Category: News

A deathbed divorce for Dennis Hopper? The cancer-stricken actor has filed for divorce from his wife of nearly 14 years.

The 73-year-old Easy Rider actor filed for divorce from his fifth wife, Victoria Hopper, in Los Angeles on Thursday. Hopper cites irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. The date of separation was listed as January 12, 2010. Hopper, who was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in October, requests that both parties pay attorneys fees. However, the Crash star asks that spousal support be awarded to Victoria.

A family friend told The Huffington Post that Hopper is mentally incapacitated from the various medications he’s taking to ease the pain of his cancer.

“It’s truly a tragedy, and sadly it’s all about the money and who inherits what,” a source revealed to The National Enquirer this week. “This is about getting Victoria out of the will, nothing more, nothing less.”

Dennis married Victoria on April 12, 1996. They have a six-year-old daughter named Galen. Dennis is asking that the couple share joint custody

Found under: iPhone, OS, Apple, tablet, ,

While Windows Mobile 7 is yet to appear officially it looks like the competitors are getting ready for an imminent release of iPhone OS 4.0. Not confirmed by Cupertino yet iPhone OS 4.0 has been mentioned by app developers which have apparently started to make apps capable of running on the new mobile OS.And we also have an explanation as to why Apple hasnt launched any iPhone OS updates anymore. It seems that version 4.0 contains various references to the upcoming tablet. Apple sure

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Welcome to the weekend, readers!

Your primary focus at this very moment might be your Friday night drink-ups, but we’ve got a new feature to help you maintain your mental clarity and conversational arsenal throughout the weekend – all while keeping you at a safe distance from your computer and allowing you to roam freely through the real world.

We’re happy to present the Friday Podcast Parade! Load up your iPod with this curation of experts on audio, and give these chats a listen while walking your dogs, working out or running errands. You’ll be smarter for it, we promise!

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This week’s topic was, next to the Haitian earthquake, the biggest story in tech news since Google made its controversial announcement on Tuesday afternoon.

Put briefly, the search giant has threatened to pull out of China entirely, shuttering its Google.cn portal and closing its offices due to a string of attacks carried out on Gmail accounts from what are presumed to be agents of the Chinese government – not to mention China’s longstanding censorship of search keywords and websites, which Google stated has long made the company uncomfortable.

First up, we have commentary from NPR’s All Things Considered. Although NPR’s reporter Laura Sydell said the attacks couldn’t be pinned directly on the Chinese government just yet, she did get to speak directly to Google’s SVP David Drummond, who makes an appearance in this podcast. Sydell also spoke to Gregory Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Jonathan Zittrain of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, who discuss the involvement of authoritarian governments in online activities.

Download here or listen here. Running time: 3:42

In our second offering, Adam Segal, Ira A. Lipman Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies for the Council for Foreign Relations, is interviewed about the situation and makes several interesting points.

As we’re all likely aware, this move on Google’s part comes at a tense moment in the U.S.-China relationship. “The Google decision also feeds into a broader sense of China as spoiler… I would suspect the next six months is going to be very bumpy,” he said.

Segal also sees the move as an indicator that the “world-wide” Web is breaking apart. With various tools widely used in some parts of the world and abandoned in others (e.g., Orkut in Brazil or Friendster in Southeast Asia), can we really argue with him? But Segal sees further fragmentation of the Internet into almost entirely separate entities, one based in the Western world and one in the East.

Download here or listen here. Running time: 9:27

Finally, from The World, we have this double-whammy tech podcast, the first half of which is a discussion of affairs in Haiti and the second half of which focuses on the topic of this week’s parade. If you skip to the 10:33 mark, you’ll hear Clark Boyd recapping the news and an in-depth report from veteran East Asia correspondent Mary Kay Magistad, who has covered news in this region for almost six years. She states that surfing the web right now in Beijing is like being in a different world now that Google has unblocked search terms and content, leaving China’s censors scrambling to keep up. The rest of her report is a fascinating mosaic of interviews and insight – a must-listen for those who would be informed and sound intelligent on the Google-China debacle.

Download here or listen here. Running time: 19:06

To subscribe to the Podcast Parade, check out our Huffduffer page and feed, or just use this link to subscribe through iTunes. You can also check out other podcasts on this topic from our friends at CNET’s Buzz Out Loud and The Next Web, who told us their audio commentary will be published shortly on their blog.

We hope you’ll enjoy this new weekly feature! Please let us know what you think of our Podcast Parade in the comments, and if you have a recommendation for future installments, send us an email.

Discuss

Found under: Symbian 4, Nokia, OS, ,

Like Microsoft Nokia also needs to make a fast return to the smartphone business. Like Microsoft Nokia needs a better mobile OS one thats capable to be matched against the iPhone or the Android and BlackBerry phones. And just like Microsoft Nokia has its own mobile OS Symbian.Symbian 4 or Symbian4 has been revealed by the Finnish company and it looks like the OS is scheduled to arrive next year. The OS is supposed to be the follower of the yet unannounced Symbian3 but we alread

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British Columbia, Canada | Watery Wonders

Strong currents surge through the narrow entrance to Seymour Inlet.

In the middle stands the small Tremble Island (also called Turret Rock), so called because it’s said to shake at peak tides when the current races past at an overpowering 16-20 knots.

One story tells how an early land surveyor chose to stay on Tremble Island during a strong tide but the island vibrated so violently that he lay face down, clinging to the roots of small bushes, stuffing grass into his ears to block out the noise.

The islands trees are covered in numerous signs, left by crews of ships that are trying to get in and out and had to wait for the tides. Some of the signs date back over 100 years.

The Freedom of Information Act allowed the ACLU to view documents concerning the Customs and Border Protection‘s searches of laptops and other electronic devices at the United States’ international borders. They discovered that third parties view and copy some data.

The ACLU was quite thorough and analyzed the documents—which detailed searches of not just laptops, but digital cameras, thumb drives, hard drives, and even DVDs as well—to produce some easy to digest spreadsheets. Based on a glance at those spreadsheets, the CBP seemed to take advantage of the fact that “under the current policy, they were not required to justify a single one of these searches.”

It’s explained that those searches are generally done due to “individualized suspicion of wrongdoing, but CBP’s policy allows officials to exercise their power arbitrarily.” You know what? This may sound insane, but I think that I can deal with somewhat unjustified searches like that. It’s alright, I’ve got time to waste when traveling and there doesn’t seem to be any harm in it, except when I get to this part:

Between July 2008 and June 2009, CBP transferred electronic files found on travelers’ devices to third-party agencies almost 300 times. Over half the time, these unknown agencies asserted independent bases for retaining or seizing the transferred files. More than 80 percent of the transfers involved the CBP making copies of travelers’ files.

So who exactly is getting to see my occasionally inappropriate vacation pictures and what do they do after taking a peek? That’s the part which troubles me. If I somehow prompt a search, I’m fine with it. Look at my browsing history, ebook collection, odd music library, whatever you want, but give me assurance that my data is safe.

I’ll be reserving my full-on whining tantrum until I finish reading the whole 863 page batch of documents, but so far I’m not exactly a happy camper. Did you catch anything that particularly freaked you out in there? [ACLU]

A few folks sent in Andy Oram’s recent blog post that noted how countries like India, China and Brazil were gaining more power on the international diplomatic stage, and that could mean a pushback against more draconian intellectual property attempts. Brazil, China and India have all realized that, as developing nations, they often benefit greatly from reduced intellectual property regimes:

As I understand the argument, the institutions responsible for passing new rules respond to the most powerful countries. The US and Europe are on the decline in these organizations. All the countries that benefit from looser IP regimes–China, India, Brazil–are growing in economic strength and are finding themselves in more and more seats at the tables of the world’s closed economic institutions. For just one concrete example, look at the shift of responsibility in recent years from the G-7 to the G-20. The G-7 is a familiar set of countries that were powerful from the 1950s through the 1970s. The G-20 is truly diverse, bringing in strong economies from around the world (but still just the ones with some international economic clout).

I’ll believe it when I see it. While it is true that those other countries have a seat at the table, it’s still the lobbyists from the US and Europe that seem to be dictating the agenda. In recent years, we’ve definitely pushed increasingly draconian IP laws on those countries. So until we see more serious pushback (and Brazil is really the only major country I can remember that has been proactive on that front — India and China have appeared more willing to claim that they’ll move toward US-style IP rules) it’s difficult to believe this is really happening just yet.

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The “Busiest Penis In Sports Today” wants to help the victims of the Haitian earthquake. The Associated Press reports that 34-year-old PGA champ Tiger Woods plans to lend his help to the relief efforts.

The president of the Tiger Woods Foundation, Greg McLaughlin, tells the newswire that the golfer’s staff is currently evaluating the best way to help the Haitian people, devastated by a 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday.
The billionaire has been out of the spotlight since news of his sex scandal surfaced in December.

Rumors that Tiger would be aiding in the relief efforts surfaced after hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons Tweeted Thursday the golfer could spend upward of $3 million “sending a mobile hospital with 50 EMTs to go set up a triage.”

According to RadarOnline.com the sex-addicted ace golfer Tiger Woods is getting treatment at a top sex addiction program in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

[Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post is from Andrew Kuo, the founder of Dream Routine. He’s put together a financial program that aims to motivate you to get into good financial condition. In that sense, it’s not too far from this week’s earlier post, Get Paid for Getting in Shape. I haven’t had a chance to review Dream Routine yet, but I am intrigued by the concept when he was explaining it to me.]

Many of you will find that this applies to you. Listen carefully because it may change your life. Dream Routine is not a quick fix, but rather it drills down to the core of your money problems to solve them the right way. I’m talking about completely getting rid of your debt and applying fundamental money principles by clearing away all the crap and finding and solving what’s really stopping you from managing your money correctly.

Instead of trying to convince you, in the next 7 days, I will show you several concepts from Dream Routine that will completely change the way you approach your money problems. On the 7th day, you will get a rare chance to join Dream Routine for free. So why don’t we get started immediately? Watch the video below to learn how to motivate yourself the right way to take maximum action and get optimum results.

Managing money is a complex candle problem. Every single one of us has our own unique problems to money management. There is not one universal answer to all our problems, and hence we all are trying to solve our very own complex candle problem. What we have learned from the video is that we must motivate ourselves through autonomy, mastery, and purpose in order to get the best results. Don’t manage your money so you can buy that fancy car, or so you can go on that cruise. You may be harming yourself by doing so. Instead, do it for yourself; make it a challenge so that one day you can live your dreams in harmony!

Visit Dream Routine for more great concepts and principles.

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Yes, a business card that shoots a magazine of 10 pennies with rubber band power will get you noticed—but it probably won’t be the kind of attention you hoped for.

Then again, load that thing up with Krugerrands and you will definitely score yourself some allies despite the painful welts. Hit the following link iIf you want to try your hand at making one of these yourself. [Thingverse via Make]

We are part of the same human family

Editor, The Times:

As we see the human tragedy unfold in Haiti and know that the suffering will only deepen and continue, how are we to respond? [“Desperation grips Haiti as aid struggles to get in,” page one, Jan. 15] How might we — as individuals, but also as a community — mobilize material response while also asking deeper questions?

Do we see ourselves in the faces of Haitian children, women and men? Are we really members of one human family sharing one Earth? How are disasters made worse by the structural violence of poverty and the convoluted mix of the environment and politics?

The basic human rights of food, water, home and health, denied to many Haitians daily, are now utterly absent for hundreds of thousands. But is this just another natural disaster, news flash or tragic case study? And will we refuse to accept that our lives are too busy and our personal connections too distant to get involved?

As our hearts are moved, we can resolve to work collectively, creatively and concretely in the months ahead. Such understanding and efforts are the essence of the hope for a better world we so readily avow.

— James Loucky, Bellingham

Organize airdrops

Your headline in Friday’s paper refers to aid to Haiti not being able to be delivered. It seems to me that others must have had thoughts similar to mine: Organize a parachute drop. The roads are virtually nonexistent, the airfield has one landing strip and supplies are delivered in planes from all over the world that have had to circle Haiti for hours waiting for permission to land.

Fly the supplies to bases in the U.S., transfer the supplies to planes such as C-130s and go to Haiti flying a grid pattern and drop the goods from the planes.

People will at least get water, food and medical necessities days earlier than by the method currently in use. We are trying to distribute emergency supplies in a time-honored fashion that is just not consistent with the nature and scope of this particular natural catastrophe.

— Don Rogers, Camano Island

Earthquake foreboding for the U.S.

Hey all you anti-taxers, take a look at earthquake-devastated Haiti for a vision of the USA’s future if you get your way.

Haiti has no building code to build safe, strong buildings. Building codes are developed and enforced by government, financed by taxes. Haiti has virtually no public hospitals, fire or emergency services, which are run by government and financed by taxes. The airport in Port-au-Prince has one runway and one access road. Of course, airports and roads are generally built by tax dollars, then operated by a public, aka government, agency.

Transport of relief supplies from the airport is hindered by limited and damaged roads. Roads are generally built by the government and financed by tax dollars. Delivery of relief supplies by sea is impossible as port facilities are in shambles and there are no operating cranes. Port facilities are a government function and financed by tax dollars.

As our state legislators and the U.S. Congress consider tax issues that will improve the common good, I invite every tax protester to consider the importance of government responses to earthquakes and wildfires in California, volcanoes and forest fires in Washington, hurricanes on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, tornadoes in the Midwest, floods in our river valleys and, of course, 9/11. In every instance, the government has stepped in, provided services and helped to rebuild. These services are not free; they are financed by taxes.

Taxes are the dues we pay to belong to the greatest club on the planet: club USA. That club strives to assure our safe travel by land, air and sea. It guarantees the basic education of our children, financial subsistence of our elderly and disabled and safety of our population through police, fire and emergency services. To deny our responsibility to each other is to deny our own humanity.

— Paula Joneli, Des Moines

Another way to help

You really should include Partners in Health on your list of recommended charities [“Haiti earthquake: how to help,” News, Jan. 15]. It was founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, whose biography by Tracy Kidder — a New York Times Notable Book for 2003 — was the first book adopted by the University of Washington as a recommended read for all incoming freshmen the next year.

PIH has operated in Haiti for 20 years and is known as a model for charities in other poor countries. Its reputation is as an excellent organization that makes the most of its contributions and has very low operating costs.

PIH was praised after getting assistance to Port-au-Prince very early after the quake and Farmer’s hospital in Cange is already filled with injured refugees from the city.

— Edna R. Peak, Des Moines

Limbaugh’s comments

Rush Limbaugh should be charged with a hate crime. When someone like Limbaugh, who has a national radio show that reaches millions, asks people not to donate to relief efforts in Haiti after the devastating earthquake, should he not be charged with a hate crime?

Without donations that some Americans might not now give, many more people could die because of his cruel words.

He said Americans don’t need to contribute to earthquake relief because they already donate to Haiti through their income taxes. He will do anything, no mater how low, to get reactions from the media, Robert Gibbs, myself and countless others.

In our lives, most of us know people just as petty but they don’t have radio shows. How can this man sleep at night knowing there are small babies, children and other human beings buried under rubble at this very moment?

— Joe Giannunzio, Redmond

Photo of bodies inappropriate

The photo on the front page of Friday’s Seattle Times of the dead earthquake victims in Haiti is abhorrent and completely inappropriate.

One of the important tenets of humanity is that we care for the dead and respectfully honor their passing. In the situation in Haiti, with so many deaths resulting from a natural disaster, there are not enough resources and too many dead for this to occur.

By publishing such a horrific picture of these victims, The Seattle Times has shown only the highest disrespect for these victims and their country in its hour of need.

— Christy Wyborny, Seattle

Some parasitic wasps may be no bigger than the head of a pin, but their genetics have plenty to teach us, a new study in Science says.

A research team has sequenced the genomes of three different species of parasitic wasp. Why bother with these tiny insects? For starters, genetics is easy. Females, like humans, carry two copies of every chromosome. But males develop from unfertilized eggs, which only carry one of each. With only one copy, even recessive mutations will be easy to identify and characterize [Ars Technica].

Parasitic wasps, then, make for an interesting science experiment. But their genetics could hold practical secrets, too. These wasps are deadly to many insects that bother us by attacking crops or livestock. “If we can harness their full potential, they would be vastly preferable to chemical pesticides which broadly kill or poison many organisms in the environment, including us,” Werren said in a statement [San Francisco Chronicle].

Also, don’t be surprised if other surprises turn up. Scientists have already documented that parasitic wasps have genes related to smallpox and other viruses, though they aren’t certain exactly what those genes do. A different Science study earlier in the year, though, said that some parasitic wasps may have gotten their poison from ancient viruses.

Parasitic wasps are nasty creatures—DISCOVER has documented their creepy habit of turning other animals in zombies. But nastiness aside, lead research John Werren says, we ought to be thankful for these wasps and their bloodlust: “There are over 600,000 species of these amazing critters, and we owe them a lot. If it weren’t for parasitoids and other natural enemies, we would be knee-deep in pest insects” [AFP].

Related Links:
80beats: Parasitic Wasps Got Their Poison From an Ancient Virus
80beats: Caterpillars Beware: Parasitic Wasps Come in a Wide Variety
DISCOVER: Zombie Animals and the Parasites That Control Them, a gallery of great creepiness

Image: flickr / wormwould