I’m over here watching the Strikeforce show on CBS and there’s ads for EA Sports MMA all over the place. So I’m like, “hmm, maybe EA Sports has posted the trailer to its Web site yet?”
Yes. Yes it has.
Let the record show that I beat Sherdog and all the gaming sites I usually visit to this news. Go me~!
Cold, miserable winters are about the best time to create some heat with a loved one… or yourself. If you’re picturing a bear skin rug and roaring fire, well, things have come a long way. We’re talking about couples toys and technology to keep things spicy, even in the coldest weather.
Warm Up
Everyone knows that sex is all about foreplay. (Guys, we know this, right?) Rather than going zero to 60 in ten minutes, incorporate some fun winter toys to get you and your partner in the mood.
Massage Oil Heater
Channel your inner 70’s porn star with the Pure Gel Bottle Warmer and avoid a “this is going to be cold” Dr.’s office moment. This baby even warms multiple bottles so you can bust out different flavored lubes or massage oils based on your beau’s preferences.
Philips Warm Sensual Massager
If your date didn’t run screaming when he or she saw the heated oil contraption, it’s fair game to whip out the Philips Warm Sensual Massager for him or her. Even if it seems lame, there’s nothing that gets you in the mood more than a massage. Hands down. What makes this vibrating massager different is the fact that it heats up and is specifically designed for couples use. It even comes with some cheesetastic LED candles for “setting the mood.” Hot.
The Main Event
When you’re ready for the main event, trust these toys to keep your session extra hot.
Durex Play Warming Lube
The winter is the perfect time for some heated lube. Durex Play Warming Lube is designed to heat up with your own body temperature and get hotter with contact to heighten sensation. This lube is something that your lady will primarily feel, but don’t worry guys you will feel it too, like warm apple pie. Thankfully, it’s completely edible and the heat intensifies when you blow on it. Some people may complain that it’s too hot, but I say if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen!
The Hot Rod Heated Vibrator
No matter how realistic your vibrator may be, the one thing that’s always missing is the sensation of body heat that you get from a partner –Sigh- Thank you Hot Rod Heated Vibrator for providing us with a heated vibrator complete with realistic skin sleeve that makes using it comparable to the real thing. You really never need a date again.
Vibrating Heated Nipple Clamps
For the truly daring, give these Vibrating Heated Nipples Clamps a try. Apparently nipple clamps are designed for men or women to stimulate your nipples, leaving your hands free to do other things. Will the vibration and sensation be enough to keep your headlights beaming and warm?! Give it a try and see.
Cool Down & Clean Up
If the pre-show and main event left you feeling dirty, jump in the shower for some post game clean up. Because what’s better than a warm hot shower on a cold winter day…
Suction Cup Shower Handcuffs
These Suction Cup Shower Handcuffs offer couples that dominatrix moment in the tub or shower. The cuffs are made of sturdy neoprene and Velcro with industrial strength suction cups that can easily adhere to a shower door or wall tiles. What flat surface you attach them to out of the shower is none of our business.
Vibrating Sponge
Because obviously a regular loofa isn’t going to suffice this winter, grab a vibrating sponge to surprise your extra dirty lover. This vibrating sponge looks and feels like a normal sponge, but is sooo much more. Waterproof with a bullet vibrator hidden deep within, the sponge even has a hand strap for maximum control. Soap up and get dirty! This device is also a great if your love making session didn’t quite do it and you need to step away for some much needed alone time.
For more about the latest sex toys and technology, check out 69adget.com
We know what you’re thinking, the DROID and CLIQ are just too cool, I need something more lame. Well, Motorola has got you covered. Say hello the the MOTO Klassic. This new hotness oddness lameness clamshell will only be available in Korea for the time being but the specs are pretty mind blowing: blazing 2G connectivity, a 5 megapixel camera, external touch screen, and (brace yourself) an “espresso color keypad.” Truth be told, we weren’t completely sold on this one until we read about the espresso colored keypad. So put down those wallets DROID fans, you might want to just wait and see if this hot little number is coming to the good old U.S.A.
Today the House reaches another major milestone in the effort to pass health insurance reform, and effort decades in the making.
Predictably, opponents of reform are taking their misleading claims to new heights. For example, they claim that CEA Chair Christina Romer has said that reform would cost millions of jobs. This is flatly false, as demonstrated by the independent watchdog Politifact and Romer’s own statement.
Opponents of reform have also manufactured a chart attempting to depict reform as some sort of maze of bureaucracy. This is also false. Here is a chart that accurately reflects the President’s plan:
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Sometimes, the medium is the message. In this case, the medium is Rubiks Cubes. The message is that there’s an Irish guy named John Quigley who has too much free time. I mean, I suppose you could say the same of many artists, but this is some seriously time-consuming stuff. And while it’s impressive, it seems rather… algorithmic, doesn’t it? I notice there are no original compositions.
I guess it’s a hobby. Better than mine, anyway (crying and punching my pillow, if you’re wondering).
[via Technabob]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Dollar General (DG.N) is set to go public next week, but the discount retailer could see mixed results in its closely watched initial public offering as its private equity backers have valued the company richly.
The $750 million offering of the retailer controlled by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co [KKR.UL] is expected to price on Thursday and begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange next Friday.
Dollar General, which has 8,700 stores across the United States, plans to sell 34.1 million shares for between $21 and $23 a share. At those prices, Dollar General would be valuing itself more richly than competitors like Target Corp (TGT.N), Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and Dollar Tree .
“The valuation doesn’t look great,” said Nick Einhorn, research analyst with Renaissance Capital in Connecticut. “I wouldn’t expect it to be a home run.”
“It wouldn’t shock me if it ended up being similar to a Dole Food (DOLE.N) which ended up trading down” in its first day of trading last month, he said.
At the midpoint of its pricing range, Dollar General would be valued at roughly 19.4 times 2009 earnings, according to IPOdesktop.com. That compares to valuations of 14.8 times earnings at Wal-Mart and 18.3 times earnings at both Target and Dollar Tree. (DLTR.O)
Still, Dollar General has done a good job improving its earnings potential in recent years, improving store layouts and tweaking the discounter’s brand, analysts said.
“The stores look better. They’re operating them better. It also doesn’t hurt to be a dollar store in the worst recession we’ve had since the ’30s,” said Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joseph Feldman, who believes the company has earned the higer valuation.
“It’s above its peers, but it’s a more nimble company. It’s done a little bit better on a consistent basis during the recession,” said Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop.com.
“It’ll probably trade within the range” of $21 to $23 a share after debuting on Friday, he said.
PE WORRIES
Dollar General was acquired by KKR in 2007. Private equity companies have been looking to take advantage of the resurgent stock market in order to unload portfolio companies.
There have been some notable successes, but also some high-profile disappointments, like Fortress Investment Group’s RailAmerica (RA.N). Analysts said that the heavy debt-load of some of these companies has hurt their performance.
Another possible problem for the IPO is a $239.3 million special dividend it paid to its existing owners — which also include underwriters Citigroup (C.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) — in September.
“Investors are always a little wary of things like that,” said Renaissance Capital’s Einhorn. “You want to feel that an IPO is not just being done to line the sponsor’s pockets. That could be a source of resistance.”
Dollar General is one of two IPOs scheduled for next week, with the other being specialty apparel retailer rue21.
Retailers have shied away from IPOs in recent years. Vitamin Shop Inc (VSI.N) had its IPO in late October, becoming the first brick-and-mortar retailer to go public after 2 years on the sidelines.
That company’s shares priced at $17, above their initial range, and have traded up more than 14 percent since the pricing. (Reporting by Michael Erman; editing by Carol Bishopric)
As we wrote yesterday, MacHeist is doing a new promotion, this time offering six Mac apps for free. MacHeist has long been controversial in the indie developer community, with many developers believing that the promotion, which offers a bundle of applications at either a steep discount (or in this case for free), reduces the value of the work that developers put into Mac applications. One of the sharpest critics of MacHeist has been Daniel Jalkut, developer of MarsEdit.
In response to the latest MacHeist, Jalkut has organized a counter promotion of indie Mac developers offering a 20 percent discount on their applications. Dubbed the One Finger Discount, in a not-so-subtle nod towards the five finger discount some people say you get from MacHeist, the promotion is being offered for this week only. There are now over 40 different developers participating and new ones are being added all the time.
If you’re interested on picking up a discount on some interesting Mac software, or if you want to participate check out the website here.
Seeking to better manage the holiday deluge of visitors to Apple retail outlets, the company is now offering customers the option of ordering online and picking up purchases at their local store.
According to the new webpage, you can reserve an item “online today and it will be waiting for you to pick up and purchase at an Apple Retail Store from December 15 to 24.”
Customers using the program are first asked to choose a retail store. The service is currently available in the U.S., Canada, UK, and Australia. Choosing from iPods, iPhones, Mac laptops and desktops, but curiously not the Apple TV, customers then sign in with their Apple ID to reserve their purchase.
Unfortunately, customers must still pay at the brick-and-mortar store, so you won’t be able to completely escape the wait this holiday season. However, that’s still arguably better than having to spend all day at home waiting for a delivery. That benefit, plus the guarantee of an item being reserved, are the big advantages of the program. Plus, for an extra $5, those buying iPods and laptops can have their purchases wrapped in a “signature gift box.” Nothing says Merry Christmas like an Apple logo.
It’s not that we want to rush Nintendo in the creation of their next opus, but it might have been nice to have it in 2010. Perhaps the biggest of the “big three” Nintendo franchise games in the works (along with Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M) is “tracking” for 2010 but Nintendo isn’t committed to the year. I’m guessing they’re not going to push for a holiday 2010 release, but may have preorders available then so they can get in on the season.
The good news is that Mario and Metroid are on schedule for 2010 releases. Is this the year I buy a Wii? I don’t know, with these crazy 360 deals and the PS3 Slim out there, it’s still a real toss-up for me.
Plus, I’m very, very poor.
It’s time to delve in to the App Store and take a look at a select few releases that could find a happy home on your iPhone. This week I’ve selected four games that I’ll be zoning out with this weekend.
Of course there are scores of games out for the iPhone, but we’ve been lucky enough to have a few really excellent titles released in the past week or so.
My top pick for this week is 8-bit rhythm-action game Ninja Honda Karate. Plus, I’ve also been looking at Eliminate Pro, Horror Racing and Minima.
Amongst the endless generic game clones constantly arriving at the App Store, Ninja Honda Karate is a true breath of fresh air. It takes 8-bit video-games, Japanese culture, chip music and rhythm action gameplay, mashing it all together into a multicolor milieu of awesome.
The game premise just barely makes sense. You play as Karate Alberto Honda, a very Mario-esque but nonetheless cute hero. The aim is to karate chop coins in time to the blippy bloppy beat. Occasionally you’ll tap a mushroom, triggering a psychedelic rocket launch across the screen. At the end of each level, before the scores are tallied, you’ll also deliver a giant mushroom to the princess.
While the premise is gloriously nonsensical and convoluted, the gameplay is plain simple. Coins come out of various tubes on the screen, as they emerge, you simply tap the coin in time with the music. In effect, you end up performing the soundtrack as you play the game. The game certainly isn’t innovative, but that’s the point: it’s a beatific mashup of everything else.
Developed under the apt codename FPS, this might not be the first first-person shooter to hit the iPhone, but it’s certainly the most polished. Eschewing a proper plot, or even single player mode, Eliminate is all about big guns, futuristic robotic suites and online multiplayer death matches.
The game certainly looks the part. Inside the immaculately designed arenas — all shiny metal-plating and steel walkways — you’ll face competitors in customised power-suits, armed to the teeth with explosive weaponry. Eliminate is, in essence, the pocket-sized lovechild of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament.
However, a word of warning about the game’s price. It’s free to download and free to play, however your character is given a limited amount of energy per day. When your energy runs out, you’re no longer allowed to compete. You can either wait 24 hours for your energy to re-charge, play a few practice rounds or buy more.
And that’s where some of the more frequent players may take issue. Purchasing energy cells, starting at a dollar a pack, just isn’t good value. It’s a great quality game, certainly worth downloading, but don’t expect to play for free more than a couple of times per day.
Halloween is over and Horror Racing was released around three weeks ago, so this almost didn’t make the cut. Horror Racing’s saving grace though is that it’s actually a really fun little game. The game brings to mind old-school arcade racers, viewed from above the track you have the perfect vantage point to observe the havoc and wreak devastation.
The game has very little to do with horror, though. The characters are more cute than scary. The circuits are awash with browns and greens, making it look like a muddy mess. The sound helps remedy the situation. The constant RC car buzz as you speed your way around the circuits is perfect.
And then there’s the gameplay itself. The races, a mix of explosions and skill, are downright fun. There are several gameplay modes, including an excellent on-going Championship Mode. As you play through the game, you’ll earn money which can then be spent upgrading your car’s engine, armour or weaponry. All that’s really missing with Horror Racing is a multiplayer online mode.
Clearly I’ve got a bit of a think for anything wrapped in retro visuals. I suppose I miss the glory days of my old BBC Micro and Commodore Amiga. My final pick for this week takes the retro aesthetic a step further, reducing the graphics to a grid of giant glowing pixels.
Minima takes after its name and keeps the gameplay incredibly minimal. You control a color-changing pixel. The objective is to avoid other pixels by changing color and blending in with them. Further enhancing the game’s retro-vibe, each of the nine levels is styled after a particular classic video-game.
That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.
In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?
Sequels, sequels, sequels. Lots of talk about those this week. While most other companies are busy making sure they get to release a big-name game wit…
I was working with a medical intern in clinic this past week who is potentially interested in ID. After seeing our 3rd consecutive stable HIV patient, he asked me what I thought the next big challenge would be in our field — especially since HIV treatment has been “solved.”
“Solved” might be stating it a bit strongly — after all, we still have no cure, the drugs aren’t perfect, not everyone can get them, there’s no vaccine, etc — but he had a point. Many of the research questions on HIV treatment are now about moving things forward incrementally, and it’s hard to imagine an advance anytime soon along the lines of combination therapy in the mid 1990s, or even the second wave of newer treatments that become available in 2006-8.
So what’s the answer to his question? I compiled a brief list, shown below in no particular order:
(Not on my list are issues specifically related to ID in resource-limited settings, because that’s not what I do.)
I’m sure I’m missing something, but it’s a start.
President Barack Obama visited Capitol Hill and made a brief televised statement this afternoon to press the House to pass the Democratic health reform bill.
USA Today: “On this college football Saturday, President Obama gave a Knute Rockne-like pep talk to House Democrats as they prepare for a big vote in the health care debate. Later, at the White House, Obama told reporters that the nation is ‘closer than we have ever been’ to a ‘once-in-a-generation’ overhaul of the health care system. ‘Now is the time to finish the job,’ Obama said, citing endorsements of the bill from the AARP and medical groups and urging members of Congress to ‘rise to this moment.” (Jackson, 11/7).
The New York Times: “President Obama has met with House Democrats in the Cannon Office Building and given all the applause, it might be hard to remember that the president is on Capitol Hill to twist the arms of undecided lawmakers, and push some to cast a risky vote. Democrats said that Mr. Obama’s visit was part last-minute pitch for votes and part pep rally. … Mr. Obama said he recognized that lawmakers were weary. ‘It’s tempting to say, ‘I’m tired, it’s hard, I’m getting beat up back in the district, it’s just not worth it,’’ he said. But he told Democrats that they must act now. ‘On a policy basis, if we do not get it done this year, we will not get it done anytime soon,’ he said” (Herszenhorn, 11/7).
Reuters: “Democrats said Obama emphasized the urgent and historic need for a healthcare bill that reins in costs, expands coverage to millions of uninsured and bars insurance practices such as denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. ‘We expect the energy he brought to the debate to be helpful to us on the floor,’ Representative James Clyburn said” (Whitesides and Smith, 11/7).
In its blog, 44, Politico reported on the president’s national remarks: “President Obama cast the House’s health care reform vote, expected to happen later today, in historic terms: ‘This is our moment to live up to the trust the American people have placed in us… this is our moment to deliver… I urge Congress to answer the call of the American people’” (11/7).
Related: House Democrats Debating Historic Health Reform Legislation
Consider this a friendly reminder. Tonight at 9pm ET on CBS (in the U.S.; I’m sure there will be plenty of streams, though, which you can find on your own) two of the big stars from EA’s upcoming EA Sports MMA video game will hit each other very hard. Fedor Emelianenko, the big Russian guy who could well be the best MMA fighter of all time (or is that Sakuraba?), will fight Brett Rogers, of whom I know nothing.
There’s actual a reasonably interesting story vis-à–vis video games and mixed martial arts. A few years ago, UFC approached EA with the idea of making a video game. UFC declined, saying that it didn’t consider MMA to be a real sport, which, let’s just say, really upset UFC president Dana White.
UFC later signed a deal with THQ to make the video game, which has been both a critical and commercial success.
The success of THQ’s game is said to have sparked EA’s interest in making its own MMA game. EA then started signing fighters to a deal, before announcing that Strikeforce would be the game’s main promotion.
So yeah, I’ll be watching Fedor tear apart Rogers tonight. If only it were easier to place bets online from the U.S!
I am spending the day watching old Fedor fights, courtesy of alt.binaries.mma. Hopefully Mr. Emelianenko comes out to that Era song again, and not some generic rock nonsense.
The beauty of this post is that maybe six of you have any idea of what I’m talking about.
We all knew that the iPhone was going to start hitting more third-party retailers at some point, but we just didn’t think it would be this soon. RadioShack, or The Shack, has announced that it will be carrying the iPhone 3G and 3GS in select stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City at the end of this month. The company expects to have the iPhone available nationwide in 2010. So, for now, you’ll have to settle with Apple Stores, AT&T retail locations, Wal-Mart or Best Buy if you want to nab one. Come to think of it, there really is no shortage of suppliers so if you’re finally going to be eligible to upgrade or you want to pick one up on a whim, you can add another to the list of iPhone retailers to choose from. But just remember where all this Shack nonsense started, ok?
Own a Zune HD like Devin and I, the two hippest cats here at CrunchGear? Best to connect it to your PC right now so you can upgrade its firmware to version 4.3. Go, now!
Straight from the Zune message board:
Zune HD firmware update: Today we released the v4.3 firmware update for Zune HD players; this update adds support for upcoming 3d games and applications, as well as an auto-suggest feature for better text input, and other minor improvements. Enjoy!
Let it be known that I have installed zero applications on my Zune HD. I didn’t even know applications existed for the thing until a colleague over at Laptop Magazine pointed it out to me at a meeting several weeks ago. Simple apps, like Weather and whatnot.
I think a hands-on would be appropriate when Microsoft launches, I don’t know, a Twitter or Facebook app, if it ever does.
The Prime Minister has paid tribute to fallen members of the Armed Forces on Remembrance Sunday.
Gordon Brown laid a wreath at the Cenotaph this morning, to pay his respects to British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who have lost their lives in conflicts around the world.
Mr Brown joined the Queen, High Commissioners and other politicians for the Remembrance Day service.
Last night the Prime Minister and Sarah Brown attended the annual Festival of Remembrance, held in the Royal Albert Hall. The festival, organised by The Royal British Legion, commemorates and honours all those who have given their lives in the service of their country.
In a podcast released to mark Remembrance Sunday, Gordon Brown said this year’s events would be particularly poignant after the passing of the last Tommy, Harry Patch, earlier this year.
“With his death, an entire generation has fallen silent and we have lost our living link with the momentous events which did so much to shape our nation.
“And so this Armistice Day, we must make anew our promise to Harry and his comrades: that although they are gone, we will never, never forget.
Gordon Brown also thanked all the men and women of the Armed Forces, “serving with such distinction at home and overseas”, and their families and communities.
Speeches and transcripts: PM’s podcast for Remembrance Sunday
Of all the dot-com superstars that appeared in the ’90s, shone brightly and then disappeared from sight, few have been granted a second act. One exception is Priceline, which 11 years after it was founded — and 10 years after its stock price collapsed — is quietly thriving. It’s no superstar now, but it’s an interesting case study of how an online company once written off for dead can in fact age gracefully.
At its peak, Priceline’s “name-your-own-price” business model created a stir. Its founder, Jay Walker, trumpeted the idea as a revolution that would upend the travel industry, and a lot of smart people bought it. George Soros and Paul Allen invested their money, and the stock surged to a $15.7 billion market cap, larger than most airlines. Forbes called Walker a “modern-day Edison,” and Priceline expanded into new markets like gasoline and groceries.
The revolution was over before it began. Priceline’s stock peaked nearly a year before the Nasdaq did, and it just kept falling: By the end of 2000, its market cap had shrunk by 99 percent to $220 million. Forbes regretted its praise for Walker, admitting he “hasn’t lived up to our label,” and Walker left the company soon after. Priceline backed out of the gasoline and grocery businesses, retreating to online travel, where it faced increasing competition from Expedia, Orbitz and others.
But writing off Priceline as another failed dot-com also proved premature. Its approach wasn’t revolutionary after all, but neither was it a bad idea. Somewhat ironically, it took another market crash for Priceline to begin to deliver on its promise. Its stock, which has risen 265 percent in the past year, has joined the S&P 500 — the market’s way of saying you’ve finally arrived. Its capitalization is back above $7 billion, making it larger than Expedia.
In the first six months of 2009, Priceline booked $4.3 billion in travel services, an increase of 12 percent during a period when overall bookings declined by 8 percent. The company will update those numbers for the third quarter next week, and analysts are expecting bookings to grow by more than 25 percent, faster than many of Priceline’s online rivals.
What changed for Priceline? Its management avoided the hype about the revolutionary potential of naming your own price. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy did refer to it in commercials, but Priceline waited patiently for the concept to take root — the way Amazon has been patient about free shipping, or Netflix has been about streaming movies online with no extra fee. The company has also expanded piecemeal, buying up smaller companies like Bookings.com when it could, and expanding abroad. It now offers travel in 78 countries.
There’s a lesson in Priceline’s riches-to-rags-to-riches story for other Web companies. A lot of people watching tech companies — especially ones like me who write about them — get all antsy about their ability to deliver on their promise. This comes up when we talk about companies like Facebook not being public yet, or Twitter looking for revenue.
But often, consumers move at a much slower rate. It can take years to grow comfortable with a new business model. There is a lot to be said about moving quickly in a fast-evolving industry. But there’s just as much to be said about being patient with the people who are going to make you money.
The dawn of the 21st century brought us a problem: we had lots of data, but no real way to bring that data into the real world. We could feasibly lug laptops and phones around, but did they ever do exactly what we needed them to do? Don’t answer that.
Manufacturers, in their wisdom, decided to do something about it and so devices like the Peek – for email – and the CueCat – for nothing – were born. Here’s a look at ten ‘avatar’ gadgets, gadgets that brought a web service into the real world, for better or worse.
Twitterpeek – We should be nicer to the Twitterpeek. This standalone device, designed specifically for Twittering, mirroring our own obsession with the microblogging service and, if anything, we willed it into existence with our collective desires for always-on Twitter. Does it work? Eh. Is it a good idea? Eh. Is it for us? Probably not, but what do I know?
Peek Pronto – Now this makes a little more sense. The Peek Pronto is an email-only device. It’s great for business owners who want to give on-the-go email access to their employees without spending hundreds on monthly cellphone charges. The company, in fact, is reaching profitability so all our bellyaching isn’t hurting the company’s bottom line. The Peek Pronto costs $299 for unlimited email, a pretty good deal.
Kindle – The one real success story in this list. Kindles bring Amazon’s electronic book store to a hand-held device. It’s so popular, in fact, that everyone and their dog is getting in on the act. It’s an avatar device simply because it enables offline access to Amazon content.
Nook – This is supposed to be the Kindle on steroids. This is odd because B&N isn’t quite the name synonymous with online book-selling so what they’ve done is a double-reverse Lutz avatarization of their product. They created a device to showcase their web offerings and are now tooling up web offerings for the device.
Zipit – I popped over to the Zipit website and discovered that they’re actually still making these things! Zipit is basically an IM/SMS-only device that costs $49 and lets you send IMs, listen to music, and look at pictures over Wi-Fi. It’s for kids, obviously, and after the initial purchase it costs $29 a year for unlimited text messages and IM messaging. Kind of a good idea if you want to keep your wee ones from dumping a few grand on SMS messages.
IMfree – Now this is a blast from the past: the IMFree. It’s basically like the Zipit, but primitive. It is probably one of the first avatar devices out there with an actual useful purpose.
Augmented Reality Toys – Augmented reality creates ‘holograms’ on your PC screen when your webcam sees a special bar code. This is sort of a reverse-avatar situation where the physical device unlocks on-screen content. Expect to see more of these but Avatar seems to be going whole-hog on these.
ASellerTool and other bar code scanners – Devices like this abomination promise to allow offline pricing of various items like wine, books, and media. Useful for flea markets and the obsessive.
Wikireader – Dream: Hey! Why don’t we stuff an ever-changing information source on a device! Let’s call it the Wikireader! We’ll be rich!
Reality: This thing is a waste of plastic.
Cuecat – The winner of the dumbest avatar device is the Cuecat, a silly bar code reader that was supposed to bring online content to magazines. You’d plug in your Cuecat and scan magazines as you read them. Sadly, even back in 1999, reading your magazines by your PC was a bit silly. The company went belly up and now the Cuecat is remembered as one of the most ridiculous examples of dot-com hubris ever.
News outlets covered the late-night deal on abortion language in the House health care overhaul bill.
Roll Call: “The deal hands a major win to abortion-rights opponents by green-lighting an up-or-down vote on a proposal by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) to bar plans that offer abortions from new health insurance exchanges. The ban would extend to a public insurance option that House Democrats have included in their package. … The amendment will likely pass with support from Republicans, forcing the majority of Democrats, who support abortion rights, to swallow hard in voting for the package on final passage. Democrats on the House Rules Committee who favor abortion rights made their discomfort clear early Saturday morning as they debated allowing the amendment” (Newmyer, 11/7).
The Associated Press: “Federal law currently prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest of situations in which the life of the mother is in danger. That left unresolved whether individuals would be permitted to use their own funds to buy insurance coverage for the procedure in the federally backed insurance exchange envisioned under the legislation” (Werner, 11/7).
Politico: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops delivered a critical endorsement to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday by signing off on late-night agreement to grant a vote on an amendment barring insurance companies that participate in the exchange from covering abortions. ‘Passing this amendment allows the House to meet our criteria of preserving the existing protections against abortion funding in the new legislation,’ the Bishops wrote in a letter to individual members. ‘Most importantly, it will ensure that no government funds will be used for abortion or health plans which include abortion’” (O’Connor, 11/7).
CQ Politics: “As of late Friday, at least 20 House Democrats had indicated in interviews and public statements that they plan to vote against the legislation (HR 3962). Twenty ‘no’ votes would leave the Democrats with a pool of 238 potential votes for the measure, or just 20 more than the 218 needed to guarantee passage. No Republican support for the legislation is expected. Twenty other Democrats said Friday they remained undecided. Many of their votes were considered likely to hinge on how the bill addresses the issue of abortion and whether the government-run ‘public option’ plan would pay for abortions and in what circumstances. Abortion opponents want to make sure that the public plan does not in effect authorize federal funding of abortion” (Wayne, 11/7).
The Hill: “Liberals on the committee threatened to vote against the final healthcare bill if it included (anti-abortion Rep. Bart) Stupak’s language, warning that it would be a return to the days of back-alley abortions. ‘I forsee a return to the dark ages,’ said Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.). ‘I’m 73, I’ve seen these dark things, they use these coat hangers and die’” (Hooper and Soraghan, 11/7).
