Thursday, December 29, 2011

Italy raises $14 billion at much lower cost (AP)

ROME ? Strong demand for short-term Italian government debt on Wednesday pushed the country's borrowing costs lower and suggested investors have become less jittery about an imminent default by the eurozone's third-largest economy.

Italy raised euro10.7 billion ($14 billion) in a pair of auctions at sharply lower rates than those it was forced to pay just a month ago when investor concerns over the ability of the country to service its massive debts became particularly acute and effectively prompted a change in government.

The sharp decline in Italy's borrowing costs could be a signal that commercial banks from the 17 countries that use the euro diverted some of the money they tapped from emergency loans from the European Central Bank last week to buy the bonds of heavily indebted governments. It may also suggest rising investor confidence in Italy's recent efforts to reduce its long-term debt through a variety of austerity measures.

The Bank of Italy said the average yield on its euro9 billion ($11.8 billion) six-month bill offering was 3.251 percent, half the 6.504 percent rate it had to pay at the equivalent auction last month. And an auction of two-year bonds, which raised euro1.7 billion ($2.2 billion), also saw the yield fall to 4.853 percent from 7.814 percent last month.

"This is an encouraging development, suggesting that the Italian sovereign debt market has pulled back from the dangerous situation in late November," said Raj Badiani, a senior economist at IHS Global Insight.

"The calmer environment reflects the passing of additional austerity measures and some welcome progress on the structural reform agenda, coupled with the ECB's decision to provide additional cheap financing to Italian banks," Badiani added.

After initially cheering the auction results, sentiment in markets deteriorated sharply in risk-averse trading following a weaker than anticipated performance on Wall Street.

While Italy's FTSE MIB fell in line with other stock markets, the euro slid to $1.2938, its lowest level since Jan. 11 and the yield on Italy's benchmark ten-year bonds pushed back towards the 7 percent mark that is widely considered to be unsustainable in the long-run. Further insights into the level of demand for Italy's ten-year bonds will emerge in an auction Thursday.

Italy is the eurozone's third-largest economy and is considered too big to save under the eurozone's current bailout funds. Markets have grown fearful over the past few months that Italy will find it difficult to pay off its massive debts, which stand at around euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion). Next year alone, Italy has some euro330 billion ($431 billion) of debt to refinance.

Mario Monti, the country's new premier, got parliamentary approval last week for more spending cuts and tax increases intended to save the country from financial disaster. One of the most controversial aspects of the austerity package is reform of Italy's bloated pension system.

As well as possibly indicating increased confidence that Monti's efforts will keep the country's finances on a sustainable path, Wednesday's auctions could also have been supported as well by a large infusion of credit to eurozone banks last week from the European Central Bank. A week ago, 523 banks took the opportunity to swell their coffers by euro489 billion ($639 billion), the largest ECB loan operation in the 13-year history of the euro.

There has been speculation that the stronger banks might use the cheap, long-term loans ? on which the current interest rate is 1 percent ? to purchase government bonds that carry higher interest rates and profit from the difference.

That could support both government and bank finances. But it would run contrary to efforts by many banks to lower their exposure to bonds issued by heavily indebted governments.

While some banks may be using the money they got from the ECB to buy up government debt, many others appear to have opted for a much safer option ? depositing their new cash back with the central bank. Figures Wednesday showed eurozone banks parked a record euro452 billon ($591 billion) overnight at the bank Tuesday, surpassing the previous record of euro411.80 billion set only Monday.

___

AP Business Writer David McHugh contributed from Frankfurt, Germany.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi and others settle LCD panel price fixing consumer class action for $539 million

'Tis the season for settling antitrust lawsuits, folks. Earlier this month, Sharp, Samsung, Hitachi and other LCD panel producers settled out their price fixing lawsuit with direct purchasers (read: TV and computer monitor manufacturers) for $388 million. So the story goes, the companies colluded to assure higher prices on LCDs sold between 1999 and 2006. Now, those same seven companies have settled up with indirect LCD purchasers -- aka the folks buying TVs and PCs -- to the tune of $539 million. Samsung, Sharp and Chimei are dishing out the lion's share of settlement dollars at $240 million, $115 million and $110 million, respectively, with the other companies kicking in between $2.8 and $39 million for their (allegedly) anti-competitive ways. Of course, the settlement isn't final until it receives the court's blessing, but you can see what the judge will likely be rubber-stamping at the source below.

Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi and others settle LCD panel price fixing consumer class action for $539 million originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Reuters  |  sourceMotion for Settlement (PDF)  | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/zsVtNXsK10k/

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U.S. again says China not currency manipulator (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The U.S. Treasury again shied away from labeling China a currency manipulator on Tuesday, but it rapped the country for not moving quickly enough on exchange rate reforms.

Some U.S. politicians have argued that China has gained an unfair competitive edge in global markets by keeping the yuan artificially low to boost exports, and pressure has mounted in Congress for President Barack Obama to punish China.

But the administration prefers to tread softly and use diplomacy to effect change. The U.S. Treasury, in a semi-annual report, as usual said that statutes covering a designation of currency manipulator "have not been met with respect to China."

It repeated its standard line that appreciation in the yuan has been too slow, calling it "insufficient."

"Treasury will closely monitor the pace of appreciation and press for policy changes that yield greater exchange rate flexibility, a level playing field, and a sustained shift to domestic demand-led growth," it said in the report to Congress on international economic and exchange rate policies.

The value of the yuan, which Beijing manages closely, has risen 4 percent against the dollar this year and 7.7 percent since China dropped a firm peg against the greenback in June 2010. The Peterson Institute for International Economics recently estimated the yuan was undervalued by 24 percent against the dollar, down from 28 percent earlier in the year. It attributed the change to both Beijing's policy of gradual currency appreciation and higher Chinese inflation.

At the heart of the friction between the two countries is a U.S. trade deficit with China that swelled in 2010 to a record $273.1 billion from about $226.9 billion in 2009. The cumulative Jan-Oct deficit with China is on track to top that this year, running at around $245.5 billion.

The U.S. Senate this year for the first time passed a bill that would require the administration to slap penalties on Chinese imports if it fails to adopt market-based exchange rates. While the measure has made no progress in the lower chamber and is unlikely to become law, it shows the mounting U.S. frustration with its vital trade partner.

President Obama at the November APEC meetings, in his toughest words yet, told President Hu Jintao that China must play by global trade rules and act like "a grown-up."

MORE OF THE SAME

But Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the law on the FX report, which requires the administration to determine whether U.S. trade partners are deliberately undervaluing their currencies, is a poor tool to push Beijing on the yuan.

Instead, the United States prefers to argue for change at its regular closed-door meetings with Chinese officials. It also uses international economic forums, such as the Group of 20 leading nations and the International Monetary Fund, to ramp up public pressure on Beijing to move more quickly to a more-flexible currency.

China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, with about $1.1 trillion, a position that gives it leverage in international economic negotiations. Foreign exchange traders had not expected a change of U.S. tactics.

"It's not very surprising. It's sort of sliding it in under the radar. They're (Treasury) really not in a position to make any major moves at this point," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4Cast in New York.

The Treasury Department has not labeled a country a currency manipulator since July 1994, when it cited China. A designation would require the United States to step up negotiations with Beijing on the yuan's value.

The yuan slipped on Tuesday as strong dollar demand from corporations offset a record high mid-point fixed by the People's Bank of China. The central bank set an all-time high dollar/yuan mid-point in an apparent move to let the yuan rise a little more at the end of 2011 so as to make the yuan's full-year nominal appreciation look bigger, traders said.

Some U.S. manufacturers, which have been hit hardest by competition from China and other emerging economies, would still prefer the U.S. government to take a harder line.

"China's currency is still enormously undervalued," said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an industry lobby for hard-hit textile, steel and labor groups.

"I'm disappointed that President Obama has now formally refused six times to cite China for its currency manipulation, a practice which has contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs."

(Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez and Doug Palmer; Editing by Leslie Adler and Dan Grebler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/bs_nm/us_usa_china_currency

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Dropbox top iPhone productivity app in TUAW Best of 2011 voting

Merry Christmas! Although today is officially a holiday and we're all spending time with our families and friends, the voting elves at TUAW have been working hard to continue the coverage of our TUAW Best of 2011 awards.

Today's winner is an app and service that should be on everyone's iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC -- Dropbox. The Dropbox iPhone app (free) pulled in 38.6 percent of the votes form TUAW readers, topping Evernote (free), which came in second with 28.0 percent.

Dropbox provides 2 GB of synced cloud storage to everyone at no cost, 50 GB at $99.99 per year, or 100 GB at $199.99 annually. There are team account options as well.

Congratulations to the Dropbox team, and we look forward to more from this astoundingly good productivity app in the future.


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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/12/25/dropbox-top-iphone-productivity-app-in-tuaw-best-of-2011-voting/

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KPCC: If you're out in the Leimert Park area and near the Kwanzaa parade we'd love photos. Send to pix@kpcc.org

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Source: http://twitter.com/KPCC/statuses/151401697128878080

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Hugo Mateus Dos Santos is watching Hereafter

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Source: http://getglue.com/conversation/hugobasshugo/2011-12-24T02%3A16%3A07Z

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bydanielvictor: It's kinda like putting baseball cards in your spokes, except it's this instead. http://t.co/Fax3hhlS

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

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'Hide it': Some NFL players still hide concussions

'Hide it': Some NFL players still hide concussions

In a series of interviews about head injuries with The Associated Press over the last two weeks, 23 of 44 NFL players ? slightly more than half ? said they would try to conceal a possible

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Source: http://thetowntalk.com/article/20111225/NEWS/111225010/-1/rss01

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Nick Lachey: There?s No ?Sense of Urgency? to Have Kids

"I don't think there's necessarily any timetable for it," Nick told PEOPLE while at Tostitos' Party with a Purpose to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/LcGsimZPxQI/

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trarticles: Now On @technorati! Sony Ericsson Xperia Devices to Get Android 4.0 Updates in Spring 2012 http://t.co/Xo7I9eLn

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Traveling safely

A Christian Science perspective.

Last spring a friend was moving from Wisconsin to Arizona, and I agreed to help her drive. It was a road trip to remember as we motored west in a big moving truck with her car on a trailer behind. We had little experience driving such a rig, so our motto became ?Always forward!?

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Whether I?m driving cross-country, traveling in a foreign country, or staying at home, I find great strength, inspiration, and forward mental direction in my study of the Christian Science Bible Lesson. One morning during the trip, I studied this passage from Psalms: ?[H]e shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways? (91:11).

The idea of God?s angels having ?charge? over me was an arresting idea and one that applied to our trip. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, described angels in this way: ?Angels are not etherealized human beings, evolving animal qualities in their wings; but they are celestial visitants, flying on spiritual, not material, pinions. Angels are pure thoughts from God ?? (?Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,? p. 298). I felt myself agreeing: Of course God?s angels of comfort and insight are with me wherever I go.

This nugget of inspiration was needed as my friend and I were on the road. As we drove along, the radio reported that tornadoes had been leveling many cities and towns along our route.

Later that afternoon, when we stopped at a gas station to fill the tank, the tornado sirens went off and folks from all over the area swarmed to the station. We jostled into the walk-in cooler, the securest structure on site. As we huddled, the storm grew louder.

At first my thoughts recalled a radio report of a similar situation a few days before. I was actually thinking, Could this be the end for us?

But then I remembered the scriptural promise from that morning ? God?s angels had ?charge? over me, over the situation, and over everything. This brought a mental peace despite the outside storm.?

In the Bible, the burning bush was a symbol to Moses of inner peace; it was on fire but ?not consumed." This clarity of thought helped Moses respond to God?s call to lead the Israelites out of slavery.

These days we don?t come across many burning bushes, but it?s easy to be consumed by news reports, other people?s opinions, and our own fears. Praying or listening to ?angel messages? brings God into the equation or, better yet, dissolves fear by knowing that no one is outside God?s perpetual care. Looking to God in times of need is not foolish but totally reliable because it puts God in the driver?s seat.

As I recalled the words from Psalms, I felt I had a spiritual anchor. I looked around the walk-in cooler. I was grateful for the man who gave me a blanket to stay warm, the woman who was sharing weather updates that she received by text message, people?s humor, and unconditional love. I could see other people acting with their best selves, showing goodness and unselfishness to complete strangers.

After 40 minutes, the storm passed, and we were all able to return to our cars. You can imagine we were relieved to find the moving truck, my friend?s car, and her belongings all in place, without any damage.

That experience has revitalized my concept of God. At times, I?d thought that loving God was a stagnant or abstract thing. Now I can see that trust in God brings safety, clarity, hope, and endurance in perilous moments.

As you journey home this winter holiday, be open to feeling the divine presence of God?s angels advocating for you and guiding you in tangible ways.

To receive Christian Science perspectives daily or weekly in your inbox,?sign up today.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/UIT0mHCLYjg/Traveling-safely

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Oil below $99 amid signs US crude demand improving (AP)

SINGAPORE ? Oil prices hovered below $99 a barrel Thursday in Asia as signs of improving U.S. crude demand were offset by ongoing concerns about Europe's debt crisis.

Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 10 cents to $98.77 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.43 to settle at $98.67 on Wednesday.

In London, Brent crude was up 3 cents at $107.74 on the ICE futures exchange.

Oil jumped Wednesday amid evidence U.S. crude demand could be growing. The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude inventories fell last week by 10.6 million barrels, the biggest drop ever for that time period and a much larger drop that the decrease of 2.3 million barrels forecast in an analyst survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill.

Crude has zigzagged near $100 for the last five weeks, with prices capped by investor fears that austerity measures to lower debt levels could trigger a recession in Europe next year.

Traders are also eyeing potential disruptions to global crude supplies. Tensions between Western nations and Iran, the world's fourth biggest crude producer, have been rising over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Political instability in Kazakhstan, which exports about 1.3 million barrels of oil per day or about 1.5 percent of world demand, could also threaten its supplies.

Trading volume normally falls during the next two weeks as many traders take vacations around the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays.

In other energy trading on the Nymex, natural gas rose 0.5 cent to $3.16 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil fell 0.4 cent to $2.91 a gallon and gasoline futures were up 0.4 cent to $2.63 a gallon.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices

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N.Y. Chinese-American Leaders Come to Comptroller?s Defense

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Thursday, December 22, 2011
Chinese-American leaders suggested that the federal examination of campaign fund-raising for Comptroller John C. Liu of New York City was politically inspired. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/nyregion/ny-chinese-american-leaders-come-to-comptrollers-defense.html

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Gingrich Attacks Ron Paul on Controversial Newsletters (ABC News)

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann Contrast Both Experience and Campaign Style (ABC News)

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Gingrich condemns Ron Paul for abandoning Israel

Less than two weeks before the first official Republican poll of the
presidential primary season, right-wing front-runner Newt Gingrich slammed Iowa
candidate-to-beat Ron Paul Thursday for abandoning Israel to Iran?s
mercies.

Paul, said Gingrich, ?dismisses the danger of an Iranian nuclear weapon and seems to be indifferent to the idea that Israel could be wiped out.?

RELATED:
Gingrich calls Palestinians an 'invented' people
GOP hopefuls face off on ?Palestinian? comments

Speaking on a conservative radio talk show Thursday morning, Gingrich accused Paul of being ?a guy who basically says, if the United States were only nice, it wouldn?t have had 9/11. He doesn?t want to blame the bad guys.?

?I think the key to his volunteer base is people who want to legalize drugs,? said the former speaker of the House, and recent Republican front-runner.

During foreign-policy discussions, Paul has said that he would not attack or impose sanctions on Iran to curb its nuclear aspirations, but that he would allow Israel to fend for itself.

?When they want to have peace treaties, we tell them what they can do because we buy their allegiance and they sacrifice their sovereignty to us. And then they decide they want to bomb something, that?s their business, but they should, you know, suffer the consequences,? Paul said during a debate among Republican candidates in November.

Paul, an avowed American civil libertarian and isolationist from Texas, emerged this week as the front-runner in the January 3 Iowa caucus, polling at over 20 percent, in a field of seven main candidates.

Paul was the only leading GOP candidate who was not invited to the Republican Jewish Coalition?s candidates? forum earlier this month, a decision that the Paul camp said that they only learned about through the media.

Paul has stressed that in advocating cutting financial support for Israel, he is supporting Zionism?s founding values of independence. He has also argued that Arab states receive seven times the amount of aid as Israel, and that that aid too would be cut. Paul?s supporters also cite the congressman?s defense of Israel?s 1981 bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak.

But Democrats, including the National Jewish Democratic Council?s President David A. Harris, have tied Paul?s position on funding to other policies that they claim are anti-Israel, including what Harris described as ?trying to empathize with Iran?s pursuit of nuclear weapons.?

Source: http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?ID=250624&R=R1

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Autism-friendly Santas a hit at malls, parties (AP)

HARTFORD, Conn. ? Visiting the mall to share Christmas wishes with Santa has never been part of Ben Borre's childhood, a sad but necessary concession to the autism that would make the noise, lights and crowds an unbearable torment for the 10-year-old.

Now, though, a growing number of "sensitive" Santas in shopping centers, at community parties and elsewhere are giving Ben and others a chance to meet the big guy in autism-friendly settings ? and providing families a chance to capture elusive Christmas photos and memories that families of typical children may take for granted.

Ohio-based Glimcher Realty Trust recently started offering sensitive Santa sessions in its two dozen malls nationwide, and several service organizations and autism family groups have recruited low-key Kris Kringles who adjust their demeanor to the special needs of their young guests.

"Every parent dreads the noise and chaos of the mall Santa scene, but this isn't even dreading. It's just literally un-doable for us," said Darlene Borre of West Hartford, Ben's mother.

Ben, a nonverbal fourth-grader, is among the up to 1.5 million Americans living with autism spectrum disorders that can include delays or disabilities in communication, behavior and socialization. They can range from mild difficulties to significant impairments that make it difficult for those children to interact with others.

Many children with autism are especially sensitive to loud noises, jangling music, crowds and unpredictable situations, and some parents say the idea that they could wait patiently in a long line to see Santa is laughable at best.

The Borres tried without success a few times over the years to grab quick snapshots if Ben randomly walked close enough to any Santa they encountered, but with mixed results.

Now, he visits an autism-friendly Santa each December at an informal yearly event that Borre and other autism families hold at a local playground. The sensitive Santa happens to be Ben's grandfather, Ray Lepak, who was compelled to become an autism-friendly Santa for local families after seeing what his daughter's family was experiencing.

"Just because a family has a child with special needs doesn't mean they don't want all the same memories that everyone else does," Borre said. "We all want those same holiday joyful moments; it just has to be approached differently."

Ben's sister, 4-year-old Lila, who does not have autism, and is getting wise to the fact that Santa and Grandpa bear a suspicious resemblance. But she's not letting on to Ben, and visiting the autism-friendly Santa is giving the Borres a chance to share a family experience they otherwise might be denied.

Lepak, 69, of Manchester recently donned his Santa suit ? plus a brand-new beard and snow-white wig ? and met with several Hartford-area children and their parents at their now-annual playground gathering. He's learned over the years how to pep it up for siblings who don't have autism, and how to tone it down for children who seem overwhelmed.

He starts with a few mellow "Ho, Ho, Ho" greetings, watches for those who are intrigued, and smiles or beckons to them to come closer. Many steer clear but watch him, either curiously or warily, while others remain disinterested.

"You'll see them watch Santa out of the corner of their eye, then little by little they'll come closer, then walk away as if you're not there, and come back in a bit," Lepak said. "It's really about following their lead and communicating on their terms."

Some will give him a high five; the braver ones might sit on his lap. At the recent gathering, one child had no interest at all in Santa until he realized that the big guy in the bright red suit was willing to push him on a swing ? and those fleeting moments were enough for the boy's family to snap pictures.

A growing number of malls also are setting aside special times for sensitive Santa visits when the shopping centers would otherwise be closed, including the 23 shopping malls of Glimcher Realty Trust, based in Columbus, Ohio.

A recent autism-friendly Santa visit at its Northtown Mall in Blaine, Minn., just outside of Minneapolis, drew 55 children despite poor weather, and last year drew more than 100.

Linda Sell, Northtown's marketing director, said the two-hour window on a recent Sunday morning was devoid of lines and the bustle of a regular Santa visit. Instead, children could play and color nearby or walk in a safe, contained area until their number was called.

Sell said they also turned off the Christmas music, dimmed the lights, sent maintenance workers and other potential distractions away, and asked parents to fill out a form in advance to give Santa the heads up on the boys' and girls' wish lists.

"Some kids will sit next to Santa. Some will want to stand a little farther away and look at him, or sit in the chair next to him, or have mom or dad next to him," Sell said.

For a child on the autism spectrum, sometimes the smallest item or gesture can spark a connection ? such as the Northtown Mall Santa's gold watch and the tiny Christmas train that rotates inside of it, for instance, or Ray Lepak's time as a swing-pushing Santa at the Connecticut park.

For many families, those small moments captured in pictures and memories are a holiday gift of their own: a chance to go beyond the constraints of autism and experience a Christmas tradition with their children that might not otherwise be possible.

"It's so hard on some of these families trying to take some of the kids out," Lepak said. "What a feeling that is, when I'm inside the Santa suit and I see those little innocent faces. They love it and it warms my heart."

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_re_us/us_sensitive_santas

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

ITC sides with Apple, bans sale and import of some HTC phones (updated)

ITC ruling
The ITC has issued a ruling in favor of Apple Inc., banning the sale and import or certain HTC phones in the US. The ruling, which was widely expected to finally be handed down today after being delayed twice, finds that HTC violates a pair of patents held by the Cupertino company regarding the formatting of data (such as phone numbers) in otherwise unstructured documents (such as emails) allowing users to interact with them. The ban isn't scheduled to be enacted until April 19th of 2012, giving HTC and Google plenty of time to address the court's concerns. The Taiwanese manufacturer could also simply remove the feature from its phones, though, the ability to interact with such information across apps, such as tapping a phone number in an email to dial it, is an ability most consumers expect their devices to support.

The International Trade Commission did not find that HTC violated two other patents in question, which related to realtime signal processing and would have been much more difficult to HTC to circumvent. Of course, this saga is far from over and we expect these two (along with practically every other mobile manufacturer on the planet) to continue to duke it out in the courts as opposed to in our stores.

You can check out the full PDF of the ruling at the source.

Update: Looks like HTC already has a plan in place to make it all better. Not shocking, but there it is.

ITC sides with Apple, bans sale and import of some HTC phones (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monday, December 19, 2011

11 Afghan police kidnapped by militants freed (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? Eleven Afghan policemen kidnapped by militants nearly two weeks ago have been freed in northern Afghanistan.

The Afghan Defense Ministry says Afghan soldiers, border police and international troops rescued the policemen on Friday and arrested 25 opposition fighters.

The ministry said in a statement Saturday that when the militants ignored local elders' attempts to mediate the release of the captive policemen, the military intervened and rescued them. Authorities are still pursuing other militants suspected of being involved in the Dec. 5 kidnapping in Wardooj district of Badakhshan province.

Earlier, deputy provincial police chief Sayed Hussain Safawi said that two policemen were killed and four others were wounded in an ambush that preceded the kidnapping.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

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Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/16/serious-style-for-your-everyday-carry-bag-with-j-w-hulme-co/

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The Exploration of Mobile Communications Business Model in the ...

home > Economics papers > The Exploration of Mobile Communications Business Model in the 3G and B3G Period

http://www.economics-papers.com/?p=77855

?Abstract? Spectrum is the basic of mobile communications industry and the carrier of the mobile communications service. Be similar to land and oil, spectrum is rare and important strategic resource. With mobile communications industry rapid development and the ?mobile, broadband and multi-media? trends in the evolution of mobile communications ,and applications expansion to radio, television, aviation, transportation and other areas, the demand for spectrum resources grows rapidly, spectrum resource is becoming increasingly scarce. Therefore, the mobile communications business model should have good spectrum economic character. That is, spectrum resource should be rational and effective used, in order to obtain the largest revenue from each Hz of frequency.In recent years mobile communications industry grows rapidly and technology upgrade is fast, the applications become increasingly wide and the demands become increasingly strong. The mobile communications market and operators? revenue keeps steady and rapid growth every year. In the past 1G and 2G period, operators adopt public-oriented and personal consumer applications business model, and this business model success with the industry?s rapid growth.In the coming 3G and B3G period, developing data services and promoting the value of ARPU is operators? primary strategy. With the broadband service scale promotion and the average bandwidth for per user substantial growth, the frequency resource scarcity and the system bandwidth limited problem will be highlighted. At the same time, compared with the narrowband service, broadband service occupied much more bandwidth and spectrum economic dropped significantly. This may leads to operators? revenue stop growing or even decrease. After using new technologies, system capacity increased, broadband services can be supported, but the benefits are less. It violates the original intention that is through the using new technologies to increase revenue, and pose a serious constraint on industry?s healthy, stable and sustainable development.This situation?s primarily source is about public users. As consumers, they care prices and can?t accept high price that matches broadband services? bandwidth. Therefore in the new period, it is necessary take appropriate innovation on the existing business model to maintain operators? revenue steady and rapid growth.This paper presents new business model which takes industry informationization as one of the industry?s future development direction. It will enhance the mobile communications? spectrum economy, increase operators? revenue. What?s more important, it can help to transform traditional industries and integrate information technology and industry production, optimize industry operating processes and improve production efficiency, and ultimately gain more revenue. Mobile communications? function in the country?s economic development will be expand to the entire industry, and then increase industry?s growth rate and enhance industry?s growth quality. In addition, it helps to transform the traditional growth model that mainly depends on the labor and capital to rely on technological upgrading, boosting economic growth transformation and core competitiveness improvement.At the same time, the thesis put forward the following recommendations for mobile communication?s future development: low price for narrowband services to encourage the public users use more such services; high price for broadband services to encourage the industry users use more such services. The public market, industry market forms the pattern that contains public information and industry information. Public network and private network support the public information and industry information of common development. Eventually mobile communication is enabled to promote industrial progress and service the public, achieving economic revenue and social benefit?s both improvements.

http://www.economics-papers.com/?p=77855
Title: The Exploration of Mobile Communications Business Model in the 3G and B3G Period
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Source: http://www.economics-papers.com/?p=77855

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Gringrich and science (Time.com)

The busy mind of Newt Gingrich has been much in the news lately. He's the man of grand ideas -- a thinker, a theorist, the big brain in a GOP field of bureaucrats and simpletons. Don't believe it? Don't worry, Gingrich himself will tell you.

Gingrich's mind indeed does churn. The problem is, he approaches ideas the way a gluttonous gourmand approaches food -- with a rich, complex and subtle appetite, but also a hopeless weakness for corn dogs and Twinkies. If it's edible -- or, in his case, imaginable -- he's interested. This can be awkward, particularly when he steps outside of his comfort zone of history and public policy and starts to muck around with science. (Watch "10 Questions for Newt Gingrich.")

Much has been made of some of Gingrich's wackier ideas in the past few weeks, beginning with his oft-repeated worry that a rogue state with a nuclear weapon could shut down the U.S. power grid. To give Gingrich his due, there's a grain of truth in his fears. Scientists agree -- theoretically at least -- that a missile detonated at the right altitude could trigger what's known as an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could fry the circuits of whatever country lay below. The one experiential data point that supports this idea occurred in 1962, when an atmospheric test of an American atomic weapon caused street lights in Hawaii to go temporarily dark.

Of course, it's a big step from there to shutting down an entire country, especially when the bad actors Gingrich imagines blacking out America are the Iranians and North Koreans, who have nowhere near the missile technology or targeting know-how to pull off such a stunt -- at least without being detected -- and in the case of Iran, don't even have a bomb yet. What's more, if either country did want to launch a strike, it would be a whole lot easier to go the point-and-shoot route -- pick a city and try to take it out directly. Yet Gingrich has continued to sound the EMP alarm, arguing that preparing for an attack should be an important part of the country's defense posture.

"In theory, a relatively small device detonated over Omaha would knock out about half the electricity generated in the United States," he warned in Iowa last week, according to the New York Times.

Gingrich's advocacy of space mirrors -- albeit years ago, in a 1984 book -- has provoked eye rolling too. The thinking is that scientists could position giant mirrors in space that would point toward Earth, reflecting sunlight downward and creating as much illumination as several full moons. This would eliminate the need for nighttime lighting on highways and brighten shadowy neighborhoods as a deterrent to crime. (Read "Newt Gingrich: Potential President, or Skilled Showman?")

Put aside what this would also do to the day-night cycle under which all life on Earth is accustomed to operating; put aside what it would do to the simple business of looking up and trying to see a star. The technical obstacles are dizzying. The U.S. has already orbited one whopping big mirror -- a slab of polished glass inside the Hubble Space telescope that measures close to 8 ft. (2.4 m) in diameter. But reflective space mirrors would have to be far bigger, perhaps the size of a football field. Even the massive International Space Station, which measures 357 ft. (109 m) across, appears to be little more than a moving star at the lowest point of its orbit, 234 mi. (376 km) above ground. To provide permanent illumination to a target area, you'd have to position your mirrors a whole lot farther away -- in geosynchronous orbit, 22,236 mi. (37,786 km) above sea level, so that their rate of revolution matches the rotation of the globe.

The weight problem alone makes this impossible -- at least if you were trying to fly a giant mirror made of glass, like the Hubble's. While University of Arizona engineers have developed mirror material only .04 in (1 mm) thick, this doesn't address other problems like the cost of launching and maintaining the mirrors, not to mention keeping so big a target safe from meteors and other space debris. All of this seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to for an illumination problem that highway lights and porch lamps already solve rather neatly.

It's Gingrich's advocacy of moon mining, however, that is getting the most attention -- and drawing the most derision -- partly because this is a drum he doesn't seem willing to quit banging. For the most part, the moon is a pretty prosaic mix of very familiar materials -- including silicon, iron, calcium, aluminum, potassium and phosphorous. There is, however, also helium-3. A light isotope of common helium, helium-3 streams toward Earth all the time as part of the storm of charged particles coming from the sun, but our planet's magnetic field deflects most of it. This is not so on the moon, which has a magnetic field far weaker than Earth's. What makes this important is that helium-3 also turns out to be a cracker jack fuel for fusion reactors -- far more efficient than the deuterium currently used. But it's not just a matter of going to the moon, scooping up what you need and powering the world on it. (Watch TIME's video "Earth Is Running Out of Helium.")

First of all, a practical fusion reactor has not yet been invented and there's no realistic projection for when it might be -- though scientists have been trying for decades. What's more, the moon's helium-3 is not just there for the taking. Apollo samples revealed that the isotope is present in lunar soil in concentrations no greater than 30 parts per billion. Harrison Schmitt, the lunar module pilot on Apollo 17 and the only geologist to walk on the moon, estimates that it would take 220 lbs (100 kg) of helium-3 to power one city the size of Dallas for one year, and to collect that much you'd have to dig a trench three quarters of a mile square by 9 ft. deep (1.9 sq km by 2.7 m).

That's a lot of digging, and it doesn't even touch the cost of getting the stuff home. Even aboard cheap rockets like the Russian Proton, it costs $2,200 to launch a pound of payload to low Earth orbit. The shuttle, nobody's idea of a bargain ship, cost $8,100 per lb. Things are a lot cheaper on the moon, where lower gravity means everything weighs less, but that doesn't mean every ounce doesn't cost -- a lot. There's a reason the skin of the Apollo lunar module was no thicker than three sheets of aluminum foil and that its windows were triangular, a shape that shaved a few ounces off of the framing and sealant that would have been needed for round windows of approximately the same size.

In the last presidential debate, Gingrich responded to Mitt Romney's criticism of the moon mining concept by not responding. "I'm happy to defend the idea that America should be in space and should be there in an aggressive, entrepreneurial way," he said -- which most people agree with and which is not what Romney was questioning at all.

Answering evasively, of course, is what politicians do, as is dreaming big dreams of New Frontiers and Great Societies and shining cities on hills. But dreams aren't science -- and politicians, for the most part, aren't scientists. Newt Gingrich may play one on TV, but that doesn't mean anyone is required to listen.

See TIME's top 10 everything of 2011.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111216/us_time/08599210247100

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Highway 60 In Montebello Closed Due To Tanker Fire

MONTEBELLO, Calif. -- A 10-mile stretch of a major freeway will remain closed through the weekend after the fierce heat of a burning gasoline tanker sent chunks of concrete raining from an overpass, authorities said Thursday.

Commuters were urged to take extra time, use alternate routes or use public transit as crews cleaned up the site prior to inspecting the bridge over State Highway 60, a major artery linking Los Angeles with the San Gabriel Valley and eastern counties.

Crews removed damaged pavement under the partially melted truck. They planned to pressure-wash the overpass and take a core sample to determine whether the bridge remains safe, California Department of Transportation spokesman Patrick Chandler told KTTV-TV.

Inspectors were unable to get to the overpass for hours after the crash because of the concrete remained intensely hot and because of fuel that spilled from the tanker, Chandler said.

The section will remain closed throughout the weekend, California Highway Patrol Officer Ed Jacobs said.

TV reports showed bumper-to-bumper traffic jamming Interstate 10, which usually is jammed during the morning commute. Traffic was busier than usual but moving smoothly and "there's not really a backup," Jacobs said.

The double tanker was hauling 8,800 gallons of gasoline when it caught fire shortly after noon Wednesday. The intense flames melted the truck, left a crater in the roadway and boiled water in the concrete of the Paramount Boulevard overpass, causing chunks to pop off.

A Montebello firefighter received a broken leg fighting the blaze and thousands of motorists were stuck in place for hours.

The cause of the fire can't be confirmed until inspectors look at the melted truck. Investigators were looking at all possibilities, including whether the truck's brakes may have overheated.

Photos by Associated Press

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/highway-60-closed-due-to-_n_1150909.html

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