Category: News

New Super Mario Bros. Wii hits stores today, and it will probably be on of the biggest games of the year. (Little Tommy and Little Susie shouldn’t be playing Modern Warfare 2!) To celebrate the launch of this latest Mario game, Nintendo invited its fans to the Nintendo World Store in New York yesterday. In addition to being able to buy the game a whole day early, fans could participate in a Mario tournament, get their picture taken in Mario garb, play the older games in the series, and meet Gary and Alison from Nintendo Week.

It was basically madness. I strolled in, along with my younger brother (who desperately wanted to meet the Nintendo Week hosts… it’d be like me wanting to meet Brock Lesnar or Lionel Messi), and found the Nintendo World Store swarming with children. You immediately realized that yeah, for all of the money games like Modern Warfare 2 or Assassin’s Creed II make, Nintendo’s audience is completely different. That’s not exactly breaking news, no.

Unfortunately for the Nintendo faithful, New York was being battered by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, so it was windy, rainy, and gray all day long. That made standing in line to buy the game much more of a hassle, and meant that I was juggling my camera, an extra lens, and an umbrella while trying to avoid running into anybody while taking photos.

The line to buy the game was quite long, stretching about halfway down the block. I waited, like an everyman, and was out there for around 20 minutes. Keep in mind that I find the idea of waiting in line for a video game to be ludicrous, but you sometimes have to make exceptions.

That’s about it. It was a fun little afternoon, only hindered by the fact that it was something like 98-degrees Fahrenheit upstairs (where the tournament took place). I also ran into E-Rock from the Opie and Anthony Show, which was pretty great in its own right.

I’ll have my thoughts on the game itself in the coming days.

While Canadian carrier hopeful WIND might not be launching any time soon thanks to its foreign ownership structure, outsiders are already drooling at the prospect of buying up all of WIND’s spectrum in the event that it doesn’t launch. WIND CEO Ken Campbell dismissed such things as “media speculation” during our interview with him and repeated ad nauseam that WIND is currently weighing its options, but now more of its would be competitors are speaking up on what might be. Said Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed on Friday: “Spectrum is a very valuable asset. Rogers for sure would be interested in picking it up.” Snapping up all of WIND’s spectrum wouldn’t be cheap considering it was originally purchased from Industry Canada in 2008 at a cost of $442.1 million Canadian ($420.4 million USD), but the possibility that several of the Big Three would buy it in parcels if the launch never happens remains relatively high. After all, Bell has previously said it would be willing to purchase half of WIND’s spectrum at $0.50 on the dollar.

Read

I have no backwards R key on my keyboard and I don’t have the wherewithal to figure out the tricky Wingdingy ALT+numpad+four digit code voodoo it’d take to produce it (if it’s even possible), so let’s just say “Toys R Us” and enjoy the store’s Black Friday ad.

Stores open at midnight – yes midnight – on Thursday night/Friday morning. Doorbuster deals are marked with an asterisk and are good until 1PM on Friday.

Computers

VTech Learning Laptop – $14.99 *

Digital Cameras

Fujifilm FinePix Red 12MP Digital Camera – $69.99 *

iCarly Mini Digital Camera – $12.49 *

Pink Or Blue Digital Video Camcorder – $29.99 *

Vivitar 8.1MP Digital Camera – $39.99 *

Digital Media Cards

SanDisk 8 GB SDHC Memory Card – $19.99 *

DVD Players

Coby 7″ Portable DVD Player – $49.99 *

Digital Labs DVD Player – $19.99

Electronics

Grand Prix AM/FM Clock Radio – $4.99

iHome iPod Docking Station – $39.99 *

iHome iPod/iPhone Alarm Clock Docking Station – $49.99

Nickelodeon Portable CD Player – $14.99

Sakar Digital Photo Frame Keychain – $9.99

Singing Machine Karaoke System – $49.99 *

Home Theater

Coby Home Theater System – $49.99

Miscellaneous

Toys R Us Battery 20 Packs – $4.99 *

MP3 Players

$50 Gift Card With Any Apple iPod 8GB Touch – $0.00 *

Nextar 1GB Digital Mp3 Player – $11.48

Nextar 2GB MP3 Player With Video – $17.49 *

SanDisk 8GB Sansa Fuze MP3 Player – $49.99 *

Photos

Nextar 7″ Digital Photo Frame – $29.99 *

Televisions

Haier 22″ LCD TV – $199.99 *

Video Games

All iCarly Video Game Accessories – 50% Off

Avatar For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Avatar Into The Inferno For Nintendo Wii – $9.99

Carrying Case For Wii – $15.00

Cheetah Girls For Nintendo DS – $21.99

Chrysler Classic Racing For Nintendo Wii – $9.99

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (Wii Game) – $29.99 *

Club Penguin For Nintendo DS – $17.99

Crash Bandicot For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Dead Space (Wii Game) – $24.99 *

Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360 Game) – $34.99 *

Gear Monkey Video Game Accessories – B1G1 Free *

Guitar Hero On Tour And Decades Two Pack Bundle (DS Game) – $29.99 *

Halo 3 ODST (Xbox 360 Game) – $34.99 *

Hannah Montana Guitar Video Game – $24.99 *

Hot Shots Golf – $21.99

iCarly (Wii Game) – $23.99 *

Ice Age For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Imagine Family Doctor For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Imagine Party Babyz For Nintendo Wii – $9.99

Kingdom For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Messenger Bag For Xbox 360 – $15.00

Monsters Vs Aliens For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Mushroom Men For Nintendo DS – $21.99

MySims Party For Nintendo Wii – $9.99

Narnia For Nintendo DS – $21.99

Need For Speed: Shift (PS3 Game) – $34.99 *

Need For Speed: Shift (Xbox 360 Game) – $34.99 *

Nintendo DS Lite Starter Kit – $11.99

Petz Horse Ranch For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Pirates Of The Caribbean – $21.99

PSP Accessories – 50% Off *

Scooby Doo First Frights (Wii Game) – $23.99 *

Select Nintendo DS Accessories – $5.00

Select Nintendo DS Games – B1G1

Select Wii Accessories – $10.00

Sonic Rivals 2 – $21.99

Spore Hero (Wii Game) – $24.99 *

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Wii Game) – $29.99 *

The Price Is Right For Nintendo Wii – $9.99

Tony Hawks Motion For Nintendo DS – $9.99

Transformers For Nintendo DS – $17.99

Ultimate Alliance 2 For Nintendo DS – $17.99

Video Game Charge Docking Stations – $15.00 *

Wii Fit Accessories – 50% Off *

Wii Nerf N-Strike Bundle (Wii Game) – $14.99 *

Xbox 360 Arcade System With Carry Case And Three Games – $229.95 *

Xbox 360 Wired Guitar Hero Game Controller – $9.99 *

Toys R Us Black Friday Ad [BlackFriday.info]

More Black Friday deals…

The CLASS Act—the far-reaching proposal to create a national long-term care insurance program—is in the House health reform bill, and is still in the mix as Senate leaders struggle to design their own version of reform. But the key question about the CLASS Act remains: How many will buy the coverage even if it is broadly available?

The answer is significantly more than currently purchase private insurance, but not enough to truly solve the nation’s severe long-term care financing challenges. With some changes, however, it could cover even more.

It is a critical issue. The program’s success will be measured by the number of buyers it attracts. But the economics of insurance makes a large pool of purchasers imperative. The reason is the chicken-and-egg relationship between the number of buyers and the rates they pay: The fewer who buy, the higher the rates, and the higher the rates, the fewer will buy.

In a phenomenon called “adverse selection,” the people most likely to purchase insurance are those most likely to need it. So insurers keep rates down by selling to many consumers who turn out to never require benefits. It is no different for a government plan. Thus, for CLASS to offer attractive rates, lots of people would have to buy.

So how many would purchase CLASS policies? The insurance industry says almost no one. In July, the American Academy of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries looked at an early version of CLASS and concluded that only about five percent would participate, about the same percentage who currently purchase group long-term care policies. The Congressional Budget Office also assumes a participation rate of about five percent at an average monthly premium of about $120. On Nov. 13, Medicare chief actuary Richard Foster predicted that only two percent of potential participants would buy and that premiums would average $180 per month.

The industry actuaries insisted CLASS policies would be far too expensive—averaging as much as $160-a-month—to attract many buyers. While the proposal has changed from the version they studied last summer, insurance executives say their estimate has not. An industry-funded poll released on Oct. 28 reported that while three-quarters of those surveyed favored CLASS, only about 10 percent would pay premiums of $85 while just three percent would pay $160.

Supporters of CLASS point to focus groups and insist enrollment would be far higher. But they won’t say what they think the participation rate would be.

Privately, industry insiders and other experts think if average CLASS premiums can be held below $100, about 20 percent of workers would buy—roughly 30 million people. That’s four times the number currently insured. The latest version of the bill would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set both benefits and premiums.

All this uncertainty is driven by the design of CLASS. Workers would be enrolled automatically, but they’d be allowed to opt-out if they chose. And employers would not be required to deduct premiums from wages. Since nothing quite like this has ever been tried before, no one really knows what will happen.

But there are some models to look at. For instance, many employers now automatically enroll all their workers in 401(k) retirement plans, but give them the option to opt out if they choose. Compared to the old system, where workers had to decide whether to participate before they could sign up, enrollment has nearly doubled among some employees.

Long-term care insurance is not a 401(k). But inertia is a powerful thing, and many workers won’t bother to stop their long-term care premium deductions. Some may even come to learn how important it is to prepare for this risk: Two-thirds of those over 65 are likely to need some care in their lives, and 20 percent will need it for five years or more.

Could the CLASS Act be changed to keep premiums low and attract even more buyers? I think so. In an ideal world, I’d make coverage mandatory, even though that’s not in the cards this year. Even if workers are going to be allowed to opt-out, I’d at least require all large employers to offer coverage. I’d impose tough penalties on both workers and employers who do not participate.

I’d also do more to encourage participation by young people. For instance, in the House bill, initial premiums would be set by age, but once you enroll, your monthly payments generally would never increase, although your benefits would. A better design would permit small annual premium hikes. This would permit extremely low initial monthly payments and encourage the “indestructible” 20-somethings, many of whom won’t even buy health insurance, to enroll.

Government could also give employers financial incentives to partially match worker contributions, either for CLASS coverage or for private insurance to supplement the government insurance.

With some tweaking, CLASS can do what its backers intend—provide long-term care insurance for millions who are now totally unprepared.

Howard Gleckman, a resident fellow at the Urban Institute, is author of “Caring For Our Parents” and a frequent writer and speaker on long-term care issues.

A lot of interesting bits popped into the Nintendo block this week – from race-able Chocobos, re-imagined sountracks, to retrained cops. If you want t…

Tech blog Digital Foundry reports that sources “intimately involved with the alliances and deal-making within their sector” have effectively confirmed…

Apple’s charges of copyright infringement and DMCA violation against Psystar have stuck and, friends, things ain’t pretty for the two brothers in Miami. The problem with Psystar’s approach wasn’t that they were crazy for trying it. It’s that the were selling a counterfeit unit.

Apple contends that Psystar has violated its distribution right by offering and selling Mac OS X on Psystar computers to the public. Psystar admits that it has distributed Mac OS X (Chung Exh. 17 at 4).

But Psystar responds that its conduct is protected by the Section 109 first-sale doctrine. Section 109 provides that “the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord.” 17 U.S.C. 109. This provision is a limitation on the distribution right. It applies only to an owner of a copy.

Groklaw puts it best when it writes:

I know. They’ll say, but, but, but … what if they hadn’t used the master and just used each copy, then would it work? Sons, why do you think Psystar used the master copy? Because it’s a business, and in a business, efficiency is money. That’s why businesses set themselves up, to make money. The whole world is not with you on a holy war to destroy EULAs and the GPL. Even this rinkydink business wanted to make money. Theoreticals belong on message boards, not in business and definitely not in courtrooms, and even on message boards, everyone told you for years that this wouldn’t work out if someone tried it. It’s been tried. It didn’t work out.

Shine on, you crazy Psystar diamonds. I guess I’ll never get support for the janky Hackintosh we bought.

Thanks, Alex

Images are a very important part of our life, whether we are talking about the photo of a cute actor that we want to use as a wallpaper or the image of a rose to employ as a postcard, the Internet is an enormous source of all sorts of pictures. But it’s quite difficult to locate the image that you want just by using an ordinary search engine, you would want something that would search through many image sources and you would want it done fast.

That’s where Ginipic comes to save the day. It’s a very easy-to-use application that will assist you in your quest for images over the Internet. The program is free, so you can use it for as long as you like and the only requirement is that you have .NET Framework 3.5 installed on your computer. We tested the application on Windows 7 and it proved itself to be compatible with this new operating system. Ginipic has as default sources Flickr, Google, Picasa, Yahoo!, Photobucket, DeviantART, and many other.

The interface of this software is very well done, colorful and a delight for the eye. It comes to appeal even to the picky users by its looks and, also, usability, by being very easy to employ: you just type the phrase that you are looking for and press Enter. You will receive in no time a list of all the images that have matched your search in thumbnail size and you can easily… (read more)

Many of you have been on the edge of your seats and sofas waiting for anxiously for the BlackBerry 9700 to drop. We already know it’s being released on November 16 on T-Mobile, but now you have a killer incentive to pick one up from Walmart. From November 14th to the 20th, Walmart is offering a $100 Walmart gift card with a new BlackBerry purchase — the only thing is it takes four to six weeks to get that card in the mail. It’s not exactly the same as getting a new BlackBerry 9700 for $99.99, but it’s as close as you’re going to get for now. And just imagine what you can get at good old Wally World with a $100 gift card just before the holidays. The usual bells and whistles apply with the two-year contract business, but that comes with the territory. Is it safe to assume that T-Mobile corporate stores will be hearing crickets on launch day? Who are we kidding… this is probably the most anticipated device for T-Mobile in years.

Thanks, Kara R.!

Read

Most people miss out on life because they don’t have a strategy around personal goals.

Most Lack a Personal Goal Strategy
Let me lay out some the observations I’ve noticed from some of the smartest folks I’ve watched achieve success in their lives.  Often they first tell me about the challenges, that most people don’t even have a personal goal strategy.  1) Most people don’t even have personal goals, seriously try it,  ask folks you work with: “What’s your personal goal?”   2) Most people think the end goal is a at 65 and do all their planning in anticipation of retiring a glorious life after doing 45 years in a desk job.  3) People confuse personal goals with personal first downs.  In football, A first-down is an incremental improvement (10 yards) but not the final goal.  Some examples of first-downs are  to finish a project, get a raise at work, lose 5 pounds, or to put money in their 401k account –all short term tasks but not addressing what they really would do if they were freed in life.  4) Most people keep their personal goals private and to themselves.  Afraid of rejection, or wanting to keep it private they write their idea down in the back of their minds, hoping it’ll someday get accomplished.

Develop A Personal Goal Plan
Now that I’ve outlined some of the challenges, let’s focus on the guidelines.

1. Actually have a personal goal. This is the most difficult one, although this requires some soul-searching think about the following questions:  ”What would you do if you were able to retire right now?”   or  ”What would you do if you were able to stop working because you’d be independentatly wealthy”.
2. Weave this goal into your life. Rather than waiting for 65 to achieve this goal, start weaving it into your life right now.  Make it your job, your career, your mission.  Do real research and write a blog about the topic, start to speak about it, people will see you as someone focused on it, which will fuel your path to the this goal.
3. Work backwards. Setting the goal is easy, but then layout the steps you’ll need to achieve in order to get there, I try to lay out 10 steps, and I can obviously see the first few steps and the last few steps, yet it’s dizzying filling out the in-between steps.
4. Tell everyone. Rather than keep your personal goals secret use your online and offline social networks to help people achieve your goals.  You’ll be surprised at people who have similar goals, or want to make that their goal and will join you.   Your network of friends will help you fill in the middle or ending steps that you might have been unable to see.

My Personal Goal: Operation Bluewater, 30 days in Hawaii, Net Positive
For what it’s worth, I’m going through this as I focus on #OperationBluewater: To spend 30 days in Hawaii net positive (I’m not paying to be there) a year, which I briefly outlined a few weeks ago.

Retirement, why wait now?  weave it into my career now, and work from the beach.  I blogged before how I love the tropics, the beautiful beaches, warm humid air, pink skies, Japanese food, and kind souls .  It’s a mere 5 hours plane ride for me from SF, and half way to Asia, and while it feels like another place, the creature comforts I’m used to are all accessible.  Rather than waiting till I’m 65 to retire there, I’m going to slowly relocate, up to 30 days at a time and maybe increase the duration over time.   So far, my plan is on track, and I’m following the guidelines above.

So how is it going? A few weeks ago I was at RetThink at Hawaii and was able to meet locals and those that loved being at the islands, I told anyone who would listen about my goals, and they were supportive.  Lately, it’s started to take on a life of it’s own, more people are talking about #OperationBluewater (see Twitter stream), and want it to be a personal goal of their own, and Christine Lu, Chris Noble, Eric Nakagawa are starting to talk about ways to make this happen.   Often people are coming up to me and saying “I support your goal of #OperationBluewater” which I translate as “I want to do it too, let’s do it together”, great let’s do it.  So there it is,  I’m putting my personal goals out there, let’s see if my goal can grow into a larger movement.

I wish you success on your own #OperationBluewater, I hope these guidelines helped.  Please share with others about your goals, or methods in which you achieve them in your life.

Photos from the last visit to Oahu two weeks ago

When I accepted the President’s gracious offer to serve as his Ambassador in China earlier this year, I knew that the job would be challenging, exciting and rewarding.  As Air Force One heads to Shanghai, I am preparing to greet a President who has won the respect and confidence of China’s leaders through his thoughtful remarks, his gracious demeanor and his efforts to seek a relationship that allows us to define ourselves by our common interests and not by our differences. 

The President understands that critical problems require the U.S. and China to cooperate.  He has a sobering list of strategic objectives for this visit: in addition to the vital task of communicating the desire of the American people to be friends and partners of the Chinese, he will discuss with China’s leaders  cooperation on such global priorities as the economic recovery, climate change and international security issues in Iran and North Korea as well as make clear our core values.

And since it’s his first trip to China, he looks forward to seeing for himself the culture and traditions that have made China a great nation.  This trip will advance America’s interests in Asia and the rest of the world and I believe our Chinese friends will view it that way as well.

Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. is the United States’ Ambassador to China

Pop quiz for all of you who already blazed through Modern Warfare 2’s single-player campaign. You know who Ghost is? He’s the guy with the badass skul…

Babies, as we know, are dumb. They’ll look at any old thing. That’s why the Shutter Buddy is ingenious. You put this checkered hood over your camera, make a bunch of funny noises, and wham – instant smiley baby. Or instant crying baby. Or instant baby crawling off to the stairs to try to climb up the first two only to slip onto the floor and cry.

Wow, right? If I weren’t so sleep deprived I’d kick myself for not thinking of this.

In all honesty, though, isn’t this ingenious? It’s hard to get baby to pay attention to you so you’ve basically got something that grabs that attention and doesn’t let go. It’s a mere $19 and I’ll try to give it a go with young Milla, our one year old, and report back.

For the fifth issue of the Information Security and Strategy Carnival, I am pleased to present the following texts:

• Dan Cornell over at Denim Group posts a great article on 13 Things a Web Application Attacker Won’t Tell You as well as 5 More Things a Web Application Attacker Won’t Tell You

• John P Mello at AllSpammedUp has a take on benefits of spamming social networks in Why social networking spam reaps more rewards than email

• Roger Halbheer from Microsoft discusses Why it pays to be secure – Chapter 4 – I want to learn!

Please send submissions by the 25th each month to e-mail:shortinfosec _at_ gmail dot com

Related posts
Information Security and Strategy Carnival – Issue #1
Information Security and Strategy Carnival – Issue #2
Information Security and Strategy Carnival – Issue #3
Information Security and Strategy Carnival – Issue #4

For several weeks the insurance industry lobby has been releasing alarmist reports about draconian health care premium increases that could result from health reform. Despite being roundly and thoroughly debunked, the insurance lobby continues to release these studies and push their bogus conclusion about cost increases.

Wonder why? Because insurance companies can profit from blocking down reform.  A newly identified report from Goldman Sachs looked at the impact of health reform on major health insurance companies and put it in stark terms – insurance company earnings could be cut by 50% over the next decade if the Senate Finance Committee version of health reform passes. The best thing for insurance companies? Maintain the status quo of skyrocketing premiums, soaring profits and a health system that threatens our economy. But according to the Goldman Sachs analysis, insurance companies will also profit if the bills in the House and Senate are watered down and stripped of the key provisions designed to protect consumers and help drive down long-term costs.  

It may be good for insurance company profits to push alarmist conclusions in an attempt to water down reform, but these provisions are vital to achieving the President’s commitment to bringing down long-term health care costs:

A recent Business Roundtable report confirms that Congress is moving in the right direction on both fiscal responsibility and cost containment.  The BRT-Hewitt report finds that many of the delivery system reform policies that are currently in health reform legislation will make important contributions to cost reduction, when implemented effectively. As the report explains, "[a] number of the proposed reforms offer real promise, not only to save federal dollars, but also to reduce the rate of increase in private sector spending if adopted and implemented appropriately."
From the beginning of this process, President Obama has been clear that health insurance reform must not only provide security and stability for Americans with insurance and affordable options for uninsured Americans, but also slow the unsustainable cost growth that is burdening families, threatening businesses’ viability, and exploding our national deficit.
Fortunately, the House and Senate versions of reform share a variety of measures that will reduce the rapid growth in health care costs while also providing Americans with higher quality care including:

Changing the way we handle hospitalizations, to prevent mistakes and to prevent unnecessary readmissions.
Creating incentives in the payment system to reward quality of care rather than just the quantity of procedures.
Giving physicians incentives to collaborate in the coordination of patient care.
Investing in research into what works and what doesn’t in health care.
Reducing hospital-acquired infections and other avoidable health-center acquired conditions through rigorous reporting and transparency.
Putting prevention first, rewarding care that focuses on wellness and treating the whole patient in an integrated and coordinated delivery system.
Tackling the insurance bureaucracy, streamlining the payment system to save time and money that is now spent processing claims and navigating through the byzantine insurance system.
Establishing a health insurance exchange with a public insurance option, where individuals and small businesses can buy lower-cost insurance that will spur competition and put downward pressure on costs.  

These measures build upon the significant down payment we already made in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to begin switching from paper records to computerized records; to strengthen preventive care; to invest in patient-centered health research; and to build up the workforce of primary care providers.
And there are also ideas that will further control cost growth that have been proposed and are being looked at as the legislative process continues, such as:

A fee on insurance companies offering high-premium plans — which would create a strong incentive for more efficient plans that would help reduce the growth of premiums.
Establishing a Medicare commission — which would develop and submit proposals to Congress aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, slowing Medicare cost growth, and improving the quality of care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries.

Nancy-Ann DeParle is the Director of the Office of Health Reform

Sega has released a new video for Resonance of Fate (known in Japan as End of Eternity), the new multiplatform RPG from tri-Ace. This one’s long, cloc…

Here are some stories from the past week on CrunchGear.

CrunchGear wants to kiss you this Holiday
NSMB Super Skills Trailer
Thanko’s USB powered, Dinosaur foot-shaped slipper keeps your feet warm
NASA: We found water on the Moon
Excellent idea: flat outlet pulls out to allow extra plug

If you’re desperately jonesing for a webOS device but hate those pesky sliders, today is your day, folks. It is the Palm Pixi’s first day of availability on Sprint. Going for $99.99 on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, we have to be completely honest and admit that we would personally snatch the Pre over the Pixi, but you own a computer and have navigated to BGR all on your own, so we’re sure you can make a decision over what handset to buy. Let us know if you pick one up today okay?

Also, for those that don’t mind waiting, Wirefly is practically giving the Pixi away at $24.99.

Read