In-Game - The top 10 gaming stories of 2011

Wikipedia

The U.S. Supreme Court conferred both legal protections and artistic credibility on the growing game industry this year, marking our largest game-related story of the year.

By Kyle Orland

The past year has offered plenty of major stories to keep gamers chattering. Here's what we thought were the most important stories to hit the industry over the past 12 months.

1. Supreme court gives games First Amendment protection
In the seemingly ceaseless battle over whether video games are "art" or merely "entertainment," the art side got a big boost this year from the federal government, of all places. In a landmark 7-2 decision handed down in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that video games are protected speech deserving of full protection by the First Amendment of the Constitution. The ruling struck down a California law that would have limited sales of ultra-violent games to minors, and ensured that the self-enforcement regime of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board will remain the only retail protection for such sales. More than that, though, the decision helped legitimize a young-and-growing medium as a form of expression on par with literature, movies and music as far as the law of the land is concerned.

2. PSN suffers intrusion, extended outage
What started as a seemingly routine temporary outage for Sony's online gaming network was soon revealed to be a major breach of user data that potentially put millions of credit cards at risk. As the outage stretched out over weeks, Sony got hit with lawsuits and congressional subpoenas as it struggled to beef up its security and provide protection to its users. Sony offered a bevy of freebies to its users when the service finally came back after nearly a month, but the breach in trust is likely to make many Internet users reluctant to give their credit card information out online quite so readily.

3. 3DS fails to meet sales expectations, drops price quickly
While Nintendo's glasses-free, stereoscopic 3-D portable saw healthy first day sales, the new system's retail performance?quickly bottomed out as the novelty of the 3-D gave way to a lackluster launch lineup. Worldwide sales continued to languish until Nintendo suddenly lowered the price from $250 to $170,?just four months after the March launch. Not only was it the quickest and most drastic price cut in the company's history, the company simultaneously offered 20 free downloadable classic games to sweeten the deal. The move seems to have worked somewhat. Sales have slowly rebounded going into the holiday season, thank in part to high-profile titles like "Super Mario 3D Land" and "Mario Kart 7."

4. Nintendo unveils the Wii U
All eyes were on Nintendo at this year's E3 conference as the company prepared to unveil the follow-up to its best-selling Wii, and though vague details leaked out before the show, many gamers weren't prepared for the system's radical new design. Being built around a massive controller sporting a six-inch touch screen, as well as an array of buttons, joysticks and an accelerometer, the Wii U seems obviously influenced by Apple's iPad. Yet the handheld controller won't work when taken away from the TV-connected base console, making it less than useful as a true tablet computer. Despite the odd design, demos of hybrid, two-screen games like the "Metroid"-inspired "Battle Mii" and the rhythmic "Shield Pose" have convinced some skeptics of the system's potential.

5. PlayStation Vita goes from announcement to Japanese launch in under a year
The year had barely begun when Sony first showed off its long-expected PlayStation Portable follow-up, then code-named the Next Generation Portable, sporting an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink array of features. By E3, the system had a new name ? PlayStation Vita ? and a price point starting at $250 (without optional 3G functionality). Earlier this month, the new portable launched in Japan to respectable sales numbers, though associated software sales were surprisingly less robust. With European and North American launches set for February, the rest of the world will see Sony's next major console soon enough.

6. Japanese earthquake shakes game industry
Aside from being a humanitarian disaster, the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March caused major disruption for the country's gigantic game industry. Companies scrambled to delay and cancel games that featured apocalyptic themes that could upset victims, while damaged facilities and electricity rationing led to further delays. But the disaster also gave game companies a chance to show off their civic responsibility by raising substantial sums for philanthropic aid to help those hurt the most by the disaster.

7. Nintendo faces financial hardship
After decades of consistent profits, Nintendo's announcement that this year would likely mark its first ever fiscal loss came as a bit of a shock to industry watchers. The news was especially shocking given that the company had been riding high on record sales and profit from the Wii just two years back. Whether the financial troubles are a small blip caused by an awkward transition between console generations or a permanent transition caused by the rise of mobile phone and tablet gaming remains to be seen, but either way, it was enough to get Nintendo executives to slash their salaries and offer profuse apologies to shareholders.

8. Microsoft unleashes new, video-fueled Xbox dashboard
Video services like Netflix and Hulu Plus have long played a key role in the success of modern home consoles, but Microsoft raised the prominence of its video on demand offerings this year, rolling out a new Xbox 360 dashboard featuring video options from partners ranging from Verizon and Comcast to YouTube, Bravo and Syfy. Microsoft's video options may not have many people throwing out their cable boxes just yet, but its yet another sign that video games are no longer the exclusive focus of home game consoles.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

Live Poll

What was the top gaming story of 2011?

• 171874

  Supreme court gives games First Amendment protection

  39%

• 171875

  PSN suffers intrusion, extended outage

  37%

• 171876

  3DS fails to meet sales expectations, drops price quickly

  0%

• 171877

  Nintendo unveils the Wii U

  5%

• 171878

  PlayStation Vita goes from announcement to Japanese launch in under a year

  2%

• 171879

  Japanese earthquake shakes game industry

  2%

• 171880

  Nintendo faces financial hardship

  3%

• 171881

  Microsoft unleashes new, video-fueled Xbox dashboard

  5%

• 171882

  Zynga goes public

  1%

• 171883

  Miyamoto

  8%

VoteTotal Votes: 131

9. Zynga goes public
After years at the top of the hot social gaming market and months of speculation and planning, Zynga finally made its first public offering of stock earlier this month. While the initial offering price was well below what many market watchers had expected a few months before, and despite that price dipping even further as trading went on, Zynga still raised over $1 billion in cash during the sale, money it will likely use to help cement its position as a major player in the industry, whether traditional game publishers like it or not.

10.?Miyamoto "retires" (but not really)
If you want to see how important a single man can be to the perceived prospects of a company, look no further that Nintendo and its creative head Shigeru Miyamoto. A Wired report quoted the long-serving Mario and Zelda creator as wanting to retire from his executive position in order to focus on more hands-on development work on smaller games. By the time Miyamoto clarified his meaning later in the week, stating emphatically that his role at the company was not changing, Nintendo's stock had already dipped 2 percent and the entire game industry contemplated seriously, perhaps for the first time, the prospect of a world without its most celebrated game creator.?

Kyle Orland has written hundreds of thousands of words about gaming since he started a Mario fan site at the age of 14. You can follow him on?Twitter?or at his personal website,?KyleOrland.com.

Dragons and lightsabers defined some of the best games this year. These are the nominees for the game of the year. In-Game's Todd Kenreck reports.

Source: http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/29/9777865-the-top-10-gaming-stories-of-2011

ed lee ed lee garmin nuvi 1450 amzn tommy john surgery colorado weather alcohol poisoning

Facebook Files Updated PAC Form, Launches PAC Website

Carl Franzen December 28, 2011, 2:00 PM

Facebook is getting political. Really political.

The company, which in September confirmed it was forming a political action committee, ?FB PAC,? on Wednesday filed an update to its documentation with the Federal Election Commission in order to report that it switched its corporate headquarters to Menlo Park, California from its previous location in Palo Alto.

The document, a standard statement of organization, also provides a link to the official website of the Facebook PAC, fbpac.org, which went live back in September, according to a Facebook spokesperson.

Currently, the Facebook PAC website is blocked from public view, containing only entry fields for employees to privately log in.

A Facebook spokesperson also reiterated to TPM the goals of the PAC: ?FB PAC will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.?

Facebook first announced it had completed its move to the sprawling, 1-million-square-foot, former campus of Sun Microsystems on Monday, December 19. The updated PAC form declaring the new headquarters is just another piece of good housekeeping.

But the updated statement of organization also provides a glimpse of just who will be pulling the strings behind Facebook?s newly concerted effort to raise money and influence politics by backing specific candidates.

FB PAC names as its treasurer Joel Kaplan, President George W. Bush?s former deputy chief of staff, who was in May recruited away from his post-political job as an executive at Texas utility Energy Future Holdings to join Facebook as VP of U.S. public policy.

The treasurer of a PAC is responsible for authorizing all of the PAC?s expenditures, or appointing someone to authorize the expenditures, as well as depositing all of the PAC?s receipts within 10 days, among other duties, according to the FEC. The FEC also notes that the treasurer can be held personally liable for violating federal election law.

But already, Kaplan has shifted his expenditures-reporting duties to assistant treasurer Corey Owens, also named in the FB PAC filing as the ?custodian of records,? whom the FEC notes is responsible for maintaining a record of the PAC?s financial activities for the past three years running.

Owens previously served as press secretary at the Constitution Project, a bipartisan think tank dedicated to safeguarding the Constitution, and as a spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union International, according to AllFacebook.com.

As previously noted, Facebook joins a shortlist of large tech companies to have formed PACs in order to sway Washington in their favor ? among them Microsoft, with its high-spending MSPAC ($6.8 million in expenditures in 2011), while Google?s PAC has been ramping up in advance of the 2012 election, raising $570,000 in the first six-months of 2011 but spending only $70,000 of it so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Facebook, by contrast, spent $910,000 on lobbying in 2011, according to the Center, and that was well before and separate from its PAC, which has yet to report any expenditures. How Facebook plans to raise and spend its PAC money remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

Congress, Facebook, Political Action Committee (PAC), Politics, Social Media, Social Networking

Carl Franzen

Carl Franzen is TPM Idea Lab's tech reporter. He used to work for The Daily, AOL and The Atlantic Wire (though not simultaneously, thankfully). He's never met a button that didn't need to be pressed. He can be reached at carl@talkingpointsmemo.com.

Source: http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/facebook-files-updated-pac-form-launches-pac-website.php

packers stock packers stock mastectomy st. nicholas st. nicholas heisman finalists heisman finalists

Emma Watson & Justin Bieber Have Most Influential Hair

Move over Jennifer Aniston, there are new hair icons in town! Emma Watson and Justin Bieber have been named the most influential celebrities of 2011 when it comes to popular hairstyles.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/emma-watson-justin-bieber-named-celebs-most-influential-hair/1-a-414370?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aemma-watson-justin-bieber-named-celebs-most-influential-hair-414370

stanford when does daylight savings time end world series mvp rocky horror picture show rutgers risky business weather nj

Deadly Conn. fire caused by old fireplace embers

Stamford firefighter Nick Tamburro pays respect outside the home of Madonna Badger in Stamford, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. A fire at the home on Christmas morning killed Badger's three daughters and parents. The Christmas Day fire that killed three children and their grandparents was a tragic accident related to a fireplace in the home, not the result of foul play, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia said Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Stamford firefighter Nick Tamburro pays respect outside the home of Madonna Badger in Stamford, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. A fire at the home on Christmas morning killed Badger's three daughters and parents. The Christmas Day fire that killed three children and their grandparents was a tragic accident related to a fireplace in the home, not the result of foul play, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia said Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Firefighters lay a wreath in a memorial area outside the home of Madonna Badger in Stamford, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. A fire at the home on Christmas morning killed Badger's three daughters and parents. The Christmas Day fire was a tragic accident related to a fireplace in the home, not the result of foul play, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia said Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

People pay their respects at a memorial area outside the home of Madonna Badger in Stamford, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. A fire at the home on Christmas morning killed Badger's three daughters and parents. The Christmas Day fire was a tragic accident related to a fireplace in the home, not the result of foul play, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia said Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

A hand-drawn card lays on top of a memorial area outside the home of Madonna Badger in Stamford, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. A fire at the home on Christmas morning killed Badger's three daughters and parents. The Christmas Day fire was a tragic accident related to a fireplace in the home, not the result of foul play, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia said Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Aurelio Naranjo, a painter working for Madonna Badger, stops at a memorial area outside her home with his children Elizabeth, center, and Giovanni, right, in Stamford, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. A fire killed Badger's three daughters and parents early Christmas morning. Naranjo last saw Badger and her children the Thursday before Christmas. He said Badger told him to take Friday off for the holiday. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) ? A Christmas morning fire that killed a couple and three of their grandchildren was accidentally started by fireplace embers that had been discarded near a first-floor entryway, officials said Tuesday.

The officials also said it wasn't clear if the home had working smoke detectors. Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia called the fire a "tragic accident," not the result of foul play.

Sometime between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., a friend staying in the home put fireplace ashes in a bag and left it either in or outside a mudroom and trash enclosure attached to the rear of the house, said Barry Callahan, Stamford's fire marshal. The fire was reported just after 4:40 a.m.

"The fire entered the house quickly and spread throughout the first floor and up two interior vertical openings, trapping the occupants on the upper floors," Callahan said.

Officials described a frantic scene after rescuers arrived early Sunday.

Neighbors said they were awakened by screams shortly before 5 a.m. and rushed outside to help but could do nothing as flames devoured the large Victorian home.

Stamford acting Fire Chief Antonio Conte said the children's mother, Madonna Badger, had climbed out a window onto scaffolding and then a flat roof. She was screaming for her children and pointed firefighters to the third floor.

Firefighters climbed to the third floor twice, but the heat and flames were too intense and the children were not where they thought they would be, he said.

The friend of Badger's who had been staying in the home told investigators he actually had led two of the girls downstairs, but heat from the flames separated them, Conte said. One apparently went back upstairs and another one was found with her grandmother at the bottom of the stairwell between the second and third floors, he said.

Badger's father, Lomer Johnson, was found outside. It appears he had been planning to help one of the girls get out; she had been placed on a pile of books, so he could reach in and grab her, officials said.

"When he went out the window, that's when he succumbed and she died just inside the window," Conte said.

Flames were shooting out of the house when firefighters arrived, said Brendan Keatley, a Stamford firefighter who was at the scene and president of the local firefighters union.

"Two sides of the structure were walls of flame," Keatley said.

Firefighters used a ladder and construction scaffolding outside the house to reach the third floor, but they ran into extreme heat and poor visibility in a hallway, Keatley said. Four firefighters were injured as they searched for the victims, including a captain who suffered second-degree burns on his face, Keatley said.

Fighting the fire took a physical and an emotional toll, he said, and counselors were being made available to firefighters.

"We are devastated, just like everybody else is devastated," Keatley said Tuesday.

Badger, a New York advertising executive who owned the home, and her male acquaintance escaped. Her parents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson, who were visiting for the holidays, were killed, as were her three daughters ? 10-year-old Lily and 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah.

The home's second floor was being renovated and Badger was awaiting a final inspection before she could get a final certificate of approval, said Ernie Ogera, director of operations for the city of Stamford.

There were plans for hard-wired smoke alarms, but they had not been hooked up, Ogera said. Officials did not know whether battery-operated ones were being used.

The Johnsons lived in Southbury, about 45 miles northeast of Stamford. Lomer Johnson had worked as a department store Santa Claus this season after a long career as a safety chief at Louisville, Ky.-based liquor maker Brown-Forman Corp., which he retired from several years ago.

The acquaintance who escaped, Michael Borcina, is a contractor who had done work on the home.

The severely damaged Victorian house situated along the Connecticut shoreline was torn down Monday after the buildings department determined it was unsafe and ordered it razed, Stamford fire Chief Antonio Conte said.

Badger, an ad executive in the fashion industry, is the founder of New York-based Badger & Winters Group. She was treated at a hospital and was discharged by Sunday evening, a hospital supervisor said. Her whereabouts were unknown.

A person answering the phone Tuesday at the Badger & Winters Group said it had no statement or comment.

Borcina was listed in fair condition Tuesday at Stamford Hospital, meaning his vital signs were normal but he may be uncomfortable. He declined to comment through a hospital spokeswoman.

Borcina, 52, of New York City, is the owner of Tiberias Construction Inc., which renovates expensive homes and businesses. The company's projects have included a Donna Karan store and artist Alex Beard's studio, both in New York City, and the White House Christmas wishing tree, according to the construction firm's website.

Borcina and Badger are friends on Facebook, and he said on his Facebook page that he enjoys skydiving and scuba diving.

Property records show Badger bought the five-bedroom, waterfront home for $1.7 million last year. The house was situated in Shippan Point, a wealthy neighborhood that juts into Long Island Sound.

The lot where the house stood was covered with charred debris and cordoned off by police with tape on Monday. Passers-by left floral bouquets, stuffed animals and candles.

Badger previously spent time on Shelter Island, a small, exclusive community at the eastern end of Long Island, N.Y. Town Supervisor James Dougherty said Tuesday that Madonna Badger served a few years ago on the town's deer and tick committee, which oversees the town's program to maintain healthy deer while eliminating tick-borne diseases.

___

Associated Press writers Stephen Singer and Dave Collins in Hartford, Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., and Tom Hays in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-27-Fire-Five%20Dead/id-ccd03d8982b6467c90ffad7d79a61c08

chester mcglockton chester mcglockton arsenic los angeles weather big ten acc challenge scott disick kourtney kardashian

Must See HDTV (December 26th - January 1st)

Football
Collegiate or pro, even with NBA action back on the schedule it's all about football this week. The big time bowls aren't until 2012, but there's still a few interesting matchups to be had this week including Air Force/Toledo (guaranteed shootout), FSU/Notre Dame, Tulsa BYU, and Oklahoma/Iowa. For the pros, the playoffs start Sunday night when the Cowboys face the Giants, with the winner moving on as NFC East champion and the loser going home.

New Year's Eve
So who are you rolling with, the Dick Clark/Ryan Seacrest combo, Carson Daly, MTV's stream of performers or are you tuning in to some other station to watch the ball drop Saturday night? Sure, Fox's "American Country" theme may be more your style, but after seeing the shape Dick Clark was in last year, we might actually leave the screen off for once this time around.

Archer
We'll have to wait a few more weeks for the show to return to FX, but Archer fans can catch up with season two hitting shelves for the first time, and season one is no longer a Best Buy exclusive. Check out the promo trailer after the break if you're not already familiar with ISIS' best agent, and turn up some Kenny Loggins because you're about to enter the Dangr Zone.
(December 27th, $25 on Amazon)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (December 26th - January 1st)

Must See HDTV (December 26th - January 1st) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/c-RkVMzssJQ/

cinnamon rolls krampus robert de niro winner of x factor cheesecake recipe leona lewis rodney atkins

Who Has Better Credit Quiz - Credit Score - Credit, Loans and Debt ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-01-2012/who-has-better-credit-score-quiz.html

five iron frenzy wild horses lyrics sweet potato recipes green bean casserole recipe karina smirnoff pumpkin cheesecake deviled eggs

The Google Fiber Team Wishes Kansas City Happy Holidays

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7765e0QcF88&feature=youtube_gdata

craigslist nc chronicle baked alaska baked alaska battlefield 3 release battlefield 3 release battle field 3

Cruise's 'Mission' accomplishes box-office win

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Hollywood has picked up a little Christmas bonus.

Studios generally underestimated the size of their movie audiences over the weekend, and they're now revising the holiday revenues upward.

Leading the way is Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," which pulled in $29.5 million for the weekend. That Monday figure is $3 million more than distributor Paramount estimated a day earlier.

For the four-day period Friday to Monday, Paramount estimates "Ghost Protocol" will have taken in $46.2 million to raise its domestic total to $78.6 million. That's on top of $140 million the film has taken in overseas, giving it a worldwide haul of $218.6 million.

Studios Monday also reported stronger results than they did a day earlier for Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," which was No. 2 at $20.3 million for the three-day weekend and $31.8 million for the four-day period; Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" at No. 5 with $9.7 million over three days and $16.1 million for four days; and Matt Damon's "We Bought a Zoo" at No. 6 with $9.5 million over three days and $15.6 million for four days.

In a tight race for the No. 4 spot were David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the family sequel "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked."

"Dragon Tattoo" did $12.8 million over three days and $19.4 million for four days. "Chipwrecked" took in $12.7 million over three days and $20 million for four days.

A few films debuted on Christmas Day, among them Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse," which took in $7.5 million Sunday. Through Monday, its estimated two-day total is $15 million.

Also debuting was Emile Hirsch's action thriller "The Darkest Hour," which earned $3 million Sunday and had a two-day total of $5.5 million through Monday.

Opening solidly in just six theaters was Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock's Sept. 11 drama "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," which took in $71,000 Sunday and $136,000 through Monday. The film expands to nationwide release in January.

Despite the upward revision on some movies' revenues, the Christmas weekend continued a box-office slide that has persisted since Thanksgiving. Overall revenues from Friday to Sunday totaled $128 million, down 10 percent from Christmas weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol," Paramount, $46,210,000, 3,448 locations, $13,402 average, $78,645,000, two weeks.

2. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," Warner Bros., $31,810,000, 3,448 locations, $9,226 average, $90,564,000, two weeks.

3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," Fox, $20,000,000, 3,734 locations, $5,356 average, $56,940,187, two weeks.

4. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Sony, $19,400,000, 2,914 locations, $6,658 average, $27,716,000, one week.

5. "The Adventures of Tintin," Paramount, $16,100,000, 3,087 locations, $5,215 average, $24,107,000, one week.

6. "We Bought a Zoo," Fox, $15,600,000, 3,117 locations, $5,005 average, $15,600,000, one week.

7. "War Horse" (opened Sunday), Disney, $15,025,000, 2,376 locations, $6,324 average, $15,025,000, one week.

8. "The Darkest Hour" (opened Sunday), Summit, $5,500,000, 2,324 locations, $2,367 average, $5,500,000, one week.

9. "New Year's Eve," Warner Bros., $4,950,000, 2,585 locations, $1,915 average, $34,287,000, three weeks.

10. "The Descendants," Fox Searchlight, $3,425,000, 813 locations, $4,213 average, $33,716,552, six weeks.

11. "The Muppets," Disney, $3,355,000, 1,752 locations, $1,915 average, $76,911,000, five weeks.

12. "Hugo," Paramount, $3,300,000, 1,256 locations, $2,627 average, $44,927,000, five weeks.

13. "Arthur Christmas," Sony, $3,100,000, 1,804 locations, $1,718 average, $44,062,000, five weeks.

14. "The Sitter," Fox, $3,000,000, 1,786 locations, $1,680 average, $23,488,202, three weeks.

15. "Young Adult," Paramount, $2,775,000, 987 locations, $2,812 average, $8,184,000, three weeks.

16. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," Summit, $2,150,000, 1,603 locations, $1,341 average, $270,951,901, six weeks.

17. "The Artist," Weinstein Co., $1,402,000, 167 locations, $8,395 average, $2,900,430, five weeks.

18. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Focus, $1,210,160, 55 locations, $22,003 average, $2,311,670, three weeks.

19. "My Week with Marilyn," Weinstein Co., $888,000, 602 locations, $1,475 average, $7,307,196, five weeks.

20. "Puss in Boots," Paramount, $685,000, 389 locations, $1,761 average, $143,935,000, nine weeks.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," $43 million.

2. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $22.3 million.

3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," $20.1 million.

4. "Puss in Boots," $17 million.

5. "Arthur Christmas," $9.7 million.

6. "The Darkest Hour," $3.5 million.

7 (tie). "Hugo," $2 million.

7 (tie). "In Time," $2 million.

7 (tie). "Rubbeldiekatz," $2 million.

10. "Real Steel," $1.9 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-26-Box%20Office/id-b197b298a4394f05a7c55fd85967f2e3

pecan pie recipe prince philip david wright buffalo chicken dip sugar cookie recipe sugar cookie recipe robert deniro

5 of the hottest new Chinese smartphone apps in 2011

Dec 27, 2011

2011 has been a great year for apps--and that is true in China as well. Here, hundreds of new startups have blossomed, and a good number of them have made some fantastic and good-looking services that are a credit to the iOS and Android platforms. (Of course, some old names got in on the action as well).

And so I thought it'd be a good idea to think back to some of this year's new apps, and find which ones have been rocking the ?free? section of the Chinese version of the iTunes App Store. Then I picked out five striking new apps that I spotted within the top 200.

As a result, I have five Chinese-made apps--all of which I?ve tested out at some point this year; and a couple of which I use daily--complete with a round-up of why they?re so special?

---

Weixin

Big daddy Tencent has done it again? Launched in January of this year, Tencent?s group-messaging app Weixin is a service like Kik or Talkbox, allowing users to send text, audio, or video clips to each other for free using GPRS or 3G data.

As we saw earlier this month, Weixin has quickly become China?s most popular group-messaging app with 50 million users, pushed forward by the social media giant?s insanely huge social user-base, far outpacing any of its earlier rivals.

Get the app for iOS, Android, WP7, or Symbian via the Weixin minisite.

---

Youjia

Youjia is part of a newer trend for location-based (LBS) apps - especially from startups--that pinpoint where you are and let you meet fellow users nearby. It?s all very informal and funky, with just pictures, messaging, and approximate distances to help you decide with whom to talk or flirt. There are many similar apps to Youjia such as Mix, Mojing (both for iOS only so far), or Momo for iOS and Android which do the same thing, and 2012 will likely see more contenders.

But for now, Youjia seems to be winning the race, as it?s the highest up in the iTunes App Store chart of any such services--now in 30th place in the free apps list in China and therefore probably garnering the highest number of users.

It?s in the iTunes store or the Android version is available from the Youkia site.

---

Vida

Vida is a photo-filter app and social network built on the Instagram model. Although it arrived late to the scene, launching this autumn at the TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing conference. It now seems to be the most popular indie photo-sharing app on the Chinese iTunes store, up in the 79th position.

Perhaps part of its success is in its funkiness--especially the minimal and unique UI--as well as how easy it is to browse through other people?s images in a timeline that scrolls along both axis.

Grab it from the iTunes store or the Android version is on the Vida site.

---

Huofar

Huofar?s app us in 97th place in the store?s list of popular free apps and is something entirely different: It helps users live more healthily. It does this by asking questions about your lifestyle, and gives you practical means to improve your diet using more nutritious food or Chinese medicine. A user can even turn the tables by asking the app to suggest a way to cure an array of common ailments.

In addition to its usefulness, the app is gorgeous, with a suitably ecologically-minded colour scheme.

Get the app from the iTunes store.

---

Weico

2011 has seen microblogging, known by the generic ?weibo? name in China, explode even further here with Tencent Weibo edging out Sina?s platform to still be the larger of the two with a reported 300 million users. But both Sina?s and Tencent?s own Weibo apps are bland, and just as this has happened with Twitter, some third-party apps have popped up that offer more style, customizations, and funky features.

Weico is the best of these. And although it only supports Sina?s Weibo service, that hasn?t stopped it becoming one of China?s most popular quirky and cute apps, now resting in 158th place in the Chinese version of the iTunes App Store.

Check out the app on the iTunes store or the Android Market.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5666569917

tower heist reviews recursion amy schumer amy schumer ascii art ascii art andrew mason

First Lady Michelle Obama Helps Kids Track Santa (ABC News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/178863783?client_source=feed&format=rss

christopher hitchens ron paul 2012 zynga stock zynga stock sam houston state university sam houston state university bradley manning

Tear gas fired at protesters in China seaside town (AP)

BEIJING ? Riot police in a southern Chinese coastal town fired tear gas Friday at protesters, including elderly men and women, on the fourth day of unrest over a planned power plant expansion, according to protesters' accounts and TV footage.

Police and protesters in the town of Haimen squared off near a highway entrance that has become the focal point for protests this week, with residents demanding that authorities release an unknown number of demonstrators.

The town's elders knelt on the road facing a barricade set up by riot police with helmets and shields several hundred yards (meters) away while others lit large incense sticks and planted them into a plastic foam makeshift altar, a protester said by phone.

"They were begging the police to release those people that they've detained and praying that the riot police can see things more clearly," the 20-year-old saleswoman surnamed Yao told The Associated Press by phone.

Haimen's protesters are demanding a halt to the planned expansion of a coal-fired power plant which they say has contributed to what they say is a rise in cancer cases and heavy pollution in the seas, a serious problem for a town where many make their living from fishing.

The protests started Tuesday when thousands of people besieged a Haimen government office and blocked a highway. When riot police used tear gas in an attempt to disperse them, demonstrators hurled rocks, water bottles and bricks in return. Clashes broke out, injuring an unknown number of protesters and police, residents say.

In response to the protests, the local government said Tuesday that it would temporarily suspend the power plant project, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

But protesters say they have not heard directly from authorities on the matter and say several protesters in their teens or early 20s had been detained.

Many of the protesters waved red plastic bags meant to signify red scarves worn by children as part of their school uniforms, photos from the scene showed.

They held up banners saying "Release the people," "Defend our home" and "Oppose construction of power plant."

It was not immediately clear how many people have been taken into police custody, but Xinhua said Thursday that five people had been detained by Wednesday for vandalism during the protests.

Earlier in the day, police fired tear gas at the protesters, said another protester, a man surnamed Lin.

"When they saw that more and more people had come to protest, they fired the tear gas to try to chase us away. At the same time, a big gust of wind blew toward us, so we all had to run," Lin said. "My tears ran continuously. Our eyes are all red."

This is the third time police have used tear gas to disperse protesters in Haimen this week.

"We have no weapons at all. All we are doing is standing here and protesting," Lin added.

Hong Kong's Cable TV showed footage of tear gas clouds being blown toward protesters, scattering the crowd of hundreds of people. Riot police with helmets and shields had formed a blockade at the entrance to the highway.

After three decades of laxly regulated industrialization, China is seeing a surge in protests over such environmental worries.

In September, hundreds of villagers in an eastern Chinese city near Shanghai demonstrated against pollution they blamed on a solar panel factory. In August, 12,000 residents in the northeastern port city of Dalian protested against a chemical plant after waves from a tropical storm broke a dike guarding the plant and raised fears that flood waters could release toxic chemicals.

___

Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gillianwong

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111224/ap_on_re_as/as_china_unrest

lindsey vonn josef stalin kourtney and kim take new york anne hathaway news channel 5 nathan hale kohls coupons

On California coast, atheists nudge out Nativity scenes

By?Michael Martinez?and?Zohreen Adamjee, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN)?? Every Christmas for the past 60 years, Nativity scenes have dominated two blocks of a park on bluffs overlooking the ocean in Santa Monica, California.

The 14 scenes depicting Jesus Christ's birth have long been a popular attraction among area residents and tourists to the southern California city.

This year, however, atheists have taken over most of the two-block stretch, nearly shutting out and angering a group of churches who contend the atheists have organized against the Christians and gamed a city lottery process allocating the holiday exhibit space.

In response, a leader of the atheist group says he's just looking for evenhanded treatment to present his beliefs in a public space - and goes so far as to say that the city shouldn't even be allowing any religious or even atheist expression in the park.

Read the full story here

Source: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/22/on-california-coast-atheists-nudge-out-nativity-scenes/

howard hughes barry bonds hazing colton harris moore hurd hurd christopher hitchens

VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VP

The VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VP ($100 street) sounds like something that should be on the Hogwarts back-to-school recommended purchase list. But in reality (pun unavoidable), it's a portable scanner?one of the most portable available. If you need to scan on the go, and don't want to be weighted down with hardware, that alone makes it worth considering.

At 1.2 by 10.1 by 1.1 inches (HWD) and 0.4 pounds, you could argue that the PDS-ST415-VP is too big to call a magic wand. It certainly doesn't look as much like one as the PlanOn DocuPen Xtreme X05 ($369.99 direct 3.5 stars). However, both work essentially the same way for scanning. The sensor and rollers in both cases define the bottom. To scan, you start at the top of a page and sweep down, or start on the side and sweep across.

One other feature the two scanners share is that they don't need a computer to scan to. Instead they scan to memory and let you move the files to a computer later. Connect the PDS-ST415-VP by the supplied USB cable, and it will look like a USB drive to your computer so you can copy the files.

Setup and Scanning
There is not much to set up with this scanner. Just put in the two supplied AA batteries and insert a microSD or microSDHC card as memory to scan to. The only potential issue is that the scanner doesn't come with a memory card and there's no internal memory, so be sure you have one handy. According to the company, you can use cards with up to 32GB capacity.

Scanning is easy. The scanner offers one button to set it to color or black and white mode and another to set it to 300 or 600 pixels per inch (ppi). Simply choose your settings, and then scan. Just as important, there isn't much of a learning curve. I got acceptable scans starting with my first try, both for recognizing text, and for scanning photos well enough for, say, scanning an article and winding up with recognizable images in the photos.

Recognizing Text
In addition to setting up the hardware, you can optionally install Abbyy Screenshot Reader, which comes with the scanner and offers a limited ability to translate images of text into editable text. However, it's important to understand that Screenshot Reader is an OCR (optical character recognition) utility rather than a full-fledged OCR program.

The PDS-ST415-VP scans to JPG image file format. An OCR program would be able to recognize the text for at least one full file at a time. Screenshot Reader recognizes text showing on screen, and it can recognize only as much text as can fit on the screen.

Depending on your screen resolution, you may need to recognize a letter-size page of text in two or more pieces. In my tests using a 1,280 by 1024 screen resolution, for example, with the image zoomed in Photoshop to 33 percent and the text just fitting within the screen width, I had to recognize each page in three sections.

At smaller zoom sizes I could recognize more of the page, but the recognition accuracy dropped. At 33 percent zoom, the program read our Arial test page at font sizes as small as 8 points without a mistake and our Times New Roman test page at 12 points. At 12.5 percent, which is the largest zoom size that showed the full page at once, it couldn't read any font size without mistakes.

Other Issues
It's worth mention that although not needing a computer for scanning has the advantage of giving you less to carry with you, it has a disadvantage too. You can't see the scan and confirm that it's good enough to be usable until you connect to a computer, at which point you may no longer have the original handy to rescan. Depending on the situation, you may be better off skipping the scanner and taking a photo instead, so you can check the image quality on your camera or cameraphone's screen.

You can't count this too heavily against the PDS-ST415-VP, because it's pretty much standard today for portable scanners that don't need a computer, including, for example, the IRIScan anywhere 2 ($199, 3 stars) from I.R.I.S. and the Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner/Converter PanScn06 ($149.99, 3 stars). One the few exceptions is the Editors' Choice Visioneer Mobility ($199.99 direct, 4 stars), which lets you scan to a smartphone and see the results on the spot.

Despite this limitation, if you want to use a scanner rather than a camera, and you want one that's portable enough to carry with you virtually all the time, the PDS-ST415-VP is definitely in the running. When you compare prices with the alternatives, keep in mind that you'll need to buy a memory card and may want a more capable OCR program or a document management program as well. Even so, the VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VP is a more than reasonable choice. It has little to no learning curve, it's easy to use, and its scan quality is up to the task.

More Scanner Reviews:
??? VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VP
??? Pandigital Personal Scanner/Converter-5x7 PanScn04
??? IRISphoto 4
??? Kodak i2600
??? Kodak i2400
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/xQiiGP8FN8c/0,2817,2397986,00.asp

melanie amaro new air jordans the patriot jeff dunham night at the museum young guns concord

Nigeria sect clashes kill at least 68: officials (Reuters)

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) ? Gun battles between Nigerian security forces and an Islamist sect killed at least 68 people in two days of fighting in northern Nigeria, authorities and hospital sources said on Saturday.

Militant group Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic sharia law across the country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, has been blamed for scores of shootings and bombings in Nigeria's remote, semi-arid northeast, including a spate of attacks in the past few weeks.

Nigeria's army killed more than 50 members of the sect during fighting on Thursday and Friday in the northeastern city of Damaturu, the force's chief of staff Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika said in comments published in local media.

Three soldiers also died, he added.

"There was a major encounter with Boko Haram in Damaturu and we overran their stronghold and their ammunition site," Ihejirika said.

"They came with sophisticated and heavy weaponry including GPMGs (machine guns) and bombs but our trained soldiers subdued them."

Hospital sources in Damaturu said they had counted 50 bodies so far, but most of the dead were civilians.

"So far 50 bodies have been deposited at the mortuary by the military and police operatives," a hospital worker told Reuters by telephone. "They were ... seven policemen, two soldiers and 41 civilians."

In a separate incident in the city on Friday, suspected sect members opened fire on a group of policemen shortly after prayers, killing four, police said.

Residents said Damaturu was quiet on Saturday, but surveyed by a heavy military and police presence.

"Everywhere is so tense here. There's nobody on the street except security men. The bodies of those killed are being removed from the mortuary ... Our town is virtually a ghost town," Usman Mamman, a Damaturu resident, said by telephone.

CLASHES INCREASING

At least 11 people were killed in another shootout in the remote northeastern city of Maiduguri, Boko Haram's heartland on the threshold of the Sahara and bordering Chad, Niger and Cameroon, on Thursday, a morgue official said.

Clashes between security forces and the sect, whose name roughly translates as "Western education is forbidden," have become increasingly frequent in the past couple of weeks, as the north's simmering conflict escalates.

There was no immediate comment from Boko Haram, which rarely makes public statements.

Before this year, the Islamist insurgency was largely contained in its heartland in Maiduguri. It has since has spread to other parts of the north, including neighboring Yobe state, where Damaturu lies.

The town was the scene of the most deadly Boko Haram assault to date, when 65 people were killed in a wave of shootings and bombings on November 5 that left churches, police stations and mosques reduced to smoldering rubble.

This year the Islamists struck the capital Abuja twice, including a suicide car bomb attack against the U.N. headquarters that killed 26 people.

President Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian who has dismissed the Islamist rebellion as "a temporary setback," made no mention of the violence in a statement on Saturday afternoon to mark this year's Christmas celebrations. He focused instead on his economic "promise of national transformation."

(Additional reporting by a reporter in Maiduguri; Writing by and additional reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111224/wl_nm/us_nigeria_violence

blanche gloria allred black friday ads 2011 black friday ads 2011 pacquiao vs marquez pacquiao vs marquez junior dos santos

How to Make Wander-ing Instagram Pen Pals [Apps]

Sure, you could remotely wander about a foreign city with Google Earth but you don't get any sort of feel for the local culture that way, just a superficial view of its storefronts. The Wander app instead connects you with an actual local for a guided Instagram tour. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/FI1MQ1BR-78/make-instagram-pen-pals-with-the-wander-app

when is daylight savings 2011 what time is it lsu vs alabama cain gingrich debate andy rooney dies andy rooney dies bank transfer day

Teen Mom Shockers: Who's Losing Her Baby? Who's Ruined By Stardom? Who's Getting Engaged?!

The cast of Teen Mom 2 is in turmoil these days.

Which adorable tyke featured on the MTV show might be forced to grow up without the love of their parents? Which star is considering getting remarried already?

OK! has the full rundown in its new cover story.

Eight months after her divorce from Corey Simms, Leah Messer is talking engagement with Jeremy Calvert, the boyfriend who lives with her and her twin daughters.

Ali and Aleeah have been a major focal point of Season 2 of Teen Mom 2, but we already know that Leah and Corey split up, and the 19-year-old is happier for it.

Corey is not happy with this new arrangement, however. “I’d die for my girls,” Corey told a pal. “Jeremy is not there to replace me. No one will keep me from them.”

As viewers of this week's Teen Mom 2 saw, Corey and Leah’s love for the girls is strong, but their marriage unraveled very quickly and with a lot of hard feelings.

Now Leah is intent on Jeremy becoming a father to the girls.

“Leah is going full steam ahead, she loves that Jeremy is acting like a father to the girls,” says the insider. “She is more than fine with him taking [Corey Simms'] place. She doesn’t see anything wrong with it and is happy to be moving on.”

Meanwhile ...

• Chelsea Houska has remained devoted to her baby daddy Adam Lind, but his latest eff-up may be one more reason for her to cut him out of baby Aubree’s life forever. “He also seems to have a drinking problem,” says the insider.
• On a related note, despite Jenelle Evans’ vows to stay sober after completing rehab in California last June, insiders say she’s not sober and she’s no closer to reclaiming custody of her son, Jace, from her mother, Barbara.
• Sources say "stardom totally ruined Jenelle" and that "very little has changed ... her relationship with her mother is terrible. She has almost no real relationship with her son. She’s not a bad person, but she’s acting like an idiot.”
• Kailyn Lowry fears that one day she’ll be unable to pay her rent, and will lose her home and her baby, Isaac. “Kailyn never knows one day to the next if she and Isaac will even have a roof over their heads,” says an insider.
• On the original Teen Mom front, Amber Portwood was jailed for violating the terms of her probation. She may be there all the way until mid-January.
• Court papers cite her getting fight at an IHop in November, failure to pay fines, not completing anger management classes and other infractions, topped off by her inability to produce a prescription for medication found on her this week.

Crazy girls. Crazy times.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/teen-mom-shockers-whos-losing-her-baby-whos-ruined-by-stardom-wh/

bill conlin clippers kendall jenner plane crash plane crash kardashian christmas card lori berenson

Built-in 'self-destruct timer' causes ultimate death of messenger RNA in cells

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered the first known mechanism by which cells control the survival of messenger RNA (mRNA) ?arguably biology's most important molecule. The findings pertain to mRNAs that help regulate cell division and could therefore have implications for reversing cancer's out-of-control cell division. The research is described in today's online edition of the journal Cell.

"The fate of the mRNA molecules we studied resembles a Greek tragedy," said the study's senior author, Robert Singer, Ph.D., co-director of the Gruss Lipper Biophotonics Center and professor and co-chair of anatomy and structural biology at Einstein. "Their lifespans are determined at the moment of their birth." The study was carried out in yeast cells using advanced microscope technology developed previously by Dr. Singer that has allowed scientists, for the first time, to observe single molecules in single cells in real time.

Directions for making proteins are encoded in the DNA sequences of genes, which reside on chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell. But for proteins to be made, a gene's DNA code must be copied, or transcribed, onto mRNA molecules, which migrate from the nucleus and into the cytoplasm where the cell's protein-making machinery is located. For as long as it exists, an mRNA molecule can act as a template for making copies of a protein. So scientists have long suspected that cells must have ways for degrading mRNAs when, for example, a protein starts accumulating to harmful levels. "The cell somehow decides to destroy its mRNA on cue, but nobody knew how this happens," said Dr. Singer.

In their search for such a mechanism, Dr. Singer and his colleagues focused on two genes, SWI5 and CLB2, which code for proteins that regulate the cell cycle?the complex series of steps during which a cell divides, first duplicating its genetic material and then distributing it evenly to two daughter cells. To properly choreograph the cell cycle, the levels of the proteins encoded by the SWI5 and CLB2 genes must be exquisitely controlled?suggesting that the mRNAs made from these genes would be prime candidates for purposeful degradation. Remarkably, the researchers found that these mRNAs are, in effect, born with molecular "self-destruct timers" that ultimately destroy them.

When genes are transcribed, a part of the gene called the promoter region has the job of switching on the gene so that DNA will be copied into mRNA. The Einstein scientists found that the promoter regions of the SWI5 and CLB2 genes do something else as well: they recruit a protein called Dbf2p, which jumps onto mRNA molecules as they're being synthesized.

These mRNAs?transcribed from the SWI5 and CLB2 genes and bearing the Dbf2p protein?make their journey from the nucleus into the cytoplasm. Here a protein called Dbf20p joins Dbf2p aboard the mRNA molecules?and the two proteins together call for the molecules' precipitous decay.

"Our findings indicate that genes making proteins whose levels must be carefully controlled contain promoter regions that sentence their mRNA molecules to death even as the mRNA is being born," said Dr. Singer. "The promoter regions do that by 'marking' the newly made mRNA with the protein Dbf2p?the common factor between mRNA synthesis and its ultimate decay. Dbf2p stays attached to the mRNA from its birth and then, responding to a signal indicating that no more protein should be made, orders mRNA's destruction."

While these observations pertain to yeast cells, Dr. Singer said he is confident that the process governing mRNA decay in humans "will prove to be very similar" and could be relevant for combating cancer. "Once you gain insight into the mechanisms controlling the cell cycle and cell division," he noted, "you can propose targeted therapies for regulating the uncontrolled cell division that characterizes cancer."

###

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: http://www.einstein.yu.edu

Thanks to Albert Einstein College of Medicine for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 26 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116279/Built_in__self_destruct_timer__causes_ultimate_death_of_messenger_RNA_in_cells

october 21 2011 ohio ohio john beck john beck mariska hargitay gmcr

Report: Pop star healthy, home for Christmas (AP)

VIENNA ? Austria's state broadcaster says British pop star George Michael has been released from a Vienna hospital and will be able to celebrate Christmas at home.

The 48-year-old was being treated for pneumonia. Broadcaster ORF says he was released Thursday morning from the AKH hospital and is catching a flight to London later in the day.

A woman answering the hospital phone said she could not comment due to confidentiality laws.

The former front man for the pop group "Wham" was hospitalized late last month after canceling a performance in the Austrian capital.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_en_mu/eu_austria_people_george_michael

trent richardson apple cup jewelry stores the firm sleep no more cyber monday deals war eagle

Nintendo completes 3DS Ambassador program, delivers ten GBA games to early adopters

If you've still got the 3DS price drop blues, perhaps a fresh (and final) infusion of free games will help. Early adopters that signed into the Nintendo eShop before August 11th will find ten GameBoy Advance games tacked on to their handheld's purchase history, retrievable via the same clunky redownload system that delivered the 3DS Ambassador program's NES titles. Thankfully, the unintuitive process is relatively simple -- just hop into the eShop's menu, scroll down to "Settings / Other", and select "Your Downloads," to claim your (potentially-exclusive) games. Short of having a 3DS guide us through the Louvre, we can't think of a better use for Nintendo's fledgling handheld.

Nintendo completes 3DS Ambassador program, delivers ten GBA games to early adopters originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/efS0wbYVcTQ/

road house who do you think you are frank mccourt ricin in god we trust ben gibbard zooey deschanel

Death toll in Philippines typhoon rises to more than 130 (Reuters)

MANILA (Reuters) ? The death toll from a typhoon in the southern Philippines rose to more than 130, government and army officials said on Saturday, with some domestic flights grounded and wide areas left without power.

Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90 km/h (56 mph), hit the resource-rich southern island of Mindanao, bringing heavy rain that caused flash floods in the island's two main cities, as well as a landslide in a remote mining area.

An army spokesman said emergency workers had recovered 97 bodies, most of them children, who drowned in floods in Cagayan de Oro City. Another 40 people also drowned in Iligan City.

(Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/wl_nm/us_philippines_weather

student loan forgiveness amy winehouse cause of death amy winehouse cause of death white witch white witch occupy san francisco

Repairman charged in 2010 NYC elevator accident (AP)

NEW YORK ? A grand jury has indicted a repairman on criminal charges in an elevator accident that maimed a woman visiting a New York City hospital.

Brooklyn prosecutors say maintenance worker Jason Jordan wrongly disabled a safety switch that was supposed to stop the elevator from moving with its doors open.

Last Christmas, a 47-year-old woman was getting onto the elevator at SUNY Downstate Medical Center when it lurched into motion. Her arm and leg were trapped and crushed, but she survived.

Jordan was charged Thursday with assault and reckless endangerment. He says it was an accident and happened after he left the hospital.

The case is unrelated to a fatality Wednesday, when an advertising executive stepping into a Manhattan elevator was dragged and crushed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_us/us_elevator_injury

telenav telenav wade phillips wade phillips new orleans hornets chris paul time person of the year

Stocks, euro slide as worries about Europe persist (AP)

NEW YORK ? A growing sense that Europe's leaders have failed to contain that region's debt crisis swept through financial markets Wednesday.

It started with the euro dropping below $1.30 for the first time since January and a jump in borrowing costs for Italian government debt. By the end of the trading day the Dow had lost 131 points, European stock indexes fell as much as 3 percent and gold dropped $76, ending below $1,600 an ounce for the first time in more than two months.

Investors dumped assets that might be seen as risky and piled into the most conservative ones around: the dollar and U.S. government debt.

The market appears to be in "sell now and ask questions later mode," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial.

Since European leaders reached an agreement to rein in future government budget deficits last week, investors and credit rating agencies have criticized the deal for failing to address current problems. "Markets are impatient," Canally said. "They still can't see how all these efforts will get this situation stabilized."

Italy had to pay higher borrowing rates in its last bond auction of the year Wednesday. The euro zone's third-largest economy paid 6.47 percent interest to borrow euro3 billion ($3.95 billion) for five years, up from 6.30 percent just a month ago. The higher rates make it more expensive for Italy to borrow money and reflect rising doubts that the country will be able to repay its debts.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 131.46 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 11,823.48. Caterpillar Inc. fell 4.4 percent, the worst drop among the 30 stocks in the Dow.

Canally said the fear that another bank failure will lead to a financial crisis like Lehman Brothers did in 2008 overshadows everything else, he said. Markets are so jittery now that traders see a slight drop in the euro or a small rise in Italian government bond yields as a step toward a wider collapse.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 13.91 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,211.82. The Nasdaq fell 39.96, or 1.6 percent to 2,539.31.

Gold dropped 4.6 percent to settle at $1,586, the lowest closing price since July. Commodity prices tend to fall when the dollar gains strength, since a stronger dollar makes it more expensive for investors using other currencies to buy commodities, which are priced in dollars.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 1.91 percent from 1.96 percent late Tuesday as demand increased for ultrasafe assets. High demand for U.S. government debt helped the government sell $13 billion in 30-year bonds at a record low rate of 2.92 percent. In a note to clients, strategists at Nomura said "the insatiable appetite" for Treasurys at such low yields implies that bond buyers are readying themselves for "the end-of-the-euro-trade."

The dollar also rose against other currencies. The euro shed about a penny against the dollar to $1.29 and has now lost 3 percent in three days.

European markets fell broadly. Germany's DAX dropped 1.7 percent; France's main stock index lost 3.3 percent.

Energy stocks led the U.S. stock market lower after the price of crude oil lost $5 to $94.95 a barrel. Apache Corp. shed 5 percent and Chevron Corp 2.9 percent.

First Solar Inc. plunged 21 percent, the biggest drop in the S&P 500, after the country's largest solar company slashed its earnings estimate for the year. The solar industry has been hit hard by slower economic growth around the world and as government funding for alternative energy projects has dried up.

Avon jumped 5 percent, the largest gain in the S&P 500. The company announced late Tuesday that its CEO, Andrea Jung, will step down. The cosmetics company has been struggling with erratic financial results and is under scrutiny by regulators.

The Dow is now down 3 percent for the week, while S&P has lost 3.5 percent. The Nasdaq is down 4 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

cerebral palsy powerball lenny dykstra top chef texas stanley tucci stanley tucci x factor voting