Category: News

[JURIST] Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official websites] announced in a committee hearing Wednesday that confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan [official profile; JURIST news archive] will begin June 28 [press release]. Leahy’s confirmation schedule mirrors the timelines followed for recent nominations, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The schedule should allow the confirmation hearings to be completed before the senators go on a week-long break in early July. Leahy said:

There is no reason to unduly delay consideration of this nomination. Justice Stevens announced on April 9 that he would be leaving the Court. He noted that “it would be in the best interests of the Court to have [his] successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court’s next Term,”; and I wholeheartedly agree with Justice Stevens. That is in the best interests of the Court, and the country.

The Committee’s ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (R-AL) [official website] responded [press release] to Leahy’s announcement requesting that the hearings start after the July 4 recess in order for the senators in order to properly review Kagan’s questionnaire and accompanying documentation. “At this time, it remains to be seen whether the schedule set by the Chairman will be adequate to allow us to meet our important constitutional responsibility to thoroughly review Ms. Kagan’s record on behalf of the American people.” Leahy’s proposed timetable will put Senate on track to meet the president’s goal of confirming Kagan by the time the court begins its new session in the fall.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee released [JURIST report] a bipartisan questionnaire [text, PDF] submitted by Kagan regarding her prior experience, financial status, potential conflicts of interest, and various other details of her past. The majority of the questionnaire is made up of various cases handled during her tenure with the solicitor general’s office, which is responsible not only for litigation before the Supreme Court, but also for deciding which district court rulings will be challenged in the appeals courts. Kagan submitted the questionnaire on Tuesday along with thousands of pages of documentation supporting her responses [materials]. She will return to Washington, DC on Wednesday for individual meetings with senators who will vote on her nomination after the hearings are completed.

Filed under: Hybrid, Performance, SUV, Crossover, Porsche, Luxury

Porsche North America has revealed American pricing for the all-new 2011 Cayenne on its consumer website, including the company’s first hybrid model. When the Cayenne goes on sale in the coming months, the base 3.6-liter gasoline V6 model will apparently start at $46,700, with the normally aspirated 4.8-liter V8 S taking the tab up to $63,700.

The new hybrid model, which combines the 333 horsepower supercharged 3.0-liter V6 with an electric motor and battery will cost customers a minimum of $67,700. While that is $21,000 more than the base model, it is massively less than the $99,000 price tag for a similar Volkswagen Touareg hybrid in Germany. The Deutsche prices, of course, include a hefty Value Added Tax. The better comparison here would be the between the V8 powered S and the hybrid, which is also at the S trim level. There the price premium is only $4,000, which seems much more reasonable.

The EPA has not yet published fuel economy numbers for the new Cayenne, but in Germany, the S is rated at 22.4 mpg (U.S.) while the hybrid is rated at 28.7 mpg. The Europe-only Cayenne diesel is rated at an even more impressive 31.8 mpg.

Finally, while base pricing is live on Porsche’s website for the 2011 model, the configurator is still that of the outgoing 2010 edition. Thus, if you’d like to see how much it’s going to run you to outfit your dream Cayenne, you’re going to have to wait a while – or at least call your local dealer. Thanks for the tip, Matt!

[Source: Porsche]

Porsche website reveals U.S. pricing for 2011 Cayenne, MSRP starts at $46,700 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 May 2010 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aussie stunner Miranda Kerr — who is penning a book on self-esteem in young women — strikes a sizzling pose on the June issue of GQ Magazine.

And if you think that’s sexy, wait until you see the video!

The dimple-cheeked cutie kindly suggests GQ send an autographed copy of her latest feature in the mag to the Australian guy who was busted on live TV oogling steamy photos of her on the pages of the tomb a few months back. Earlier this year, a young banker became an Internet phenomenon after he was caught looking at racy snaps of the Victoria’s Secret model at work. In fact, the poor sap was nearly fired until the outcry of online supporters convinced his bosses to let the incident slide.

Miranda was among those sympathetic to the cause.

“It was a huge deal,” Kerr told GQ over tea in New York City. “I wasn’t offended. I just felt sorry for the poor guy.”

California's Big Basin (Photo: California State Parks Foundation)

From Green Right Now Reports

The National Trust for Historic Preservation today unveiled the 2010 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, an annual list that highlights important examples of the nation’s architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk of destruction or irreparable damage. The list includes Virginia’s Wilderness Battlefield, site of one of the most important engagements of the Civil War and the first meeting of legendary generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, now battling a big box retailer.

National Trust president Richard Moe announced the 2010 list at another of the most endangered places — Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, which is the national cathedral of African Methodism and a landmark of African-American heritage and civil rights advocacy.

The 2010 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places (in alphabetical order):

California's Montana de Oro State Park (Photo: Steve Sieren | National Trust for Historic Preservation)

America’s State Parks and State-Owned Historic Sites — This year, nearly 30 states have experienced cuts to parks’ and sites’ budgets, and a recent survey estimates as many as 400 state parks could close. These state park systems include places of national significance — from Native American historic sites to Revolutionary War forts to Civil War battlefields to country estates — and welcome an estimated 725 million visits every year.

if you are in the media enough, you recognize that the media lives for the next headline. Facebook Privacy ? What a great headline.  We all care about privacy, right ?

Wrong.  Privacy is a boogie man for the media to play with. Unless you are in the internet business in some manner, where discussing privacy issues with other internet people makes everyone feel like they are part of the “smart people”. Facebook privacy is a media issue (which in turn of course makes it a politicians wet dream), nothing more.

If you join Facebook, by definition you want to give up some of your privacy. You want to share pictures, updates and statuses with friends. You want friends you haven’t seen in a long time to find you.   Items and information that would never see the light of day pre social networks, are now regularly uploaded from our phones. No DRM on those pictures. No requests for DRM on those pictures. No copyright on our status updates. No requests for copyrights on our status updates. Facebook is a social network.  The operative word being social.

Let me put this another way. In every FB profile there is a question called “Interested In”.  You know you answered the question in your profile.  When you tell 500mm people that you are interested in finding  something, friends, business, whatever,  did you really think that only applied to your immediate circle of friends ?  And what about the interests you shared ? Why would you need to share that information to your immediate friends ? They should already know that stuff shouldn’t they ?  When you published your political or music views and interests, you didn’t do that for the benefit of your immediate friends did you ?  Of course not. You did it to expand your circle of friends. If you want to expand your social circle, you need to share information  to people you don’t know.  You can’t share information with strangers in hopes of possibly adding them to your social network and then bitch about the lack of privacy.

The privacy advocates among us would tell us that sharing with friends and even potential friends  is one thing, making it available to everyone  is another.  Well guess what, while FB doesn’t have the equivalent of a Retweet function, it doesn’t have a Muzzle function either.  Facebook can’t control downstream discussions today any better than you could when you told stories to your buddies at the bar the other night.  Whether you like it or not, posting on FB is a publishing function. You are publishing to your “friends” and whether you like it or not, they have every right, opportunity and possibly inclination to share what you say, do and show.

Facebook privacy is very simple at its core. You joined because you wanted to give up some of your privacy in exchange for the benefits that FB offers.  If you think its a problem, de-activate your account.  If you think its a problem, but really want to be on FB, RTFM (Read the Frickin Manual).  The functionality is there. Since when did it become law that software can’t have some level of depth in order to provide the breadth of features and services that all levels of users require ?

The complaints about FB privacy are pretty much a joke.  It’s a social network, not your voting record.

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So, you bought a house right before the property bubble burst? Got out of gold a year ago? Invested in Pets.com back in the 90s? Well, guess what? No matter how many dumb investment decisions you’ve made, they likely pale next to a little mistake Steve Jobs made a few years ago, which cost him about $10 billion. Ain’t schadenfreude grand?

Back in 2003, according to Marketwatch, Jobs traded in some “overpriced” Apple options for a smaller number of shares, in a sort of “bird in the hand” deal that left him with more money, assuming that Apple’s stock price never shot through the roof again.

Stock options they had been granted during the boom now seemed completely worthless. After all, Apple stock would have to climb all the way back up to those giddy heights before the options even started to show a profit again.
…

As for Jobs: He volunteered to cancel all his options in return for a far smaller number of shares, worth about $75 million at the time. The trade made sense — unless Apple boomed again.

Ahem.

The shares Jobs received are worth $2.5 billion at today’s stratospheric prices.

But what would those options have been worth?

Digging through the old proxies reveals a remarkable tale.

Jobs held 15 million options at an exercise price of $9.15, which meant they started to gain value only if Apple stock exceeded that price, and 40 million options at an exercise price of $21.80. Apple at the time was little more than $7 a share. (These prices have been adjusted to reflect the subsequent stock split.)

Total value: $12.8 billion.

In other words, Steve Jobs missed out on $10.3 billion in extra profits.

To be fair to Steve, nobody could have known how high Apple’s stock would go in subsequent years — even the man largely responsible for driving it to such lofty heights. However, this wasn’t the first time the Apple co-founder lost big by betting against his own company. Back in the 80s, when he was booted out of Apple by then-CEO John Sculley, Jobs sold off all of his Apple stock — 6.5 million shares — for about $70 million. You don’t even want to know how much they’d be worth now.

Apple’s Jobs blunders on options swap Brett Arends’ ROI [MarketWatch]
Apple History [Markus Ehrenfried]

The Evernote news just doesn’t stop, does it? Hot on the heels of Evernote integration with Lexmark printers and Fujitsu scanners comes word that Evernote will be integrating with the new P-150 scanners from Canon.

The new Canon P-150 scanner (also called the “Scan-Tini”!) ships with a CD that contains two things: a scanner driver, and a link to install Evernote. That’s the kind of bundled software that I think actually makes sense. Both Windows and Mac are supported by the new plug-and-scan offering from Canon.

[JURIST] The judiciary oversight committee of the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) [official website, in Spanish] on Tuesday approved a request [text, PDF; in Spanish] by judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] allowing him to work with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. Garzon was suspended last week [JURIST report] by the CGPJ for abusing his power by opening an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed under Francisco Franco [BBC backgrounder] during the Spanish Civil War [LOC backgrounder]. The ICC confirmed earlier this month [press release] that they had asked Garzon to work for them as a consultant for a period of seven months in order to improve their investigative methods. The CGPJ granted Garzon’s request for leave indicating there was no legal reason preventing him from working as a consultant with the ICC. Garzon still faces trial in Spain where he has been formally charged [JURIST report] with abusing his power although no trial date [AFP report] has been set. If convicted, Garzon could face a suspension of up to 20 years.

Thousands gathered [JURIST report] in cities across Spain last month in support of Garzon, chanting slogans and displaying flags of the pre-war Republican government ousted by Franco. The Spanish Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] charged [order, PDF; in Spanish] Garzon with abuse of power based on his 2008 ordered exhumation [JURIST report] of 19 mass graves in Spain. The purpose of the order was to assemble a definitive national registry of Civil War victims, despite a 1977 law granting amnesty for political crimes committed under Franco. Garzon appealed [JURIST report] the charges, alleging that the indictment issued by Spanish Supreme Court judge Luciano Varela was politically motivated [AFP report], compromised judicial independence, and sought to impose a specific interpretation of the 1977 law. Garzon is widely known for using universal jurisdiction extensively in the past to bring several high-profile rights cases, including those against Osama bin Laden and former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archives].

Europe’s current problems should be a huge wake-up call for America, says former federal reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

Reuters:

“If we need any further illustration of the potential threats to our own economy from uncontrolled borrowing, we have only to look to the struggle to maintain the common European currency, to rebalance the European economy, and to sustain political cohesion of Europe,” Volcker said.

…

“There are serious questions, most immediately about the sustainability of our commitment to growing entitlement programs,” said Volcker, who heads an outside panel of experts advising Obama on the economy.

Europe shows government hand-out spending has its limits, even if it can look sustainable for a long time. The same goes for budget deficits and growing government debt. America’s not quite there yet, but Europe is a nice peek at one potential future best avoided.

Join the conversation about this story »

Here’s what you’ll need if you plan to camp out for nearly a week before the June 30 opening of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse: a tent, a sleeping bag, posters of Robert Pattinson, the cat you’ve named Jake, and a mini-fridge filled with Glaceau’s Vitaminwater. And the parental guidance you are apparently lacking. (I added that last one myself.) Frequent CW advertiser Vitaminwater, which has made some in-your-face in-show appearances on Gossip Girl, just used the network to launch a new cross-promo for the upcoming Summit Entertainment flick. It’s a commercial developed with the help of a fan named Devon, who lends her voice to the "How to stage a sidewalk vigil" for the third movie in the wildly popular book-based franchise. Something about hanging out on cold concrete for days will make you really thirsty for those antioxidants in Vitaminwater XXX, the ad says. Or maybe it’s just the hormones talking. Nice move, Glaceau, to link with one of the hottest film properties around, and take the message directly to a venue that’s a teen-girl haven. Eclipse may benefit from your media, but there’s little doubt you will benefit somehow from the vamp phenom.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Arguably, American Comedy scene’s most successful actress is Christa Miller. Born Christa Miller Lawrence in Manhattan, New York in May 28, 1964, television comedy series’ jewel can be remembered by portraying inimitable roles such as Kate O’Brien in The Drew Carey Show and Scrubs’ Jordan Sullivan. The show Scrubs was her husband’s brainchild.

Acting and being a celebrity run in the bloodline. Her mother Bonnie Trompeter was a famous model in her era. She is also the niece of NBC sports guy Dick Ebrasol. Notably, the most recognizable figure in the family is Aunt Susan Saint James.

Miller was introduced to the entertainment industry at such a young age. Barely eating and walking, the six-month old Christa was shown in a Wonder Bread television ad. Three years later, she posed her charms in an Ivory commercial with Francesco Scavullo.

Her stint in the limelight was briefly cut short when she had to undergo a surgical procedure to remove benign tumors from her bones. After period of recovery, she did a couple of modeling stints. Soon after she retired, she enrolled herself in an acting school in Los Angeles and debut as US Maxim’s first cover girl.

One of her biggest television breaks came with The Drew Carey Show which was aired from 1995 to 2002. Her appearance in Seinfeld twice has made ratings for the program shoot up.

Her better half Bill Lawrence produced the popular TV Show Scrubs. In 2001, Miller was invited for a gust role as Dr. Cox’s ex-wife Jordan Sullivan. The intention for her role was just for bit parts. However, due to audience applaud and demands, she was seen almost regularly in the show.

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It’s really incredible how many major names over the last few years have recommended shorting long-dated US Treasury bonds.

Even today, Nouriel Roubini is warning of bond vigilantes coming to the US., threatening our ability to borrow money at cheap rates.

And yes, we can certainly see the logic. But we’ve also seen Japan, and in the meantime, Treasuries continue to do awesome, as yields collapse.

Join the conversation about this story »

Today, at 2 p.m., the Senate will vote on Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) motion to invoke cloture on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill. The 60-vote-hurdle cloture motion, if it passes, would end debate on the bill and in 30 hours — after 8 p.m. on Thursday — the Senate could take a final 50-vote-hurdle vote on the measure. Right now, it seems that Reid does not have 60 votes, and therefore debate will continue and he will have to file for cloture again.

The Senate is no longer taking any new amendments to the Dodd bill, but is allowing secondary amendments tacked on to other amendments. At the literal third-to-last minute yesterday, Dodd amended Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s (D-Ark.) controversial derivatives language, which would have forced banks to spin off their derivatives trading desks into separately financed entities. Brady Dennis at The Washington Post offers a good explanation of the derivatives compromise language and the trouble it has caused in the last 24 hours:

Dodd offered a clever Washington solution aimed to appease both friends and foes of the provision. His amendment preserves the tough language — but it postpones any action for two years so it can be studied. And it assigns that study to a new council of regulators, headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, whose members have serious reservations about such a dramatic measure and may very well kill it in the end.

Voila. Language saved, action averted. Move on.

Problem is, the idea didn’t sit so well with Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), chief advocate of the derivatives ban, who was in Arkansas on Tuesday fighting for her Senate seat in a primary election. (Her bid to secure the nomination fell short, setting up a June 8 runoff election.) When contacted about Dodd’s proposal, staff members seemed unaware of it. They later sent out a statement on Lincoln’s behalf. “I remain fully committed to my provision and will fight efforts to weaken it,” she said. “I’m proud of the support my provision has received both inside and outside the Senate and will defend it should there be a debate on the Senate floor.”

Nor did the banks cheer Dodd’s compromise. “It’s immediately going to have a chilling effect,” said one banking lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak more freely. “Markets crave certainty. All this does is introduce a comic amount of uncertainty.”

But if the compromise brings Republicans over to vote for the bill, it will stay. Notably, the Dodd bill punts on a number of issues — including, for instance, the Volcker Rule banning proprietary trading at federally insured banks.

Here are the remaining amendments to the Dodd bill. Not all will receive a vote:

• Sen. Sam Brownback’s (R-Kans.) amendment to exclude automakers from from the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
• Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Mark Pryor’s (D-Ark.) amendment on small business fairness, which might exempt small businesses from CFPA rules.
• Sen. Arlen Specter’s (D-Pa.) amendment of section 20 of the Securities and Exchange Act, allowing private civil action against people that violate certain SEC laws.
• Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) amendment to restore the application of federal antitrust laws to health insurers.
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) amendment to give states stronger authority to protect consumers from usurious lenders.
• Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) amendment to limit affiliations with certain member banks.
• Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Richard Lugar’s (R-Ind.) amendment to require the disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers.
• Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Ala.) amendment to make the Consumer Financial Protection Agency funded by Congress, rather than the Federal Reserve.
• Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) amendment exempting manufacturers and entrepreneurs from some regulations.

• Sen. Judd Gregg’s (R-N.H.) amendment to prohibit taxpayer bailouts of fiscally irresponsible state and local governments was withdrawn.
• Sen. Bob Corker’s (R-Tenn.) amendment on the applicability of state laws to national banks failed, 43-55.
• Sen. Tom Carper’s (D-Del.) amendment on the applicability of state laws to national banks passed, 80-18.
• Sen. Byron Dorgan’s (D-N.D.) secondary amendment to ban naked credit default swaps was tabled, 57-38.

A few days back we told you about the Sprint HTC Hero leak of the latest Android 2.1 software, now we are happy to announce the official update is available on HTC’s website with instructions on Sprint’s website for customers to perform the manual update themselves. We’ll have a guide up shortly, but if you haven’t updated from the old 1.5… now is the time to do so!

Note: the update will wipe your phone and specific to Sprint version of the HTC Hero. Concerned about backing up your contacts, SMS, email, apps, etc? Try MyBackup Pro for complete backup solutions or WaveSecure for SMS and call logs, try AppManager for apps, and your Gmail account automatically backs up Contacts. It will not come as an automatic update thus you must install it yourself.

[Via HTC]

Japanese maker CEREVO’s innovative product should’ve really gone on sale a couple of years ago when iJustine and co were at their peak, but I do appreciate a good camera with a unique twist—in this case, Ustream support. More »

Live from the Google I/O Day 1 Keynote in San Francisco, CA.