nokia n9

Nokia n9 is simpley sobar,atractive cell phone for offical workors and students.It is a touch and type slider cell phone.Its 3.5 inches large screen is fully touchable and slider with Qwerty keypad.Use internet with Nokia N9 Wireless Wi-Fi so Brows,Download,Chat any time you want.Sharing your moments with bluetooth is very easy and do not forget to connect your Nokia N9 miniUSB with your Computer system.It has 12 megapixel Camera with flash,Streo FM radio,Music plyer and many more.Have your mini world in just pkrs.28,717.Nokia connecting people

NOKIA E55 IS JUST AMAZING:

Nokia E55 ralised on 2009 February.It is just weight 98 gm,very light with 2.4 inches display screen.Nokia E55 available with soft Qwerty keybord,easy to use having a downloadable Polyphonic sound, MP3 ringtones and other exciting features like Vibration and Speakerphone.you can record calls with Nokia E55.It also contain Wi-Fi,BlueTooth,v2.0 microUSB in its small size.You can insert up to 60 MB microSD,2GB memory card.It has 3.2 megapixles camera with enhanced,fixed,focus,LED flash features through which you can makes videos and make pictures.Send SMS,MMS,Emails with nokia e55.Use internet,Wap browser,listen to FM radio with streo sound.MP3 music player,voice memo,document editor are remarkable features.Available in Black Aluminium,white Aluminium and Red color in just Rupees 32,000.
Nokia helps you to keep in touch with your contects.

Nokia E7 Release Date and Price

This Symbian^3 powered, metallic body smartphone was announced earlier and was set to release in first quarter of year 2011, however for some reasons, Nokia has still not come up with an affirmitive release date of this handset. The Finish company has announced this beautiful gadget in September last year and speculations were it will be released later the same year, but Nokia had decided to release it bit late, as they probably still wanted to tweak it to its otimum level. Nokia E7 Price is supposed to be around $650 USD, which is around 55,000 PKRin Pakistan. The final release date is still not announced, but we are affirmitive E7 will be released pretty soon in the month of January.


Nokia E7 Specifications:
All upcoming Nokia mobiles are mainly Symbian^3 powered and fully loaded with high end specifications and internal features with robust hardwares.

Special Features

• Scratch Resistant
• QWERTY Keyboard
• Touch sensitive
• Multi touch Input
• Proximity Sensor (Auto-Turnoff)
• Accelerometer Sensor(Auto rotate)
• Audio, Video Recorder & Playback
• MP3, MP4 player
• Photo, Video Viewer & Editor
• Document Viewer
• Voice memo
• TV-Out, DDP
• Stereo FM Radio, RDS
• Speaker phone, Games
• 3.5 mm Audio jack
• MP3, WAV Ringtones

Message Support

• SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email
• Instant Messaging

Connectivity

• Connectivity Options – Bluetooth v3.0, Micro USB v2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Data Modes – 3G, GPRS 32, EDGE 32, Internet Browsing

Camera & Display

• Camera – 8 Mega Pixel, Resolution 3266×2450 pixels, Video, Auto focus, Dual LED Flash
• Face & Smile Detection, Geo Tagging, Flash
• Screen Display – 4 inches 360×640 pixels
• Color – AMOLED capacitive Touch Screen with 16M colors

Memory

• Internal Memory – No
• Expandable Memory- 32 GB Micro SD/card slot
• Phone Book – Unlimited Contacts, Photo Call.
• Call Records – Unlimited

Mobile Size and Appeal

• Size – 123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6 mm
• Weight – 176 Grams
• Body Colors – Green, Blue, Orange, Grey and White

Battery Power

• 1200 mAh (BL-4D) Li-Ion Standard Battery
• Battery Life – 2G: 432 hours, 3G: 480 hours
• Battery Talk Time – 2G: 9 hours, 3G: 5 hours

Giants fans cheer as team defeats 49ers to make it to Super Bowl

It’s deja vu all over again!
Giants fans went into a frenzy as their team beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime to reach Super Bowl XLVI — setting up an epic championship encore with the hated New England Patriots.
“Super Bowl, baby!” cheered Drew Miller, 33, of Manhattan, who was surrounded by hundreds of fellow fanatics at Legends Sports Bar on West 33rd Street.
Miller, whose pals were decked out in quarterback Eli Manning and wide receiver Victor Cruz jerseys, said history will repeat itself against the Patriots, whose perfect season was ruined when Big Blue beat them in Super Bowl XLII in 2008.

“[Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady is a chump. We’re gonna dominate that guy . . . I’d say Manning will beat him easy,” Miller boasted.
The Giants won the NFC title game when kicker Lawrence Tynes made a 31-yard field goal — just like he did in 2008, when Big Blue defeated the Packers to reach the Super Bowl.
“It was the same feeling in 2008 except now it’s even more euphoric,” said Mike Quinn, 40, from Connecticut.
Sunday’s massive victory was essentially clinched after San Francisco 49er Kyle Williams made a costly fumble on a punt.
“That fumble was a game changer,” said Pierre Watiez, of Manhattan. “We’re gonna win the Super Bowl because of that!”
The crowd at Legends, which packed all three levels with seas of blue jerseys, was clinking beers after every Giants first down and broke out of chants of “Let’s Go Giants!” after every big play of the drama-filled seesaw game.
They also roared “Cruuuuzz” after every one of the star receiver’s 10 catches.
“Cruz is unstoppable!” said Liz Deveny, 28, of Williamsburg.
And for fans who made the trek out west to see the game in California, even the miserable weather conditions couldn’t ruin the game’s perfect ending.
“I got soaked out here, but its worth it,” said Jenny Salcido, 20, from Plainfield, NJ.
“I needed to be here to see us win this one on the way to another championship,” Salcido said.
The crowd at Candlestick Park was packed with Giants faithful who braved the constant rain, howling winds and chilly temperatures in the 40s.
“This is just a beautiful thing,” said Brian Smythe, 43, of Forest Hills. “This trip was worth every penny. There’s something special about this crew, and Eli is going to bring home another one.”
Rob Cohen, who traveled from Albany, said, “This was just an epic game. We never game up and just gritted it out.”
Michael Fitzmaurice, 51, from Riverhead, LI, boasted,“Big Blue can’t be stopped.”
“We’re the road warriors baby! We did it in Lambeau, We did it in San Fran, and we’re going to do it in Indianapolis,” he cheered.
Any fans looking to make the trip to Indianapolis for the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, will have to dig deep in their pockets.
The average ticket price is $3,679, with the cheapest ducat coming in at $2,247.
The most expensive seat is $17,048, while a suite is still available for over $1.1 million.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/giants_fans_cheer_super_team_defeats_hZQ84HH9xbfURlfiDgYicL#ixzz1kGcpRlcN

Pipeline Politics: Keystone Is Dead (For Now). What Happens Next?

Chalk a win up for the environmentalists. On Wednesday, the White House announced that it was rejecting -- on the recommendation of the State Department -- the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would have brought 700,000 barrels a day of oil sands crude from western Canada into the U.S. In many ways the announcement -- forced by Congressional legislation passed late last year that required an expedited decision on the pipeline -- reinforces a move made by Obama in November to essentially kick the final decision on Keystone XL to 2013, after the Presidential election. But Congress forced Obama's hand, and left him little choice but to stop the pipeline for now, as the President made clear in a statement:

As the State Department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline's impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment. As a result, the Secretary of State has recommended that the application be denied. And after reviewing the State Department's report, I agree.

So why did Obama and the State Department decide to reject the pipeline? And does this mean the Keystone issue has been settled once and for all? (MORE: Pipeline Politics: How an Oil Sands Pipeline Became Key to Environmentalism.)

While protesters like Bill McKibben have tried to make the case that allowing the pipeline to go forward would be disastrous for the climate because it would speed the development of oil sands, which have a bigger greenhouse gas footprint than conventional crude, there's little sign in the White House's public statements that preventing climate change was a main reason behind the decision. From the State Department's release:

Specifically, the Department called for an assessment of alternative pipeline routes that avoided the uniquely sensitive terrain of the Sand Hills in Nebraska. The Department estimated, based on prior projects of similar length and scope, that it could complete the necessary review to make a decision by the first quarter of 2013. In consultations with the State of Nebraska and TransCanada, they agreed with the estimated timeline.

While McKibben and his allies were able to build an impressive public movement against the pipeline -- a project most energy insiders thought was a done deal as recently as the fall -- it was concern over the local environmental impact of the pipeline in Nebraska and the upper Midwest that really galvanized opposition, rather than the larger issue of climate change. That's not a knock on the protest movement -- obviously they have concerns about the risk of pipeline safety and spills as well -- but it makes the Keystone decision less a climate victory than a victory for traditional environmental politics, as I wrote earlier.

But while building the pipeline would help Canada further develop its oil sands reserves, blocking the pipeline, even temporarily, doesn't mean Canadians will simply close up shop in Alberta. By some estimates all the crude in the oil sands is worth more than $15 trillion -- unless the price of oil suddenly plummets (unlikely) or policies are undertaken to artificially raise the cost of carbon-intensive fuels (also unlikely, at least now), I have a feeling the Canadians will find a way to keep pumping it and keep selling it. (MORE: Bienvenue au Canada: Welcome to Your Friendly Neighborhood Petrostate.)

Of course, to oil company executives and their allies in Congress, Obama's decision was a mistake no matter what his justification. Here's Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming:

His decision today is a victory for the few extreme environmental activists who have lined up to protest Keystone and a defeat for the tens of thousands of Americans who are lining up to find a Keystone job. The president chose to shore up his voting base instead of standing up for unemployed Americans.

A few things here: one, while the number of active protesters against Keystone may not be huge, neither was there overwhelming support for the pipeline. A poll by Rasmussen Reports at the end of 2011 found that 53% of Americans "somewhat favored" building the pipeline -- and that's coming from a polling service that tends to lean conservative. And then there are the job claims -- proponents of Keystone have claimed that the pipeline would create 20,000 temporary jobs in the U.S., and lead to hundreds of thousands of new jobs thanks to the lower oil prices that would result from all that Canadian oil sands lowering the price of crude. But Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations shows why those claims are ridiculous:

However, the first number refers to "person-years" of employment -- a single job that lasts two years is counted twice; and in any case, it pales compared with the overall U.S. employment challenge. The second number is more impressive but relies on an overly optimistic estimate of how much the pipeline would have reduced global oil prices. The administration's rejection of the pipeline will probably add less than a dollar a barrel to the long-term price of oil, hardly a decisive factor when prices are already around $100 per barrel.

Of course, there's little question that more Canadian oil production would trim world oil prices slightly and thus help the U.S. economy. But the net impact of the Keystone XL pipeline would have been smaller than its proponents claim.

So yes, building the pipeline would have employed some people -- just as any construction project would -- and Keystone would have facilitated the development of the oil sands, which means more oil on the market and slightly lower prices. But it's hardly an economic cure all -- and some of the conservative criticism ignores the fact that Obama has, for better or for worse, seen domestic oil and natural gas production increase under his watch. Keystone wouldn't have done much to reduce U.S. reliance on Middle Eastern oil either -- we buy oil from the world market, like everyone else, and our vulnerability has to do with the amount we're consuming, not where the oil comes out of the ground.

At the same time, the rejection or approval of the pipeline won't decide the fate of the climate alone, either. Yes it's true that the trillions of barrels of crude in the oil sands reserves represent a massive amount of carbon, and if we were to burn all of that carbon, it really would be, as James Hansen says, "game over" for the climate. But even at an accelerated rate it would take centuries to go through all that oil -- by which time we'll have had to deal with the impacts of global warming. Oil sands are a threat to the climate more because they're oil and less because they're somewhat dirtier than conventional crude.

The only way to prevent the carbon in oil from swamping the atmosphere is to vastly reduce the amount of oil we use, either through new technologies that allow us to use oil efficiently through the use of carbon-free alternative fuels or through policies that price the carbon in fossil fuels. Stopping Keystone isn't really going to do any of those things, unless it's simply part of a plan to stop all new oil development -- which, for many environmentalists, really is the aim.

All of which makes the Keystone battle more about symbolism then substance -- for both sides. And that's okay by me. Environmentalists deserve credit for flexing some political and popular muscle and putting Obama in a position where he couldn't afford to let the pipeline go forward -- though Congress, by fast-tracking the decision, inadvertently helped out. If that strategy isn't the one that will help build a vast new clean economy -- and I don't think it is -- that doesn't matter right now. As Rahm Emanuel once said, it helps to put "points on the board" in Washington -- and that's what McKibben and his allies did. You take your wins where you can get them.

That's my inexpert political analysis. But the battle over Keystone isn't over. TransCanada, the company that had been set to build the pipeline, has already said that it plans on reapplying for a permit, which today's ruling allows. Republicans in Congress have also vowed to try to take authority over the decision away from the White House, though that's unlikely to work with a still Democratic Senate. There are also other options to move crude from the oil sands, as Brad Plumer writes in the Washington Post:

One thing that's worth noting, however, is that even if the Keystone XL pipeline never comes to fruition, there are all sorts of ways for oil to get from Canada down to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Enbridge Inc. recently announced plans to reverse the flow on the Seaway pipeline between Oklahoma and Texas, which would achieve part of what the Keystone XL pipeline would've done. There are also a few other pipelines in the works, and oil companies could even start shipping by rail if they found it profitable to do so. As one analysis commissioned for the Energy Department noted, "It would take a total moratorium on new pipeline -- and also rail -- capacity" to stop the development of Canada's oil sands.

So don't think you're done reading about Keystone or oil sands. The oil industry has promised to make the pipeline an election year issue, and candidates like Newt Gingrich -- who called Obama's decision "stunningly stupid" -- will happily take that line of attack. Meanwhile greens have promised they'll keep up the fight, too, with a protest planned next week at the Capitol. The pipeline may be a symbol, but the lesson here is that symbols matter. 

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

Actor Wahlberg Apologizes for 9/11 Comments

Actor Mark Wahlberg has apologized for asserting that he would have stopped terrorists from flying an airliner into New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11 if he had been on the plane.
The star of the film "Contraband" issued his apology Wednesday after comments he made to Men's Journal drew criticism.

AP

FILE - In this July, 23, 2001 file photo,... View Full Caption

He told an interviewer in the February issue that had he been on American Airlines Flight 11 with his children "it wouldn't have went down like it did." Terrorists flew the plane with 92 people aboard into the north tower on Sept. 11, 2001.
In his apology, Wahlberg said to speculate was "ridiculous to begin with." He said that to suggest he "would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com

Gabrielle Union celebrates beau Dwyane Wade's 30th birthday

The party Gabrielle Union threw for her beau and Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade's 30th birthday was a star-studded affair. Kelly Rowland, Lebron James, Usher, Alonzo Mourning, Fat Joe all appeared, as well as rapper T.I., who also performed at the event.

The bash took place at the Setai Hotel on Miami Beach with 400 of their closest friends. Before the party, Wade tweeted, "Tired & ankle isn't feeling so gd- I wnt b able 2 2 step 2nite haha but U only get 1 BIG 30th. Let's get it 2nite Miami."

Two nights before, Union was hosting the BET Honors, where she made a joke at Dwyane's expense. "Why are you crying on the floor after your loss to Dallas Mavericks? You have a ring! I should be the one crying....Where's my ring?" Ooh, awkward!

Well, not really. Wade talked to Essence magazine and said "We're not rushing it. Both of us have been married before, and we understand that if we choose to marry again, we want it to be right. We both took failing at marriage hard. The next time it's gotta be forever."

Sounds like they have a healthy relationship. Happy birthday Dwyane!
Source: http://blog.zap2it.com

Betty White with her 90th birthday cake

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- From one legend to another, Betty Crocker has created a show-stopping birthday cake for Betty White's 90th birthday special, which airs Monday, January 16 (8-9:30 p.m. ET) on NBC. Betty Crocker will present Betty White with a vibrant Triple Chocolate Celebration Cake inspired by the legendary star. Betty Crocker will also provide each celebrity guest of the NBC special with one of several hundred individual cakes that replicate the look of the Celebration Cake’s top tier. Both Betty Crocker and Betty White are celebrating their ninetieth year as American icons. 

Betty Crocker Presents Three-Tiered Triple Chocolate Celebration Cake to Betty White at Taping of "Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl" Airing Monday, January 16 (8-9:30 p.m. ET) on NBC. Betty spotted the white chocolate replica of her beloved dog Pontiac nestled among the roses and birthday candles. (Photo: Trae Patton/NBC)

“Betty White is one of the most popular actresses of our time, and Betty Crocker is honored to create this one-of-a-kind birthday cake for her,” said Kristen Olson, food editor with Betty Crocker. “This cake is our gift to Betty White in celebration of her ninety amazing years, and we think this vibrant cake really reflects her personality and the many things we love about her.”
The three-tiered Triple Chocolate Celebration Cake, flown by private plane from Betty Crocker’s Minneapolis home to Los Angeles for Betty White’s birthday, is a decadent chocolate cake layered with sumptuous chocolate mousse and rich chocolate ganache. Marrying classic and modern elements, the red, orange and magenta cake is decorated with dozens of fondant roses, shimmery edible pearls and golden candles – and hidden among the roses – a small replica of Betty’s beloved dog Pontiac.
The original first lady of food, Betty Crocker has kept up with the times and continues to serve as a resource for the modern cook. Betty Crocker is celebrating 90 successful years of bringing together family and friends by releasing a brand new edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook, “Big Red.” With more than 65 million copies sold since its first edition was published in 1950, the new version allows readers for the first time ever to have exclusive access to an online cookbook destination (bettycrocker.com/BCcookbook).
The NBC special will celebrate White's 90th birthday and will honor one of the world's most beloved entertainers. The star-studded event will be taped live at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including many of White's co-stars, will be on hand to deliver their birthday wishes. The evening will include special musical performances, surprise appearances and comedy, featuring the irreverent tone, spirit and energy that are the hallmark of White's six-decade career in show business. The 90-minute special is produced by Brad Lachman Productions and Universal Television; the executive producers are Brad Lachman, Jon Macks and Steve Ridgeway.
About Betty Crocker
Since her creation in 1921, Betty Crocker has enjoyed a distinguished history as a multimedia superstar. Featured in radio, TV, print, and now online, this cultural icon has rightfully earned her reputation as the “Original First Lady of Food.”
BettyCrocker.com is one of the top websites in the food category. Betty Crocker’s Facebook community has nearly 1.5 million fans that enjoy interacting with the brand, and millions have downloaded Betty Crocker’s mobile app. Betty Crocker branded products garner more than $1 billion in sales annually. For more information, visit www.bettycrocker.com.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com

Zappos hacked: 24 million accounts at risk

Zappos says hackers potentially gathered names, e-mail and physical addresses, phone numbers, and last four digits of credit cards. But full credit card numbers not exposed, Zappos says. 

 the popular shoe website, was the victim of a cyber attack that exposed customer information on the company's internal network and systems, Chief Executive Tony Hsieh said in an email to employees

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com

Chicago Woman Fired for Doing Work at Lunch Wins Unemployment Claim

Sharon Smiley had worked for 10 years as a receptionist and administrative assistant at a Chicago real estate company until she was fired for skipping lunch one day. After a two-year battle, an appeals court in Illinois has found that denial of her unemployment benefits was "clearly erroneous."
Smiley, 48, punched out of work for lunch Jan. 28, 2010, but remained at her desk to finish a project assigned by a manager because she did not plan to eat that day, she said.
Smiley, who had passed her 10-year anniversary with the company more than a month before, said another manager told her it was time for her to go to lunch and step away from her desk, but she refused. That manager observed Smiley working on a spreadsheet on her computer, answering the phone and responding to questions by people who approached her desk, according to a filing from the appellate court of Illinois.
Her former employer, Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc., did not return a request for comment.
The company's human resources director then became involved, explaining that hourly non-exempt employees were required to take a 30-minute lunch break, a policy that had been in the company handbook for 10 years, according to the filing. Not following the policy would be a violation of Illinois' labor laws, the HR director said.
The prominent location of Smiley's desk, "which was directly at the front door of the office, made this particularly important for her," according to the human resources director in the court filing. She and Smiley had "many discussions ... over her eating breakfast at her desk," the filing states

"I knew you couldn't eat lunch at your desk," Smiley told ABC News. "I was under the impression that because I was punched out and I could do what I want."
Smiley said her job had became so stressful that she suffered a stroke and was off work for almost three months, beginning July 13, 2009, according to the court filing.
Like several states, Illinois has a law that requires employers to provide employees a lunch break. But the law cannot be read to require an employer to fire a worker who refuses to take a break in order to finish her work, said Michael LeRoy, law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"Nonetheless, Illinois is an employment-at-will state, which means the employer can fire someone for a good reason, no reason, or a bad reason, as long as it is not discriminatory," he said.
Companies often have policies that are designed to limit the number of hours employees can work in a given day or week, largely in order to avoid overtime pay obligations, Cheryl Anderson, law professor with Southern Illinois University School of Law, said. Such policies often require employer permission to work beyond an employee's regular scheduled hours.
After being fired, Smiley learned she was ineligible for unemployment benefits because she had been discharged for misconduct connected with her work.
She appealed to the Illinois Department of Employment Security's board of review three times, was denied, then took her case to a circuit court. That court ruled Smiley, who did not challenge the firing, was eligible for benefits.
Smiley received a check with a lump sum on Nov. 28 for several months of unemployment, a percentage of her previous salary. Then she received a check every two weeks for $528 until she obtained her latest job last month.
The appellate court of Illinois affirmed the circuit court ruling Jan. 11, saying the "insubordination arose from [Smiley's] efforts to perform additional work for [her employer], beyond what was required of her," as first reported Monday in the Chicago Tribune.
"The insubordination occurred in a meeting with her superiors which lasted only four minutes," the court ruling stated.
The court ruling also said there was evidence that managers had been able to work with her in the past to perform new tasks with which she was uncomfortable.

South Carolina debate

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Mitt Romney's Republican rivals attacked his record as a venture capitalist Monday night in the first of two debates before a pivotal weekend primary in South Carolina, where a Romney victory could seal his lock on the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in the November general election.
The president -- weighed down by a struggling American economy -- is seen as vulnerable in his quest for a second White House term. Relentlessly high unemployment, massive federal debt and millions of home mortgage foreclosures persist as the economy makes a laggardly recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Of all issues facing the United States, voters say repairing the economy is foremost.
The debate unfolded hours after moderate former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman withdrew from the race and endorsed Romney.
That withdrawal only raised the stakes of the debate -- and one on Thursday night. In the debate, feisty from the outset, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry sought to knock Romney off stride while generally being careful to wrap their criticism in anti-Obama rhetoric.
"We need to satisfy the country that whoever we nominate has a record that can stand up to Barack Obama in a very effective way," said Gingrich.
Polls show Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, as the clear favorite in conservative South Carolina despite the mistrust or ambivalence of Republican voters who are unhappy with Romney's past stands on social issues like abortion. Gingrich has virtually conceded that a victory for Romney in the first-in-the-South primary in South Carolina would assure his nomination.
Gingrich and Perry led the assault against Romney's record at Bain Capital, a venture capital firm that bought companies and sought to remake them into more competitive enterprises.
"There was a pattern in some companies ... of leaving them with enormous debt and then within a year or two or three having them go broke," Gingrich said. "I think that's something he ought to answer."
Perry referred to a steel mill in South Carolina where, he said, "Bain swept in, they picked that company over and a lot of people lost jobs there."
"I'm proud of my record," the former Massachusetts governor responded, but he avoided an answer on making his tax returns public.
Romney said that the steel industry was battered by unfair competition from China. As for other firms, he said, "Four of the companies that we invested in ... ended up today having some 120,000 jobs.
"Some of the businesses we invested in were not successful and lost jobs," he said, but he offered no specifics.
Perry challenged Romney, a multimillionaire, to release his income tax returns. The Texas governor said he has already done so, adding he believes Gingrich will do likewise later in the week.
Romney grudgingly said Monday night he might release his income tax returns this spring.
"I have nothing in them that suggests there's any problem and I'm happy to do so," he said. "I sort of feel like we're showing a lot of exposure at this point," he added.
Afterward, Gingrich said that wasn't good enough. "If there's nothing there, why is he waiting till April?" the former House speaker told reporters.
In South Carolina, a state with a heavy military presence, the tone turned muscular at times.
Gingrich drew strong applause when he referred to a 19th century U.S. president: "Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear idea about America's enemies. Kill them."
Perry also won favor from the crowd when he said the Obama administration had overreacted in its criticism of the Marines who were videotaped urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Early this month, Romney won the leadoff Iowa caucus preference poll by just eight votes over Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, but went on 10 days later to handily win the primary election in New Hampshire, where he maintains a vacation home.
Santorum, Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, and Perry, the Texas governor, have all had a time in the limelight as the biggest threat to Romney, but all also have faded to also-ran status as Republicans appear to be coalescing around Romney.
Texas congressman Ron Paul, a strict libertarian who favors small government, has held steady through the first months of the campaign, but manages on average to poll only in the teens.
After the Monday debate, Republican candidates face a packed week of campaign events and one more nationally televised debate on Thursday. In the past three decades, no Republican has won the party's presidential nomination without carrying South Carolina.
Romney is hoping to overcome his history in South Carolina, where he struggled to a fourth-place finish during his 2008 White House run. The state has a large population of evangelicals and other conservative Christians, and concerns arose four years ago about his Mormon faith.
But Gingrich, Santorum and Perry all said Romney, after his victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, continued to benefit from the fractured Republican field and the failure of social conservatives to coalesce around a single alternative.
Huntsman's withdrawal from the race, coincided with increasing pressure on Perry to leave the race to allow South Carolina's influential social conservatives to unify behind either former Santorum or Gingrich.
Santorum worked over the weekend at consolidating conservatives, trying to build support in South Carolina from the decision Saturday by an influential group of national Christian conservatives to back him.
Gingrich said he would "reassess" his candidacy if he lost in South Carolina and acknowledged that a Romney victory would mean "an enormous advantage going forward."
The field that remains after Saturday's vote will next compete in Florida on Jan. 31. The party does not officially name its candidate until the Republican National Convention in

Source:http://news.yahoo.com

Golden Globes 2012 Winners List

Complete rundown of the 69th annual winners and nominees in all categories.

The biggest stars of film and television descended upon the Beverly Hilton on Jan. 15 for Hollywood's "biggest party" and for the announcement of this year's 69th annual Golden Globes.

The Artist, which led the film category nominations with six noms, took home best motion picture comedy or musical, star Jean Dujardin nabbed the best acting award and the film also won for best original score.
The Descendants (which went in with five nominations) won for both best motion picture drama George Clooney for best acting, while Octavia Spencer brought in The Help's only win (it also had five nominations) with best supporting actress in a motion picture.
PHOTOS: Golden Globes 2012: The Red Carpet Arrivals
In the television categories, Downton Abbey nabbed the Golden Globe for best mini-series or motion picture made for television. Kate Winslet won for her performance in Mildred Pierce while Modern Family and Homeland each earned trophies for best television series comedy or musical and drama, respectively.
The full winners and nominee list is below.
MOTION PICTURE 
Motion Picture, Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse
Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants 
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
The Artist 
50/50
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris 
My Week With Marilyn
PHOTOS: Golden Globe Awards: The Winners and Nominees  
Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture  – Drama
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris
STORY: The Golden Globes Winners' Reactions
Best Director – Motion Picture
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris 
George Clooney, The Ides of March 
Michel Hazanvicius, The Artist 
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
Octavia Spencer, The Help 
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants 
STORY: Golden Globe Awards Nominations: The Nominee's Reactions 
Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation (Iran) 
The Flowers of War (China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (USA)
The Kid With A Bike (Belgium)
The Skin I Live In (Spain)
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris 
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist 
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, The Descendants
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball
Best Animated Feature Film
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas 
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
Best Performance By An Actress in A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn 
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult 
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Kate Winslet, Carnage
STORY: 'The Artist' Tops Golden Globe Nominations 
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Masterpiece” — W.E.
Music & Lyrics by: Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry
“Hello Hello” — Gnomeo & Juliet 
Music by: Elton John
Lyrics by: Bernie Taupin
“The Keeper” — Machine Gun Preacher 
Music & Lyrics by: Chris Cornell
"Lay Your Head Down” — Albert Nobbs
Music by: Brian Byrne
Lyrics by: Glenn Close
“The Living Proof” — The Help
Music by: Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr.
Lyrics by: Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Ludovic Bource, The Artist 
Abel Korzeniowski, W.E.
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Howard Shore, Hugo
John Williams, War Horse
Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture 
Christopher Plummer, Beginners 
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method 
THE RACE: Golden Globe Awards Nominations: Key Stats, Inclusions and Snubs (Analysis)
TELEVISION
Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Modern Family, ABC
Enlightened, HBO
Episodes, Showtime
Glee, FOX
New Girl, FOX
PHOTOS: 8 Possible Targets for Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes
Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock 
David Duchovny, Californication 
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory 
Thomas Jane, Hung
Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Madeleine Stowe, Revenge
Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness
Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Series, Mini-Series, Or Motion Picture Made for Television 
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story 
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family 
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce 
Best Performance By An Actor in A Supporting Role in A Series, Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television 
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce 
Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family 
Best Performance By An Actor In A Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
Idris Elba, Luther
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey 
William Hurt, To Big to Fail
Bill Nighy, Page Eight
Dominic West, The Hour
Best Television Series – Drama
Homeland, Showtime
American Horror Story, FX
Boardwalk Empire, HBO
Boss, STARZ
Game of Thrones, HBO Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Kelsey Grammer, Boss 
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeremy Irons, The Borgias
Damian Lewis, Homeland 
Best Performance By An Actress In A Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
Romola Garai, The Hour
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite 
Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey
Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult
Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
Downton Abbey,  PBS (Masterpiece)
Cinema Verite, HBO
The Hour, BBC America
Mildred Pierce, HBO
Too Big to Fail,  HBO
Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com

Wooden iPhone 4 Options Design For Nature Lovers

iPhone 4 indeed been bewitched lovers smartphone, because of various high performance which is also owned the iPhone four slips of different design which can obey the demands of consumers. Like the picture above is one of the design which we obtain from Shansai featured on the concept of eco-friendly. Although the iPhone has a bandage timber section 4 are only superficially, but it already shows that you are an environmentalist.

GrooveMade has designed this wooden shell for the latest iPhone 4. Unfortunately, it increases the thickness of the iPhone by 24%. Shell bamboo aircraft will be available for EUR 49, while you must pay extra 20 dollars to get one with beautiful carvings on it. The one featured here has a good drip pattern made from behind a tree with Grove and the opening logo for the camera.

Nieminen wins rain-delayed Sydney International

SYDNEY (AP)—Finnish qualifier Jarkko Nieminen won the Sydney International for his second ATP title, beating France’s Julien Benneteau 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday in the rain-delayed final.
Nieminen was making his 12th finals appearance, while Benneteau lost for the sixth straight time in a championship match. Nieminen, the first qualifier since Lee Hyung-taik in 2003 to win the event, also won the 2006 in Auckland.

“It was a bit strange starting the final so early, but I just tried to focus on every point and play my game,” Nieminen said. “It has been many years for me since my first title, but I never stopped believing in myself and working hard.”
Benneteau broke Nieminen’s service in the opening game, but that was the only time the Finnish left-hander lost his service in the match postponed by rain Saturday night.
Nieminen open the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday against former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian. Benneteau will face Karol Beck on Tuesday.
http://sports.yahoo.com

S&P, Greek standoff pressure euro zone to boost defenses

LONDON (Reuters) - Mass euro zone ratings downgrades are unlikely to shake up investors too much, but with Greek debt talks at an impasse, pressure has been loaded on the bloc to shore up its defenses and glimmers of optimism from last week have been firmly doused.

With the United States and Japan already downgraded from "AAA," the likes of France and Austria are in good company and Standard & Poor's ratings cuts had been flagged in December. Nonetheless, the upbeat tone that surrounded last week's strong Spanish bond auction now seems a distant memory.

"The euro zone crisis is now dominating market activity again, after a period in which better economic news from the U.S., and easier monetary policy in China had helped markets move higher," said Dominic Rossi, chief investment officer, equities, at Fidelity Worldwide Investment.

Shares in Asia fell more than 1 percent on Monday in reaction to the S&P downgrades and the euro hovered near a 17-month low against the dollar.

U.S. markets are closed for the Martin Luther King holiday, but the euro zone will not have to wait long for a test of investor appetite.

France will attempt to sell up to 8 billion euros of debt on Thursday and Spain will tap the market again after a successful bond auction last week where it raised twice as much as expected at lower borrowing costs.

Analysts put that success down to the flood of cheap 3-year money the European Central Bank pushed into the banking system in December. It will make the same offer in February, fostering hopes that it can avert a credit crunch and helped bolster struggling euro zone debt issuers to boot.

ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Sunday the central bank would do all it could to calm the situation after the downgrade.

"Everything that is within our possibilities will be done to bring about a relaxation (of the situation)," he said on television in Austria.

But the twin blows of the serial S&P downgrades and the stalled Greek bond swap talks have cast another pall of gloom. This time, Spain will try to sell longer-term debt, which could be tougher.

"While the market impact of the downgrades is unlikely to be very significant in the short term, they serve as a stark reminder that the euro area sovereign crisis is here to stay," analysts at RBS said. "We continue to expect the crisis to deepen eventually leading to further widening in spreads across countries vis-a-vis Germany."

After downgrading nine of the euro zone's 17 countries, S&P said it would decide shortly whether to do the same for the currency area's EFSF bailout fund. Ratings cuts for commercial banks are probably imminent too.

"Speculation around an EFSF downgrade will now grow, complicating its ability to raise capital and displace the ECB in the sovereign bond purchasing program," Rossi said. "Both the ECB and the IMF will get sucked further into central roles."

A senior euro zone official said the EFSF could retain its AAA rating with Standard & Poor's through higher guarantees from the euro zone's remaining triple A countries or lower lending capacity.

Still, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on German radio on Monday that German guarantees for the EFSF were sufficient.

Negotiations with the banks on a bond swap scheme designed to eat into Greece's colossal debts are expected to restart on Wednesday with Athens warning of catastrophe if they fall apart.

Without a deal, a planned 130 billion euro Greek bailout of which the bond swap is a vital part will be fundamentally holed, raising the prospect of default in March when massive bond payments are due. That, rather than the long-anticipated S&P downgrades, looks to be the bigger worry for investors.

"At this stage, there is a growing risk of a coercive rather than voluntary debt restructuring, even though the latter is still our base case," said Joachim Fels, economist at Morgan Stanley.

SENSE OF URGENCY

Euro zone leaders do seem to be gripped with a sense of urgency although they have failed for nearly three years to get on the top of the sovereign debt crisis born in Greece.

Rather than launch a broadside at S&P, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday said she and her fellow leaders must act more swiftly to impose common fiscal rules and get a permanent rescue fund up and running.

"Although nobody is excited about the S&P decision, the step may actually help to get a quick agreement on the fiscal compact," a German government official said.

While not expecting a euro zone break up, S&P blamed its leaders for focusing too much on cutting debts and not sufficiently on competitiveness and growth.

The ratings agency, and many economists, say austerity for its own sake will be self-defeating - deepening economic downturns and cutting government revenues needed to lower debt.

"Market participants are worried about a vicious circle in which they tighten, growth weakens, the deficits get bigger despite the efforts to tighten," said Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

The concerns were echoed by IMF Deputy Managing Director David Lipton, who said EU action was needed.

"Without.... action, Europe will be swept into a downward spiral of collapsing confidence, stagnant growth and fewer jobs," he said at a conference in Hong Kong on Monday.

Ahead of an EU summit on January 30 which will attempt to alight upon a growth strategy, shuttle diplomacy continues apace this week.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy sees Spain's Mariano Rajoy in Madrid on Monday. Italian premier Mario Monti visits Britain's David Cameron in London on Wednesday, then hosts Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Rome at the end of the week.

Aside from Greece it is Italy, facing massive bond repayments over the next three months, which poses the biggest threat to the euro zone. It was downgraded two notches by S&P.

"More than the moves on France and Austria, which are relatively symbolic and to a large extent reflected in prices already, the Italian downgrade might be key going forward," said Laurent Fransolet at Barclays Capital.

"Italy is at BBB+ now by S&P, but is on watch negative by Fitch and on negative outlook by Moody's and therefore some further downgrades are likely."

The more upbeat view is that, in the end, Europe's leaders will not allow the whole edifice to collapse, despite German and ECB reservations about many of the policy options. But even optimists say uncertainty will reign for some time.

"Some day the markets will wake up and see that Europe is not going to allow a collapse. If they get through the next six months, you can see the tide turning. Sentiment changes very rapidly," said John Fitzgerald of the Economic and Social Research Institute, a Dublin-based think tank, who also sits on the board of the Irish central bank.

Europe is the biggest threat to the global economy, JP Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon told German newspaper Die Welt's Sunday edition. "I thought Europe would muddle through. I still believe that," he was quoted as saying.

(Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke, Alex Smith, Nigel Stephenson, Robin Emmott, Jamie McGeever and Adrian Croft)

http://news.yahoo.com

Captain's conduct blasted as divers find more dead

GIGLIO, Italy (AP) — The captain of a cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast faced accusations Sunday from authorities and passengers that he abandoned ship before everyone was safely evacuated and was showing off when he steered the vessel far too close to shore.

Divers searching the murky depths of the partially submerged Costa Concordia found the bodies of two elderly men still in their life jackets, bringing the confirmed death toll to five. At least 15 people were still missing, including two Americans.

The recovered bodies were discovered at an emergency gathering point near the restaurant where many of the 4,200 on board were dining when the luxury liner struck rocks or a reef off the tiny island of Giglio. The Italian news agency ANSA reported the dead were an Italian and a Spaniard.

Still, there were glimmers of hope: The rescue of three survivors — a young South Korean couple on their honeymoon and a crew member brought to shore in a dramatic airlift some 36 hours after the grounding late Friday.

Meanwhile, attention focused on the captain, who was spotted by Coast Guard officials and passengers fleeing the scene even as the chaotic and terrifying evacuation was under way.

The ship's Italian owner, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruise lines, issued a statement late Sunday saying there appeared to be "significant human error" on the part of the captain, Francesco Schettino, "which resulted in these grave consequences."

Authorities were holding Schettino for suspected manslaughter and a prosecutor confirmed Sunday they were also investigating allegations the captain abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had escaped. According to the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison.

A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays, told the Associated Press they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship.

"The commander left before and was on the dock before everyone was off," said Gondelle, 28, a French military officer.

"Normally the commander should only leave at the end," said Du Pays, a police officer who said he helped an injured passenger to a rescue boat. "I did what I could."

Coast Guard officers later spotted Schettino on land as the evacuation unfolded. The officers urged him to return to his ship and honor his duty to stay aboard until everyone was safely off the vessel, but he ignored them, Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo said.

Schettino insisted he didn't leave the liner early, telling Mediaset television that he had done everything he could to save lives. "We were the last ones to leave the ship," he said.

Questions also swirled about why the ship had navigated so close to the dangerous reefs and rocks that jut off Giglio's eastern coast, amid suspicions the captain may have ventured too close while carrying out a maneuver to entertain tourists on the island.

The ship's owner, Costa Crociere SpA, issued a statement late Sunday saying it was working with investigators to determine "precisely what went wrong aboard the Costa Concordia."

"While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences," the statement said. "The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the captain's judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures."

Residents of Giglio said they had never seen the Costa come so close to the dangerous "Le Scole" reef area.

"This was too close, too close," said Italo Arienti, a 54-year-old sailor who has worked on the Maregiglio ferry between Giglio and the mainland for more than a decade. Pointing to a nautical map, he drew his finger along the path the ship usually takes and the jarring one close to shore that it followed Friday.

The ship was a mere 150 yards (meters) from shore at the time of the grounding, ANSA quoted Grosseto prosecutor Francesco Verusio as saying.

Schettino insisted he was twice as far out and said the ship ran aground because the rocks weren't marked on his nautical charts.

However, he did concede he was maneuvering the ship in "touristic navigation" — implying a route that was a deviation from the norm and designed to entertain the tourists.

"We were navigating approximately 300 meters (yards) from the rocks," he told Mediaset television. "There shouldn't have been such a rock. On the nautical chart it indicated that there was water deep below."

Costa captains have occasionally steered the ship near port and sounded the siren in a special salute, Arienti said. Such a nautical "fly-by" was staged last August, prompting the town's mayor to send a note of thanks to the commander for the treat it provided tourists who flock to the island, local news portal GiglioNews.it reported.

But Arienti and other residents said even on those occasions, the cruise ship always stayed far offshore, well beyond the reach of the "Le Scole" reefs.

"Every so often they would do a greeting, but not so close — far away, safely," said resident Giacomo Dannipale.

Douglas Ward, a cruise expert and author of the 2012 Berlitz guide to cruises, said the waters around Giglio are too shallow for such maneuvers.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said divers had recovered the so-called "black box," with the recording of the navigational details, from a compartment now under water, though no details were released.

Jorgen Loren, chairman of the Swedish Maritime Officer's Association, said the captain clearly deviated from the ship's intended route.

"It is remarkable because weather conditions were good and these cruise ships have the best and most modern technical equipment. All conditions were ideal," he said.

"These are well-known waters, ferries pass here every day going back and forward to the mainland," he said.

Meanwhile, rescue work continued into the night on the unsubmerged half of the Concordia, said firefighters spokesman Luca Cari. Sniffer dogs were being brought in, although it was unclear if they could adapt to working in an environment where the horizontal became the vertical, due to the 90-degree list of the ship.

Marini, the coast guard captain, held out hope there could still be survivors, perhaps holed up in the section still above water, or that some of the unaccounted passengers simply didn't report their safe arrival on land.

Earlier Sunday, a helicopter airlifted a cabin crew member from the capsized hulk just hours after South Korean honeymooners were rescued from their cabin when firefighters heard their screams.

A relative of the rescued crewman told reporters he had survived two nights in darkness and with his feet in water.

Besides the two dead discovered Sunday, the bodies of three other victims — two French passengers and a Peruvian crewman — were pulled out of the sea in the hours after the accident.

Survivors described a terrifying escape that was straight out of a scene from "Titanic." Many complained the crew didn't give them good directions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for all to be released.

"We were left to ourselves," pregnant French passenger Isabelle Mougin, who injured her ankle in the scramble, told the ANSA news agency.

Another French passenger, Jeanne Marie de Champs, said that faced with the chaotic scene at the lifeboats, she decided to take her chances swimming to shore.

"I was afraid I wouldn't make the shore, but then I saw we were close enough, I felt calmer," she told Sky News 24.

Coast Guard diver Majko Aidone, interviewed by Sky TG24 TV after his dive, explained that the first task after gaining access to a submerged space, is to tie down large floating objects, like mattresses, which could turn into dangerous obstacles.

Then, in hopes of alerting any survivors to their presence, "we make noise," he said.

Crews in dinghies climbed on board the exposed hull of the ship and touched it, near the site of the 160-foot-long (50-meter-long) gash where water flooded in and caused the ship to topple on its side.

Earlier Sunday, at a Mass held in Giglio's main church, which opened its doors to the evacuees Friday night, altar boys and girls brought up a life vest, a rope, a rescue helmet, a plastic tarp and some bread.

Don Lorenzo, the parish priest, told the faithful that he wanted to make this admittedly "different" offering to God as a memory of the tragedy.

"Our community, our island will never be the same," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com

Nokia demonstrates flexible user interface prototype at Nokia World

At Nokia World 2011, Nokia showed that it can think out of the box with a very interesting prototype demonstration. Called the “Nokia kinetic device”, it features a flexible display that gives users a brand new way to interact with a mobile device. Instead of the usual touchscreen tapping, swiping, and pinching, the Nokia kinetic device works by being twisted, bent, bowed and tapped. A very interesting concept if you ask me, though it’s definitely not something that could replace traditional touchscreens, though it would do a good job in complementing them.

The technology for the flexible displays can also be applied to future phones/tablets for more durable devices that can be placed in the back pocket and sat on without any fear of breaking them. Plus, this flexible UI can work even when a person is wearing gloves, which makes it more usable than capacitive touchscreens when outdoors during the winter. Check out a video demonstration for yourself:

Home | About | Contact Us Suggest a concept! Concept Phone Designs and News More Pics of Nokia’s 2012 Phones, Designed by Provoke

Yesterday I revealed to you the Express, Feel and Share Nokia phones, designed by Provoke and available in a New York exhibition starting this weekend. Now it’s time for some extra pics of the beautiful handsets and some info about them.
One of the most beautiful devices designed for 2012 is the Express concept phone (above), that allows the user to change the color of his/her handset electronically, according to the mood he/she’s in.
The Share concept, on the other side will be designed for specific groups, who like to share information and communicate through codes and symbols. It’s a totally urban concept, that supports content tagging and the Share device you can see below is customized for skateboarders.

Nokia 2012 Concept Designs

Nokia’s main design contractor, Provoke Design must own a time machine of sorts (or a really wild imagination) in order to come up with concepts that might roll out come 2012. These new concepts are currently being paraded in New York at the HARDCORE New Finish Design exhibition starting this Saturday. These fully functional prototypes are supposed to demonstrate the core innovation proposed, whatever that means. They consist of Express, Share, and Feel concept models. I wonder if any of those pack in a projector of sorts.

JPMorgan disappoints; banks lead stocks lower

NEW YORK (AP) — A rare disappointing earnings report from JPMorgan Chase battered bank stocks on Friday and helped push the rest of the market lower. Rumors of imminent downgrades for the credit ratings of European governments drove the euro down and sent investors streaming into U.S. debt.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.96 points to close at 12,422.06, a drop of 0.4 percent. Markets were little changed late in the day after France's finance minister confirmed that Standard & Poor's had stripped the country of its AAA credit rating.

Before the market opened, JPMorgan said quarterly profit declined 23 percent from a year earlier, slightly worse than what analysts expected. The bank's stock lost 2 percent, and other large banks followed. Morgan Stanley fell 3 percent and Goldman Sachs 2 percent.

It was the first time JPMorgan missed Wall Street expectations since the final quarter of 2007, a period that includes the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. JPMorgan is widely considered one of the best-managed big banks. Traders figured that if JPMorgan had trouble as 2011 came to a close, the rest of the industry probably did, too.

"JPMorgan is the gold standard," said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors. "So what happens to the banks that aren't quite as strong and aren't quite as well-managed?"

On trading desks, it's called the "cockroach theory," Orlando said. "You never see just one cockroach. If you see one, you know there's bound to be a lot more."

The euro slipped to its lowest level in 17 months after reports surfaced that S&P would downgrade European governments. After the markets closed in New York, S&P announced cuts for France, Austria, Italy and Spain.

The euro dropped 1.1 percent against the dollar to $1.27. Borrowing costs jumped for France, Italy and Spain, countries at the center of the region's debt crisis.

The dollar and U.S. Treasury prices rose as investors moved money into lower-risk assets. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.86 percent from 1.93 percent late Thursday.

S&P warned Dec. 5 that 15 countries that use the euro were at risk of downgrades, citing higher borrowing costs for top-rated governments and disagreements among European leaders.

A cut to France's credit rating may fail to push rates up for France because bond traders were prepared for it, said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.

The danger is to the European rescue fund. France is the second-largest contributor to the fund behind Germany. Bond traders could respond to the French downgrade by raising borrowing costs for the rescue fund, in the expectation that its rating will be cut next.

"The knock-on effects are far more significant than the impact on France itself," LeBas said.

JPMorgan's results opened the earnings season for banks on a sour note. Though an increasing pace of earnings reports may help steer the markets over the coming days, Europe's debt crisis is likely to remain the focus.

In other trading, the S&P 500 index fell 6.41, or 0.5 percent to 1,289.09. The Nasdaq composite index fell 14.03, or 0.5 percent, to 2,710.67. Even with Friday's fall, all three indexes posted gains for the second straight week. The S&P 500 index is up 2.5 percent to start the year.

Among stocks making larger moves than the overall market Friday:

— Diamond Foods Inc., which makes Emerald Nuts, plunged 10 percent after The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors had opened a criminal inquiry into its financial practices. The Journal also reported that two large shareholders had dumped most of their stakes in the company.

— Safeway Inc., the grocery store chain, rose 1.8 percent. An analyst at Jefferies placed a "buy" rating on the stock on the expectation that the company will benefit from an improving job market, especially in California.

— Alpha Natural Resources fell 10 percent, the largest loss in the S&P 500. The coal company bought Massey Energy last year, and the Justice Department is considering whether to prosecute the people who ran Massey when its Big Branch mine exploded in 2010.

http://news.yahoo.com

What If Humans Were Twice as Intelligent?

You might someday be much, much smarter than you are now. That's the hope of neuroscientists focused on understanding the basis of intelligence. They have discovered that the brains of people with high IQs tend to be highly integrated, with neural paths connecting distant brain regions, while less intelligent people's brains build simpler, shorter routes. But no one knows why some brains construct much longer-range connections than others.

"When the brain mechanisms that underlie intelligence are understood, it is theoretically possible that those mechanisms can be tweaked to increase IQ," said Richard Haier, a neuroscientist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, who studies intelligence. For the first time in human history, he said, "the concept that intelligence can be increased is reasonable."

It's a titillating thought but, considering the aphorism "ignorance is bliss," one might wonder: Would it really be better to be brainier? What would life and society be like if we all suddenly became, say, twice as intelligent?

For simplicity, imagine that instead of our current mean IQ score of 100, humans had an average score of 200. (Experts say this isn't a true "doubling" of intelligence because the IQ scale doesn't start at zero and, furthermore, the test isn't actually designed to yield a score as high as 200 — but we will set aside these qualifications for the purpose of argument.) According to Earl Hunt, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington and president of the International Society for Intelligence Research, approximately one person in 10 billion would have an IQ of 200. With a current world population of 7 billion, there may or may not be one such person alive today and, in any case, his or her identity is unknown. However, the 17th-century genius Isaac Newton, discoverer of gravity, calculus and more, is sometimes estimated to have had an IQ of 200 (though he never took an IQ test). So, using him as an archetype, what if we were all a bunch of Newtons? Would the world be much more advanced than it is today?

Self-actualization

Haier believes greater intelligence, which he defines as the ability to learn faster and remember more, would be highly advantageous on an individual scale. "Experiencing the world with a higher IQ might be more interesting for most people. They might enjoy reading more, might have a greater depth of appreciation for certain things and more insight into life," he told Life's Little Mysteries.

Furthermore, IQs of 200 would allow us to pursue activities and careers that most interest us, not just those we're mentally capable of, Haier said. We could master new languages in a few weeks, for example, or become brain surgeons.

Smarter humans would also be healthier and longer-living, the scientists said, because they'd have a better grasp of what behavior leads to these attributes. "Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and even more, managing a chronic illness such as diabetes, can be quite cognitively challenging. That's the sort of challenge intelligent people can meet… by definition," Hunt wrote in an email.

Social skills

Society would not benefit quite as much as individuals from a mass intelligence boost. Although people like to blame social problems on human ignorance and stupidity the scientists say removing these factors would not lead to the emergence of a harmonious Utopia. Greater intelligence does not come hand-in-hand with a greater ability to cooperate.

"Intelligence is independent of personality and emotion, so you can have very intelligent people who are also just kind of crazy people," Haier said. "Even if everyone had an IQ of 200, you'd have exactly the same range of personalities as you have now, and because that's a determining factor in how good your society is, you won't necessarily have a better society." Again, consider Isaac Newton: along with his off-the-charts smarts, he was also a notorious misanthrope.

While petty crime rates would fall in a society of Newtons, Hunt speculated that white-collar crimes, such as banking scams and cover-ups by pharmaceutical companies, might increase and even grow more sophisticated. On the other hand, so would crime-fighting. "The evil corporate villains would be smarter than ever, but so would the government officials who were writing and enforcing the safety regulations! Who would win? Who knows?" he wrote.

Despite these issues, there's a very good chance that higher-functioning brains would help us invent technologies to fix some of our bigger problems. Haier explained that just as a team of 100 engineers is more likely to come up with a remarkable innovation than a team of 10 engineers (because there's more total brainpower working on the job), having 7 billion "geniuses" on Earth would likely lead to solutions to some currently intractable issues. We might figure out a hyper-efficient way to desalinate saltwater, for example, or tap into a limitless alternative-energy source.

Because both those advances would produce a greater abundance of resources, they would likely minimize societal conflict — despite some humans being just as nasty as ever.

Loss of faith

According to Hunt, there's evidence to suggest that many humans, if significantly smarter, would lose their belief in God. "There is a small tendency for people with high scores to be more liberal in their social attitudes and less likely to accept strong religious beliefs. This makes sense; we can know things by reasoning or we can accept something on faith. If we all became very good reasoners, there would probably be a small shift to preferring reasoned over faith-based explanations of the phenomenon of life," he wrote.

Some people would undoubtedly continue to accept faith-based cosmologies, however, as there have been many examples in history of highly intelligent and religious people, Hunt noted.

Looking smart

Confounding the stereotype of the nerdy brainiac with suspenders and thick glasses, Hunt mentioned one other change that would be expected to occur if we all became smarter. "People would be better looking!" he wrote. A study from Harvard University found a significant correlation between peoples' test scores and how physically attractive other people rate them to be, he explained, and extrapolating the finding up to people with IQs of 200 implies that, in our world of super geniuses, an "average-looking person" would move up to the top 15th percentile on our current scale of looks.

Even if the extrapolation isn't quite accurate — if the correlation between intelligence and attractiveness breaks down past a certain range —humanity might at least be better at things like exercising and grooming. "I think what would happen is that there would be fewer homely-looking people; especially people who are unattractive because they are slovenly," he explained. "Intelligent people are aware that looking badly is a handicap in getting jobs, being invited to parties, etc."

One final thought: Even when scientists finally do discover the mechanism for ramping up intelligence, it is highly improbable that everyone would be given an immediate IQ boost. The "haves" would surely benefit from the neuroscience research more than the "have-nots," and this invites a further line of inquiry. As Hunt put it, "Suppose that in some future society, part of the population, say 10 percent, became hugely intelligent, while the rest stayed where we are now or even dropped behind a bit. What would that do to society?"
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