Author: Serkadis

It’s either Barnes & Noble made a huge mistake, or they really just want to give you the best possible price for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. They’ve got it pegged at just under 20 dollars, oh yes.
 
 
 

Valentine’s Day is an annual holiday held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The holiday is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”). The holiday first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. Fast forward to 2010 – how about instead of flowers, you give your special someone the gift of intelligence with the Reader Valentine’s Special Bundle ($329). The bundle includes a red Reader Touch Edition, limited edition red cover with light, and a code for a free eBook download of The Heart Speaks by Mimi Guarneri.

The PRS-600 Reader included in this bundle is feature rich with ePUB, PDF, Microsoft Word, BBeB Book and other text format compatibility – it also has 512MB of built in storage and the ability to use storage cards. Another cool value is the built-in MP3/AAC player and 3.5mm headphone jack to listen to your music or audiobooks. The PRS-600 also has a built-in dictionary, the ability to enlarge text, and a stunning two week battery life (7,500 page turns).

Ubisoft’s surprise “Big announcement” will be hitting the airwaves later today. Kimi Matsuzaki, one of their Community Managers, has taken to Twitter to divulge some more specific information.
 
 
 

We noted in the past how odd it was that AT&T blocked something like the place-shifting Sling Player from the iPhone, but allowed place-shifting streaming TV apps from partners like MLB.com. So it was worth highlighting that, recently, AT&T changed its mind and began allowing Sling, though in the announcement, it claimed that Sling worked with AT&T to make changes to the app to make it okay. Apparently, no one ran that bit of PR by Sling, who quickly spoke up to say it simply wasn’t true:

“We didn’t change anything… AT&T never discussed any specific requirements with us.”

Perhaps what actually “changed” was the fact that the FCC has become interested in AT&T blocking apps in anti-competitive ways… Funny that AT&T didn’t mention that part.

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Today looked as though it might be quit until the final hour, when Bears pushed the Dow down triple digits.

Asia seems to be taking its cue from that move.

WSJ:

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.5%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.9% while South Korea’s Kospi Composite added 0.2% to 1,561.82 and New Zealand’s NZX-50 slipped 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were one point higher in screen trade.  Australian resources and financial stocks were tracking their offshore peers lower, with BHP Billiton down 0.5% and Rio Tinto losing 1.3%.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• DOW Crashes Through 10,000, Closes Down 104

Homebrew coder Lino has released the final version of fb4nds, a Facebook client application for the Nintendo DS. Version 1.0 of fb4nds includes some code cleanups and a few bug fixes.
 
 
Download: fb4nds v1.0 (http://dl.qj.net/nintendo-ds/homebrew-applications/fb4nds-v10.html)

News is just coming in that Sarath Fonseka, the opposition candidate who lost to the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the recently concluded 6th Presidential Election in Sri Lanka, has been arrested by the military police. The charges against him are military offences, conspiring to topple the government through a coup, creating divisions within the Sri Lankan army when he was at its helm etc.

Twitter is abuzz with the story and opinions, some of which have been captured below:

@LankaBreaking Gen Sarath Fonseka arrested http://tinyurl.com/yf7tnzc #slbrk

@mayooresan so its official, SF is being arrested… phew!!!! #Lanka #SRiLanka

@imahassen http://bit.ly/b380g9 Sri Lanka opposition leader arrested – physically abused and humiliated. (via @AruSivananthan) #LKA

@nrnikhil Gen Fonseka arrested in Srilanka! Are we seeing a new dictatorship in South Asia? #lanka #srilanka

@amanashraff #topstories Sri Lanka election loser arrested http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8504882.stm #lka #politics #news #bbc

@anooprk07: Opposition leader Sarath Fonseka arrested. Sri Lanka heading towards a Dictatorship??

@suhasinih: Emergency like sit in effect in Sri Lanka- Fonseka arrested say reports. #LKA

@BDUTT what? Fonseka?! Now is Sri lanka turning into Pakistan? Nawab and musharaf style! #LKA

@sardesairajdeep: the arrest of gen fonseca in sri lanka is no surprise. rajapakshe may have won elections, but he is a dictator.

@lpolgreenFonseka has been arrested for his conduct as military chief of staff, not as a candidate, a government spox told me. #SriLanka

@kanchangupta: Defence Spokesman: “Fonseka taken into custody by Army, will “face court martial for military offences committed during his service.”

@Muthukumaran Fonseka arrested and faces conspiracy charges.Life comes a full cycle.It wont be long when Rajapaksa will find himself in a dire state.

@amargovRequest right wing twitterati to hold back all the righteous indignation for Fonseka arrest. Chances are Fonseka was indeed guilty.

The Lanka Libertarian offers a quick reaction to the news of Fonseka's arrest.

nobody is above the law. if retired general sarath fonseka betrayed and endangered ppl including officers who sacrificed and contributed to defeat tamil tiger (ltte) terrorists…if he was planning to undermine democracy …if he was calling for foreign intervention to make him president after his loss in election (he is on record doing so) , he should pay the price. according to law. after a proper trial. no more no less.

Indi Samarajiva at indi.ca offers his opinion about the incident. According to him:

In this case I think the law is being applied as a weapon. People with connections can get away with murder and those without can get framed for anything. It’s a sad day for General Fonseka personally, but it’s sad day for us as well. Fonseka is no saint, but this is not even an issue of law. It’s the law being corrupted to serve a man. Sarath Fonseka’s real crime was opposing Mahinda. For that he’s in jail.

Looks like the post-Presidential-Election political drama in Sri Lanka is reaching a crescendo.

At a speech in Tehran, Iranian Ayatollah Khamenei delivered what can only be described as fighting words, which likely have US and European security specialists on high alert.

AFP:

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a “punch” that will stun world powers during this week’s 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

“The Iranian nation, with its unity and God’s grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned,” Khamenei, who is also Iran’s commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Iran Is Betting On $60 Oil
• Raw, Stunning Footage Of Iran Protesters Saving Prisoners From Getting Hanged
• STRATFOR: The Iran Incursion Wasn’t Trivial, Was Meant As A Clear Message To Washington DC

For the first time ever, a showcase of Sony Design will be revealed exclusively within ZonaTortona as part of the Milano Salone Internationale del Mobile 2010 (April 14 – 19th). The exhibition will be a visual insight into Sony’s creative essence and evolving approach to design. The focus of the exhibition was Monolithic Design; a new design concept that Sony has recently introduced across its TV and home entertainment range. This design concept was ignited by a passion to bring about change in people’s attitude in relation to their living space and encourage a change in lifestyle behaviour through the presence of these TV and home entertainment products.

The exhibition space at Salone drives this design concept to another level; visualising the exploration of a human-centric design essence symbolised through lifestyle-focused concepts.

Exclusively for this exhibition, Sony’s Design team has invited London-based designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby (BarberOsgerby) to indulge their creativity and design knowledge, and work alongsideSony designers to realize a deeper integration of products within contemporary lifestyles expressed through conceptual archetypes.

Project leader Kaz Ichikawa, Sony Creative Centre commented, “We are most excited to reveal our future design vision at what is the most creative, lifestyle-oriented platform in the world. The Milan exhibition is a new demonstration, a showcase for the strength of our creative energy.”

Ichikawa added, “When we first met with Edward and Jay we sensed a meeting of minds which we deemed imperative for the union of creative ideas. Moreover, we felt their design ethos was complementary to our design philosophy, and their work as a pair of leading contemporary designers brings a new interpretation of individuality, lifestyle and experimentation to the whole experience.”

“Sony has been a part of the design lifestyle since iconic products like the Walkman were launched,” said Edward Barber, “so this project was a hugely exciting challenge for us. It’s been a real opportunity to show a different side of our practice. The result is a spectacular experiment.”

Jay Osgerby added, “The exhibition has given us an unprecedented opportunity to understand and explore Sony’s design. It’s been an inspiring process that has enabled us to develop new archetypes that inhabit an unexpected architectural landscape.”

The impressive space of Officine Stendhal at Via Stendhal 35 will house this forward insight into Sony’s approach to design and will run from 14 – 19 April 2010.

Recently a line of HTC device with capacitive displays lost their multi-touch capabilities when released on US soil , but this does not seem to be the case with the HTC HD2.

The HD2 that has been known for some time to be coming to T-mobile USA, and has recently become official with an HTC.com and Sticktogether.com page. The information provided on the page is close to what we already know, but it fortunately does make all the rumoured specs official.

The pages shows the HD2 coming with  1GB internal ROM, supplemented by a 16GB memory card and also 576MB RAM. The page also mentions the device’s capacitive display and, also fortunately, does not fail to speak of its “pinch-to-zoom and haptic capability”.

While most of this is nothing new, it is heartening to see nothing is missing either, and should only increase excitement in the run up to the official US release of the device.

Via:MobileOSNews

:HTC, T-mobile

It appears that the ECB is set to hold an emergency meeting on the sovereign debt crisis that threatens to tear apart the EU. According to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet is leaving a Sydney summit of Central Bankers early in order to fly back to Europe for the emergency talks. He had been scheduled to stay in Sydney until Wednesday.

Earlier it was revealed that investors had placed the biggest ever short bet in the history of the euro.

This is why.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• PIMCO’s El-Erian: Even With Euroland In Disarray, We’d Still Rather Own German Debt Than US Debt
• The Euro Experiment Failed: Europe Is Less Unified Than Ever
• Investors Place The Biggest Short Bet In The History Of The Euro

Wyclef Jean kicks off “Live Sets,” a series of live online concerts brought to you by Sony’s new global brand message, make.believe (pronounced “make-dot-believe”). “Live Sets” will feature the live performances of three popular artists streamed in a digital environment, providing an intimate, authentic experience for an on-site and online audience. The Wyclef Jean performance is scheduled for Wednesday, February 10, from the Canal Room in New York City, and will be streamed live to online audiences at Sony’s Facebook, Wyclef.com, Crackle.com, myplay.com.

Wyclef will perform songs from his body of work as a solo artist as well as hits from his former group, the Fugees. Two more Sony make.believe “Live Sets” are anticipated for spring 2010 with artists to be named. In addition to the concerts, each artist will provide exclusive interview footage and share his or her own make.believe story to inspire fans across the country with the idea that “anything you can imagine, you can make real.” Footage will be available on Sony’s Facebook, Crackle.com, myplay.com and the artists’ websites.

Filed under: Aftermarket, Sedan, Performance, Videos, Cadillac

When we were fortunate enough to have a Cadillac CTS-V for a week to review, we said it was “one of the finest cars on the road today and one of the best vehicles ever built by General Motors.” Of course, there’s always room for improvement. At least Hennessey Performance thinks so, and they have come up with the V700 upgrade package that boosts the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 to more than 700 horsepower.

What does it take to squeeze more than 150 more horsepower out of the LSA V8? Hennessey adds a cold air induction system, a smaller supercharger pulley, a new engine management system, long tube headers, three-inch exhaust system with high-flow cats, an upgraded intercooler, more aggressive cam, and high-flow heads.

The result? Horsepower is up to 707 at 6300 rpm, and torque is rated at 701 lb-ft. That all adds up to some impressive performance on-track, including a 0-60 mph time of just 3.3 seconds and a top speed of of 211 mph. Fortunately, Hennessey had the cameras rolling during test, and you can watch the Hennessey CTS-V tear up the drag strip in the video after the jump.

[Source: Hennessey Performance]

Continue reading Hennessey’s Cadillac CTS-V ready for prime time [w/video]

Hennessey’s Cadillac CTS-V ready for prime time [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PEORIA — Caterpillar Inc. announced Monday its intent to join the FutrueGen Alliance, , a public-private partnership established to build a first-of-its-kind coal-fired, near-zero emissions power plant in Mattoon.

The FutureGen facility is designed to be the cleanest coal burning plant in the world and will integrate advanced technologies for coal gasification, electricity production, emissions control, carbon dioxide capture and permanent storage and hydrogen production on a commercial scale.

“Clean-coal plays a critical role in our energy supply, energy security and environmental protection,” said Caterpillar Vice Chairman, Doug Oberhelman.

“The FutureGen project will demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration technologies that are absolutely essential for the world to realize reductions in GHG emissions.

This alliance recognizes the global nature of climate and energy challenges and will provide domestic and international communities the ground breaking technologies to assist in the shared goal of reducing green house gas emissions.”

Caterpillar’s move signals critical support ahead of the U.S. Department of Energy’s pending decision to move ahead on FutureGen construction at a site in Mattoon. Gov. Pat Quinn said. Department of Energy will provide more than $1 billion in funding to the project.

“I welcome Caterpillar’s investment in FutureGen and in Illinois,” Quinn said.

“The company’s support – just over a week after another major Illinois-based company, Exelon, signed on to the project – is a clear sign that momentum for this project is gaining.”

“In just a little over a week, the FutureGen Alliance has added another strong partner with a deep connection to Illinois,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said.

“Caterpillar will bring a great deal to the table as the FutureGen Alliance and the Department of Energy continue in the final stages of negotiations. I look forward to welcoming many new FutureGen Alliance members – from Illinois and around the world.”

Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin today announced that Caterpillar will join the FutureGen Alliance. This is the second major new Alliance member signed up in just over a week.

FutureGen is designed to be the cleanest coal-fueled power plant in the world. The 275 megawatt facility will convert coal into hydrogen and electricity, while capturing and safely storing the carbon dioxide in sandstone formations a mile beneath the site.

It will lay the groundwork for developing similar plants around the country and the world, pioneering the capture, rather than release of greenhouse gases.

“In just a little over a week, the FutureGen Alliance has added another strong partner with a deep connection to Illinois,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

“Caterpillar will bring a great deal to the table as the FutureGen Alliance and the Department of Energy continue in the final stages of negotiations. I look forward to welcoming many new FutureGen Alliance members – from Illinois and around the world.”

Read the original article from Herald & Review.

This post is part of the IT Innovation series, sponsored by Sun & Intel. Read more at ITInnovation.com.
Of course, the content of this post consists entirely of the thoughts and opinions of the author.

As part of our ITInnovation.com website, we’re hosting a webinar on data center productivity, on Wednesday, February 10th, at 9am PT/12pm ET, that should be a good discussion for those of you in the IT world. I’ll be moderating, and we’ll have short presentations from Chris Peters of Intel, talking about matching data center productivity to business productivity, and from Michael Rowan of Viridity Software, discussing productivity measurement from an energy management perspective (an increasingly important part of the equation). Following this we’ll have a further discussion on these and related issues, including Q&A from attendees. You can sign up to attend here.

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Two people are awaiting extradition from Kentucky after being charged in connection with the murder of a 70-year-old man last week in his far north suburban home.

David Queen of unincorporated Antioch was pronounced dead at his home in the 40200 block of North Deep Lake Road about 4 p.m. Thursday, according to Lake County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller.

An autopsy Friday revealed Queen died of multiple stab wounds, including wounds to the upper back and chest, Keller said.

Jason L. Baker has been charged in a warrant with two counts of first-degree murder and his bond was set at $4 million, according to a release from the Lake County Sheriff’s office.

Kimberly Caldwell is charged with one count of felony obstruction of justice in connection with the murder. Her bond on the warrant was set at $500,000, the release said.

Both Baker and Caldwell are in Knox County, Ky., awaiting extradition, the release said.

Through the investigation, Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies learned that Baker and Caldwell had been living with Queen for just over a week. “We had a tip that these individuals had left town,” said Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran. He added that Caldwell had apparently told her employer, the Las Vegas Restaurant in Antioch, that she was leaving town and moving to Kentucky.

Following leads, investigators learned that Caldwell had previously lived in Kentucky. She and Baker were located in Kentucky and apprehended by Knox County deputies on warrants for obstruction of justice just before noon on Feb. 4.

“These guys are phenomenal,” Curran said of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigators who solved the case. “Within 12 hours, they were able to track these people down.”

Investigators have since learned that Queen was the owner of the property but was renting space to Baker, Caldwell and a third individual in his home, part of which had been converted into apartment space.

Curran said what authorities know so far is that around midnight on Feb. 4, “our suspect, Jason Baker, was in there with Mr. Queen and an altercation did occur and (Baker) did stab (Queen) multiple times.”

Baker dragged the body around and made it look like a robbery had occurred in the home, Curran said.

“There’s nothing to show there was much taken by way of a robbery,” Curran said.

The body was discovered by the third individual who had been living in the home. That individual had apparently been hanging out with Baker and Caldwell the night before in a common area of the house. Upon trying to return to that common area, the individual wasn’t able to get back in, Curran said, and decided to have a few beers and go to sleep.

When the individual tried to get into the common area again in the morning, he again wasn’t able to and found it suspicious. After looking through a window, the man discovered Queen’s body and called 911, Curran said. Queen had 25 defense wounds on his body, Curran added.

After obtaining a search warrant of Queen’s home, investigators recovered two knives, one of which was covered in blood and is believed to be the murder weapon, Curran said.

“We need to be careful who we rent to,” said Curran. “Mr. Queen did not deserve this. He did not do anything wrong.”

Lake County Sheriff’s police are investigating.

Read the original article from FOX Chicago News.

The Obama administration says it will spend $78.5 million to halt the giant Asian carp, which officials fear could spread and possibly endanger the Great Lakes region’s $7 billion fishing industry.

Federal officials say they’ll consider opening navigational locks on Chicago-area waterways less frequently to prevent the carp from overrunning the Great Lakes.

Top officials of the Obama administration were meeting Monday with governors from several Great Lakes states.

Michigan has asked the Supreme Court to order navigational locks closed to block the carp from reaching Lake Michigan, but has so far been denied.

Officials announced last month that genetic material from the carp had been discovered in Lake Michigan for the first time.

Read the original article from FOX Chicago News.

After a seven-year hiatus from the Need for Speed series, Electronic Arts has announced that a ten-car Ferrari download content pack will be coming to Need for Speed: Shift this month.