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Android 2.2 is here. We’ve been using it with Flash 10.1 and it is nicer than 2.1 in some small, but key ways. Like built-in tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot powers. Oh, and Flash.
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What is a meal at Panera Bread worth to you? A former Panera location in a prosperous St. Louis suburb has reopened as “St. Louis Bread Company Cares,” a restaurant where customers can select a meal, then pay what they think the meal is worth–or as much as they can afford. If customers can’t afford to pay anything, they can volunteer to work there. A not-for-profit foundation runs the restaurant, which opened this week.

The location has the same menu as regular Panera locations and is part of the chain’s distribution network, but the new business model seemed to make customers’ brains explode.

Dawn Frierdich, 52, came in to buy three loaves of bread an iced tea. She asked how much the drink would cost.

“About $1.85,” said the 21-year-old cashier, Michael Miller.

And the whole order?

“It would be, like, $12,” Miller told her, reminding her she didn’t have to pay if she didn’t want to. Frierdich tried to hand him $12 in cash, but he directed her to put it in the donation jar.

“This is a little hard. I just can’t wrap my head around this,” Frierdich said.

If the outlet can support itself, Panera hopes to expand the model across the country.

New Panera location says pay what you want [AP]
Panera: Pay what you can afford [St. Louis Business Journal]

The Cousins were mulling over a broadband tax, but the new Government has put a stop to that. (Now they’re considering using some of the BBC license fee to fund broadband development.) The idea was to charge people 50p (around $0.70) per month to fund the expansion of broadband into rural areas. Would such a move work here in the U.S.? Would you be willing to pay, say, $1 per month, paying toward some sort of Broadband Fund, to ensure that people in the middle of nowhere have access to reliable broadband? What’s more American than wanting to help your neighbors?

The UK plan, as I understand it, was supposed tack on an additional 50p (that’s read “fifty pence”—watching Sky Sports News has made me familiar with the Pound Sterling, especially during football transfer season) to your monthly tax bill. Doing some maths, that works out to £6 per year. That’s £6 per year to ensure that the fine people of Hull and the North East have access to broadband.

Let’s take that idea and apply it to us here in the U.S. You send the IRS an additional ~$10 every April, ~$10 that goes to a Broadband Fund. That money is then used to develop a modern broadband infrastructure in places that otherwise would go without. I don’t know if the good people of, say, Wyoming or Nebraska currently have access to 100 mbps broadband, but it sure would be useful.

Imagine an entire United States of America wired for broadband! And by “broadband” I don’t mean some crummy DSL service that’s marginally faster than AOL dial-up. No, I’m talking 100 mbps at a minimum for everyone. What better way to spur the likes of Netflix to increase the quality of its streaming movies? (I shudder to compare a Blu-ray with a Netflix stream!) Maybe Hulu could bump up the resolution (while dialing down the compression) of “Parks and Recreation”?

Broadband for everyone! Who’s with me?

In this second part of my incredibly early look at the Basketball team I will focus my attention on the Buckeyes highly regarded incoming recruiting class.  The first three new guys I feature won’t have any stats to their name as their coaches chose not to release them to the internet.  That said, High School Basketball stats always tend to be a little on the ridiculous side so make sure to take the ones I do have with a grain of salt.

I can’t wait to see these guys suit up for the Scarlet and Gray.  They all look like tremendous athletes and are going to be a joy to watch during the season.

Videos of their high school exploits are included after each player.  As per usual, I don’t get to choose the music so be careful when viewing the videos.

Aaron Craft (6-1, 170, Liberty-Benton HS, Findlay OH)

Aaron Craft

Craft is a prototypical Floor General style Point Guard.  He’s a particularly good passer and reportedly one of the best defenders in the class, suggesting that there’s a good chance we’re going to see him on the floor early and often.  His perimeter shot needs some work, though, so his production on offense will primarily be through distributing the ball to his teammates and getting into the paint.  He reads defenses well, and seems to have a knack for taking a leadership role.

Craft is a traditional PG through and through.  He’ll likely be told to work on his shooting a bit during the offseason, but don’t expect him to be a primary scoring option for the Buckeyes during his career.  Do expect him to be a big name on the defensive side of the ball early and often much like Lighty has been for much of his time in the Scarlet and Gray.

Lenzelle Smith (6-3, 215, Zion-Benton Township HS, Zion IL)

Lenzelle Smith

Smith and Craft are quite similar in their skill sets, though Smith isn’t likely to score off the dribble drive as well as Craft may be able to.  Smith will lead the offense from beyond the arc and is reportedly a very good passer.  The Buckeyes will find him particularly handy in getting the ball down low to Lauderdale and Sullinger during the season.  He also appears to be quite adept at the 3 ball.  He gets great arc on his deep shot, seems to follow through well and can hit a long shot even with a hand in his face.  This should give the Buckeyes another shooting dimension to compliment Buford and Diebler during the season.

Smith, like Craft, is clearly a 1 position style of player due to his ball distributing skills.  In order to see lots of time, though, Smith will have to work on his ball-handling or the Big Ten teams will simply press him into plentiful turnovers.  We may also occasionally see him at the 2 given his 3 point shooting skills.

Jordan Sibert (6-5, 180, Princeton HS, Cincinnati OH)

Jordan Sibert

Sibert is coming to Columbus as a SG, probably to be the guy who will fill Jon Diebler’s shoes in the future.  He’s not as prolific a three point shooter as Diebler is (honestly, who is?), but he has developed an inside game that Diebler seemed to lack his first two seasons which should help make him a little more dangerous early in his career.  Jordan is a particularly versatile player overall, but may function better in motion away from the ball rather than leading the offense, so don’t expect him to suddenly transition to PG.

Sibert will likely play the 2 spot during his time in Columbus, but he has the size and versatility to switch to the 3.  His versatility will also be a huge advantage in those times when Matta wants to go small and play a fast paced game.

JD Weatherspoon (6-7, 190, Northland HS, Columbus OH)

JD Weatherspoon

Weatherspoon is not your prototypical power forward.  While he clearly plays his best game under the hoop, he’s a lot quicker than your typical PF and can surprise defenders with his speed.  His videos suggest that he’s a bit of a dunk artist, so expect to see some high-flying acts while he’s in the game.  In fact, I can hear the “Craft to Weatherspoon” or “Smith to Weatherspoon” dunk calls already!

Weatherspoon’s dribble looks a little awkward, but he seems to be able to do things while putting the ball on the ground so that may not hamper him too much.  While watching him dribble, I got the impression that it will be ripe for a steal at the college level, so we may see Matta command him to never put the ball on the deck.  Such a command certainly wouldn’t hurt his game any considering it seems to center around throwing the ball through the hoop as often as he possibly can.

Weatherspoon looks to be a perfect fit for the 4 position, especially since he’s already spent time working with Mr. Sullinger sitting at the 5 and has likely developed a rapport with him.  He may be able to play the 3 if the Buckeyes choose to go big with his speed, or play the 5 if the Bucks choose to go small, so there are plenty of options that can be explored with some of his skill sets.

DeShaun Thomas (6-7, 215, Bishop Luers HS, Fort Wayne IN)

DeShaun Thomas

Of all the players coming to Columbus this year, DeShaun Thomas has to be the one that I’m most excited to see hit the hardwood.  I spoke of previous players on the list having some versatility to their game, but DeShaun Thomas seems to perfect the word.  Scout.com lists Thomas as a Power Forward, which with his size he could easily play.  That said, though, Maxpreps.com lists Thomas as a Guard.  I want you to think about that for a moment.  He could conceivably play anywhere from the 2 to the 5, and possibly even play the 1 depending on how good he is at directing traffic.  Am I hyping a little?  Sure, but this kid seems worth it.

Thomas is a threat from anywhere on the court, including from beyond the arc (despite Scout.com’s claim that his 3 point shot is weak).  His shot does tend to be a little flat which is not conducive to a high shooting percentage, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do it – his 30.8% shooting from three suggests that quite well.  Is he going to shoot lights out from downtown?  No, but he will hit a fair amount of the time, and his 208 attempted 3 pointers (out of 583 total shots – 35.7% of his shots) suggest that he’s not afraid to take a crack at it.

I have a hard time deciding where Thomas would be best suited.  His skill sets and video suggest that he would probably best fit at the 2 or 3 spot, especially the 3 considering his size.  Ultimately, I think he’ll end up playing at the three not unlike Evan Turner did in his first two years in the program.

Jared Sullinger (6-9, 265, Northland HS, Columbus OH)

Jared Sullinger

Sullinger is the guy that everyone else is most excited to see on the floor – and for good reason.  Buckeye fans have already seen him play in several games, including high school games televised on the world-wide leader and in games at Value City Arena.  So far, Sullinger has done nothing but impress with his tenacity and power down low.  He seems almost unstoppable in the paint, especially once he gets the ball in his hands.

He’s accused of being slow and of being unable to run the court effectively.  Given what I’ve seen so far of his play, I’m not certain who the experts were watching or on what basis they were evaluating his talent.  One of my favorite plays on the video linked to below is the one starting at about 33 seconds in where Sullinger picks up a pass down low for a layup and starts to move back to play defense, realizes that the opponent is pushing the ball down the court and hustles down to get the huge block without fouling.  In one play, Sullinger showed the kind of desire, hustle and self control that coaches want in a player.  Plus, being able to get down the court that quick is a bonus too.  I’m sure that knocks on his speed and ability to get down the court have a lot more to do with fast breaks down the court, but for a big man I’m not too surprised.

Don’t make too much of the three pointers he takes in that video.  He only shot 13 total and made 5, so you saw almost the entirety of his mid-range to outside shooting in that one video.  Those three pointers were almost certainly a gimmick – though the fact that he can hit them on occasion is a nice way to keep defenses on their toes once in a while.

Sullinger will play the 5 spot for the Buckeyes almost without question.  I would be surprised if Matta decided to move him to the 4, even if that meant putting Lauderdale and Sullinger on the floor together.  If anything, Lauderdale may move to the 4 before Sullinger does.

Come back tomorrow for a look at what the Buckeyes depth chart might look like next year given what we know now.

After finishing highschool, several examinations have to be passed so as to move on from post secondary education to the college education.
In the United States, one of the most important consideration as to whether the admission to a certain college or university of choice is possible is the SAT score. Most of the colleges require or recommend one or more of these tests for admission or placement purposes.
The aptitude test may be easy or hard to a person depending on the preparation done.
It is important to know what to review and focus on and be familiar with the test contents.There are only two major sets of exams in SAT. First is the SAT Reasoning test, more of the IQ side and second is the SAT Subject Tests which is more on the knowledge portion. It will just take a student approximately three hours and forty five minutes to complete the exam. Most of the questions, just like any other entrance tests, are in multiple choice form, although in SAT, in addition to the numbered questions, there is a twenty five minute essay writing component. This will be a form of evaluation of the student’s ability in critical reading, in math and skills in writing.
The SAT Subject Tests is shorter and is taken for just one hour. Also in multiple choice form, this evaluates the level of knowledge on specific subjects and the application portion of the knowledge to practical phenomenon.

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Two males red-eyed tree frogs square off over a female. Fisticuffs will soon ensue and as a final challenge to each other, the males… er… vigorously shake their bums at each other. Their quivering buttocks shake the plants they sit on, sending threatening vibrations towards their rival. This secret line of communication has just been uncovered by Michael Caldwell from Boston University. To decipher these messages, he has used a hi-tech combination of infrared cameras, saplings rigged with accelerometers and even a cybernetic Robofrog.

During mating season, male red-eyed tree frogs gather in the rainforests of Panama to compete for females with dramatic multimedia performances, involving calls and visual signals. Studying these messages can be difficult because the frogs communicate at night. A white lamp would kill their natural behaviour, prompting males to become far more restrained than usual, save in the presence of females. Instead, Caldwell watched them under an infrared light. He pitted 38 pairs of frogs against each other, on plants fitted with accelerometers.

The frogs made two types of calls (chuckles and chacks), raised their bodies off their leaves and kicked out with their legs. And in every aggressive encounter, they also rapidly shook their bums, producing vibrations with a consistent high-pitched tone. The contests would last for anywhere from a minute to an hour. If the signalling didn’t work, the time was talk was over and violence ensued. Males would wrestle with each other, sometimes for hours on end (see right).

The vibrations, or ‘tremulations’, were clearly very important and were usually the last line of negotiation before battle commenced. The victor almost always shook for more time, created longer-lasting vibrations and was more likely to have the last shake. The frequencies of the vibrations were fairly constant although victors tended to produce higher-pitched tremulations if they were smaller than their rivals or similarly sized.

Of course, the sight of a frog shaking its bum is also quite striking, but Caldwell found that a male was no more likely to tremulate when his opponent was facing him than when he was turned away. This strongly suggests that the vibrations themselves were carrying information. In fact, every part of the male’s repertoire sends distinctive tremors through the plant, including his chuckles. Even the kicking legs seem to brush past the plant stems in the style of a musician plucking a guitar string.

Caldwell’s observations had been informative but he wanted to test the frogs’ behaviour. Enter Robofrog – a model equipped with an electric shaker and a prime directive is to provoke other males. When he made his own vibrations, living males responded accordingly and aggressively. By contrast, nothing happened when he sat still, when he made visual signs without tremulating, or when Caldwell exposed the test frogs to white noise vibrations in Robofrog’s absence.

All in all, these experiments show that competing red tree frogs use a secret channel of communication that most human observers would be completely unaware of. Vibrations are an excellent way of conveying messages in the rainforest, when the combination of darkness and dense foliage might prevent the conversers from seeing each other clearly. Exactly what they say is unclear, but they could provide information about the contender’s motivation or size. And they’re undoubtedly aggressive – the tree frog’s version of smack-talk.

So far, the red-eyed tree frog is the first back-boned animal that’s been clearly shown to communicate by shaking the surface it sits on. But Caldwell suspects that it’s far from the only one, especially since many other species are highly sensitive to vibrations. Tree-dwellers are probably particularly good at this, especially ones with larger bodies that can shake their supports more strongly.

Candidates include the male veiled chameleon, which shakes the branches it sits on in the presence of a female, and the female South Asian common tree frog, which seems to attract mates by tapping her toes on the plants that encircle their breeding sites. On the ground, and on a much bigger scale, elephants could also use vibrations as a sort of ‘seismic signal’. Nature is probably full of such hidden conversations, spoken in rumbles and tremors.

Reference: Current Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.069

Photos and videos by Michael Caldwell

More on frogs:

• Seven habits of highly successful toads
• South African wildlife – Foamy nest frog
• Common pesticide is good news for parasites, bad news for frogs
• ‘Wolverine’ frogs pop retractable claws from their toes
• First lungless frog discovered in Borneo

If you need to reach upper management at handheld manufacturer HTC because of some intractable issue with their device that regular customer service can’t or won’t solve, consider lofting a well-crafted letter over to some of these folks:

[email protected] Senior Director Enterprise Business Unit Americas
[email protected] Chairman
[email protected] Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation
[email protected] Senior Public Relations Manager at HTC
[email protected] COO of HTC
[email protected] Board Member of HTC
[email protected] CEO
[email protected] VP HTC
[email protected] Chief Innovation Officer

Honestly, there’s not much to say about Flash 10.1 on Android that you haven’t already seen, given how hard Adobe’s been pushing the Flash-on-phones message. There’s a few things. More »

A severe cyclone with the winds of 110 kilometers an hour has been expected to hit the southeast coast of India later in the day. More than ten thousand people evacuated their homes with the fear of storm damage.

Cyclone called Laila was expected to hit the state of Andhra Pradesh in India later today on Thursday. There is a forecast of heavy rain, strong winds, and disruption in power and communication lines. More than 35,000 people had been told to evacuate the place especially those who are in low lying areas.

Forces have been sent to the state of Andhra Pradesh for assistance, Chief Minister of the state called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting extra assistance. “We have had no power supply since yesterday,” Ramulu, a middle-aged resident of Balajinagar town, told the TV5 local news channel. According to the latest news from the department, the storm is going to hit the state late Thursday and people were asked to stay inside.

A shed collapsed due to heavy winds and three people were dead and a fisherman was also drowned. Storm is very common in India and Bangladesh due to the cyclones which develop in Bay of Bengal.

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1. Serious Cyclone Hits India
2. Fifteen People Dead from Cyclone in India
3. Cyclone Laila hits Southeast India

Bret Michaels appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Wednesday and he opened up about his recent health conditions he suffered from. He talked about how he struggled everyday.

On 21^st of April Bret was hospitalized because of brain hemorrhage. Talking about this Bret said, he had never been shot but it felt like a small handgun went off in the back of his head. He never had a headache like that in his entire life, it was like 10 times more of migraine he said.

He told Oprah, he did not want his daughters or family to see him lying on the floor unconscious or anything worse. His girlfriend Kristi took him to the hospital but he did not want to go in. He just sat outside holding his head and he said just let him sit there. When the doctor said, it is not a good news and you probably wan to say goodbye to your daughters, he did not wanted to go just like that and he kept saying to his girlfriend to tell the girls that he loves them.

Thank God, Bret is doing great and we will see him on TV for many more years.

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1. Kristi Gibson saved Bret Michaels
2. Bret Michaels Press Conference and Bret Michaels Updates
3. Bret Micheals Condition, Latest Updates

Jemaine Clement the star of “Flight of the Conchords” is going to be one of the primary villains in “Men in Black 3” according to recent news. Director of “Men in Black” series Barry Sonnenfeld, will also direct the 3^rd part and Will Smith will be the alien chasing government agent once again.

Director has chosen whole new crew for the casting of villains in this new movie and Clement will be playing the role of villain named Boris. Movie has been scheduled to release in 2012 and filming will start sometime in August according to the sources.

Clement appeared in many movies and TV series but he was recognized by his appearance in “Flight of the Conchords”. This is a great news that new casting will be brought into the movie, especially for the role of villains. The story will show you the scene from 1969. Clement is in final negotiations to play this role. We hope everything works out and we will get to see something new and fresh by Clement joining the group of “Men in Black 3.”

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T-Mobile sent out a press release today giving us some concrete information on its upcoming Android-based myTouch Slide 3G.  The device will be released on June 2nd for $179.99, after a $50 mail-in rebate, on a two year contract.  The myTouch Slide will be available in black, white, and red and will require a data plan.  The phone will feature a hardware QWERTY keyboard, a skinned version of Android 2.1 on a 3.4-inch screen, and a new “Genius button” that features enhanced voice commands.  Early looks at the myTouch have said that the physical keyboard is fantastic, so it looks like G1 owners may finally have a worthy successor to their aging Android device. 

Are you planning on picking up a myTouch Slide 3G? Tell us below!

Is Barack Obama taking away everyone who doesn’t have “papers?” This second grader sure seems to think so. Kids say the darndest things! During a visit to a grade school on Wednesday, a young girl asked First Lady Michelle Obama an unexpected question on the controversial Arizona immigration law.

Officials of Pakistan Telecommunications Authority stated thay they have ordered operators to block YouTube due to “growing sacrilegious content”.  They stated that they reached the decision this Thursday after all “possible avenues were used within its jurisdiction, including using regular channels available on the Facebook and YouTube to launch protest, to avoid appearances of derogatory material available on their web sites.” Access to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, and Flickr, a photosharing site, were restricted starting Thursday.

Facebook was blocked temporarily in a row over a competition which involved caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. It was blocked a day before the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” which was scheduled by a Facebook group bearing the same name.  According to Islam, these are blasphemous acts. There had been protests in several Pakistani cities caused by the Facebook competition. Khoram Ali Mehran of the telecommunication authority said, “Obviously (the blocking of Facebook ) is related to the objectionable material that was placed on Facebook. That is why it is blocked. We have blocked it for an indefinite time. We are just following the government’s instructions and the ruling of the Lahore High Court. If the government decides to unblock it, then that’s what we will do.”  Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said “Islam discourages any visual representations of the prophets of God — Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, anybody — because we believe it can lead to a form of idol worship. The majority of Muslims worldwide object to any representation of a prophet of God.”

A series of cartoons of Mohammed in a Danish Newspaper published in 2005 caused many riots around the world and now there are at least two European cartoonists who live under police protection after the publication of their drawings of the Muslim prophet. Mimi Sulpovar, the one who started the Facebook group,(claimed to have gained the idea form a bleeped out episode of “South Park”)said “This extends beyond being able to draw. If it’s offensive to you, that’s fine, but I don’t feel it’s right to impose your belief on others through intimidation. She also stated that the decision to block Facebook was “ridiculous.” Sulpovar’s group and a similar one had attracted about 7,000 fans whereas the Groups opposing the idea gained 68,000 fans.

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1. YouTube is added to the banned sites in Pakistan
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It’s somewhat understandable that Democrats are having trouble convincing Republicans to vote for their aggressive financial reform bill. They are, after all, political opponents. But why can’t Democrats get all of their own Senators on board? Yesterday’s cloture vote included two Republicans, plenty to get the 60 needed if all 59 Democrats had voted in favor. But two — Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) — voted against the motion. Each wanted at least a few more amendments heard. Why is that too much to ask?

A few of the prominent progressive amendments that haven’t been voted on include Cantwell’s proposal and one by Senators Merkley (D-OR) and Levin (D-MI). Cantwell’s amendment would reinstate the investment and commercial banking separation that Glass-Steagall required, and the Merkley-Levin amendment would put in place the Volcker Rule’s proprietary trading ban for banks.

There are two possibilities to consider here. One is that, despite Democratic leadership aggressively working to bring additional progressive amendments to vote, their attempts are blocked by Republicans. If that happens, would Cantwell and Feingold continue to vote against the bill? Maybe, but do they really believe that no financial reform would be better than a more moderate bill? That might be a hard sell politically.

The other possibility, however, is that the Democratic leadership fears that some of the amendments will actually will pass. The Cantwell amendment, in particular, is co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). If it really has bipartisan support, then it could succeed. That prospect might frighten moderate Democrats, who think breaking up the banks would take things too far.

Frankly, that latter possibility is the only thing that makes sense. It shouldn’t be difficult or overly time consuming for the Democratic leadership to push for a few more amendments to be heard. In fact, you would think that they would be falling all over themselves to make that happen if it means getting the last two votes they need. But with another vote scheduled for 2:30pm this afternoon, no amendment votes have been held yet this morning before lunchtime.

WASHINGTON–First Lady Michelle Obama and Margarita Zavala visited a suburban Washington elementary school on Wednesday and heard from a little girl worried that people were going to be deported. She may have been worried about her mother, I write in my report.

“Yeah, well, that’s something that we have to work on, right? To make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right? That’s exactly right,” Mrs. Obama said

And to illustrate this point, below is a side-by-side of the same game on the same device, with the one running 2.2 running quite a lot faster than the one with 2.1. Live Updating More »