Groupon: More Anti-Facebook Armor for Google

What if Google’s hunger to buy Groupon isn’t really about Groupon? Let’s think of the rumored deal as a $6 billion weapon for Google’s current and future war against Facebook.

Increasingly the two giants are fishing in the same ponds. Google recently started to offer local businesses an opportunity to pitch deals to users of Google search. Facebook this month launched an initiative it calls “Deals,” to offer discounts to Facebook users in the vicinity of local stores. (Sound familiar? Yup, these are just like Groupon.)

Everett Collection

Google v. Facebook: Who will land the knockout punch?

Facebook just weeks ago launched a messaging service –- don’t call it email, Mark Zuckerberg says –- that competes with Google’s Gmail. Google is working on its own social-networking features and games that could rival how Facebook users spend their downtime. And increasingly, Facebook and Google are competing in the same talent pool. The New York Times reported in recent days that at least 142 Facebook employees (out of 1,700) are ex-Googlers.

The battle is over how people spend time on the Web – on Google sites such as YouTube, Gmail and Google News, or on Facebook? Google’s websites in October lured 181 million unique visitors, according to comScore, good for the No. 1 ranking in the country. Facebook was fourth at 151 million, behind Yahoo and Microsoft but closing quickly. While more people visit Google, people are spending more time on Facebook than on Google’s sites. Think of how much time you waste playing Scrabble or scouring your friends’ profiles for the latest baby photos.

With every click on Google or alternatively on Facebook, the companies get a chance to grab a bigger slice of the $26 billion annual pie for online advertising. Google for now is king of search ads, but Facebook is responsible for one out of every four graphical display ads across the Web. Google’s share is 2.7% in display ads.

Mobile advertising and the local arena are the next battle fronts. Research firm Borrell Associates estimates U.S. local businesses will spend $13.6 billion this year on online ads. Facebook encourages local businesses to set up Facebook pages and target ads – for example, wedding photographers can direct ads at young women who recently changed their relationship status on Facebook to “engaged.” Groupon and its ties with merchants may give Google a leg up with local businesses, at least until the next round of armaments.

“We believe that Google and Facebook will be battling for Web supremacy for years to come,” Wedbush said in a research note this week. “The purchase of Groupon would be another major piece of artillery for Google to use in this battle.”

The Google-Facebook war at its core isn’t about ad money, eyeballs or the rights to the King of Silicon Valley throne. It’s about bytes. The magic of Google’s $180 billion market value is its mastery of the reams of information about what people are looking for across the Web. The more clicks Google gets on its blue links, the smarter and more powerful the Google machine becomes. Facebook’s machine is grabbing at user data directly –- by inducing people to list their friends, hobbies, favorite movies and hometowns.

There’s even a precedent for Google using acquisitions as battle gear. Last year, Google announced a deal for AdMob, to help seed ads on cell phones and other mobile devices. That deal, of course, was a broadside against Google’s other BFFN (Best Friend Forever. Not): Apple.

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/11/30/groupon-more-anti-facebook-armor-for-google/

How to Activate Find My iPhone for iOS 4

Apple last week rolled out a major update for its mobile operating system iOS 4, and among the new features is a nifty free tool: Find My iPhone.

As its name suggests, Find My iPhone is a tracking feature to locate a missing iPhone 4, iPad or fourth-generation iPod Touch. (Only the latest models get the free feature.) If you’ve dropped your iDevice in a cab, or if someone’s stolen it, you can hop on a computer to follow the GPS coordinates of the iPhone on a Google map (see above).

Or, if you’re just absent-minded like me and you misplace your iPhone as often as you lose your keys, you can use your computer to trigger a beeping sound to help you find it. It should be loud enough to hear from under a couch cushion. (You’ll never have to bug a friend to call your phone again.)

If you do indeed think your iPhone is in the hands of a thief, you can use Find My iPhone to remotely lock the device or wipe the data. Do note, however, that if you wipe the device, you won’t be able to track it anymore (hap tip to @shacker for catching that). Also, a clever thief could just remove the SIM card, and you wouldn’t be able to track or wipe the phone.

Of the many new features in iOS 4.2.1, I found this one to be one of the sweetest bonuses. Find My iPhone originally was only available as part of a MobileMe subscription, which costs $100 per year. Making it free was a nice move on Apple’s part: An iPhone can potentially contain a treasure trove of personal information, so losing one is a big deal.

You need to activate Find My iPhone before you lose your phone, so do it now. Since the steps to turn this useful feature on aren’t immediately obvious, here’s how to do it:

1. Make sure you have the latest iOS update (iOS 4.2.1) installed. Plug in your iPhone and click “Check for updates” in iTunes to get the software.

2. With iOS 4.2.1 installed, tap the Settings app on your iPhone. Then tap “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” and “Add Account.” Then choose MobileMe.

3. In the MobileMe account menu, enter your iTunes or Apple ID and password (i.e., the login you use to buy iTunes media on the iPhone).

4. The “Find My iPhone” option should appear. Slide it to “ON” to activate it.”

And you’re done! From here on, you can hop on a computer and enter www.me.com in a web browser. Then enter the same login credentials you used to register for Find My iPhone, and you’ll immediately get a GPS reading of the phone, along with a simple menu of buttons allowing you to lock, wipe, or send a message or sound to the iPhone.

Update: Corrected an error that stated MobileMe costs $10 per month. In actuality, it costs $100 per year.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/11/find-my-iphone/

Google Delays Facebook-Killer Until Next Spring

Google has delayed the launch of its "big social play" until next year -- perhaps March or April, Mashable's Ben Parr reports. Previously, Google was reported to be launching a social network, perhaps called "Google Me," this year.

If true, this delay is not a big deal. Whatever Google is going to do now isn't going to immediately destroy Facebook, so Google might as well take its time to do it right -- if it can do anything at all.

Google is notoriously bad at "social," and the company would be wasting its time if it came out with another lackluster product like Wave or Buzz.

Or is Google pushing it back until it has had time to buy and integrate Twitter?

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-delays-facebook-killer-until-next-spring-2010-11

No! You can't see who viewed you on FACEBOOK

Let's put this matter to rest right now: Any Facebook application that offers to reveal who is viewing your profile is a scam. Period.

Security research firm Sophos posted a memo about a rogue app that was spread on Facebook recently with messages like "OMG ... I can't believe this actually works! Now you really can see who viewed your profile!"

The app is bogus. I've asked a Facebook representative about this before, and he told me that apps on the site do not have the ability to track who is viewing profiles.

In this particular case, clicking on the link provided in the message takes users to a Web page that encourages people to permit an application to access their Facebook profile.

"But do you really want complete strangers to be able to e-mail you, access your personal data, and even post messages to any Facebook pages you may administer?" the Sophos post asks.

Nearly 60,000 people have fallen for the latest scam, based on figures from Bitly using a search on one of the URLs used in this campaign, according to the post.

Facebook representatives did not return e-mails and phone calls seeking comment this morning.

Remember to be cautious when adding new applications on Facebook. Try to stick with reputable apps and pay attention to what permissions they seek.

If you have been duped by a scam, you should remove references to it from your News Feed, and revoke the right of the app to access your profile via Account, Privacy Settings, Applications, and Web sites.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20024026-245.html

Facebook Is Sniffing Around Twitter, Thinking Acquisition

Facebook and Google are giving "serious look-sees" to Twitter as a potential acquisition, Liz Gannes at All Things D reports.

No term sheet has been extended, but both companies are apparently thinking about making a move. As we previously reported Google offered $2.5 billion - $4 billion for Twitter this year.

It would be out of character for Facebook to drop $4 billion on Twitter. It mostly buys smaller companies at lower price tags. It also offered $500 million in stock and cash for Twitter two years ago, which Twitter rejected.

Just last week Twitter cofounder Biz Stone said the company wouldn't sell, not even for $5 billion. That suggests the company would rather raise a fresh round.

Gannes reports DST is offering Twitter a $100 million investment at a $4 billion valuation. (We have heard from sources that DST is interested in Twitter, as well.) It is willing to make a huge investment to beat out Kleiner Perkins and Andreessen Horowitz, which both want to invest in Twitter.

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-twitter-acquistion-2010-11

China's Tencent to offer Facebook-like services: report

BEIJING — Chinese Internet firm Tencent plans to offer users links to third-party websites and access to externally developed applications, mirroring some features of Facebook, a report said Monday.

Tencent was testing about 10 third-party applications to run on QZone, its social network, and Tenpay, its online payment platform, company president Martin Lau told the Financial Times in an interview.

The firm, which runs the world?s largest instant messaging service QQ, was also testing several external websites that users could link to in the way Facebook members can link to other sites with the "like" function, the newspaper said.

The move would change the way the company makes money, it said.

The announcement comes as Tencent scrambles to repair the damage from a fight with Qihoo 360, a local antivirus software provider.

Last month, Tencent suspended services for those QQ users who also had 360 software on their computers.

Tencent said it was defending itself against a malicious software attack, but the move triggered accusations that it had too much power.

Up until now Tencent has focused on selling an ever-growing array of products such as online games and virtual goods to its more than 600 million QQ users.

Lau said Tencent would share the revenues generated by the third-party applications with their developers and expected the traffic to other websites to generate a new advertising business.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ghsFbifarz2wzHnvo2GalIO9Kapw?docId=CNG.f8f5c091d514ee6ae4d595e08ec57d7f.121

Dawn Treader to have Transformers 3 Announcement Trailer Attached?

If you know me at all, you know that I’m a fan of many things, not just Narnia. One of those things is Transformers. I watched the original animated series when I was a kid (and with that I have just dated myself). Yes, I’m old enough.

This news is a little bit backward, in that usually we’re announcing what movie you can find a trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader attached to. However, this time we’re going a bit backwards. When I saw a comment from Michael Bay that mentioned Narnia, I thought I’d weigh in.

Michael Bay’s Transformers films have their ups and downs, and they are far more adult oriented than they really should be. It makes news of this very strange, as the target audience seems very off. But, considering what they’re doing with that franchise, it seems like they’re targeting the two projected big guns of the Christmas season: Narnia and Tron: Legacy. Both films are releasing in 3D and Michael Bay shot Transformers: Dark of the Moon with 3D cameras.

Michael Bay commented: I will give full details of my process and why I liked 3D in the next week right before the Transformers announcement piece comes out on Tron and Narnia.

What does this mean for Narnia? Well, it seems that all of the marketing is finally beginning to pay-off. Especially now that the boy-wizard Harry Potter film has come and gone, and everyone that wanted to see it has likely seen it by now, people are turning to look at what’s coming next. Not just that, but the two biggest films coming this December. That they are placing a Transformers 3 announcement trailer (commonly called a teaser trailer online) onto both major 3D releases means they’re going for word of mouth and casting a wide net, hoping to catch the attention of people everywhere.

This also means that they’re hoping Narnia has a huge opening, so that they can have the largest reach possible. Plus, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been tracking very well with test audiences and has excellent and positive word of mouth from those that have seen it.

Let’s band together and make The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader the stand-out film this Christmas

http://www.narniafans.com/archives/10451

Pirate Bay appeal falls on deaf ears

In another blow to online file-sharing, a Swedish appeals court upheld on Friday the copyright convictions of three of the four founders of The Pirate Bay--perhaps the world's most well-known and notorious file-sharing Web site.

The court agreed with last year's ruling, which found Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstrom guilty of helping Pirate Bay users break Sweden's copyright law. However, it revised the ruling to decrease the defendants' jail sentences and increase the amount they must pay in damages.

The lower court had sentenced the men to a year in prison and set damages at about 30 million Swedish kronor ($4.2 million). The new ruling raises the damages another 16 million kronor and cuts Neij's sentence to 10 months, Sunde's to 8 months, and Lundstrom's to 4 months, based on each man's individual activities with The Pirate Bay.

A fourth Pirate Bay founder convicted by the lower court, Gottfrid Swartholm Warg, will get a separate ruling later, owing to the fact that illness prevented him from participating in the appeals trial.

Still up and running, The Pirate Bay is a BitTorrent search engine that helps online file sharers locate pirated copies of films, music, games, software, and other digital content. It's been celebrated by some as a heroic kick in the eye to corporate copyright owners who, these people believe, have priced content unfairly and whose policies have hampered the creative commons.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023915-93.html

Facebook Plans to Trademark the Word 'Face'

Hoping to finally launch thefaceslap.com? Sorry, Charlie, you're too late: Facebook may have just won the rights to the word "face."

The social-networking giant was just given a green light in its efforts to trademark the word "face." The company's efforts have moved Facebook's pursuit of face past the opposition period, according to the U.S Patent and Trademark Office, and a "Notice of Allowance" has been issued. And it looks like the application will be approved, Neil Friedman, a partner at law firm Baker and Reynolds who regularly practices trademark law, told FoxNews.com.

"At the end of the day, will they have protection in this space? Yes," Friedman said.

A trademark may help Facebook throw the book at the competition -- and Facebook faces a wealth of it. GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain name registrar, told FoxNews.com that it has 53,000 domain names containing the word "face" in its databases. The company estimated that the Internet has 89,000 domain names containing the word "face" just in the .com world.

So put on a happy face, Facebook, that trademark may need to be put to use.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/24/facebook-plans-trademark-word-face/

iPad proving more useful than MacBook Air

Apple's iPad can eclipse a laptop in usability and sheer number of hours used. And iOS 4.2 only makes this more probable.

As Apple adds more features to the iPad, the more it pulls me away from my MacBook Air.

(Credit: Apple)

Though I've just begun to dig around inside of iOS 4.2 on my iPad 3G, it's already obvious that this upgrade is only going to increase the amount of time I spend on the iPad. This will happen at the expense of my MacBook Air, the only other computer device I use regularly.

A recent trip (pre iOS 4.2) serves as a good backdrop to reasons--listed below--for the iPad's slow-but-steady encroachment on the laptop. During a two-day visit to Silicon Valley last week, I barely used the Air at all. It was iPad-all-the-time: airport, plane, hotel, and on the road locally. Though certainly not the equivalent of the Air in productivity, it always trumps the Air in one crucial area: grab-and-go.

In short, the iPad is a sticky commodity. It's always there, always accessible when you need it: instant on, instant access to the Internet, thanks to 3G. And this pushes me to do more productivity--i.e., writing--on the iPad, despite the relative inefficiency vis-a-vis the Air. It may sound illogical, nevertheless that's the way it has evolved for me.

How the iPad encroaches upon/eclipses the laptop:

• Browsing: Coincident with upgrading to iOS 4.2, I have added the Atomic Web browser, which let's me do tabbed browsing. And 4.2's multitasking has made it a breeze to jump between Atomic Web and the host of other apps I use.
  
• Productivity: Granted, this is challenging on the iPad. But it's getting easier for me as I master the touch interface sans physical keyboard. And it's more laptop-like with the enhanced multitasking on 4.2. I would submit that as people become more used to the tablet interface, productivity will increase in tandem with familiarity. That's my case, certainly.
  
• Content consumption: No brainer (for me, at least). Because of its "grabability," the iPad becomes the device of choice here. And background streaming of Internet multimedia adds to the allure.
  
• Multifunction: The iPad--and tablet design in general--screams out for front and back cameras a la Samsung Galaxy Tab. With this, I would have yet another reason not to put down the iPad.
  
• Future iPad/tablets: Upcoming 11.6-inch and 12.1-inch tablets will be even more powerful and laptop-like. In an interview today with Binay Bajaj, a product marketing manager at Atmel, which makes touch-screen controller chips for the Samsung Galaxy Tab and HTC Evo 4G (among other devices), he spelled out how future tablets due next year will be much more powerful and very different from the relatively primitive tablets sold today.
  

And as a postscript, on Tuesday, Dell announced sales of the Inspiron Duo hybrid tablet-Netbook. This product is obviously a nod to the encroachment of the iPad on the laptop. And the Atmel marketing manager made a valid point today when he said consumers may eventually demand a touch interface on all sorts of products, as touch becomes the de rigueur interface.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20023770-64.html

Acer's phone that is sort of a tablet but with no name

WITH NO NAME and not much more info to boot, Acer is refering to its new handset as the next generation smartphone but it certainly is a biggee with a whopping 4.8-inch 21:9 aspect ratio display.

Very much a competitor to HTC's HD2 and HD7 Windows Phone 7 phone the Acer next generation is somewhat late to the party. It only has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with an unspecified Android OS but it does have Flash 10.1 and an 8MP camera with LED flash.

It also boasts a 2MP front camera for video conferencing, which users can have fun with, or not, with that huge display that has a resolution of 1024 x 480 and is LED backlit.

Sporting a full metal body, the handset that Acer describes as "100% Smartphone, 100% Tablet" has WiFi N and Bluetooth 3 and HSDPA along with a gyroscope and accelerometer, Dolby Mobile technology and DNLA.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1900148/acers-phone-sort-tablet

What to Expect From the Apple iPhone 5 (or 4G)

Don't you sometimes feel that changes in technology are too sudden? People spend a bomb on cellphones today, which look passe in a couple of years (in some cases, even months), with phones with better features selling for a lower price.

Many phone manufacturers make a living putting a dizzying array of models on the shelves (Yes Nokia, especially you) with a wide price range that will appeal to the pauper, the rich man and everybody in between. Apple plays their game differently, they just rely on two versions of the iPhone; the current generation and the one before that.

For example: Since the iPhone 4 launched the iPhone 3GS is sold for a cheaper price, while the iPhone 3G has ceased to exist. Every year they keep updating the iPhone with newer hardware and/or iOS software releases. While having just two relatively expensive models does put off people, who don't want to/can't pay the premium for a phone, when you consider the iPhones flying off the shelves year after year, it seems that many don't mind the high price.

The iPhone 4 was a radical change from the 3GS. It added many features like the ultra-crisp Retina display, faster processor, front-facing video-call camera and a 5 megapixel sensor at the rear with 720p HD video recording. Yes, the feature list honestly doesn't sound out of this planet, as Android phones had all these things months before its launch. But for existing iPhone users, who've committed themselves to the Apple ecosystem, the iPhone 4 did give many reasons for them to upgrade.

And so we can only expect this yearly cycle of innovation to continue. June 2010 will bring the next iPhone and June 2011 will bring yet another new iPhone. I know it's a little too early to start speculating what the future versions of the iPhone will do, given that people have just settled down after the antenna design issue of the iPhone 4. I believe there are five things that ought to surface in the years to come.

http://www.techtree.com/India/Features/What_to_Expect_From_the_Apple_iPhone_5_or_4G/551-113472-899-1.html

Irish leader Cowen fights for survival over bail-out

Calls are mounting for Irish leader Brian Cowen to quit over the country's 90bn-euro (£77bn, $124bn) bail-out by the EU and IMF.

Mr Cowen has phoned opposition leaders in what is seen as a bid to win support for delaying an election until a new budget is passed next month.

He announced on Monday that a general election would be held next year.

But the opposition is said to want a poll now and his own backbenchers are considering a no-confidence vote.

The government is due to publish a four-year economic recovery plan on Wednesday.

But the truth is the government is not expected to last another four months itself, the BBC's Mark Simpson reports from Dublin.

With the Dail (parliament) due to vote on the budget on 7 December, the coalition made up of Mr Cowen's Fianna Fail party and the Greens has just a three-seat majority, and faces a by-election on Thursday which it is expected to lose.

'There will be war'

Late on Monday, the taoiseach (prime minister) phoned Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11819060

Kinect is hacker-friendly, and that's a good thing, Microsoft says

Kinect, the new motion-sensing peripheral, is easy prey for hackers. According to reports in several outlets, including the UK Telegraph, a range of "amateurs and professionals" have repurposed the device to run all sorts of cool programs, including "a Star Wars-style light sabre simulator" and "a shadow puppet that takes the movements of a user's arm and projects them as a bird." (More here.)

Sounds ominous, right? Well, not so fast. Responding to queries about the hacks, Microsoft has said that it intentionally made the Kinect open-source – and that it welcomes the additions to the Kinect universe.

"What has happened is someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs that essentially opens the USB connection, which we didn't protect by design, and reads the inputs from the sensor," Microsoft's Alex Kipman recently told NPR, according to Ars Technica. "The sensor ... has eyes and ears, and that's a whole bunch of, you know, noise that someone needs to take and turn into signal."

The Kinect, which sells for $150, has won solid marks from reviewers, who have praised the intuitiveness of the peripheral. The Kinect is a blast to play, Luke Westaway of CNET UK wrote recently, "so long as you don't mind sacrificing all of the dignity you've spent your whole life accruing. We've spent several days playing our way through the launch titles and concluded that it's impossible to maintain any sense of self-respect while playing."

Playing the Kinect is embarrassing, Westaway continued, "but that's a big part of the fun. Similarly, watching your friends flailing around like loonies is a treat not to be missed." Plenty of consumers seem to agree. As of last week, Microsoft had reportedly sold more than a million Kinect units worldwide – a strong showing for a fledging device.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/1122/Kinect-is-hacker-friendly-and-that-s-a-good-thing-Microsoft-says

Google Docs Infiltrates Microsoft Office

In the insect world, parasitic wasps inject larvae into certain caterpillars. The larvae feed on the caterpillars, turn them into zombies, and eventually devour them.

This may seem like an overly dramatic metaphor to use to describe Google's strategy for dealing with Microsoft, but the parallels are eerily similar. It's perhaps most evident in Google Chrome Frame, software that seizes certain page rendering functions from Internet Explorer 6 and replaces them with Chrome's JavaScript engine.

But it's also useful in understanding the technology Google acquired when it bought a startup called DocVerse in March. DocVerse made plugin software that enabled cloud-based collaboration in Microsoft Office applications Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Google on Monday plans to re-introduce the DocVerse software under a new name, Google Cloud Connect. The software, available for Windows computers in a limited preview, provides a way to use Office applications as clients that connect to Google's cloud.

Discover an affordable source of continuing cost savings and operational improvements

"Users of Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 can sync their Office documents to the Google cloud, without ever leaving Office," wrote DocVerse co-founder and Google group product manager Shan Sinha in a draft blog post provided by Google. "Once synced, documents are backed-up, given a unique URL, and can be accessed from anywhere (including mobile devices) at any time through Google Docs. And because the files are stored in the cloud, people always have access to the current version."

Microsoft, understandably, would prefer that its customers choose its cloud. Last month, it took steps to encourage that choice with the beta launch of Office 365, a hosted service that combines Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, and Lync Online. Office 365 starts at $6 per user per month, which is still higher than the $4 and change it costs per month to use Google Apps For Business.

Google's enterprise group has long been aware that it's not always possible to convince companies or employees to give up Microsoft Office, particularly if the relationship goes back for decades. Many companies that have become Google Apps customers have also kept Microsoft Office licenses. The City of Los Angeles, for example, a prominent Google Apps customer, conducted a study that suggested 20% of its employees would continue to use Office.

Google hopes to encourage Office users to inject its Cloud Connect code into Microsoft's software, in order to win them over from the inside.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/hosted/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228300283&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

Leonardo DiCaprio on Delta Plane That Made Emergency JFK Landing

"Titanic" actor Leonardo DiCaprio was a passenger aboard the Delta flight bound for Moscow that was forced to return to New York's JFK airport after engine failure, Us Weekly reported Monday.

DiCaprio "wishes to commend the actions of the pilot and flight crew in bringing the plane to a safe landing," his rep said in a statement.

Delta Flight 30 -- carrying 193 passengers and 11 crew -- lost one of its engines just after its 4:25pm takeoff from JFK Sunday, forcing the Boeing 767 to circle the NYC airport for 90 minutes to burn and dump enough fuel to land.

Just before 6:00pm the plane landed safely. There were no injuries reported, Port Authority officials said.

The 36-year-old Hollywood star was on his way to St. Petersburg, Russia to participate in the Tiger Summit -- a meeting to advocate for the protection of nearly extinct tigers, headed by current Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin.

Another Delta flight was plagued with technical problems Sunday.

In Atlanta, LA-bound Delta Flight 125 -- a Boeing 767 -- declared an emergency with an engine failure and returned to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the FAA said.

A Delta spokesman said the problem was with the air ducts to one engine.

The plane scraped its tail on the runway as it landed at 6:40pm local time Sunday, but it was able to taxi to the gate without assistance.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/11/22/leonardo-dicaprio-delta-plane-emergency-jkf-landing/

Murdoch plots dedicated iPad newspaper

News Corporation is launching a dedicated newspaper for Apple's iPad, according to reports.

Called The Daily, the operation will be based in Manhattan, employe around 100 staff, and launch early next year according to a predictably sniffy report from rival New York Times.

It's the first new product for the iPad from a major publisher. Despite the willingness of punters to pay for content via Apple gear - something the web has struggled to achieve in 15 years - publishers still view the iChannel as a way of promoting subscriptions to existing paper products, or delivering paper content electronically.

That's all quite rational - but what do the economics of an iPad-only bundle look like?

Reports suggest the price will be 99c a week, or $50 a year. Apple has sold 7.5 million iPads since launch, and was aiming for five million in the first full quarter since launch, but fell short. Still, with 28 per cent quarterly growth, it's impressive for a version 1.0 product that's still a premium consumer item.

iSuppli estimates that if we wind forward two years, there'll be a hundred million iPads around - and surely even more if Apple creates cheaper Nano-style fondleslabs.

Given the low price, and the size of the iPad market, the task looks daunting. The Daily would require over two million subscribers worth $50 a year to cover costs - and that's before Apple takes its cut. No daily newspaper can boast anything like that - but magazines are perhaps a better comparison than dailies here. (The Economist describes itself as a weekly newspaper.)

Newsweek and Time snag over three million paying punters a week and the New Yorker around one million. And if The Smithsonian magazine can snare two million customers, then surely The Daily must be in with a shout.

But it has to be distinctive, and that's the secret of the most successful British paper-gone-digital, the Daily Mail, which runs its web operation as a low overhead afterthought. The Mail's owners Associated Newspapers are confident that the web version doesn't cannibalise the paper version - yet it also draws a rubbernecking audience who wouldn't ever buy it for fear of being called politically incorrect. I daresay a fair few are even Radio 4 listeners. An enviable formula, for sure, but most people overlook the "low overhead" part.

One spectre haunting News Corp's iPad operation is that of the multimedia failures of the mid-90s, when publishers merely thought that adding a bit of video to some text would amaze the punters. It was vanity publishing, and was rapidly made redundant when the web took off.

Still, at least Murdoch has a strategy - and is thinking like a businessman. Neither can be said for The Guardian, alas.

"As for digital, I am with the utopians," said editor Alan Rusbridger in a rambling 6,000 word speech last week. Rusbridger mentioned Twitter 31 times, but offered no strategy on how to stem group losses running at around £470,000 a day.

Apart from a brief period in the mid-Noughties when News Corp appeared to drink the Kumbaya Kool Aid of Web 2.0, Murdoch has been leery of the promises of the snake oil crowd. And rightly so, it now seems. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/22/murdoch_ipad_newspaper/

Prince William 'saves man's life' in chopper rescue

LONDON (AFP) – Britain's Prince William was involved in a military helicopter rescue mission to save a stricken man just 48 hours after announcing his engagement, defence officials confirmed Sunday.

Gym worker Greg Watkins was stuck up Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales, in stormy conditions after suffering a suspected heart attack Thursday.

The 28-year-old prince, a Royal Air Force (RAF) search and rescue pilot based in northwest Wales, was part of a four-man crew scrambled to rescue Watkins.

William, second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, is known as Flight Lieutenant Wales in the military.

"If it wasn't for him and the rest of his crew, I'd be dead," Watkins told the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

"Hearing his helicopter getting nearer and nearer was the best sound I've ever heard. He and his crew saved my life."

"He'd probably say he was just doing his job but, to me, he and his crew are heroes. The weather was appalling up on that mountain. How he managed to get the helicopter so close defies belief.

"The fog was so thick at times, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The rain was lashing down and it was howling a gale."

Watkins had been walking with six friends.

"I didn't know much about what was happening at the time," he said.

"I didn't know Prince William was flying the helicopter until we landed at the hospital. Even then, I felt too unwell for it to register much.

"The winchman helped me out and on to a stretcher and whispered 'Prince William's just flown you here'. I looked up at him and just said 'Oh. Tell him thank you'.

"It didn't really sink in until I woke up after my operation. Now I think it's amazing.

Being winched off a mountain by an RAF helicopter was the last thing I thought was going to happen to me. But for it to be flown by Prince William is unbelievable."

He added: "I'd only been watching him announce the engagement on television with Kate a few hours earlier -- it was his first mission since going back to work.

"I feel lucky to be alive but even luckier to have been rescued by the future king."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Flight Lieutenant Wales was called out, as part of a four-man RAF search and rescue crew, to assist a man suffering from chest pains on Snowdon.

"The man was subsequently flown to a local hospital for treatment."

William was spotted Saturday in the crowd at Bloomfield Road watching Blackpool beat Wolverhampton 2-1 in the English Premier League.

The prince is president of the Football Association, the sport's governing body in England.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101121/en_afp/britainroyalsmarriagerescue_20101121204934

Groupon Could Mark Record Buy For Google

Google Inc.'s (GOOG) reported interest in closely held Groupon Inc. could lead to the most expensive acquisition yet for the Internet giant, which has been in the midst of a buying spree.

While most of Google's recent acquisitions have been relatively small, online coupon provider Groupon could spur Google to pay as much or more than the $3.1 billion it paid for online display-advertising firm DoubleClick in 2007, in what was the biggest purchase ever for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company.

The AllThingsD blog reported early Friday that Google is considering paying "well above" $3 billion for Chicago-based Groupon, which has garnered a wide following for its daily online offers of heavily-discounted local deals on everything from cheese steaks to theater tickets.

According to SharesPost, which provides an exchange for equity in private firms, investors have been seeking shares of Groupon for roughly $38 apiece, implying a valuation of about $1.6 billion.

An acquisition of Groupon would represent a significant foray for Google further into the market for locally focused online services and information.

A Google spokesman declined to comment. A Groupon spokeswoman also declined to comment, referring to the reported merger talks with Google as "just speculation."

Google, which emerged from the recession relatively unscathed, began the year by announcing it intended to buy at least one company per month.

The company disclosed last month that it spent roughly $1.6 billion on acquisitions during the first three quarters of 2010--which included $681 million paid for mobile phone advertising firm AdMob, $179 million for social-networking software developer Slide, and $626 million spread across 37 smaller purchases.

In addition to DoubleClick, other significant Google acquisitions have included YouTube, the popular video service bought for $1.65 billion in 2006.

Google recently disclosed that it is now pulling in revenue from over 2 billion video views on YouTube per week.

Google's M&A activity has drawn increasing scrutiny from antitrust regulators. Google's purchase of AdMob, for example, was delayed several months before receiving approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Google currently intends to purchase travel software developer ITA Software for $700 million. The company said in August that the U.S. Justice Department would be conducting an extended antitrust review of the deal.

Groupon, which was launched in late 2008, says it now offers daily deals in over 300 different markets around the world. The company announced earlier this week that it signed a distribution agreement to make its offers available on Yahoo Inc.'s (YHOO) websites.

 -By John Letzing, 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101119-712884.html

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Review

Obliviate, obliviate,” the young Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) whispers from behind her parents, as she casts a spell over them to deprogram their memory and not to involve them in the dangers she would be facing. She is set to meet two fellow dropouts from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — the “Chosen One” Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and their friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint).

The trio is to comb the Earth for the seven missing Horcruxes, those small objects containing splinters of the soul of the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), and therefore the guarantors of his immortality. In their travels they court death, but being heroes, they’ve got no choice. It’s the only way left to stop the overlord’s reign, before his machinery for total control and unspeakable cruelty can create a new breed of loyal “purebloods.”

Hence begins Part 1 of the screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s finale to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” We can expect that this movie, by definition, will leave us hanging; it’s a teaser, yes, but one that’s entertaining in its own right. Technically, it is the least ambitious and impressive of the series’ film adaptations so far but the most important, and the trickiest.

Part 1 overflows with clues to the mysteries of the seven-story series, juicy revelations, as well as the move to center stage of the characters who could play key roles in the final installment. Loyal readers of Rowling’s volumes will easily recognize those elements, while those who haven’t read the books may be the luckier ones, since their curiosity can make them more alert to the twists and fine points of the story.

http://www.moviesonline.ca/2010/11/harry-potter-deathly-hallows-part-1-review/

Users need to be cautious while using Facebook messaging: Sophos

Users need to be aware of the security risks before signing up for Facebook’s next generation online messaging service that includes online chat, text messages and other real-time conversation tools, computer security firm Sophos cautioned on Thrusday.

Facebook on Monday launched its new messaging system, which includes facebook.com email addresses.

Sophos particularly noted that fraudsters are increasingly using hacked Facebook accounts to send spam messages as they are more likely to be opened by recipients, who think the messages are from friends.

"Users need to realise that these new features increase the attack surface on the Facebook platform, and make personal accounts all the more alluring for cybercriminals to break into," Graham Cluley, Sophos senior technology consultant, is quoted as saying in media reports.

According to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, almost 350 million of Facebook's more than 500 million members send messages using its existing service, with more than 4 billion digital missives sent daily.

"Users also need to be aware that Facebook will be storing a complete archive of all their communications with one person. This raises concerns as to how this data could be misused if it fell into the wrong hands," added Cluley.

In a press statement, Sophos said that Facebook accounts will now be linked with many more people in the users' social circles - opening up new opportunities for identity fraudsters to launch attacks.

Sophos also warned Facebook users about their accounts, password and new application selection.

However, despite the security threats, according to market watchers, free personalised facebook.com email service is a challenge to the established e-mail giants, such as Microsoft's Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Google's Gmail.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/84050/20101120/facebook-users-online-sophos-spam-security-risks-mark-zuckerberg.htm

MySpace Extends Facebook Integration

Recognizing the market dominance of onetime rival Facebook, MySpace is making it possible for users to carry over their likes and interests from their Facebook profile to their MySpace page.

MySpace, which was once the largest online social network, made a dramatic attempt this summer to revive its fortunes through a major redesign of the site around entertainment, creating a place where people can get information on, share, and discuss celebrities, music, movies, and TV. In doing so, MySpace ceded to Facebook the job of providing a place for people to discuss and share the latest happening in their lives.

On Thursday, MySpace set itself up further as a complement to Facebook by letting people populate their MySpace page with the likes and interests listed on their Facebook profile, and then stream MySpace content to the page based on the Facebook information. The feature, called Mashup With Facebook is the latest example of how MySpace hopes to tap Facebook for help.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/hosted/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228300214&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Actor Wesley Snipes headed to prison for tax evasion

MIAMI (Reuters) – Actor Wesley Snipes was ordered on Friday to start serving a three-year prison sentence for failing to file income tax returns by a federal judge who rejected the Hollywood star's bid for a new trial.

"The defendant Snipes had a fair trial ... The time has come for the judgment to be enforced," U.S. District Judge Terrell Hodges said in his ruling.

Revoking bail for the 48-year-old star of the "Blade" trilogy, the judge ordered him to report to prison as directed by the U.S. Marshals Service or Bureau of Prisons.

It was not clear when or where Snipes would begin serving his time behind bars, however. His lawyer, Daniel Meachum, has said he would appeal if a new trial was denied.

Meachum told the Orlando Sentinel the ruling was shocking.

"Wesley is very disappointed but staying strong and positive," the newspaper quoted Meachum as saying.

Snipes had already lost his appeal of the prison sentence stemming from his 2008 conviction in Hodges' Ocala, Florida, court on three counts of "willful failure to file tax returns" for 1999 through 2001.

Snipes was found not guilty of five other counts in the high-profile felony tax case.

In seeking a new trial, Meachum had argued that jurors in the original trial were biased and that the prosecution's star witness had his own criminal problems.

At his sentencing, prosecutors said Snipes, a resident of Windermere, Florida, had earned more than $38 million since 1999 but had filed no tax returns or paid any taxes through October 2006.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/288554/actor-wesley-snipes-headed-prison-tax-evasion

China may seek to 'control the internet', US report on web hijack warns

China “hijacked” 15 per cent of the world’s internet traffic earlier this year, according to a report to the US Congress, in what could be a new form of cyber-terrorism.

A state-run telecoms firm is accused of diverting traffic including data from US military and government websites, and some in Britain, via Chinese servers.

Experts fear that the authorities could have carried out “severe malicious activities” as a result of the 18-minute operation, even harvesting sensitive data such as the contents of email messages or implanting viruses in computers worldwide.

The report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission says it raises the prospect that China might use its powers to “assert some level of control over the internet”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8143460/China-may-seek-to-control-the-internet-US-report-on-web-hijack-warns.html

Myspace's Facebook 'Mashup' -- Why Bother?

I don't know about you, but I've been feeling an awful lot of "meh" this week. First came the launch of Facebook's non-e-mail e-mail service -- color me indifferent -- and then the day we'll "never forget," when Apple started selling Beatles songs on iTunes. (I've already gotten "11/16/10" tattooed on my thigh to commemorate the occasion.)

Now Myspace is giving us one more reason to shrug our shoulders in apathy. Myspace (or is it My_____?) announced a new feature today that'll let you "mash up" your Facebook profile on Myspace.com. The feature, creatively called Myspace Mashup with Facebook, basically gives you a way to pull your likes and interests from Facebook into Myspace. The benefit? Myspace can then use that data to offer you personalized "recommendations" for entertainment content.

I'm guessing approximately four people are excited by this development -- and that's including Rupert Murdoch and the rest of the News Corp crew.

Myspace-Facebook Mashup: Too Little, Too Late

Here's the problem: Very few folks are actually using Myspace these days, relatively speaking. The site lost half of its total traffic from mid-2009 to mid-2010 and, despite attempts at rebranding itself and surgically removing parts of its name, the ol' mare hasn't been able to make much progress toward a recovery. Just a couple of weeks ago, Myspace's parent company described the site as a "problem" and said its current financial losses were "not acceptable or sustainable." Ouch.

So now you can take your information from Facebook and use it to get Myspace-provided "entertainment recommendations." What might these recommendations be, you wonder? In my trial, Myspace initially suggested I become friends with the musician Bruno Mars, attend a tour by a French "electo-grunge" band called Liga Quintana, and play an online game called Dog Wars.

Sweet salvation -- Myspace is saved.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/211127/myspaces_facebook_mashup_why_bother.html

Millionaire Pacquiao earns another $25M

Hollywood (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Already a multi-millionaire, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has at least another US$25 million coming for battering Mexican Antonio Margarito into submission in Texas last weekend.

That is before the taxman lops off a big chunk of it. But for all intents and purposes, boxing's pound-for-pound king no longer needs to work for the rest of his life, unless he overindulges and blows it all away.

For his 12-round, 36-minute work in the ring with Margarito, Pacquiao earned an estimated $25 million, equivalent to 1.1 billion pesos. This translates to $694,000 or 30.5 million pesos per minute.

All in all, Margarito landed 135 power punches during the bout - which meant that for every one of those punches Pacquiao took, the Filipino idol earned $135,000 - or 8 million pesos.

What the Pacquiao-Margarito fight failed to generate at the gates it drew from pay-per-view (PPV).

Figures show the Pacquiao fight stands to be one of the most watched ever in boxing history: as many as 1.5 million PPV hits.

"Numbers say we're going to hit 1.4 to 1.5 million," Pacquiao's Canadian adviser Mike Koncz told Manila-based sportswriters on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila). "From all indications and the early tracking, we can even get 1.5 million."

If the bruising fight indeed hit 1.5 million PPV buys, it would eclipse the 1.4 million PPV buys posted by the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley bout in May and confirm Pacquiao's status as PPV's most bankable boxer at present.

Pay-per-view share

With each buy costing $54.95, Pacquiao-Margarito PPV hits of 1.5-million translate to $82 million.

From total PPV sales, Pacquiao stands to get about 12.5 percent of the projected $82-million revenue, or $10 million. This is on top of his guaranteed purse of $15 million for the fight that earned him an unprecedented eighth world title in as many weight classes.

According to Mike Taffet, HBO senior vice president for sports, Pacquiao's last four fights in the United States averaged one million PPV hits, with his bout against Oscar De La Hoya in 2008 netting 1.25 million PPV sales and his showdown with Miguel Cotto posting 1.2 million hits.

Pacquiao's second-round knockout of Briton Ricky Hatton chalked up 900,000 buys while Pacquiao's 12-round domination of Ghanaian Joshua Clottey posted 750,000 hits.

$67M in four fights

A check of previous Inquirer reports showed Pacquiao earned $20 million from his clash with De La Hoya in December 2008, and $15 million from his May 2009 fight with Ricky Hatton of the United Kingdom.

Pacquiao got $17 million from his bout with Miguel Cotto in November 2009 and earned another $15 million when he tangled with Clottey in March 2010.

Those four fights brought him $67 million altogether. That does not include the estimated $25 million he earned from his fight with Margarito.

Ranged against those amounts, Pacquiao's gross pay as a congressman about 75,000 pesos ($1,715) a month, according to lawmakers - would seem like only loose coins for him. While he is also entitled to an annual country wide development fund of 70 million ($1.6 million), that money is intended for projects in his congressional district.

Fortune in PPV

Though a big crowd of 41,734 fans trooped to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, it did not surpass the 50,994 attendance when Pacquiao fought Clottey in the same venue in March.

Koncz, however, explained that gate sales is the least source of revenue in a fight promotion, with the PPV buys still the main source of revenue.

Pacquiao, he confirmed, could earn $10 million from his PPV shares.

There were many factors that boosted PPV sales for Pacquiao-Margarito, Koncz said.

"The people wanted to see how Manny was going to handle boxing and, being a congressman at the same time, his training in the Philippines raised a lot of suspicion on his readiness, and the style of both fighters," he said.

PPV king

Koncz said that economics, with the United States still in a slump, also was a major factor as most people preferred to watch the fight in groups at home rather than see it live and pay for tickets that went as high as $700.

De La Hoya, whom Pacquiao sent into retirement with an eighth round TKO in their showdown, is regarded as the PPV king with his bout against Mayweather Jr. chalking a record 2.5 million buys.

Veteran promoter Bob Arum has seen it all in a career spanning almost half a century and he unwaveringly believes Pacquiao has become the best fighter of all time.

Arum has worked with giants of the ring such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran but none of them, in his opinion, ever dominated with both fists in the manner of the diminutive Filipino southpaw.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ann/20101118/tph-millionaire-pacquiao-earns-another-2-fb8bb4f.html

From Half-Pint To Hunk: 'Jerry Maguire's' Jonathan Lipnicki Is All Grown Up!

Jonathan Lipnicki is all grown up!

The adorable now-20-year-old former "Jerry Maguire" child star (most known for his famous line, "Do you know that the human head weighs eight pounds?"), stopped by Access Hollywood Live on Wednesday to chat about his upcoming projects and his days working with Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger.

PLAY IT NOW: Tom Cruise On His MTV Movie Awards Performance

"[Tom and Renee] were both just awesome to work with," Jonathan told Access Hollywood Live's Billy Bush and Kit Hoover, of shooting "Jerry Maguire" with the film icons. "I'm just so thankful that was my first experience working was with such a great cast.

"Tom was always just having fun, every day was just so much fun," he continued. "They were all just excited to be at work -- it was such a fun atmosphere."

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/usmovies.accesshollywood.com/from-halfpint-hunk-jerry-maguires-jonathan-lipnicki-all-grown-up

Ireland crisis could cause EU collapse, warns president

Herman Van Rompuy, president of the EU, has warned it faces a 'survival crisis', with the risk of contagion spreading from Ireland across the continent.

The president of the European Union has warned that the EU could collapse unless the debt crisis that is gripping the region is resolved.

Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, raised the stakes ahead of this evening's showdown talks between finance ministers in Brussels. With Ireland and Portugal both on the brink of seeking a bailout, Van Rompuy warned that there is a serious risk of contagion spreading across the continent.

"We're in a survival crisis," Van Rompuy said in a speech in Brussels. "We all have to work together in order to survive with the eurozone, because if we don't survive with the eurozone we will not survive with the European Union."

However, the former Belgian prime minister added: "I'm very confident we will overcome this."

Van Rompuy's speech added to the pressure on the Irish government, which was continuing to resist international pressure to accept a bailout this morning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/16/ireland-bailout-government-says-no-need-to-panic

Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather: 10 Obstacles To a Fight

Floyd Mayweather has spent the better part of his career antagonizing, taunting and then beating every opponent ever put in front of him.

Equally as brilliant, Manny Pacquiao has won a major title in every weight class between 105-147 lbs.

So it seemed only fitting that the two most talented fighters of this era face off. It would be the ultimate contrast in styles, Manny Pacquiao is a storm in the ring who never stops moving forward. On the other side, Floyd Mayweather is arguably the sport’s best defensive fighter ever! If they ever stepped in the same ring it would undoubtedly shatter all pay per view records.

Yet getting them to share a ring is like getting Democrats and Republicans to endorse the same candidate. Twice this year the two fighters camps were unable to agree on terms for a fight. The bickering got so bad that the groups went to mediation but even that proved to be an exercise in futility.

The majority of boxing fans and writers have placed the blame squarely on Floyd Mayweather. Although he does deserve a large portion of the blame, there are a number of factors preventing this fight from taking place.

Don’t blame it all on “Money” here are ten obstacles in the way of a Pacquiao and Mayweather fight.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/518774-it-aint-my-fault-10-obstacles-to-a-pacquiaomayweather-fight

Safety first for refs in lop-sided bouts: WBC chief

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – World Boxing Council (WBC) president Jose Sulaiman has urged referees to make better use of a rule introduced this month to end lop-sided bouts early if one of the fighters has suffered a severe pounding.

Citing the example of Manny Pacquiao's crushing victory over Mexican Antonio Margarito in Dallas on Saturday, Sulaiman said safety had to be a priority, especially when a battered fighter refused to quit.

Margarito fought all 12 scheduled rounds against Filipino Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium before ending the WBC super welterweight title bout with a broken right eye socket that required surgery.

"The WBC ... gives authority to referees to stop fights whenever they believe there's been too much punching from one side and there's no opportunity for the other boxer to win," Sulaiman told Reuters on Tuesday.

"When they see that a fighter has been punished very much ... they should stop the fight for the sake of safety. Safety is the backbone of the WBC."

The new safety rule was voted in by the WBC at its annual convention in Cancun earlier this month.

Despite holding a significant weight, height and reach advantage over Pacquiao, Margarito was outclassed by his opponent's lightning hand speed and precise power punching.

ONE-SIDED EXCHANGES

The Mexican, a three-time world champion, soaked up more than 400 power punches during the largely one-sided exchanges but refused to quit although he could barely see out off his badly swollen right eye in the late rounds.

Sulaiman felt the fight should have been halted after eight rounds, and he applauded Pacquiao's sporting but unsuccessful attempt to get referee Laurence Cole to stop the bout in the 11th.

"Antonio Margarito was receiving too many punches and he was only occasionally finding the opportunity to connect with his," Sulaiman said. "An objective is an objective ... but he was putting his health on the line.

"He had no chance any more, as far as I'm concerned, of winning the fight in any way and he was being seriously hurt."

Pacquiao recorded an unanimous points victory over Margarito to land an eighth world title in an unprecedented eighth weight class.

(Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101117/sp_nm/us_boxing_sulaiman

Stuxnet virus could target many industries

WASHINGTON – A malicious computer attack that appears to target Iran's nuclear plants can be modified to wreak havoc on industrial control systems around the world, and represents the most dire cyberthreat known to industry, government officials and experts said Wednesday.

They warned that industries are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the so-called Stuxnet worm as they merge networks and computer systems to increase efficiency. The growing danger, said lawmakers, makes it imperative that Congress move on legislation that would expand government controls and set requirements to make systems safer.

The complex code is not only able to infiltrate and take over systems that control manufacturing and other critical operations, but it has even more sophisticated abilities to silently steal sensitive intellectual property data, experts said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101117/ap_on_hi_te/us_cyber_threats

Is Ghostbusters 3 On Track to Start Production Next Year?

Even though Bill Murray recently said Ghostbusters 3 was "a bunch of crock", a new rumor suggests that Sony Pictures has the film slated for production early next year. Sounds like the Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis rewrite of the screenplay has cleared some of the production's roadblocks.

Production Weekly has revealed via Twitter that Sony may very well have plans to start shooting the film as early as May 2011. Is this why Murray chose to dress up like Peter Venkman for the 2010 Scream Awards?

http://www.reelmovienews.com/2010/11/is-ghostbusters-3-on-track-to-start-production-next-year/

Will Smith Signs on for Two Independence Day Sequels

While Will Smith's involvement in Men In Black 3 is still under wraps, it seems like another sci-fi project may be in his future, maybe even two!

IESB is reporting a rumor that Will Smith has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to star in not one, but two Independence Day sequels, to be made back to back! A while ago, 2012 director Roland Emmerich said that while he and ID4 cohort Dean Devlin had decided on a story, the main stumbling block concerning an Independence Day sequel was Fox's refusal to sign Will Smith for his usual quote, which is a hefty $20 mil up front, plus first dollar on the gross.

Well, it seems Fox may have gotten over the financial hang-up in the wake of the huge success of Avatar. The studio has plans to pursue a sequel to that franchise, but due to Cameron's pace, Avatar 2 is at least four years off. So, the company is looking for another billion-dollar franchise to fill the gap. Independence Day raked in over $817 million worldwide theatrically, plus well over $200 million in the home video market. That's a bingo!

If the rumors prove to be true, the two sequels could start shooting as early as 2011. Now that's what I call a close encounter!

http://www.reelmovienews.com/2010/03/will-smith-signs-on-for-two-independence-day-sequels/

Windows 8 to showcase 'desktop as a service'?

Since April, it’s been quiet on the Windows 8 leak front. But here’s a new tidbit to keep the “what’s next for Windows” faithful going for a bit longer.

Blogger Charon at Ma-Config.com unearthed a slide presentation from a Microsoft architectural summit held in London in early April of this year that focuses on virtualization futures. (As Microsoft watchers may recall, new virtualization capabilities are expected by many to be part of Windows 8 when it ships around 2012 or so.) There’s only one slide in the deck that explicitly calls out the 2012+ “Windows Next.” But the deck still gives some general sense of what the Softies are thinking on the Windows client virtualization front.

The Microsoft solution architect presentation, entitled “Desktop as a Service,” describes some of the customer pain points associated with Windows today. From notes that are part of the slide deck:

Customers today “see application compatibility issues, they see DLL hell, they see an inability to manage efficiently, they see high costs associated with maintenance and upgrades, they see a relatively short lifespan…..This cannot continue. Customers are increasingly refusing to let this continue.”

What could alleviate these problems in a single bound? Virtualization technology! Or — to reflect the deck’s messaging more accurately — a panoply of virtualization technologies.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/windows-8-to-showcase-desktop-as-a-service/7975