Dubai Property Crash 2009

What goes up will go down. For the past few days, more gloomy news about the meltdown of Dubai Properties market emerged and the crisis seems to be just getting started. Dubai aggressive and lavish construction sector is grinning to a halt. And that worried a lot of people. Credit financiers such the CitiGroup are now greatly exposed. Thousand of Asian labourers lose their jobs overnight and are forced to return home. The man behind Dubai properties and construction boom is now losing his credibility and image. Overall, this crisis is a bad business for everyone.

CNN: Shifting sands for Dubai's property dream

For the past decade, Dubai has been home to the greatest concentration of cranes anywhere in the world as billions of tonnes of concrete, steel and glass have refashioned the city skyline.

But the rapid growth of the past six years has slowed recently due to the global slump in property prices.

Hopes of a recovery have now been further imperiled by the news that the state-owned Dubai World has requested to delay paying its massive debts by six months.

Dubai has become a playground for architects as well as millionaires commissioning a string of audacious building projects aimed at helping reposition the city as the financial and cultural hub of the Middle East. Billions of dollars have been spent transforming the landscape, erecting buildings which continue to break records of all dimensions.

The Burj Dubai -- at 818 meter the world's tallest skyscraper, the vast Palm Jumeirah -- built on land reclaimed from the sea, the Dubai Mall -- the largest shopping center in the world and the Mall of the Emirates; home to the world's biggest indoor ski slope form part of a very long list of completed construction projects.

Some of these projects, like the Burj Dubai, suffer from a severe lack of practicality.

Dubai doesn't really need to have to build tall asides from prestige purposes. If you look at it, it's a really bad idea. It uses as much electricity as an entire city. And every time the toilet is flushed they've got to pump water half a mile into the sky.

Reuters: UAE markets dive on Dubai debt woes

United Arab Emirates stocks dived on Monday as investors waited for clarity on Dubai's plan to delay repaying billions of dollars in debt and government word on how it would tackle a crisis that has rattled global markets.

Dubai raised fears of a second bout of financial turmoil last week when it asked for a six-month repayment freeze on debt issued by state conglomerate Dubai World and its unit Nakheel, developer of three palm-shaped islands.

CNN Money: Dubai's threat to U.S. banks

The news that the sovereign wealth fund of Dubai requested a postponement of billions of dollars of debt this week could pose a big problem for U.S. banks.

The state-run investment company, Dubai World, owes about $60 billion. It rang up much of that in a building boom that included the world's tallest skyscraper and the Palm Islands in the Persian Gulf, settlements shaped like palm trees.

New York-based Citigroup has the most exposure to default risk at Dubai World, which a J.P. Morgan equity research note estimated at $1.9 billion.

TIME: The Lesson of Dubai: The Crisis Is Not Over

As we reach the end of a miserable 2009, signs continue to mount across the globe that the world economy is stirring back to life. The U.S. finally returned to growth in the third quarter, with its strongest showing in two years, India posted inspiring 7.9% growth and the results out of tiny Taiwan, one of the economies slammed the hardest by the global recession, were so impressive one economist beamed that the island "got its groove on." Stock markets, aside from a downward blip here and there, have generally been buoyant. During this season of Thanksgiving and holiday cheer, there seems to be good reason to give thanks and be cheerful.

Or maybe not. The worst of the crisis is almost certainly behind us, but that doesn't mean the crisis is over. Lying ahead are a slew of unresolved problems, policy challenges and, no doubt, further surprises. Unemployment remains a serious global issue, and may yet get worse; excess capacity left over from the boom years haunts the recovery; and the drastic stimulus programs utilized to fight the recession are creating a new menu of potential troubles.

That was made clear on Nov. 25 when the city-state of Dubai shocked the global investment community by asking creditors of its main corporate arm, ports-and-property conglomerate Dubai World, for a six-month payment standstill on its almost $60 billion of liabilities. The surprise hit stock markets in Asia and the U.S., while sending investors scrambling for safe havens like the U.S. dollar. Experts have since engaged in a rabid round of speculation over what the Dubai debt crisis might mean for the world economy. Some see the problem as little more than a big real estate bust.

SMH: Dubai shakes and the world shares its pain

The move to delay payments on billions of dollars of debt has embarrassed neighbouring Abu Dhabi and caused a crisis of confidence across the world, write Richard Spencer and Edmund Conway.

We already knew that, long before it announced last week that it wanted to delay payments on billions of dollars of debts owed by its Dubai World (DW) state holding company. But the trouble caused by a collapse in the property market put the city on a par with other states around the globe. This announcement was of a different order. It damaged the credibility of the city's government and, by extension, the United Arab Emirates as a whole. That is what is of concern to the Presidential Palace's occupant, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, overseer of Abu Dhabi's oil and sovereign wealth funds, ruler of the city and President of the UAE.

For months, when foreign journalists mocked the deserted, vainglorious building sites, Dubai's rulers accused them of mounting a vendetta against an Arab city that had dared to be ambitious. At briefings, questions about the city's development model were contemptuously glossed over. No real mistakes had been made. Dubai was pulling through. The skyscrapers would be finished.

In many senses, Dubai's problems - high debt, over-speculation, a rapidly-deflating housing boom - are reflected across the Anglo-Saxon world and beyond. Whether or not the emirate defaults on its debt, the drama has underlined the fact that a swathe of countries - from Japan, Greece and Italy to Britain - suffer an immense public debt burden which will have to be repaid over the coming years.

It was for this reason that, in the wake of the Dubai news, the credit default swaps which signify the risk of certain countries defaulting jumped sharply higher.

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SEO suicide by de-indexing from Google

Rupert Murdoch has spent months complaining that Google is ruining the newspaper business (just because Google is now paying them), and now he wants to do something about it. But, his proposal is a gamble, and one that could hurt News Corp instead of helping it. It is going to be a web suicide? Most SEO experts would think so. Read also News Corp to de-index contents from Google

Murdoch is considering removing News Corp's news from Google's Web search results, and is talking to Microsoft Corp about listing the stories with its Bing search engine instead. Microsoft would pay for the privilege, sources have told Reuters, but it was not clear how much.

If Murdoch pulled this off, he will likely be followed by other newspaper publishers looking for ways to make money when all the old ones are waning in the digital age.

Newspaper owners resent Google because the Internet company makes money from the advertisements that it displays next to news search results.

News Corp's proposal is a way to get a cut of the action. Risks include destroying ad revenue most news websites depend on if traffic goes down because Google users can't find the stories. It's also not clear how regulators would feel about such a move.

"You're immediately cutting off audience," said Jeff Jarvis, media blogger and author of the book "What Would Google Do?"

Google brings as much as 14 percent of incoming traffic to News Corp's U.S. news websites, including the New York Post and Fox News, Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay estimated.

If News Corp blocked access to Google, he wrote in a note to investors, it would hurt only News Corp.

Many people find their news on Google, which has 65 percent of the U.S. search market according to comScore. Newspaper publishers whose websites depend on advertising sales want lots of visitors, and need Google to supply them.

Google provides news organizations about 100,000 clicks a minute, said company spokesman Gabriel Stricker. "Each of those visits offers a business opportunity for the publishers to show ads, win loyal readers and sell subscriptions," he said.

Making Microsoft's Bing search engine the only way to look for news would slice away visitors and lower the amount of money news websites could charge advertisers.

There is little chance people will abandon Google, which has become such a giant that its name is also a verb.

"Consumers do not expect search engines to be exclusive," Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk wrote. "If they can't find something through search, it may as well not exist."

WEB SUICIDE?

Microsoft declined to comment, but in theory would like partnering with News Corp to increase Bing's share of the lucrative search advertising market at Google's expense. Microsoft had a 10 percent share of the U.S. search market in September, according to comScore.

Some shareholders worry Microsoft might pay more money to News Corp and publishers than the privilege is worth.

"I don't want Microsoft to throw a lot of money toward News Corp, and I don't know why News Corp would do this to themselves," said Kim Caughey, senior analyst at investment fund Fort Pitt Capital Group, which holds Microsoft shares.

There could also well be U.S. government scrutiny over an exclusive deal between News Corp and Microsoft, or any sort of joint action by news publishers, at the expense of other Internet companies or consumers.

News Corp declined to comment, and sources close to the discussions emphasized talks so far are ideas, nothing more. Nine of the largest U.S. newspaper publishers also refused to comment.

Other U.S. publishers, if they joined in, would feel more pain because they are far smaller than News Corp and depend on ad sales more than anything else, analysts said.

"It's nothing short of suicidal," Jarvis said.

Risking suicide might not seem so crazy to publishers. Many people say they face creeping death as readers drop print subscriptions and ad revenue falls.

As many deal with looming piles of debt, they must consider some radical moves after laying off thousands of workers.

"They cannot survive at the scale they are accustomed to online unless they can find a new economic model," said Tom Rosenstiel, head of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

"If it works, Google might say, 'wait a second, it's very important for us to maintain our market share of search'," he said. "Google has an interest in the news industry surviving."

CARTEL

Betting on that is risky.

"The only way such a strategy would hurt Google in our view is if all of the major newspapers and the major news sources including the AP and Reuters were to agree to a watertight cartel," Lindsay wrote in his Bernstein note.

Jarvis agreed. "It would be a mosquito bite on the elephant's butt," he said.

Also, consumers could complain about media companies choking off access to news, something that would spark ire from Congress to the White House, analysts said.

It could carry the whiff of collusion among news outlets to fix prices, something publishers fear being accused of.

"None of this sounds to me to be pro-competitive or efficient," said David Balto of the Center for American Progress, a former Federal Trade Commission policy director.

One possible outcome of News Corp threatening to drop Google could be detente: a common way for publishers to get paid for news that search engines from Google to Yahoo make available to readers, said Outsell analyst Ken Doctor.

"I don't think the endgame for anybody here is to expect that Google's going to get turned off... although you never know," he said.

Susan Boyle fastest selling album in Britain for 2009

The debut album of Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who shot to fame on TV talent show "Britain's Got Talent," has become the fastest selling album in Britain this year. So Can "SuBo" deliver the goods? Looks like her album will delivers, at least in Britain.

Entering the music charts in the top spot on Sunday, Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" sold more than 410,000 copies -- the biggest first week sales for a debut album in UK chart history, the Official Charts Company said.

This month, the Sony Music record became the largest global CD pre-order in the 14-year history of Amazon.com.

The dowdy 48-year-old church volunteer, whose audition has been viewed more than 300 million times online since it was broadcast in April, has become a sensation worldwide, appearing on top U.S. chat shows such as Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey.

"Susan Boyle's achievement is quite phenomenal," said Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company.

"After all of the excitement surrounding her appearance on 'Britain's Got Talent,' everyone expected her to make a big impact when she released her first music -- but to arrive with such a bang is exceptional."

The album has also topped the Australian and Irish charts and is also set to be No. 1 in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, Sony Corp's Sony Music said on Sunday.

Boyle, who was signed by music impresario Simon Cowell, also appeared in the UK singles chart with a cover of The Rolling Stone's hit "Wild Horses," which debuted at No. 9.

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African albinos are being discriminated

As many as 10,000 albinos are in hiding in east Africa over fears that they will be dismembered and their body parts sold to witchdoctors, the Red Cross said in a recent report. Read also Tanzania Albino Victim Of Witchcrafts

The killings of albinos in Burundi and Tanzania, who are targeted because their body parts are believed to have special powers, have sparked fears among the population in the two countries, the report said.

Body parts of albinos are sought in some regions of Africa because they are believed to bring wealth and good luck. Attackers chop off limbs and pluck out organs to sell to dealers, who in turn sell them to witchdoctors.

Scores of albinos have fled to Tanzanian schools for the disabled or in emergency shelters set up by police in Burundi to avoid attacks, according to the report.

"Thousands more albinos across a huge swathe of countryside ... are unable to move freely to trade, study or cultivate fields for fear of albino hunters," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Tanzanian government officials have said they are mobilizing police to help the embattled population, but admit it is hard to quell the attacks.

Most happen in rural areas, where there is not enough police presence, according to Lucca Haule, assistant commissioner of police.

"We don't have the resources in those places ... it is not easy, but we are trying to map out locations where albinos live so that we can better protect them," he told CNN earlier this month.

In early November, a court sentenced four people to death in northern Tanzania for killing an albino man and selling his body parts. So far, seven people have been sentenced to death for the killing of more than 50 Tanzanian albinos, including children, in the past two years, Haule said. Dozens more are awaiting trial.

Albinism is a genetic condition that leads to little or no pigment in the eyes, skin and hair.

African albinos are discriminated against and face segregation most of their lives. They also battle a high risk of skin cancer.

The aid agency said it is helping albinos find indoor employment by teaching them skin care tips, including using protective hats and long-sleeved shirts.

"Even before the killings began two years ago, albino people in tropical Africa suffered an array of afflictions that made physical survival a desperate struggle," said Salif Keita, a Malian albino singer and human rights activist.

The Red Cross societies in both countries said they need support to respond to the humanitarian crisis.

Since 2007, at least 44 Tanzanian albinos have been killed and 14 in Burundi. Some organizations have put the number at more than 50 in Tanzania.

Top 10 Fattest Countries in the world

If you tend to pack on a few pounds over the holidays, blame it on globalization. As the world has grown smaller, we've all grown larger -- alarmingly so. In countries around the world, waistlines are expanding so rapidly that health experts recently coined a term for the epidemic: globesity.

The common fat-o-meter among nations is body mass index (BMI), a calculation based on a person's height and weight. The World Health Organization defines "overweight" as an individual with a BMI of 25 or more and "obese" as someone with a BMI of 30 or higher. Yes, it's a big world after all:

1) American Samoa, 93.5 percent (of population that's overweight)

Traditionally, Pacific Islanders ate native foods high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat, such as bananas, yams, taro root, coconut and fish. Since World War II, an explosion of obesity on the islands has corresponded with a rise in migration to the U.S., New Zealand, France and Australia. That began to change dietary habits as family members abroad introduced those back home to Western eating and sent money home, giving locals the means to buy more food. Today, this six-island nation in the South Pacific Ocean tops the scales as one of the fattest in the world.

2) Kiribati, 81.5 percent

Between 1964 and 2001, food imports to the least developed Pacific nations, such as Kiribati, which comprises 33 islands clustered around the equator, increased six-fold, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, a United Nations agency established to fight world hunger. Those imports led to a huge influx in fatty food and processed meat, such as Spam and mutton flaps (fatty sheep scraps), often sold at lower prices than native food.

3) U.S., 66.7 percent

In the early 1960s, 24 percent of Americans were overweight. Today, two-thirds of Americans are too fat, and the numbers on the scale keep going up. Health experts attribute the rise to an over-production of oil, fat and sugar -- the result of government farm subsidies started in the 1970s that made it much cheaper to manufacture products like high fructose corn syrup, a common ingredient in processed foods. "On top of that, investment policies changed in the early 1980s to require corporations to report growth to Wall Street every 90 days," said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University and author of the book "Food Politics." "This made food companies seek new ways to market to the public. Obesity was collateral damage."

4) Germany, 66.5 percent

When Germany found out that it was the fattest nation in Europe, health experts blamed the usual suspects: beer, fatty foods and lack of physical activity. Like the rest of the world, Germans are suffering from an easy availability of junk food and more sedentary jobs and lifestyles. As part of the government's campaign to reduce obesity levels by 2020, it has launched programs to serve more fruits and vegetables in public schools.

5) Egypt, 66 percent

In the 1960s, Egypt produced enough food to feed its people a steady diet of red meat, poultry, lentils, maize and dairy products. But by the 1980s, the population had outgrown food production, leading to an increase in food imports that created poorer eating habits. Obesity among Egyptian women is particularly high, often attributed to cultural taboos on women exercising or playing sports. Read also Egypt first to apply for Arabic Internet domain name

6) Bosnia-Herzegovina, 62.9 percent

Once considered a problem only in high-income countries, obesity is dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries like Bosnia-Herzegovina, where smoking, drinking and eating unhealthy foods spiked during the war that ravaged the country from 1992 to 1995. Those living just above the poverty line in developing countries are gaining weight the fastest, partly because of the tendency to fill up on cheap processed foods high in calories and low on nutritional value.

7) New Zealand, 62.7 percent

In a study at the University of Otago, researchers found that how much time New Zealand children spend watching television is a better predictor of obesity than what they eat or how much they exercise. The study found that 41 percent of the children who were overweight by age 26 were those who had watched the most TV. Television is not the only reason New Zealanders are gaining weight, but it's one modern development often cited for growing childhood obesity. Read also Air New Zealand Staff Goes Naked In Ads

8) Israel, 61.9 percent

In the past 30 years, the number of obese Israelis has tripled, evidence the country is truly part of the Western world. Like in most developed countries, flab is most prevalent among Israelis with less education, with Jewish women with college degrees having the lowest levels of obesity and Arab women with basic education having the highest. Read also Not so cool facts about Israel World records

9) Croatia, 61.4 percent

Croatia, where cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death, is also a victim of the globalization of the food market, which tends to suppress traditional diets as cheaper processed foods from the U.S. and Europe flood store shelves. Unlike other Europeans, Croatian men have higher rates of obesity than Croatian women, and tend to get even fatter as they age. It's no wonder that a Croatian charity announced in June that it had created the world's largest pair of jeans -- the size of six tennis courts -- stitched together from 8,023 donated pairs of jeans.

10) United Kingdom, 61 percent

Last month, The Observer begrudgingly reported that the heaviest man in the world was not in the U.S., but a 48-year-old Brit living in low-incoming housing in Ipswich "eating takeaways and playing computer games." His weight: 980 pounds. British bellies are expanding for the same reasons as everywhere else. A recent survey, however, ranked Brits among the bottom third of European nations in physical exercise, leading Health Secretary Andy Burnham to comment, "We're really in danger of being known as the best in the world for watching sport, but one of the worst for getting out there and doing it for ourselves."

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Avient Aviation cargo plane crashes in Pudong, China

A Zimbabwe cargo plane crashed as it took off Saturday from Shanghai's Pudong International Airport, killing three crew members, a government official said. The three people who died were among seven crew members on the plane, according to Xinhua news agency.

The official Xinhua News Agency cited Shanghai's municipal information office as saying three people died. A man answering the phone there confirmed the deaths and said one other crew member was seriously injured, with the other three slightly hurt.

Xinhua cited health officials as saying two of the seven crew were from the United States and Indonesia, while the nationalities of the remaining staff had not yet been identified.

China Central Television said the plane's tail struck the ground on takeoff, and an airport warehouse also caught fire in the crash. The report showed billowing thick black smoke at the scene, with police officers blocking closer access.

A reporter from Shanghai's Oriental Satellite Television told CCTV the tail of the plane broke in two or three parts, and hundreds of firefighters were spraying fire retardants on the plane.

The crash occurred at 7:40 a.m., Xinhua said. The plane, which was headed to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, veered off the runway and burst into flames.

The plane was operated by Zimbabwe-based Avient Aviation, Xinhua said.

Calls to the Zimbabwe Embassy in Beijing went unanswered Saturday.

More than 30 international flights were delayed, leaving about 4,000 travelers stranded on planes or in airport lounges, Xinhua said. CCTV said two runways at the airport were shut down.

Shanghai is China's largest city and its economic capital. The Pudong airport is located on the eastern edge of the city, by the East China Sea.

In June 2008, two Chinese air force jets collided in Inner Mongolia, with both pilots parachuting to safety.

In June 2006, a Chinese military plane crashed in eastern China's Anhui province, killing all 40 people aboard.

Making $14 million in 24 hours

What does it take to raise $14 million dollars in one day? A lot of Minnesotans, Tonic reports. Minnesota nonprofit fundraising campaign, GiveMN challenged individuals and 50 nonprofits to "Give To The Max Day" on November 17, and 38,778 donors took the organization at its word. The millions of dollars will be donated to more than 3,000 community organizations within the state.

Beth Kanter, a blogger on nonprofit and social media topics and a visiting scholar at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, told the Minneapolis-St.Paul Star-Tribune that she was amazed by the donation numbers. "I'm sitting here with my jaw dropping," she said. "You had a critical mass, a good strategy ... and a very charitable state. You've set the bar."

Andal Ampatuan Jr charged over Maguindanao massacre

Philippines authorities have filed murder charges against a politician over the massacre of 57 unarmed civilians in the Philippines. Andal Ampatuan Jr, who is the mayor of the town of Datu Unsayalso and the son of a Philippines provincial governor, had voluntarily turned himself in for questioning Thursday.

It was not immediately clear how many murder charges Ampatuan would face in Monday's massacre in Maguindanao province, in the southern Philippines.

Five other people believed to be connected to the massacre were also being prosecuted, the state-run Philippines News Agency reported.

This group includes three police officers, the agency reported.

The government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was under intense pressure to find those responsible for planning and carrying out the abduction and killing of the group of journalists, lawyers and a politician's family members.

Suspicion had fallen on the Ampatuan family, key allies of the Arroyo administration in the Maguindanao region of southern Mindanao province.

The massacre is the worst politically motivated violence in recent Philippine history, the news agency said.

On Monday morning, a group of about 100 gunmen stopped a convoy carrying supporters and family members of politician Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu, witnesses and officials say.

Mangudadatu had sent his wife and sisters to file paperwork allowing him to run for governor of Maguindanao in May after he had been threatened and told not to file the papers himself. He said the threats came from allies of Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, the father of the accused mayor.

The exact number of those kidnapped and killed was still unclear, as recovery continued at a mass grave site in Maguindanao.

USB 3.0 speed comparison

What is USB 3.0 (aka. SuperSpeed USB)? USB 3.0 is the next major revision of the ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus, created in 1996 by a consortium of companies led by Intel to dramatically simplify the connection between host computer and peripheral devices.

Fast forwarding to 2009, USB 2.0 has been firmly entrenched as the de-facto interface standard in the PC world for years (with about 6 billion devices sold), and yet still the need for more speed by ever faster computing hardware and ever greater bandwidth demands again drive us to where a couple of hundred megabits per second is just not fast enough.

Just how fast is USB 3.0?

The USB 3.0 specification guarantees an increased performance of 10 times compared to the capabilities of the current USB 2.0, providing a bandwidth of 600 MB/s second.

In comparison, USB 3.0 has a theoretical peak throughput of 5Gbps. This means that USB 3.0 is capable of transferring a 25GB file in approximately 70 seconds.

If that doesn’t warrant a shout of “whoosh!” then what does? In contrast, USB 2.0 would take around 14 minutes to perform the same task. And you’d be twiddling your thumbs for around 9 hours if you used USB 1.1.

This speed boost makes USB 3.0 ideal for the sort of large-scale file shunting we all do today, such as copying large images, MPEG-4 video clips, or making data backups to portable hard drives.

At a glance:USB 3.0

Faster: 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and six times faster than FireWire 800

Greater power efficiency: New interrupt driven protocol optimizes power management.

Better Power Output: Power output bump to 900 milliamps from 100 milliamps allows more devices to be charged faster via USB.

Backward Compatible: New connectors and cables will work with work with devices running the older USB 2.0

Pour on the Speed

The new spec will support data transfers at 4.8 gigabits per second, or Gbps, nearly 10 times faster than the current standard’s 480 megabits per second and six times faster than FireWire 800. It’s also 400 times faster than the 12 Mbps offered by the original spec, USB 1.0.

USB 2.0 is also known as "Hi-Speed USB," while USB 3.0 will have the confusingly similar moniker "SuperSpeed USB."

The new USB 3.0 connectors and devices will be compatible with older USB ports (on devices using USB 2.0 and 1.0) but they will be limited to the older ports’ slower speeds.

Performance comparison: Transfer of 25GB HD movie:

USB 1.1: 9.3 hours

USB 2.0: 13.9 minutes

USB 3.0: 70 seconds

Speed Table

USB1.1 = 12 Mbps
FW400 = 400 Mbps
USB2 = 480 Mbps
FW800 = 800 Mbps
SCSI160 = 1280 Mbps
SATA1 = 1500 Mbps
SCSI320 = 2560 Mbps
SATA2 = 3000 Mbps
USB3 = 4800 Mbps
HDMI1.2 = 4950 Mbps
SATA3 = 6000 Mbps
HDMI1.3 = 10200 Mbps

Internet Top 10 Moments

The birth of Wikipedia, the death of Napster, the iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter were named by the Webby Awards on Wednesday as among the top 10 internet moments of the decade.

Other events singled out by the New York-based International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences which bestows the annual Webby Awards were Iran's election protests, Craigslist's expansion and the launch of Google AdWords.

"The internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, the executive director of the Webby Awards.

"The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people," he said.

The Webby Awards list of the 10 most most influential internet moments of the decade:

- Craigslist online classified site expands outside San Francisco (2000)

- the launch of Google AdWords (2000)

- the launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia (2001)

- the shutdown of file-sharing site Napster (2001)

- Google's initial public offering (2004)

- the online video revolution led by YouTube (2006)

- Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter launches (2006)

- Apple's iPhone debuts (2007)

- the use of the internet in the US presidential campaign (2008)

- the use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests (2009)

The 14th annual Webby Awards are to be announced in April 2010. They reward excellence on the internet in a number of categories including news and other websites, interactive advertising and online film and video.

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$28 trillion loss due to sea level rise

A possible rise in sea levels by 0.5 meters by 2050 could put at risk more than $28 trillion worth of assets in the world's largest coastal cities, according to a report compiled for the insurance industry. This does not include the displacement of millions of population near the low lying coastal areas such as Bangladesh.

The value of infrastructure exposed in so-called "port mega-cities," urban conurbations with more than 10 million people, is just $3 trillion at present.

The rise in potential losses would be a result of expected greater urbanization and increased exposure of this greater population to catastrophic surge events occurring once every 100 years caused by rising sea levels and higher temperatures.

The report, released on Monday by WWF and financial services Allianz, concludes that the world's diverse regions and ecosystems are close to temperature thresholds -- or "tipping points."

Any one of these surge events could unleash devastating environmental, social and economic changes amid a higher urban population.

According to the report, carried out by the UK-based Tyndall Centre, the impacts of passing "Tipping Points" on the livelihoods of people and economic assets have been underestimated.

Global temperatures have already risen by at least 0.7 degrees Celsius and the report says a further rise by 2-3 degrees in the second half of the century is likely unless deep cuts in emissions are put in place before 2015.

The consequent melting of the Greenland and the West Antarctic Ice Shield could lead to one such tipping point scenario, possibly a sea level rise of up to 0.5 meters by 2050.

The report focuses on regions and phenomena where such events might be expected to cause significant environmental impacts within the first half of the century.

For example a hurricane in New York, which could cost $1 trillion now, would mean a $5 trillion insurance bill by the middle of the century, the report adds.

"If we don't take immediate action against climate change, we are in grave danger of disruptive and devastating changes," said Kim Carstensen, the Head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.

"Reaching a tipping point means losing something forever. This must be a strong argument for world leaders to agree a strong and binding climate deal in Copenhagen in December."

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Ads Clickers vs Non-Clickers

Ever wonders the comparison between Clickers and Non-Clickers of the Internet advertisement? Only 2% of Internet users actually pay for 100% of Internet Content. A pathetic figure I must say. Only two in 100 people who browse the Internet actually click on the advertisements that fund websites, according to a new report by online ad network Chitika.

The study, based on the actions of 86 million Internet users over a two-week period, helps illustrate the value of an individual “clicker,” and the vast business potential that remains untapped for website owners and advertisers alike.

During a two-week period in October, Chitika monitored ad clicks of a sample of 86,683,507 anonymous individuals throughout their 60,000+ publisher network to determine what percentage could be classified as “clickers.” During the two weeks focused on for this study, 1,863,710 of the anonymous individuals actually clicked on an ad at least once, for a 2.15% “clicker” rate.

Chitika has long championed the idea of knowing when not to show ads, claiming that by being able to accurately predict a user’s likelihood to click, the online advertising world can become at once less intrusive and more effective. Replacing old-media theories of advertising to demographics with predictive targeting towards the people most likely to act on an ad appears more and more viable with improving technology, and can go a long way towards helping online advertising dominate its traditional media counterparts.
Thus, knowing that the Clickers percentage is so low, the only sensible course of action to increase your online income is to increase the traffics to your blog or website and only to show relevant ads.

McDonald's going green

McDonald's is going green - swapping its traditional red backdrop for a deep hunter green - to promote a more eco-friendly image in Europe. To me, it is not all about eco-friendly image as McDonald's is actually taking a risk on their change to their corporate branding or identity. Most folks are very familiar with their yellow and red color. So how would those folks react to the change in McDonald's logo identity? Would the new color boost McDonald's sale?

About 100 German McDonald's restaurants will make the change by the end of 2009, the company said in a statement Monday.

Above: Green McDonald's Signage

Some franchises in Great Britain and France have already started using the new color scheme behind their Golden Arches.

"This is not only a German initiative but a Europe-wide initiative," Martin Nowicki, McDonald's Germany spokesman, told The Associated Press.


Above: Original McDonald's Signage

The Oak Brook, Illinois-based burger behemoth has more than 32,000 restaurants in 118 countries and has long been targeted by activists as being environmentally unfriendly.

The company has warmed to "greener" practices, including environmentally friendly refrigeration and converting used oil into biodiesel fuel.

"With this new appearance we want to clarify our responsibility for the preservation of natural resources. In the future we will put an even larger focus on that," Hoger Beek, vice chairman of McDonald's Germany, said in the statement.

At least some environmental activists weren't swayed by the new color scheme.

Clare Oxborrow, a food campaigner with U.K.-based activist group Friends of the Earth, said McDonald's "relies on factory-farmed animals that have been fed on imported animal feed that's been grown on deforested land."

McDonald's says it takes steps to ensure it does not source feed from recently deforested areas, but Oxborrow suggested that McDonald's business model was environmentally unsound.

She said in an e-mail that the meat and diary industry that fills the fast food giant's buns "produces more climate-changing emissions than all the world's transport."

What changes would you anticipate for McDonald’s brand identity, and products, were the Golden Arches displayed upon a background of green rather than their current red, knowing that McDonald's will still burns more oil?

EXTRA:
Did you know that Yahoo yielded about 13,900,000 results for the term "McDonald's going green". Google produced at least 1,510,000 results for the term "McDonald's going green" while Bing generates 9,250,000 results for the term "McDonald's going green".

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三聚氰胺执行丑闻

还记得在2008年三聚氰胺恐慌？ 2009年1月，一中法院判处两名男子死刑的作用，在生产和销售的三聚氰胺毒奶粉（或假奶）。在上周二，罪犯被执行死刑，为他们在毒奶粉丑闻，造成至少6名婴儿，大约30万人，国营，生病媒体报道的一部分。

章吁峻是为危害公共安全和耿金平执行的是生产和销售有毒食品，新华社报道说，处决。编辑：最后报告中提到，兄弟章吁皲言章，张被判处死刑，但现在的新闻媒体表示，这是章吁皲和耿金平谁得到了子弹。

公式的污染揭发在2008年9月后，几个婴儿，下降至饮用含有三聚氰胺配方生病。三聚氰胺通常用于涂料，层压板，木材粘合剂，织物涂料，天花板和阻燃剂。一些中国乳品厂添加了化学品的奶类制品，使他们似乎有较高的蛋白质水平。

的毒奶粉造成肾结石，在数十万儿童泌尿系统的问题。

在22日中国乳品生产商，使得该公式表示愿意赔偿受害者家属。

总之，21人被审判，被判处1月在丑闻中的作用，新华社报道。其中，张耿被判处死刑，大多数人接受了至少15年监禁。

Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping Excuted For Melamine Scandal

Remember the Melamine panic in 2008? In January 2009, a Chinese court sentenced two men to death for their role in the production and sale of melamine-tainted milk (or fake milk). And on Tuesday, the culprits were executed for their part in a tainted milk scandal that killed at least six babies and sickened about 300,000 others, state-run media reported.

Zhang Yujun was executed for endangering public safety and Geng Jinping was executed for producing and selling toxic food, the Xinhua news agency said. BlogTatic: Last report mentioned that brothers Zhang Yujun and Zhang Yanzhang were sentenced to death but now news media stated it was Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping who got the bullets.

The tainted formula came to light in September 2008, after several babies fell ill from drinking formula that contained melamine. Melamine is commonly used in coatings and laminates, wood adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame retardants. Some Chinese dairy plants added the chemical to milk products so they would appear to have a higher protein level.

The tainted milk caused kidney stones and urinary tract problems in hundreds of thousands of children.

The 22 Chinese dairy producers that made the formula have offered compensation to victims' families.

In all, 21 people were tried and sentenced in January for their roles in the scandal, Xinhua reported. Among them, Zhang and Geng were sentenced to death, and most others received at least 15 years in prison.

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South Korean scientists engineer greener plastics

A greener plastics. Is that possible? A team of South Korean scientists have produced the polymers used for everyday plastics through bioengineering, rather than through the use of fossil fuel-based chemicals. The scientists claimed that bio-based polymers make the plastics biodegradable and less toxic.

It is believed that the technique may now allow for the production of environmentally-friendly plastic that is biodegradable and low in toxicity.

The research focused on Polylactic Acid (PLA), a bio-based polymer which holds the key to producing plastics through natural and renewable resources. Polymers are molecules found in everyday life in the form of plastics and rubbers.

"The polyesters and other polymers we use everyday are mostly derived from fossil oils made through the refinery or chemical process," Professor Sang Yup Lee, who lead the research, said in a press statement.

"The idea of producing polymers from renewable biomass has attracted much attention due to the increasing concerns of environmental problems and the limited nature of fossil resources. PLA is considered a good alternative to petroleum-based plastics, as it is both biodegradable and has a low toxicity to humans."

Until now PLA has been produced in a two-step fermentation and chemical process of polymerization, which is both complex and expensive. The team used a metabolically engineered strain of E. coli and developed a one-stage process.

"By developing a strategy which combines metabolic engineering and enzyme engineering, we've developed an efficient bio-based one-step production process for PLA and its copolymers," said Lee.

"This means that a developed E. coli strain is now capable of efficiently producing unnatural polymers, through a one-step fermentation process.

"Global warming and other environmental problems are urging us to develop sustainable processes based on renewable resources.

"This new strategy should be generally useful for developing other engineered organisms capable of producing various unnatural polymers by direct fermentation from renewable resources."

The research team from KAIST University in Seoul and the Korean chemical company LG Chem published their findings in the journal "Biotechnology and Bioengineering".

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* Bisphenol A (BPA) found in canned foods

Italian Air Force C-130 J Plane Crashes in Pisa

Five people were killed Monday in a military plane crash in northern Italy, the Italian Air Force said.

The C-130 J military plane exploded on crashing, said Mauro Gabetta, a spokeswoman for the Italian Air Force. The plane crashed about 2:10 p.m. local time during a training flight near Pisa, according to a report on the ANSA news agency.

From ANSA News Angency, Italy: Pisa: precipita C-130, cinque le vittime

PISA - a C130 military plane crashed near the airport of Pisa during task trained. People from all five soldiers on board, all in service to the 46th Aviation Brigade of Pisa. This is - announced the Air Force - Major pilot Cavezzana Bruno, 40, Trieste, Lieutenant Pilot Gianluca Minichino, 28, of Naples, pilot Lt. Salvatore Janitor, 30, Sorrento (Naples), the Marshal Maurice Ton, 44, of Pisa and Marshal Gianluca Larch, 39, Mestre (Venezia). The Air Force says a note from the military, "expresses its condolences to the families of five victims."

E 'fell from a height that Air Force leaders speculate it may have been of 100-150 meters and after the first off the plane crashed this afternoon in Pisa. Gen. Stephen Fort, Commander of 46 / A Air Brigade, explained that unlike assumed at first, the incident did not happen during a maneuver 'touch and go'. After getting up in the air the plane has turned to the left then he is inclined to the right and crashed. Fort said he's not currently possible to speculate on the causes of the incident, explaining that the plane was "exemplary in terms of maintenance and perfect in all its components". To control the flight was the pilot Bruno Cavezzana but is still unclear whether the controls have him or one of two students, Gianluca Minichino Janitor or Savior. Fort added that are still in progress during recovery of the bodies (which will be taken to the morgue at the air base) and the two black boxes. According to the base commander, a witness would not have seen fire before impact to release land, but added that other witnesses are being examined.

The C-130 was seen by some witnesses screw and fall. The Mayor of Pisa Marco refers Filippeschi. L 'incident took place in the Le Rene, near Coltano. L 'air, always known as the mayor, has fallen on the railway line Pisa-Collesalvetti-Cecina, a secondary treatment.

马京大屠杀

至少21名人质被杀害之后在马京达瑙枪手绑架，菲律宾。死者中人质是一个州长候选人的妻子。现任安达尔安帕图恩一直指责这种政治动机的大屠杀。

更新：
*电视台联合国电视台已经是其雇员的4人中谁被绑架并杀害选举在Maguindanano有关的暴力作为菲律宾（NUJP）记者全国联盟，谴责屠杀

该条例为省长候选人妻子和数目不详的人被绑架星期一上午在菲律宾南部的至少有21后来被杀害 - 美军官员说。

该女子在她的方式文件丈夫的提名书，当大约100名武装人员绑架和她的马京达瑙省的其他候选人表示，易卜拉欣Mangudadatu。

在被绑架的人数仍不清楚。 Mangudadatu说，他的36名单谁被绑架，但女子谁是与车队旅行可是他之前说，绑架多达65人的组。

陆军中校说，美军士兵罗密欧Brawner后来找到21名遇难 - 13名妇女和8名男子从该地区 - 那里的绑架事件。

总统在棉兰老岛事务耶稣Dureza顾问已经要求政府置于紧急状态马京达瑙省。

“这是一个无与伦比的平民在近代历史上可怕的大屠杀。甚至妇女和媒体男子也不能幸免。必须有总制止这种毫无意义的暴力，”Dureza说对记者说。

Mangudadatu归咎于他的人是马京达瑙省省长的挑战：现任安达尔安帕图恩，谁已经举行了10年来该地区的控制，是菲律宾总统阿罗约的长期盟友绑架。

这两个角逐将在5月10日举行选举。州长无法就此发表评论。

马京达瑙是一名穆斯林超出了中央政府的控制自治区。

受害者名单在马京大屠杀

以下是这些被绑架的初步名单，并担心被杀害的马京达瑙州长上进，副市长伊什梅尔提供“托托”Mangudadatu的布卢安镇：

1。 Genalyn Tiamzon - Mangudadatu，副市长的妻子
2。伊登Mangudadatu，副市长的妹妹和Mangudadatu镇长
3。法丽达Sabdula，副市长的最小的妹妹
4。罗维娜Mangudadatu
5。曼古巴Mangudadatu
6。法丽达Mangudadatu
7。法里纳Manguidadatu
8。律师辛西娅奥肯多
9。奥肯多的父亲
10。律师康妮布里苏埃拉
11。 Wahida阿里Kaliman
12。 Zoraida韦尔南
13。某温托
14。扎伊达阿卜杜勒
15。粉红Balayman
16。艾拉Balayman
17。拉希马Piopo
18。梅里亚姆Calicol

媒体从业人员：
19。伊恩Tublan
20。莉娅达尔马西奥
21。吉娜帝拉库兹
22。陈思Cabutas
23。巴特马拉维亚-邦博Radyo科罗纳达尔
24。乔伊Duay
25。亨利阿拉内塔，DZRH电台
26。安迪特奥
27。奉Reblando，马尼拉公报
28。苹果，苹果乳晕
29。吉米Cabillo
30。 Nening蒙塔诺，dxCP
31。维克多奥努涅斯

驱动程序：
32。某奇托
33。阿卜杜拉哈伊迪
34。拉苏尔达乌德，众议员大同Mangudadatu的驱动程序
35。尤金Dohilyo
36。帕特里克Pamansan

English Version: 21 dead in Maguindanao massacre

Large Hadron Collider has first collisions and the planet is still intact

Alarmists take note: The planet is intact after particles began smashing into each other at the Large Hadron Collider today. No 2012 disaster happened.

For the first time, the $10 billion machine circulated two proton beams simultaneously in its 17-mile tunnel underneath the border between France and Switzerland.

This is a major step toward finding the answers to fundamental physics questions about the nature of matter in the universe, and how the world as we know it began.

“The events so far mark the start of the second half of this incredible voyage of discovery of the secrets of nature,” said Tejinder Virdee, spokesperson for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment, in a statement.

The particle collisions are finally happening despite discredited theories that the accelerator could produce a black hole that could swallow the universe, and that it is being sabotaged from the future.

The project appears to have rebounded from a substantial setback in September 2008. Just nine days after it started up, one of the 25,000 joints that connect magnets in the LHC came loose, and the resulting current melted or burned some important components of the machine, said Steve Myers, director of accelerators at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

The collider has drawn thousands of physicists from around the world together in a collaborative search for never-before-seen particles and new properties of nature. These particles include the Higgs boson, which theoretically gives mass to matter.

Today's collisions are relatively low-energy; the next step is to get particles colliding at higher energies than ever before. The accelerator should reach an energy of 1.2 TeV (teraelectronvolts, or a million million electronvolts) per beam by Christmas if all goes well, CERN said.

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21 dead in Maguindanao massacre

At least 21 hostages were killed following abduction by gunmen in Maguindanao, the Philippines. Among the dead hostages is Genalyn Tiamzon Mangudadatu, the wife of a candidate for governor. Incumbent Andal Ampatuan has been blamed for this political motivated massacre.

UPDATES:
* Officials recovered 11 more bodies Wednesday — six in a large pit buried alongside three vehicles and five in a mass grave — bringing the death toll in Monday's attack on an election caravan to 57, including 18 journalists. Read Yahoo! News: Philippine massacre probe focuses on Arroyo ally
* Search teams pulled 24 more bodies out of shallow graves in the Philippines Tuesday bringing the death toll from a mass political killing a day earlier to 46, state-run media reported. Read CNN: Death toll rises in Philippines massacre
* Television station UNTV has that 4 of their employees were among those who were abducted and killed in election-related violence in Maguindanano, as the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemned the killings. Read UNTV confirms crew killed in Maguindanao massacre

The wife of a candidate for governor and an unconfirmed number of others were abducted Monday morning in the southern Philippines -- with at least 21 of them later killed, army officials said.

The woman was on her way to file her husband's nomination papers, when some 100 armed men abducted her and the others in Maguindanao province, said the candidate, Ibrahim Mangudadatu.

The number of people abducted remained unclear. Mangudadatu said he had a list of 36 who had been abducted, but a woman who was traveling with the convoy but left it prior to the abduction said as many as 65 people were in the group.

Army Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said soldiers later recovered 21 bodies -- 13 women and eight men -- from the area where the abduction occurred.

Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza has asked the government to place Maguindanao province under a state of emergency.

"This is a gruesome massacre of civilians unequaled in recent history. Even women and media men were not spared. There must be a total stop to this senseless violence," Dureza said told reporters.

Mangudadatu blamed the abduction on the person he is challenging for the governorship of Maguindanao: incumbent Andal Ampatuan, who has held control of the area for the past decade and is a long-time ally of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo.

The two are competing in elections that will be held on May 10. The governor could not be reached for comment.

Maguindanao is a Muslim autonomous region out of the control of the central government.

List of victims in Maguindanao massacre

Following is an initial list of those abducted and feared killed as provided by Maguindanao gubernatorial aspirant, Vice Mayor Ishmael “Toto” Mangudadatu of Buluan town:

1. Genalyn Tiamzon-Mangudadatu, the vice mayor’s wife
2. Eden Mangudadatu, the vice mayor’s sister and mayor of Mangudadatu town
3. Farida Sabdula, the vice mayor’s youngest sister
4. Rowena Mangudadatu
5. Manguba Mangudadatu
6. Farida Mangudadatu
7. Farina Manguidadatu
8. Lawyer Cynthia Oquendo
9. Oquendo’s father
10. Lawyer Connie Brizuela
11. Wahida Ali Kaliman
12. Zoraida Vernan
13. A certain Unto
14. Zaida Abdul
15. Pinky Balayman
16. Ella Balayman
17. Rahima Piopo
18. Meriam Calicol

Media practitioners:
19. Ian Tublan
20. Leah Dalmacio
21. Gina dela Cruz
22. Marites Cabutas
23. Bart Maravilla-Bombo Radyo Koronadal
24. Joy Duay
25. Henry Araneta-dzRH
26. Andy Teodoro
27. Bong Reblando, Manila Bulletin
28. Mac-mac Areola
29. Jimmy Cabillo
30. Nening Montaño-dxCP
31. Victor Nuñez

Drivers:
32. A certain Chito
33. Abdula Hajdi
34. Rasul Daud, driver of Rep. Pax Mangudadatu
35. Eugene Dohilyo
36. Patrick Pamansan

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Can "SuBo" deliver the goods

At the start of this year, none of us had heard of Susan Boyle or SuBo. Now, in the Christmas sales rush, her debut album "I Dreamed a Dream" is the most pre-ordered CD in Amazon's history.

Already, the Scottish Internet sensation has been the subject of fervid tabloid attention. Catapulted to global fame by a British reality show, her fragile ego cracked when she lost the "Britain's Got Talent" final to a dance troupe and she was later admitted to The Priory, an exclusive London psychiatric clinic. Read Susan Boyle Outbursted Into RamBoyle

But now the furore is over, the studio sessions have come to a close and the world has one question for Boyle: Is she more than a seasonal novelty act, her minutes of fame close to expiry? Can the phenomenon known as "SuBo" deliver the goods?

Let's get this straight. Boyle's record is no joke. Admittedly, in places there's a tenseness and a naivety to her vocals, and her genre-skipping does make her album something of a hotch-potch crowd-pleaser, some might say cynically so. (Torch ballads? Check. Church music standards? Check. Pop classics? Check.) But she's deadly serious.

Mostly it works; occasionally it falls a little short. Her interpretations of hymnal music won't be worrying Katherine Jenkins et al any time soon, but they're prettily sung and smoothly produced. It's here she sounds most comfortable and most convincing, and there's a sweetness and a lightness which are all Boyle's own.

Elsewhere, the production lets her down. On the Monkees' "Daydream Believer," "The End of the World" and Rolling Stones classic "Wild Horses," her producers seem to be pushing a ballads-by-numbers view that slowing down a song makes it more meaningful. It doesn't.

And "Daydream Believer" seems a cruel choice, its summery celebration of teenage carpe diem surely unsuited to a matronly council tenant from West Lothian. Revealingly, "Wild Horses" and soul-searching Madonna cover "You'll See" hint that while rich in years, Boyle lacks the emotional maturity to convey true heartbreak.

Happily, "I Dreamed a Dream," the "Les Miserables" classic that made her name, still packs the SuBo punch. She is -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- unwavering and convincing in her portrayal of a person let down by life.

But the standout track is a cover of "Cry me a River" from "Breakfast at Tiffany's." An old favorite of Boyle's, here she sounds relaxed, in control, even sultry, and finally shows off her voice's mellifluous timbre. It's the one song on the record where you don't imagine Simon Cowell nodding or shaking his head at her from behind the mixing desk.

Technically, Boyle does the job. Her voice is undoubtedly clear and younger than her years. "I Dreamed a Dream" aside, she's more a crooner than a belter at this stage. But can she sing? Yes. Is she outstanding? No. She's ... fine.

And that's the problem. Listening to Boyle's record feels strangely monochrome. Her fame's roots lie not in her talent, but in the few short minutes that she overturned our perceptions of those who deserve fame: she is a foil to the young and the beautiful.

Without seeing her dowdy frame standing in front of a microphone, the impact of her voice fades. It's not a pleasant lesson for us: if she were pretty, ordinarily pretty, she'd be a haphazardly employed cruise singer. She stands out by being remarkably plain.

She's a gift that's helping Cowell (did you see the dollar signs spin in his eyes when she first opened her mouth and sang?) kid us that the music industry rewards raw talent. It doesn't. She's an aberration, a glitch. We're not going to see more Susan Boyles shooting up the charts. We'll see more Pussycat Dolls.

Ultimately, none of this matters. As her presales show, Susan Boyle's fans were always going to buy this record. The rest of the world probably won't. But her fanbase is significant enough to ensure that her recording and performing career will be as successful -- and as profitable -- as her own grip on reality will allow.

And that is her appeal. Her remarkable journey is testament to the challenges she's faced throughout her life. She'll release a number one Christmas album next year and fill concert halls around the world for the foreseeable future, not because she's one of the world's greatest singers, but because to her legions of fans, Boyle is a talisman and a signal that maybe, just maybe, their dream could also come true.

News Corp to de-index contents from Google

Microsoft Corp has had early stage talks with News Corp about a tie up, which would involve News Corp getting paid to take its news websites off Google Inc. News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has said he wants to make people pay for access to his news websites. Other publishers including The New York Times are also searching for ways to charge for news online, convinced that they must not give news through search engines such as Google and Yahoo Inc.

Microsoft has also talked with other online publishers about removing their sites from Google, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the development.

One website publisher approached by Microsoft said that the plan “puts enormous value on content if search engines are prepared to pay us to index with them”.

Microsoft’s interest is being interpreted as a direct assault on Google because it puts pressure on the search engine to start paying for content.

“This is all about Microsoft hurting Google’s margins,” said the web publisher who is familiar with the plan.

Microsoft, which relaunched its search engine as Bing this year, has been looking for ways to challenge market leader Google.

But the biggest beneficiary of the tussle could be the newspaper industry, which has yet to construct a reliable online business model that adequately replaces declining print and advertising revenues.

Earlier this year, it signed a 10-year global web search partnership with Yahoo, a deal that U.S. and European antitrust regulators are evaluating.

Microsoft could not reached for comment late on Sunday. News Corp declined to comment. The source is anonymous because the talks are not public.

Microsoft is desperate to catch Google in search and, after five years and hundreds of millions of dollars of losses, Bing, launched in June, marks its most ambitious attempt yet.

Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, has said that the company is prepared to spend heavily for many years to make Bing a serious rival to Google.

Microsoft has sought to differentiate Bing by drawing in material not found elsewhere, though has not demanded exclusivity from content partners. Bing accounted for 9.9 per cent of searches in the US in October, up from 8.4 per cent at its launch, according to ComScore.

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Microsoft Azure to be launch early 2010

Google has it's Google Wave and Microsoft doesn't want to be left behind. Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it will launch its long-awaited Windows Azure cloud computing system on Jan 1, as it looks to take advantage of the growing interest in internet-based software and services.

Azure, which provides an online platform for software developers to create their own programs, and space for customers to store data, was rolled out for experimentation a year ago.

The service will go fully live at the beginning of next year, Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie told the company's annual software developers conference on Tuesday.

The first month of the service will be free, and billing will start in February, said Ozzie.

Microsoft is expected to be a big player in the cloud computing market -- broadly the trend toward running software in remote data centers and accessing it over the Internet -- but has lagged behind pioneering rivals such as Amazon.com Inc, which already sells cloud-based storage, and Google Inc, which offers a range of free, online software.

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H1N1病毒死亡纹身

中国已承诺严惩官员被捕隐瞒禽流感H1N1病毒后，医学专家说，疑似病例死亡人数可能已举行了地方政府回来。中国H1N1病毒的死亡人数在53的立场，并考虑到其人口规模，这个数字低得可笑。因此，所有这一切，而在中国H1N1病毒的死亡可能是未报告的，未经测试或误诊。




卫生部表示，中国通过了一项新的H1N1会计方法在本月初。如果一个人被确认死于H1N1病毒，然后，该案件应申报为H1N1病毒死亡，不论是否有另外一个条件。

“负责人将受到惩罚，如果H1N1病毒的病例报告，阻碍，说谎或推迟，”海华说，邓小平为中国卫生部发言人，据在该部网站（www.moh.gov.cn）阅读通知上周五。

钟南山，在中国很多，他坦率的尊重和工作战“严重急性呼吸系统综合症”2003年（非典）说，他不相信国家的53个H1N1病毒死亡人数，南方都市报周四公布。

中，谁是现在在广东省南部的一位医生说，“部分地区严重（肺炎），并以此作为普通肺炎病例没有任何问题，他们没有被测试的死亡”。

禽流感的H1N1病毒影响呼吸道。谁成为严重的病人患病或死亡通常患有肺炎，或者带来直接由病毒或因继发性细菌感染。

以前的方法死亡的主要原因是以前存在的条件，而不是H1N1病毒，从而减少为H1N1病毒死亡病例报告病例数目，对卫生部的网站上单独的通知说。

土耳其外交部一名官员告诉路透社记者，它将不再累计通行费的问题，唯一的新病例和死亡。

这将难以确定，在中国，这在以前的数字为基础的H1N1病毒死亡的实际程度已在统计上比其他国家低。

PC start up under seven seconds

It is possible for a PC to boot up under 10 ten seconds? All this while, PC users using Windows operating system has to wait for more than 10 seconds for the PC to completely boot up. And this might changed soon. New Google Inc software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said on Thursday as it showed off its Google Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the Web.

Google gave the first public look at its Chrome OS four months after declaring its intention of developing the PC's main software, a move that pits it directly against Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc.

True to Google's Internet-pedigree, the Chrome OS resembles a Web browser more than it does a traditional computer operating system like Microsoft Windows, matching Google's ambition to drive people to the Web -- where they can see Google ads.

Google said the software will initially be available by the holiday season of 2010 on low-cost netbooks that meet Google's hardware specifications, such as using only memory chips to store data instead of slower hard drives, the current standard.

Netbooks running Chrome OS will only be able to run Web applications and the user's data will automatically be stored on the Web in the so-called cloud of Internet servers, Google executives said at an event at the company's Mountain View, California headquarters on Thursday.

"It's basically a Web browsing machine," said Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li, referring to the netbooks powered by Chrome OS.

Such a machine is made for a world of near-constant, extremely fast Web connection, without the type of software that made Microsoft famous, since most of the work would be done by big machines on the Web which take directions and send information to relatively uncomplicated devices like a Chrome PC.

Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management for Google's Chrome OS, said that computers running Chrome OS will be able to start in less than seven seconds.

"From the time you press boot you want it to be like a TV: You turn it on and you should be on the Web using your applications," Pichai said.

MORE WEB USE DRIVES MORE GOOGLE ADS

Google said it is giving away the software for free, similar to its Android smartphone software, with the idea that improving the Web experience will ultimately benefit its Internet search advertising business, which generated roughly $22 billion in revenue in 2008.

"They're doing it to get further and further entrenched in whatever people are doing to go online, whether that's a browser, an operating system or in applications," said Todd Greenwald, an analyst with Signal Hill Group.

"If Chrome is the OS then the attach (access) rate on Google searches will be a lot higher," he said.

But analysts noted that the differences between conventional PCs and Chrome OS netbooks might give some consumers pause.

"If they view it from the conventional perspective, then it falls short," Gartner analyst Ray Valdes said of Chrome OS, citing its lack of compatibility with traditional software and its limited offline capabilities.

Google officials said Chrome OS netbooks will be able to provide some functions when offline, but that the product was primarily designed to be connected to the Internet.

But Valdes said if Google can deliver on the products' promises, such as fast performance, then consumers may view Chrome OS netbooks as distinct class of products with attractive benefits.

"I think that it's initially going to appeal to small subset of the general consumer population," said Valdes. "The question is can they build on that and expand that over time."

Google made the computer code for the Chrome OS available to outside developers on Thursday, allowing developers to tinker with the software and potentially design new applications to run alongside it.

With Chrome, Google is seeking to challenge the dominance of Microsoft Corp's Windows, which runs on nine out of 10 personal computers.

The Chrome OS also challenges makers of traditional, desktop software, including Microsoft and its lucrative Office suite of productivity software, since Chrome OS only runs Web applications.

Google's Pichai, noted during a demonstration on Thursday, that Chrome OS-based PCs would be interoperable with Web-based versions of software, such as Microsoft's online version of its Excel spreadsheet.

Google said all data in Chrome will automatically be housed in the so-called cloud, or on external servers, but also cached on the computer's internal hardware to boost performance.

If a person loses their netbook, Google Engineering Director Matt Papakipos explained, they can buy a new one, log in and within seconds have a machine with access to all the same data as their previous device.

"What really makes this a cloud device is that all the user data is synced back to the cloud in real time," said Papakipos.

Still not sure why Google is building its own operating system? It created this animated video to try to explain why the Web needs a new OS, and why that OS should be Chrome.



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H1N1 death cover-ups

China has promised severe punishment for officials caught concealing deaths from H1N1 flu after a medical expert said suspect cases may have been held back by local governments. China H1N1 death toll stand at 53 and considering the size of their population, that figure is ridiculously low. Thus, all this while, H1N1 death in China could have been unreported, not tested or misdiagnose.

The Health Ministry said China had adopted a new H1N1 accounting method earlier this month. If a person was confirmed with H1N1 and then died, the case should be reported as death from H1N1, whether or not there was another condition.

"People responsible will be punished if reports of H1N1 virus cases are held back, lied about or delayed," said Deng Haihua, spokesman for China's Health Ministry, according to a notice on the ministry's website (www.moh.gov.cn) seen on Friday.

Zhong Nanshan, respected by many in China for his candour and work fighting "severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS) in 2003, said he did not believe that the national H1N1 death toll of 53, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Thursday.

Zhong, who is now a doctor based in southern province of Guangdong, said that "some areas have not been testing deaths from severe (pneumonia) and treating them as cases of ordinary pneumonia without any question".

The H1N1 flu strain affects the respiratory tract. Patients who become severely ill or die typically suffer from pneumonia, either brought on directly by the virus or due to secondary bacterial infections.

The previous method attributed the death to previously existing conditions but not to H1N1, thereby reducing the number of cases reported as H1N1 death cases, a separate notice on the Health Ministry's website said.

A ministry official told Reuters it would no longer issue cumulative tolls, only new cases and deaths.

That will make it difficult to determine the actual extent of H1N1 deaths in China, which based on previous figures had been statistically much lower than in other countries.

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Largest iPhone heist

Bank heists used to be a common crime among robbers looking for quick cash. However, of lately, even electronic gadgets are being hijacked and converted to cash. Over the weekend, someone used a fire ladder to climb to the roof of a huge warehouse in Willebroek, a Dutch-speaking municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp, cut a hole in the roof, and made off with 3,000 to 4,000 brand new Apple iPhones.

The crime, believed to be the largest iPhone heist to date, was discovered Monday morning and had the earmarks of an inside job. The hole in the roof was cut directly above the location where the iPhones had been stored. Police have launched an inquiry.

The warehouse belonged to Ceva Logistics, a U.S.-owned transport company with headquarters in the Netherlands. Company officials were reported to be "seriously annoyed" but would not comment.

The iPhones were on their way to Mobistar, Apple's exclusive Belgian carrier. Mobistar had been having trouble meeting demand for the popular phones, but Patti Verdoodt, a Mobistar spokesperson, told De Standaard that their supplier had been contacted and a new shipment would arrive well in time for the holidays.

"We have the serial numbers of the stolen iPhones block[ed] anyway so they cannot be used," said Verdoodt (Google translation). But because Belgium is one of only three countries in Europe that sells iPhones without a SIM-lock, that would not prevent the thieves from fencing them for use on another carrier's network.

There is some disagreement in the Belgian press about how many iPhones were taken. De Standaard put the number at nearly 4,000. Gazet van Antwerpen put it at more than 3,000. Both papers agreed that the street value of the loss was about 2 million euros ($3 million).

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Disappointed Leonid meteor shower in Asia

Thousands of stargazers stayed awake overnight for what was forecast as an intense Leonid meteor shower over Asia this year, but the show fizzled rather than sizzled for many viewers – partly due to cloud cover.

One group of about 30 amateur astronomers had some luck during their vigil at the Siriska wildlife sanctuary, nearly 150km south of New Delhi – counting 78 Leonids during a four-hour period.

“There was no moon in the sky, which is good for observation,” said Yogeshwar Kanu Aggarwal, a member of the Space Science Popularization Association of Communications and Educators. “We could see flashes of light for almost 10 seconds as bright as star Sirius.”

All across Asia, viewers stayed up until the early hours of Wednesday to catch a glimpse of the Leonids, which are bits of debris from the Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Appearing like flashes of light in the sky, NASA scientists had projected there would be up to 300 raining down every hour compared to a typical night when there about eight an hour.

A cloudy sky disappointed thousands of skygazers in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Pawan Sharma, a 36-year-old photographer, could only spot two shooting stars, one of them big enough to be seen streaking across the sky in a window between the clouds.

In Nepal, cloud and fog cover over much of the Himalayan nation blocked views of the meteor shower.

Jayanta Acharya, astronomy professor at Katmandu’s Tribhuwan University, said he woke up early to view the meteor shower from the rooftop of his house in Katmandu.

Twitter Service Temporarily Unavailable

Twitter is temporarily conked out. Not that it happened frequently but I just want to post this keyword "Twitter Service Temporarily Unavailable" and see if this blog can get some visitor inquiring on the mentioned keywords.

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I just hit the above error minutes ago. Twitter server could be extremely busy or someone is hacking into their system. Every time I tried to login, it return to the same Login page (sign in page).

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狮子座流星雨2009年11月

shī zǐ zuò liú xīng yǔ2009nián11yuè. 2009年狮子座流星雨将可以从11月13号至11月20日查看世界各地。对于美国的国家美国，最狮子座流星雨的居民活动将可享受期间11月17日清晨。对于那些远离城市灯光和足够幸运，可以有晴朗的天空，这将是一个很好看。关于对狮子座流星雨最佳观赏点行星预计要成为亚洲。

据美国航天局，最好的时间，以查看狮子座流星雨是在上午1时30分于11月17日东部时间不过，您还可以查看后，于同日日出自由表演。

在狮子座流星雨，月亮将不可见从地球上（这将是黑暗），因此，流星会很容易认为比以往任何时候。

在美利坚合众国的人可以查看20-30每小时流星根据美国宇航局的来源，而亚洲将能够查看200-300每小时流星。其他天文学家也预测，淋浴可高达每小时500颗流星在高峰高。

如果您想了解的最佳时间知道，以查看在您的流星雨面积比你可以帮助美国航天局，因为他们已经制定了一个网站的目的。你只需要点击链接并输入您的城市名称和Fluxtimator（美国航天局网站）会告诉你最适合你的时间以查看淋浴节目。

What's up with this post? 流星雨 or Meteor Shower is currently a hot keyword. And for this matter I'm testing to see if Baidu.com search engine can see it and bring some visitors from China to this blog.

Making Money From Fake Swine Flu Drugs

Criminal gangs are making millions of dollars out of the H1N1 flu pandemic by selling fake flu drugs over the internet, a web security firm said on Monday.

Sophos, a British security software firm said it had intercepted hundreds of millions of fake pharmaceutical spam adverts and websites this year, many of them trying to sell counterfeit antiviral drugs like Tamiflu to worried customers.

Tamiflu, an antiviral marketed by Switzerland's Roche Holding and known generically as oseltamivir, is the frontline drug recommended by the World Health Organisation to treat and slow the progression of flu symptoms. GlaxoSmithKline makes another antiviral for flu, known as Relenza.

Sophos said many of the gangs behind the sites were based in Russia and the top five countries buying fake Tamiflu and other medicines on the internet were the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada and France.

Sophos spokesman Graham Cluley said a "worrying trend" towards stockpiling Tamiflu had already been seen in Britain -- Europe's worst-hit country in the H1N1 pandemic so far.

"As more and more cases of swine flu....come to light, it is essential that we all resist the panic-induced temptation to purchase Tamiflu online," he said.

"The criminal gangs working behind the scenes at fake internet pharmacies are putting their customers' health, personal information and credit card details at risk."

The Geneva-based WHO, which declared H1N1 swine flu a pandemic in June, updated its guidance to doctors last week to say that antiviral drugs should be given even before tests conclude that an at-risk patient has the pandemic virus.

Sophos said criminal gangs were operating medicines websites branded as the "Canadian Pharmacy" to try to appear genuine.

It said its research showed that on one network operated out of Russia, called Glavmed, it was possible to earn an average of $16,000 a day promoting pharmaceutical websites.

"But the criminals can be members of more than one affiliate network, and some have boasted of earning more than $100,000 per day," it said in a statement.

The pandemic H1N1 flu virus has now spread to 206 countries since it was first discovered in March. There have been more than 6,250 deaths to date, mostly in the Americas region, according to the latest WHO toll.

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Leonid Meteor Shower November 2009

The 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower will be available to view from 13th November to 20th November all over the world. For the residents of United State of America, the most Leonid meteor shower activity will be available to enjoy during the early morning hours of 17th November. For those far enough from city lights and fortunate enough to have clear skies, it will be quite a sight. The best viewing spot on the planet for the Leonid Meteor Shower is predicted to be Asia.

According to NASA, the best time to view the Leonid meteor shower is after 1:30 a.m. EST on 17th November however, you can also view the free show after the sunrise on the same date.

During the Leonid meteor shower, the moon will not be visible from the Earth (it will be darker) so, the meteor will be easy to view than ever before.

People in United States of America can view 20-30 meteors per hour according to the sources of NASA while the Asians would be able to view 200-300 meteors per hour. Other astronomers are also predicting that the shower can be as high as 500 meteors an hour during its peak.

If you want to know about the best time to view the meteor shower in your area than you can take help from the NASA as they have developed a website for the purpose. You will just have to click on the link and enter your city name and Fluxtimator (NASA website) will tell you the best time for you to view the shower show.

WATCH A PREVIEW OF THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER:


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Celebrating Communion Over The Web

Internet originally existed to connect people with electronic banks of information. Later, it evolved with other online essentials like making money from the Internet, electronic mailing, online chatting, online sex, online gambling. And now, a new service emerged: celebrating communion over the web without going to a church. Traditional religious services promote physical closeness. So with the invent of online churches and other religious houses, how would you feel attending the service with just a computer. Would GOD Say No or Yes to this new idea. Read the story below.

Hjalti á Lava was searching his iPhone for a Bible app when he stumbled across Church Online, a service of Web site LifeChurch.tv. Soon he was regularly logging into the Oklahoma-based cyber-church -- some 4,100 miles away from á Lava's home in the Faroe Islands, west of Norway.

"It allows me to connect with others and have conversations about the message," says á Lava, who shares his faith with other believers in the site's live chat room. "Technology allows us today to have fellowship across borders and cultures."

In doing so, á Lava joined growing numbers of Christians worldwide who are migrating from the chapel to the computer. A map on the Church Online site showed users from 22 countries logged into a recent service.

Online religious services offer convenience to those who are too isolated or infirm to attend a real-world church. But can worshipping via a computer offer true spiritual fulfillment?

Internet pastors and parishioners cite their 24-hour access to interactive tools and social-networking platforms to show their online experiences are as meaningful as those that take place with face-to-face congregations.

"We were blown away at how people could actually worship along [online]," says Craig Groeschel, senior pastor at LifeChurch.tv. "The whole family will gather around the computer, and they'll sing and they'll worship together. Instead of trying to get people to come to a church, we feel like we can take a church to them."

But critics believe virtual worship separates followers from a trinity of spiritual essentials found in brick-and-mortar Christian churches: community, Communion and connection with Christ.

"Online church is close enough to the real thing to be dangerous," says Bob Hyatt, a pastor who leads the brick-and-mortar Evergreen Community Church in Portland, Oregon. In a blog post for ChristianityToday.com, he writes that calling it virtual church "gives people the idea that everything they need is available here."

The debate is an extension of a wider argument over social interaction in virtual environments versus the physical world. But because practices of faith are involved, both sides are deeply invested in the outcome, seeing it as a statement on the nature of the Christian person's relationship with God. (read also Mocking God has its consequences)

Supporters of online churches have a common response to their skeptics: Try before you criticize. The virtual experience goes far beyond using live chat rooms to exchange emoticons instead of hugs and handshakes, they say.

Links allow congregants to "raise their hand" and publicly commit to Christ, while prayer requests and one-on-one guidance are a click way. Sermon notes can be shared and discussed. And many online churches are aided by volunteers, allowing them to hold services several times each day.

The Internet campus of the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City, Florida, pulls in more than 2,000 congregants from around the world during its Sunday services. Pastor Doug Gramling said his three children are part of the Internet generation that will eventually decide the future of worship. They use Web tools to stay in constant connection with friends over vast distances, which Gramling says "gives me confidence that it can happen in online church."

But the disconnect from physical closeness is what Hyatt said he's "fighting hardest against." His own church offers online extensions such as podcasts and forums. But he believes "the computer screen is a supplement, not a replacement."

Hyatt and other critics are particularly distressed by the online offering of traditional sacraments, such as Communion and baptism. He believes it is "ridiculous" that someone can grab grape juice and a cracker from the fridge and watch a computer screen, thinking they are truly participating in a gathering of the faithful.

"Something about the physical presence, breaking the same bread, is what Communion is meant to be," he says.

But Church Online participant Donna Cole disagrees.

"Knowing that others are also celebrating Communion, regardless of location, makes it an especially wonderful time," says Cole, who believes real-world Communion can ring hollow. "When I've taken Communion in live surroundings, I often got the sense that it was ritualistic and without meaning."

Matthew Bailey, a parishioner in the Franktown United Methodist Church in Virginia, believes that the meaning of the ritual is what matters.

"If people are willing to go to the trouble of giving their own Communion, then it is quite probably 'real' for them," he says. While Bailey chooses to remain at his face-to-face church, he believes any person "faithfully attending an online church service, is being more proactive, and thus probably more attentive, than many longtime churchgoers."

Douglas Estes, lead pastor of Berryessa Valley Church in San Jose, California, and author of "SimChurch," a book about Internet church services, would like to see this debate go away.

"The Bible sees church not as a man-made building but as a people gathered to glorify God with their lives," he says. Estes believes the quality of a community should be judged by the spiritual fellowship it offers.

"There is only one substantive difference between an online church and a brick-and-mortar church: The place where they meet."

And what does online churches have in common when it come to offering:
* A place to belong
* Something to believe
* Potential online brainwashing
* Online church services and sanctuary
* A hierarchy for overachievers to climb

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