20 March, 2009

Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com

PAUL KEDROSKY’S INFECTIOUS GREED (NBER)

Echo-Boomers in the Stock
Market
MAR 20, 2009 10:14A.M.
New report out from Tobias Levkovich at Citi arguing that the “Net
Generation” [ed., ugh] of Americans is entering its peak savings period
over next 3-4 years. All else being equal, he argues, their savings are
likely to exceed withdrawals from retiring baby boomers.
• Maxing Out: Stocks as Lotteries and the Cross-Section of Expected
Returns (Source)
• Staying Late: Comparing Work Hours in Public and Nonprofit
Sectors (SSRN)
• Financial Advisors: A Case of Babysitters? (SSRN)
• A Trans-Niagara Tale of Informed Traders (SSRN)

The trouble is, of course, all else isn’t equal, and boomers’ savings has • The effect of bonus payments on hedge fund manager behavior
been whacked in a major way. Meanwhile, Net Generation sorts have (CEPR)
been scarred for life about capital markets.
• Disclosure and Judgment: ‘We Have Met Madoff and He is Ours’
Nevertheless, it is a demographic point worth considering. (SSRN)

• Percentage of Adults Aged >25 Years Who Reported Regular

Leisure-Time Physical Activity, by Education Level (CDC)

PAUL KEDROSKY’S INFECTIOUS GREED

Symposium: Fallout from the

Bailout
MAR 20, 2009 09:56A.M.

Any readers in and around the Dayton, Ohio, area might want to check
More here. this out tomorrow (Friday):

Upcoming Symposium: The Fallout from the

Bailout, March 20
PAUL KEDROSKY’S INFECTIOUS GREED
The 2008 government bailout was unprecedented. Legal and
Research Reading business professionals are now unraveling the causes and
MAR 20, 2009 10:05A.M. consequences to address how this massive policy change
could affect their businesses. The University of Dayton School
Will try do this more regularly, but a quick roundup of some new of Law is very pleased to host one of the first legal symposia
research papers worth scanning: on the economic crisis, The Fallout from the Bailout: The
Impact of the 2008 Bailout on Lending Regulation, Securities
• Monitoring Daily Hedge Fund Performance When Only Monthly Regulation and Business Ethics, on March 20.
Data is Available (SSRN)
This symposium, sponsored by Porter Wright Morris &
• Silent Runs in the Mutual Fund Industry (SSRN) Arthur LLP Program in Law, Religion & Ethics and the
University of Dayton School of Law Project for Law &
• Debt Literacy, Financial Experiences, and Overindebtedness Business Ethics, examines government bailouts of private

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

institutions with a focus on the financial sector. Our goal is to
draw together academics, practitioners, and regulators to
have a frank and full discussion about the legal implications
and consequences of the government’s use of bailouts as a
means to combat the current financial crisis.
report that their debt loads are excessive or that they are
unable to judge their debt position. [Emphasis mine]
PAUL KEDROSKY’S INFECTIOUS GREED

Confirmed speakers include Harvey Pitt, former chair of the Quiz Question: A Year of
SEC; Steven Ramirez, Professor of Law and Director of the
Business Law Center at Loyola University Chicago School of Precious Metals (and Oil)
Law; Jon Hoak, Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance MAR 20, 2009 09:44A.M.
Officer at Hewlett-Packard; and Peter J. Sherry, Jr.,
Corporate Secretary and Associate General Counsel at Ford I didn’t realize that the one-year performance of all the following were
Motor Company, and UDSL graduate. still negative against the dollar. Today’s quiz question: Which of the Big
Four — oil, gold, platinum and silver —will still be down against the
More here. dollar a year from now?

PAUL KEDROSKY’S INFECTIOUS GREED

Education, Debt Literacy and

Indebtedness
MAR 20, 2009 09:49A.M.

Fascinating new paper out showing the painful relationship between

educational attainment and avoidable debt fees & charges:

Debt Literacy, Financial Experiences, and

Overindebtedness

Annamaria Lusardi, Peter Tufano

NBER Working Paper No. 14808

Issued in March 2009

We analyze a national sample of Americans with respect to NU.NL - ALGEMEEN

their debt literacy, financial experiences, and their judgments
about the extent of their indebtedness. Debt literacy is Legervliegtuig stort neer in
measured by questions testing knowledge of fundamental
concepts related to debt and by self-assessed financial woonwijk Ecuador
knowledge. Financial experiences are the participants’ MAR 20, 2009 06:35A.M.
reported experiences with traditional borrowing, alternative
borrowing, and investing activities. Overindebtedness is a QUITO - Een klein legervliegtuig is donderdagavond middenin een
self-reported measure. Overall, we find that debt literacy is woonwijk neergestort in de Ecuadoraanse hoofdstad Quito. Zeker zes
low: only about one-third of the population seems to mensen zijn omgekomen, vijf inzittenden en een persoon op de grond.
comprehend interest compounding or the workings of credit Dat zei de minister van Defensie Javier Ponce.
cards. Even after controlling for demographics, we find a
strong relationship between debt literacy and both financial
experiences and debt loads. Specifically, individuals with
lower levels of debt literacy tend to transact in high-cost
manners, incurring higher fees and using high-cost
borrowing. In applying our results to credit cards, we
estimate that as much as one-third of the charges
and fees paid by less knowledgeable individuals can
be attributed to ignorance. The less knowledgeable also

2
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

ESPN.COM Poll: Has your Xbox 360 been dealt the E74 error? originally appeared
on Engadget on Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for
Griffin dominates as OU rolls use of feeds.

past Morgan State Permalink | Email this | Comments

MAR 20, 2009 06:32A.M.

Visit ESPN.com for the complete story.

NU.NL - ALGEMEEN

Grote brand in binnenstad

ENGADGET
Elburg
Poll: Has your Xbox 360 been MAR 20, 2009 06:20A.M.

dealt the E74 error? ELBURG - In de binnenstad van het Gelderse Elburg woedt een grote
MAR 20, 2009 06:31A.M. brand. Drie panden aan de Jufferenstraat, waaronder een drogisterij en
een restaurant, staan in lichterlaaie.

NU.NL - ALGEMEEN

Conducteur Almere ziekenhuis

ingeslagen
MAR 20, 2009 06:17A.M.

DRIEBERGEN - Een conducteur van de Nederlandse Spoorwegen is

donderdagavond met ernstig letsel aan zijn gezicht in een ziekenhuis
opgenomen.

Move over RRoD, it looks like there’s a new Xbox 360 hardware failure
in town. According to anecdotal data collected by Joystiq as well as
Google Trends, there’s been a steady rise in reports and discussion of the ESPN.COM
E74 error since mid-October, with no apparent correlation between any
specific model or year of purchase. From what we can tell, the E74 error LeBron’s 7th triple-double leads
is related to video problems caused by either a faulty AV connector or,
more often, a loosened ANA / HANA scaling chip. Symptoms include Cavs to OT win
visual glitches like random lines or snow and a single red light on the MAR 20, 2009 06:01A.M.
console in the lower right quadrant (see picture). The time frame for the
rise in issues makes NXE and its November debut a suspect, but it’s Visit ESPN.com for the complete story.
worth noting that the uptick started just before that launch, so perhaps it
has more to do with hiccups caused by spurred interest in turning on the
console after a long period of dormancy. We’re curious to know how the
issue has affected the Engadget readership. Has your Xbox 360 gotten
the Red Arc of Death? Let us know in the poll below.

View Poll

Read - Joystiq Survey

Read - Google Trends [Via Negative Gamer]

Filed under: Gaming

3
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

SLATE MAGAZINE import

Republicans search for their • iPhone 3.0 beta firmware FAQ

own way to recoup the AIG • Cisco acquiring Flip Video-maker Pure Digital for $590 million in
stock
bonuses.
MAR 20, 2009 05:42A.M. • Video: Terrafugia’s flying car lifts off

Congressional Republicans, like their Democratic colleagues, are livid,

just livid, about the $165 million in bonuses handed out to AIG
employees. They just aren’t sure what to do about it.

[more ...]

ENGADGET

The Daily Roundup: here’s what

you might’ve missed
MAR 20, 2009 05:41A.M.

Apple adds HD video purchases to the iTunes Store

Apple’s flood of announcements this month continues apace today with
the addition of high-def movie purchases to the iTunes Store.

Mobile OS shootout: iPhone OS 3.0 enters the fray

As soon as Apple rolled out its preview of iPhone OS 3.0, the
comparisons to existing (and forthcoming) mobile OSs started flying.
Microsoft releasing Internet Explorer 8 gold today, CIOs
ecstatic
AT&T confirms contract-free $599 / $699 iPhone 3Gs for next week
Just in time to nab your soon-to-be-jailbroken copy of iPhone OS 3.0,
AT&T has now confirmed that commitment-free iPhones are going to
happen — soon, in fact.
• Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3 answers a million
prayers

• Panasonic aims to skip over low-pricing e-tailers, focus on “value

adding” distributors

• Nokia Intrigue filtering into Verizon stores, features weird ‘Habitat

Mode’
Browsers have arguably become more important than the underlying OS
in the modern, connected world.
• Sony Ericsson confirms C905 coming to the US in second quarter
Bang & Olufsen’s 103-inch BeoVision 4-103 plasma is
gorgeous, pricey
The Daily Roundup: here’s what you might’ve missed originally appeared
Plasma’s dying, huh? Go and tell that to Bang & Olufsen Other news of

4
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:41:00 EST. Please see our terms ESPN.COM
for use of feeds.
Ovechkin nets 50th for third
Permalink | Email this | Comments
time as Caps cruise
MAR 20, 2009 05:04A.M.

ENGADGET Visit ESPN.com for the complete story.

Ask Engadget: Best DVI KVM

switch? GIGAOM
MAR 20, 2009 05:06A.M.
As Clouds Reach the Enterprise,
Opportunities Are Clear
MAR 20, 2009 05:00A.M.

It’s been about three years since Amazon made its risky bet on delivering
computing and storage via the cloud. It started by offering commitment-
free, pay-as-you-go storage, enabling startups to start scaling their
businesses without significant investment in capital equipment. It later
added compute cycles to its services and today has a host of other
offerings, including a content delivery network.

Both the hype and perceived value around cloud computing has
expanded since that first shot was fired, but enterprises remain cautious.
What’s becoming clear is that the best way to get them to join the cloud
Look out — it’s that time of the week again. What time, you ask? The
revolution is to introduce private or internal clouds for corporate IT and
time when brilliant readers like yourself get a moment to shine as their
then gradually merge or offload data from those private corporate clouds
inquiries are posted up here at Engadget. Feel free to send yours in to
into public ones. In other words, for cloud vendors, the big opportunities
ask at engadget dawt com, but first, have a glance at John’s dilemma
in the cloud space are in helping enterprise customers deploy their own
below:
internal clouds (like Elastra or the larger vendors do), helping them
manage multiple clouds, and figuring out how to transfer data between
“I’ve been searching for a good DVI KVM switch for a long time. Most of
internal and external clouds.
the ones I’ve read about are either too expensive or have gotten horrible
reviews. I was hoping you guys could shed some light on what the best
Earlier this week I moderated a panel at the South by Southwest
DVI KVM switch you’ve come across is. My only requirements are high
Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, that included Werner Vogels, CTO
resolution (1,680 x 1,050 or higher), USB for keyboard and mouse and
of Amazon’s Web Services. He said some of his enterprise clients are
(preferable, although not required) and dual monitor support.”
using the cloud for testing and developing software and some for high-
performance computing, such as Eli Lilly. But many, he acknowledged,
We’d say the challenge is pretty clearly laid out. Now it’s on you to think
still need convincing.
up a good reply and comment below.

Yousef Khalidi, a distinguished engineer at Microsoft helping to build the

Filed under: Ask Engadget, Peripherals
software giant’s Azure cloud platform, had a cautious assessment of how
enterprises are likely to view the cloud: He thinks corporate IT will want
Ask Engadget: Best DVI KVM switch? originally appeared on Engadget
to keep its cloud under corporate control, and that as a result the
on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of
creation of hybrid clouds — or “cloudbursting” — where certain jobs
feeds.
move from the internal servers to an external cloud, are going to be a
preferred model.
Permalink | Email this | Comments

Most of the large companies that have enterprise customers agree that
while security and regulatory compliance issues can be dealt with, there
are legal hurdles that require a company to know where their data is
physically stored.

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

“Solving security is a trust issue that can be surmounted, but the legal ENGADGET
issues around location cannot be,” said Scott McClellan V-P and chief
technologist of scalable computing at HP during an interview. “There are Portland customers to get
also items, such as corporate data for financial results during a quiet
period, that aren’t going to leave the enterprise walls.” bundled WiMAX courtesy of
Inside those walls HP and companies such as Elastra, Sun Comcast
Microsystems and IBM are pitching highly virtualized and automated MAR 20, 2009 04:13A.M.
environments that mimic the agility of the public clouds. However, all of
the people at enterprise-oriented companies I’ve spoken with believe
that their customers should start turning over some computing tasks to
external clouds, be they infrastructure providers like those offered by
Amazon, Rackspace’s new CloudServers business, Sun’s planned cloud
or platforms such as Microsoft’s Azure.

Many believe enterprise customers will source their computing to

multiple clouds, both to avoid vendor lock-in and because some clouds
will be optimized for certain types of computing tasks. That’s why tools
to manage multiple clouds will be important. RightScale, Aptana, Sun
and others are all trying to help manage multiple clouds.

And once an enterprise sends out data to external clouds, they will need
to find ways to manage, secure and actually deliver this data from inside
the corporation to a cloud. Some providers, like Rackspace and Voxel,
are banking on customers using their hosting and cloud products as a
way to keep the data inside the same company (and maybe data center).
Vogels says Amazon uses VPNs with enterprise clients, while startups
such as Aspera are creating private highways to deliver data between
clouds.
So while enterprises reach for the clouds, they’ll keep some of their IT
firmly on the ground. This gives plenty of a companies opportunities to
deliver and manage the data as it goes from cloud to corporate data
center.
This article also appeared on BusinessWeek.com
Portland, Oregon was the first place to get a taste of Clearwire’s own
WiMAX service, so it’s not exactly all that surprising that it’s also going
to be the first to get Comcast’s version of the very same high-speed
wireless service. Of course, this being Comcast, you can also expect to see
the WiMAX service offered in bundles with its TV, phone, and
broadband services when it launches “midyear,” although there’s no
indication of pricing just yet (Clearwire charges between $20 and $50 a
month). As The Oregonian points out, this is also a pretty clear
indication that Comcast will be following Clearwire’s lead as it expands
into additional markets, and it’s apparently even pushing Clearwire to
deploy its service as quickly as possible, with Comcast COO Stephen
Burke saying, “we didn’t invest in Clearwire to make money on the stock.
We invested in Clearwire to roll out a product that our customers want.”

[Via FierceBroadbandWireless, thanks Loren]

Filed under: Wireless

Portland customers to get bundled WiMAX courtesy of Comcast

originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:13:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

6
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

SLATE MAGAZINE

How many ways can Senate

Republicans show breathtaking
intellectual hypocrisy?
MAR 20, 2009 04:05A.M.

Let’s stipulate: You hate our nominees, and we hate yours. Our nominees
are all godless baby killers and terrorist lovers. Yours are all God-crazed
rights suppressors and misogynists. Fine. But isn’t it also the case that
when you reverse, rewrite, or undermine every rule and standard you’ve
ever laid out for measuring the fitness of a presidential nominee, you
become ridiculous—period?

[more ...]
Er, something like that. Reportedly, Toshiba has conjured up some sort
of newfangled technology that’s able to more accurately reproduce sound
by using a noise canceling auxiliary speaker. Specifically, the tech utilizes
“sound from an auxiliary speaker to eliminate noise generated from the
main speaker,” and in case your wild guess wasn’t good enough, it relies
ESPN.COM on “opposite-phase sound waves generated from the auxiliary speaker

Michigan finishes off Clemson attached to the main speaker” to make it all happen. We know, our head
is spinning just as fast as yours here, and it’s all the more difficult to

with zone defense comprehend without an actual product to demonstrate. That said, Tosh
is planning to conduct research and development in order to implement
MAR 20, 2009 03:22A.M. this into its own products, so hopefully we’ll be seeing something a touch
more tangible real soon.
Visit ESPN.com for the complete story.
Filed under: Home Entertainment

Toshiba’s auxiliary speaker cancels noise from main speaker originally

ENGADGET appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:22:00 EST. Please see

Toshiba’s auxiliary speaker our terms for use of feeds.

cancels noise from main Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

speaker
MAR 20, 2009 03:22A.M. PAUL KEDROSKY’S INFECTIOUS GREED

World’s Best Airports

MAR 20, 2009 03:19A.M.

I know that calling any airport “best” is inherently somewhat self-

refuting, but I’ll persist. Anyone have airports that they’d substitute into
the following list of the five best?

1. Hong Kong International Airport

2. Singapore Changi Airport

3. Seoul Incheon Airport

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

4. Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport
5. Munich Airport
I have been to 1,2, 4 and 5, and like ‘em all. The airport in KL, in
particular, struck me as the least airport-like airport I have ever been in.
Felt more like I was at a mall crossed with a resort.
4,000,000 listens/downloads per month and close 1 million unique
visitors to the site monthly.
Another similar site is TalkShoe, a web service that enables anyone to
create, join, or listen to live discussions and podcasts, but TalkShoe’s
interface is not nearly as comprehensi as BlogTalkRadio’s interface. Plus,
BlogTalkRadio seems to have a more diverse set of content, both from
consumers and brand partners.

TECHCRUNCH Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
BlogTalkRadio Now Playing In
The Enterprise Space
MAR 20, 2009 03:15A.M.

SLATE MAGAZINE

Wall Street’s most storied firm

BlogTalkRadio, the site where anyone can set up a podcast or “radio
talkshow” over the web using phone calls, is playing in the enterprise
is surviving on taxpayer dollars.
MAR 20, 2009 03:09A.M.
space. The site, which has over 1000 live broadcasts per day, has been
launching content partnerships with major publishers and media
While it was singed in the credit meltdown, Goldman Sachs, the alpha
organizations over the past few months. PBS, Women’s Day Magazine
male of Wall Street, has emerged as a survivor. The cover of last week’s
and others are using BlogTalkRadio’s tools to create podcasts and shows,
Barron’s heralded the resurrection of Goldman and Morgan
as well as syndicate content across the web. For example, PBS’s
Stanley—”the sole standouts,” as Andrew Bary called them. The
Worldfocus TV newscast is syndicated on the BlogTalkRadio.
company’s shares have rallied back above $100, and its market
capitalization is nearly $47 billion. Goldman’s emergence from the
The site is also creating branded private networks for major corporations
wreckage could be seen as yet another glorious chapter for the firm.
like Wal-Mart, Harper Collins, and Sun Microsystems where the
Charles Ellis, in his book about Goldman, The Partnership, lionized the
companies can create, syndicate and publish their own shows and
firm as the only company “with such strengths that it operates with
podcasts. Even the government is trying to take part in this social media
almost no external constraints in virtually any financial market it
movement; the Pentagon has a web radio show on BlogTalkRadio. And
chooses, on the terms it chooses, on the scale it chooses, when it chooses,
the site has been able to monetize the partnerships by charging
and with the partners it chooses.” For the paperback, Ellis might want to
companies licensing and sponsorship fees for the branded channels. The
add the following proviso: so long as the government is willing to give it
companies can put their own ads in their shows, which can include
billions of dollars.
banner, pre-roll audio/video or host spoken ads. The companies are also
charged a fee if that they want live events streamed to their
[more ...]
BlogTalkRadio channel or any website. The radio platform is also rolling
out a set of premium services for both consumers and businesses so that
hosts can use the advanced switch board, and upload other non-
BlogTalkRadio produced mp3’s.

We’ve written about BlogTalkRadio’s unique platform before. Its of no

surprise that the enterprise space is seeing this site as a possible place to
add viral content. The site simply allows individuals and companies to
use a phone to conduct a live broadcast via the web. Participants dial a
phone number, enter the broadcast and then the entire conversation is
streamed on air live through the BlogTalkRadio Web site. The site also
archives all radio shows as podcasts, so they can easily be uploaded to
iTunes and then shared on other blogs, sites etc. BlogTalkRadio’s
founder and CEO, Alan Levy, says the site’s shows get on average

8
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com
GIGAOM
DPI Doesn’t Kill The Open
Internet, Carriers Do
MAR 20, 2009 03:00A.M.
The Free Press issued a report today that blames deep packet inspection
technology for “The End of the Internet,” arguing that Internet service
providers’ use of equipment that can inspect individual packets of data
should raise concerns for both users and lawmakers.
The report: “Deep Packet Inspection: The End of the Internet as We
Know It?” highlights the use of DPI equipment by Comcast in throttling
P2P traffic, in Cox’s traffic prioritization scheme, the role DPI played in
NebuAd’s plans to monitor web surfing in order to deliver advertising,
and the use of such equipment to introduce consumption-based
broadband programs. It neglects to cover the use of DPI for Internet
threat monitoring and other more beneficial uses of the technology.
The central conclusion is one I would agree with, and have written about
before:
Network providers can and will use DPI technology to
improve their profits at the expense of their customers. The
technology permits network operators to reduce the amount
they spend on network upgrades by allowing them to oversell
their networks while simultaneously increasing the amount
the average customer pays, through the creation of new
revenue streams.
However, the report comes across as almost hysterical by blaming of the
DPI technology rather than the carriers and how they are using it.
Carriers are investing in their networks, although slowly, and are pricing
new offerings with an eye toward increasing their margins. The real
villian behind this creeping trend isn’t DPI. It’s a broadband policy that
hasn’t encouraged competition — without which, a user that’s upset with
a carrier trying to gouge them can’t easily switch to an equivalent
provider.
9
20 March, 2009
GIGAOM
DPI Doesn’t Kill The Open
Internet, Carriers Do
MAR 20, 2009 03:00A.M.
The Free Press issued a report today that blames deep packet inspection
technology for “The End of the Internet,” arguing that Internet service
providers’ use of equipment that can inspect individual packets of data
should raise concerns for both users and lawmakers.
The report: “Deep Packet Inspection: The End of the Internet as We
Know It?” highlights the use of DPI equipment by Comcast in throttling
P2P traffic, in Cox’s traffic prioritization scheme, the role DPI played in
NebuAd’s plans to monitor web surfing in order to deliver advertising,
and the use of such equipment to introduce consumption-based
broadband programs. It neglects to cover the use of DPI for Internet
threat monitoring and other more beneficial uses of the technology.
The central conclusion is one I would agree with, and have written about
before:
Network providers can and will use DPI technology to
improve their profits at the expense of their customers. The
technology permits network operators to reduce the amount
they spend on network upgrades by allowing them to oversell
their networks while simultaneously increasing the amount
the average customer pays, through the creation of new
revenue streams.
However, the report comes across as almost hysterical by blaming of the
DPI technology rather than the carriers and how they are using it.
Carriers are investing in their networks, although slowly, and are pricing
new offerings with an eye toward increasing their margins. The real
villian behind this creeping trend isn’t DPI. It’s a broadband policy that
hasn’t encouraged competition — without which, a user that’s upset with
a carrier trying to gouge them can’t easily switch to an equivalent
provider.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com
SLATE MAGAZINE
Cutting weapons programs
doesn’t necessarily mean
cutting jobs.
MAR 20, 2009 02:59A.M.
Word is that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates plans to slash or kill
several big-ticket weapons programs when he rolls out the full details of
the Pentagon budget next month. The contractors for some of the
projects on the chopping block are fighting back pre-emptively with the
most potent slogan in politics today: Jobs!
[more ...]
ENGADGET
ASUS W90 gaming laptop gets
put through its paces, ‘raises the
bar’
MAR 20, 2009 02:54A.M.
Suffice it to say that Computer Shopper was really really into that ASUS
W90Vp-X1 gaming notebook that popped up on Newegg recently. This
nearly 12 pound behemoth, the reviewer exclaims, not only sets “new
3D-graphics and productivity-speed records,” but its 18.4-inch (1,920 x
1,080) LCD is “gorgeous,” sporting “incredible color quality and wide
viewing angles.” Also singled out for praise was the Turbo Gear app that
lets you overclock the machine by as much as 17 percent (for speeds up
10
20 March, 2009
to 3.28GHz) and a “robust” 4.1 speaker sound system. Of course, any
machine will have a few quibbles, although in this case they seem to be
relatively minor: no Blu-ray (though it’s supposed to become available at
some point in the future) and a 2 megapixel webcam with “grainy” image
quality (although “it’s more than adequate for Skyping and chatting”).
But that ain’t all — hit the read link for all the lurid details, including the
hair-raising results of the Company of Heroes DirectX 9 test (spoiler: the
word “blistering” was used).
Filed under: Laptops
ASUS W90 gaming laptop gets put through its paces, ‘raises the bar’
originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:54:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
TECHCRUNCH
MySpace Launches In-Browser
Photo Editing Tools
MAR 20, 2009 02:53A.M.
MySpace has integrated a new Flash-based suite of photo editing tools
into its site, giving users the ability to crop, edit, and stylize their photos
from directly within the browser. The tools are powered by Fotoflexer, a
browser-based photo editing startup that also powers Photobucket’s
image editing features (Photobucket and MySpace are owned by the
same company, so this isn’t too surprising). To access the feature, select
a photo in one of your MySpace photo albums and press the ‘Customize
Photo’ button.
The new tools allow users to edit their photos in a variety of ways,
including options like red-eye removal, blemish removal, and cropping,
as well as a number of image filters like ‘pop art’ and ‘neon colors’. Users
can also drag and drop speech bubbles and virtual stickers to embellish
their pictures - a feature that I’m sure MySpace users will love, given
their propensity to customize their profiles (though I’m a bit worried
they might take the photo customization too far). There’s nothing
revolutionary here, but it’s fun and convenient.
In contrast to MySpace’s tools, Facebook’s photo editing features are
essentially nonexistent (you can rotate images, and that’s about it). I can
understand why Facebook might not be keen on helping its users add
silly thought bubbles or colorizing effects, but red-eye correction and
cropping would certainly be welcome additions.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

Our own car guy, Matt Burns, will be driving from Dearborn, Michigan
to San Francisco in a new Ford Fusion Hybrid, a Ford we can all truly be
excited about. He’ll be running contests and reporting live from the road
so if there’s anyplace you think he should visit, speak now or forever hold
your peace. Matt’s trip was even written up in the local Flint news where
he describes his job to incredulous reporters. To wit:

THE DAILY DISH | BY ANDREW SULLIVAN

Dissent Of The Day

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, MAR 20, 2009 02:32A.M.
Delivered Daily.
A reader writes:

That survey of people who would opt out of Social Security,

even if it meant losing their future benefit, was interesting
because it also included results broken down by age. I can
understand why people in their 30s would want to opt out of
ESPN.COM Social Security. I disagree with their reasoning, but I
understand.
Tampa Bay Rays third baseman
Evan Longoria to join Team
But the survey also found that 33% of adults over 60 would
USA give up their benefit to be able to opt out now.
MAR 20, 2009 02:40A.M.
To save 6.2% on their taxes for the next few years, they are
Third baseman Evan Longoria will be joining Team USA, according to willing to give up 10+ years of future benefits worth about
Tampa Bay Rays general manager Andrew Friedman. $12,700 per year (average benefit is currently $1056/month).

I suppose some of them might be terminally ill, but for the

vast majority, that is completely irrational.
TECHCRUNCH

CrunchGear Travels Cross-

This survey suggests that 1/3 of our soon-to-retire population
Country has questionable financial judgement. If that isn’t an
MAR 20, 2009 02:33A.M. argument FOR mandatory social security, I don’t know what
is.

11
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

ENGADGET New SMM exploit targets Intel CPU caching vulnerability originally
appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:16:00 EST. Please see
New SMM exploit targets Intel our terms for use of feeds.

CPU caching vulnerability Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

MAR 20, 2009 02:16A.M.

THE DAILY DISH | BY ANDREW SULLIVAN

“Why The Letters W, T and F

Were Invented”
MAR 20, 2009 01:46A.M.

A reader writes:

I just read the actual AIG FP bonus contract, which was

posted on the NY Times website. Two things jumped out at
me. One is that it’s not a “bonus” contract at all. It’s an
“Employee Retention Plan.” In other words, it’s not meant to
be structured as a reward for performance. It’s more like just
another part of the employee’s salary package. To me it’s a lot
less upsetting if the payout is part of a standard pay/benefits
package than if it was meant as an actual reward to reflect on
the performance of the company.

The other thing that strikes me as very strange, though, is the

self-stated rationale of the Retention Plan. According to the
recitals section, the contract exists, among other things:

To recognize the uncertainty that the unrealized

market valuation losses in AIG-FP’s super senior
credit derivative and originally-rated AAA cash
CDO portfolios have created for AIG-FP’s
employees and consultants.

This one delves pretty deep into head-scratching territory, but it looks
I’m not an accountant or a lawyer, but the way I read that is
like the folks at Invisible Things Lab have discovered an exploit that
that, as of the December 2007 effective date of the contract,
could open the door to some potentially serious attacks on certain Intel
AIG was already aware that their CDOs and market cap were
CPUs paired with some popular motherboards. Of course, the exploit
diving or preparing to take a dive, and this was a way of
that they’ve actually released is completely harmless, but it demonstrates
offsetting those losses for the very employees responsible for
that the CPU cache can be “poisoned” to let folks read and write into the
those failures.
otherwise protected SMRAM memory. As NetworkWorld notes, that
could lead to some more nefarious folks developing a SMM rootkit,
I’ve been around the block a few times, and have participated
which would be all the more perilous considering that the user of the
in a fair few bonus and retention programs myself, but I’ve
infected computer would have no way of detecting the attack. For its
NEVER worked anywhere ballsy enough to say “Hey, you’re
part, Intel is apparently well aware of the problem, and it has already
efforts are destroying this company, in fact we expect the
fixed the vulnerability on some newer boards like the DQ45, but others
company to go down in the next year or two, so here’s some
still in widespread use (like the DQ35 pictured above) have seemingly
money to ensure that you stick around for the fun.” I mean,
been left hanging waiting for a fix of some sort.
this is why the letters W, T, and F were invented.

[Via Network World, thanks Andrew]

Filed under: Desktops

12
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

best suited to meet Cupertino’s demands. Seems like this week’s barrage
ESPN.COM of Apple news has gotten to people’s heads, honestly — keep a sharp eye!

Pondexter helps Washington [Thanks, everyone; image courtesy of Frunny]

spank Miss. State Read - Report on Apple / LG OLED partnership

MAR 20, 2009 01:41A.M. Read - Articles from David Richards

Visit ESPN.com for the complete story. Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Apple to partner with LG on OLED-equipped iPhone, netbook? originally

appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:38:00 EST. Please see
ENGADGET our terms for use of feeds.

Apple to partner with LG on Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

OLED-equipped iPhone,
netbook? SLATE MAGAZINE
MAR 20, 2009 01:38A.M.
Obama scores a 35 on the
Change-o-Meter.
MAR 20, 2009 01:33A.M.

Obama abandons a plan to make private insurers pay for veterans’

combat injuries.

[more ...]

ESPN.COM

Boston Celtics’ Doc Rivers fined

A new rumor from SmartHouse is making the rounds today, with alleged $25,000 for criticizing ref
sources claiming LG has partnered with Apple to make OLED displays MAR 20, 2009 01:33A.M.
for a new iPhone and iPod touch, a Taiwan-manufactured netbook that’s
reportedly already in working prototype stage, and a device with a wafer- Boston coach Doc Rivers has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for
thin screen that would link wirelessly to a content-providing box similar criticizing a referee earlier in the week.
to Apple TV. Sure, some of that makes sense, but let’s add a good bit of
context here. This article in question was written by SmartHouse veteran
David Richards, who in the past has brought us such winners as
PlayStation 4 launching in 2008, a Xbox 360 equipped with HD DVD,
and our favorite, Apple producing its own soap opera series exclusively
for the iPod. We’re not saying the Apple-LG partnership is entirely out of
the realm of possibility, but this guy doesn’t exactly have the best track
record. Furthermore, this doesn’t jibe with two separate reports from
Dow Jones Newswire and Commercial Times / DigiTimes that Quanta
is providing the screens for an upcoming Apple netbook launching in Q3.
Lastly, with today’s announcement that LG is licensing Kodak’s OLED
technology for future devices, we get the feeling the company isn’t the

13
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS - CNNMONEY.COM
McCaw bets on the news
MAR 20, 2009 01:09A.M.
If there’s one major obstacle to the success of news video online, it’s the
lack of a central, organized place for viewing. A new company backed in
part by wireless pioneer Craig McCaw hopes to change that.
LIFEHACKER
Workspace Spring Cleaning
Roundup [Featured Workspace]
MAR 20, 2009 01:00A.M.
Earlier this week we enticed you to clean up your work space by offering
a Fellowes paper shredder as a prize. We haven’t selected the winners
yet, but we have rounded some great makeovers.
The following examples have been culled from the big stack of entries
we’ve received to highlight some of the great ways Lifehacker readers
managed to tame clutter and get their workspaces back under control.
All of the photographs are arranged with the before picture on the left
and the after on the right.
Pieter, an Industrial Design student living in Belgium, decided to go not
just for a spring clean but an office make over. In his words:
My previous workspace desk didn’t really fit at this place.
There was some space between the wall and desk where
papers and pencils could fall through. I bought an IKEA
Galant table top and cut of a corner in the right degrees I
needed to fit between the two walls. The table top rests on
some wood attached to the walls with 3 inch screws. Now I
have a floating desk where all the cable clutter is gone in a
14
20 March, 2009
gutter just beneath the tabletop.
In a move dear to my own heart, he not only banished the cords from the
floor, but he also added some hidden LED ambient lighting to decrease
eyestrain.
Megan clarified right off the bat in her letter that she didn’t have the
typical office setup. She works in a lab and has not only the regular
clutter of office paper work and Post-Its, but bottles of solution, beakers,
and more scattered across her lab bench.
I put everything in its right place, organized my solutions
based on usage, cleaned down the benchtop, and finally
changed out the trash. At my desk, I turned the bottom
drawer into a filing cabinet and sorted all the papers and
notebooks into folders with labels, something I had been
meaning to do for a long time. I organized the top drawer to
be notepads, pens/highlighters and extra harddrives/usb
sticks. I also threw away stuff I had been accumulating for no
reason (such as many of the post-its on the bulletin board),
and tied up the cables from my mouse and power cord to stop
taking over my desk.
The “accumulating for no reason” category is the bane of many a worker.
How many times have you cleaned out your desk only to wonder just
how many Post-It pads and high lighters one person could possibly need
to horde?
We here at Lifehacker give extra credit to Max for jumping into spring
cleaning feet first. A senior in high school with a penchant for spreading
his work every which way, he decided it was time to radically trim back
and consolidate his clutter:
I spread all my school work across two big tables with a
laptop and a desktop computer. However, after this spring
cleaning, I have managed to fit it all on one neat desk. I hope
I can keep it like this! I basically went through both rooms by
section and eliminated everything that was no longer
essential (which happened to include my desktop computer!)
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

while listening to some fun music.

Max cleaned up not one, but two rooms, jettisoning a ton of clutter in the
process. For more pictures of his massive clean sweep you can check out
his Flickr gallery.

Chris wasn’t content to just clean up his cubicle, he went Extreme

Makeover on it and completely gutted it. Blessed with a flexible
workplace and understanding management, he raided his local Jo Ann
Fabrics craft store and Ikea for his makeover. He upholstered the walls
with cool fabric, threw down some new flooring, and in the process
transformed his distinctly-cube-farmy cubicle into an awesome open
Although some of the entries we received involved brand new furniture, office. For a peek at another remodeled cube, check out the Noir Cubicle.
huge layout changes, and even a dash of paint here and there, Deen’s
entry is a great example of how just beating back the clutter in your office While we didn’t have space to feature all the great entries we received,
and give it a new lease on life. we are extremely impressed with everyone who took the initiative to
declutter and clean their workspace. Great work everyone! There will be
My home office workspace has been a mess for a long time, a certain editor or four around the Lifehacker offices doing their own
making it impossible to find anything and also causing a lot spring cleaning after seeing what a great job you’ve done.
of unnecessary stress. I do consulting work and programming
and I knew a clean, tidy workspace would make my day so
much better. The ultimate motivator came in the form of my
decision to put my house on the market. The results don’t
only make the house look so much presentable but also
makes my work day so much more tolerable and the stress
has been reduced to a minimum.

Wanting to keep your office spic and span for potential buyers is a great
motivation, but Deen found the bigger reward was a less stressful work
day.
TECHCRUNCH

Yapta Now Tracks Price Drops

For Hotels Too
MAR 20, 2009 12:58A.M.

Serrano definitely gets our vote for the “Most Likely to Utter the Phrase
‘Where the hell are my keys?’” award. A busy guy managing over a
million square feet of commercial property across the south west United
States, he’s recently adopted the principles of David Allen’s Getting
Things Done to help him keep his work flow under control. His after
photo shows a few of the tools he’s adopted in his quest to get it all done, Yapta.com, an online travel website that tracks airline ticket prices for
including vertical files to hold both his tickler folders and his active travelers has added a hotel price tracking service that will help
project files. Like Max, he was kind enough to throw his before and after consumers monitor and compare pricing for 110,000 national and
pictures into a Flickr set. international hotels. Basically, Yapta lets consumers choose a hotel that
best suits their travel needs and then sign up to be automatically alerted
if and when the price drops for a particular stay.

Yapta has included several useful features to help consumers track hotel
prices. First, the site will collect the lowest published rate of a tracked

15
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

hotel and will create a graph that visually demonstrates the price of the ENGADGET
hotel over time. Users can also track multiple hotels at once and compare
pricing. Alerts can be customized by drop in price or by the frequency of AT&T confirms contract-free
alerts received. And like many travel sites, users can search for hotels by
filters, including star rating, price, and amenities. $599 / $699 iPhone 3Gs for
Yapta previously focused only on airfare flight tracking, where you can next week
track fares from most of the major domestic and international airlines. MAR 20, 2009 12:58A.M.
Similar to the hotel feature, Yapta allows users to select flights to track,
and then be alerted when the price fluctuates. If the price declines after
you purchase it, Yapta will help you get a refund or credit from airlines
that have lowest guaranteed fare policies. (Read our original review
here).

The key functionality for Yapta is the tracking feature-it’s definitely a

useful and easy way to compare travel prices without the hassle of having
to constantly monitor changes in hotel and flight prices. Microsoft’s
Farecast forecasts flight and hotel prices and then evaluates if the given
price is a deal based on past fare history, but the site doesn’t actually
track flights and hotels for you. Originally a browser add-on, Yapta
became a website last year and is steadily growing in popularity (the site
now has 600,000 registered users compared to 350,000 users in June of
2008). This new feature should be appealing to anyone looking for a
travel deal, which is basically the entire world right now.

Just in time to nab your soon-to-be-jailbroken copy of iPhone OS 3.0,

AT&T has now confirmed that commitment-free iPhones are going to
happen — soon, in fact. As of next Thursday, you’ll be able to waltz into
the AT&T store of your choice and pick up an 8GB or 16GB unit for $599
and $699, respectively; that’s a little harder to swallow than the normal
$199 / $299, granted, but in exchange, you’re free and clear without two
years of your precious life sold off to a wireless carrier like it’s a cheap
· piece of meat. You’re worth more than that, you know?

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Job2.0
AT&T confirms contract-free $599 / $699 iPhone 3Gs for next week
originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:58:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

16
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

THE DAILY DISH | BY ANDREW SULLIVAN

LIFEHACKER
Arnold Gushes Over Barack
MAR 20, 2009 12:50A.M. Undo Send Gives You Five
“When have you ever seen a president be that out there?. I’ve never seen Seconds to Stop a Bum Email
that. Usually people are so guarded. The aides are always so guarded.
They’re so afraid that you will blow it or that you will make news that’s [Netiquette]
unintended and all those things... But I think he’s so smart. He’s so clear MAR 20, 2009 12:45A.M.
with his thinking and he’s so well informed and has been dealing with
policy in all this and is also very philosophic it’s almost like. I think he’s
just like – I think it’s beautiful,” - the Republican governor of California.

Ever hit send and realize immediately that you’d made a mistake? Wish
ENGADGET you could unsend that email? With Gmail Labs‘ new Undo Send feature,
you’ve got five seconds to reclaim that email and fix your mistake.
Kindle 2 gets its first firmware
As always, just head to the Gmail Labs settings page, enable the feature,
update and you’ve got an extra layer of protection from internet catastrophe.
MAR 20, 2009 12:46A.M.
New in Labs: Undo Send [Official Gmail Blog]

TECHCRUNCH

Gmail Gets A Panic Button

MAR 20, 2009 12:44A.M.

Looks like Amazon’s widely rolling out the first Kindle 2 update — we’ve
actually been getting sporadic tips about it for a couple days now, but our
unit didn’t have an update option until today. Nothing huge to report
here, but we’re guessing that 2.0.2 allows publishers to selectively
disable text-to-speech, which isn’t exactly thrilling news. Anyone notice
anything happy we should know about?
Have you ever sent an email, and just as it was going on its merry way,
Filed under: Handhelds you realize you misspelled something or you sent it to the wrong person.
This happens to me a lot on Gmail because sending an email is not
Kindle 2 gets its first firmware update originally appeared on Engadget always instant. And you have more chances to experience email regret as
on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of you are waiting for one to send.
feeds.
Well, now you can take advantage of that delay to “undo” the message.
(Not to be confused with Gmail Goggles, which is geared more at
Permalink | Email this | Comments
preventing drunken emails from ever being sent out in the first place).

17
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com
Just enable the feature in Gmail Labs in Settings (Scroll down, it is not at
the top for some reason). It only works during that 5 second delay
between the time you hit send and the time that Gmail actually sends the
message.
What I like about this option is that it turns a bug into a feature. Gmail is
really too slow, but now you can occasionally use that to your advantage.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new
Job2.0
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Survey Finds Consumers Chop
Cell Phone Use To Cut Costs
[Voices]
MAR 20, 2009 12:37A.M.
Consumers have begun reducing their cell phone use to save money in
the face of the sharp economic downturn, according to a new survey.
Conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the New Millennium Research
Council, the survey of 2,005 Americans found that 39 percent of those
with contract-based cell phones are likely to cut back their service to save
money if the economy gets worse over the next six months.
The study also found that 26 percent of those with contract-based
phones would be more inclined today than six months ago to look at
alternatives, including switching to a pre-paid plan. The survey found
that 5 percent of American mobile phone users have considered cutting
back on extra services like Web access, email and texting, while 15
percent have already cut back on such services in the last six months. Of
those users who are using data services, 41 percent say they would be
“somewhat” or “very” likely to cut back if the economy worsens.
In perhaps their most startling finding, in the original version of their
18
20 March, 2009
news release today, the NMRC and Opinion Research claim asserted that
35 million Americans have already discontinued cell phone service in the
last six months due to job loss, fear of job loss, the recession or other
financial concerns. But that assertion was ridiculous on the face; I called
them on it, and they’ve now issued a correction.
Read the rest of this post
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS - CNNMONEY.COM
Spitzer speaks out on AIG
MAR 20, 2009 12:21A.M.
Outrage over bailed-out insurance giant American International Group’s
million-dollar bonuses may grab headlines, but its payouts on
complicated financial instruments deserve closer examination, ex-New
York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Thursday.
TECHCRUNCH
Coming Soon To A Windows
Live Profile Near You: Facebook
Updates
MAR 20, 2009 12:19A.M.
Windows Live Profile, the service that essentially turns Windows Live
into a non-isolated social network centered around your Windows Live
ID, currently pulls in a good deal of updates from third-party services
Flickr, Pandora, Twitter, Yelp, and a couple more. You can also insert
any RSS feed into the streams, for instance the one for your own blog,
and add it to the mix. In case you don’t remember, Windows Live
Profiles was part of the big social roll-out Microsoft launched in
December last year.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

Microsoft refers to these streams as ‘Web Activities’ and displays update
messages from contacts under the header “What’s new” on a variety of
Live Services, like at the bottom of the new Windows Live Messenger
interface for example, provided these users have given permission to
share them either publicly or within their trusted network. I’m not 100%
sure that includes the just released embedded Windows Live Messenger
chat you can add to other websites, but I’m trying to figure that out.
Notably missing from the list of supported third-party service providers,
particularly considering its ongoing business relationship, is Facebook.
Especially now that the company has been placing much more focus on
real-time status updates - supposedly as a result of Twitter envy - it
seems like it belongs right there in the list of Web Activities for Live
Services. And in fact, such an integration had been announced earlier
this year, at CES in January, where Microsoft and Facebook said they
would be creating more ties between their respective user bases (which
are both considerably large) “in the coming months”.
Now, if this tweet from Marketing Manager for Microsoft Advertising
Southeast Asia Geert Desager speaks the truth, we can expect Facebook
feed updates to be added to Windows Live Profile’s Web Activities
feature as soon as in April, possibly at the upcoming Web 2.0 Expo event
in San Francisco.
SILICON ALLEY INSIDER
PS3 Grabs More Market Share,
Still In Third Place
MAR 20, 2009 12:12A.M.
Sony’s hope that its highly-rated PS3-exclusive shooter game Killzone 2
would bring gamers to its console is working, sort of.
The NPD group released its US console numbers for February, and Sony
— still in third place — is showing improvement. The PS3 console sold
276,000 to arch-rival Microsoft’s (MSFT) 391,000, 71% of the cheaper
X360’s sales. That’s a bit better than January, when Sony only saw 65%
as much action as Microsoft, or the all-important month of December,
when the X360 outsold the PS3 2-to-1.
Nintendo (NTDOY), of course, continues to dominate with its Wii, which
saw sales of 753,000, and its Wii Fit, still the #1 selling game in the USA.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:

• Third Public Call By Electronic Arts For A PS3 Price Cut In A Week
(ERTS, SNE)

• Sony: The PS3 Will Always Have Blu-ray (SNE)

• Activision CEO: $300 Game Consoles Still Too Expensive (ATVI)

April is only 2 weeks away, so if you were dying to get your Facebook
ENGADGET
status updates and photos shared to your contacts on Windows Live
Messenger and Spaces automatically, you need to exercise only a little bit Elgato ships 1080p-friendly
more patience.
Turbo.264 HD video conversion
(Note that the screenshot embedded at the top of the article depicts the
Windows Live Messenger application on Facebook) dongle
MAR 20, 2009 12:11A.M.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications,
Delivered Daily.

19
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

Join the conversation about this story »

THE DAILY DISH | BY ANDREW SULLIVAN

Without Irony
MAR 20, 2009 12:05A.M.

Andy McCarthy, torture enthusiast and defender of the near-dictatorial

presidency, rediscovers the rule of law.

Remember that brilliant Turbo.264 video conversion dongle that

shipped like, two whole years ago? Yeah, it’s successor has just hit the
streets, and it’s as ready as ever for 1080p content. The predictably titled
Elgato Turbo.264 HD plugs directly into one’s Mac and converts files up
to 1080p (from camcorders, digital cameras, etc.) into files that are
THE DAILY DISH | BY ANDREW SULLIVAN
perfectly formatted for iPods, PSPs or other media players. The bundled
software also lets users preview and trim video clips before converting, Cool Ad Watch
and it saves folks the time and hassle of importing into iMovie, learning
MAR 20, 2009 12:01A.M.
commands, rendering and exporting. Reportedly, a video that would take
an hour to convert to an iPod-friendly file takes just 15 minutes with this
The clay looks more fun than the Xbox:
here dongle, and if that’s worth $149.95 to you, you’re one click away
from brightening your own day.
(hat tip: Smashing Magazine)

[Via Electricpig]

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Video

Elgato ships 1080p-friendly Turbo.264 HD video conversion dongle

LIFEHACKER
originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:11:00 EST.
Please see our terms for use of feeds. Remains of the Day: Chrome
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Experiments Blows Your Mind
Edition [For What It’s Worth]
SILICON ALLEY INSIDER MAR 20, 2009 12:00A.M.

TheStreet.com Trims 6% Of Jump on in for a look at Google geeking out on really cool JavaScript
experiments.
Staff
MAR 20, 2009 12:10A.M. • Chrome Experiments are here
• Google goes nuts on awesome JavaScript experiments that work
across browsers (though Google emphasizes that they probably
work best in Chrome). [via Official Google Blog]
• TheStreet cuts 18 employees [Press Release]
• How To: Fake the iPhone 3.0 OS On Your iPhone Today
• New York Times sends photo takedown notice to design blog • If you’re willing to jailbreak, you can get most of iPhone 3.0’s
[MediaMemo] coolest features right now. [Gizmodo]

• 94% of Facebook users don’t like new homepage [TechCrunch] • StockVault Rounds Up Stock Photos
• [via MakeUseOf]
• BlackBerry Niagara heading to Verizon in May [TheStreet]

20
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR infimate@gmail.com 20 March, 2009

• MotorMouths Reviews Cars before opponent Tommy Robredo retired injured, would walk the match
• Consumerist calls them the RottenTomatoes of car reviews. [via against Ljubicic, who had taken part in a three-hour marathon against
Consumerist] Igor Andreev the previous day.

• The cult of the to-do list And things began well for the British number one, who went 2-0 up after
• BBC News examines David Allen, GTD, and the cult of the to-do having broken the Croat in the first game.
list. [BBC]
Ljubicic broke back in the sixth when Murray played one of many poorly
judged drop-shots into the net.

But Murray broke the 30-year-old again in the 11th and held serve to
take the first set 7-5.

It was all mundane stuff in the second set until the ninth game when at
deuce, Murray called a shot in and challenged the umpire who had called
the shot out.

The Hawk-Eye replay backed Murray to the anger of Ljubicic. The Croat
BBC SPORT | SPORT HOMEPAGE | WORLD EDITION went on lose his service game.

Murray reaches Indian Wells “The reason I challenged was because he looked like he was going to hit
it; then the call came, and he still hit the ball over,” Murray said.
semis
MAR 19, 2009 11:47P.M. “I thought maybe he thought it was going out. But I couldn’t see, because
of the ATP sign at the side of the court.”
Andy Murray reached the last four at Indian Wells with a
battling 7-5 7-6 (8-6) win over Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic. However, the Croat settled himself and broke Murray’s serve in the next.

Neither player found their rhythm in the match, although the Briton But in the tie-break, the Scot came out on top with a Ljubicic unforced
began well when he broke in the first game. error from the baseline giving him the victory.

Ljubicic broke back in the sixth but stumbled on his serve in the 11th, Story from BBC SPORT:
with Murray going on to take the set. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/tennis/7954125.stm

Both players broke each other’s service games in the second set, but Published: 2009/03/19 22:47:59 GMT
when it came to the tie-break, Murray held his nerve to seal a tough win.
© BBC MMIX
Murray will now face either Roger Federer or Fernando Verdasco in the
last four.

“I thought I did well,” the 21-year-old said. This issue contains posts from between
Mar 19, 2009 06:22a.m. and Mar 20, 2009 02:26a.m..
“At the end of each set, I started to make more returns. I served very well To change your settings, visit
in the tie-break at the end. http://www.tabbloid.com/28993.ba65d735

“I didn’t serve huge the whole time but didn’t give any opportunities
away on the second serve.

“I bounced back well each time I got broken, so I was happy with that.”

The wind played a big part in both players’ performances and the crowd
at Indian Wells were not treated to a hardcourt classic partly as a result
of the conditions.

It seemed that Murray, who only played 50 minutes of the last round

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