reuters News Pro now by clicking http://Reuters.com/bb.
