[Emirates 24/7] A spokesman for the actor and former California Governor issued a statement announcing the news Monday night.
The statement from Schwarzenegger and Shriver says that after "a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion and prayer," they decided to live apart while they work on the future of their relationship.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
About time he ditched that skinny lib and got a real woman. I wonder if it would have made a difference in his governatorship if he'd done it sooner?
#9
In the last years of the Administration, Maria and Susan Kennedy, cigar smoking, lesbian Democrat Chief of Staff, ran the state. Arnold showed up for work 3-4 days a week by flying (daily) from Santa Monica. Aside from periodic attempts to be engaged, more and more he abdicated business to those two and became more insulated. After getting repudiated at the polls early in the administration with all found of his reform propositions being soundly defeated, I really think he just gave up and coasted.
[Al Jazeera] Tunisia has set up an independent body for elections planned in July to shape the country's post-revolution future.
The elections, scheduled for July 24, will select an assembly to draw up a new constitution in the North African country after an uprising toppled ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January.
Tunisia has struggled to restore order since Ben Ali's ousting and Beji Caid Essebsi, the interim prime minister, has raised the possibility that the vote may be postponed because of technical difficulties.
However, The obscurantist However... any delay could ignite large protests against the government by people who fear the interim administration will fail to guide Tunisia towards democracy after decades of autocratic rule.
It could also spell more trouble for Tunisia's economy which lacks the oil and gas resources of its neighbours.
Tunisia says it needs billions of dollars in foreign loans to help it emerge from the turmoil which has hit the job market and tourism.
The creation of the promised independent electoral body to oversee the vote suggests a step in the right direction.
Tunisian news agency TAP said 13 people had been chosen late on Monday to serve on the committee, including lawyers, accountants and university representatives.
Tension has been running high in the countdown to the vote, especially after a former interior minister last week raised the prospect of a coup.
Police in the capital, Tunis, used teargas on Sunday to break up a fourth day of demonstrations by scores of youths and have clashed with protesters despite a night curfew aimed at keeping order. The capital however has been calm since Monday.
A Tunisian youth died after being shot by a soldier during protest near Tunis, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency reported on Tuesday. Al Jizz was unable to confirm the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Scotland Yard assures me that the codenames they use to describe operations are randomly selected these days Bumblebee, for instance, didnt have any obvious connections to burglary but the one for President Barack Obamas first state visit this month has still raised eyebrows.
It is, Mandrake hears, Chalaque. In Punjabi, the word is used to describe someone who is cheeky, sharp, crafty and too clever for his or her own good.
One Punjabi speaker tells me that it carries mildly disrespectful connotations and adds it hardly helps matters that it sounds so much like macaque, which she had initially thought I had said.
America cant reasonably take umbrage, however. The codename that the Secret Service chose for Ronald Reagan during his period in the White House was, after all, hardly reverential: Rawhide.
#3
The codename that the Secret Service chose for Ronald Reagan during his period in the White House was, after all, hardly reverential: Rawhide. I am sure there is some potential umbrage-taker who would object to a codename like *gtfsk.
[Al Jazeera] Cubans will be allowed to travel abroad as tourists for the first time in more than 50 years, Compañero Raul Castro's ...Fidel's little brother... government has announced.
That's one way to allow excess population to remove itself.
The government's new economic guidelines, released on Monday, gave no further details on the travel policy or a date at which it would be implemented, but the move was seen as an official decision to authorise foreign travel as part of a series of landmark reforms.
Though travel abroad is not banned outright, there is a de facto ban; Cubans who want to leave the Caribbean island face numerous bureaucratic obstacles, including receiving an invitation letter from abroad.
Then a $150 fee is required for an exit request, which may be denied.
Travel abroad has been limited to 30 days, and the paperwork authorising foreign travel amounts to around $400 - unthinkable for most Cubans, who earn about $20 a month.
Policy shift
The policy shift is part of a series of reforms announced by Raul Castro, the country's president, to give a jolt to Cuba's crippled economy, ostensibly by introducing elements of private enterprise without abandoning socialist principles.
The economic overhaul was approved unanimously last month at a landmark Communist Party Congress, but the final document was not released until Monday.
In other significant changes, Cubans will be allowed to buy and sell automobiles or homes, and bank loans are to become more readily available.
The 313-point guidelines say the state ought to "establish the buying and selling of homes'' for Cuban citizens. There is no mention of how the system will work, what restrictions will be imposed or what taxes might be levied - all crucial to judging the scope of the changes.
The framework also says Cubans should be encouraged to form co-operatives that could function as mid-size companies with many employees. The new guidelines allow such employee-owned businesses to directly sell products to consumers or business owners, without the state operating as an intermediary.
The guidelines also say the state will convert many public buildings into residential properties in an effort to ease severe housing shortages.
Shift to the free market
Since taking over from brother Fidel Castro in 2008, Raul Castro has championed a limited but significant shift to the free market. Last year, he announced that Cubans would be allowed to go into business for themselves in 178 approved enterprises, hire employees and rent out cars and homes.
Castro has also pledged to cut up to 500,000 state jobs and has warned his countrymen that the government can no longer afford the deep subsidies it gives workers.
The guidelines say cuts in the subsidies will continue so that eventually only those with the most need - such as children, the sick and the elderly - will receive benefits.
Currently, all Cubans receive a basic basket of goods through monthly ration books, as well as free education and healthcare, and nearly free housing, utilities and transportation.
The changes aim "to compensate needy people and not subsidise products in general,'' the guidelines say.
Other guidelines make clear the government's desire to eliminate Cuba's unusual dual currency system, legalise the sale of construction material at unsubsidised prices, promote the fishing industry and link sugar prices paid to Cuban producers with prices paid on international markets.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
I'm sure reducing consumption (lining up populace, killing every other one) is somewhere on their short list.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/11/2011 6:56 Comments ||
Top||
High pay and benefits for lifeguards in Newport Beach is the latest example of frustrating levels of compensation for public employees. More than half the citys full-time lifeguards are paid a salary of over $100,000 and all but one of them collect more than $100,000 in total compensation including benefits.
When thinking about career options with high salaries, lifeguarding is probably not one of the first jobs to come to mind. But it apparently should. In one of Orange Countys most desirable beach destinations, Newport Beach, lifeguards are compensated all too well; especially compared with the county annual median household income of $71,735.
It might be time for a career change.
According to a city report on lifeguard pay for the calendar year 2010, of the 14 full-time lifeguards, 13 collected more than $120,000 in total compensation; one lifeguard collected $98,160.65. More than half the lifeguards collected more than $150,000 for 2010 with the two highest-paid collecting $211,451 and $203,481 in total compensation respectively. Even excluding benefits like health care and pension, more than half the lifeguards receive a total salary, including overtime pay, exceeding $100,000. And they also receive an annual allowance of $400 for Sun Protection. Many work four days a week, 10 hours a day.
Now...now... I'm sure nobody in Washington D.C. is even dreaming about doing this. Will they might be past the dreaming stage...
The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today.
Without the ability sell debt due to soaring interest rates, and with severe spending rules in place due to its EU-IMF bailout, Ireland has few ways of spending to stimulate the economy. Today's jobs program includes specific tax increases, including the tax on pensions, aimed at keeping government jobs spending from adding to the national debt.
The tax on private pensions will be 0.6%, and last for four years, according to the report. I'm sure it'll only be on until the spending to stimulate the economy suceeds in actually stimulating the economy.
#2
Now...now... I'm sure nobody in Washington D.C. is even dreaming about doing this. Will they might be past the dreaming stage...
CF, it's already been quietly suggested but there was a very quick withdrawal of the idea. You can bet though that there are folks in Fortress Washington who are watching this very, very carefully.
Remember: US governments from the city to the Federal level are addicted to money as a junkie is addicted to heroin. And never for a single instant forget what a junkie will do to get his fix.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/11/2011 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#3
1930 Because times are tough, we'll open the bridge and charge $ .05 toll until it's fully paid off.
(fast forward 81 years)
2011 Because times are tough, we're going to postpone a toll increase from the current $ 1.00 to $ 1.25
#4
They try stealing my 401K, my guns come out. This government keeps they way its going, and we will have an upheaval against the government that will make McVeigh's bomb look like a firecracker.
Posted by: The Other Beldar ||
05/11/2011 8:53 Comments ||
Top||
#5
They're stealing your 401(k) right now - Quantitative Easing is simply inflation, which is a devaluation of (confiscation of) savings.
#7
1937 Because times are tough, we'll open the bridge and charge $ .50 toll until it's fully paid off.
1955 Paid off, But, we'll keep a $ .25 toll only for maintenance.
(fast forward 56 years)
2011 Because times are tough, we're going to postpone a toll increase from the current $ 6.00 to $ 7.00 but we still need more money to subsidize the buses and ferries from Marin County.
On the table raising the toll during peak periods.
#8
FTA: a rate of 0.6% to the capital value of assets under management in pension funds established in the State.
Note, this is not an INCOME tax but a PROPERTY tax, the total value of the funds is clipped 0.6% per year.
I've owned my home since 1980, and the total amount of property tax I've paid on it since then is getting very close to what I paid for it.
#9
I heard about that 'trial baloon' Mike - but the way I heard it they were thinking about flat out seizing ROA's and 401K's so that the Government can administer it for you - and everyone can have a 'fair' piece of your pie. From each according to his ability - to each according to his need.
Meaning the generational welfare queen down the road who hasn't worked an honest day in their life (sounds like Obama... is that racist?) gets to have what I worked and saved and sacrificed for decades to have.
#10
Same for the guy down the other road who has the fancy boat and TV and RV and bikes... but not a red cent saved for his retirement - he's entitied to a cut of my savings too right? I don't have a boat or TV or RV because I planned ahead and saved - yet the looters in DC just can't wait to start sucking the life out of that nest egg.
#11
they were thinking about flat out seizing ROA's and 401K's so that the Government can administer it for you
The Gubmint doesn't have to seize these funds, they are perfectly capable of attaching so many restrictions to their investment & use that the putative owner of the funds winds up paying a chunk to get something back eventually. For example, the Gubmint could require all (or a portion of) 401K's to be invested in treasury paper.
At this moment the minimal restriction is that the owner must pay ordinary income tax rates on money withdrawn from the funds in a given year. Cashing in an entire 401K could entail tens of thousands in federal income taxes if done in a single year, or only thousands in taxes if done over many years.
I say 'minimal restriction' because the rules for tax deferred retirement funds vary depending on age and other factors. 'Minimal' is as generous as it gets.
#12
Your 401K's? Your money? Tsk, tsk, comrades. This board is populated by a gang of deviationist kulaks.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/11/2011 12:33 Comments ||
Top||
#13
And so the transition from citizens to subjects becomes more clear, and the concept of private property morphs to collectivism under the rubric of social justice and "equality". Too many generations were asleep at the switch, and we lost the educational system to marxists who have taught our children that this is the brave new future.
Get what the wookie was saying when she made the prophetic announcement that her husband was going to be a transformational president?
The feel-good story of the day.
A mob of angry protesters chased a would-be flag burner at Louisiana State University (LSU) off campus Wednesday to chants of "USA, USA." Seriously wrong campus to try this shit on, dude.
As the would-be flag burner read the statement, a crowd around him erupted into cheers and jeers, many shouting "Go to hell, hippie, go to hell." Note: before attempting to burn US flag, always ask yourself, Is this an SEC school?
"The students started yelling obscenities at him. People started throwing bottles at him." And those were just the sorority girls.
Haralson, who filmed the protest, said Haas was surrounded by police officers on horseback and as they protest swelled, they moved him to a safer location. A safer location being San Francisco.
"At that point, all the students began rushing him, continuing to throw trash at him," he said. "He was finally escorted into a cop car in the street and students were banging on the cop car." And I imagine the cops had a few kind words for him also.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/11/2011 19:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I think he should have been allowed to exercise his Constitutional right to express himself by burning the Flag. And he was - he just didn't have the courage to do it while being harassed. Just think how he would be dealt with if he went to, say, Tehran, and drew derogatory cartoons of Mohammed...
#2
I remember one ROTC cadet underclassman, who was rather large and brutal, but somewhat naive. Out of curiosity, he purchased a copy of 'The Militant' from a pimply faced, fat beard selling them on campus.
That lasted until he met a small, but hard, cadet upperclassman, who gave him a righteous snarl about every penny spent on that rag going to buy AK-47s for communists to kill his buddies, etc.
I saw the pimply faced, fat beard, a short time later. Still selling 'The Militant', but now with both his thumbs in metal loop casts. In any event, I think the young underclassman eventually was made into a fine, upstanding officer. A good attitude will take you far.
Here he goes again -- I do believe, he now thinks he is a SEAL
President Barack Obama is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days, senior U.S. officials say, one that will ask those in the Middle East and beyond to reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S.
Oh, the Islamic militants and their supporters are going to loooove hearing that from the leader of the Great Satan. Way to make friends and influence people, your presidentship.
Don't they know that only WE are allowed to reach out and whack people?
Mr. Obama is preparing to deliver that message in a wide-ranging speech, perhaps as early as next week, these officials say. The president intends to argue that bin Laden's death, paired with popular uprisings sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, signal that the time has come to an end when al Qaeda could claim to speak for Muslim aspirations.
Instead that will be done by the Muslim Brotherhood and by Iran...
"It's an interesting coincidence of timing--that he is killed at the same time that you have a model emerging in the region of change that is completely the opposite of bin Laden's model," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser at the White House, said in an interview. Emerging Models:
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood taking over -- check
Lybia: Gaddafi still blowing up everything, and killing folks -- check
Syria: still killing folks -- check
Yemen: still killing folks -- check
Middle East: increase of Muslims rioting, burning and killing of Christians -- check
Yea - right Mr. Rhodes. Rather than "is completely the opposite of bin Laden's model," reads just like bin Laden's model to me.
Algeria: still killing folks -- check
Bahrain: still killing folks -- check
Morocco: still repressing folks -- check
UAE: still repressing folks -- check
Oman: still repressing folks -- check
May we introduce Mr. Rhodes to reality? I don't believe they've yet met.
Bin Laden's death gives Mr. Obama a chance to underscore the belief among many administration officials that the terror leader's relevance had already begun to diminish during the so-called Arab Spring.
Mr. Obama, who has made outreach to the Muslim world a cornerstone of his presidency,
As opposed to fixing his own country...
plans to describe the Islamic world as at a crossroads, said U.S. officials, making the case that bin Laden represented a failed approach of the past while populist movements brewing in the Middle East and North Africa represent the future.
So the Muslim Brotherhood is the future. We kinda knew that...
Mr. Rhodes said timing of the speech remains in flux but Mr. Obama could deliver it before leaving on a five-day trip to Europe on May 23. The White House is already telegraphing the message of the coming speech to the Islamic world by placing American diplomats on Arab television and radio, according to U.S. officials.
The White House is still debating, however, whether Mr. Obama should lay out a concrete plan for revitalizing the stalled Arab-Israeli peace process. As he hasn't laid out a "concrete" plan on anything so far, why start now? Emboldened by his "victory" I guess
I'm sure the Israelis won't mind contributing to the narrative that the Muslim Brotherhood is going to win everything in Sunni-land...
Many Arab governments have been pressing Mr. Obama to publicly outline his own parameters for the creation of an independent Palestinian state as a way to exert more pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visits Washington next week. In other words, throw Israel under the bus
These diplomats said the Mideast's democratic surge is raising expectations among their own populations for an end to the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict. Yep -- as in an end to Israel
These diplomats are lying through their teeth. Their own populations are concentrating on thinking and acting locally -- Israel is only being mentioned in Egypt, now that things are consolidating.
The Muslim Brotherhood has the same need as Mubarak had for an external enemy to focus the rubes...
"We need to sort through these issues as we consider the next steps on a peace process," Mr. Rhodes said. The May 20 Obama-Netanyahu meeting "is a chance for the U.S. and Israel to review the full range of issues, from Iran to the regional change to the peace process."
Arab officials and Mideast peace advocates say there are major risks for the U.S. and Israel in delaying a return to talks.
The existential risk to Israel in returning to talks and being pressured to negotiate away everything they need to survive is, of course, a mere trifle...
There's clearly a lot going on in the region, and there's a case to be made and some are making it,
Who, Mr. Ben-Ami? Name names or shut up.
that now is not the time," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of J-Street,
George Soros's wholly-owned Jewish, anti-Zionist front group...
Mr. Soros is just doing today what he did in Budapest in 1944...
a U.S. lobbying group that advocates Washington laying out its own peace plan, something Israel's government opposes. "But we do believe that the only way to avoid U.N. action on a Palestinian state in a unilateral kind of way is for either the president or prime minister to put forward" a peace plan.
A number of lawmakers have cited Hamas's new alliance with Mr. Abbas as reason for the White House to move slowly in restarting the peace process.
Yes, now that the killers in Hamas are about to subvert the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas...
Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress during his Washington visit as well the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the U.S.'s most powerful pro-Israel lobby.
How does AIPAC's power compare to the most powerful Arab lobby, the most powerful bank lobby, the most powerful union lobby... for some reason no other group is described in this way by reporters.
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, on Tuesday broke with Israel's policy of keeping quiet on the regional turmoil, saying the international community's response to repression of demonstrations in Syria, Lybia and Yemen has been "inconsistent'' and "confusing." In remarks delivered before Mr. Netanyahu's scheduled White House visit, Mr. Lieberman added that the confusion sends a "damaging message to the people of the Middle East, and further erodes the path to peace, security and democracy for our region."
Mr. Obama is also scheduled to meet Jordan's King Abdullah II in Washington next week. The Arab monarch has been at the forefront of Mideast leaders calling for the U.S. to impose its own peace plan on the Israelis and Palestinians. Jordan's population is 60% Palestinian, and the king has faced his own popular protests in recent months.
Even a signed peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians would do nothing to ease the king's internal distress. Pepto Bismol might help, though, applied in large amounts to the distressed area via howitzer.
A signed peace treaty would allow the king to live for some period of time while the 'moderate' Paleos rev up to digest the rest of Israel. Abdullah is a master at staying alive...
Mr. Obama, who has made outreach to the Muslim world a cornerstone of his presidency, plans to describe the Islamic world as at a crossroads, said U.S. officials, making the case that bin Laden represented a failed approach of the past while populist movements brewing in the Middle East and North Africa represent the future.
Both Osama and the 'populist movements' want to establish islamofascism in their countries and elsewhere.
An islamofascistic regime that was established by peaceful means or by violence that did not meet the definition of 'terrorism' is no less evil than a similar regime with terroristic origins.
The enemy is islamofascism. Some but not all islamofascists use terroristic means.
If this really was a 'War on Terror' one might defeat 'Terror' by giving in to islamofascistic political demands. Even for bin Laden terror was just a method, Sharia and Caliphate were his objectives.
So let's defeat Terror by surrendering to Sharia!
Nuts!
Many Arab governments have been pressing Mr. Obama to publicly outline his own parameters for the creation of an independent Palestinian state as a way to exert more pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visits Washington next week.
If the Israeli-Arab conflict was miraculously resolved some other grievance would take its place. Kashmir, Ayodhya, Andalus, Nigeria, Sudan, Ground Zero Mosque, Cartoons etc. None of the above are connected to Israel.
Yeah, we got a guy here with a huge ego and a slippery handle on the facts. You can imagine him ten years from now telling chicks that he was actually boarding the helicopter when the SEALs convinced him to stay home for the good of the country. The story will grow in the telling. (Unless something goes awry, in which case he will promptly turn Holder loose on the SEALs.)
Posted by: Matt ||
05/11/2011 14:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
that he was actually boarding the helicopter when the SEALs convinced him to stay home for the good of the country
I'm sure that is in an upcomming movie script somewhere.
[Al Jazeera] Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, appears set to join the race for the Republican presidential nomination to challenge Barack B.O. Obama in 2012.
The deeply conservative Gingrich ranks among the best-known Republicans in the still-forming group of candidates for next year's contest for the White House.
"I have been humbled by all the encouragement you have given me to run," Gingrich wrote on Monday in his official announcement on Facebook and Twitter. He said he would talk more about his bid on Wednesday on Fox News.
Gingrich also brings considerable negative political baggage: three marriages, a resignation under an ethics cloud while leader of the House, and a tendency to shoot from the hip when speaking.
In 1994, Gingrich led the Republican Party to its first House majority in 40 years. But any Republican candidate could face insurmountable difficulties in defeating the incumbent Obama, who remains personally popular with Americans and has seen his job approval rating rise notably since last week's killing of al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden. ... who abandoned all hope when he entered there... Obama is expected to raise as much as $1bn to finance his bid for re-election, and has proven himself a highly effective campaigner.
History would suggest a difficult path for Gingrich. While many former presidents and candidates for that office have served in the House, the last president to have served as House Speaker was James K Polk, a Tennessee Democrat, in 1844.
Successful presidential candidates more often move into the job from the vice presidency, the Senate or the governorship of one of the 50 states.
Gingrich has made no secret of his White House ambitions. He has been raising money and assembling a campaign team for months and has travelled frequently to states that hold early presidential primary elections or caucuses.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I didn't realize Newt was such a big Obama supporter
Posted by: Bill Griling5080 ||
05/11/2011 1:37 Comments ||
Top||
#2
WMF > US FOUNDING FATHER BEN FRANKLIN SUPPORTED THE RIGHT OF AMERICANS TO ASSASSINATE CORRUPT GOVT. LEADERS + BUREAUCRATS.
Just sayin.
Intehwesting Artic given that HAVE-LIGHTNING-WILL-STRIKE BEN WAS A QUAKER.
D *** NG IT, THE TV BEER COMMERCIAL SAYS BABES + EVERYONE JUST LOVES "THE BENJAMIN" [US dollar denomination].
CREE's public affairs unit released a notice saying they have a prototype that has hit the 230 lumens/watt barrier. That is impressive. Of course what actually counts is what they can produce in quantity with consistent quality. The company does produce a 65 lumen/watt product (the twisty CFL bulbs do about 40-50 lumens/watt) which is easy to use to create luminaires (although not cheap ones). The company has increased sales substantially over the past few years. Much of this is to China (one of their manufacturing plants is in China). I have stock in this company (so do my kids and I think a few Rantburgers do too).
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/11/2011 21:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn]US software giant Microsoft is reportedly poised to announce a deal to buy Internet telephony pioneer Skype as it battles to stay relevant in an online world dominated by Google and Apple.
Technology website All Things Digital cited unnamed sources as saying Microsoft would reveal the acquisition early Tuesday.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer reportedly championed the deal, which was estimated to have a price tag of dollar 8.5 billion in what would be the decades-old technology company's most expensive acquisition to date.
Microsoft did not return an AFP request for comment.
Skype was launched in 2003 by Estonian software developers who were part of the group that created peer-to-peer file-sharing service Kazaa.
Millions of people use Skype to make low cost or free phone calls over the Internet using their computers or smartphones.
Buying Skype could be a way for Microsoft to shed some of its business software image and gain momentum in a hot smartphone market at a time when Internet lifestyles are going mobile.
Skype in January closed a deal to buy Qik, a Caliphornia startup that specializes in allowing people to use smartphones to stream video to Internet-linked friends in real time.
The acquisition came amid surging popularity of video chat using smartphones, tablets and desktop computers.
Skype handled 24.7 per cent of all minutes spent on international phone calls last year and 40 per cent of calls between Skype users were video, Skype chief executive Tony Bates said while announcing the Qik takeover.
Bates said Skype was also continuing its push into living rooms, expanding a line of televisions embedded with its Internet telephony service and even infusing the software in a Blu-ray player made by Panasonic.
Online auction giant eBay in 2009 sold most of its stake in Skype to an investment group that includes the two founders of the Web communications company. That deal valued Skype at dollar 2.75 billion.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
An interesting move for Microsoft. Online I spend money with Amazon, iTunes, eBay, and Netflix. But not much else. But I did buy a small amount of Skype credit to save on cellphone fees... until Google announced a similar service that would be free for at least a year. Since then I've been using nothing but Gmail phone to do my internet telephony. I wonder what Microsoft thinks they can do to make money off virtually the same service Google is giving away for free.
Skype has the advantage of video, though, so maybe Microsoft plans to work the business teleconferencing angle.
#2
FYI WMF > US, FOREIGN MEDIAS CLAIM THAT OSAMA BIN LADEN'S FAMILY [Clan] OWN LARGE STAKES IN THE MICROSOFT + BOEING AIRCRAFT US COMPANIES. BIN LADEN FAMILY SECOND IN THE ARAB-MUSLIM WORLD ONLY TO THE SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC WEALTH.
Many Perts consider the Saudi Royals + Osama'c Clan as effectively one + the same in terms of mutual support + sharing in Econ, Govt. Policy activities.
#4
Companies like MS are sitting on a lot of capital they won't invest in new work because of the irrational unconstrained autocracy in the Beltway. However, leaving it around attracts attention, so its better to do stupid stuff like this with the money than just allow the crooks in Washington to vote/appropriate it to themselves for bread and games.
#7
Sounds like MS isn't going after the consumer market but the business market who might not want (or might not be allowed by law) to have their docs accessable from Google or any other outside entity without strict controls.
And if they integrate it with Office and Outlook (and sharepoint).
Corprate workers are often told nowdays to be careful what they say in email or chat (and perhaps even in voice) - don't say anything you don't want splashed over the New York Times headline. Not to necessarily hide anything - but to avoid embarassment.
#10
#5 'Free' services from Google aren't free - you pay for it with their compromise of your privacy and information.
Well said Lotp. It depends if you value your information over electronic media or not. I do, so I don't use Google. Though Android phones are mighty tempting...
Posted by: Charles ||
05/11/2011 15:32 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Remember that Google has a very interesting definition of the term do no evil.
U.S. government researchers believe the Iran has maintained its tied to al Qaeda, and will seek to increase its influence over al Qaeda in light of the recent death of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. These Iranian al Qaeda connections were initially formed, and subsequently strengthened, by an Iranian organization that specializes in this sort of thing. Bin Laden was not an enthusiastic supporter of the Iranian relationship. But many other al Qaeda leaders were.
Iran also has an organization that specializes in making nice to nasty outfits like al Qaeda. Most people are unaware that Iran has its own Special Forces, the secretive al Quds Force, which seeks out Iranian allies overseas.
The Pima County Regional SWAT team fired 71 shots in seven seconds at a Tucson man they say pointed a gun at officers serving a search warrant at his home.
Jose Guerena, 26, a former Marine who served in Iraq twice, was holding an AR-15 rifle when he was killed, but he never fired a shot, the Sheriff's Department said Monday after initially saying he had fired on officers during last week's raid.
Six days after Guerena was shot, few details about the investigation that brought the SWAT team to the southwest-side home Guerena shared with his wife and their two young sons are known. Guerena's role in the narcotics investigation is unclear and deputies would not comment on what was seized from his home.
Three other homes within a quarter of a mile from Guerena's house, were served search warrants related to the investigation that morning. The addresses and the names of people who live in the other homes have not been made public.
Vanessa Guerena says she heard noise outside their home about 9 a.m. Thursday and woke her husband who had just gone to bed after working a 12-hour shift at the Asarco Mine, she said. There were no sirens or shouts of "police," she said.
Guerena told his wife and son to hide inside a closet and he grabbed the AR-15 rifle, his wife said.
The department says SWAT members were clear when identifying themselves while entering the home.
"Tucson is notorious for home invasions and we didn't want to look like that," said Lt. Michael O'Connor of the Pima County Sheriff's Department. "We went lights and sirens and we absolutely did not do a 'no-knock' warrant."
When five SWAT members broke through the front door Guerena was crouched down pointing the gun at them, said O'Connor.
"The suspect said, 'I've got something for you,' when he saw them," O'Connor said. Guerena's wife denied he said that.
Deputies began shooting.
A deputy's bullet struck the side of the doorway, causing chips of wood to fall on his shield. That prompted some members of the team to think the deputy had been shot, O'Connor said.
The Sheriff's Department put in a call to Drexel Heights fire at 9:43 a.m. requesting assistance with a shooting. But crews were told to hold off.
Guerena was dead by the time they were allowed in the house, fire officials said.
Vanessa Guerena vividly remembers seeing her wounded husband.
"When I came out the officers dragged me through the kitchen and took me outside, and that's when I saw him laying there gasping for air," Vanessa Guerena said. "I kept begging the officers to call an ambulance that maybe he could make it and that my baby was still inside."
The little boy soon after walked out of the closet on his own. SWAT members took him outside to be with his mother.
"I never imagined I would lose him like that, he was badly injured but I never thought he could be killed by police after he served his country," Vanessa Guerena said.
The family's 5-year-old son was at school that morning and deputies say they thought Guerena's wife and his other child would also be gone when they entered the home.
Guerena says there were no drugs in their house.
Deputies said they seized a "large sum of money from another house" that morning. But they refused to say from which of the homes searched that morning they found narcotics, drug ledgers or drug paraphernalia. Court documents showing what was being sought and was found have not been made public. A computer check on Guerena revealed a couple of traffic tickets and no criminal history.
Guerena was a Tucson native and Flowing Wells High School graduate. He joined the U.S. Marines in 2002. He served two tours in Iraq in 2003 and 2005 as part of the Yuma-based MWSS-173 under direct supervision of Master Sgt. Leo Verdugo.
Verdugo was with Guerena's family Tuesday afternoon. He gave them a Marine Corps jacket and gloves to use at Guerena's burial.
"He was an excellent Marine, with a bright future ahead of him," Verdugo said.
"We had just bought a home and he was working graveyard shifts and overtime just to help pay the bills, we were just starting to make this house our home," Vanessa Guerena said.
"I know I can't have him back but I want justice. I want explanations for what happened," she said.
150 home invasions in 2008. Which would seem to indicate that police might expect the people who lived there to be a bit nervous about men prowling around their yards at night.
#2
The department says SWAT members were clear when identifying themselves while entering the home.
"Tucson is notorious for home invasions and we didn't want to look like that," said Lt. Michael O'Connor of the Pima County Sheriff's Department. "We went lights and sirens and we absolutely did not do a 'no-knock' warrant."
This operation has the fingerprints of Sheriff Numnutz (or is his name Dipschitz?) again.
Notorious for home invasions? Serving a warrant? ANYONE can kick down a door, say they're the police, that they have a warrant. ANYONE.
You can count on one thing, the Pima County Sheriff's department will have trouble producing the audio & video recordings made on the scene, they have to lose them and/or edit them sufficiently find them first.
#4
Is a search warrant a public document? Are police and courts required to show it to anyone who asks?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/11/2011 21:05 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Is a search warrant a public document? Are police and courts required to show it to anyone who asks?
In most cities, the initial filing, the original document is filed with the court clerk, but is not public record until the "return" comes back detailing what the cops found. Once a change is filed, the original warrant and the return becomes at that point public record for anyone to see, but you just be physically present to see them. You can request copies once they are public record, but some county governments can really gig you for the cost.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A spokesman for the actor and former California Governor issued a statement announcing the news Monday night.
[Al Jazeera] Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, appears set to join the race for the Republican presidential nomination to challenge 
