discount travel websites: January 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang leaving company

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2008 file photo of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang gestures in the Yahoo booth after he gave his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Yang announced Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, that he is leaving Yahoo. The surprise departure comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thomson as its CEO. Yang expressed his support of Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE- In this Nov. 5, 2008 file photo, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang ponders a question during a talk at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Yang announced Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, that he is leaving Yahoo. The surprise departure comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thomson as its CEO. Yang expressed his support of Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - in this Nov. 26, 2011 file photo, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang takes pictures at an NCAA college football game in Stanford, Calif. Yang on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012 announced that he is leaving Yahoo. The surprise departure comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thomson as its CEO. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is leaving the struggling Internet company, as it tries to revive its revenue growth and win over disgruntled shareholders under a new leader.

The departure, announced Tuesday, punctuates the end of an era at Yahoo, a tarnished Internet icon that has spent much of the last decade scrambling to catch up to Internet search leader Google Inc. ? a company that got early encouragement and advice from Yang. It comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as its CEO.

Thompson is the fourth CEO in less than five years to try to turn around Yahoo. It's a daunting assignment that Yang was unable to pull off during his own tumultuous 18-month reign as the company's CEO in 2007 and 2008.

Yang, 43, endorsed Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception.

"My time at Yahoo, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life," Yang wrote in a letter to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock. "However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo."

The letter didn't say what Yang plans to do next. He doesn't need to work, thanks to the fortune he has amassed since he began working on Yahoo in a trailer at Stanford University with fellow graduate student David Filo. Yang is worth about $1.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine's latest estimates.

Yang is also stepping down from the boards of China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo is negotiating to sell its stakes in both of the Asian companies as part of its efforts to placate investors. The deal could be worth as much as $17 billion, but it still faces a series of potential stumbling blocks.

Besides surrendering the board seats, Yang is giving up his position as "Chief Yahoo," an honorary title he held as he mingled among workers, while keeping tabs on various company projects.

Thompson could have an easier time overhauling Yahoo without Yang looking over his shoulder and possibly second guessing his decisions, said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis.

"This has the fingerprints of frustration on it," Gillis said. "It's one of those situations where it looks like (Yang) is losing the battle to control the company's direction and now he is saying, 'That's it, I'm out.'"

Although a popular figure among Yahoo employees, Yang had alienated the company's shareholders by turning down a chance to sell Yahoo in its entirety to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, in May 2008. Yahoo shares haven't topped $20 for more than three years. The stock gained 44 cents to $15.87 in extended trading after Yang's decision was announced.

The slump in Yahoo's stock has diminished Yang's wealth. He still owns a 3.6 percent stake in the company.

Yang conceivably could leverage those holdings to attempt to buy Yahoo's U.S. business after the Asian investments are sold. That is, if he can line up additional financing, Macquarie Securities analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a research note late Tuesday. Several buyout firms have already expressed interest in buying a substantial stake in Yahoo, spurring speculation that Yang might work with them to acquire a controlling interest in what remains of the company if the Asian assets are sold.

When he announced Thompson's hiring earlier this month, Bostock stressed that Yahoo intended to remain an independent, publicly traded company.

Yang had been someone more interested in preserving the company than he created than dismantling parts of its to boost the stock price, analysts said. "Investors tend to want to keep trying to fix the company than carve it apart," Gillis said.

Now that he is out of the way, investors are likely to conclude the sale of the Asian investments will eventually be completed, Schachter wrote.

Investor anger over Yang's handling of the Microsoft negotiations led to his resignation as CEO in late 2008 and the hiring of Silicon Valley veteran Carol Bartz to replace him. Bartz and Yang had gotten to know each other as part of Cisco Systems Inc.'s board of directors.

After initially hailing Bartz as the solution to Yahoo's problems, Yang and the rest of Yahoo's board fired her as CEO in September.

Yahoo's revenue has been falling in recent years even as advertisers have poured more money into the Internet. Much of the money, though, has been going to Google and Facebook's online social network, as Yahoo has fallen further behind in the race to innovate and develop products that attract Web traffic.

Despite its struggles, Yahoo remains profitable and still boasts a worldwide audience of 700 million people.

But visitors aren't sticking around Yahoo's services as much as they once did, depriving the company of more opportunities to sell ads ? the main source of its revenue.

It has been a jarring comedown for Yahoo, which emerged as one of the Internet's first stars after Yang and Filo expanded the service beyond its roots as a hand-picked directory of websites.

Yahoo's early success turned it into a Wall Street darling and landed Yang on the covers of leading business magazines. At the height of the dot-com bubble 12 years ago, Yahoo's stock was trading above a split-adjusted $100 amid talk that the company might eventually try to buy a long-established media franchise such as the Walt Disney Co.

But now investors widely regard Yahoo as a misguided company that can't come up with a cohesive plan to define itself for Web surfers and advertisers.

Yang and Bostock have been the focal point for much of the criticism, partly because of their key roles in the Microsoft talks in 2008. After buying a 5.2 percent stake in Yahoo last autumn, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb demanded that both Bostock and Yang step down from the company's board. If they refused, Loeb indicated he would finance a shareholder rebellion to oust both men from the board.

Loeb's fund, Third Point LLC, didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment late Tuesday.

Bostock, Yahoo's chairman for the past four years, has given no indication that he plans to step down.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-17-US-Yahoo-Founder-Resigns/id-2a3efa809f7742c39d4cee8c5397f22d

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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

SC rally marks MLK day with voting rights message

People take part in a march and rally at the Statehouse Monday Jan. 16, 2012 in Columbia, S.C. Hundreds of people rallied Monday outside the South Carolina capitol to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and protest the state's voter identification law.(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

People take part in a march and rally at The Statehouse Monday Jan. 16, 2012 in Columbia, S.C. Hundreds of people rallied Monday outside the South Carolina capitol to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and protest the state's voter identification law.(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

Hundreds of people take part in a march and rally at the Statehouse, Monday Jan. 16, 2012 in Columbia, S.C. Hundreds of people rallied Monday outside the South Carolina capitol to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and protest the state's voter identification law. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

Hundreds of people take part in a march and rally at The Statehouse Monday Jan. 16, 2012 in Columbia, S.C. Hundreds of people rallied Monday outside the South Carolina capitol to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and protest the state's voter identification law. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change security officer Kevin Baxter places a wreath at the crypts of civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his wife Coretta Scott King, in Atlanta on Monday Jan. 16, 2012. King would have been 83 years old on his actual birthday, Jan. 15. (AP Photo/David Tulis)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ? Thousands commemorating the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday outside South Carolina's capitol heard a message that wouldn't have been out of place during the halcyon days of the civil rights movement a half-century ago: the need to protect all citizens' right to vote.

A similar tone was struck at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King preached from 1960 until his death. There and in South Carolina, speakers condemned the voter identification laws they said are meant to suppress black voter turnout.

For most of 13 years in South Carolina, the attention at the NAACP's annual rally has been on the Confederate flag that still waves outside the Statehouse. But on Monday, the civil rights group shifted the focus to laws requiring voters to show photo identification before they can cast ballots, which the group and many other critics say is especially discriminatory toward African-Americans and the poor.

South Carolina's new law was rejected last month by the U.S. Justice Department, but Gov. Nikki Haley vowed to fight the federal government in court. At least a half-dozen other states passed similar voter ID laws in 2011.

"This has been quite a faith-testing year. We have seen the greatest attack on voting rights since segregation," said Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The shift in tactics was also noted by the keynote speaker, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Last month, Holder said the Justice Department was committed to fighting any laws that keep people from the ballot box. He told the crowd he was keenly aware he couldn't have become the nation's first African-American attorney general without the blood shed by King and other civil rights pioneers.

"The right to vote is not only the cornerstone of our governance, it is the lifeblood of our democracy. And no force has proved more powerful, or more integral to the success of the great American experiment, than efforts to expand the franchise," Holder said. "Let me be very, very clear ? the arc of American history has bent toward the inclusion, not the exclusion, of more of our fellow citizens in the electoral process. We must ensure that this continues."

Texas' new voter ID law is currently before the Justice Department, which reviews changes in voting laws in nine mostly Southern states because of their history of discriminatory voting practices. Other states that passed such laws in 2011 included Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Similar laws already were on the books in Georgia and Indiana, and they were approved by President George W. Bush's Justice Department. Indiana's law, passed in 2005, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008.

Critics have likened the laws to the poll taxes and tests used to prevent blacks from voting during the civil rights era. Supporters, many of whom are Republicans, say such laws are needed to prevent fraud.

"I signed a bill that would protect the integrity of our voting," Haley said in a statement welcoming Holder to South Carolina.

At the Atlanta church where King once preached, the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock said some in America disrespect King's legacy by "cutting off those for whom he died and the principles for which he fought."

He called voter ID laws an affront to the memory of the civil rights leader.

"You cannot celebrate Dr. King on Monday, and undermine people's ability to vote on Super Tuesday," Warnock said.

The King Day rally in South Carolina took place in the shadow of Saturday's Republican presidential primary. State NAACP President Lonnie Randolph said people should vote any time they can, but said his group is nonpartisan. He said officials wouldn't encourage its members ? a generally Democratic voting bloc ? to disrupt the GOP's process of choosing its nominee because "we don't do the mean things."

Jealous made one of the few references to the GOP field during Monday's rally, saying he was tired of attacks on the movement, such as cuts to education funding.

"And I'm real tired of dealing with so-called leaders who talk out of one side of their mouth about celebrating the legacy of Dr. King and then do so much out the other side of their mouth to block everything the man stood, fought and died for," Jealous said.

The King Day rally in South Carolina was first held in 2000 to call for the Confederate flag to come down off the capitol dome, and has continued after state leaders decided instead to place the flag on a 30-foot pole on the Statehouse lawn near a monument to Confederate soldiers.

The flag was mentioned Monday ? North Carolina NAACP president the Rev. William Barber called it a "terrible, terroristic banner" ? but it was not the focus.

The Confederate flag and voter ID laws are all examples of how blacks cannot stop fighting for civil rights, said 39-year-old Llewlyn Walters of Columbia, whose grandmother watched King speak and whose mother told him stories of the civil rights movement as he grew up.

"People's hearts and minds change, but then they forget. The movement was great, but that one single generation couldn't stop all the discrimination in this country any more than one single dose of antibiotic can fight a disease," Walters said.

In Washington, President Barack Obama and his family commemorated the day by helping to build bookshelves in a local school's library. The president said there was no better way to celebrate King's life than to spend the day helping others.

Obama's attorney general ended his speech on a positive note, saying Americans can't forget the progress this nation has made. After all, the nation elected a black president just 40 years after King was assassinated.

"In the spirit of Dr. King, let us signal to the world that, in America today, the pursuit of a more perfect union lives on," Holder said. "The march toward the Promised Land goes on, and the belief not merely that we shall overcome, but that, as a nation, we will all come together, continues to push us forward."

___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko in Washington and Errin Haines in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-16-MLK%20Day/id-8221cb12ecd54f10b3c4ea1b346623cb

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Will Android be the death of PCs?

Horace Dediu/Jeremy Reimer/Asymco

History of computer platforms

By Athima Chansanchai

In a viewpoint the author admits is "extremist," an industry analyst believes that if iOS and Android devices are considered to be substitutes for personal computers, then not only is the latter's market share going to dip below 50 percent, but collapse is also imminent.

Finland-based?Horace Dediu, who runs Asymco, which on LinkedIn is self-described as "a company selling software development and consulting services for companies interested in deploying mobile applications," published a blog post today?that might make some people's heads explode?? particularly those of us without a penchant for numbers. In that post, he charts "The rise and fall of personal computing," which compares PCs to Macs, iOS and Android devices in shipped units and market share.

In his last graph, Dediu talks about the integration of smartphones into the personal computing space.

I will concede that this last view is extremist. It does not reflect a competition that exists in real life. However, I put this data together to show a historic pattern. Sometimes extremism is a better point of view than conservatism. Ignoring this view is very harmful as these not-good-enough computers will surely get better. A competitor that has no strategy to deal with this shift is likely to suffer the fate of those companies in the left side of the chart. Treating the first share chart as reality is surely much more dangerous than contemplating the third.

Horace Dediu/Asymco

Market share, with data from Gartner and IDC

As the commenters below the post note, there is no inclusion of Nokia's Symbian or Research in Motion's BlackBerry; but in a world that seems increasingly skewed toward Android and iOS, Dediu looks like he's already made the leap.?

As he puts it:

The ?entrants? into personal computing, the iPad, iPhone and Android, have a combined volume that is higher than the PCs sold in the same period (358 million estimated iOS+Android vs. 336 million PCs excluding Macs in 2011.) The growth rate and the scale itself combine to make the entrants impossible to ignore.

Live Poll

Do you spend more time on your smartphone or your personal computer?

173604
Smartphone. I can do everything on it, and it's with me all the time.
22%
173605
PC/Mac/other. I have a smartphone, but it won't be replacing my home/laptop anytime soon.
78%

VoteTotal Votes: 3146

We've seen the addition of iPhones supplementing Macs and PCs at home, and Chromebooks arriving after Android handsets. We've also seen the rapid rise of Android, how its handsets have overtaken the iPhone in the U.S., and how its apps in the Android Market will close in on Apple's, but have we arrived at that moment when smartphones replace the personal computer? Take our poll and let us know where you're at.

More stories:

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/17/10173984-will-android-be-the-death-of-pcs

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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Man stabbed at Gregg Allman concert in Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? A man was stabbed during a Gregg Allman performance at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and a concertgoer has been charged in the assault.

Forty-four-year-old Carl Darren Brothers has been released from the Metro Nashville Jail. He was charged with aggravated assault, public intoxication and disorderly conduct late Wednesday night.

Police say the man seated next to him, Ronald Sixt Jr., was treated for minor facial injuries.

Officers say Sixt apparently bumped into Brothers and the two argued, fought and then Brothers took a knife out of his back pocket and began stabbing Sixt while Allman was still on stage. Ryman security broke up the fight and called police.

A jail spokeswoman says there is no record of an attorney for Brothers.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-06-US-Concert-Stabbing/id-c1570c8abac64b1387e1d57e2de0b1e7

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Iran's leader looks to Latin America for support (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is courting Latin America on a four-nation tour starting Sunday that will let him tout some of Iran's few friendships while tensions grow over the country's threats to block oil shipments in retaliation for tighter U.S. sanctions.

His government finds itself largely isolated in the standoff over its nuclear program, and the new sanctions targeting Iran's Central Bank and oil industry have triggered an abrupt drop in the nation's currency.

Iran's growing economic ties with Latin America could give it some breathing space from the sanctions, and by embracing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his allies, Ahmadinejad also gets a chance to join like-minded leaders in denouncing U.S. foreign policy.

"Iran needs all the friends it can get, and the further away it goes the easier it seems to be for it to be able to find them," said Dan Plesch, director of the University of London's Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy.

Both Iran and Venezuela, he said, "seek to provide mutual support in the face of perceived U.S. aggression."

It will be Ahmadinejad's fifth visit to Venezuela, to be followed by a trip to Nicaragua for Tuesday's inauguration of re-elected President Daniel Ortega, and then stops in Cuba and Ecuador. Ahmadinejad has been to all the countries before, and the visit seems aimed at reinforcing ties with leaders who speak up for Iran.

Tensions have been rising as Iran has warned that it could retaliate against U.S. sanctions by blocking shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. A large share of the world's oil tanker traffic passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which runs along the Iranian coast.

Suzanne Maloney, an expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said Ahmadinejad's decision to travel now indicates how important it is to show those at home and abroad that Iran still has allies.

"It is very much a relationship that is about propaganda as much as it is about strategic and economic benefits," Maloney said. "But at the same time, it's clear that Iran has been seeking new markets and seeking new economic relationships."

Beyond Latin America, the country has few reliable allies. Its close partner Syria has been embroiled in violent protests, and other major alliances are mostly built on trade, such as its relationship with China, which needs Iran's oil.

Chavez has visited Iran nine times during his 13-year presidency. Iran has reciprocated by forming joint companies to produce cars and tractors in Venezuela. Iran has also helped in mining exploration and construction of public housing in Venezuela.

Iran's investments in Latin America have remained relatively small, but its growing presence has generated worries in Washington.

Last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company for delivering at least two cargoes of oil products to Iran. In 2008, the U.S. imposed sanctions on an Iran-owned bank in Caracas, accusing it of providing support to Iran's weapons program.

The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear energy program. France has been pressing the European Union to impose additional sanctions.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday that President Barack Obama's government wants other countries to insist that Iran stop defying international efforts to assess its nuclear program.

"We are making absolutely clear to countries around the world that now is not the time to be deepening ties, not security ties, not economic ties, with Iran," Nuland said.

Ahmadinejad denies the U.S. accusations, saying Washington is trumping up charges because his government refuses to bow to U.S. dictates.

"They're very interested in putting more pressure on Iran," Ahmadinejad said in a Dec. 12 interview with Venezeulan state television. "But you can now see that they're growing weaker all the time, and Iran is now much more powerful than before."

The U.S. has accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism. Argentina also has warrants out for the arrests of Iran's defense minister and other officials suspected of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

Some experts and former U.S. officials have long worried about Iran's growing diplomatic missions in Latin America.

A 2009 report for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars said Iran historically has used its embassies as bases for the Qods Force, the special forces branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and members of the militant group Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.

Other analysts call such worries overblown, noting a lack of evidence.

Possible diplomatic fallout for Ahmadinejad's Latin American allies seems limited because Chavez, Ortega and presidents Raul Castro of Cuba and Rafael Correa of Ecuador all share anti-U.S. sentiments.

"The United States has demonized Iran as they did with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi's Libya, because those countries' oil doesn't belong to them," said Jacinto Suarez, international relations secretary of Ortega's party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front.

Some of the nations hosting Ahmadinejad see benefits from trade ties.

In September, Cuba's state-run media reported that Iran had granted 500 million euros ($638 million) in loans to buy water supply equipment and agricultural products.

Ecuadorean Defense Minister Javier Ponce has said his country hopes to buy arms from Iran, including radar systems and military vehicles.

However, Iran has pledged more investments than it has delivered in several cases.

When Ahmadinejad attended Ortega's last inauguration in 2007, Iran agreed to help build dams and consider investing in the construction of a port in Nicaragua as well as auto and cement projects.

Yet, after five years, none of those economic pledges have taken shape.

In Bolivia, Ahmadinejad promised investments and aid totaling $1 billion during a 2009 visit. Some of that has come through, including a dairy factory, a hospital and a $280 million loan.

Brazil, which previously welcomed Ahmadinejad under former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has seemingly cooled to having such cordial relations under President Dilma Rousseff.

"A small number of Latin American governments have made common cause with the Iranian government in confronting the U.S.," said Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson center. "That's not the foreign policy objective of most countries in the region."

Ahmadinejad has not confirmed whether he'll extend his visit to attend the inauguration of Guatemalan President-elect Otto Perez Molina on Saturday. But all governments that have relations with the country are invited as a matter of protocol, and an appearance could be appealing to Ahmadinejad, especially since Guatemala now holds a temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council.

____

Associated Press writers Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran; Katherine Corcoran in Mexico City; Douglas Birch and Matthew Lee in Washington; Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua; Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador; Paola Flores in La Paz, Bolivia; Andrea Rodriguez in Havana; Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo; and Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas contributed to this report.

___

Ian James on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianjamesap

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120107/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_latin_america_iran

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Monday, January 9, 2012

Netflix close to signing deals with Sony, Disney, Paramount and ITV, to debut in the UK soon? (update: pricing pegged at ?5.99/month, website live)

Those with a PS3 in the United Kingdom might have gotten a sneak peek at a placeholder, but according to The Guardian, apparently its proper "early 2012" launch isn't far off. Purportedly the video streaming service is close to signing rights to content from Sony, Disney and Paramount, which'll join existing agreements with Lionsgate, Miramax and MGM. But it isn't just studios, as Channel 4 and ITV are supposedly close to joining the UK bash as-well. If everything goes to plan, most of the British Isles will be treated to an ad campaign that'll reveal all next week. Game on, Lovefilm.

Update: Well, it looks like we don't have to wait until next week for all of those details after all. Some Google ads have now started appearing in searches for Netflix that peg the price at £5.99 per month (or about $9), and also confirm that the service is headed to the Wii and Xbox 360 in addition to the PS3. Unfortunately, that netflix.com/UK page isn't functional just yet.

Update 2: Looks like the UK website is live for many, confirming the Google ad pricing. Check it out after the break.

[Thanks, Chris, James]

Continue reading Netflix close to signing deals with Sony, Disney, Paramount and ITV, to debut in the UK soon? (update: pricing pegged at ?5.99/month, website live)

Netflix close to signing deals with Sony, Disney, Paramount and ITV, to debut in the UK soon? (update: pricing pegged at ?5.99/month, website live) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, January 8, 2012

latimes: 'Corruption on wheels': Chinese officials like their cars big and pricey http://t.co/bifrnvHT

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Santorum: One Criminal Father is Better Than Two Mommies (Little green footballs)

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Saturday, January 7, 2012

jbchapp: RT @BHIndepMO: "The break does not mean I won't take your call". Yeah, the fact that you're calling Jim Rome means he won't take your ca ...

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"The break does not mean I won't take your call". Yeah, the fact that you're calling Jim Rome means he won't take your call Il y a environ 14 heures via web

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LG to roll out Google TV (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) ? LG Electronics Inc said on Friday it would unveil its first Google TV next week, joining Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co in partnering with the search giant to get a foothold in the emerging Internet TV market.

Google hopes to replicate the success of its Android mobile software in the TV market, but its attempt to conquer the living room has seen limited success so far due to a lack of web content and support from hardware manufacturers.

Google TV allows consumers to access online videos and websites on their TVs, as well as specialized apps such as video games. Currently it comes built-in on certain Sony television models and Samsung is also working with the U.S. firm to launch Google TVs.

LG said on Friday it would introduce its first Google TV next week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Google said on its blog that chipmaker Marvell Technology Group, chip designer MediaTek and TV manufacturer Vizio were also new partners for its Google TV service.

Grappling with slowing demand and cutthroat competition, TV manufacturers hope forays into the Internet TV market will help cushion squeezed margins.

Research firm DisplaySearch expects the global TV market to grow only 2 percent this year after no growth in 2011 due to soft consumer demand amid a weak global economy.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120106/wr_nm/us_lg_googletv

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Belarusian govt tightens its control over Internet (AP)

MINSK, Belarus ? The government in the former Soviet nation of Belarus has approved a new law tightening official control over the Internet.

The legal amendments enacted Friday bar Belarusian businessmen from using outside Internet resources. They also formalize restrictions on Internet use introduced earlier by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, which required Internet service providers to monitor users and report them to authorities if they visit opposition websites blacklisted by the government.

Lukashenko, who Western rights group call "Europe's last dictator," has been in office since 1994, consistently suppressing opposition and cracking down on independent media. He won another term in a December 2010 vote that was marred by fraud and criticized by international observers. That vote sparked massive protests that police brutally dispersed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120106/ap_on_hi_te/eu_belarus_internet

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US Navy rescues 13 Iranian seamen from pirates

The pirates were brought aboard the U.S.S. John C. Stennis, the same ship Iran's navy threatened on Tuesday. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

Casting aside current tensions between the U.S. and Iran, the U.S. Navy on Friday rescued 13 Iranian seamen who were being held captive by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Oman.

A Navy helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, responding to a distress call from a merchant ship under attack by pirates, chased the pirates to their "mother ship," an Iranian-flagged dhow that had earlier been hijacked.

U.S. Navy

A sailor aboard a safety boat observes a "visit, board, search and seizure team" from USS Kidd on Thursday, Jan. 5. The Navy boarded the Iranian-flagged fishing dhow Al Molai to rescue 13 Iranian seamen held captive by Somali pirates.

A heavily-armed counter-piracy team from the Navy destroyer USS Kidd met little resistance when they boarded the dhow where they found 15 armed pirates and the 13 Iranians who were being held hostage. The pirates were taken into custody. The Iranians were set free in their dhow.

The rescue occurred about 175 miles southeast of Muscat, Oman.

It came less than two days after Iran threatened never to allow the USS John C. Stennis back to the Persian gulf following its departure last week for the Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea.

U.S. Navy

The USS Kidd responds to a distress call from the Iranian-flagged fishing dhow Al Molai on Thursday, Jan. 5. The Navy boarded the ship to rescue 13 Iranian seamen held captive by Somali pirates.

An Iranian surveillance plane last week video-recorded and photographed the vessel near the Strait of Hormuz, in a bid to cast its navy as having a powerful role in the region's waters.

Iran has threatened to close the route in possible retaliation to new U.S. and European economic sanctions, a tactic the U.S. already has said it would not tolerate.

About one-sixth of the world's oil passes on tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, and analysts have warned the price of Brent crude could temporarily jump to as high as $210 if the strait is closed.

Reuters

Iranian military personnel participate in the Velayat-90 war game in unknown location near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran Dec. 30.

U.S. officials have said the Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in nearby Bahrain, is prepared to defend the shipping route.

White House officials said Iran's threat showed Tehran was increasingly isolated internationally, faced economic problems from to sanctions and wants to divert attention from its deepening problems.

"It reflects the fact that Iran is in a position of weakness," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday.

State news agency IRNA quoted Iranian army chief Ataollah Salehi as saying: "Iran will not repeat its warning ... the enemy's carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf.

AFP/Iran state media

The USS John C. Stennis, pictured as it allegedly went "inside the maneuver zone" where Iranian ships were conducting war games in the Gulf, according to Iranian officials who supplied the image.

"I advise, recommend and warn them (the Americans) over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once," he said.

Britain's defense secretary warned Iran Thursday that any attempt to block the key global oil passageway the Strait of Hormuz would be illegal and unsuccessful ? hinting at a robust international response.

During his ?first visit to the Pentagon for talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Philip Hammond told the Atlantic Council in Washington that the presence of British and American naval ships in the Persian Gulf would ensure the route is kept open for trade.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

??NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/06/10005159-despite-tensions-us-rescues-13-iranian-seamen-from-pirates

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Wednesday KULR-8 Sports On-Demand 1-4-12

Story Published: Jan 4, 2012 at 6:10 PM MST

Story Updated: Jan 4, 2012 at 6:33 PM MST

MSU-Billings and Rocky Mountain College host conference games this week in Billings.

Your source for local and surrounding area scores and sports news.
Be sure to watch KULR-8 News @ 6 and 10 M-F, and weekends @ 5
and 10 for complete coverage.

Have a score to report? Sports story idea?
Send to our Sports Department: sports@kulr.com or give us a call, 406-656-8558.

Source: http://www.kulr8.com/sports/local/Wednesday-KULR-8-Sports-On-Demand-1-4-12-136705113.html

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Friday, January 6, 2012

Give2Asia: Give2Asia Forms New Partnerships for Business Leaders and #Entrepreneurs http://t.co/pz9Hb07T #fiscalsponsorship #india

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Max Tegmark: The Big Snap (Huffington post)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/183064071?client_source=feed&format=rss

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UK experts: Assisted suicide legally possible (AP)

LONDON ? An independent panel of experts in the U.K. says there is a strong case for changing British law to help terminally ill people die.

In a report Thursday, the Commission for Assisted Dying described the legal status of assisted suicide in Britain as "inadequate and incoherent." It is illegal to help a terminally ill person commit suicide, but prosecutions are rare. In 2009, the government's top prosecutor said most people who help terminally ill friends and family members die were unlikely to be charged.

The Commission said it would be possible to legally allow assisted suicide for terminally ill people under strict criteria: those who were at least 18 years old and who were making a voluntary choice free from coercion or mental health problems.

The experts called for additional safeguards should assisted suicide be legalized, including requiring patients to be seen by at least two doctors. The system would not let doctors administer a lethal dose but would give such medication to the patient to take when he or she chooses after the other criteria has been met.

"The Commission is not recommending that any form of euthanasia should be permitted," the report said.

Critics, however, say the commission was biased, and the British Medical Association refused to participate in the report. The commission is supported by Dignity in Dying and other advocates who favor changing the law.

One anti-abortion group labeled the report "a renewed attack" on disabled and elderly people.

"This is part of a thoroughly nasty strategy to convince the public that many disabled people want to die," Paul Tully of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said in a statement.

Online:

Commission for Assisted Dying report:

http://www.commissiononassisteddying.co.uk/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_assisted_suicide_report

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Chef and assistant die from Australian mushrooms (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia ? A chef and assistant from China died after eating poisonous mushrooms in a meal they prepared for a private dinner at a restaurant in Australia's capital.

Chef Liu Jun, 38, and his female kitchen hand Tsou Hsiang, 52, died from liver failure at a hospital Tuesday night after eating death cap mushrooms on New Year's Eve at Canberra's Harmonie German Club.

The two prepared the deadly stir fry in the kitchen of the club's Chinese bistro, but club manager Mick Thamer said Friday that the meal had not been available to the public.

Liu's friend Tom O'Dea said the chef picked the mushrooms himself, mistaking them for edible straw mushrooms.

A third person who shared the dinner with Liu and Tsou was discharged from hospital Tuesday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oceania/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120106/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_poison_mushrooms

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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Chimeric monkeys boast six genetic identities

Andy Coghlan, reporter

Roku and Hex (Image: OHSU)

These cuties are the world's first chimeric monkeys. All tissues throughout their entire bodies are mixtures of cells with up to six different genetic identities.

Chimeric mice have been important in medical research for decades because they contain two or more distinct genetic identities. They can be produced using embryonic stem cells, but the chimeric monkeys proved more difficult to produce. Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Beaverton created them by extracting individual cells from up to six very early embryos, each containing just four cells, then mixing these together in a single, new embryo.

After post-mortems on seven miscarried chimeras, Mitalipov discovered that the genotypes from each of the six original embryos were dispersed throughout their bodies, rather than segregated into discrete tissues. This means that the testicles of each of the three survivors contain sperm with one of six different genetic identities.

"We will breed them, using ejaculate to make new embryos in the lab," says Mitalipov.

There are no plans to use similar techniques on human embryos - but human chimeras can sometimes occur naturally.

Journal reference: Cell Stem Cell, DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2011.12.007

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1b8e43ca/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C0A10Candy0Ecoghlan0Ereporter0Ethese0Ecu0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Middle East and Africa Hardware Spending Forecast (January 04, 2012)

IDC Financial Insights assists financial services business and IT leaders in making more effective technology decisions by providing insightful fact-based research and consulting services. Our global research analyzes and advises on business and technology issues facing the banking, insurance, and securities and investments industries.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5699363983

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Augmented Reality App Instantly Translates Foreign Text On Signs, Menus

If you ever wanted to be able to read text on a street sign or on a menu in a restaurant when abroad, your smartphone might be able to help you soon. Japanese electronics company Omron has developed a smartphone application that can instantly translate (short) foreign texts you come across - firing up the app and pointing the phone's camera at the text in question is enough. Omron says that in its current form, the app (which isn't available yet) can handle English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Translations are superimposed over the text shown on the display (in the picture below, you can see three items on a Korean menu shown in yellow Japanese letters).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Ogq0cqnbbfI/

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Sony, Nintendo pull Piracy Act support - Did Anonymous threat push decision?

Platform holders Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo, along with publisher EA have pulled support for the Stop Online Piracy Act introduced by the United States House of Representatives in October last year.

Creation of the bill is intended to "promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes".

However, many have argued it is a threat to freedom of speech that could afford people the power to shut down websites at individual discretion, could be abused for cencorship purposes, and significantly impact user-generated content such as YouTube videos.

Although the three companies are no longer listed as supporters of the bill they are all still members of the Entertainment Software Association, which is still backing the bill.

Sony also has a presence through Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Nashville.

The withdrawal comes shortly after notorious hacking group Anonymous pledged to destroy Sony's network for providing its support to SOPA.

"Your support of the act is a signed death warrant to Sony Company and Associates. Therefore, yet again, we have decided to destroy your network. We will dismantle your phantom from the internet. Prepare to be extinguished. Justice will be swift, and it will be for the people, whether some like it or not," the group said in a statement.

Reports suggest Sony's console has been opened up to piracy again via a new PS3 hack.

Source: http://rss.computerandvideogames.com/c/674/f/8603/s/1b7a6a2b/l/0L0Scomputerandvideogames0N0C330A90A0A0Csony0Enintendo0Epull0Epiracy0Eact0Esupport0Edid0Eanonymous0Ethreat0Epush0Edecision0C0Dcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0FCVG0EGeneral0ERSS/story01.htm

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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Goodrich leads Kansas women over No. 23 Texas (AP)

AUSTIN, Texas ? Angel Goodrich scored 22 points and Kansas beat No. 23 Texas 72-67 on Wednesday night to win its Big 12 opener for the first time in six years.

Monica Engelman added 19 points and Carolyn Davis scored 14 of her 16 after halftime for the Jayhawks (12-1, 1-0), who hadn't opened their conference schedule with a win since beating the Longhorns 70-61 in 2006.

Ashleigh Fontenette scored 19 points as Texas (10-3, 0-1) lost for the first time since falling to No. 6 Tennessee on Dec. 4.

Kansas, which came in with the nation's best shooting percentage, extended its winning streak to six games despite shooting a season-worst 39 percent from the field (26 of 66).

Kansas led 30-20 at the break, but Texas used a late 22-6 run to pull to 70-67 with 14 seconds to play. Fontenette had a 3-point attempt blocked on the next possession and Goodrich sank two free throws to seal it.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/bkw_t25_kansas_texas

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