Florida declares state of emergency for Panhandle

Image by NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Flickr

The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has declared a state of emergency in several Panhandle coastal counties because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Friday's executive order covers Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Gulf Counties.

The order says "The resulting oil slick is generally moving in a northerly direction and threatens Florida's coast."

It expires in 60 days unless extended.

The spill imperils hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/30/1606206/florida-declares-state-of-emergency.html#ixzz0mbZOOm9j

Ex-guard says Bin Laden wants to use nukes

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AL-QAEDA chief Osama bin Laden has sought and wanted to use nuclear arms, former bodyguard Nasser al-Bahri said in an interview with an Arab newspaper published today.


"Sheikh Osama used to dream of possessing nuclear weapons, and I am sure that if he were to get his hands on a nuclear weapon, he would not have hesitated to use it," the Yemeni guard told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

The United States warned earlier this month that al-Qaeda's interest in nuclear weapons was still strong and said the risk of nuclear terrorism was serious.

"Al-Qaeda has been engaged in the effort to acquire a nuclear weapon for over 15 years, and its interest remains strong today," said John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top anti-terrorism and Homeland Security adviser.

But Mr Brennan said he had "no indication that al-Qaeda has a nuclear weapons capability".

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Bahri, who now lives in Yemen with two wives and five children, said he was "proud to have worked as a guard for a great personality", saying he was instructed to kill Bin Laden if that was the only way to avoid his capture.

Bin Laden has a $US50 million ($54.63 million) US bounty on his head.

"If we were not able to protect Sheikh Osama bin Laden as his personal guards, we were supposed ... to eliminate him ... It was better he be taken dead rather than alive," he said.

"That would be a massive defeat for al-Qaeda, jihadist groups and Muslims in general," he said.

But the former guard, who left al-Qaeda and Afghanistan in 2000, said earlier this month that he had co-authored a book with a French journalist aimed at dissuading young people from joining al-Qaeda.

As a supporter of jihad, or holy war, against what he considered "Western injustice", Bahri had joined al-Qaeda but found it "not very convincing from the inside", he said.

Bahri served time in detention in Yemen following the October 2000 suicide bombing against the warship USS Cole in the southern port of Aden that killed 17 American personnel.

China stripped of 2000 Olympic bronze

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(CNN) -- The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday stripped China of a bronze medal in the women's team event at the 2000 Olympic Games after finding one of the team's athletes was underage.

The United States will be awarded the bronze medal instead, the IOC said in a news release.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in February decided to cancel all results obtained by gymnast Dong Fangxiao at the Sydney, Australia, Games.
"The FIG conducted an inquiry which showed that the athlete was only 14 years old during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games," the IOC said. Under FIG qualification rules, athletes must be 16 in the year of the Games in order to compete.
The IOC's executive board on Wednesday decided to reallocate the results of the events that Dong participated in. She had placed sixth in the women's individual floor exercises and seventh in the women's individual vault.
Dong has been disqualified from all the events she participated in, which also included the women's individual uneven bars, the women's individual all-around and the women's individual balance beam.

24 Malcolm X Killer Gains Parole

Malcolm X via last.fm

Thomas Hagan, 69, had been on work release

(Newser) – The last of the men convicted in Malcolm X's assassination has been paroled after 44 years in prison. Thomas Hagan, 69, hadn't been spending a ton of time in prison anyway; in 1992 he entered a full-time work-release program that let him spend 5 days a week at home with his family in Brooklyn and the other 2 in a minimum-security facility. But at 11am today he left even that vestige of incarceration behind, CNN reports.


Hagan was the only man to confess to his role the 1965 killing. Two others were convicted as well, but they were both released in the 1980s. “I have deep regrets,” he told the parole board. “I don't think it ever should have happened.” He told the parole board he intended to become a substance abuse counselor and keep his current job—which, according to a 2008 interview, is at a fast-food restaurant.

Passenger's Bomb Threat Diverts Flight in US

Image by caribb via Flickr

By Nick McMaster

(Newser) – Another plane scare incident: A US passenger forced an international flight to be aborted after claiming he had a bomb in his luggage and a fake passport, the AP reports. The passenger allegedly made threats while in the air on a Delta flight from Paris to Atlanta, causing it to be diverted to Bangor, Maine.


"We were told there was some danger and some threats made, but beyond that we weren't told anything else," said one passenger upon landing. The man is in custody, and few details were available about him. Two air marshals were aboard the plane and were "sitting on the guy's chest" upon arrival in Maine, a law enforcement official tells ABC.

Study: Chocolate and depression go hand in hand

Image by Kai Hendry via Flickr

By Denise Mann, Health.comApril 26, 2010 6:21 p.m. EDT

(Health.com) -- When Dina Khiry is feeling a bit down, she reaches for chocolate. "I like Reese's peanut butter cups, Hershey's bars, and chocolate cake batter," says the 24-year-old public relations associate. "I feel better in the moment -- and then worse later on, when I realize that I just consumed thousands of calories."

Khiry's emotional relationship with chocolate isn't uncommon, new research suggests. According to a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, people who feel depressed eat about 55 percent more chocolate than their non-depressed peers. And the more depressed they feel, the more chocolate they tend to eat.
Although gorging on chocolate and sweets to beat the blues has become a cliché thanks to sitcoms and romantic comedies, there's been "little prior scientific literature linking chocolate and depression," says the lead author of the study, Dr. Beatrice Golomb, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine. The study, she says, provides evidence to support "the popular perception that when people need a pick-me-up, they pick up chocolate."
It's unclear, however, whether depressed people eat more chocolate simply because they crave it, or whether chocolate consumption itself somehow contributes to a depressed mood.
In the study, Golomb and her colleagues surveyed more than 900 people about their weekly chocolate consumption and their overall diet. They also gauged the moods of the participants using a standard questionnaire used to screen for depression. (People who were taking antidepressants were excluded from the study.)
Health.com: How to make chocolate a healthy indulgence
The men and women who were considered to be depressed ate 8.4 servings of chocolate per month, while their counterparts who weren't depressed consumed just 5.4 servings each month.
Study participants who scored higher on the depression scale ate even more chocolate, nearly 12 servings per month, the researchers found. (An average serving was defined as one small chocolate bar or one ounce of chocolate candy.)
To zero in on the chocolate-mood connection, the researchers took into account a range of other dietary factors, such as calorie, fat, and carbohydrate intake. These measures were similar in the depressed and non-depressed people, which suggests that the link between chocolate and depression is unique in some way, according to the researchers.
Health.com: 10 free ways to fight depression
While popular culture usually depicts women as emotional chocoholics, the study shows that men, too, may reach for chocolate when they're down and out. Seventy percent of the participants were men, and the results were similar in men and women.
Explaining the apparent link between chocolate and depression is a classic chicken-or-egg question, says Golomb. Eating chocolate -- which has been shown to improve mood in animal studies -- may be a form of self-medication for depressed people, she and her colleagues suggest, or chocolate may simply be a comfort food.
Health.com: America's healthiest superfoods for women
The link may run in the opposite direction, however. Like alcohol, chocolate may make depressed people feel better in the short term, but eating it regularly may have a negative effect on health and mood in the long run, the researchers say -- especially if the chocolate is in products such as candy bars that are filled with saturated fat and other unhealthy ingredients. Indeed, as Khiry suggests, overindulging in chocolate when you're down can sometimes leave you feeling even worse.
"There is some relation between chocolate and depression," says Scott Bea, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. "Chocolate could be a fix for depression or it could work the other way, meaning that people who overly use chocolate could be prone to depression."
Susan Albers, a psychologist and colleague of Bea's at the Cleveland Clinic, says that chocolate raises levels of the brain chemical serotonin -- as do some antidepressants -- and also boosts blood-sugar levels, which can make you feel more energetic.
Health.com: 15 ways to breathe easier when eating
"Emotional chocolate eaters may be looking for an immediate change that exercise or antidepressants can bring," she says. But, she adds, a chocolate rush is often followed by a crash, and "The crash will make the depression worse."
Albers teaches chocoholics to stop and smell the chocolate -- literally.
"When we eat chocolate, we tend to think about the next piece before we finish the one we are eating," says Albers, the author of 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food. "I teach people to slow down the process by opening up the chocolate slowly, listening to it crinkle, and slowing down the whole process so they actually taste it and realize that a small amount can make them feel a lot better."
Khiry uses a similar strategy. To keep herself from eating too much chocolate, she sometimes tries to suck on each piece so it lasts longer.
The study had some important limitations, as the researchers note. It was not initially designed to investigate chocolate and mood, and the data was taken from a larger study on the effects of cholesterol-lowering statins. Furthermore, the study didn't distinguish between different types of chocolate (such as dark and milk chocolate, which contain different amounts of cocoa).
Health.com: Foods to boost your mood
And because the study simply took a snapshot of the participants at one moment in time, the results don't show how chocolate consumption and mood may change or interact over time.
Still, Bea says, the findings could serve as a red flag for people who may be drowning their sorrows in Hershey's.
"If you're depressed and eating lots of chocolate, look for more direct solutions such as psychotherapy and/or antidepressants," he says. "If you crave chocolate a lot, examine your mood state and deduce if depression is a factor in your life."

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Copyright Health Magazine 2010

Girl quizzed over Brixton stabbing murder

Image by Anirudh Koul via Flickr

A 14-year-old girl is being questioned by police on suspicion of murdering a man in south London.


The 45-year-old was found with multiple stab wounds by officers at an address in Ferndale Road, Brixton, on Friday.

Detectives have not yet formally identified the dead man and are investigating the motive for his killing.

An 18-year-old man arrested on Friday over the stabbing has been bailed until May.

Beckham thinks he's out until November

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Associated Press



LONDON -- David Beckham's recovery is taking longer than expected, and he does not expect to be ready to play until November.

The update by the England midfielder on Monday means he will be gone from Major League Soccer this season unless the Los Angeles Galaxy reach the playoffs. The next time he could play for England probably would be a 2012 European Championship qualifier against Wales on March 26, 2011.

Beckham underwent surgery in March after rupturing his Achilles tendon while on loan at AC Milan. He initially had been told he would be back by September.

"I won't be running for another three months, so I will be playing again in, probably, November," Beckham said in a video posted Monday on ABC's website.

Beckham was still on crutches Monday when he went to the studios of "The View."

"My mentality is to kind of push it and get moving and running and soon as possible. But it's an injury that has to take time to heal," Beckham said in a separate TV interview. "It's frustrating. It's obviously disappointing because I've been working for the last two years to get into the English squad [for the World Cup]."

Despite the injury, Beckham is set to travel with England to the World Cup in South Africa. England opens against the United States on June 12.

"At the moment, it's just getting the motion back into the ankle, the tendon, because it's still repairing," Beckham said on the MLS website. "I'm trying to get mobilization back into the ankle."

Beckham was injured in the closing minutes of Milan's game against Chievo Verona on March 14 when he was by himself with the ball at his feet.

"It was like being hit by a hockey puck. I thought someone was behind me and kicked me," Beckham said. "Obviously no one was there and I saw my foot hanging and then I felt down there and there was a hole."

Beckham had joined Milan on loan from the Galaxy to stay in shape during the MLS offseason. He was hoping to boost his chances of becoming England's first player to appear at four World Cups.


Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Avatar DVD Breaks Records

Avatar , the popular 3D movie that had groundbreaking sales in the box office set a record for most Blu-rays sold on the first day, according to The Hollywood Reporter. All in all, sales reached a staggering 1.5 million copies, which is well past the Dark Knight, the previous Blu-ray record movie.
The unprecedented sales are attributed to a combination of demand for the movie and a recent surge in the popularity of Blu-ray disks. Another contributing factor was the scheduling of Avatar’s Blu-ray release on Earth Day. Environmental events publicized the release of the film and led to increased sales.

Given the huge success of Avatar in the box office and the success of the first day of sales on Blu-ray, the film is expected to sell the most DVDs in 2010, surpassing hits such as New Moon and the newest Harry Potter. Estimates are currently set at well over 4 million copies sold by the end of the year.


Read more: Avatar DVD Breaks Records
Daemon's Movies http://www.daemonsmovies.com/2010/04/25/avatar-dvd-breaks-records/#ixzz0m8hsEFYb

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3-D video gaming aspires to become spectacle

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by Derrik J. Lang, Associated Press
April 23 1:19 P.M.


UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) -- For movie goers, watching a 3-D film is a relatively easy experience. Audiences didn't need to do anything other than pay a few extra bucks and slip on a pair of special glasses to see 3-D versions of "Avatar" or "Alice in Wonderland." For gamers, however, enjoying a 3-D game requires a bigger investment on their part.

For example, to play the popular online fantasy game "World of Warcraft" in 3-D, an inhabitant of Azeroth would need hundreds of dollars worth of gear: a robust computer setup with a compatible graphics card, monitor capable of displaying 3-D and a pair of 3-D spectacles. At this early stage, it's an expense that many virtual adventurers have yet to adopt.

Dozens of game developers, business executives and other stereoscopic 3-D gaming advocates converged at a Universal City hotel this week to explore that very conundrum and witness the latest in 3-D games at the first-ever 3-D Gaming Summit. The consensus was that whether gamers push play on 3-D or not, the home 3-D revolution is already in motion.

Television makers Samsung and Panasonic are now selling 3-D TVs. Movie studios Universal and Disney have released 3-D films on Blu-ray, such as "Coraline" and "The Polar Express." Discovery Communications and ESPN previously announced they will launch their own 3-D networks, with ESPN first broadcasting FIFA World Cup soccer in 3-D this June.

"We've got to tell people about it," said Phil Eisler, general manager of Nvidia's 3-D Vision, which makes graphics cards with 3-D processing power. "Hollywood has done a fantastic job of educating consumers and marketing to them about the wonderful experience in the theater. We need to tell consumers about the wonderful experience that games are in 3-D."

For many modern games, the leap to 3-D is actually just a step. The medium is well suited for 3-D because the majority of today's games are created in three dimensions, making conversion a snap. Eisler said more than 400 current PC games, including "Battlefield: Bad Company 2" and "Resident Evil 5," can be played in 3-D with the right equipment.

"You're seeing it now," said "Avatar" producer Jon Landau. "People are going to want 3-D in their homes. I think 3-D is going to become ubiquitous in everything we do. From what I understand of the initial TV sales at Best Buy, everything went out the door. Why? Because it's of a certain quality, and I think that's what we have to make sure we protect."

The biggest hurdle for 3-D gaming is perhaps the simplest: Those glasses are just plain annoying. Michael Cai, a video game analyst at research firm Interpret, found in a recent survey of players who had experienced 3-D games that having to don shades was the overwhelming aversion to the medium. However, many had no qualms about 3-D gaming at all.

Sony and Nintendo have already unveiled their initial plans to enter the 3-D realm. Sony began updating PlayStation 3 consoles this week for future 3-D gaming features, which are expected this summer. Last month, Nintendo revealed a 3-D version of its top-selling handheld DS system - called 3DS - that wouldn't require 3-D glasses due out later this year.

"One of the big advantages of the gaming market is that it's extremely viral," said Neil Schneider, president of 3-D gaming advocacy group Meant to be Seen. "If there's a way to capture the interest of just a handful of these gamers, it's the consumers that could help drive this industry forward, perhaps more influential than a retail display at Best Buy."

Copyright 2010, Associated Press

Games In 3D - Watch the top videos of the week here

Trailer Park: 'Madden NFL 11'

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By Brett Molina

Saints quarterback Drew Brees in 'Madden NFL 11.'


By now, readers have already seen the front of the Madden NFL 11 box. Now, Electronic Arts gives players a look at the game in action with the debut trailer, courtesy of GameTrailers.

The video kicks off the with the slogan "Simpler. Quicker. Deeper." A handful of new features are briefly noted, including a Gameflow playcalling system and faster games that claims to let players "spend more time on the field and less in the playbook," the announcer proclaims.

Madden NFL 11 will also sport a new animation system to create a more realistic football experience. In a March post from the game's official blog, developers also plan on tweaking wide receiver mechanics.

Check out the trailer below and tell us what you think.

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• NFL Draft Is Today, Drew Brees Steals Its Thunder With 'Madden NFL 11' Cover (multiplayerblog.mtv.com)

NCAA plans to expand March Madness to 68

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Every tournament game will be shown live with new $10.8 billion TV deal

By Michael Marot


updated 4:12 p.m. PT, Thurs., April 22, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA has decided not to mess around too much with March Madness.

College sports’ largest governing body announced a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting on Thursday that will begin with an expanded men’s basketball tournament next March. But instead of jumping to a 96-team field, a possibility that drew criticism from bracket-obsessed fans to coaches, the NCAA plans to expand by only three teams, from 65 to 68.

Every game will be broadcast live nationally for the first time in the tournament’s 73-year history.

This Year's No. 1 Pick: Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford

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AP) – The St. Louis Rams picked Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the No. 1 selection in the NFL draft tonight. The 2008 Heisman Trophy winner convinced the Rams he's recovered from shoulder surgery last October. He better have: St. Louis was 1-15 a year ago and has a sorry 6-42 record the past three years.

Other top picks:

2.Detroit: Ndamukong Suh (DT), Nebraska

3.Tampa Bay: Gerald McCoy (DT), Oklahoma

4.Washington: Trent Williams (OT), Oklahoma

5.Kansas City: Eric Berry (S), Tennessee

Tiger Mistress Rachel Uchitel Pitches Reality Show

Image via CrunchBase

(Newser) – If you're tired of reality shows and Tiger Woods, this is very bad news: Mistress No. 1 Rachel Uchitel is pitching a reality show, reports TMZ. Called Romancing Rachel, it would follow her quest for true love. VH1 and the Oxygen network are reportedly considering it, while E! and Lifetime have passed.


The Las Vegas Review-Journal, meanwhile, says Uchitel has been taking dance lessons at a local studio, possibly for an appearance on Dancing With the Stars. The owner says DWTS alum Mario Lopez referred her to the studio. But TMZ tosses cold water on that rumor, saying Uchitel is dancing merely as a hobby.

Sources: Steelers trade talks preliminary

Image by Jeffrey Beall via Flickr

By John Clayton
ESPN.com
Archive

Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers fielding phone calls from other teams about the availability of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger over the past couple of days, it is extremely unlikely a trade will occur, sources told ESPN.com on Thursday.

Multiple sources indicated the Steelers have not shopped Roethlisberger and have done nothing more than field phone calls. Many of the phone calls came during the course of normal conversations of teams just checking in with the Steelers to see whether they were willing to make other deals.

The conversations with other teams would be termed only preliminary, but with the draft starting Thursday night, there would not be time to put a deal together, and it's doubtful whether the Steelers would be willing to trade him at this stage.

An NFL source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Wednesday that the Steelers have begun contacting teams about trading a top-10 pick for Roethlisberger. The Steelers have called the Rams, 49ers, Raiders, Bills, Jaguars, Seahawks and Browns, according to the source, but another source told Schefter on Thursday that Pittsburgh did not initiate contact with any teams.

Roethlisberger was suspended for six games by commissioner Roger Goodell, but he has a chance to return after four games if he fulfills a checklist of obligations presented to him by the commissioner.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.

Gaming's Worst Missed Opportunities

Nintendo via last.fm

by Ben Silverman

Ever wish you could go back in time and do things differently? Order the steak instead of the fish? Chat up that attractive stranger on the subway? Stop watching 'Lost' after Season 1? No matter how you slice it, regret hurts.

But in the case of video games, bad decisions don’t just hurt emotions -- they hurt the bottom line, and in some cases, have changed the face of the entire industry. Join us as we press pause and reflect on some of gaming's worst missed opportunities.

Nintendo passes on Playstation

Imagine a world in which Sony never existed as a major console manufacturer. Sound crazy? Not to Nintendo, who with one small misstep watched most of its console dominance spin away.

In the late 1980s, Nintendo was considering introducing CD-ROM technology to their forthcoming Super Nintendo system. Initially they inked a deal with Sony, but Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi got cold feet due to poor contract wording that would have given Sony too much control over the new format. The relationship quickly eroded, prompting Sony to make the epic decision to create their very own game console to house their CD-ROM tech. This would eventually become the Sony Playstation -- the best-selling console of its generation -- and pave the way for its record-setting follow-up, the PS2.

Gamers were thrilled, but Nintendo? Not so much. The company lost tons of ground with the cartridge-based N64, only to lose more playing catch-up with the Gamecube.

EA doesn't make Dark Knight game


Between smashing box office records and earning Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar, The Dark Knight could do no wrong. Except, that is, when it comes to gamers. Why was there no game based on The Dark Knight?

You'll have to ask publisher EA and developer Pandemic for the answer. All we know for sure is that EA owned the rights to a Dark Knight game, but required a relatively fast turnaround in order to ship it in time with the movie. Pandemic couldn’t meet EA's quality requirements, and rather than stick a crummy game on store shelves, they opted to can the project entirely. Some have estimated that this cost EA a bat-load -- about $100 million -- in potential revenue.

Things got rosier for gamers, at least: Batman: Arkham Asylum, while not based on The Dark Knight film, wound up being one of the top titles of 2009.

Halo: The MMO


It's got industry clout, instant name recognition and more fans than an American Idol. So what's missing from Halo's impressive resume? How about being the first game to take down online kingpin, World of Warcraft?

Believe it or not, the opportunity for these two heavyweights to slug it out mano a mano very nearly came to fruition. According to an ex-employee of developer Ensemble Studios, a massively-multiplayer Halo game was on track to compete directly with Blizzard's baby. Featuring team-based quests and its own unique cover system, the game (codenamed "Titan") was in development between 2004 and 2007. Eventually, however, Microsoft felt its $90 million price tag was too expensive and pulled the plug, aborting any chance of seeing Master Chief take on Azeroth.

Mad Catz pays to get out of Guitar Hero


Most companies would pay big bucks to get involved with a franchise as lucrative as Guitar Hero. But one peripheral-maker paid a hefty fee to get uninvolved.

According to MadCatz CEO Darren Richardson, his company had the opportunity to create the Xbox version of the original Guitar Hero, but backed out due to legal threats from game publisher Konami, who believed Guitar Hero was infringing on their copyrights.

Mad Catz paid $300,000 to get out of their deal and distance themselves from the legal hubbub, which eventually blew over.

"Everyone else made hundreds of millions and we paid money to not be a part of it," Richardson told Kotaku. "It was brilliant. I come up with these strokes of genius from time to time. That was my best."

Atari angers programming prodigies


Any boss will tell you that it's important to show your employees that you mean business. But in the case of Atari, one terrible business decision began a chain of events that nearly destroyed the entire video game industry.

It began when a quartet of immensely talented but entirely anonymous Atari programmers -- David Crane, Alan Miller, Larry Kaplan, and Bob Whitehead -- discovered via an internal memo that they alone were responsible for over half of the profits from Atari's cartridge division. Like any smart employees, they asked for adequate compensation, and like any mean boss, Atari president Ray Kassar famously refused (reportedly telling the group they were "no more important to Atari than the person on the assembly line who puts the cartridges in the box.") Soon enough, the 'Gang of Four' left to form their own studio. Activision -- and the concept of third-party game developers -- was born, but just a few years later, the entire video game industry curled up and died, due in part to a rash of low-budget titles from companies hoping to emulate Activision's success.

Activision skips The Sims

It's the best-selling PC franchise ever, responsible for ushering in a new age of gender-neutral gaming while turning millions into glassy-eyed guardians of tiny, digital families. Who wouldn’t want to own the rights to The Sims?

Apparently, Activision.

Speaking at a convention earlier this year, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick revealed this bombshell of a bad business decision. It happened in the mid-90s, when Kotick visited the offices of Sim developers Maxis while weighing a potential buyout. Maxis didn’t put their best foot forward, showing Kotick a version of the still-in-development Sim City 2000 that was so buggy, he decided to pass on the buyout altogether. Unfortunately, that included passing on a meeting with Sims mastermind Will Wright, who was anxious to show Kotick his secret new project codenamed "Jefferson," which would go on to be renamed -- you guessed it --The Sims. Ouch.

Yahoo profit beats the street, but sales miss

Image via CrunchBase

By Blake Ellis, staff reporterApril 20, 2010: 8:31 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Shares of Yahoo fell after the bell Tuesday when the world's second-largest search engine said its first-quarter profit beat Wall Street's expectations, but sales failed to measure up.

The company also forecast second-quarter sales that topped analysts' outlook.

Yahoo posted a profit of $310 million, which was nearly triple the $118 million it earned in the same quarter last year. Earnings per share totaled 22 cents, compared with 8 cents per share a year ago.

Earnings in the first quarter were lifted by Yahoo's revenue-sharing search deal with Microsoft, which launched in February.

Under the 10-year agreement, Yahoo received $35 million from Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) for search operating costs during the first quarter and will continue to benefit from reimbursements in the second quarter.

Excluding gains from the sale of e-mail and calendar software maker Zimbra, as well as transition cost reimbursements from Microsoft, the company earned 15 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items from their forecasts, were expecting 9 cents a share.

Sales rose 1% to $1.6 billion on an improved advertising market. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, which are the advertising costs shared with partners, Yahoo reported sales of $1.13 billion, missing the $1.17 billion expected by analysts.

"We delivered what I'd call a solid quarter," Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz said on an earnings call. "Large advertisers came back...and that means their purse strings are starting to loosen up."

Display advertising for Yahoo's owned and operated sites jumped 20% from last year. However, the gain was offset by a 14% decline in search ad revenue.

"I don't think it's been any secret that we've had a tough road to hoe in search," she said.

But "all that has passed," she added. Bartz expects search ad revenue to "trend up" in the second quarter.

For its second quarter, Yahoo forecast revenue between $1.6 billion and $1.68 billion, excluding traffic acquisition costs. Analysts were looking for $1.2 billion.

Shares of Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading.

Last week, leading search giant Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) posted a 38% rise in earnings during the first quarter, also boosted by an improving advertising market.

Facebook vs. Google: Game On

Image via CrunchBase

Posted by Jessi Hempel, writer
April 21, 2010 6:52 AM

Facebook’s new features are positioning it to organize the Web. Can it best Google?


Can Facebook out-Google Google? The competition is mounting between the Web’s two largest destinations as Facebook unleashes a string of new features. Set to debut at Facebook’s April 21 developers conference, they may lay the groundwork for reorganizing the Internet according to the relationships between people instead of pages—with massive implications for both search and advertising.

Back when the Web was simply pages we clicked through on our laptops, Google (GOOG) was king of search, serving up the most relevant and popular Web destinations. It still does the best job of any single search engine at turning up what we want, and it’s constantly refining its algorithms to give us the most relevant results based on our past searches. So when a colleague and I both plugged “Heidi Klum” into our Google search boxes recently, my first three results were text links to articles while he received photographs of the supermodel. We showed these screens to Google Chief Economist Hal Varian during an interview last week, and he gave an approving nod: It was a successful result of the company’s massive endeavor to personalize and improve searches.

But as the Web becomes more dynamic, Google falls short.
Thanks to microblogging services and social networks, anyone can publish online and mine the results in real time, creating a massive amount of data that often exists inside a social network and is difficult to index and nearly impossible to deliver results on in real time. Also, the Web can now be found on any device that has a browser—Blackberries, iPads, and laptops are just the beginning. And we depend on the web to turn up higher volumes of increasingly more relevant information. It's become increasingly clear that we need better ways to organize that information. When I search for Heidi Klum, I also wanted to know what my friends have to say about her, what articles they’ve read about her, and whether she happens to be, say, speaking right this second at a bookstore two blocks down from me.

Facebook's Mission to Extend Social Networking

With its newest round of features, Facebook lays the groundwork to meet this desire by reaching far beyond the social network itself. With the rumored “like” button that founder Mark Zuckerberg will announce in his keynote, users will be able to “like” Websites and Facebook will collect that data, creating an expanding map of the preferences people express across the the entire Internet.

Facebook is also reported to be preparing a tool bar that Web publishers can affix to the bottom of a page, allowing users to do their social networking without leaving, say, the New York Times (NYT) Website. And blogs report Facebook may be experimenting with developer tools that will allow any page on the Web to have the features of a Facebook page.

As it launches more features outside the Facebook site, the company’s strategy is starting to look remarkably similar to Google’s early strategy. As the Times points out, the search engine began as a destination for searchers. To grow, it first syndicated its search box to other websites, and later, its advertising platform.

Is Google Keeping Up?

Meanwhile most of Google’s efforts at harnessing the new types of information passed around within social networks have fallen flat.

The company has inked a deal to show Twitter results in its search stream, but it's not yet clear how they improve Google's traditional search experience. And Google’s February launch of Buzz as a feature that let Gmailers share updates and content was met with outcries from users irked at having their address books suddenly made public in the form of friend lists that their followers could view. The strategy Google employs is remarkably different, both from its early days, and from where Facebook is today. Rather than bringing their software to the places users already are, Google is trying to build new sandboxes for users to come into. So far, they don't seem interested in bringing their toys to play. Facebook, meanwhile is trying to make all of the Internet into its sandbox, by offering more and better intergration with the tools and websites users already like.

Yet for all of Facebook’s sharing capabilities, it has yet to conquer one of the most social territories on the Web—and one of the places where users spend the most time: the inbox. The site’s messaging system is clunky and hard to organize. Google still holds users' attention with Gmail, the best free email system available, and despite the poor reception Buzz received, the company was smart to think about how it could turn its email platform into a social networking platform—or find a better way to harness the social aspects of the Web and organize it into an improved search product, before it's too late.

Bill Gates Disses The iPad: 'It's Okay'

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Jay Yarow | Apr. 21, 2010, 12:03 PM

Bill Gates likes the iPad, sort of.

From Phil Bronstein at the SF Gate:

You once said Steve Jobs could see the next big thing. Do you like the iPad?

It's okay. The scenarios aren't that clear. But it's good looking. [Steve Jobs] does good design, and [the iPad] is absolutely a good example of that.

See Also: Microsoft's Desperate Search For A New Market To Dominate

Tags: iPad, Microsoft, Bill Gates


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At least 12 missing after blast on oil rig in Gulf

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 21, 2010 11:18 a.m. EDT



(CNN) -- At least 12 people were missing and seven were critically injured after an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.

The explosion happened about 10 p.m. CT (11 p.m. ET) Tuesday on a rig named the Deepwater Horizon. It was about 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, said Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry.

The fire was still burning Wednesday morning, the Coast Guard said.

At the time of the explosion, 126 were on board the rig, O'Berry said.

The Coast Guard said it sent helicopters from New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, to help evacuate people from the rig and look for the missing. The Coast Guard also sent four cutters to the rig.

Several people were hospitalized, including at least two, who were taken to a mobile trauma center.

The company that owns the rig, Transocean Ltd., said most crew members are safe.

"A substantial majority of the 126-member crew is safe, but some crew members remain unaccounted for at this time," the company said.

The company describes itself as the "world's largest offshore drilling contractor," saying it has 140 offshore drilling units.

Transocean said its crisis teams are working with the Coast Guard and lease operator BP Exploration & Production Inc. to "care for all rig personnel and search for missing rig personnel."

"The names and hometowns of injured persons are being withheld until family members can be notified," the company said.

The Coast Guard released two videos related to the blast.

One shows an injured person being hauled into a rescue helicopter.

"The survivor is just outside the cabin -- take it up slow, take it up slow," a voice instructs as a basket carrying the person is winched up from the platform. A rescuer steadies the cable with his hand and stops the basket's spinning as the survivor reaches the helicopter.

The video shows a rescuer on the platform moving away from the basket after it lifts off.

The other clip shows a person being taken by stretcher off a Coast Guard rescue helicopter in New Orleans.

"Bring me two cots," an emergency worker shouts as the first stretcher is wheeled away from the HH-60 helicopter.

DC Council Approves Medical Marijuana

Image by warrantedarrest via Flickr

By John Johnson| Posted Apr 20, 10 4:35 PM CDT

(Newser) – Happy 4/20 day, America: Legal marijuana could be available in the nation's capital in a matter of months. The city council of Washington DC today approved the sale of medicinal pot from sanctioned distribution centers, the Post reports. People who have HIV, cancer, glaucoma and the ever-vague "chronic and lasting disease" would be able to partake with doctor's permission. A second, final vote comes next month, and Congress would then review it under Home Rule.

"Our goal with this legislation is to make it very difficult for Congress to fault it and overturn it," one advocate tells the Post. "These dispensaries are going to look more like pharmacies than they are hash bars, and that is a good thing." Critics, however, say restrictions on the dispensaries—including the mandate of "pharmaceutical grade" pot and a limit of 95 plants at each site—will make it difficult to attract growers.

'Gigantic' scorpion fossil found in Fife

Image by paul peracchia via Flickr

The tracks were made by a giant six-legged water scorpion called Hibbertopterus as it crawled over damp sand about 330 million years ago.

It is the largest known walking trackway of a eurypterid or any invertebrate animal.

The tracks were discovered by Dr Martin Whyte from the University of Sheffield while he was out walking.

Scottish Natural Heritage, which is funding the project, described the find as unique and internationally important because the creature was gigantic.

It said the fossil would be moulded in silicone so that more people could see and research it.

Richard Batchelor from Geoheritage Fife, said: "The trackway is in a precarious situation, having been exposed for years to weathering.

"The rock in which it occurs is in danger of falling off altogether.

"Removing it and housing it in a museum would be prohibitively costly but moulding it in silicone rubber and making copies for educational and research purposes means that we can still see and research this huge creature's tracks in years to come."

The animal, which is related to modern-day scorpions and horseshoe crabs, was about two metres long and about one metre wide.

'Geological treasures'

The trackway, which is preserved in sandstone, consists of three rows of crescent shaped footprints on each side of a central groove.

The groove was made by the tail of the animal as it dragged over the sand.

This contrasts previous fossil evidence which suggested that the creatures lived in the water for most, if not all of the time.

SNH geologist Colin MacFadyen said: "Helping to conserve this important find is vital for our understanding of this period in evolution.

"Such finds as this highlight that all over Scotland there are no doubt other geological treasures awaiting discovery."

Microsoft debuts 'fix it' program

Image via CrunchBase

Microsoft has launched "Fix It" software that keeps an eye on a PC and automatically repairs common faults.

The software basically adds the automatic diagnostics system in Windows 7 to older versions of Microsoft's operating system.

The software, currently available as a trial or beta version, is intended for users of Windows XP and Vista.

The package also tries to anticipate how security updates will affect a PC before they are installed.

Bug watch

Once installed, the software gets updates about known issues with Windows or any connected devices, and regularly checks to see if a host machine has fallen victim. Once fixes become available it will tell users they are ready or attempt to apply them.

The software has onboard fixes for about 300 of the most widely encountered problems that stop Windows working as it should.

The software also maintains a list of the hardware and software on a machine so if the automatic fix does not solve a problem, it will be able to help users supply detailed information to Microsoft's support staff about what has gone wrong.

Those signing up and downloading the Fix It software can use it on several different machines.

The free software can be downloaded from Microsoft's support pages. Windows XP users wanting to use it must have Service Pack 3 for the operating system installed.

The Fix It service began in late 2008, when Microsoft began using the logo to highlight automatic fixes on its support pages that dealt with very common problems.

Anyone clicking on the logo kicked off a download that tried to fix that problem automatically.

Microsoft, like many other software firms, has built a vast database of faults and problems as technology built into Windows reports back about crashes and other bugs that machines encounter.

How to Remove Confickr Virus

Image by Paladin27 via Flickr

The Confickr worm is one of the most notorious malicious computer infections that has affected millions of PCs over the past few years. The worm usually strikes on April 1, April Fools day. It uses a security loophole in the Microsoft OS. It travels from PC to PC even without human involvement. Microsoft has already resolved the issue October last year but if your computer has not been getting updates, you’re highly at risk of being infected. You’ll know when you’re infected when you can’t browse Microsoft sites and other anti-virus vendors such as Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc. or F-Secure Corp, etc.

Should you get infected, here’s how to remove the Confickr virus:

1. Have an uninfected PC download one of the anti-Confickr virus tools developed by the Conficker Working Group, a group of people battling the virus. They’re really doing well in this war against cyber crime.

2. Have it emailed to your infected PC.
3. Once you downloaded it, rename the file before running it. This is crucial since the Confickr virus will identify all anti-virus efforts to detect itself by disabling all running programs with “Confickr” in it. Just rename it to something else, like “Conficker” or “Confik” to fool the virus. The virus is stupid like that.

4. Run the tools and purge the damn virus.

5. Point and laugh at the word “Confickr” everytime you see it or read about it.

There. You after these steps, your computer should be Confickr free. Good luck soldier. Godspeed.



Special thanks to Yahoo News

Toyota agrees to pay $16.4m fine

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Japanese car maker Toyota has agreed to pay a record $16.4m (£10.7m) to US safety regulators following recent safety concerns.

Toyota was asked to pay the fine for failing to inform the US government of safety concerns surrounding faulty accelerator pedals.

Millions of Toyotas were recalled earlier this year amid reports that the pedals could become stuck.

The fine is the largest ever handed out by the US transportation department.

Accelerator pedal problems forced Toyota to recall 2.3 million cars in the US in January, part of the eight million car recall worldwide.

"I am pleased that Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly," said transportation department secretary Ray LaHood in a statement.

"By failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk. "

Casualties feared as earthquake rocks Afghanistan

Image via Wikipedia

An earthquake has shaken parts of northern Afghanistan, and there are reports of dead and injured.

Afghan officials told the Associated Press news agency seven people had been killed and 30 others injured in mountains north of the capital Kabul.

The Samangan province deputy governor said the 5.3 magnitude quake hit just before midnight local time on Sunday.

The shock was felt in Kabul and the neighbouring countries of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Mayweather may respect Mosley but he shows no worry as fight date approaches

Image via Wikipedia

By Lance Pugmire
April 14, 2010 | 9:17 p.m.

Reporting from Las Vegas
Beyond the perks of massive wealth, national celebrity and his standing as one of the two best boxers in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s 40-0 record provides him the ability to answer tough questions simply.

Mayweather, 33, had a news conference Wednesday as he continued preparing for his welterweight showdown against Shane Mosley May 1 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Mayweather was asked how this stiff challenge was affecting him.

"There's only two game plans people try against me: bum-rush me or try to out-box me," Mayweather said inside his gym inside a string of small businesses a short drive from the Strip. "They can never do either one.

"You guys ask me the same questions, and it's the same result every time."

Mayweather camp insiders acknowledge their fighter is in for perhaps the toughest test of his career, a battle against Mosley, the proud 38-year-old from Pomona who's coming off a January 2009 pummeling of Antonio Margarito. And last September, Mosley stepped into the ring to call out Mayweather after his one-sided decision over Juan Manuel Marquez.

"This guy's bigger than Marquez, was a good amateur like Floyd, has good hand speed and power," Mayweather's trainer and uncle Roger Mayweather said. "I still say [if] we get him in the middle of the ring, we'll get him. There ain't a more skilled fighter in the middle of the ring than my nephew. But Mosley is among the elite my nephew's ever faced," pausing to scratch his goatee and think, "probably the No. 1 guy as far as skill level."

The respect is there. Mayweather's assistant trainer, Nate Jones, tells how Mayweather Jr. got off the plane in Las Vegas a few weeks ago after a Los Angeles news conference, and quickly summoned his friend to drive alongside him as he ran nearly 10 miles.

"He's fighting one of the best fighters out there, and knows he has to be in the shape of his life," Jones said. "He's done it. I predict he's going to knock Mosley out, the way he's hitting and letting his hands go. This is a fight where that can happen."

Such an outcome would be a major boost for Mayweather's reputation. Despite his perfect record, he's often criticized for not truly engaging his opponent and avoiding major tests to his chin as he follows his "hit and not be hit" style.

"He wants to show the world he's the greatest," Jones said. "It took this guy four days to get in shape, and he'll keep training up until about three, four days before the fight. I've told him, ‘Floyd, you're getting scary.' He says, ‘Nate, I gotta beat this [guy].' "

Talking as he shadowboxes and hits the mitts of his uncle in the ring, Mayweather only concedes that he "trains harder every fight. I push myself hard, I know what I need to do.

"I already shut everyone up," he said. "This fight is for me and my family."

Mayweather said of Mosley's power, "Nothing bothers me. I got nothing to worry about. There's a way to beat him. He wants to rush me? He'll get clipped."

He then mocked Mosley, joking that his opponent "punches with his eyes closed," is distracted by divorce proceedings and has acted differently, getting an arm tattoo and "nose job."

"Shane's talented. I'm gifted."

Want to argue? Tough to do against 40-0.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times


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Comments (2)Add / View comments Verballistic at 3:18 AM April 15, 2010
Great article Lance...should be a great fight!!

RIC0 ® at 12:32 AM April 15, 2010
LOL, one could tell mayweather is only 2nd best in boxing; he wears a Reebok! Nike avoids criminalsand frauds.
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One green step at a time

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

By Rick Ruggles
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Optimism over how man will treat the planet in the years to come prevailed at the Earth Day festival on a cool, sunny Saturday at Elmwood Park.

Thousands attended the celebration, which was both a throwback to the early environmental movement and a look at what needs to be done.

It featured a mishmash of food booths, entertainment and serious reminders that it's everyone's job to protect this polluted, overpopulated orb.

The celebration included anti-war messages and massages, body art and bongos, tie-dye and Tai Chi, and discussion of green buildings and green burials.

The first Earth Day took place nationwide 40 years ago, the brainchild of a persistent Wisconsin senator named Gaylord Nelson. The event that spotlights conservation has grown, but whether society has made real progress in the planet's behalf is debatable.

Nicolette Amundson, president of the Green Omaha Coalition, said conservation comes down to simple acts taken by individuals turning down the thermostat and using low-flow faucets and push mowers.

“Change starts with one step,” Amundson said. “Be more aware of what you use and how much you use.”

On the stage, Bobbi Holm of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension program showed the audience how to make a rain barrel to conserve water. She was circumspect, however, about whether to be upbeat.

“I don't know,” she said. “I think there are some people that really, really do a lot. And some people who their awareness isn't there yet.”

Craig Moody, chairman of the Earth Day Omaha Coalition, said he has plenty of hope. In Omaha, Moody said, an initiative is making its way toward the City Council to give environmental considerations more weight in the city's long-term plan.

“I've moved past hope,” he said. “We're doing it now.”

Two 15-year-olds, Shira Sterling and Charlie Encell, sat on a blanket eating sunflower seeds and popcorn.

Young people “have more of an interest in helping out the environment than the last generation did,” said Charlie, who had an acoustic guitar with him. He noted with irony the plethora of polluting plastic bottles at the Earth Day festival.

Still, he said, it was nice. “Free date,” he said. “Perfect day.”

Contact the writer:

444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com