Van Gogh theft suspects nabbed in Egypt; painting still missing

Egyptian authorities stopped two people suspected in the theft of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh, nabbing them just moments before they were to board a plane and flee the country, according to Egypt's official news agency, MENA.
Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said in a statement Saturday night that efforts to recover the stolen "Poppy Flowers" painting are still ongoing, despite earlier reports that the painting had been returned to Cairo's Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil Museum.
Hosni said later that those reports were unconfirmed.
Two Italians -- a man and a woman -- suspected of stealing the painting were preparing to board a plane to Italy when they were stopped at Cairo International Airport.
An interior ministry spokesman told CNN that the man was arrested.
The painting was stolen earlier Saturday.

"Poppy Flowers" has an estimated value of about $50 million. It also had been stolen in 1978 and returned under unknown circumstances, causing some to think that the piece was copied in the process, according to MENA.

Source: CNN

No arrests yet in theft of gold bar from museum

Authorities Friday were checking fingerprints and clarifying video images showing the theft of a $550,000 gold bar from a museum in Key West, Florida.
For 25 years, visitors to the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida, had the opportunity to lift the glittery piece of treasure in a special display case.
"It was touching something that came off the ocean floor," said Melissa Kendrick, the museum's executive director.
On Wednesday, two thieves got the gold bar and walked out, having accomplished their brazen theft in just a few minutes, Kendrick said.
Key West Police and the FBI are trying to identify the two men who walked into the gallery room around 5:10 p.m. No visitors or security guards were present, but a video camera was.
Police had no suspects Friday afternoon, department spokeswoman Alyson Crean told CNN. "There's been progress but no changes."
Detectives believe one of the men served as a lookout in the small gallery room, she said. Investigators also are looking at fingerprints on the display case, but they may be of visitors unconnected to the heist.
The bar was recovered by treasure hunter Mel Fisher and his crew in 1980 from the shipwreck of the Santa Margarita, which sank 25 miles west of Key West. The Santa Margarita is the sister ship of the storied galleon Atocha, also worked by Fisher.
Between them, the vessels carried 250,000 silver coins, according to the museum. They went down during a storm.
Crean said the case has generated a lot of interest. "Mel Fisher was such a dream builder," she said.
The museum's insurance company has offered a $10,000 reward for the return of the 16.5-karat gold bar, which weighs 74.85 ounces. The uniqueness of the piece places the bar's value at $550,000, Kendrick said.
"Having the money [insurance] in its place would not be a winner for me," Kendrick told CNN on Thursday night.
Fisher, who died in 1998, loved having the bar in a special reach-in case because it allowed visitors to make a connection with the find, Kendrick said.
The director said the bar, if recovered, will be returned to the case -- with a few security modifications.
Police said the modern-day pirates might find it difficult to sell the gold bar.

"I remain optimistic" about its recovery, Kendrick said.

Source: CNN

Rwandan reggae spreads musical message of peace

Rwanda's not a nation typically recognized for its music scene. But if you spend a little time there you'll find a selection of talented musicians ready to emerge.
One of the country's up-and-coming bands, Jah Doves, offer listeners modern-day reggae mixed with traditional Rwandan beats.
The six-man band is especially known for its bold lyrics. Every song has a meaning that conveys a positive message. It's the reason they call themselves Jah Doves. Doves symbolize peace and harmony, both traits the band wants to emulate in their song writing.
"We all like the kind of music which has the good message," bass player Ras Patrick told CNN, "which is not about shooting each other, which is building not destroying."
Jah Doves started off as a group of friends who used music as a way to deal with the trauma of Rwanda's 1994 genocide. They practiced with broken instruments at home or in any free rooms they could access for a few hours. The group often played just for fun, hoping to land gigs at events or parties around the country.

Gallery: Rwanda's rising musical stars

In 2008 Jah Doves were spotted by Dickens Marshall, a musician and music producer from the UK who had a special interest in the African music scene. He heard the group practicing in Kigali, and couldn't walk away.
"The first time I saw Jah Doves they were loud -- really, really loud," Marshall told CNN. "But they had a really nice interaction between the different members.
"So the sound was terrible and they weren't particularly in tune but their energy and the singing was fantastic," he said. "I think that's what really hit me, and I just knew, okay, I want to work with these guys."
Jah Doves weren't the only Rwandan artists Marshall noticed with lots of talent and no tools to make it grow. There were no professional studios in Kigali, no trustworthy record labels, and none of the musicians worked under contract.
"There is a lot of talent being exploited in one way or another -- you know, not being paid, many people plagiarizing many people's work," he said. "There is also a real lack of structure in terms of royalty collection. There is none."
Marshall saw an opportunity to protect Rwanda's musicians and do business at the same time. He built two studios and set up set up the Rafiki Records label, where musicians are entitled to take home 50 percent of profits they earn -- much higher than most labels offer.
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"My ultimate goal for the label is for the artist to be able to have a sustainable career and the label to be able to grow, and the ethic behind the label to be a concept that people can trust and that people can expand on," he said.
This is good news for groups like Jah Doves. They are trying to take their talent to bigger and better places, and these days the group is busy recording their second album. One of the songs on the album is a mellow tune called "Agate."
"Agate in the Rwandan language means piece of wood," explained Patrick. "So this song is a small story about all the musicians who used to play with the old instruments and they found themselves in a new world where there are new keyboards and guitars that are amplified.

If you want to make music you can make it -- doesn't matter if you're using old things or new instruments.

"The song we composed says if you want to make music you can make it -- doesn't matter if you're using old things or new instruments."
One of the old-style musicians Jah Doves refer to in this song is Sophie Nzayisenga. She's another up-and-coming singer who works under Marshall's Rafiki Records. And her music offers a traditional twist.
Nzayisenga plays an instrument called the inanga. It's a traditional Rwandan guitar -- a long piece of wood with one string wrapped around it 12 times.
"My father played it, my mother was played it and everyone in the family plays inanga," she told CNN.
"I learned the inanga when I was very young. I liked it then and still like it today."
Her lyrics are never about love; instead she chooses to use her music to sing about nature and good governance.
Nzayisenga is one of the few musicians left in Rwanda who can play the inanga and she is the only woman who plays professionally.
With a little exposure via the Rafiki Records website and contacts in the music industry, Marshall hopes to bring Rwanda's love for traditional instruments back to life.
"People don't know about the instrumentation that is here and the fact that the art of playing those instruments is dying," Marshall said.
And it might just be working. Nzayisenga has recently been picked up by some of Rwanda's mainstream radio stations. Interviews and live singing sessions with the musician have been broadcast live around the country's airwaves.
Marshall has high hopes for all his musicians. He says the one thing they have in common is music with meaning.
"Now we work with R & B artists, we work with hip-hop artists, Jah Doves, the Sophie's, but it's more about how they work together to create something different, and carrying a message that maybe hasn't come across before."

A message he hopes Rafiki Records will take around the world.

Source: CNN

Being a Muslim in the age of the iPod

Social-networking giant Facebook has entered the check-in world.
Facebook executives on Wednesday announced the launch of Facebook Places, which -- similar to services such as Foursquare and Gowalla -- will allow people to use the GPS on their mobile phones to let friends know exactly where they are.
Facebook Places is available immediately in the United States through the latest version of Facebook's iPhone app and, for other advanced mobile phones, through the company's site for advanced mobile devices, executives announced at Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Users who wish to announce their location to their friends on Facebook would tap a "check in" button to see a list of places nearby, and then choose the place that matches where they are.
"After checking in, your check-in will create a story in your friends' News Feeds [on Facebook] and show up in the Recent Activity section on the page for that place," Places product manager Michael Sharon wrote on Facebook's blog.
What do you think of the new feature?
Facebook staff also said the feature will be useful not only to let friends know where they are, but also to learn if their friends are nearby at the same time, and to write down what they are doing at the location and what they think about it -- creating a trail allowing friends to see what the writer did there days or even years ago.
When users check into a place, they also can "tag" any Facebook friends who are with them, essentially letting other friends know that the person is there, too. To cut down on the potential for users to falsely tag friends to a place, people can tag friends only if the taggers themselves check in to the location, too.
Sharon, speaking during Wednesday's announcement, said Places has other safeguards to address potential privacy concerns.
First, check-ins will appear only to users' Facebook friends as a default, and users can further trim the recipients list to specific friends. Users also can remove check-ins by phone or web at any time, Sharon said.
Facebook said it would make Places available in other countries and on more mobile platforms soon.
Facebook staff said the company planned to let Foursquare, Gowalla and other services enhance their current integration with Facebook. Executives with Foursquare and Gowalla were at Wednesday's announcement in Palo Alto, previewing plans to ramp up how their users will announce their locations on the social-networking site.
The past year has seen big growth in the relatively new mobile check-in space.
Foursquare, which essentially made its debut in 2009 at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, was one of the combatants in a so-called "Location War" at this year's festival, going heads-up with Austin-based rival Gowalla.
Since then, Foursquare has become the clear favorite of the two -- and a darling of tech media, even as it looks for ways to turn a profit. Boasting a half-million users at the start of SXSW, Foursquare doubled that in about a month then needed only another three months to hit 2 million last month.
On mobile apps like Foursquare, users "check in" at restaurants, bars, movie theaters or just about anywhere else they visit. The idea is twofold -- to let friends know what you're up to, while racking up points and earning virtual badges in the application's gaming element.
The New York-based Foursquare has begun forging some corporate partnerships and some businesses have started offering discounts and other deals for users who check in frequently.

Facebook, with its half-billion users, represents a massive potential user base for Places.

Source: CNN

Chinese iPod gadget aims to skin Apple

Have you ever wished that your iPod Touch was an iPhone? Now it can be, thanks to a new device called the Apple Peel 520 and created by a Chinese company.
Invented by a 22-year-old programmer who lives in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the gadget is comprised of a case that fits around the outside of Apple's iPod Touch, a popular media player and WiFi-enabled pocket computer with email, maps and other applications.
The Apple Peel 520 case contains a battery, dock connector and SIM card that allows voice calls. Users will also have to install special software to enable a text messaging function, and to allow the device to properly work with the iPod Touch (users will have to break into the software of the iPod in order to download the necessary applications).
Once installed, the Apple Peel gets around five hours of talk time and 120 hours on standby, according to a review posted on Dailytech.com.
CNN had a conversation with the inventor of the device via QQ, a popular instant messaging service in China (he declined a phone interview and was only willing to offer his online name: "Maxpy").
When asked why he created the Apple Peel, Maxpy said it boiled down to economics: "Because I love the iPhone, but it's too expensive in China."
Maxpy said he began building the device last April, revealing the final product online about a month ago via a company he started called Yosion Technology.
The iPhone, which was officially launched on the mainland last October, more than two years after its debut in the US, costs between $588 - $740 while an iPod Touch is around $235. The Apple Peel sells for $57.
Analysts said a thriving gray market flooded with fake iPhones smuggled in from Hong Kong and the West has hurt legitimate sales of the Apple smart phone here.
The illegitimate phones are usually cheaper and contain functions, such as wireless Internet, that are not available on phones sold through legal channels.
"All of the potential users already had purchased an iPhone, they had found a way to buy one," Leo Wang, founder of Mobile 2.0 forum, a telecom and mobile organization, told CNN after the China launch of iPhone release last year. "The official iPhone is too expensive."
Whether or not the Apple Peel 520 will appeal to Chinese consumers or have any impact on iPhone sales in the country remains to be seen. So far, according to Maxpy, only around 150 of the devices have been pre-sold on Taobao.com, a popular Chinese e-commerce site. Two were sent to technology websites for review.
While there are plans to mass manufacture the gadget in the future, Maxpy says those plans are on hold until the company can ensure there are no intellectual property right violations.
"We have no detailed plans," he said. "But of course we want to make a profit from it."
Maxpy also said they want to check on Apple's policy on "outside devices" as well as try to reach the company to see if they have any interest in the gadget, asking CNN whether we could put him in touch with Apple CEO Steve Jobs. We could not.
Yet CNN did try to reach Apple representatives in Beijing and Hong Kong. No one was available for comment.
There are also a few technical glitches to be worked out. According to a Chinese review translated into English on M.I.C. Gadget, the Apple Peel does not support 3G, there's a small lag time when calls are made from the iPod Touch and deleting and forwarding text messages is not available among other minor complaints.
Nevertheless, many say they are impressed with the functionality of the device.
"It is the first time there has been a hardware application that has changed the functionality in such a key way," said Tai-Pan (a pseudonym), editor of the Taiwan-based Shanzhai.com. "It is very cheap for someone with an iPod Touch, so there is some kind of value proposition for people who want to save money."
What's more is the Apple Peel also illustrates the evolution of China's massive "shanzhai", or black market, phone industry. Based mostly in Shenzhen, it is an industry characterized by the massive production of copycat mobile phones and other devices, which are sold at lower prices and often with more localized functionality than global brands.
Every year, millions of shanzhai phones are sold throughout China and exported to developing countries, resulting in a major dent in the sales of mainstream manufacturers in those markets, according to the research firm Gartner.
"People are already or will soon be buying not just China-made but China-owned products," said Benjamin Joffe, founder of the Beijing-based mobile and Internet consulting firm Plus8Star.
"Most of Apple's factories are in China, so it is not like China cannot make high-quality products," he said.

"The issue remaining to go up the value chain has been design, marketing and distribution. Chinese companies are learning, acquiring talent and buying what is missing." 

Source: CNN

Same-sex marriage is about equality, not religion

I am a product of the "The Black Church." It shaped me into who I am today: a Christian pastor aware of God's amazing grace and love.
When I announced I was gay, the church limited that grace and love. Although I had no doubt that God loved me, I discovered that God's love and the church's love can be two different things.
To be Christian is to be inclusive of people who love one another. This is why I support same-sex marriage.
As a pastor, I have counseled countless heterosexual and homosexual couples, and have observed that no matter the race, background or sexual orientation of the couple, a healthy relationship requires commitment, genuine respect and mutual love.
Though my partner and I had a commitment ceremony in 2003, and obtained a marriage license this past July in Washington D.C., we learned that marriage is more than our religious convictions and our commitment, but also about laws that will protect us.
Marriage equality is not about religious rights, but the right to equal benefits. At the end of 2003, the U.S. Government Accountability Office identified 1,138 federal provisions where marital status is a factor in determining or receiving benefits, rights and privileges.
These include next-of-kin hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent; automatic inheritance in the absence of a will and inheritance of jointly owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship. These benefits allow all marriages access to the social and emotional supports that can produce healthy families and communities.
I affirm the role of religion in our society. But no matter how powerful religion is, in the United States, the laws of the church and the laws of the government are intentionally separate.
Another view from the pulpit: Same-sex marriages will hurt families
In 1968, 73 percent of Americans disapproved of marriage between blacks and whites. Then, it was argued that interracial marriage would hurt families and dismantle societal structures. In 1967, the Supreme court ended race-based restrictions on marriage in Loving vs. Virginia.
Today, support of interracial marriage is stronger than it has ever been. So is support of same-sex marriage. Like interracial couples, gay couples are seeking equality under the law, asking their government for these rights, not individuals, or religious bodies.
If same-sex marriage is about love and religion is about love, then in this debate, love must go both ways. We must not be hateful in our disagreements over marriage. Verbal and emotional abuse should have no place in our sacred places of worship. The pulpit should not be used as a place of abuse even if one disagrees with same-sex marriage.
Jesus never mentioned homosexuality in his 33 years of life. But in Mark 12:31, he did emphasize, "...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." The apostle Paul said: "Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another." I wonder what the debate over same-sex-marriage would be like if we applied this basic scripture?
True equality can begin when we see others as we see ourselves. I believe there is room to disagree, but just because we don't agree on my legal rights does not mean I am not entitled to them.
The gay community must also learn how to love those who disagree with them. If heterosexual couples and gay couples could see their commonality, equality would not just be the law of the land, but it could be a new law for humanity that governs our fragile future.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of O.C. Allen.

Source: CNN

Florida bear rescued after getting head stuck in jar

It may seem like a story ripped from the pages of "Winnie the Pooh," but a little black bear is alive after Florida biologists removed a plastic bottle stuck on its head for at least 10 days.
The bear, his mother and two siblings regularly raided trash bins in Weirsdale, a small community in the vast Ocala National Forest.
But the situation turned into a jam when the little one, affectionately nicknamed Jarhead, was seen in late July wandering with his head trapped in a clear plastic container, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The 6-month-old cub couldn't eat or drink normally, and was days away from death when he was freed, biologists say.
It took 10 days for officials to track down the bear family using baited traps and following up frantic leads by concerned residents.
The wary mother avoided traps for over a week, and the hunters assumed Jarhead was dead.
But just as biologists were giving up, they caught a glimpse of the family and shot the protective female with a tranquilizer gun.
They scooped up the little cub, and after a brief tussle, they were able to grab the container off his head.
But the tough little bear lived up to his U.S. Marine moniker and did not give up without a fight, the biologist who uncorked the cub said in a statement.

After an overnight stay with his groggy mother, Jarhead and the whole family was moved to a less populated part of the forest for safety.

Source: CNN

Muslims around the world: Your thoughts on what Islam means today

We have a very big responsibility to show the true meaning and the true essence of Islam." That's what it means to be Muslim today, according to Nashwa Zakharia, a PR director from the United Arab Emirates.
She says it has been "distorted" and "misrepresented" by world events and the actions of some individuals.
For Mohammed Abuhijlieh, an Assistant Project Manager in Abu Dhabi, Islam is about what it's always been about: "Being faithful, being honest, supporting the poor and feeding the needful."
During the current month of Ramadan, observing Muslims across the world fast from sunrise to sunset, pray more and spend time with loved ones. They celebrate their faith in many other ways too.
"I celebrate my faith by staying away from all sins, not hurting anyone," said Qais Salman, a civil engineer from Baghdad, Iraq.

For Irfan Majheed, an accountant from London, celebrating faith is all about family getting together "with food and music."
While some elements of being a Muslim may not have changed, some things are different since the turn of the millennium.
Malisha Choudhary, a housewife from London told CNN: "[Islam] is more exposed now, people are aware of the religion."
Emirati media specialist, Hazem Al Arraj agrees: "It has now, of course, changed for the best. In 1990, Islam was not really understood [by] other nations."
Yasin Tahir Najy, a TV technician from Baghdad, said Islam has not changed, but some people have.
"From its beginning until this moment, Islam is the same," he said. "What [has] changed are some Muslim characters, that [use] religion for their own interest.

"All those who impose their opinions -- in the name of Islam and religion -- on others," he said.

Source: CNN

Why foreign aid is important for Africa

The idea that those who have should share with those who don't is inherent in most societies -- insects, animals and humans alike.
Sharing is essential to maintain and protect the collective, and empathy is an essential value of what it is to be human. It is inhuman to watch another dying of hunger and not share when you have more than enough to eat.
International aid is the instrument by which this very human practice occurs in modern times across borders, and should ordinarily not be controversial. But it is -- very much so.
Food aid is the root of the international aid system, although it represents only a small proportion of total aid (three to five percent). Thanks to international emergency response, famines and other natural and human-made disasters no longer kill in the numbers they used to prior to the 1980s.
Food aid saves lives in emergencies but can also create dependencies by destroying local farming capacities when food aid becomes food "dumped" on the local market.
But the biggest area of contestation is so-called development aid. This was made popular by the U.S. support to war-torn Europe and later institutionalized in the post-war international political and economic institutions and applied to countries emerging from colonial occupation.
There are two justifications for so-called development aid: humanitarian and economic.
Read the opposing view from former World Bank adviser Robert Calderisi
The humanitarian justification is strongly tied to addressing the moral indignation associated with poverty in a world of immense capabilities and astounding wealth.
Aid can save lives and ameliorate suffering, not just in the short term but in the long term. There is truth in this.
Debilitating diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, river blindness or leprosy have been controlled thanks to targeted development aid efforts.
Millions of children in Africa are alive thanks to the control of measles and other vaccinations. Hundreds of thousands more lives have been saved thanks to international cooperation to fight HIV/AIDS and malaria.
There is much greater agreement that targeted aid seems to work better: de-worming, dietary supplements, malaria nets, vaccines, cash transfers to the poor, education subsidies, the use of condoms, urban and rural water provisioning -- these seem to achieve their objectives.
But the scale of success and sustainability of even this type of aid is contested: there are stories of graft, of dumping of products, and intellectual property and rules that constrain disease-ravaged countries from producing drugs and nutrient supplements for themselves.
Also, without transformed and productive economies to supply the revenues for governments to pay for these, and the incomes (derived from decent employment) for people to purchase services, even targeted aid can create micro-level dependencies.
The dimension of aid that is most contested is that associated with economic development.
There is evidence that aid has successfully supported economic development, including countries successfully emerging from aid dependency.
Important examples are Indonesia, Korea and Thailand between the 1960s and late 80s. In the 1980s, the proportion of the Indonesian government expenditure financed by aid exceeded 70 percent, reaching 81 percent in 1988 and declining steeply afterwards.
Aid made up between 25 and 75 percent of government budgets of the heavily government-controlled Korean economy in the late 60s and 70s. Malaysia was not dissimilar.
However, long-term aid dependency was avoided by a deliberate policy of expanding domestic resource mobilization and attracting foreign investment.
Similarly, Rwanda, Mozambique and Ethiopia have relatively successfully used aid to expand their economies and improve well-being.
Although the Rwandan budget is financed by aid to the tune of 50 percent, the economy has doubled in size over a decade and is fast diversifying.
Similarly, whilst the share of aid in Ethiopia's budget is high, the per-capita aid receipt is well below the sub-Saharan African average, but the economic growth is one of the fastest in the world.
In all cases, deliberate government policy to direct aid effectively whilst expanding on other sources of finance has been critical to the positive impact of aid.
That said, the economic growth impact of aid is highly contested. Studies show no consistent positive impact of aid on growth. Many show the opposite.
But perhaps the most consistent criticism relates to the framework in which aid is provided, especially to Africa in the 80s and 90s.
Aid was used as both carrot and stick to force a complex, ambitious and comprehensive set of political and social engineering on countries with weak institutions and collapsed economies, using expensive Western consultants peddling best practices and universalist solutions.
Not surprisingly, these reforms largely failed and aid was hugely wasted.
The comprehensive approach -- aiming to achieve stabilization and structural adjustment -- conveyed unproven development ideologies in which inflation targeting, debt servicing, privatization, trade liberalization and deregulation were the key planks.
However, even these were not always negative. Countries like Mauritius, which had the courage to promote moderate liberalization and some degree of industrial policy, prospered.
What is clear to me, though, is that even with the complexity, without aid, many countries cannot develop the capacities to produce the goods and services they can trade effectively in the international market.
This is why the "aid not trade" or "trade not aid" dichotomy is simply nonsense. Trade in predominantly primary commodities can provide no future of any country.
Countries need the technology, the investment in their human beings and in their infrastructure to have a chance of transforming their economies to produce value-added goods.
Aid can help, and does help, but deliberate government policies are necessary to see it decline as a share of national income.
Is aid good or bad? That depends on, among others things, the way it is provided, the motives behind it, what it is used for, the domestic policies and interventions to guide it, and the quality of political leadership.

In my view, aid works when its objectives are narrow and expectations modest.

Source: CNN

Obama throws support behind controversial Islamic center

President Obama threw his support behind a controversial proposal to build an Islamic center and mosque near New York's ground zero, saying Friday that "Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country."
"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," Obama said at a White House Iftar dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The president's remarks drew praise from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who announced his support for the Islamic center last week.
Bloomberg compared Obama's speech to a letter President George Washington wrote in support of a Jewish congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. "President Obama's words tonight evoked President Washington's own August reminder that 'all possess alike liberty,' " Bloomberg said in a statement.
"I applaud President Obama's clarion defense of the freedom of religion tonight," he said.
Critics of the proposed Islamic center quickly denounced Obama's remarks. "President Obama is wrong," said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). "It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of Ground Zero. Unfortunately, the President caved into political correctness."
"While the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque, they are abusing that right by needlessly offending so many people who have suffered so much," King said in a statement. "The right and moral thing for President Obama to have done was to urge Muslim leaders to respect the families of those who died and move their mosque away from Ground Zero."
Obama, who said he was speaking both as a citizen and as president, invoked the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which critics of the Islamic center cite as the main reason for preventing its construction.
"We must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan," Obama said, according to his prepared remarks. "The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country."
"The pain and suffering experienced by those who lost loved ones is unimaginable," he continued. "So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground."
But Obama said one "reason that we will win this fight" against terrorism is "our capacity to show not merely tolerance, but respect to those who are different from us -- a way of life that stands in stark contrast to the nihilism of those who attacked us on that September morning, and who continue to plot against us today."
Repeatedly invoking the nation's founders and examples of religious tolerance from American history, the president argued that national ideals and the Constitution demanded that the project proceed.
He noted that Thomas Jefferson hosted the the first Iftar dinner at the White House more than 200 years ago and said that the country had previously seen "controversies about the construction of synagogues or Catholic churches."
"But time and again," he said, "the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues."
"This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable," Obama said. "The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of our Founders must endure."
The proposed Islamic center has provoked vocal opposition from some families of 9/11 victims and other groups. Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose the plan, according to CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll released Wednesday.
"Obama came out for the Islamic supremacist mosque at the hallowed ground of 911 attack," Pamela Geller, a leading foe of the Islamic center, wrote on her blog Friday night. "He has, in effect, sided with the Islamic jihadists."
Muslim Americans, meanwhile, applauded the speech. "It was pitch perfect and it was cut and dry," said Eboo Patel, executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core and a Muslim adviser to the White House on faith issues. "He said that our Founding Fathers built a nation on religious freedom where people from different faiths can pray and thrive and that is that."
Some Muslims said they were surprised to hear the president weigh in on the controversy.
"It's such a hot potato and he's already got so much on his plate and people jumping on him for any hint of an Islamic connection," said Akbar Ahmed, an American University professor who attended Friday's White House dinner. "But he plunged in and took a very bold position."
The Islamic center's leaders say they plan to build the $100 million, 13-story facility called Cordoba House three blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks. The developer, Sharif El-Gamal, describes the project as an "Islamic community center" that will include a 500-seat performing arts center, a lecture hall, a swimming pool, a gym, a culinary school, a restaurant and a prayer space for Muslims.
On Wednesday, the project's developers declined an offer by New York Gov. David Paterson to relocate the project to a state-owned site.

Earlier this month, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously denied landmark status for the building where the proposed Islamic center would stand, allowing the project to move forward.

Source: CNN

Red-bearded monkey discovered, but risks extinction

A new species of monkey that sports a bushy red beard has been discovered in the Amazon, researchers announced this week, but the primate is at risk of becoming extinct.
The species of titi monkey, Callicebus caquetensis, is a cat-size creature and has grayish-brown hair. Its long tail is stippled with gray, and it has a bushy red beard around its cheeks.
Unlike other monkeys closely related to it, Callicebus caquetensis does not have a white bar on its forehead, environmental nonprofit group Conservation International said Thursday. The finding was also published in the journal Primate Conservation.
Hints that an unknown primate species was living in Colombia’s Caquetá region, close to the border with Ecuador and Peru, surfaced 30 years ago, but researchers were never able to access the region because of violence and insurgent fighting.
It was only two years ago that professors Thomas Defler, Marta Bueno and their student, Javier García, from the National University of Colombia were able to travel up the upper Caquetá River. They used GPS to find their way around the area, searching for the monkeys on foot and listening for their calls.
"This discovery is extremely exciting because we had heard about this animal, but for a long time we could not confirm if it was different from other titis,” Defler said in a statement.

Source: CNN

Was 'Inception' inspired by Donald Duck?

There's some quacking on the web that film auteur Christopher Nolan's current blockbuster, "Inception," was inspired by, of all things, a 2004 Donald Duck comic book.
Think about it for a second. That's like saying Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" was inspired by Beetle Bailey.
We can blame the discussion board Reddit, the always-smart I Watch Stuff and other blogs for spreading the notion last week.
In "Uncle Scrooge: The Dream of a Lifetime," the thieving Beagle Boys gang use a special machine to enter Scrooge McDuck's dreams and steal the combination to his safe. Donald Duck and his nephews find Scrooge and the thieves sleeping, and Donald must enter the dream to foil the plot. When someone falls in the dream, they immediately wake up. And if Scrooge is awakened before the Beagle Boys, both parties will be "doomed."
In "Inception," Leonardo DiCaprio is the leader of a team that enters other people's dreams to steal information. The dream thieves can only be snapped awake by a dramatic fall, called a "kick," to their body. On its most dangerous assignment, the team has to penetrate deeper into the dream world -- and risks being trapped in it.
There are a ton of dream-hopping films, such as the long-running "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series and (a personal favorite) the underrated 1984 cult classic "Dreamscape."
What makes "Inception" unique is that its twisty visuals make it more like a mental M.C. Escher drawing than a straight horror or action flick. The story is resonating with audiences: In three weeks, "Inception" has raked in nearly $500 million worldwide.
Nolan has been mum about his "Inception" influences, though he acknowledges his film has been compared to the dreamy 1961 mind-bender "Last Year at Marienbad" -- a movie he says he's never seen. Nolan also has said he worked on the "Inception" script for more than a decade -- which would be well before Scrooge's dream adventure was even published.

Nolan's "Inception" already has inspired quite a few parodies online. If you were to catch only one, however, see Dora the Explorer's "Incepcion", which could be construed as a cartoon based on a movie based on a comic. Not unlike a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream.

Source: CNN

4 surprising reasons women can't lose weight

Most of us already know that eating less and moving more are the keys to dropping extra pounds. But if you're already doing everything "right" and can't seem to lose weight -- or are even gaining it -- you may have a hidden health condition that's sabotaging your efforts. And the symptoms may be so subtle that even your doctor can miss them. Here, some possible weight-loss blockers -- and how to get the help you need.
A Sluggish Thyroid
Your thyroid gland makes hormones that regulate the way your body uses energy. An underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) disrupts your metabolism, as well as many other aspects of your health. Some estimate that as many as 10 percent of adults have hypothyroidism, which is more common in women and is most often diagnosed in the 40s and 50s.
Could this be you? Besides weight gain or an inability to lose weight, you may notice fatigue, hair loss, dry skin, joint pain and muscle weakness, heavy periods, increased sensitivity to cold, even depression. Many people with low-grade hypothyroidism just feel "off," with no obvious signs of being truly sick.
How to get tested: Ask your internist to run a TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) screening. In general, the higher your TSH level, the slower your thyroid is. "While traditional 'normal' values are between .45 and 4.5, if your level is above 2, you might still struggle to lose weight," explains Dr. Jamie Kane, M.D., medical director of Park Avenue Medical Weight and Wellness in New York City. Your doctor may also want to check your levels of T-3 and T-4, the two main thyroid hormones. But hypothyroidism isn't always a straight numbers game; more and more doctors are now treating the symptoms, not just the blood-test results. "If a patient isn't feeling well, it's often because her thyroid isn't functioning as well as it should for her body," says Dr. Erika Schwartz, M.D., an internist in New York City.
How it's treated: Your doc will usually start by prescribing a low-dose T-4 thyroid hormone like Synthroid. If your symptoms don't improve, discuss upping your dosage or switching to a combination of T-3 and T-4.
Health.com: 25 diet-busting foods you should never eat
Out-of-Whack Hormones
As many as 1 in 10 women of childbearing age have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition in which a woman's ovaries produce an excess of male hormones. In addition to causing ovulation problems and infertility, PCOS may go hand-in-hand with insulin resistance, a glitch in the way your body processes blood sugar, which is often associated with excess fat storage, especially around the waist. Left untreated, insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Could this be you? You may have irregular periods, excess facial and body hair, acne, some male pattern balding, and trouble getting pregnant, along with unexplained weight gain (though not everyone with PCOS has weight issues).
Health.com: How carbs can help you lose weight
How to get tested: Your gynecologist or internist can test your levels of sex hormones for an imbalance of testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen, says Dr. David Katz, M.D., director of the Yale Prevention Research Center. She may then test your blood sugar and insulin levels or perform an ultrasound to check for cysts on your ovaries.
How it's treated: Lifestyle changes are usually the first step. If you're already eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, you may have to kick it up another notch to see results. If you have insulin resistance, Katz says, you'll also want to cut out refined carbs and added sugars. If you've made these changes and still don't notice a difference, your doc may prescribe a drug called metformin, which is used to treat insulin resistance as well as assist with ovulation (if you're trying to get pregnant).
Health.com: America's healthiest superfoods for women
Trouble-Making Foods
Most people know if they're allergic to certain foods like nuts or shellfish, but many aren't aware of food intolerances. While a true food allergy results when your immune system mistakenly identifies a food as harmful and mounts an immediate response, food intolerances can have a variety of causes, including lack of a certain digestive enzyme (as with lactose intolerance) or sensitivity to food additives, and tend to manifest over time, says Dr. Elizabeth W. Boham, M.D., R.D., a family practitioner at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Eating a "trouble food" -- the most common being dairy, gluten, eggs, soy, corn and nuts -- can lead to bloating and water-weight gain, among other symptoms. Experts estimate that food intolerances affect as many as 1 in 10 people.
Could this be you? You may regularly have bloating, gas, diarrhea, and constipation -- as well as seemingly unrelated symptoms like mild asthma, eczema, headaches, muscle and joint pain, and fatigue.
Health.com: The 50 fattiest foods in the states
How to get tested: An internist or gastroenterologist can help you diagnose the problem, but you can begin to figure it out for yourself through an elimination diet. Boham suggests that you start by removing gluten and dairy (these are the biggest culprits) from your diet for two to three weeks. If you don't notice a difference, also eliminate eggs, corn, soy, and nuts, and consider nixing additives such as food coloring and preservatives. After a few weeks, slowly reintroduce the possible culprits, one at a time, noting any reactions.
How it's treated: If the reaction is severe, you'll need to cut the offending food from your diet. For mild reactions, try a daily probiotic supplement, which restores the good bacteria in your gut necessary for digestion and can help prevent bloating and water weight gain. Boham recommends one with at least 10 billion live bacteria per pill.
Pills That Pack on Pounds
Weight gain can be an unwelcome side effect of some drugs, including antidepressants, steroids, and, more rarely, birth-control pills (due to a temporary increase in water retention).
Health.com: What to do when the drugs you need also put on the pounds
Could this be you? You may notice weight gain within a few weeks of starting a new medication, though it could take several months before you see any effects, Kane says.
How to get tested: No special test is needed; you know if you're gaining weight.

How it's treated: Talk to your doctor, who may be able to prescribe an alternative. In the case of anti-depressants, bupropion has been shown to cause less weight gain and possibly even lead to weight loss. With birth control pills, switching to a version with a lower dose of hormones might minimize weight gain. But remember, treating the condition you're taking the drug for is your biggest priority, so you should never go off any meds on your own.

Source: CNN

Experts: BlackBerry ban could affect privacy everywhere

Smartphone users in countries all over the world could lose some privacy if threats and promises by foreign nations to shut down BlackBerry services goes through, analysts say.
On Sunday, the UAE threatened to block access to e-mail, web browsing and text messages on the popular smartphone on October 11 if its owner, Research In Motion, doesn't provide government access for security investigations.
And on Tuesday, the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission asked mobile communications companies in Saudi Arabia to halt BlackBerry service in the kingdom beginning August 5, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
"The impact can be huge if this thing continues to go forward," said Kevin Burden, a vice president and mobile-industry analyst with ABI Research. "If something like this holds up, you can expect governments in other emerging markets to follow suit."
Burden cited reports that governments in countries such as China, India and Kuwait already are considering similar requirements. They would no doubt be emboldened to move forward if the UAE acts, he said.
The BlackBerry is the dominant smartphone in the UAE, where the capital, Abu Dhabi, and the emirate of Dubai are major business hubs of the Middle East.
The threatened October 11 ban would affect more than a half-million BlackBerry users in the UAE, as well as visitors to Dubai and the rest of the emirates.
If BlackBerry access is blocked, other secure phones would no doubt follow, Burden said.
"My sense is that the UAE goes after RIM and BlackBerry, saying 'Let's start with the king in all of this. Let's knock them down, then all of the others will fall in place afterward,'" he said.
For consumers, the UAE controversy represents a growing battle between digital companies and governments over data security.
While companies like BlackBerry want to ensure their users' privacy, governments increasingly want access for security reasons.
BlackBerry messages are encrypted to keep them from being deciphered by anyone who might intercept them. Other companies, like Google, have added encryption -- in Google's case, after some private data was compromised, setting off a public spat with China's government.
Operating systems such as the iPhone's and Google's Android often store information "in the clouds," meaning over the internet, Beyers said, while BlackBerry sends data to its own offshore servers. Virtually all smartphone systems geared toward corporate clients are encrypted, though, he noted.
While various companies have agreed to offer "back doors" for governments when they're investigating potential security threats, BlackBerry's stock in trade has been privacy.
"RIM has been known as the very buttoned-down, corporate smartphone supplier," said Tim Beyers, a senior technology analyst for The Motley Fool. "Security is the No. 1 reason that perception has remained. That is their competitive advantage and anything that dilutes that story dilutes their corporate advantage and makes it harder for Research in Motion to grow."
Beyers doesn't predict that a ban in the UAE would lead to widespread government data grabs in many other countries. But some would definitely try, he said.
"It is chilling," he said. "I wouldn't overstate the concern, but at the same time I also think that if they're forced to create some sort of back door, there is the possibility that other governments will ask for a similar back door. Then that would be a problem."
In a written statement to CNN on Monday, RIM said it operates in 175 countries and does not comment on the talks it has with governments about privacy rules.
"RIM respects both the regulatory requirements of government and the security and privacy needs of corporations and consumers," the statement said.
"RIM assures its customers that it is committed to continue delivering highly secure and innovative products that satisfy the needs of both customers and governments."
The United Arab Emirates is defending its decision, with its ambassador in Washington arguing the United States and other countries require the same kind of access for security reasons.
But State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called the move "a dangerous precedent," saying the United States supports the free flow of information and that the department will be "clarifying" the UAE's reasons for the announcement.
Both Burden and Beyers say the UAE government obviously would rather get concessions from RIM than shut down BlackBerry service altogether.
Burden expects RIM to seek support between now and October by making the case that a UAE ban would hurt other businesses and consumers, not just its own.
"[A ban] ultimately would be a very bad thing for RIM and it would be a bad thing for a lot of corporate e-mail systems as well," he said. "The reason we're all willing to use our BlackBerrys -- why our own government and the U.S. Congress can do it -- is that there is this promise that this is secure information.

"If you strip away that confidence, those are huge implications." 

Source: CNN

BlackBerry facing woes in India's booming market

Indian businessman Paramjit Saluja battles two money-munching time wasters in his auto exports business: New Delhi's trademark traffic jams and the myriad time zones of his clients.
"It's a business killer," Saluja says as he navigates a sprawling traffic mess.
Business would be dead without his electronic angel -- otherwise known as the BlackBerry -- that keeps him connected 24/7. His favorite application? BlackBerry Messenger, a pin-based messaging system that lets him talk to other BlackBerry customers, share images and even voice notes in real time.
But Saluja's angel may soon fly away.
As in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, BlackBerry is under serious scrutiny in India because the highly encrypted messages make it impossible for intelligence agencies to monitor and, thus, pose a national security threat.
"Knowledge and information from all sources is necessary, there are no two ways about it," said Vikram Sood, a retired Indian intelligence agent.
Sood said India would be completely blindsided if terrorists used BlackBerries to plot an attack and the devices were inaccessible by the government.
"So what do you do? React after the fact?" Sood asked. "If you react after the fact, the explosion has taken place or a terrorist act has taken place, 100 people, 150 people have died.
"Who is liable for that? Is BlackBerry going to be liable because it was withholding information in a manner of speaking? So isn't it better to share?" Sood said.
The situation brings up an old debate brought on by new technologies -- the government's right to know versus consumers' rights to privacy and free flowing information.
A decision is expected Thursday in India, one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world. More than 600 million Indians use cellular phones, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India; 1 million of those are BlackBerries.
So the loss for Research in Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of BlackBerry, is potentially huge in India. If it loses some of the services it offers, it could have a harder time attracting customers.
Telecom operators in the country seem to be hedging their bets. They're working up contingency plans, but not really expecting to lose BlackBerry services, especially considering that RIM was able to make concessions and strike a deal with Saudi Arabia to avoid a ban.
"We think it will all be worked out," said Sanjay Warke, chief executive officer of telecom giant Vodaphone's India operations.
Some find it hard to believe that the world's largest democracy is taking such a tough stance. But India also has deep security concerns as one of the most-attacked countries in the world.
The country was shaken after suspected Pakistani militants attacked Mumbai in November, 2008, leaving more than 160 people dead. In that incident, the government eventually tapped into satellite phone conversations between the terrorists and their handlers, but the attack was already underway.
The technology-versus-security fight is not new in India.
India made similar threats to shut down BlackBerry services two years ago, demanding RIM give the government access to encrypted messages. This go around, New Delhi is also reviewing how to deal with 3G networks offered by private operators.
The government may delay launching the technology, which makes it easier to stream video on cell phones.
For security purposes, telecom providers have to agree to let the government have lawful interception access to their networks in India. But the providers do not have access to encryption keys to unlock all the Internet content that 3G systems can offer users, forcing the government to decide which of the thousands of applications on the internet it will allow.
De-encrypting those applications will be extremely difficult, said Rajan Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India.

"We're running into all these issues," Mathews said. "When it comes to technology, do national boundaries mean anything anymore?"

Source: CNN

Farrow: Campbell said diamond was from Taylor

Actress Mia Farrow testified Monday that supermodel Naomi Campbell named Charles Taylor as the person who presented her with a diamond.
Farrow was testifying at the war crimes trial of Taylor, the former president of Liberia who prosecutors allege funded a brutal civil war in Sierra Leone using blood diamonds.
A so-called blood diamond is mined in war zones and used to fund rebels and warlords. The stones have fueled bloody conflicts in Africa for more than a decade.
Farrow's testimony at the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone contradicted that of Campbell, who took the stand last week.
During her appearance, Campbell said she didn't know who sent her stones, which were delivered to her room in Pretoria, South Africa late at night.
But Farrow told prosecutors: "She said that in the night she had been awakened. Some men were knocking at her door. They were sent by Charles Taylor and they had given her a huge diamond."
Both Farrow and Campbell were guests at a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela in 1997, which Taylor also attended.
The next morning, Campbell told the tribunal, she shared the story of receiving stones with her then-agent, Carole White, and Farrow.
"Well, that's obviously Charles Taylor," one of them said. Campbell didn't recall who said it.
Then, one of them added, "Well, obviously, they are diamonds."
Campbell said she assumed the stones came from Taylor, but testified that she wasn't sure.
After her testimony, prosecutors said they would present two witnesses who would dispute Campbell's story.
"Two other witnesses will also testify about these events.... there are significant differences between those accounts and Ms. Campbell's account," the prosecution said in a statement.
Farrow's testimony did just that.
Taylor, 62, was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003. The war crimes charges against him stem from the widespread murder, rape and mutilation that occurred during the civil war in Sierra Leone, fought largely by teenagers who were forced to kill, given addictive drugs to provoke violent behavior and were often instructed to rape and plunder.
Taylor is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, enslavement and sexual slavery and violence. He also faces five counts of war crimes, including acts of terrorism and torture, and one count of other serious violations of international humanitarian law.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors had rested their case against Taylor in February 2009 but reopened it to call Campbell to testify after learning in June of that year that Taylor had given the supermodel a diamond.
When arguing to reopen the case, prosecutors said Campbell's testimony would prove that the former president "used rough diamonds for personal enrichment and arms purchases," according to papers filed with the U.N.-backed court.

Taylor has testified that he never handled the precious stones.

Source: CNN

Catch a wave in Wyoming

A surfboard atop a vehicle, 700 miles from the nearest ocean, is your first clue that the surf's up in Wyoming.
Along the Snake River, just south of Jackson, Mother Nature provides a unique venue for the surf-obsessed in a region better known for wolves, grizzly bears, bison and the rugged Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
As winter's snow melts in the nearby Teton Range, local skiers and boarders pull out another toy from their quiver of recreational equipment -- their surfboards -- and head to what the local Jackson Hole News & Guide calls one of the best surfing rivers in the country.
Gannett Horn, 40, remembers his first attempt to surf Lunch Counter Rapid, Mother Nature's version of a washing machine on steroids. After only three tries, he went home defeated and exhausted. Others leave after just one attempt, admitting that the experience was too intense and dangerous.
Horn, like most, eventually mastered the rapid, where rock walls squeeze one of the West's mightiest rivers into a perfect river wave. So don't bother trying to reach him on his cell phone this time of year, because there's no service at Lunch Counter. It's moments like these that cause people to move to places like Jackson, and never leave.
Surfing this rapid is much like walking down an up escalator, eyes focused down, staying in basically the same place as water churns underneath your board. The constant flow leaves some in a mesmerized trance. And compared to the ocean, which river surfers will admit is a better spot for the sport, the wave time on the river is "huge." Some river surfers have reported staying on a wave for up to 20 minutes or more, and wonder aloud about the world record for time spent surfing a wave.
During the prime season (May to early August), when the melting snow creates a runoff ideal for river surfing, the first thing most local surfers do each day is check the river levels online. They will tell you that the best surfing is between 10,000-12,000 cfs (cubic feet per second), the snow skiing or boarding equivalent to a big powder day.
According to local lore, ski bums from California started surfing Lunch Counter in the late '70s. Back then they had to scramble their way down a steep hill to get to the river. Today, there is a paved parking lot at the top of the trail and a dirt path that winds its way to the river, where surfers, kayakers, tourists, photographers for rafting companies and the curious gather.
Some come to drink beer and work on their tans, but most come to watch and mumble words like "crazy," "nuts" or "that's cool." Some even bring inflatable sharks, an homage of sorts to the ocean.
On most days, a handful of surfers and kayakers compete for wave time. Most are locals and understand the unwritten rules about when to exit the wave so that the next river junkie can enjoy. Some surfers show up in the early morning, usually staying a little too long, and can be found sprinting up the trail barefoot, in their wet suits, cradling their boards, late for work. After work, more surfers trickle in, and some will stay way past sunset, even surfing under a full moon.

As summer winds down and the roar of the river lessens, some put their surfboards away and grab another toy from their quiver, their fly fishing rods, and head to the river one last time before the cycle starts anew with the first big snow.

Source: CNN

What does 'video game' mean, anyway?

From plummeting sales to a shift to social networks, critics love to endlessly debate what ails the gaming business.
But ironically, the biggest problem of all may be that there is no singular "games industry" to speak of anymore, and that the term "video game" itself is hopelessly outdated.
"I've never seen a period like this ... there's so much disruption," Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins recently said on the online video show "Game Theory." "The industry is really being turned inside out."
Credit the rise of new technologies -- from downloadable games to smartphone apps -- streaming "cloud" games and social network titles.
Free games playable in your Web browser, electronic amusements based around the sale of bite-sized virtual goods ("microtransactions") and massively multiplayer online worlds are also on the upswing. Simultaneously, tightened household spending is forcing players to look more toward episodic and downloadable content such as new maps, missions and story add-ons that extend the life of games they already own.
Unfortunately for industry titans like Activision and Electronic Arts, most modern forms of electronic entertainment have about as much to do with games like "Call of Duty" and "Mass Effect" as Apple does quilting.
Digital diversions built for new platforms like Facebook and the iPhone aren't just designed to be played in completely different methods and manners. They're meant to be enjoyed in different context and timeframes, and constantly updated and refined based on player feedback, defining them more as services than products.
"A lot of the established players [including] retailers and publishers are worried," said "Oddworld" creator Lorne Lanning. "They have good reason to be. People are finding experiences and products elsewhere, and different businesses are emerging that large infrastructure companies aren't used to adapting to, and a lot of them won't be able to adapt to.
"Anyone who thinks that they're deeply entrenched ... is fooling themselves."
As he explains, it's one thing to sell a copy of "Metroid: Other M," which costs a fixed price, offers everyone essentially the same experience and lasts a few hours before being put down. It's another to build a 3-D online universe such as "Free Realms" or social game such as "FrontierVille," which have to stay relevant for years and offer reasons to keep clicking day after day.
The shift has made for many bleak months of retail software performance. Most recently, sales of games for PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 and popular handheld consoles slumped a whopping 15 percent to $531 million in June, according to market research firm NPD.
"Everyone was caught figuratively with their pants down," said Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski of the shift to online, digital and social alternatives. "Everybody in the industry is still trying to figure out how to make blockbuster games in this day and age."
Independent game designer Clint Hocking, most recently responsible for "Far Cry 2," wholeheartedly agrees with these sentiments. "[Game industry insiders] stood around saying for so long that the game industry is immune to the recession," he said. "But we're not."
Origin and Portalarium founder Richard "Lord British" Garriott predicts a radical shift for the business, citing that those who choose to accept it will flourish, while those who don't are doomed.
But as insiders are all quick to point out, upsides are also plentiful for video game fans.
More than 40,000 games are now available that speak to all ages and interests, and at a broader range of prices than ever, on the iPhone and iPad. Sales of PC digital downloads have either caught up to or surpassed retail purchases as of 2009 as well, depending on which analyst you ask.
"The industry will be healthy, is not headed for doom, and we're entertaining more people in more ways than ever before," said Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin. "But from a profitability standpoint, the [blockbuster] console stuff is not quite working."
At this point, it's a little premature to write the pastime off.
Instead of debating what ails gaming as a whole, maybe we'd do better to take a deeper look at the fundamental changes responsible for these painful upheavals.

Not to mention, that is, wake up and realize that "video games" can't all be lumped into the same single grouping any more, or viewed through the same myopic lens.

Source: CNN

Actress Jodie Fisher at center of HP harassment claim

he woman whose sexual harassment claim led to HP CEO Mark Hurd's downfall came forward on Sunday and said she never intended for Hurd to lose his job.
Jodie Fisher, an actress who had been employed as a contractor for HP working on customer and executive events, supported Hurd's claims that there had never been a sexual relationship between them, according to a statement released by her attorney, Gloria Allred.
"I was surprised and saddened that Mark Hurd lost his job over this. That was never my intention," the statement said. "Mark and I never had an affair or intimate sexual relationship."
Fisher, whose latest acting credits include the 2007 reality show series "Age of Love," said that she and Hurd have resolved the claim privately, "without litigation," according to the statement.
HP announced late on Friday that Hurd, one of the country's highest-profile CEOs, had resigned effective immediately.
The company said its investigation found Hurd had not violated its sexual harassment policy, but that he had violated its standards of conduct policy.
Hurd, who is married, failed to tell the board about a personal relationship with a female marketing contractor who was hired by his office, the company said. Additionally, he filed inaccurate expense account reports in a bid to keep the relationship secret.
Many who knew Hurd's no-nonsense executive style were shocked by the news.
Hurd conceded Friday that "there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP."
The Palo Alto, Calif., company said its chief financial officer, Cathie Lesjak, will take over as CEO on an interim basis.

Source: CNN

Lesson of Obama's sky-high ambition

The throaty, thumping churn of the military helicopter convoy is a sound like no other.
It's a common sound in Washington, but less so in the skies over Chicago. Barack Obama doesn't get back to his old town much these days.
He did last week; he returned to Illinois for slightly more than 24 hours to celebrate his 49th birthday with some friends, to make a public appearance at an auto plant, to raise some money for upcoming campaigns. And as he arrived late on a wet and cloud-darkened afternoon, there was that baritone rumble of the line of helicopters, there were the Chicagoans looking up toward the president in Marine One, there were the streets closed to traffic in anticipation of his motorcade.
Obama arouses in people such political passions, both positive and negative, that sometime it feels futile to discuss him without knowing that the conversation will veer inevitably into heated partisan territory. Yet there may be some usefulness -- especially for those of us not consumed by politics -- in stepping back, on an occasion like one of his rare returns to Illinois, to consider a lesson inherent in his rise:
Aim high.
It seems pretty simple, after the fact. Obama is president of the United States. Of course he was ambitious; of course he set his sights high, in his successful 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate and then in the 2008 campaign that took him to the White House. Today those decisions of his are, literally, history.
But it is instructive to think of him not as the man in Marine One, but as the frustrated 41-year-old state legislator in Springfield, Illinois, in January of 2003. He had tried once for an office that would move him onto the national stage; in 2000 he had attempted a run for the United States House of Representatives. He was crushed by a margin of 2-to-1 in the Democratic primary.
By 2003 he was back in Springfield, a face in the crowd. He was known to those who follow state politics closely, and to statehouse reporters, but Obama at the beginning of 2003 could have walked into most restaurants and stores in Chicago and not have turned a single head. There were two marquee political stars in the state: the glamorous new governor, Rod Blagojevich, who had just been sworn in for his first term, and the mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, bearer of the most famous name in local government.
What was Obama to do? Bide his time in Springfield, hoping to achieve increasingly more influential committee assignments? Eventually try once more for the U.S. House of Representatives, after the humiliating rejection in 2000? Put his ambitions for elective office away, and take up the private practice of law?
We know what he did instead.
Aim high.
It doesn't always work; a person can aim high, and fall flat on his face. He can be mocked for even trying, especially when he comes up short.
But as Marine One and its convoy thundered over the edge of where Lake Michigan touches the shore in Chicago last week, as the people on the streets looked skyward, a jury at the Everett M. Dirksen Federal Building a few blocks to the west had just completed another day of deliberations that will determine if Rod Blagojevich will remain a free citizen or will be sent to prison. When Obama, before climbing into the helicopter, had landed at O'Hare International Airport in Air Force One, Richard Daley was waiting patiently in the rain to stand in a receiving line and shake the president's hand.
Things haven't been going particularly smoothly for Obama in recent months; his poll numbers are down, he seems under constant criticism from every direction, his missteps often appear on newspaper front pages and at the top of television newscasts. Why anyone wants the job that a president has is a question that rational people tend to ask themselves from time to time.
Yet when we do take that step back from the frenzy of a given day, and consider the choices a person makes during the course of a lifetime -- the choices about whether to be satisfied with what you have, or to take that leap of faith and try for something beyond what the rest of the world thinks you can do. . . .
I have a copy of a letter, a public document, that I have held onto since November 13, 2008, when it was written.
It's very brief. It was addressed to Blagojevich, who on that day was still the governor of Illinois.
"Dear Mr. Governor:
"I hereby resign effective November 16, 2008 from the United States Senate in order to prepare for my duties as President of the United States.
"Sincerely,
"Barack Obama"
You ask yourself what must go through his mind, in his seat aboard Marine One, as he looks down at the city where he once lived, at the people who live there now, the people peering up toward the chopper convoy's roar.
Impossible things can happen to a person.
But first, a person has to try.

Source: CNN

Activists rally to 'Free Bradley Manning' in WikiLeaks case

Activists rallied outside the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia, Sunday to applaud the man military officials suspect leaked scores of military documents to the WikiLeaks website -- a 22-year-old Army private named Bradley Manning.
"We are here to say that if he, indeed, was the whistle-blower, then we are proud of him," said Medea Benjamin, founder of anti-war group Code Pink. "In the United States that I know and love, transparency is a positive thing."
Manning, who served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, is the military's focus in the investigation into the largest-ever intelligence leak in American history, to WikiLeaks.org.
He is being detained at Quantico pending a military investigation in a separate case, in which he's charged with eight violations of the U.S. Criminal Code, including for allegedly leaking a secret military video from the Iraq war to WikiLeaks.
Outside the Quantico gates, about 80 protesters chanted "Bradley Manning told their tale, war criminals off to jail" and held signs calling on the military to "Free Bradley Manning."
Many wore pink and seemed out-of-place in a small community where people sported military haircuts and displayed Marine bumper stickers on their cars.
Ray McGovern, who said he was formerly a CIA analyst, lauded Manning for allegedly releasing information about America's "war of aggression".
"What Bradley Manning has done is to give us as Americans the opportunity to realize what's really going on there," McGovern said.
"If Americans can't realize now that they have the ground truth, literally the ground truth from these Army reports, if they can't realize and move to end these kinds of wars, then there's very little hope for our children or our grandchildren."
About 300 yards away, a handful of counter-protesters wearing the military's trademark olive green held a poster that showed Manning with bloody hands. They called the leak treasonous.
"If Bradley Manning is the one that leaked these documents, he has already put his fellow soldiers at risk," said Jim Hanson, who writes for the pro-military website BlackFive.

"I think the military and the government have some things that should be kept secret. The public knows that ... There is no 'right to know' secret information."

Source: CNN