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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Exclusive Preview: OK Go's New Thousand-Instrument Music Video [Video]
Hands-On With the Changers Solar Charger
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/8JJn6V2CwHI/
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Mad Catz Cyborg M.M.O.7 gaming mouse now on sale, F.R.E.Q 5 headset hits pre-order
Gamers looking for some hardware assistance can breathe a sigh of relief; Mad Catz's latest eye-catching forays into gaming mice and headsets are almost, if not already, upon us. The Cyborg M.M.O.7 mouse (£130) manages to offer up 78 definable commands beneath those eye-catching metallic hues and is available to buy now, while its F.R.E.Q 5 headset ($150) has hit pre-order on the manufacturer's site. Acronym-loving thrill-seekers can check out both at the source below.
Mad Catz Cyborg M.M.O.7 gaming mouse now on sale, F.R.E.Q 5 headset hits pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/30/mad-catz-cyborg-m-m-o-7-gaming-mouse-now-on-sale-f-r-e-q-5-head/
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GOP tries new strategy to get Canada pipeline
WASHINGTON?? Republican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a bill that Congress will consider next month, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday.
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Other political news of note
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NBC/Marist poll: Romney leads Gingrich by 15 in Fla.
Mitt Romney may be on his way to a decisive victory in the Florida GOP primary Tuesday, according to a new NBC News-Marist poll.
- Ahead in new polls, Romney aims for Newt knockout
- Gingrich labels Romney a 'liberal'
- GOP tries new strategy to get Canada pipeline
- Santorum cancels events to be with sick daughter
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NBC/Marist poll: Romney leads Gingrich by 15 in Fla.
President Barack Obama earlier this month denied TransCanada's application for the oil sands pipeline, citing lack of time to review an alternative route within a 60-day window for action set by Congress.
The denial does not block TransCanada from reapplying and the company intends to do just that.
But Republicans have since been looking for a vehicle to claim the $7 billion project as their own, and Boehner said that would be a House Republican energy and highway bill.
"If (Keystone) is not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it will be part of it," Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" news program.
Environmentalists and some Democrats oppose Keystone, citing higher greenhouse gas emissions, while most Republicans say it would create needed jobs.
Story: With oil pipeline to US on hold, Canada eyes ChinaRepublicans in the Senate also plan to introduce a Keystone bill. Some Senate Democrats back the pipeline, but its passage is not guaranteed in the body.
Parts of the House Republican plan, such as opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, stand little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.
Attaching Keystone to a pending deal to extend payroll tax cuts for workers, which has greater bipartisan backing than the highway bills, is another vehicle Republicans are considering.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46181992/ns/politics-capitol_hill/
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
American Idol to President Obama & Al Green: Sing For Us!
If you haven't seen the video of President Obama singing Al Green at a fundraiser at New York City's legendary Apollo Theater last week, you need to.
No matter what you think of his views, the Prez proved with his riff on "Let's Stay Together" that he's got pipes! And we weren't the only ones impressed.
Friday, American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe Tweeted an official offer to the Commander in Chief that he can't refuse. Or at least he shouldn't:
"@BarackObama we loved your vocal performance so much we'd love to invite you on to #AmericanIdol this Season for a duet with Al Green."
Now that would be the DVR moment of the decade.
We're gonna guess that Obama will cite scheduling conflicts and pass, but if you think about it, what better way to win over voters in an election year?
Okay, perhaps a robust economy would be a bigger ballot box boost, but you get the idea. The guy's vocal chops are legit and deserve a wider audience.
President Obama in 2012?
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/american-idol-to-president-obama-and-al-green-sing-for-us/
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Economy grew 2.8 pct. in Q4, but outlook is hazy
FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2011 file photo, 2011 Chevrolet Malibus are lined up at a car dealership in San Jose, Calif. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the final three months of last year, the fastest growth in 2011, according to the Commerce Department, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Americans spent more on cars and trucks, and companies restocked their shelves at the strongest pace in nearly two years. But growth in the October-December quarter ? and all of last year ? was held back by the biggest annual government spending cuts in four decades. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2011 file photo, 2011 Chevrolet Malibus are lined up at a car dealership in San Jose, Calif. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the final three months of last year, the fastest growth in 2011, according to the Commerce Department, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Americans spent more on cars and trucks, and companies restocked their shelves at the strongest pace in nearly two years. But growth in the October-December quarter ? and all of last year ? was held back by the biggest annual government spending cuts in four decades. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
FILE - In this July 27, 2011 file photo, assembly line worker Edward Houie moves a door into position for a 2012 Chevrolet Volt at the General Motors Hamtramck Assembly plant in Hamtramck, Mich. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the final three months of last year, the fastest growth in 2011, according to the Commerce Department, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Americans spent more on cars and trucks, and companies restocked their shelves at the strongest pace in nearly two years. But growth in the October-December quarter ? and all of last year ? was held back by the biggest annual government spending cuts in four decades. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The economy grew late last year at a pace that in normal times would suggest it's healthy.
But the 2.8 percent annualized growth rate in the October-December quarter ? the fastest pace since the spring of 2010 ? isn't being cheered by most economists or investors. That's because growth would need to be much stronger to sharply reduce unemployment. And signs in the data point to slower growth ahead.
For all of last year, the economy grew just 1.7 percent. That was barely more than half the growth in 2010. The outlook for all 2012 is slightly better. The Federal Reserve estimates growth of roughly 2.5 percent for the year.
Though the economy has picked up and is far stronger than during the Great Recession, unemployment is still a high 8.5 percent. Many people remain reluctant to spend more or buy homes. Many employers are still hesitant to hire.
For the final three months of 2011, Americans spent more on vehicles, and companies restocked their shelves at a robust pace. But overall growth last quarter ? and for all of last year ? was held back by the sharpest cuts in annual government spending in four decades, the Commerce Department said Friday.
Several factors are expected to exert more of an economic drag this year: Cuts in military and other federal spending. A slower pace of company restocking. Weak or flat pay increases. Sluggish growth in consumer spending.
Stocks opened lower after the government reported the growth figures at 8:30 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 53 points in late-morning trading. Broader indexes were mixed.
"Overall, the pickup in growth doesn't look half as good when you realize that most of it was due to inventory accumulation," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, who expects growth to slow to below 2 percent in the first three months of this year.
In the final three months of last year, consumer spending grew at a 2 percent annual rate. That's up modestly from the third quarter. Consumer spending is important because it makes up 70 percent of economic activity.
Much of the growth was powered by a 14.8 percent surge in sales of autos and other long-lasting manufactured goods.
Incomes, which have been weak all year because of high unemployment, grew at a modest 0.8 percent annual rate. That followed two straight quarters of declining incomes. But unless pay increases pick up, consumers who have dipped into savings in recent months, may pull back.
Business restocking, which can vary widely from quarter to quarter, was the greatest contributor to growth in the October-December period. It added nearly 2 percentage points to the gross domestic product, or GDP.
Government spending at all levels fell at an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter and 2.1 percent for the year ? the biggest decline since 1971. Sweeping federal defense cuts at the beginning and end of 2011 were a major factor.
The economy is measured by GDP, which covers everything from haircuts to hotel bookings to jet fighter planes. Friday's estimate was the first of three for the fourth quarter.
Other data show that in some ways, the economy ended 2011 on a strong note. Companies invested more in equipment and machinery in December. The unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent last month ? the lowest level in nearly three years ? after the sixth straight month of solid hiring.
People are buying more cars, and consumer confidence is rising. Even the depressed housing market has shown enough improvement to make some economists predict a turnaround has begun.
Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics, is among the more optimistic analysts. He said he thought business investment in capital goods would be stronger and consumer spending higher this year.
Richard DeKaiser, a senior economist at Parthenon Group, expects just 2 percent annual growth in the January-March quarter. But DeKaiser says that should be the weakest quarter. He expects the economy to gain strength in each quarter and grow 2.6 percent for the entire year.
Still, many economists worry that a recession in Europe could dampen demand for U.S. manufactured goods, which would slow growth. And without more jobs and better pay, consumer spending is likely to stagnate.
The Fed signaled this week that a full recovery could take at least three more years. In response, it said it would probably not increase its benchmark interest rate until late 2014 at the earliest ? a year and a half later than it had previously said.
The central bank also slightly reduced its outlook for growth this year, from as much as 2.9 percent forecast in November down to 2.7 percent. The Fed sees unemployment falling as low as 8.2 percent this year.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Finance chiefs reassure CEOs over European crisis (AP)
DAVOS, Switzerland ? Leading finance chiefs sought to reassure anxious global business leaders on Friday that Europe is on track to solve its crippling debt crisis before it drags the world's economies down. Europe's top banker said investors, burned after trusting the region's governments too much, now trust them too little.
The finance chiefs said the picture in Europe has changed over the past two months as the European Central Bank has loaned billions of euros to fragile banks, indebted countries have pushed through convincing reforms and EU leaders have come near to building a closer fiscal union that would make their common currency stronger.
Several also signaled Friday that Greece is close to clinching a crucial debt-reduction deal with private bondholders ? a key element in Europe's efforts to stem a two-year debt crisis that is causing ripples around the globe. The crisis is a central topic at the World Economic Forum, a gathering of government and business leaders at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
"They're making progress on reforms, they're changing the institutions of Europe to put better discipline on fiscal policy," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. "You have three new governments doing some very tough things. You have an ECB doing what central banks have to do. You see them move to try to strengthen the financial sector."
Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, said a combination of actions ? including super-cheap, long-term loans to shaky banks on the continent and a couple of interest rate cuts ? have turned the crisis around.
"We have avoided a major credit crunch, a major lending crisis," he said.
Draghi said borrowing rates would remain high "for quite a while" because bond markets are overestimating the risk involved in holding European government debt after years of underestimating it. But he called market pressure "the most potent engine for reform in different governments."
Geithner said the fate of the U.S. economy ? and by extension of the rest of the world ? hinges on Europe's debt crisis, along with potential tensions with Iran. He said the main piece of unfinished business for Europe is building a bigger fund to help troubled economies survive.
But while French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said that fund needs to be increased to calm markets, his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schaeuble, indicated that his government is not prepared to do so. Germany, as Europe's biggest economy, would face the biggest bill.
"We must not give the wrong incentives," Schaeuble said. "You can make any figure. It will not work if the real problems will not be solved."
Both, together with Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos Jurado and European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, agreed that the idea of issuing "eurobonds" backed jointly by all eurozone governments is a non-starter for now. They didn't rule out the possibility that such bonds could be introduced once confidence in Europe's public finances is restored, with Guindos calling that a "final target."
Schaeuble said eurobonds would provide bad incentives by allowing debt-ridden countries to "spend money you don't have on the bill of others."
Many economists have said eurobonds are needed to solve the crisis as they could reduce the borrowing costs of heavily indebted countries by pooling them with bonds of stronger economies like Germany's.
European leaders have been especially concerned about Greece, whose borrowing costs are so high that it needs a second European bailout just to pay its interest, but the finance chiefs signaled Friday that a deal is at hand.
Greece has been negotiating with the a group representing banks and other lenders in the hopes that they will forgive half of Greece's debt in exchange for Greek assurances that it will pay back the other half without defaulting on its loans. The deal would also let Greece repay over a longer period at a lower interest rate ? negotiators have been trying to agree on what that rate will be.
Schaeuble said he is "quite optimistic" about a deal, while Rehn said he hopes a deal can be reached "if not today, maybe by the weekend."
Agreement between Greece and its creditors is needed before Europe and the International Monetary Fund agree to a second multibillion-euro bailout package.
At the heart of the problem is that the 17 countries that use the euro use a single currency but have different fiscal policies. That changes the nature of their debt, said Adair Turner, chairman of Britain's banking regulator the Financial Services Authority.
"That debt is more equivalent to the State of California debt than the U.S. federal debt," he said.
That's why all but one of the 27 EU countries ? the United Kingdom has refused to participate ? are discussing a closer fiscal union. On Monday, leaders meet in Brussels to work out the details of that new compact.
Schaeuble and Baroin noted that even the agreement in principle to forge closer ties has calmed markets since a December summit, as borrowing rates have dropped and stock markets have risen.
"It's amazing," Draghi said. "If you compare today with even five months ago, the euro area is another world."
The crisis threatens more than Europe: the U.N.'s refugee chief warned Friday that it is fueling conflicts around the world. Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press that rising food prices and growing unemployment are hitting those already at the bottom hardest, sparking conflict in places like South Sudan and exacerbating hotspots including Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
_____
Frank Jordans in Davos and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany contributed to this story.
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Race and Religion at the Ballot Box: Building a Better Bias Detector
Image: The Obama-Biden Transition Project
The color of a candidate?s skin failed to sway voters to depress the lever for either Obama or McCain in the 2008 election, immediate analyses of that contest seemed to suggest. Some pundits hailed it as the first postracial election.
But a closer look after the election has revealed a much more nuanced picture of that historic faceoff. It turns out that as many as a fifth of the voters cared about race more than other considerations like gender, endorsements by a local newspaper or a candidate?s political party.
A study by political scientist Brian F. Schaffner at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the December issue of Political Psychology showed that concerns about race may have meant that Obama procured 3 percent less of the vote than he would have if he were white?enough to decide an election in a close race. ?It?s pretty clear that if Obama were white he would have done better than he did,? Schaffner says.
His finding echoes the results of similar probings by other researchers into the 2008 statistics. Schaffner?s work stands out, though, because of the care that he took in trying to figure out whether a voter was trying to mask biases about the hyper-sensitive issue of race. The researcher devised what he calls an ?unobtrusive observational measure? to try to elicit a voter?s real opinions.
Schaffner deployed a simple ranking method to get beyond what political scientists call ?social desirability bias:? voters? attempts to cover up opinions that they know might be repellent to others. After the election, Schaffner asked 934 respondents, 825 of whom voted, to rank the importance of six items from most to least helpful in making a decision.
Whites who placed race higher on the list, which included a candidate?s gender, occupation, political party and other factors, were less likely to vote for Obama, The definition of? ?higher? encompassed any ranking from first to fourth on the list, allowing the survey to detect the importance of race even if respondents didn?t rank that category first and may have wanted to hide their views.
These findings held up even after taking into account a measure of political conservatism, specifically, opposition to affirmative action. A white respondent who opposed affirmative action but put race last instead of fourth on the list was 25 percent more likely to vote for Obama. In the 2012 election, Schaffner wants to use the same method to examine, not only race, but this year?s added hot-button issue of Mitt Romney?s religion.
A well-known political blog, The Monkey Cage, raised the question of whether trying to deduce voters? recondite opinions was really needed. John Sides, a political scientist at George Washington University, noted that other studies had produced similar results even when asking respondents more directly about their racial prejudices. Schaffner defends his methodology, citing evidence from exit polls that indicates that social desirability bias really matters. ?If people are obscuring answers, that?s going to make it much more difficult to detect what the effect is of those answers,? he says.
Other political science researchers have taken a different tack in exploring the extent that race plays a role in voting. A recent study by Harvard economics doctoral candidate Seth Stephens-Davidowitz used Google searches to detect voting bias four years ago. He compared the extent that racially charged language from 200 media markets nationwide was tied to a loss of votes for Obama: in aggregate, the racial issue translated into a drop of three to five percent of the popular vote for Obama in the 2008 election.???
The methods may be different but the message is still apparently the same: we are still far from arriving at the vaunted ideal of a postracial society.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=35655ca80a14627c1dc1aaac4338f7ed
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Pay Chen: Why I'll Live-Tweet The Bachelor Canada
"Ugh, why do you watch that?"
You've likely asked someone this before, or you've been caught watching something so trivial and trashy that you can only sputter a partial excuse.
"It's funny!"
"It's entertaining!"
"I think he's really on the show to find true love."
For many years I was able to use the excuse, "Oh, I have to watch it for work." It was true. I've worked for several television stations that air popular reality shows that people just love to hate. Some of the shows I truly hated. I hated them so much I wanted to punch my fist through the TV. I wanted to pull the girls' cheap extensions and pluck their bad gel nails off their fingers one by one. I wanted people to believe I watched the History Channel to unwind and not New York Goes to Work. Go ahead, judge me.
As someone said to me the other day, "I follow the shows so I'm not left out of the conversation." This is even more important if you're one who likes to follow live tweets of your favourite reality shows. I watched The Bachelor on my PVR once and it felt lonely. The only way to watch the show is live with my laptop and iPhone in hand. The community of like-minded women (and a few men) meet up online to collectively tear a strip into the weakest contestant. The one we pinpoint as "not there for the right reasons" or "too much drama" or "doesn't know how to match her lip liner." Because we are smarter than the guy or girl who has to filter through the spray-tanned crowd and find their soul mate. We see what they don't see and we want to call them out on their shenanigans. "DON'T PICK THAT ONE! IT WILL NEVER LAST!"
When I was in junior high, my friend and I would call each other and watch Another World together over the phone. It was just so much better than talking about it the next day as we teased our hair between classes.
Think you can watch your show a week later and not come across a spoiler telling you who was voted off, didn't lose enough weight or who was sent home during the most dramatic rose ceremony ever? Good luck. Being online during my favourite reality shows is the only way I'll watch them.
A good friend of mine (who is not on Twitter) couldn't understand why I would do this. "You tweet during the show?!" Yes! And some shows know how badly we want in and you can interact with the contestants, the judges, the hair and makeup person LIVE! Include us! Make us feel a part of the show! Make me feel my 140 characters really, really matters.
Most of these shows are American, so will more people jump online when the future of a fellow Canadian is at stake? When the Canadian version of The Bachelor hits the air this fall and your hairdresser's cousin's co-worker's son's teacher is on the show, will you be watching? I will. And with my team of real and pretend online friends, we'll have plenty to say.
?
Follow Pay Chen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PayChen
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pay-chen/the-bachelor-canada_b_1236812.html
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Durables orders up, job market still healing (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? New orders for manufactured goods rose in December and a gauge of future business investment rebounded, while new claims for jobless benefits rose only moderately last week, suggesting the labor market was still healing.
Durable goods orders climbed 3.0 percent, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. Economists had forecast orders rising 2.0 percent.
Durable goods range from toasters to big-ticket items like aircraft which are meant to last three years and more.
Orders last month were buoyed by 5.5 percent increase in bookings for transportation equipment as orders for civilian aircraft surged 18.9 percent. Boeing received 287 orders for aircraft during the month, according to the plane maker's website, up from 96 in November.
Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, advanced 2.9 percent.
Business spending, which has helped the economy to recover from the 2007-09 recession, had been showing signs of cooling but December's rebound in new orders suggested corporations might be growing more willing to invest.
"What it does tell you about going into the new year is that there's some momentum here," said Jacob Oubina, an economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.
Also, shipments of non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, which go into the calculation of gross domestic product, rose 2.9 percent after declining 1.0 percent in November.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic on jobless claims:
http://link.reuters.com/xah36s
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Investors in U.S. stock futures appeared to take little notice of the data, with prices slightly higher. U.S. Treasury debt prices pared gains modestly.
Increased consumer spending and efforts by companies to restock their shelves likely led the U.S. economy to accelerate at the end of 2011 although many economists expect some of that strength to wane early this year.
A report due Friday is expected to show the economy grew at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the previous period.
The proxy for business spending plans had dropped 1.2 percent in November and 0.9 percent in October. Economists' had expected a 1.0 percent gain last month.
Orders for motor vehicles edged up 0.6 percent. Excluding transportation, orders rose 2.1 percent.
In a separate report, Labor Department data showed new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rising last week but the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 377,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week's figure was revised up to 356,000 from the previously reported 352,000.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank could do more to help growth if the economy falters, after policymakers said interest rates would remain near zero until late 2014.
Among the darker clouds looming over the U.S. economy, Europe is still racing to contain a sovereign debt crisis that is widely seen triggering a recession in the euro zone.
Greece resumes tortuous negotiations on a debt swap with private creditors in Athens on Thursday, with the European Central Bank thrown into the mix after IMF chief Christine Lagarde said public sector holders of Greek debt may need to take losses too.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/bs_nm/us_economy
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tetris and Call of Duty top 2011's best-selling Playstation Network downloads (Digital Trends)
Sure, 2011 is in the rearview mirror, but that doesn?t mean we?re done looking back on the year. Sony recently its list of the year?s top-selling games and downloads on the PlayStation Network, and the titles on that list might surprise you ? mainly because most of them weren?t released in 2011.
There are actually two lists covering 2011?s top downloads: one for full downloadable games and one for downloads of all types (including DLC, PlayStation Minis, and anything else that can be purchased on the network).
Here?s how the lists break down:
Best-selling PSN games for 2011 (excludes PS Minis):
Tetris
Resident Evil 4
Infamous: Festival of Blood
Back to the Future: The Game ? Full Series
Dungeon Hunter: Alliance
Castle Crashers
Limbo
Battlefield 1943
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection
Magic: The Gathering ? Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
And here???s the list of the top downloads on the PSN over the course of the year:
Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike
Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation: Content Pack 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation: Content Pack 3
MLB 11 The Show Road to the Show Training Points
FIFA Soccer 12 Premium Gold Pack
Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection: Content Pack 4
Angry Birds
FUT ? Premium Gold Pack
MLB 10 The Show Road to the Show Training Points
FIFA Soccer 12 Premium Gold Jumbo
Yes, according to Sony?s list, Tetris was the best-selling game on the PSN in 2011, and Call of Duty: Black Ops accounted for four of the top six most-downloaded items on the network. It?s also worth noting that the only game on the list of the top PSN downloads was Angry Birds, a PlayStation Mini.
The FIFA and MLB franchises also accounted for multiple spots in the PSN?s top ten downloads, which offers yet another reminder of both titles? global appeal.
There?s more info on the list at Game Informer, which posted the original info from Sony.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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CouchSurfing Gets More Cash As Point Nine Capital Becomes Its First European Investor

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/g19pqSfCd9E/
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Mecom to charge for news online in new strategy (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? Loss-making European publisher Mecom is to slash costs, review assets and charge customers to access content online as it fights to revive a business hit by falling advertising sales and changing readership trends.
The group, which sold its Norwegian arm in December to cut debt, set out a new strategy Tuesday in response to what it called significant challenges to the industry.
It plans to make 70 million euros of cost savings, including an unspecified number of job cuts.
By introducing so-called pay walls on the internet Mecom will follow in the footsteps of such publications as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal in the United States and the Times and Financial Times newspapers in London.
Britain's Guardian newspaper, one of the most vocal proponents of providing free news on the internet, has also started introducing paid-for applications of late.
Mecom said it had decided to charge for online access to newspapers such as De Gelderlander as it increases its reliance on its solid subscriber base, which has maintained circulation revenues despite the economic challenges, at a time when advertising revenues continue to fall.
"We are going to face continual declines in advertising over the next three years," chief executive Tom Toumazis told reporters. "But having said that the other key revenue stream of circulation, we believe, is going to prove to be steady.
"So that plays to our strategic message which is our push in to the paid model and subscription model."
The group will introduce charges for its online content, bringing in a fee for Mecom applications on the Apple iPad and smartphones, to expand its existing 1.2 million subscriber base that already pay for print editions.
It will test different pay models on its general websites.
The group, which publishes newspapers and websites in Denmark, Poland and has its core business in the Netherlands, said its cost-cutting drive would include outsourcing support work and greater integration across the group.
Mecom, which issued a profit warning in October due to plunging consumer confidence, said it would further review its business by considering options for its Polish operations and free sheet titles, either through further investment, collaboration or divestment.
"There is a clear need for Mecom to adapt quickly to meet the challenges our industry faces," Toumazis said.
"The strategy we are announcing today will ensure greater commercial focus through a commitment to paid platforms and closer integration to capture better the strengths of the group."
Shares in the group initially opened up over 2 percent before sliding to be down 8 percent Tuesday, following a rise ahead of the statement.
Analysts generally welcomed the review and said Mecom was well placed to grow its online revenues as it already has strong relationships with readers.
"We have long identified Mecom's high level of subscription revenue as a considerable asset and are supportive of the management focusing on this as a key driver of future growth," Numis analyst Lorna Tilbian said.
"We believe the direct relationship that Mecom has with its customers means the group is in a better position than UK peers to both monetize online and generate ancillary enterprise revenues."
($1 = 0.7665 euros)
(Editing by Mark Potter)
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Japan posts first annual trade deficit since 1980 (AP)
TOKYO ? Japan reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset shortfalls caused by the devastating tsunami and manufacturers shifted production overseas to avoid the damage inflicted by the strong yen.
The 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) deficit for 2011 reflected a 2.7 percent decline in the value of Japan's exports to 65.55 trillion yen ($843 billion). In December, the trade balance was a deficit of 205.1 billion yen, according to the Ministry of Finance figures released Wednesday.
"It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy, particularly among manufacturers," said Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute. "Japan is losing its competitiveness to produce domestically."
"It's gotten difficult for manufacturers to export, so they're they've moved production abroad so that products sold outside the country are made outside the country," he said.
The yen's surge to record levels against the dollar and euro has made Japanese exports more expensive and also erodes the value of foreign earned income when brought home. Recently, Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. have shifted some of their output to factories overseas.
At the same time, Japan is facing intense competition from South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, where labor and production costs are cheaper.
Japanese manufacturers have been battered by a host of negatives in the past year. The tsunami temporarily disrupted the production of automobile makers and others. Weakness in the U.S. economy and Europe's debt problems and recent flooding in Thailand, where many Japanese automakers have assembly lines, also contributed to export declines.
Another major factor behind the figures was the impact of the expensive energy imports Japan turned to after the March disaster touched off a nuclear crisis and led the country to shut down, or not restart, a large portion of its reactors, said Martin Schulz, senior economist with the Fujitsu Research Institute.
He said pressure to import energy will continue to weigh heavily on Japan for the next year, but will subside as the country pursues greater efficiency measures.
Much of Japan's oil and natural gas is imported from the Middle East, with which Japan had a 10.88 trillion yen trade deficit last year, up 33 percent, figures showed.
Japan still has a trade surplus with the U.S., although that is shrinking. For 2011, exports exceeded imports by 4.10 trilion yen ($52.6 billion), down 8.2 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the U.S. declined 2.8 percent to 10.02 trillion yen during the year, while imports inched up 0.2 percent to 5.9 trillion.
Japan had a 1.57 trillion yen trade surplus with China for the year. A breakdown of figures showed a trade deficit with mainland China, but a big surplus with Hong Kong.
Trade with Germany was fairly balanced last year as imports grew nearly 10 percent to 1.86 trillion yen. Exports came to 1.87 trillion yen, giving Japan a relatively small trade surplus of 16 billion yen.
The turmoil in Europe and the U.S. has driven up the yen as global investors flock to the currency as a relative safe haven. The yen hit multiple historic highs against the dollar, and touched a record against the euro earlier this month as well.
The yen is trading at around 78 to the dollar recently, a level that is extremely painful for exporters. Five years ago, the dollar was trading above 120 yen.
Matsumura believes that Japan will likely log another trade deficit this year amid prospects for high energy prices and a persistently strong yen, but that renewed strength in the global and Asian regional economies could put Japan back into the black in 2013.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
New Genetic Clues to Breast Cancer? (HealthDay)
SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.
All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.
Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.
"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.
However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.
Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.
"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.
The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.
To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.
The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.
The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.
Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.
One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.
One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.
Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.
"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."
Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.
More information
For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Giants top 49ers 20-17 in OT to reach Super Bowl
New York Giants tight end Bear Pascoe, right, celebrates with tight end Jake Ballard after scoring on a six-yard touchdown pass against the San Francisco 49ers during the first half of the NFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
New York Giants tight end Bear Pascoe, right, celebrates with tight end Jake Ballard after scoring on a six-yard touchdown pass against the San Francisco 49ers during the first half of the NFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
San Francisco 49ers' Anthony Davis (76) loses his helmet as he scuffles with New York Giants' Michael Boley (59) during the first half of the NFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning throws during the first half of the NFC Championship NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
New York Giants' Henry Hynoski (45) is tackled by San Francisco 49ers' Tarell Brown (25) during the first half of the NFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? (AP) ? Eli Manning is headed to another Super Bowl with a shot to show the world he belongs in the same breath as Tom Brady.
Manning directed one short, final drive and Lawrence Tynes kicked a game-winning 31-yard field goal in sudden death overtime, sending the New York Giants to the Super Bowl with a 20-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game Sunday night.
In another tight one in this decades-old postseason rivalry, both defenses made key stops before New York capitalized on another costly mistake by San Francisco.
Manning and the Giants (12-7) will face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. The last time the teams met for the NFL title, 2008, the Giants ended the Patriots' bid for a perfect season.
Tynes got the Giants there for a second time. He kicked the game-winning field goal in overtime at Green Bay in the 2008 NFC title game that put New York in the Super Bowl on the way to the franchise's third title.
Devin Thomas put the Giants in position. He recovered his second fumble of the game after Jacquian Williams stripped the ball from fill-in return man Kyle Williams, who also fumbled earlier to set up a New York touchdown.
"It's my second NFC championship game, my second game-winner," Tynes said. "It's amazing. I had dreams about this last night. It was from 42, not 31, but I was so nervous today before the game just anticipating this kind of game. I'm usually pretty cool, but there was something about tonight where I knew I was going to have to make a kick. Hats off to Eli, offense, defense. Great win."
Manning went 32 of 58 for 316 yards and two touchdowns in his record fifth road playoff win, New York's fifth in a row overall and fifth out of six.
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'Extinct' monkey rediscovered in Borneo by new expedition
An international team of scientists has found one of the rarest and least known primates in Borneo, Miller's Grizzled Langur, a species which was believed to be extinct or on the verge of extinction. The team's findings, published in the American Journal of Primatology, confirms the continued existence of this endangered monkey and reveals that it lives in an area where it was previously not known to exist.
Miller's Grizzled Langur (Presbytis hosei canicrus) is part of the small primate genus Presbytis, found across Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the Thai-Malay Peninsula. In Borneo, P.h. canicrus is only found in a small corner of the county's north east and its habitat has suffered from fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining.
The team's expedition took to them to Wehea Forest in East Kalimantan, Borneo, a large 38,000 ha area of mostly undisturbed rainforest. Wehea contains at least nine known species of non-human primate, including the Bornean orangutan and gibbon.
"Discovery of P.h canicrus was a surprise since Wehea Forest lies outside of this monkey's known range. Future research will focus on estimating the population density for P.h. canicrus in Wehea and the surrounding forest," said Brent Loken, from Simon Fraser University Canada. "Concern that the species may have gone extinct was first raised in 2004, and a search for the monkey during another expedition in 2008 supported the assertion that the situation was dire."
By conducting observations at mineral licks where animals congregate and setting up camera traps in several locations, the expedition confirmed that P. h canicrus continues to survive in areas west of its previously recorded geographic range. The resulting photos provide the first solid evidence demonstrating that its geographic range extends further than previously thought.
"It was a challenge to confirm our finding as there are so few pictures of this monkey available for study," said Loken. "The only description of Miller's Grizzled Langur came from museum specimens. Our photographs from Wehea are some of the only pictures that we have of this monkey."
"East Kalimantan can be a challenging place to conduct research, given the remoteness of many remaining forested areas, so it isn't surprising that so little is known about this primate," said Dr. Stephanie Spehar, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. "We are very grateful to our local partners. This discovery represents the hard work, dedication, and collaboration of Western and Indonesian scientists, students, NGOs, as well as local communities and government."
"While our finding confirms the monkey still exists in East Kalimantan, there is a good chance that it remains one of the world's most endangered primates," concluded Loken. "I believe it is a race against time to protect many species in Borneo. It is difficult to adopt conservation strategies to protect species when we don't even know the extent of where they live. We need more scientists in the field working on understudied species such as Miller's Grizzled Langur, clouded leopards and sun bears."
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Thanks to Wiley-Blackwell for this article.
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Elton John's Husband Backtracks On Madonna Statements
David Furnish says his comments about Madge's Golden Globes win were 'blown way out of proportion.'
By Jocelyn Vena
Madonna
Photo: Steve Granitz/ WireImage
Consider that Elton John/Madonna score even, for now. After John's husband, David Furnish, made some off-the-cuff comments about Madge's Golden Globes win last weekend, he is issuing a statement about it, offering up a mea culpa of sorts.
"Wow! What a tempest in a teapot. My comments regarding The Golden Globes have been blown way out of proportion," he said on his Facebook page. The trouble started when the Queen of Pop nabbed the trophy for Best Original Song for her "W.E." track, "Masterpiece," and Furnish had some choice words for her at the time. She had been up against John and his "Gnomeo & Juliet" track, "Hello Hello."
"Madonna. Best Song???? F--- off!!!" he wrote on Facebook at the time. "Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism. And her criticism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is." (Gaga is godmother to Furnish and John's son.)
Well, with nearly a week behind him, it seems that Furnish has changed his tune. "My passion for our film 'Gnomeo & Juliet' and belief in Elton's song really got my emotional juices going," he said. "But I must say for the record that I do believe Madonna is a great artist, and that Elton and I wish her all the best for next week's premiere of the film 'W.E.' "
With that feud behind her, Madonna now seems poised to redirect the attention back to her many forthcoming projects, including the February release of "W.E," which she wrote and directed, her Super Bowl performance, her music video for her M.I.A./Nicki Minaj-assisted "Gimme All Your Luvin," as well as the spring release of her album M.D.N.A.
Were David Furnish's comments about Madonna justified? Sound off below!
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677597/madonna-elton-john-husband.jhtml
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Homeless NY science whiz getting $50K scholarship (AP)
BRENTWOOD, N.Y. ? The accolades continue for a homeless New York teen who's a semifinalist in a prestigious national science contest.
Brentwood High School senior Samantha Garvey will appear in a broadcast of "Ellen" airing Thursday.
NBC New York television ( http://bit.ly/xC7Tql) says talk show host Ellen DeGeneres will present the 18-year-old with a $50,000 scholarship from AT&T to the college of her choice.
Since Garvey's story gained national attention, her family has been offered a home by Long Island officials. It's now being renovated.
She's already been invited to watch President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Jan. 24 as a guest of U.S. Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island.
Last week, Garvey was named one of 300 semifinalists in the Intel science contest. She hopes to be a marine biologist.
___
Information from: WNBC-TV, http://www.wnbc.com
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Myanmar president says no turning back on reforms (AP)
YANGON, Myanmar ? Myanmar's president has told a U.S. newspaper that his country's democratic reforms are irreversible, as he urged the West to lift sanctions. He even dangled the possibility of giving opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi a Cabinet post.
"We are on the right track to democracy," President Thein Sein said in the interview with The Washington Post published Friday, his first with Western media. "Because we are on the right track, we can only move forward, and we don't have any intention to draw back."
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy responded to the newspaper report by saying it would be too early for the U.S. and its allies to lift economic sanctions because the reforms aren't complete yet. It also welcomed the notion of a Cabinet post for Suu Kyi, while saying it was too early to discuss the matter.
Thein Sein's government took office in March, ending a half century of military rule. Since then, it has rolled out reforms at a pace that has surprised even Myanmar's staunchest critics.
Thein Sein said he felt his government had met the West's conditions for lifting sanctions by releasing many political prisoners, scheduling parliamentary elections for April 1 and allowing Suu Kyi among others to participate.
"What is needed from the Western countries is for them to do their part," he said.
Thein Sein repeatedly called for the lifting of severe economic sanctions that the U.S., European Union and others imposed while Myanmar was under military rule. He said the sanctions hurt the people of Myanmar much more than the former junta leaders and were holding back the country's economic progress.
The U.S. and European Union have praised the recent reforms but said they will monitor how the April vote is conducted, among other considerations, before revising sanctions.
Suu Kyi has said she will personally contest the elections, a historic event that could usher the Nobel laureate and former political prisoner into her first parliamentary seat.
"If the people vote for her, she will be elected and become a member of Parliament. I am sure that the Parliament will warmly welcome her. This is our plan," Thein Sein said.
Asked if he would like to see Suu Kyi in his government, Thein Sein replied: "If one has been appointed or agreed on by the Parliament, we will have to accept that she becomes a Cabinet minister."
Nyan Win, the spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, said it was premature to speak of a Cabinet post but that Suu Kyi "is a very capable leader and she could take any leading position." He also said it was too early to lift sanctions.
"We acknowledge that reforms have been made in the country and we welcome the reforms. However, we don't consider the reforms complete yet," Nyan Win said.
After a recent visit to Myanmar, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said he would take his cue on lifting sanctions from Suu Kyi. He said a key test would be free and fair conduct of April 1 elections. He also sought more moves to end ethnic violence, and for Myanmar to discontinue its relationship with North Korea, which is suspected to have sold it missiles in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Some in the U.S. Congress maintain that there is ongoing nuclear cooperation between the two countries.
Thein Sein said the two countries have diplomatic relations but denied any military ties with North Korea.
"These are only allegations," he said. "We don't have any nuclear or weapons cooperation with (North Korea)."
Thein Sein said that the government was committed to ending the country's long-running ethnic conflicts and was currently communicating with all armed ethnic groups. Cease-fire pacts have been signed with some, including the Karen.
"Soon we will try to achieve an eternal peace in country. However, this will require time," he said.
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Friday, January 20, 2012
'The Help' leads NAACP Image Award nominees
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "The Help" has been served eight Image Award nominations.
The adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel about black maids speaking out about their white employers during the civil rights movement led the 43rd annual NAACP Image Awards nominations Thursday. It's competing for outstanding motion picture against "Jumping the Broom," ''Pariah," ''The First Grader" and "Tower Heist."
The medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" and football sitcom "The Game" ruled the TV categories with six nominations each.
Beyonce and Jill Scott both received four nominations in the music categories. They'll vie against Jennifer Hudson, Ledisi and Mary J. Blige for the outstanding female artist trophy.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Image Awards honor diversity in the arts and will be presented Feb. 17 on NBC.
Associated PressThe Nike+ FuelBand measures activity in NikeFuel, ready for your NikeLife
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