LOVENEWS.US

Ferguson regrets not having a change of Hart

2012-02-21T05:22:00.000-08:00

LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has recognised he missed a trick in failing to sign England goalkeeper Joe Hart for a bargain 100,000 pounds earlier in his career.

Hart, now 24, joined wealthy rivals Manchester City in 2006 from League Two (fourth division) Shrewsbury Town after United passed up the opportunity to secure his services.

"I could have bought Joe Hart for 100,000 so we all make mistakes," Ferguson told BBC radio in an interview to be broadcast later on Monday.

"If you look at the England goalkeeper situation for the last 20 years, I would think he's easily the best," added the Scot who signed the now-retired Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar in 2005.

United have struggled to find a replacement since Van der Sar retired last year while Hart has been a rock in goal for Premier League leaders City.

Ferguson, who turned 70 in December, has been in the hot seat at Old Trafford for 25 years during which he has won 12 top-flight titles, two European Cups and five FA Cups. He has spoken of staying on for another three years.

"I think you always want to go out on a winning note," he told the BBC.

"Hopefully we can do that. I don't know how long I can last now but if my health stays up I don't think another two or three years would harm me."

Depleted CSKA face Real might in snowbound Moscow

2012-02-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

Spanish giants Real Madrid are coming to snow-covered Moscow primed to extend their winning streak in this year's Champions League in Tuesday's last 16, first leg match with CSKA.

The Red Army side will be battling an obvious lack of match practice as the Russian Premier League is currently on its winter break before it restarts on March 3 and have also endured a nightmare sequence of injuries.

Yet with evening temperatures touching minus 10 degrees Celsius or colder in snow-bound Moscow over the last few days, CSKA will also be hoping greater experience in coping with the mighty Russian winter gives them a welcome boost.

Nine-time European champions Real are clear favourites having won all six of their Group D encounters and are now hoping to continue their winning run into the knockout stages.

On Saturday Real confirmed their Spanish League domination with a morale-boosting 4-0 win over Racing to stay ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona.

Real boss Jose Mourinho said he was happy with his team's form ahead of the CSKA clash.

"Everyone is happy, being happy works miracles and we are a group which is in good spirits. We have a lot of motivation although we know that it will be a difficult game in Moscow," said the Real coach.

Real Madrid have won their two previous visits to Russia beating Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg in Champions League group stage matches and will try to remain in the ascendancy in their first ever meeting with the Red Army side.

But CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky said he was priming his players for a lively start against Real, adding the initial exchanges may determine the course of the entire match.

"I'm confident that all of my players will come into the match with top concentration," Slutsky said. "We need to start at full confidence. We all understand that a good start may determine the entire match."

The Moscow side go into Tuesday's clash with serious personnel problems, weakened by the absence of a set of the first-line players.

During the winter break CSKA parted company with their star Brazilian marksman Vagner Love, who returned to his native country to play for Flamengo.

Defenders Kirill Nababkin and Pavel Mamaev will miss the match at Moscow's 80,000 capacity Luzhniki stadium after they both collected their third bookings in the last Group B match with Inter Milan.

Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez, who recently underwent hip surgery, has failed to recover completely and will not play.

Latvian Aleksandr Cauna, who suffered a stress fracture in his foot during the CSKA training camp in Spain, is also out while Czech forward Tomas Necid and Japanese playmaker Keisuke Honda are unlikely to get a starting place.

The Red Army side have signed Swedish international midfielder Pontus Wernbloom, Nigerian midfielder Ahmed Musa and Korean midfielder Kim In-Sung during the winter break but all three rookies lack experience of high-level matches.

CSKA prepared for the Real showdown in the balmy weather of Belek, Turkey, where they met Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk in a friendly match which ended 2-2.

Cesena sack Arrigoni and hire Beretta

2012-02-21T05:16:00.000-08:00

Cesena have joined Palermo and Cagliari in hiring their third coach of the season after Daniele Arrigoni was fired and Mario Beretta hired in his place on Tuesday.

Cesena dropped to the foot of Serie A at the weekend following a 3-1 defeat at home to leaders AC Milan.

The coaching change was the 13th this season in Serie A.

Arrigoni was only hired in November to replace Marco Giampaolo, with whom Cesena began the campaign.

Beretta, 52, comes into the job with ample previous Serie A experience having coached Chievo, Parma and Siena.

Palermo were the first club to hire a third coach this season having fired Stefano Pioli before the league season began and then replaced Devis Mangia with Bortolo Mutti in December.

Cagliari sacked former Italy coach Roberto Donadoni in pre-season and then also dismissed his successor Massimo Ficcadenti, with Davide Ballardini currently in that role.

Donadoni re-emerged at Parma following Franco Colomba's demise and Pioli replaced Pierpaolo Bisoli at Bologna.

The highest profile sacking was at Inter Milan where Gian Piero Gasperini lasted only five official matches before Claudio Ranieri was brought in.

Genoa replaced Alberto Malesani with Pasquale Marino, Lecce swapped Eusebio Di Francesco for Serse Cosmi and Fiorentina waved goodbye to Sinisa Mihajlovic and welcomed Delio Rossi.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was at Novara where Attilio Tesser, who had guided the club to successive promotions, was sacked in favour of Emilio Mondonico.

The next step in Iran sanctions: cutting off the bank

2012-02-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

The White House is welcoming a potentially critical step in the international effort to squeeze Iran over its suspect nuclear program: A statement by the Belgium-based SWIFT network that it is ready to implement sanctions against Tehran. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) handles most international transactions between banks.

"We note SWIFT's intention to stop transactions involving EU-designated Iranian banks when new EU sanctions regulations are in place," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Yahoo News in an email. "We welcome this step and will be in contact with our European partners."

SWIFT processes the bulk of cross-border inter-bank transmissions—more than 15 million of them in more than 200 countries. Curbing Iran's access to the system would deepen the Islamic Republic's isolation from world finance and notably make it harder for Tehran to import or export goods.

"Sanctions on financial services have been particularly useful in interfering with illicit Iranian conduct," said Vietor. "We are in conversations with allies and partners about additional ways to increase the cost of their behavior, including by targeting services such as that provided by SWIFT and similar entities."

Western powers led by the United States have charged that Iran hopes to use its nuclear program to develop the ability to make an atomic arsenal. Tehran has denied the allegation.

As Yahoo News reported Thursday, SWIFT's general counsel is due in Washington next week, and will meet Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, key author of a legislative proposal to drive Iranian banks, including its central bank, out of SWIFT.

Ron Paul wins (in North Dakota fundraising effort)

2012-02-21T05:08:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul may have narrowly lost Maine's Republican presidential caucuses to Mitt Romney, but he might have another decent chance at finally winning a state, if campaign contributions are any indication.

As USA Today first noted, Paul has outraised all of his 2012 rivals, including President Obama, in North Dakota, which is set to hold its GOP caucuses on Mar. 6, along with nine other "Super Tuesday" states.

The Texas congressman has raised roughly $40,000 in the state—about $13,000 more than Obama and more than three times as much as Newt Gingrich, who has raised just over $11,500, according to Federal Election Commission records. Romney has taken in just over $7,000 from North Dakota donors, while Rick Santorum has raised only $765.

According to FEC records, Paul's average contribution in the state was less than $400—though many of his contributors were repeat donors. They listed occupations including "farmer," "doctor," and—in the case of Bismarck resident Matt Philsburg, who contributed $500 to Paul in December, "male model."

Much of Paul's money appears to have been raised through the campaign's hugely successful, one-day "money bomb" fundraising efforts—which have brought millions of dollars in to his campaign this cycle.

North Dakota is set to award 28 delegates on Mar. 6—though, like Maine, its delegates are non-binding. While Santorum made a campaign swing through the state this week, the Paul campaign is believed to have a larger grassroots organization in the state, reflecting his campaign's effort to focus on smaller caucus states where he has the best chance of winning and racking up convention delegates.

Ancient meteorite standing between one Iowa town and its water supply

2012-02-21T05:06:00.000-08:00

The remains of a 1.5 mile-wide, 10 billion-ton meteorite are causing problems for a small Iowa town, 74 million years after it crashed onto the Earth's surface at 45,000 miles per hour.
The Des Moines Register reports that the 1,600 residents of Manson, Iowa are struggling to locate a site for the town's well due to the geological impact of the meteorite. The crash created the underground Manson Crater—which has a diameter of 24 miles and reaches into four neighboring counties.
"It's hard to predict exactly what you are going to hit," state geologist Robert Libra told the Register. "It's a jumbled mess."
For a little context, the asteroid blamed for wiping out the dinosaurs and most life on Earth 65 million years ago is estimated to have been about 9 miles in diameter. According to a 2010 article in the journal Science, that impact was the equivalent of 1,000,000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs, creating tsunamis and earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale.
An explainer on the Iowa Geological & Water Survey site explains that while the Manson Crater meteorite wasn't enough to wipe out the dinosaurs (it hit Earth nearly 10 million years prior), it nonetheless had a comparable effect on prehistoric Iowa. The impact is said to equal 10 trillion tons of TNT, resulting in an electromagnetic blast that incinerated anything within 130 miles and wiped out all life within 650 miles of the blast.
In fact, the Manson Crater meteorite was long-thought to have been the cause of the dinosaurs extinction, until scientists determined that it was too old. Still, it remains one of the largest outer space collision sites in North America.

And now, after years of struggling to find a sustainable water source, engineers at Iowa's Department of Natural Resources say they may have come up with a solution: Drilling for water near the crater's center. They speculate that the crater's center is home to Iowa's softest water source.
"Water that comes out of the central part is naturally soft," Anderson said. "It's the only naturally soft groundwater in the state of Iowa," Anderson said.
Of course, fans of Stephen King's "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" will tell you that getting too close to any meteorite should raise a red flag.

Which U.S. counties rely most on government benefits?

2012-02-21T05:05:00.000-08:00

It's not news that reliance on government benefits is on the rise -- not just since the economic downturn of recent years, but over the last few decades. In 1969, 8 percent of Americans' income came from benefits programs. By 2009, that figure had more than doubled to 18 percent.

But which parts of the country count on those benefits the most? Using Labor Department data, the New York Times assembled a fascinating interactive county-by-county map that looks at the totality of government benefits -- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, jobless benefits, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and more.
Some of the key findings:
• In some of the country's poorest areas -- eastern Kentucky, northern Michigan, south Texas on the Mexican border, and parts of Arizona and New Mexico -- benefits account for over 40 percent of all income.
• Social Security is by far the largest single government benefit program, accounting for nearly 6 cents out of every dollar taken in by Americans in 2009. Not surprisingly, it makes up an especially large share of income in retirement havens like Sarasota, Fla., the Carolina coast, and parts of Arizona.
• Unemployment benefits play a relatively small role in the overall government safety net. They accounted for just 1.1 percent of all income, or about 6 percent of all benefits income. They're most relied upon, of course, in areas hit hard by the jobs crisis -- southern Oregon, northern Michigan, central Pennsylvania, and Nevada.
One additional point: As an accompanying story noted, many of the counties that are most dependent on these benefits are rural, and lean politically conservative. It wasn't hard for the paper to find residents who decry the growth of the government safety net -- while relying on it themselves.

Apple and Samsung in patent fight over Galaxy Nexus

2012-01-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

Well we all know when it comes to patent disputes there is no love lost between Apple and Samsung, and it appears that Apple is again targeting old Sammy in the patent law courts, this time the iOS company is suing Samsung over the Samsung Galaxy Nexus using their “slide to unlock” patented feature.

According to the guys over at iDownload Blog by way of AllthingsD, the word is Apple has filed a lawsuit against Samsung over that “slide to unlock” tech on the Galaxy Nexus in Germany.
Back in October 2011, Apple was granted the patent for the “slide to unlock” feature in their iOS devices, and several Android makers have already use the feature on Android handsets, so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that Apple has got their legal team onto the matter.
This is also the first time Apple has targeted the Android Ice Cream sandwich packing smartphone as a patent infringing device.
Of course Apple could well have a legitimate case here as there are other ways of unlocking a device that doesn’t require sliding to the right, but as the Galaxy Nexus does use the slide to unlock feature perhaps Sammy will come to some licensing agreement with Apple for its use.
If not, well no doubt we can expect Samsung and Google to put up a hefty fight against Apple as it would appear Apple is dead set on going after anything used by Android, and no doubt this new fight will continue for quite some time yet.
Thus it would appear that the Apple against Android fight continues and no doubt we will be seeing more battles in the future.
If you have enjoyed this Phones Review article feel free to add me to your circles on Google+ and I will of course add you back.

Twitter with Siri via Sireet tweak

2012-01-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

There are many jailbreak tweaks out there, and one thing that iPhone 4S Siri cannot do it Tweet, well you can but you have to go all around the house for it to work, you have to go through a long process of setting up twitter in your contacts etc, learn more about this here.

Good news for those that have jailbroken their iPhones, you can now Twitter with Siri via Sireet tweak. It did not take long for someone to sort this out, now you can do it directly using Siri rather than the cumbersome set-up.
iDB reported about this new jailbreak tweak but did not know the name, but then they recently updated saying that it is called Sireet. They mention that the tweeting is accurate using Siri, below you can see a video of it in working order.
Sireet is now available to download via the MMI repo, and you will be happy to know it is free.
Personally we believe that Apple will have deep integrated Twitter within Siri, they just need to shake hands and make the deal happen, it is what customers want and both parties will be laughing.

PlayStation Vita launch day lineup and accessory pricing revealed

2011-12-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

Sony's new handheld gets its ducks in a row ahead of its February debut

While Nintendo's 3DS will have the 2011 holiday season to itself in the portable gaming market, many gamers are eagerly anticipating the February 22, 2012 launch of Sony's new PlayStation Vita. Now, almost as if to say "Save those gift cards until February," the company has shed some light on the games and accessories we can expect to see alongside the new system when it finally debuts.
One of the biggest complaints consumers had when the 3DS launched was the lack of quality titles. Sony hopes to capitalize on Nintendo's misstep — and subsequent drop in sales — by offering a ridiculously beefy game lineup available from day one. So far, a total of 25 games — priced between $9.99 and $49.99, though each title wasn't specifically tagged — are slated for a launch day release. And these aren't just throwaway, I'd-rather-be-playing-Angry-Birds titles either; names like Uncharted, Wipeout, and Rayman are sure to pique the interest of the gaming populous. Check out the full list of launch day titles below.

Army Corps of Hell
Asphalt Injection
BEN10 GALACTIC RACING
Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
Dynasty Warriors Next
EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer
Escape Plan (PSN downloadable titles)
F1 2011
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
Hustle Kings (PSN downloadable titles)
Little Deviants
Lumines Electronic Symphony
Michael Jackson The Experience
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
Plants vs. Zombies (PSN downloadable title)
Rayman Origins
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen
Super StarDust Delta (PSN downloadable title)
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN downloadable title)
Touch My Katamari
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition
wipEout 2048

On top of that already impressive list, a further 10 titles are on deck for a "launch window" release, which means they should appear on store shelves in the days immediately following launch. Browse that list below.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention
Gravity Rush
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
MLB 12 The Show
NINJA GAIDEN ∑ PLUS
Reality Fighters
Ridge Racer
Silent Hill Book of Memories
Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted
Unit 13

As we already knew, the system itself will carry a $250 price tag, but up until now the pricing of its storage cards and other accessories were a mystery. Many thought the system's memory cards would cost upwards of $130 for 32GB, but thankfully that's not the case. The official list of release dates and pricing for PS Vita add-ons can be seen below.

4 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$19.99
8 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$29.99
16 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$59.99
32 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$99.99
Starter Kit with Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$39.99
In-Ear Headset	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Carrying Case	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Travel Pouch	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Protective Film (2 pack)	February 15, 2012	$9.99
Card Case	February 15, 2012	$5.99
Cradle	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Portable Charger	Spring 2012	$49.99
AC Adaptor	February 15, 2012	$14.99
Car Adaptor	Spring 2012	$14.99
USB Cable	February 15, 2012	$14.99

We went hands-on with the Vita during E3, and were mighty pleased with what we saw. While Sony's pricing scheme for memory — crucial when downloading games, movies, and music — is a bit higher than we had hoped, it's not entirely unreasonable, and we're still very much looking forward to February 22.

Customize a Boeing 787 Dreamliner of your very own!

2011-12-28T10:58:00.000-08:00

Boeing helps us fantasize about owning our very own commercial airliner

Having a private jet is something that only select few of the world's richest individuals can boast. But if you're going to fantasize about owning your own cloud-cruising mega machine, you may as well dream big. That's what Boeing has in mind with its new virtual plane customization tool that allows you to go hands-on with your very own 787 Dreamliner, the most luxurious commercial jet the company has ever built.
When you first dive into the adventure of customizing your new plane you are given a blank slate. From there you can chose colors, graphics, text, or even go freehand with the paintbrush option. The virtual tool lets you do basically anything you want to the outside of your Dreamliner, and once you've completed your masterpiece you can submit it to the user gallery for everyone to marvel at.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is the newest plane from the company and just made its maiden flight in September. The first 787 to take to the skies with a commercial crew boasted a modest livery of blue and white striping, but we're sure you can top that.

Do-over: Are Mitt Romney’s 2008 voters enough for him to win Iowa this time?

2011-12-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

Romney in Davenport, Iowa (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

DAVENPORT, Iowa--When Mitt Romney returned to this state on Tuesday for the final push before next week's presidential caucuses, he began by telling more than 300 people at a hotel here about a speech Barack Obama delivered in the same city four years ago this week.
"He promised to bring people together. He promised to change the broken system in Washington. He promised to do away with gridlock. He promised to repair the nation," Romney said. "Well, Mr. President … You have failed to deliver on the promises you made here in Davenport."
Romney did not mention any of his Republican rivals as he looked past the Republican primaries and caucuses and toward the November general election. But if Romney wants to quickly clear the Republican field so that he can focus on a direct challenge of President Obama, he must first deliver on some of the promise that he, too, demonstrated four years ago in Iowa.
Perhaps the biggest unknown heading into Tuesday's caucuses is whether Romney can win here merely by activating the organization he built in Iowa for his 2008 presidential campaign. With key voting blocs, like social conservatives, divided among several other candidates, some Republicans in the state say Romney has a real possibility of pulling off a surprise win on Jan. 3.
"It's a wild card," Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party, told Yahoo News. "He has a base of support from 2008, but nobody really knows what these people will do."
For months, Romney has been coy about how much money and effort he would invest in Iowa—and with good reason. Four years ago, he spent tens of millions of dollars to win the state—hiring dozens of consultants and flooding the TV and radio airwaves with campaign ads. Romney criss-crossed the state in what the campaign called the "Mittmobile," visiting each of the state's 99 counties at least once.
"By the end, there wasn't anybody who didn't know who he was," Renee Schulte, a state representative who ran Romney's organization in Linn County in 2008 and is now a co-chairwoman of his 2012 campaign in Iowa, told Yahoo News.
But it didn't help. The ex-governor came in a disappointing second place to Mike Huckabee, an insurgent candidate who had spent virtually nothing compared to Romney. The loss contributed to Romney's speedy collapse in the polls in other early voting states like New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
Yet, while Romney lost to Huckabee in 2008 by 10 points, more than 30,000 people supported his candidacy, and he won several counties by large margins in eastern and western Iowa. In a divided field with lower voter turnout expected, 30,000 votes might be enough to win Iowa in 2012.
"Four years ago, he started out with a name recognition of 3 percent, and this time, around, we now have a foundation to work with," Schulte told Yahoo.
Still, Romney has kept his distance. Tuesday's visit was just his eighth trip to Iowa since he formally announced his 2012 campaign. In 2008, he had at least five campaign headquarters all over the state. This time, Romney has just one office, located in an old Blockbuster video store in Des Moines. He has just four paid staffers and one political consultant in the state, according to his campaign—one of the smallest footprints of any of the 2012 contenders.
For his few visits to the state in recent months, Romney has zeroed in on the areas where he did well last time around. On Tuesday, he kicked off a four-day bus tour of the state in Scott County, where he won by almost 10 points in 2008. On Wednesday, he's set to make three more stops in eastern Iowa, including events in Clinton County, where he won in 2008 by 11 points, and Johnson County (9 points).
At the same time, his campaign has quietly built a volunteer network using its lists of the supporters Romney had in 2008. The campaign has also organized conference calls to connect Romney with the voters who backed his presidential bid four years ago. And several of his key supporters from 2008 who haven't yet committed to a candidate in 2012 recently received a Christmas card from Romney, featuring a photo of him posing with his family.
"We're doing things a lot more conventionally this time," Connie Schmett, a longtime Republican activist in Iowa who is heading up Romney's organizing efforts in Polk County, told Yahoo News. "We're really focusing on people knocking on doors and talking to their neighbors."
That's not to say Romney isn't redeploying some of the strategy and tactics he used in 2008. In recent weeks, his campaign has spent more than $1.1 million on TV ads in Iowa, which doesn't include the nearly $3 million a super PAC supporting his 2012 bid has spent in the state. On Wednesday, Romney will launch more ads—a $150,000 buy in the Quad Cities.
Romney's consistent position at or near the top of the polls in Iowa has prompted grumbling from candidates who have spent more time in the state. On Tuesday, Rick Santorum urged voters to "stick it to" candidates who treat Iowa as a "flyover state."
But Schulte argues that Romney's lack of retail politicking in the state won't hurt him on caucus night—in part because he was a ubiquitous presence in 2008.
"This time, he's continuing a relationship he built four years ago, which is different than some of these candidates who aren't as well known to people," she said.
Romney's 2012 campaign in Iowa hasn't gone entirely smoothly. Several of his former top staffers and backers in the state have gone to work for other candidates or have opted to stay neutral in the race.
Doug Gross, a Des Moines attorney and Republican strategist who was Romney's state chairman four years ago, told Yahoo News he decided against backing Romney's 2012 campaign because of questions about his former boss's authenticity.
"I was concerned about whether Mitt would be true to himself and not try to be somebody he's not," said Gross, who has not endorsed a candidate in the primary. "I didn't want to go through a cycle where I was working for a candidate who wasn't comfortable in his own skin."
Romney has also come under intense questioning at town halls around the state about his support for a Massachusetts health care law that included an individual insurance mandate similar to what was passed in "Obamacare"—an issue that his advisors worry could depress his support on caucus night.
And while the Romney campaign talks up its "stealth" volunteer campaign in Iowa, his advisers admit it's also their biggest liability heading into Tuesday's vote.
"The greatest challenge is that it is a volunteer organization this time around," Schulte told Yahoo News. "When you don't have as much staff, you don't have as many people to make those turnout calls. … So it's a little unpredictable."
Romney's reception in Davenport on Tuesday was a hopeful sign for the campaign. Speaking to a crowd in an ornate ballroom at the historic Hotel Blackhawk, Romney marveled at the sight of the crowd, which spilled into the hotel's hallways and lobby. At one point, a Romney spokeswoman estimated the crowd to be at least 800 people—about the same size of some of Romney's largest events four years ago.
'The halls are full, the stairways are full … This is just amazing," Romney declared. "I don't know how you got here, but I appreciate it."

Syria opposition activist calls for international intervention to halt carnage

2011-12-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Photo grabbed from citizen video of tanks in the Syrian city of Homs. (AFP/Getty)

A prominent U.S.-based Syrian opposition activist living in exile from the Bashar al-Assad regime called for humanitarian intervention in Syria in an interview Tuesday . Radwan Ziadeh, a visiting scholar at Harvard University and a member of the main Syrian opposition bloc, the Syrian National Council, told Yahoo News Tuesday that the Arab League monitoring mission getting under way in the country does not have the capacity or experience to stop the carnage that has beset the Arab nation since anti-government protests began there in March.
"What's needed is international intervention," Ziadeh explained via telephone. "We need a buffer zone along the Turkish borders where the situation is still escalating. Maybe the UN has to declare some 'safe cities.'"
The dissident's call for international military intervention marks a shift in thinking within Syria's increasingly united but embattled pro-democracy movement; in an interview with Yahoo News in August, Ziadeh said that "none of the Syrian opposition is calling for military intervention." The veteran human rights activist and scholar contended at the time that the Syrian people had "discovered their power to change the regime without [international] intervention."
But as Ziadeh and others now call for humanitarian intervention as the struggle to oust Assad drags on into its ninth month, they're hard pressed to find robust support in the international community.
Ziadeh spoke as Arab League monitors toured the city of Homs Tuesday. The first 50 Arab League monitors arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday, with another 100 slated to arrive shortly.
"Even on [the Arab League monitoring mission's] first day, 37 people have been killed," Ziadeh said. "There were killings yesterday, there were killings today, and there will be more killings tomorrow."

Given that the Arab League has never before undertaken such a mission, Ziadeh said, "we understand they have some difficulties in their capacities—they don't have enough training and they don't have the knowledge of the situation in Syria."
Ziadeh urged international humanitarian action to protect civilians in Syria--even if the UN Security Council fails to endorse such action. The United States and European countries have been pressing Russia and China--key veto-wielding Security Council members--to reverse their opposition to a resolution condemning Assad for the carnage. The UN said this month that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the regime's crackdown on the unrest.
Moscow this month distributed its own draft resolution condemning violence in the country, while explicitly ruling out a Libya-style international military intervention. However, UN envoy Susan Rice last week accused her Russian counterpart of then stalling UN Security Council discussion of Syria at a meeting ahead of the Christmas holiday.
But Russia is not the only hold-up, Ziadeh noted. Even countries that have condemned Assad--the United States, France and Turkey, among them--have not yet come to consensus on further action. Among the reasons, Ziadeh said: the recent unraveling of relations between France and Turkey, after France passed a law this month making it a crime to deny the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide.
Meanwhile, though the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used increasingly harsh language to denounce the Assad regime—a former ally--and announced sanctions against Assad, Ankara would be averse to any internationally-imposed military buffer zone in Syria without a UN resolution authorizing it, Ziadeh said.
The Obama administration has also been hesitant to endorse Libya-style military intervention in Syria, said Ziadeh. He was among a group of Syrian pro-democracy activists who met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in August.
"I don't see the U.S. taking any action since last September when they embarked on their last round of sanctions," he said. "After that, only statements have come out, without taking any action. ... They don't want international intervention in Syria because they don't know where it would lead."
The State Department said Tuesday, however, it is continuing to consult with international allies about next steps. "If the Syrian regime continues to resist and disregard Arab League efforts, the international community will consider other means to protect Syrian civilians," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a press statement Tuesday.
Even as Ziadeh was pessimistic about whether the Arab League mission could halt the violence, he did recently receive good news from his family in Syria. His brother, who was arrested by Syrian Air Force security forces in August, was released three weeks ago.

First Arab League monitors arrive in Syrian flashpoint city

2011-12-28T10:52:00.001-08:00

Monitors from the Arab League arrived in the Syrian city of Homs Tuesday, as anti-government activists on the ground reported that military leaders had temporarily withdrawn tanks involved in President Bashar al-Assad's operation to quash mass protests.
The observers arrived a day after the Assad regime's brutal crackdown on protests claimed a reported 34 fatalities in Homs. Online video footage posted on Monday showed tanks firing through residential apartment blocks in the restive city, the third largest in Syria.
On Tuesday, ahead of the monitoring team's arrival in the area, Syrian activists said "up to a dozen tanks were seen leaving Baba Amr, one of Homs's most embattled neighborhoods, but others were being hidden," Reuters' Mariam Karouny and Erika Solomon reported.
The first 50 Arab League monitors arrived in Damascus on Monday, and have been organized into teams of 10. Another 100 are due to arrive shortly.
Headed by Sudanese General Mustafa Dabi, the Arab League Syria mission aims to assess whether Syria's President Bashar al-Assad "is keeping his promise to implement a peace plan to end his uncompromising crackdown on nine months of revolt that has generated an armed uprising, edging the country towards civil war," Reuters wrote.
But with only 150 monitors for a country of more than 24 million people, it's not clear that the observers will be able to independently assess conditions on the ground. For instance, under the present arrangement, the mission's monitors must rely on the Syrian government for transport to the areas they will be observing.
Arab League officials have said its teams will tell the Syrian regime "where they [want] to go, based on requests from people in Homs who have witnessed the violence," Karouny and Solomon wrote. But they added that anti-government activists are worried that the mission could be "hoodwinked by the state and ... shown places where life is relatively normal."
The United Nations said earlier this month that at least 5,000 people have been killed in the Syrian unrest since anti-Assad protestors first took to the streets in March 2011. Syrian opposition groups said last week the body count has grown in the past few weeks, to more than 6,000 people.
Several hundred people are reported killed in protest-related violence, as Syria's Assad negotiated with the Arab League over the scope of the monitoring mission.
The State Department last week urged the leaders of the Arab League mission to speed up their efforts, while accusing Assad of dragging on the negotiations. UN envoy Susan Rice also assailed her Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, for delaying UN Security Council action on a resolution condemning the violence last week ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Rick Santorum hunts for a big endorsement but comes up empty

2011-12-28T10:51:00.000-08:00

Santorum and King address reporters (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

ADEL, IOWA--Rick Santorum insisted he just felt like going hunting. But with just a week to go before Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses, it wasn't quite that simple.
Dressed in a bright orange jacket and a baseball cap stitched with the letters "NRA," Santorum embarked on a post-Christmas Day pheasant hunt outside Des Moines Monday, but it wasn't just the birds he was aiming for.
At Santorum's side was Rep. Steve King, an influential Iowa congressman whose 2012 endorsement is still up for grabs ahead of next week's vote. Standing before a pack of reporters, the former Pennsylvania senator conceded that he hadn't performed as well as he'd hoped on his excursion.
Santorum was talking about the birds—he'd killed just four, down from the six he'd bagged during his last hunting trip. But he might just as well have been talking about his main quarry--King, the Hawkeye state conservative leader, who told reporters in the wake of the pheasant-hunting trip that he still doesn't know who he will endorse for the Republican nomination.
"I've got a few days yet before a decision has to be made," King said, as Santorum awkwardly stood at his side. "I want my head and my heart to come together, and when that happens, and if that happens, I'll jump in with both feet. I hope it's not after the ship's already left, but it could be."
Santorum tried to save face, insisting that he'd merely asked King out for an afternoon of hunting as a friendly gesture.
"I invited Steve to come out and hunt," Santorum told reporters. "I almost consider myself a resident here, so it's sort of a neighborly thing to do. I am happy Steve is here."
Indeed, the photo-op could be helpful for Santorum, who was the lone candidate on the trail the day after Christmas. His campaign allowed photographers to tag along in the pheasant-bagging expedition--and the image of the stalwart social-conservative candidate loaded for pheasant surely won't hurt Santorums bid to shore up his credentials among conservative voters who favor gun rights.
"There's nobody who's done more for the Second Amendment and been stronger on that issue than I have," Santorum said.
And while King did not bestow his official endorsement, Santorum still got to pose--however awkwardly--alongside the influential conservative congressman.
At one point, King reminded Santorum of their competition earlier in the year to see who could shed the most weight. The former senator that he'd come up short of his goal, gaining a good deal of the weight back conceded he had gained most of the weight back. He even admitted to a reporter how much he currently weighs.
"I'm about 211 right now," Santorum said, as King chuckled. "It's a little thick for me."
But Santorum was much more guarded in handicapping his post-Iowa prospects. He's spent more time in Iowa than any of his rivals and frequently boasts of visiting all of the state's 99 counties--but for all his hard work on the trail, he remains mired in single digits in Iowa polling. Several big endorsements--including one from Bob Vander Plaats, a key social conservative activist in the state—haven't sparked any real momentum behind his campaign, especially in the critical contest for campaign cash to see candidates through the balance of the punishing primary season.
Still, Santorum insisted he believes he will do well in next week's caucus vote. However, he pointedly declined to say whether he would quit the race if he comes up short of a strong finish.
Asked how he would define a "win" next Tuesday, Santorum replied, "Exceeding expectations." With just a week out from the balloting, however, some of his supporters have to be wondering if he might be just a few pheasants short.

Physicist builds Lego Large Hadron Collider

2011-12-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

9,500 piece model took Copenhagen-based researcher weeks to construct

As scientists at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland continue their search for the elusive Higgs boson "God particle," one physicist has built a tribute to their work entirely out of Lego bricks. Sascha Mehlhase, a researcher at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, spent more than 80 hours designing and constructing a model of the supercollider's intricate ATLAS detector.
Mehlhase, who is part of the institute's high energy physics group, spent about 48 hours modeling the ATLAS on his laptop in Lego's Digital Designer software. He used the application's ability to generate a custom construction manual, but decided to simply eyeball most of the work after seeing the 4,500-page tome it spit out. With some help from his wife, Mehlhase spent 33 hours over the course of several weeks assembling 9,500 bricks to reproduce even the smallest details.
The final model stands nearly two feet tall and is 1:50 scale — or actual size, if you're a little Lego person. In fact, Mehlhase even chose jumpsuit-wearing Lego minifigs to represent the CERN scientists and recreated the passageways they use to access the inner areas of the ATLAS experiment. The total cost for the project was almost $2,600 in Lego bricks, which had to be custom ordered from the Danish toymaker.
Mehlhase hopes to eventually publish a construction manual online and intends to showcase the finished model at the Niels Bohr Institute for visitors and students to marvel at. You can see more images of it at the University of Copenhagen's site.

Asus sued by toy robot maker for naming its tablet Transformer Prime

2011-12-28T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hasbro believes the new tablet's name is too close to Transformer Optimus Prime's

To be reminded of robots whenever the Asus Transformer tablets are mentioned is inevitable. After all, Hasbro's line of Transformers toy bots has enjoyed tremendous popularity in recent years, thanks to Michael Bay's film trilogy. The toy company thinks that the newest Asus tablet, the Transformer Prime, sounds a bit too much like one of its most popular robots, though. So, it decided to file a lawsuit against the computer maker in Los Angeles federal court.
We didn't hear anything from Hasbro when the first Transformer tablet was released, but it seems Asus crossed the line this time by naming its new device too close to Optimus Prime. "Hasbro continues to aggressively protect its brands and products and the specific actions we are taking today against Asus underscores yet again Hasbro's willingness to pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own financial gain," the company wrote in an email to Paidcontent.
Hasbro's litigation would've usually been invalid based on current trademark law, since tablets and toy robots do not fall under the same category. The toy company asserts, however, that the Transformers brand is expanding, and it has to protect names associated with its products. Hasbro is currently seeking damages as well as a temporary injunction on the Transformer Prime, which has just started shipping from a few retailers this December 19.

Christopher Hitchens, writer and Vanity Fair contributor, dies at 62

2011-12-16T03:05:00.000-08:00

Christopher Hitchens, the author, writer and Vanity Fair contributing editor, has died, the magazine announced late Thursday. He was 62.
Hitchens, who had been battling esophageal cancer since early 2010, died at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, surrounded by friends, Vanity Fair said.
"There will never be another like Christopher," Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter said in a statement. "A man of ferocious intellect, who was as vibrant on the page as he was at the bar. Those who read him felt they knew him, and those who knew him were profoundly fortunate souls."
The brash, combative and provocative Hitchens was an "incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant," Vanity Fair's Juli Weiner wrote in one of what will assuredly be many memoriams in the next several hours.
His last book, "Hitch-22," was published shortly before his diagnosis, forcing him to cancel a book tour.
"I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus," Hitchens wrote then. "This advice seems persuasive to me. I regret having had to cancel so many engagements at such short notice."
Yet, he continued to write about his fight with cancer--among other weighty topics--in the months that followed.
"Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centered and even solipsistic," he wrote in Vanity Fair last year.
In June 2011, he observed: "My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends."
We'll post selections of remembrances from some of those friends, and obituaries, below. Check back here for updates.
The New Yorker's Christopher Buckley:

We were friends for more than thirty years, which is a long time but, now that he is gone, seems not nearly long enough. I was rather nervous when I first met him, one night in London in 1977, along with his great friend Martin Amis. I had read his journalism and was already in awe of his brilliance and wit and couldn't think what on earth I could bring to his table. I don't know if he sensed the diffidence on my part—no, of course he did; he never missed anything—but he set me instantly at ease, and so began one of the great friendships and benisons of my life. It occurs to me that "benison" is a word I first learned from Christopher, along with so much else.

NPR's David Folkenflik:

Hitchens confronted his disease in part by writing, bringing the same unsparing insight to his mortality that he had directed at so many other subjects. Over the years, Hitchens' caustic attention was directed at a broad range of subjects, including Henry Kissinger, Prince Charles, Bob Hope, Michael Moore, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.
"If you're at Vanity Fair and you're talking about some of the things that Christopher has taken on, at the top of the list is going to be Mother Teresa," said Graydon Carter, editor at Vanity Fair and a longtime friend.

The Associated Press' Hillel Italie:

Eloquent and intemperate, bawdy and urbane, he was an acknowledged contrarian and contradiction—half-Christian, half-Jewish and fully non-believing; a native of England who settled in America; a former Trotskyite who backed the Iraq war and supported George W. Bush. ... He was a militant humanist who believed in pluralism and racial justice and freedom of speech, big cities and fine art and the willingness to stand the consequences. He was smacked in the rear by then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and beaten up in Beirut. He once submitted to waterboarding to prove that it was indeed torture.

The Washington Post's Matt Schudel:

Hitchens [was] a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, "Islamic fascists" and religious faith of any kind.

ABC News' Joel Siegel:

Hitchens became the public face of atheism. Critics assumed his cancer diagnosis, in 2010, would lead Hitchens to relent and embrace God. But he remained a proud non-believer to the very end, as he made clear in an early October 2011 speech at the annual Atheist Alliance of America convention in Houston, as he accepted the Freethinker of the Year Award. His body gaunt from the ravages of cancer, Hitchens said, "We have the same job we always had: to say that there are no final solutions; there is no absolute truth; there is no supreme leader; there is no totalitarian solution that says if you would just give up your freedom of inquiry, if you would just give up, if you would simply abandon your critical faculties, the world of idiotic bliss can be yours."

Touré:

Hitchens was a throwback to the Norman Maileresque vision of the writer as macho, brilliant, argumentative [and], critically, hard-living.

The Atlantic's Nicholas Jackson:

He's the only writer that I've ever written a fan letter to.

Vanity Fair's Weiner:

At the end, Hitchens was more engaged, relentless, hilarious, observant, and intelligent than just about everyone else—just as he had been for the last four decades.

Newt Gingrich fights to hold Iowa lead amid ‘no negativity’ pledge at Fox debate

2011-12-16T03:02:00.000-08:00

Gingrich (Eric Gay/Pool via AP)

Newt Gingrich put himself in a difficult position ahead of Thursday night's Fox News debate in Sioux City, Iowa: He sought to adhere to his pledge not to go negative against his Republican presidential opponents while still holding his lead in the Iowa polls.
And the former House Speaker appeared to successfully straddle the balance, even as he seemed to be on the defensive from attacks lobbed by Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and other GOP rivals.
Gingrich passed over multiple opportunities to attack his opponents as he fielded criticism for receiving payouts from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, accused of working as a lobbyist, and challenged over his electability and on the issues of abortion and immigration and instead issued measured, thoughtful defenses.
But Gingrich still found a way to display his aggressive side.
"The courts have become grotesquely dictatorial," Gingrich said during a long and heated criticism of the federal judiciary in which he called the Supreme Court justices "arrogant" and "far too powerful." "We do not have a judicial dictatorship in this country," Gingrich said.

Later in the debate, Gingrich addressed his pledge in a backhanded manner, saying, "I sometimes get accused of using language that's too strong, so I've been standing here editing." The comment drew laughter from an audience well aware of Gingrich's "no negative" vow.
But then Gingrich turned around and launched into a full assault on President Obama for his decision to defer plans for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline connecting Canada to Texas:

The president of the United States cannot figure out that it is--I'm using mild words here--utterly irrational to say 'I'm now going to veto a middle-class tax cut to protect left-wing environmental extremists in San Francisco so that we're going to kill American jobs, weaken American energy, make us more vulnerable to the Iranians and do so in a way that makes no sense to any normal, rational American.

Gingrich's comment drew applause and cheers from the live audience in Iowa, where he continues to lead in recent polling ahead of the Jan. 3 caucuses.
The forceful language Gingrich exhibited Thursday night was a reminder of why he's recently moved from also-ran to the top of the 2012 Republican presidential race.
That status has also made Gingrich a target of multiple attacks. This week alone, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney began sending mailers to Iowans linking Gingrich with liberal lawmaker Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader from San Francisco. Texas Rep. Ron Paul on Thursday questioned Gingrich's draft deferments and has joined with other critics to accuse Gingrich of being corrupt, in part, for receiving payments from mortgage lending giant Freddie Mac.
Gingrich's connections to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac emerged during Thursday night's debate, and Gingrich tried to hold firm without going on the offensive. "I was a private citizen engaged in a business like any other business," Gingrich said, noting he was no longer a lawmaker during his involvement. Both Paul and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann--who is heavily courting the Iowa vote--attacked Gingrich on his Fannie and Freddie connections. You can see Gingrich defending Freddie Mac, and other "government-sponsored enterprises," in the video below:
Bachmann spent much of Thursday night attempting to diminish Gingrich's stature. She accused him of being a lobbyist--a charge that Gingrich, who has done a good deal of political consulting work in his career as a private citizen, vigorously disputes while continuing to play up his Fannie and Freddie connections. She also hit out at Gingrich for supporting candidates who don't reject partial birth abortions.
But Gingrich didn't retaliate. "Sometimes, Congresswoman Bachmann doesn't get her facts correct," Gingrich calmly replied and defended his "pro-life" record. "I think my position on life actually has been very clear and very consistent."
Gingrich also defended himself on immigration, after he's drawn persistent criticism for allegedly backing amnesty in the wake of immigration comments he made at a Nov. 22 debate. Gingrich glanced down at his podium, presumably at his notes, as he issued a three-point defense of his immigration position, highlighting his desire to cut federal aid to "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants.
Polls show Gingrich's strong Iowa lead slipping in recent weeks as rival campaigns stepped up their negative messaging strategies. He is one of several ccandidates who have prioritized Iowa as their key to winning momentum in the 2012 race.

Juror’s tweets become grounds to overturn death sentence

2011-12-10T03:47:00.001-08:00

Convicted inmate to get a retrial because juror spoke of the case on Twitter, which was prohibited beforehand

In 2010, Erickson Dimas-Martinez became a death row convict after he was found guilty of robbing and shooting a teen. Now, his sentence has been overturned because the Arkansas Supreme Court judges decided it was inappropriate for juror Randy Franco to have posted some of his thoughts about the case on Twitter while the case was ongoing. This, along with teachers getting fired for posting controversial Facebook status messages, is a perfect example of the impact of social media in today's society.
Franco didn't really post specifics about the case aside from talking about its ending: "I'm waiting for the other 11 to [jurors] to help me come to a conclusion...I have not seen death in my life, like, firsthand. So the talk of death is a little uncomfortable just because it's an unknown — it's an unknown area for me." Other than that, he merely commented on the poor quality of coffee in court and quoted an obscure ditty. Unfortunately for him, the judge explicitly stated before the proceedings began that they can't talk about the case on Twitter at all. Due to this event, the judges are consulting a panel that will discuss whether jurors' use of mobile phones should be limited during the course of a trial, as they can be used to access Facebook and Twitter as well as news sites that may have information about the case.
Janice Vaughn, Dimas-Martinez's lawyer, asserts that the complaint filed against Franco isn't about one's right to post on social networks. She says, "It's about protecting the right of the person who may end up behind bars or end up losing a significant amount of money in a civil case." With his sentence revoked, Dimas-Martinez may be slated for a retrial, though it depends on the state's decision.

Crazy wheelchair attachment lets you cruise in electric style

2011-12-10T03:44:00.001-08:00

The WHILL turns any wheelchair into an electric vehicle

Professor X take note: the WHILL is one snazzy wheelchair accessory. The latest in innovative solutions for people with physical disabilities, this crazy-looking device made by the Japanese company of the same name attaches to any standard wheelchair and turns it into an electric vehicle, allowing the user to navigate with environmentally-friendly ease.
While the WHILL might look like a giant pair of headphones, it's actually more akin to a Segway. Two hubs clamp onto the wheelchair's wheels, and are connected via a curved control arm that passes over the user's waist. Each hub contains a 24-volt motor powered by a lithium ion battery pack. The user steers by leaning in the direction they want to go, much like piloting a Segway.
The batteries take about two hours to charge, and one charge will take you about 19 miles at a top speed of about 12.5 mph. WHILL is currently looking for volunteers to field test its design and provide feedback on the prototype. There's no word yet on pricing or availability, but presumably we'll know more once the current round of testing is complete.
Check out the video below (sadly in Japanese) to see some behind-the-scenes footage of the process behind the WHILL.

Prediction markets: Gingrich is electable

2011-12-10T03:42:00.001-08:00

Worried that the Democratic base won't muster the same urgency and energy it did in 2008, Barack Obama's campaign may be privately salivating over the prospect of a general election contest against Newt Gingrich. Arguably, the image of a President Gingrich should be even more horrifying to progressives than a McCain administration. Whether he deserves or not, Gingrich embodies right-wing extremism in many minds.
If, as conventional wisdom suggests, the general election turns into a race to capture votes from centrists and independents, Obama would seem well positioned against Gingrich. The New York Times's election number-cruncher Nate Silver projected Gingrich only half as likely to defeat Obama as Mitt Romney under current economic conditions.
Democrats may want to be careful what they wish for. According to political oddsmakers on sites such as Intrade and Betfair, Gingrich has a strong 45 percent chance of defeating Obama in the general election should he emerge on top in the Republican primaries -- only negligibly lower than Romney's 48 percent chance. On prediction markets, traders put money where their mouths are, backing up bombast with cash. Historically, the markets have a better track record of estimating the likelihood of political outcomes than experts and specialists do.
While prediction markets don't directly score a candidate's electability, they do gauge two related metrics: How likely Gingrich is to win the Presidency, and how likely he is to win the GOP nomination. From these two data points we can compute his electability. Simply divide Gingrich's chance of winning the presidency (which stands currently at 15.4 percent) by his present chance of earning the Republican nomination (33.9 percent). The result -- 45 percent -- is Gingrich's likelihood of winning in November 2012 if he is nominated. In other words, this ratio reflects the markets' opinion of Gingrich's electability in a direct face-off against Obama.
As a sanity check, we can compare against another method to estimate electability utilizing a technical analysis called logistic regression. The method looks at how Obama's reelection probability varies as the frontrunner in the Republican nomination battle changes. If a surging Gingrich tends to boost Obama's chances -- and conversely, if when Romney rises, Obama falls -- then Gingrich's electability score would be rated lower and Romney's higher.
This method also finds Romney only a few percentage points stronger against Obama than Gingrich would be. During Gingrich's recent rise in the polls and the prediction markets, Obama's chances have improved, but ever so slightly, suggesting that a general election match up between the two would still be a close one.
With nearly a year to go before voters make their final decisions, almost anything can happen: from a repeat recession to a major scandal. It's hard to imagine any candidate from one of the two major political parties in the United States having less than a 40 percent chance of winning at this point. The standard-bearer for either party will have almost a billion dollars to spend and an army of supporters willing and able to spread their message -- plenty of weapons to keep the battle close. Gingrich may be a polarizing figure, but he very well could win.

WebOS Lives: HP to open up operating system instead of killing it

2011-12-10T03:39:00.001-08:00

The underdog operating system will get a second life at the hands of other developers

The saga of the most downtrodden software platform around has drawn to a close — at least for now. After buying webOS, Palm's smartphone operating system, from the company last year, HP bet it all on a new wave of devices that never gained any traction in the market. The company even promised to launch all future computers with webOS under the hood. Now, after all these unforeseen stumbling blocks, webOS will officially enter the open-source community, leaving its ultimate fate up to the masses.
The platform has endured a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. After betting its tablet chips on the TouchPad, HP abruptly discontinued the device, putting a stake through the heart of still-loyal webOS fans. The future of the underdog OS was called into question, and with iOS and Android competitors cornering the market, HP appeared to abandon all hope of reviving it.
Now with the open source gates opened for webOS developers the world over, some interesting tweaks are undoubtedly on the way. By opening up the platform, HP has essentially forfeited control of it. Both independent developers as well as device manufacturers can now do as they wish with webOS, and modify it to fit their needs. Developers can modify the look, feel, and functionality of the platform, while paying no rights to HP for its use. In many ways, this could make webOS more appealing than ever before, and a possible alternative for those who haven't yet been wowed by Android and iOS.
The company still has a few legal hurdles to clear before it can officially set webOS free, and HP hasn't detailed its plans to either continue making webOS devices or to kill that portion of its business entirely. HP is encouraging input from developers and the open source community during this transitional phase, and the coming months should be very interesting for anyone who picked up a TouchPad for the fire sale price of just $99.

Smuggler tried to hide $140,000 drug stash in nacho cheese

2011-12-10T03:38:00.001-08:00

The cheese and jalapeno drug stash (DHS)

Customs and Border officials nabbed a 21-year-old Mexican citizen this week on suspicion of smuggling $140,000 worth of methamphetamine in these three cans of liquid nacho cheese and jalapenos, the LA Times reports. Incredibly, this is not the first time nacho cheese has been used as a smuggling tool. In October, a customs officials found 7 pounds of meth hidden in nacho cheese cans, NPR reports.

Euro 2012 - Pulis backs Harry for England

2011-12-09T13:17:00.001-08:00

toke manager Tony Pulis believes Harry Redknapp's ability to deal with the egos of modern-day footballers makes him the ideal man to be the next England manager.

Redknapp is already the bookmakers' favourite to succeed Fabio Capello when his contract expires after next summer's European Championships.
Pulis has regularly championed the cause of his friend and Tottenham's form over the last two seasons has only strengthened that belief.
"I've known Harry for a long time; he's a very good judge of a player as he bought me in 1986," joked the Potters boss, referring to his move to Bournemouth from Newport County.
"It has to be an English manager this time and you look at everyone out there and his credentials are better than anyone else's."