Author: Serkadis

Firefox 3.6 just came out last week and, among a long list of new features and updates, one thing that Mozilla touted is its performance improvements in several key aspects such as JavaScript rendering, startup time and the overall responsiveness of the software. The people over at Computerworld decided to put Mozilla’s words to the tes… (read more)

As we’re sure you know, Toyota is trying to deal with its largest recall ever – approximately 4 million cars are affected by what appears to be a safety issues concerning the accelerator pedal. Although some voices said that the problem was actually caused by some incompatible floor mats – which blocked the accelerator pedal and continued accelerating the car – it seems like it all happens due to a faulty pedal that could get stuck in some cases.

Obviously, dealing with such a problem could p… (read more)

MTV execs are pumping their fists and putting their feet down: Jersey Shore scored record-breaking ratings in the final episode of its first season, nonetheless the stars of this season’s controversial reality smash aren’t getting very far in their tense salary negotiations with network bosses.

Sources tell TMZ that the network has informed the cast of Jersey Shore that if they don’t accept MTV’s salary terms by close of the day on Monday, they will be replaced. The cast members who don’t snap up the network’s offer of a $10,000 signing bonus and $10,000 per episode for a second season of drunken partying Seaside Heights, NJ, will be fired and dropped from the series.

We hear network execs already have replacements waiting in the wings — just in case J-Woww, Sammi, and others continue playing hardball. But can anyone really replace Snooki or The Situation?

Approximately 4.8 million viewers tuned in for Jersey Shore’s season finale last Thursday, a 30 percent increase over last week’s previous series-high ratings. The reunion special immediately following the finale brought in an additional 4 million viewers.

Toyota has revealed the 2010 Auris facelift’s specifications for the UK Market, unfortunately without releasing any new images of the car. Maybe this is because the company acknowledges that the revised Auris is too boring to look at and doesn’t want to hear that from the public until the Geneva Auto Show, when the car’s European Premiere is due.

The 2010 Auris range is offered in three versions. The entry level of the range, expected to account for around 80 percent of UK sales, is the TR m… (read more)

The options market doesn’t have much faith in latest Treasuries’ strength whereby 10-year bonds hit yields of only 3.61%.

Options are pricing in higher levels of interest rate volatility going forward, which implies greater price swings for government bonds.

If options traders prove correct, these could very likely be negative price swing.

Bloomberg: Barclays Capital indexes show interest-rate volatility rose from a six-month low in November on speculation borrowing costs will increase as the improving economy allows the Federal Reserve to remove the unprecedented cash it pumped into the financial system. At the same time, confidence in the outlook for profits helped push the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index to an almost two-year low this month.

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See Also:

• Mysterious Direct Bidding Strength Leads Traders To Suspect A Massive Hidden Treasury Buyer
• Long Term Treasury Yields Scream 2007
• Eric Sprott: The Fed Is A Ponzi, The Treasury Purchase Data Is A Lie

A chloroplast is an organelle found only in plant cells. Chloroplasts are the site of photosynthesis in the plant cell. They contain the green pigment that causes plants and leaves to look green.

Each chloroplast is tiny, only a few micrometers wide. A typical plant cell contains about 30 chloroplasts, but some cells, such as those at the surface of a leaf, can have more.

The chloroplast has a complex internal structure. It has its own lipid bilayer membrane and contains stacks of internal membranes called grana (singular granum). These stacks contain individual units called thylakoids. The membranes within the thylakoids contain the molecules that capture light energy from sunlight for use in photosynthesis.

The energy is absorbed and passed on through a series of chemical reactions and is used to power reactions in the stroma (the space between the grana) that build sugars from carbon dioxide and water. This overall reaction, is photosynthesis and it is the source of all the food energy that exists on Earth.

Stocks in Asia and Europe got hammered while you were sleeping, but good news, Ben Bernanke will probably get reconfirmed, which is good enough news to earn us back some of what we lost on Friday.

S&P futures are up a bit less than 1%.

The dollar index is marginally lower, as your strong-dollar dreams go out the window.

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See Also:

• Next Up: Japan’s Nikkei Off 1.6% In Early Trading
• It’s Monday In Australia, As The Global Selloff Begins Week 2
• The US Pulls Bank From The Brink Of Being A Banana Republic, Bernanke Likely Reconfirmed

Article Tags: Satire, YouTube

Sent in by mrxyz, German film with wrong English subs.

Source: youtube.com

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Wikileaks is an incredibly useful and important site, but there are many (mainly in the government) who would prefer it go away. It’s somewhat upsetting to find out that PayPal has (for the second time) frozen all of WikiLeaks’ assets. Apparently, the last time this happened it took nearly six months to resolve. That seems problematic:

Paypal has as of 23rd of January 2010 frozen WikiLeaks assets. This is the second time that this happens. The last time we struggled for more than half a year to resolve this issue. By working with the respected and recognized German foundation Wau Holland Stiftung we tried to avoid this from happening again — apparently without avail.

Update: Wikileaks has now removed this message from its website, so it appears that things have been resolved. I’m a bit confused, however, as to why Wikileaks continues to use PayPal given this issue.

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A darker version of the Harley-Davidson Touring motorcycle recently made its debut in the US, the American motorcycle manufacturer announced. The 2010 Harley-Davidson Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) Ultra Classic Electra Glide, in Crimson Mist Black / Dark Slate with flame graphics, will be limited to 999 units and will have a suggested retail price of $36,499.

Each motorcycle will therefore be serialized from one to 999, and will feature Contrast Chrome Roulette wheels, the Rumble Collection… (read more)

You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try.

Hard as it is to believe, John McCain was on a Sunday Talk Show yesterday. I’ll give you a moment to get over your shock…

…okay.

In the wake of last week’s atrocious Supreme Court Decision Citizens United v. FEC (aka NASCAR as political model) Mr. Maverick revealed the commitment he has to the one issue he’s actually had a modest legislative success in:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), co-crafter of landmark campaign finance legislation in his career, said he thought not much could be done to counter the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to lift long-held restrictions on corporate donations to political candidates.

McCain would obviously have been completely worthless if he was around when Plessy v. Ferguson or Dred Scott came down — oh, that’s right he was.

But then again, shrugging and saying “oh well” does seem to be bipartisan.

Audi has just announced pricing for the R8 Spyder road car that will hit the market in spring this year, with the cheapest model to be offered with a price tag of £111,955 OTR for the manual version and £117,155 OTR for the R tronic.

The R8 V10 Spyder is powered by a 5.2-liter FSI engine that develops a maximum output of 525 PS and features "additional weight-saving carbon fiber composite panels as well as the all-important fully automatic lightweight fabric hood," as the manufactur… (read more)

Is Brad Pitt’s brother behind the alleged breakup of Hollywood’s Golden Couple. Brad’s younger brother reportedly begged the actor to end his nearly five year love affair with Angelina Jolie because their family was being torn apart by the relationship, London’s The Sun said Sunday.

Brother Doug Pitt, 41, visited Brad in New York over Christmas and urged him to pull the plug on the relationship because it was making the actor and his family unhappy, the tabloid claims. It is no secret that Brad’s mom, Jane Pitt, has never been close to Angelina and still frequently speaks to the actor’s ex-wife, actress Jennifer Aniston.

“Brad’s family are being more vocal with their doubts over the relationship. The only thing they still have in common is their kids. That’s keeping them together at the moment.”

Angelina is also reported to have had an affair with a Russian teacher while filming her latest movie Salt.

Despite having never married, reports Sunday claimed the couplevisited a top Beverly Hills divorce lawyer and signed a $330 million split deal to divide their assets. The News of The Word report also claimed the couple will share custody of their six children who will live full-time with Angelina.

Like BoomTown, Bill Gates was at the Sundance Film Festival this past weekend–not just to sample some of the fare at the well-known independent film festival, held annually in Park City, Utah–but also to appear at the screening of a documentary about the crisis in public education in which he appears and that scored the first distribution deal at the event.

The worldwide rights for “Waiting for Superman,” which was directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Participant Media, was sold to Paramount Vantage, a unit of the Viacom (VIA) movie studio.

The film premiered Friday at Sundance, with Gates in attendance. The Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder took questions at the screening, and also made it to several Sundance events, surprising several film types.

“I couldn’t believe it was him,” said one participant at a filmmakers gathering.

Yes, it was him, especially since issues in public education have been a big focus on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he has been spending most of his time since leaving day-to-day work at the software giant in 2008.

Interestingly, Participant–along with Guggenheim–put out “An Inconvenient Truth,” the global warming doc starring former VP Al Gore, which was a huge success.

And, in yet another Silicon Valley connection, Los Angeles-based Participant was founded by former eBay (EBAY) exec Jeff Skoll.

Here’s highlights from a terrific interview that Walt Mossberg did with Melinda Gates at the sixth D: All Things Digital conference in 2008, where she talked eloquently about the problems faced by U.S. schoolchildren:

And here’s the press release from Participant on the “Superman” deal:

HOLLYWOOD, CA (January 21, 2010)–Worldwide rights for the new documentary from Oscar®-winning director Davis Guggenheim (AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) and Participant Media have been acquired by Paramount Vantage, it was announced today by Adam Goodman, Paramount Film Group President and by Participant Media’s CEO Jim Berk.

The documentary will have its world premiere tomorrow, January 22, at the Sundance Film Festival. Paramount Vantage will release the movie in the fall of 2010 in the U.S. with international release dates not yet determined.

The studio’s specialty division Paramount Classics released Guggenheim’s acclaimed AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH in 2006. The influential documentary, financed and executive produced by Participant Media, received two Academy Awards®, and was a worldwide box office hit, grossing more than $24 million in the U.S. and nearly $50 million worldwide.

The new film, developed, financed and executive produced by Participant Media, examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories–from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system.

The documentary features several leaders in the field of education, including philanthropist Bill Gates of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone in Harlem, New York Geoffrey Canada; Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools Michelle Rhee; Knowledge is Power Program Founders (KIPP) David Levin and Mike Feinberg; and President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation Bill Strickland.

Six-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist, concert performer and philanthropist John Legend composed the end title song “Shine.” Legend’s own Show Me campaign uses education to break the cycle of poverty through sustainable development at the individual, family, and community levels.

Said Paramount’s Goodman: “Our commitment to this movie and the issue of education is urgently important to all of us at Paramount. In collaboration with our partners, we hope to bring about a real solution.”

Said Davis Guggenheim: “With these two great partners, Participant Media and Paramount Pictures, we have a chance to create public awareness around this issue, and this is the only way we can make real change in our children’s schools.”

Said Jim Berk, CEO, Participant Media: “The movie creates an emotional personal connection to an issue which underpins the very future of our country. By reuniting with our good friends at Paramount, we have the chance to build on our ground breaking partnership on AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH to launch a national conversation from movie theaters, to kitchen tables all across the country.”

“It’s wonderful to have Paramount as partners on this film,” says the film’s producer, Lesley Chilcott, who was also a producer on AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. “It’s crucial to have experts like Paramount and Participant that understand the power of a film to create urgency about an important issue. We need to get the message out there. Millions of kids are waiting.”

The film is directed and produced by Davis Guggenheim. Lesley Chilcott is the producer, with Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann serving as executive producers. Written by Davis Guggenheim and Billy Kimball. The cinematographers are Erich Roland and Bob Richman. Greg Finton, Jay Cassidy, and Kim Roberts served as the editors.

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By Lynn Cowan, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

A name change, not making any money, a lot of debt: If that description sounds like a recipe for a dicey online date, then investors might want to apply the same principles to the coming week’s IPO of Web-site operator FriendFinder Networks Inc.

FriendFinder, which operates more than a dozen Web sites aimed primarily at people looking for relationships or flings, changed its name 18 months ago from Penthouse Media Group. It isn’t profitable, and until recently was in default on its debt covenants.

It struck a deal in October with its creditors to waive its defaults in exchange for all the money it raises in its initial public offering.

It is hoping for $200 million in net proceeds from the sale of 20 million shares through RenCap Securities and Ledgemont Capital Markets LLC, according to its prospectus, with an estimated price range of $10 to $12, and a listing on the New York Stock Exchange with symbol FFN.

The company is portraying itself as a potential catch in the social-networking industry, a sector that has few stand-alone stocks and a lot of buzz. It describes itself as a leading “social networking and multimedia entertainment company,” and in prerecorded roadshows compares itself with privately held Facebook Inc. and MySpace, owned by News Corp. (NWS), publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

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Washington-based real estate agent Stacie Turner is the most recent power-player tapped to join the cast of Bravo’s forthcoming docu-soap, The Real Housewives of Washington, DC, Washingtonian Magazine has learned. According to her website, Stacie graduated from Howard University in 1990 and earned an MBA from Harvard in 1996. A member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Stacie also works with Jack & Jill of America. Turner lives in Northwest DC with her husband, two children, and their chocolate lab.

If you’re in the market for a classic Ferrari or just want to add something special to your personal collection, your timing couldn’t be better. Five very rare Ferraris will be auctioned in Monaco, alongside other exotic cars. According to rumors, the cars are part of an anonymous owner’s private collection.

A Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France is thought to be the most important item auctioned. The car was sold in the United States in 1958 and has only covered 17,500 kilometers, so it’s practical… (read more)

We all love a good debate about how the tech giants of today are competing with each other, but rarely do we get a handy reference sheet like this to point people to. Nick Bilton of the New York Times has put together a segment-by-segment comparison between America’s tech heavyweights, which does a fine job of pinpointing who competes with whom and where. We find the gaps in coverage more intriguing than the overlaps, though, with Microsoft’s only unticked box — mobile hardware — raising habitual rumors of a Pink phone. Apple’s absence from the provision of mapping services might also soon be at an end, given the company acquired map maker Placebase in July of last year (see Computerworld). Anyway, there should be plenty more for you to enjoy, so hit the source for the full chart and get analyzin’.

Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo compared at the macro level originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With HTML5 getting a big boost last week, after both YouTube and Vimeo rolled out versions of their sites based on the proposed web standard, some people were wondering why neither of them work on Firefox. It has to do with the codec both sites use, h.264, which is patented by the MPEG-LA and not with the broader HTML5 support in Firefox whi… (read more)