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A few more shots from Perth Zoo’s orangutan exhibit. I’ll be back with some proper posts tomorrow, also with a great ape theme…

Details are sparse at the moment, but something is happening in India. Something wand-like and prone to waggling. Called the Swing, it’s a motion controller HP cooked up for their Pavilion PC desktops. More »

In case you missed this, David Ignatius has a very laudatory piece on CIA Director Leon Panetta in today’s Washington Post. Ignatius writes:

CIA Director Leon Panetta has a new trophy in his seventh-floor office at Langley: It’s the fuse from a Chinese-made rocket that he helped disable (with a CIA technician hovering close by) during a visit to an agency paramilitary training base.

That’s a good metaphor for Panetta himself as he completes 14 months as CIA director. He has defused a number of bombs that threatened to blow up what was left of the agency’s credibility, and in the process he has focused the CIA on getting the job done.

Panetta was a controversial choice because his experience was in politics, rather than espionage. But that Washington savvy was just what the beleaguered agency needed most. Panetta took on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she accused CIA officials of lying, and he quietly prevailed. Congressional Democrats have tempered their CIA-bashing, recognizing that Panetta is carrying out President Obama’s policies.

Panetta also defused the ticking bomb of the intelligence reorganization. When Adm. Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, tried to assert authority over CIA operations, Panetta protested to the White House. He complained that he couldn’t operate on that basis — and that Blair should have no more say over CIA operations than over those at the FBI. Panetta won that fight, too. Blair is now focusing on his main challenge of coordinating the sprawling intelligence community.

The surprise with Panetta is how aggressively this Democratic former congressman has been waging the war against al-Qaeda. One official describes the Predator campaign to assassinate al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders as “the most aggressive operation in the history of the agency.” The tempo has increased to two or three strikes a week, up roughly fourfold from the George W. Bush years.

To provide intelligence for the Predator strikes, the agency is running clandestine sources inside Pakistan and paying off tribal leaders on both sides of the border. The agency’s assets are hardly squeaky clean: They are former terrorists who have decided to flip. And Panetta has authority to direct the Predators to hit “signature” targets, meaning vehicles or training locations that are connected to known al-Qaeda operatives.

With the CIA squeezing al-Qaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan, there’s a danger that the terrorists will slip away to new havens. So Panetta is stepping up operations in Yemen, Somalia, and North and sub-Saharan Africa. And the agency is maintaining a strong presence in Iraq even as the U.S. military withdraws, feeding intelligence to the Iraqi military to target the estimated 1,000 al-Qaeda fighters still there.

Iran may be Panetta’s biggest headache. The agency is trying to recruit more assets inside Iran, and it is running some operations to disrupt Iran’s nuclear capability. But the agency doesn’t have (and doesn’t want) authority to mount lethal sabotage operations of the sort the Israelis seem to be conducting. CIA analysts think that open military attacks against Iran by the United States or Israel would only help the regime.

Panetta put his mark on the agency this month by choosing his own deputy, Michael Morell, 51, to replace Stephen Kappes, a respected career officer who acted as Panetta’s adviser on operations. Morell is a 30-year CIA veteran, but he comes from the analytical side of the house. This should give the clandestine service more running room. An autoworker’s son from Akron, Morell defies the preppy, blue-blood CIA stereotype; that’s another plus.

Morell’s top priority will be to increase collaboration between analysts and operators, which is already paying dividends. To cite two examples: The secret Iranian enrichment facility at Qom was discovered after a tip from a human source, with analysts then focusing intelligence collectors on precisely where to look; and Syria’s secret nuclear reactor was found in 2007 after analysts studied suspicious fragments of intercepted conversations and warned the operations division to look for the smoking gun.

Panetta plans to pitch employees Monday about his five-year plan for the agency: It will feature a more diverse workforce better trained in languages; more officers under nonofficial cover who can penetrate the hard targets; and new technologies to cope with the deluge of data, such as “smart search” capability that can learn with analysts and prompt them where to look.

Another of the trophies in Panetta’s office is a Wild West statue of a rider being bucked off his horse. Surprisingly, given the turmoil surrounding the CIA when he arrived, Panetta these days seems pretty easy in the saddle.

Like many, I was greatly surprised when Panetta was announced as Obama’s nominee for the CIA. But by all accounts– including from my friends and colleagues at the Agency– Panetta has done an amazing job. Kudos to Panetta– at to the many able intelligence professionals at the Agency that work with him!

Found under: Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Office, Hub,

One of the best features of the upcoming Windows Phone 7 handsets will most likely be Microsoft Office integration. Today we have a simple video that shows us how Microsoft Office looks on Windows Phone 7 smartphones and its simply spectacular.No other smartphone owner can truly say that hisher handset has such a simple yet very powerful productivity suite at hisher disposal. The Office suite for WP7 devices is a very strong feature which could convince a lot of professional to cho

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Read more in mobile format

Each week GeekTonic covers the TV scene with a complete listing of premieres, finales and specials for the week.  This week brings us a few more premieres & returns as well as a few finales.

                 The new ABC Drama, “Happy Town” arrives Wednesday

 

NOTE: All Times are Listed for EST – TV schedules subject to change

 

Sunday, April 25

Ray Johnston Band: Road Diaries (8pm on HDNet – HD) New series

America the Story of Us (9pm on History – HD) – New series

Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking (9pm on Discovery – HD) – new series

River Monsters (9pm on Animal Planet – HD) – Season 2 premiere

When Love is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story (9pm on CBS – HD) – a documentary/drama with Winona Ryder and Barry Pepper star as the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon.

8th Annual TV Land Awards (9pm on TV Land) – Shows such as Bosom Buddies, The Love Boat, Glee and others are highlighted.

Girl Meets Gown (10pm on WE) New series

 

Monday, April 26

Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern (10pm on Travel – HD) – Season 5 premiere

Runaway Squad (10pm on A&E – HD) – Series finale

Tuesday, April 27

Food Party (10pm on IFC) – Season 2 premiere

The Hills (10pm on MTV) – Season 7 premiere

Dinner With the Band (10:30pm on IFC) – New series

The City (10:30pm on MTV) – Season 2 premiere

Wednesday, April 28

High Society (9:30pm on CW – HD) – Season finale

Sunset Daze (10pm on WE) – new series

Happy Town (10:01pm on ABC – HD) – new drama series with Lauren German & Sam Neill starring.  The story is set in a small, Minnesota town that experienced its first crime in seven years with a murder.

Thursday, April 29

 

Friday, April 30

Who Do You Think You Are? (8 pm on NBC) – Season 1 finale

Bill Moyers Journal (8 pm on PBS) – A special, 90-minute episode marks the final episode of this long-running series.

I Shouldn’t Be Alive (9 pm on Animal Planet – HD) – Season 3 finale

The Life & Times of Tim (9:30 pm on HBO – HD) – Season 2 finale

 

Saturday, May 1

When I Was 17 (11 am on MTV) – New series

10 on Top (11 am on MTV) – New series

 

Sunday, May 2

Cold Case (9pm on CBS – HD) – Season finale

 

If you follow GeekTonic for the TV Premieres and news, you’ll want to click here if you would like to get a regular e-mail for GeekTonic TV Premieres & News

iPad users looking to get a little extra mileage out of the $30 Camera Connection kit will be pleased to know that the USB dongle provides some limited support for certain USB keyboards and headsets. More »

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon (D) is vehemently opposed to Arizona’s new immigration law.  Sunday on Fox News, Gordon railed against the legislation, labeled it unconstitutional and described it as “trampling civil rights.”  The law’s new identification process will require suspected illegals to produce legitimate forms of identification when questioned about their status by law enforcement.

The mayor described the process as unfair because “those that don’t have an Arizona driver’s license, children under 16, seniors that don’t drive and people coming from out of state” aren’t able to comply with the law and are therefore “at risk of being arrested and turned over to I.C.E. [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].”

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed the nation’s toughest crackdown on illegal immigration into law Friday, a move that’s fueling the illegal immigration debate across the country.

Since Friday, protests have been erupting outside the Arizona state capitol, with those in attendance urging others to join boycotts of the immigration law.

Despite lambasting the law, Mayor Gordon offered a potential “silver lining,” adding that the federal government will now have to address the immigration policy and enforcement “that they have been turning a deaf ear to.”

Hi guys. If you have yet to notice, we have had many news articles on the latest applications and updates, and we would like feedback on that. For the last 3 days, I have been trying a new way of writing news. I have allowed Surur to keep all his news articles and I do strictly application news.

 

I would like to ask you guys a few questions.

1) Do you like this amount of application news?
2) Do you think my plan to do only Application news good or bad?
3) What changes would you like to see not only from me, but the site?

Thanks for the answers. I will go through all  the comments and see what to do. We are always trying our best to improve your Windows Mobile experience and keep you up to date on all things WM… So this feedback will allow us to do that to the fullest.

A number of previously Japan-only Pentax K-x camera colors are headed to the U.S., the company confirmed Friday. Until Pentax opened up the color palette, we Yanks only had access to red and black models in this line. More »

Audi A7 Sportback: Debut at Moscow Motor Show, Audi S7 Sportback confirmed

The Audi A7 Sportback will have its debut at the Moscow Motor Show.

At the same time the Audi S7 Sportback has been confirmed. Great news!

Regarding the date when this new car will hit the showrooms it is still unknown but we found out something else: the A7 will have a hybrid version as well as a sporty one dubbed S7, which will make its debut two years after the standard version.

The new Audi S7 will take on cars such as the Mercedes-Benz SLS 63 AMG and in order to compete with this car it may receive the Lamborghini-derived engine which will be found on the upcoming Audi S8.

Source

Sustainability shifts into its next phase as communities embrace climate change actions, creative enablers become easy to adopt, and collaboration spans organizational boundaries. …

… “where the government has been slow to increase renewables in the energy mix, there’s been strong interest in community-owned renewable energy. ” …

Via Advertising Age: Sustainability 2.0

UCSD on Sustainability 2.0: “sustainability comes alive in education, research, and campus operations.”

Article Tags: Doug L. Hoffman, Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, World Temperatures

March 20, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano began erupting after slumbering for almost 190 years. The eruption also brought a threat of floods and earthquakes, while the resulting plume of volcanic ash shutdown the European airline industry, costing an estimated $200 million a day. In the short-term, the volcano has been bad for Northern Europe and given a boost to Iceland’s tourist industry, but there are larger questions involved. With tedious predictability, a number of climate change alarmists quickly claimed that the volcano was caused by global warming. A more likely outcome is a cool Northern Hemisphere summer caused by airborne ash—which could give the alarmists an excuse for the continued lack of global temperature rise.

The Eyjafjallajökull eruption is the country’s first since 2004, and the most dramatic since Hekla, Iceland’s most active volcano, erupted in 2000. Though past eruptions have caused great devastation in Iceland, the bankrupt nation has enthusiastically welcomed the volcano inspired tourist boom. The widely publicized eruption has made the Eyjafjallajökull volcano a must-visit destination for thrill-seekers from around the world. Thousands of people have made the trip to the volcano, 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Reykjavi, to view the site where ash and red-hot lava spew from a crater between two glaciers. The trip can be expensive, even without airfare to Iceland—round trip on Icelandair, New York to Reykjavik, booked three weeks in advance with a minimum one week stay, is around US $699. Once there, local excursion prices range from €55 ($75), for a bus trip to view the volcano from a distance, to €200 ($270) for a “superjeep” ride almost to the rim of the crater.

Click source link to read FULL report from Doug L. Hoffman

Source: theresilientearth.com

Read in full with comments »   

Getting my device to the right settings and app stock is always the hardest thing about getting a new device, but thanks to i3v5y, it was easy to find my favorite. His application LMT launcher from what I have experienced so far is the most important app installed on my device, and makes the device a whole lot better and my friends that own the iPhone very envious.

If you are not aware of what the application does, its very simple. It adds multi touch functions, and app launcher to your device. This application has been updated recently and the new updated features are as follows:

0.7
Changelog:

– some small performance optimizations
– fixed killProcess (now the fg app is closed properly)
– fixed problem with overlay timer
– prepared to be rotation aware
– added new internal command:
– Controller -> activates the multitouch controller/dpad (default for "Square" gesture). Use it for FPSEce, morphgear, etc… The controller converts the touches to key events. You can define the keys to be sent via reg value "ControllerKeys": Down, up, left, right, 1, 2, A, B, C, D, X, Y. The button "R" toggles between portrait and landscape mode; the button "x" deactivates the controller mode. The reg value "ControllerVibrate" defines the vibrate status: 0=off, 1=default, >1=time in ms. For example the FPSEce config (fpse.ini):
[JOY0KEY]
…
Up=38
Down=40
Left=37
Right=39
Start=13
Select=12
Triangle=96
Quadrangle=97
Circle=98
Cross=99
L1=0
L2=100
R1=0
R2=101
…
0.6
– fixed bug in gesture engine (sometimes wrong touch value assignments for mt gestures)
– added tap and hold feature for mt gestures. Activate it via reg key "TapAndHoldGestureSupport".
– value = 1 -> activated with default bounding box for tap area (width and height = 30 pixel)
– value > 1 -> activated with user defined bounding box in pixel
– added four new internal commands:
– PrevApp -> switch to previous app (Alt-Tab feature)
– NextApp -> switch to next app (Alt-Tab feature)
– Home -> switch to Homescreen
– Rotate -> rotate screen
– added BlackListSwitch to be able to exclude processes from TaskSwitcher
– added default values for all gestures

0.5
– enabled compressed cab
– all reg values can be modified during runtime
– back command now supports Opera Back & normal back behavior
– removed BlackListStart and added BlackListAll to be able to disable LMT completely for a fg app (e.g. Morphgear)
– removed hard coded gesture commands. All internal commands can be mapped to any gesture now. Just add the following strings to the gesture in the registry for an internal command:
– CloseLMT -> closes LMT
– CloseApp -> closes the fg app
– Learn -> activates learn mode
– Back -> sends back key
– Start -> Start menu
– Lock -> Lock phone
– Phone -> Phone app
– Up -> sends Dpad up
– Down -> sends Dpad down
– Left -> sends Dpad left
– Right -> sends Dpad right

You can download and install this application from XDA.

Video: Ferrari 599xx Nurburgring Record

Porsche 911s and Nissan GT-Rs and Corvette ZR1s are very nice cars and quite quick around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. But they must bow before the new king of the ‘Ring, the Ferrari 599XX.

The 700-horsepower über-Ferrari is the first-ever production-derived sports car to break the 7-minute barrier at the classic 20.832 kilometer Nordschleife (North Loop), a benchmark of automotive performance.

The 599XX lapped the track in an astonishing 6 minutes, 58.16 seconds. That’s almost half-a-minute faster than the mighty Ferrari Enzo.

Source: Read More

Filed under: Concept Cars, Hybrid, China, Geely, Beijing Motor Show, Luxury

Another entry that Geely has planned for its new Emgrand premium sub-brand is the GE limousine. Like many of Geely’s new models, the GE has a very prominent grille but the rest of the design looks otherwise well-proportioned and attractive. With a 214-inch body sitting on a 124-inch wheelbase, the GE is a big car targeted at executives who prefer to be driven rather than get behind the wheel. The Geely Emgrand GE can be equipped with either a rear bench contoured for two passengers or a single large seat flanked by extra storage compartments.

Underneath, the GE has the same plug-in hybrid powertrain featured in the GT coupe. That means it gets a 2.4-liter inline-four that producing 160 horsepower and 165 pound-feet of torque. The electric drive consists of a pair of 27.5 kilowatt, 132 pound-foot hub-motors for all-wheel-drive capability. The GE is targeted for 2015 introduction.

Photos by Sam Abuelsamid / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Beijing 2010: Geely Emgrand GE plug-in hybrid limo originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marty Cooper—maybe you’ve heard of him and his little invention, the cellphone—thinks modern smartphones are way too convoluted and that future phones will live behind your ear, under your skin. You think AT&T owns your ass now… More »

[JURIST] Lawyers representing Omar Khadr, a Canadian currently being detained at Guantanamo Bay, say they will seek to suppress statements he made during interrogation at a preliminary hearing to begin Wednesday. The hearing is to be the last before his US military commission trial in July, the first to commence under the Obama administration, which suspended the military commissions after his inauguration in January 2009. Khadr’s defense team plans to bring forward as many as thirty guards, interrogators, and witnesses to testify that incriminating statements made by Khadr were the product of torture. Khadr’s defense lawyers claim that Khadr was subject to 142 interrogations at both Bagram Air Base and Guantanamo Bay. Prosecutors have described these claims as baseless, and have countered that Khadr’s treatment at the hands of interrogators was humane. The Obama administration has also been seeking the extradition of Khadr’s brother Abdullah Khadr, currently detained by Canadian authorities in Toronto, for trial in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Abdullah is suspected of supplying weapons to al Qaeda.
Khadr’s lawyers filed an emergency motion in February in the Federal Court of Canada challenging the decision of the Canadian government not to seek his repatriation from the United States. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in January that the government was not obligated to seek Khadr’s return to Canada despite having violated his rights under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Khadr has allegedly admitted to throwing a hand grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, and was charged in April 2007 with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism, and spying.

With Harper’s Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams capturing the 2010 Region IV Championships, Head Coach Renee Zelner earned Region IV Coach of the Year honors for both, men’s and women’s, track and field.

This is the 10th time Coach Zellner has been named Region IV Men’s Coach of the Year (4th consecutive year), and the 7th time she has been named Region IV Women’s Coach of the year.

Coach Zellner has earned numerous awards while here at Harper, but this marks the first time that she has been awarded Coach of the Year for both, men’s and women’s teams, in the same season!

Congratulations to Coach Zellner!