Author: Serkadis

23 1/2 Years After Wrongful Conviction, State to Drop Charges against Michael Tillman, Attorneys Anticipate

The following was released today by the MacArthur Justice Center:

WHAT: Ending a 23 1/2 year ordeal for another victim of torture linked to indicted former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge (pictured at right), a Cook County Circuit Court Judge is expected on Thursday to vacate the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Tillman and order a new trial in his case.

It is anticipated  that Cook County Special Prosecutors, who have previously informed the judge that they believe Tillman’s confession was coerced by Area 2 brutality, and that they have no additional evidence of guilt, will then dismiss the 1986 murder charge against Tillman during a hearing Thursday before Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan.

Tillman will then be released, his attorneys anticipate.

Tillman’s petition for a new trial in the case, which stands unopposed by the Special Prosecutors, sets forth evidence that Tillman’s wrongful conviction was hinged on a bogus confession that Burge’s infamous “Midnight Crew” at Area 2 Police Headquarters tortured from him during a three-day interrogation, which included a crude form of waterboarding, suffocation with a plastic bag, beating with a telephone book, and a mock execution at a remote site.

The Prosecutors also have not contested Tillman’s evidence that he was factually innocent of the murder.

Significantly, this is the firm time a Cook County Prosecutor has acknowledged that a Burge victim’s coerced confession was a result of “a pattern and practice of abuse at Area 2 in regards to numerous suspects.”

• WHEN: 9:00 AM on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
• WHERE: Room 500 of Cook County Criminal Courts Building (26th and California)
• WHO:
  • Flint Taylor, Joey Mogul, Sarah Gelsomino, and Ben Elson, Peoples Law Office
  • Locke Bowman, MacArthur Justice Center
  • Representatives of Michael Tillman’s family

BACKGROUND:

Tillman was tortured under the supervision of Area 2 Police Sergeant John Byrne, Burge’s chief henchman, and by several other notorious Area 2 Burge disciples, including detective Peter Dignan.

The atrocities inflicted on Tillman were part of a three-decade spree of torture that Burge and his associates perpetrated against at least 110 African-American suspects from the early 1970s through the early ’90s.

Burge was indicted late last year in connection with the torture allegations, while Byrne, Dignan and their associates remain under Federal investigation.

The Roderick MacArthur Justice Center is an independent, publicly funded law firm, founded in 1985 by Roderick MacArthur.

from freedom, 13 January 2010: “Workers at the car part manufacturers who won a momentous battle for redundancy payment from Ford motor giants last year are still locked in a bitter dispute with their ex-employers over money owed through the pension fund after the collapse of Visteon UK…” more

from email, 13 January 2010: “12 noon onwards. The Non Commercial House was a squatted autonomous space on 165 Commercial Street, London, E1. The project consisted of a giant Free Shop, for people to share, recycle what they dont need, take what they need. It was evicted on 30th November 2009, by high court bailiffs on behalf of the owner The City of London. But the place was taken back! This coming Saturday, 16th of January, is the Grand Re-Opening of the FreeShop. Come along at 12noon, bring items you no longer require that are clogging up your home! more

“Pants on the ground! Pants on the ground! Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground….”

Luvs it! If you can’t stop singing that wacky track from last night’s American Idol Atlanta auditions, you may be interested in learning more about the 62-year-old man behind the infectious mess.

Did you know that General Larry Platt has ties to the Civil Rights Movement? Read All About It Here…..

British creators of the ThermaHelm will launch the £299 helmet on the market in May this year, while a £499 version of the helmet which includes video cameras, GPS and bluetooth, is set to become available in July. Since its unveiling at the end of 2009, ThermaHelm creators received extremely positive feedback from the potential customers, as it is thought to be able to save thousands of lives each year.

According to recent reports, head injuries occur in 80 percent of all motorcyclist fatali… (read more)

A stock portfolio comprised of Russian stocks chosen by a chimpanzee tripled in value during 2009, outperforming 94% of Russian fund managers. That's some serious alpha generation.

The chimp's top picks? Too big to fail banks and commodities:

Daily Mail: The money-wise mape was given cubes representing different companies and asked: 'Lusha where would you like to invest your money this year?'

Pausing briefing to think [sic], she then picked out her eight cubes.

Lusha's top picks included banks where shares soon rose a stunning 600 per cent after large-scale support from the Kremlin to weather the crisis.

She missed out on telecommunications which scored a 240 per cent profit, but went for mining companies, up 150 per cent.

The Russian media heaped more scorn on the investment experts saying: 'Lusha made all serious analysts look like clowns.'

One broker hit back: 'If the experiment had taken place a year earlier, the monkey would not have had enough money to pay for her bananas.'

Insecure much? Perhaps the broker's comeback sounds less lame in Russian.

(Hat tip 'John Smith')

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• IT'S BACK: Russia Revives Plans For A Nuclear Rocket
• Europe Held Hostage As Russia-Belarus Oil Pipeline Talks Collapse
• Did A New Pipeline Just Make Russia The Most Important Energy Superpower By Far?

Lots of folks are talking about the news that RealNetworks founder and longtime CEO, Rob Glaser, is stepping down from the job (though will remain chairman, but without day-to-day operational activities). While several people are pointing out what everyone knows (that RealNetworks has basically disappeared off the online audio/visual map despite dominating the field in the 90s), there hasn’t been a huge discussion on why. Some have suggested that Real just “missed the boat” with things like MP3s and YouTube video — and there’s something to that. But a bigger issue may be that so many people absolutely hate RealNetworks because of its long history of spreading adware through really sneaky and nasty installation techniques that hid the (checked off) approval buttons. It reached a point that lots of people never wanted to have anything to do with Real ever again. It should be a lesson for plenty of companies that look at short term profits over providing the best overall experience for users.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

There’s no doubt that Twitter has managed to create a vibrant ecosystem of third party apps and services around its microblogging platform. When we wrote about oneforty, a social app directory for all things Twitter, last year, the startup’s founder and CEO, Laura Fitton, hinted at the eventual roll-out of an e-commerce marketplace where third-party developers can sell their apps. Last week, we broke the news of the imminent launch of the marketplace and today, the e-commerce platform is officially being launched.

Effective today, developers can integrate with oneforty’s e-commerce tools to sell apps directly through the site. Developers must sell at a minimum price of $0.99, and oneforty will take a 25% commission from each sale. Apps that are sold above a certain price ($14.50) will have their commission fees dropped to 20%. The payments system will be powered by PayPal. Apps for sale will be featured prominently on oneforty’s home page, allowing developers greater visibility if they are participating in the marketplace. Fitton says that the marketplace is still a work in progress, and is still very much an alpha test to see what developers need and want from the platform.

As of today, there are over 100 apps available for purchase on oneforty out of 2300 apps, services and clients listed on the directory. Developers can also sell their apps on multiple sites; oneforty isn’t demanding that developers only sell on their platform. Oneforty also collects affiliate fees (5%) from apps listed on the iPhone app store.

At this time, Oneforty will only support one-time purchases, meaning there will be no subscription-option. But they hint that down the road there will be more options available. Oneforty will continue to allows developers to accept donations on their Oneforty pages even if they don’t participate in the e-commerce platform. Oneforty will continue to pay the PayPal fees for this service, and promises the developers 100% of the donations.

So, not only does the site fill a gap in the Twitter ecosystem but it also has a definitive monetization plan, which is a challenge in itself. Combined with the launch of the e-commerce platform is the announcement of the startup’s series A round of funding. Oneforty has raised $1.9 million in funding led by Flybridge Capital Partners with Javelin Venture Partners, Dave McClure, Roger Ehrenberg, Andy Sack and others participating. The funding will fuel new hiring and accelerate platform development. Orginally oneforty intended to raise up to $2.4 million but ended up closing at $1.9 million

Oneforty, which was part of the Boston Techstars Class of 2009, has an attractive platform, which was why shortly after its launch, rumors started flying about Twitter looking into buying the service. Fitton declined to comment on these acquisition rumors but there’s no doubt that the platform is sure to have caught the interest of Twitter, at least as an attractive off shoot of the microblogging service.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

UK-based small automaker Ginetta has introduced the G40 light racer for the road at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham, as Autocar writes.

The car has a fiberglass body and tips the scale at an athletic 840 kg. It is powered by a tweaked version of Ford’s 1.8 liter 4-pot Zetec engine which usually lies under the Focus’ and the Cmax’s bonnet. Originally developing 125 HP, the unit now offers 150 of them to the back wheels. According to Autocar, this should give the car hot hatch r… (read more)

Toshiba’s first Blu-ray recorders are on their way, and the company also announced [JP] new TVs with built-in Blu-ray players today. While these TVs are nothing new (in Japanese stores, at least), it’s the first time for Toshiba to offer devices like this. A recording function would have made sense, but you can only watch Blu-rays on the TVs. At least, it’s possible to connect external hard discs via USB and record video on those.

There will be two models, the REGZA 32R1BDP with a 32-inch screen (pictured) and the REGZA 26R1BDP with a 26-inch screen. Both feature WXGA resolution (1366×76), digital and analogue TV tuners, an HDMI interface, LAN connectivity, and two USB ports. The 32-incher has a contrast ratio of 4,000:1 and 10W×2ch speakers, while the smaller one features a contrast ratio of 3,000:1 and comes with 5W×2ch speakers.

Both TVs will go on sale in Japan next month. Prices: $1,400 for the 32-inch model and $1,200 for the smaller one. Toshiba hasn’t said anything yet about international sales.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Will Kathy Griffin replace Simon Cowell on Idol?

She may be out at CNN, but Kathy Griffin could soon be up for a new gig at FOX. The F-bomb lovin’ Griffin’s comical campaign to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol has prompted some very serious discussions among show’s producers, a new report claims. The Emmy-winning comedienne and reality personality has just enough edge to make her the perfect replacement for the tough-talkin’, T-shirt-wearing Cowell, sources say. However, now that another Emmy-winning funny gal – television’s Ellen DeGeneres — is already on board at Idol, casting Kathy would likely be too dicey.

”With Ellen [DeGeneres] on board, adding another woman — and a comic at that — just wouldn’t work,” a show insider reveals. ”However, if Ellen would ever leave, then everything would be up for grabs anyway, and Kathy might have a shot.”

Filed under: Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store

I’ve become a big fan of game developer Capy (formerly Capybara) in the past few months — their releases of Critter Crunch on iPhone [iTunes link] and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes on the DS have won me over quickly. But I’m not sure I agree completely with their co-founder, Nathan Vella, about what he says in this Gamasutra interview. His opinion is that the push towards the 99 cent price on the App Store is “the single most frustrating and terrible thing about App Store pricing.” He says the dollar price point is stifling, and he praises developers like Canabalt’s Adam Saltsman for sticking with a higher price point even when their games are simple.

I do agree with Vella on one thing: no developer should sell an app for less than it is worth, and dropping to 99 cents to increase sales doesn’t work anyway. But certainly there’s a place for 99 cent apps on the store, and I know personally that a 99 cent price point will open me up to try apps I’m not sure about, especially apps that I might be interested in but that don’t offer a free trial. Clive Downie of ngmoco says as much later in the article: it’s about the balance between providing choice for your customer and supporting yourself as a developer.

In the end, Vella knows what he’s doing: he doesn’t say that 99 cents is always the wrong price, but that you should always stick to your guns and ask your customers to pay the right price. If a game is worth $4.99, or $6.99, or even $9.99, developers will find that customers who care about the quality are willing to pay for it.

[via IGN]

TUAWDevelopers on avoiding the 99 cent App Store price originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Last week we analyzed how the Web is transforming personal finance. Today we’ll take a broader look at the world of online finance, from personal to small business tools. To get an understanding of the online finance space, we spoke to the founder and CEO of one of the most promising startups in online finance, Rod Drury from Xero. Rod told us that he sees four types of markets in online finance: 1) Personal Finance (e.g. Mint, Wesabe, Yodlee); 2)
Small Business Accounting (e.g. Xero, Kashflow); 3)
Cloud ERP (e.g. Netsuite, Salesforce); and 4)
ERP (e.g. Microsoft, Oracle).

That segmentation makes sense to us, to let’s look now at how the online finance market is shaping up.

Sponsor

Editor’s note: This story is part of ReadWriteWeb’s Online Finance series, a weekly, three-month long look at how the Internet has transformed finance. Up until April 15, the deadline for U.S. readers to file their taxes, we’ll be looking at how finance software has evolved, analyzing top web tools and posting video of our conversations with the people who are shaping online finance. If you are interested in sponsoring the rest of this Content Series, please contact our COO Sean Ammirati.

In our overview of Personal Finance, we explained how free tools like Mint, moneyStrands and Wesabe are making it easy for consumers to monitor their income and expenditure. The current market leader in personal finance is Mint, which was acquired by Intuit in October 2009. Today Mint has more than 1.7 million registered users, about 700,000 of them active every month.

The online small business accounting market is less well formed at this time, which means there are opportunities for startups. Particularly as for years now small business owners have had to suffer relatively expensive and complex desktop software – such as MYOB, Intuit QuickBooks and Microsoft Office Accounting.

Internet DNA

In an August 2008 article, we wrote that many of the small business accounting software incumbents were struggling to make the transition to online accounting. That was one reason why leading financial software firm Intuit acquired Mint, to import some Internet DNA. Just months later and Intuit is already planning to phase out Quicken Online and replace it with Mint.

Just as Mint came out of the web 2.0 world to re-shape the Personal Finance market, it will likely be a web-based company that does the same to the small business accounting market. It may end up being Xero, a completely online accounting service which was founded in July 2006. Xero hails from New Zealand, but is aiming for global success. Full disclosure, ReadWriteWeb uses Xero to manage its accounts. We’ve found the integration with online banking systems to be impressive, the design slick, and functionality such as multi currencies useful. Perhaps most importantly, Xero has the support of many accountancy firms.

Playing in Multiple Markets

According to Xero founder Rod Drury, another trend in the online finance space to watch is that "each vendor might play in the adjacent market as it’s good exposure." We’ve seen this happening for years with the likes of Intuit and Microsoft. But now even the small players, such as Xero, are doing it. Drury says that for his firm, doing personal finance "creates a great opportunity to talk to banking partners and enables us better access to banking web services." He added, "it’s a useful marketing tool, though the primary monetization is upsell to the business product."

We’ll discuss Cloud ERP products in a separate post, so for now please tell us your thoughts on personal and small business online finance tools. Which products do you use, whether for personal finance use or your business?

Image credit: An&

Discuss

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Philanthropic Studies at IUPUI seeks a tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor in the area of Philanthropic Studies beginning August 1, 2010. A Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies or an allied field is required. Experience in teaching in higher education and a record of research in philanthropic or nonprofit studies is preferred. Candidates are expected to teach in the undergraduate and graduate programs, advise students, conduct research in the field, and provide service to the program and school as expected of any faculty member.

IUPUI is the home of the Center on Philanthropy, a part of the School of Liberal Arts, and it also collaborates closely with the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The faculty is made up of more than 50 active faculty members from 21 disciplines that teach and conduct research in the fields of philanthropic and nonprofit studies. Philanthropic Studies offers a traditional-format Ph.D. program and an MA in regular and executive formats.  Recently, an undergraduate BA degree in Philanthropic Studies was approved.

IUPUI is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution M/F/D. The School of Liberal Arts has endorsed efforts to increase the diversity of its ranks, and accordingly, candidates from under-represented groups in the school are encouraged to apply. Philanthropic Studies is particularly interested in and values candidates who have experience working with students from diverse backgrounds, and a demonstrated commitment to improving access and the conditions in higher education for under-represented students.

The review of applications will begin on February 15, 2010 and the search will remain open until the position is filed.

The Israeli army has launched a boycott campaign against supermodel Bar Refaeli, 24, and the products she promotes, after the stunner asked to be listed as a foreign resident to pay less tax, Tel Aviv newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported on Thursday.

Bar promotes lingerie and other top products in her native land, but that won’t be the case much longer if armed forces human resources director Avi Zamir has his way.

“I can’t take on Bar Refaeli, but you can,” Zamir told an audience of Israeli students this week, urging them not to purchase products from companies Bar promotes. “At the end of the day, she is the one who has to look at herself in the mirror. We are a society that has an army, and Bar Refaeli doesn’t have to participate in ads for Fox and, if she advertises Fox, then you shouldn’t buy their products.”

Refaeli, who is reported to have recently rekindled a romance with Hollywood modelizer Leonardo DiCaprio, stirred army anger when she got an exemption from military service by getting married in 2007. She divorced a short time later.

Not that we haven’t heard this before, but Spanish driver Fernando Alonso told the media that Ferrari will definitely be his last team in Formula One. This may be the same words that Kimi Raikkonen used to spell back when he moved to Maranello from McLaren Mercedes, but now Alonso made it very clear that he means it.

This will 100 per cent be my last team. I want to finish my career with a good taste in the mouth, said Alonso during a media conference at the Wroom event in the Madonna di Camp… (read more)