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Who can tell me where this sun-streaked dining room is? It was my first time here, and I had to wear sunglasses during the first 30 minutes of our meal. I felt like a rock star, although I’m sure I looked like a doofus…

Thanks to Clove, we recently got an HTC HD Mini for review.

We’ve got a few videos and a full review to go, but if there are any questions you want answered, let us know below!

Adam Serwer, fresh from a trip to Guantanamo Bay to see a proceeding in an Obama-era military commission, draws some conclusions about the administration’s national security approach:

The detention camps have become more bearable for the detainees, with 85 percent of them now living communally, up from around 40 percent more than a year ago, according to the Joint Task Force (JTF). Only 12 detainees are on hunger strike, (down from a high of 100 in 2006) five of whom are being force-fed, according to a JTF spokesperson. Long-planned construction projects, like a soccer field for Camp Six have been finally completed, giving the detainees more outside space than before. The detainees watch television and have recently been given access to satellite radios that let them listen to the Koran being chanted. In addition to literacy, language, and art classes, a new “life skills” class whose curriculum includes “resumé building” has been set up. Only one detainee has expressed interest so far.

Guantanamo Bay: Now With Only 12 Detainees On Hunger Strike. Serwer says it’s “Bush with a smile.” And that extends to due-process allowances in the commissions after Obama and Congress passed a legislative revamp last year:

“There are significant improvements both in terms of procedure, rights available, and rights to resources, in particular in death-penalty cases,” says Mike Berrigan, principal deputy chief defense counsel for the Office of Military Commissions. “But there’s a large hill to climb.” The size of that hill will become apparent in the coming weeks as reporters from all over the world descend on Guantánamo for the initial hearings in the case of Canadian national Omar Khadr, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 at the age of 15.

As it happens, I’ll be one of those reporters. Watch this space next week for pictures, video and as much of a real-time portrait of military commissions and Guantanamo Bay in the era of Obama as military and technological restrictions permit.

Netflix shares blasted through $100 for the first time ever today, following a solid earnings performance yesterday, strong guidance, and impressive traction for the company’s streaming video service.

Factoring in today’s 16% rise, Netflix shares have now effectively doubled since the beginning of 2010.

Netflix shares do trade at a high multiple, but any gains make the WSJ’s Martin Peers look even more ridiculous for his call 13 months ago that Netflix’s “stock-price bubble may be close to bursting.”

That was in late March, 2009, when Netflix shares were trading in the $40s. “Netflix fans take note: A correction is looming,” Peers wrote.

Shareholders who bought in that day have more than doubled their money.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Netflix Says 55% Of Subscribers Streamed More Than 15 Minutes Of TV Show Or Movie Last Quarter
• Netflix Earnings In Line, Guidance Strong
• Netflix continues to sign 28-day DVD blackout window deals for new releases with more studios: First Warner Bros., now Un…

As expected this morning  biofuel  maker Codexis sold six million shares priced at $13 as part of its Initial Public Offering (IPO), raising $78 million. Shares sold on the low-end of the company’s $13 – to – $15 per share range.  The company has an initial market cap of $441 million.

Credit Suisse led the IPO. Piper Jaffray, RBC Capital Markets and Pacific Crest Securities were co-managers.

Since 2002 Codexis has raised $80 million. Investors include Royal Dutch Shell, CCTV Investments, CMEA Ventures, Pequot Capital, Bio*One Capital and Pfizer. The company manufactures synthetic enzymes that convert organic materials — like wood chips, switchgrass, cornhusks, sugar cane — into biofuel. The process can also be used for the pharmaceutical indusry — see full press release.

Happy Earth Day!

When you think about our little blue planet, do you feel a little sad and frustrated? We know that feeling, what with climate deniers and Congress and the big empty that was Copenhagen. But if you know where to look, there are some amazing things happening in the strangest of places. Mama Earth needs to know we haven’t given up on her yet. Visit hopensource.org to see all of the hopeful things happening around you: people, projects and stuff, and to share your own ideas — with extra points for funny stuff. After all, good stuff doesn’t have to be boring. We all need to lighten up.

Want to show Earth the love? Visit hopensource.org and learn more!

Did Facebook just conquer the Web?

Once a mere online yearbook, Facebook has recently grown to become the most trafficked domain on the Internet. But that was just the prelude. The next chapter starts this week, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing a new application that could plant Facebook plug-ins on every square inch of the Internet and let publishers share and collect the public data of each user.  “Facebook is basically going to be the Web,” wrote Slate tech columnist Farhad Manjoo on Twitter.

Here’s the change you’ll notice: websites like Yelp and Slate and CNN will start dropping social “plug-ins” — little Facebook widgets — into their sites. This way, you can see what your friends have read and liked. As Slate’s editor David Plotz explained in a note to readers, “just press the Facebook ‘Like’ button at the bottom of any story, add a
comment if you want, and approve it: A post saying that you have ‘Liked’ the story will appear on your Facebook wall and as part of your
news feed.” If that doesn’t sound terribly revolutionary, it’s because it isn’t. Plug-ins for other social media sites like Digg already exist on many websites.

But wait, there’s more.

Facebook will allow website developers to collect and use our information when we connect to a site. When I press the “like” button, that goes into social clearinghouse of information. Other sites can see the articles I like on CNN, the music I like on Pandora, the food I like on Yelp … and that’s in addition to any information I make public on my Facebook profile. The Facebook team calls this application “Open Graph.” You can call it the future of marketing.

What does this mean for privacy? Open Graph initially sounds pretty invasive. But remember that everything that flows into this reservoir of content is already public. Facebook’s new policy doesn’t make your private information public. It makes your public information a lot more public. Content that was once between you and your pal’s news feed is now playing all your friends’ CNN Facebook plug-ins and sloshing around in a matrix of information. “Public no longer means public on Facebook,” says Mashable’s Christina Warren. “It means public in the
Facebook ecosystem. My advice to you: Be aware of your
privacy settings.”

What does it mean for websites and advertisers? That’s the billion-dollar question. For now, the honest thing is to say we don’t know. The Facebook ecosystem will run on a living, breathing semantic memory of its users’ likes. Sounds like an ad goldmine. Maybe this could pave the way toward true targeted advertising: browsing CNN on my smart phone in Dupont, a mobile ad pops up with a happy hour coupon for a restaurant I said I liked on Yelp. Or imagine a better news aggregation site: a waterfall of links with all of the articles “liked” by friends who self-identify as conservative on Facebook. Facebook search engine? It’s not out of the question.

Facebook, I once wrote, is a bit like a Middle
Eastern country sitting on top of an ocean of oil. But instead of oil, it holds information. Facebook feels a
business-driven pressure to let outsiders (ad companies) drill deep into its
reserves to learn about our music and activities and news-reading habit, so they can shove Coldplay tickets in front of Coldplay fans
and job listings in front of college seniors, and so forth. Open Graph is a step in that direction.

Zuckerberg thinks public information is the new “social norm.” So he assumes we do, as well. But most Americans are pretty jealous about their private information. That’s precisely why the nation erupted in apoplectic howling when our photos and numbers were suddenly upchucked onto the World Wide Web as Facebook purged regional networks. That anger will only be magnified if we suspect that advertisers are pooling our public information in the name of “customizing user experience.”

Facebook envisions the Internet as a fundamentally, inescapably social experience. That’s Zuckerberg’s vision. The question is, will we like it?

 

Since the next two days are dedicated to Palm’s own development news, we figured today would be a good day for some updates on what’s happening in the homebrew community. We just told you about Jason’s (happy birthday!) webOS file manager app and service, now it’s time for another project with wide appeal.

You know the drill: you replace your Pre or you find a need to run the webOS Doctor to wipe it clean and start from scratch, then you go through the motions of reinstalling all your apps. One problem: your saved data from many/most of those apps isn’t backed up to Palm’s servers. All that very important effort you’ve put into Let’s Golf? Gone.

Enter Save/Restore, which allows you to save data from applications to storage on your Pre, from whence you can move that data to another device, back it up to your computer, and then restore it again. Save/Restore doesn’t automatically save all the data from every app, rather support for each app needs to be built in manually. However the group has gone ahead and added support for many of the big, important apps. Webos Internals calls it the ‘Holy Grail of homebrew‘ and while we might not go quite that far, it does sound pretty sweet!

If you’re interested in helping with the testing, you’ll need to do a little legwork to install Preware Alpha and the Save/Restore App – more info here and here, be sure to read about the bounty system for adding additional app support. Otherwise, sit tight, the good folks at Webos Internals and the crew of homebrewers doing additional testing are moving things along at a heady clip.

Ryan McBride wrote:

Venture capitalists are placing a big bet on a San Diego startup’s new approach to treating cancers by targeting certain hormones. Aragon Pharmaceuticals reports this morning that it plans to use $22 million raised in its Series B round of funding to advance its lead drug for prostate cancer into an initial clinical trial.

Aragon, launched in May 2009, has raked in the funding from new investor Aisling Capital of New York City as well as OrbiMed Advisors of New York City and The Column Group in San Francisco. The Column Group and OrbiMed were the venture backers in Aragon’s $8 million Series A round last spring. The startup has now raised $30 million in venture funding.

The fresh cash is expected to fund a Phase I clinical trial of ARN-509 that is due to begin in the middle of this year. The company wants to develop the drug for prostate cancers that can’t be wiped out by removing a patient’s testicles. The drug is intended to target certain proteins that typically bind with testosterone, which can cause prostate tumors to grow out of control. Aragon also is researching other drugs for a similar approach to treating breast cancer.

“The Column Group values and invests in ‘big ideas’ like Aragon’s approach to developing treatments that circumvent the challenges of drug resistance in hormone-sensitive cancers,” said Peter Svennilson, a managing partner of The Column Group and chairman of Aragon, in a statement. “We are excited with the company’s progress to date and very supportive as Aragon moves ARN-509 into the clinic and continues to build its drug discovery pipeline.”

Aragon’s scientific founders are Charles Sawyers, a researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Michael Jung, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

We’ve recovered from the inaugural Android Central Writers’ Roundtable, and it’s time again for the regular weekly podcast. And you can listen in live and take part in the chat. Join Mickey and Phil at 2:15 p.m. EDT / 11:15 a.m. PDT for the latest in Android news, reviews, apps and your e-mails and voicemails. Not at a computer? Pick up the free UStream Viewer from the Android Market [link] and search for Android Central. We’ll see you there!

Android Central Podcast Live

Greece has just been downgraded by Moody’s, and the country’s bond spreads are going completely nuts.

Some kind of default or restructuring seems completely inevitable now, despite promises of support.

Thus it’s more important than ever to revisit the various counterparties who will get slammed in a collapse.

French banks represent over 25% of claims

Source: Citigroup

Banks: Swiss banks represent over 20% of claims

Source: Citigroup

German banks represent close to 15% of claims

Source: Citigroup

U.S. banks represent just above 5% of claims

Source: Citigroup

U.K. banks represent about 3% of claims

Source: Citigroup

Basically, this is European problem.

Citi: 80% of Greek debt claims are on European banks. This is a European problem.

Overall, the risk trade will be clobbered.

JP Morgan: There will be a flight to US treasuries and yields will fall there as a result of renewed risk aversion. This will widen spreads on high grade corporate bonds as a result.

Other countries dependent on the IMF will be hurt.

Wells Fargo: If IMF has to act on Greece and its neighbors, particularly Spain, its could be hindered in acting in other crisis around the world as it will use up too much of its capital.

Insurance: Several insurance companies have the potential for contagion risk

Morgan Stanley: There are only a few businesses heavily exposed to one of Greece, Spain, or Portugal, but they include MapFre and Fortis.

Insurance: Fortis has significant exposure to Greece, Portugal, and Italy

Morgan Stanley: 39% of Fortis’ tangible book value is exposed in Greece, 25% in Portugal, and 69% in Italy.

Insurance: MapFre has notable exposure to Spain

Morgan Stanley: MapFre has 4 billion Euros of exposure to Spanish government bonds.

Insurance: Potential contagion risks for giants

Morgan Stanley: While not over exposed to Greece or any of the PIIGs, several of the insurance giants have positions in each country which could become difficult if crisis was to spread throughout the debt troubled states after a Greek default or rescue. This is, however, unlikely.

Euro: Greece is driving down the value of the Euro

Morgan Stanley: Short the Euro against the Dollar, as the US moves towards a more stringent economic policy and the Euro zone experiences several potential bailouts.

Other countries will have a much harder time entering the Euro.

Morgan Stanley: The Greek crisis will make the EMU much more concerned about who they let into the Euro zone in the future. They will start to check more economic criteria, such as external imbalances and budget positions.

ECB: No rate hike likely, with potential inflationary risks as a result

Morgan Stanley: With the German economy stalled and threats like Greece existing on the periphery an ECB rate hike is now increasingly unlikely, perhaps for the whole of 2010.

Bulgaria and Romania will get slammed by a pullback in Greek lending.

Morgan Stanley: Bulgaria and Romania rely on Greek banks for a large amount of lending, much of which will be cut back in a Greek collapse due to a reliance on government loans. Reliance will shift towards local deposits as a source of lending, and those economies are weak already.

Macedonia, and Albania will be hit too

Morgan Stanley: When the Greek economy slides, foreign workers from Albania and Bulgaria may lose jobs and stop sending home remittances. Also, FDI to Macedonia (7% of its GDP) and Bulgaria (8% of GDP) will decrease.

Extreme Tail Risk: Complete Greek Bank retrenchment crushes Central Eastern Europe

Morgan Stanley: Extreme tail risk scenario points to complete retrenchment by Greek banks from all Central Eastern European markets which results in their loan books not being rolled over to their local subsidiaries.

Could spark a credit crisis in countries like Romania and Bulgaria, where 25% and 45% of the respective country’s loans come from.

Check out RBS’ 9 scenarios for a Greek bailout

Check out RBS’ 9 scenarios for a Greek bailout >

Join the conversation about this story »

Though we’ve seen videos in the past about Android running on an iPhone, this is the first real one.  It’s not flawless by any means (certain features don’t work), though most touch gestures and Wi-Fi seems to be working flawlessly.  The user (planetbeing) is dual-booting the two OSes, which has to be nice (hey, you’re bored with your phone – switch OSes for the day).  Speaking hypothetically, if someone was ever able to get it working perfectly, would you consider using Android on your iPhone?

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Case Western Reserve University’s ongoing commitment to sustainability is being recognized with a spot in The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges.

The announcement, made this week, coincides with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

“We recognize that there is a rising interest among students in attending colleges that practice, teach, and support environmentally responsible choices,” wrote the Princeton Review editors. They point out that in Princeton Review‘s 2009 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 64 percent of college applicants and parents indicated a desire to know more about colleges’ environmental commitments.

The guide cites Case Western Reserve’s signing on to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment; the creation of the Great Lakes Energy Institute; the school’s sustainability committee; LEED-certified construction projects; and more.

The Princeton Review partnered with the United States Green Building Council to produce the guide, which is available online.

Actor Dennis Haysbert has one of the best voices in the business—an attribute that hasn’t escaped the attention of Allstate. For a few years, the insurer has tapped Haysbert’s sonorous vocal stylings for its TV ads, which depict the actor as the voice of reason in an uncertain world. This month, for the first time, Haysbert is also delivering those lines—at least the tagline—in Spanish. According to an Allstate rep, the use of a mainstream, non-Spanish-speaking actor for ads en español is highly unusual. In fact, the company’s PR department has been trying to find other instances as it mulls making a "first in the industry" claim. In previous ads, Allstate has used a "voice of God" Spanish announcer as a voiceover, but the rep said Haysbert tracked much better with Spanish-speaking consumers even if his command of the language is a bit shaky. Said the rep, a native Spanish speaker: "You can hear his accent."

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

Here’s the scoop from the Associated Press…

CenturyTel Inc., the country’s fifth-largest local-phone company, said Thursday that it will buy Qwest Communications International Inc., the third-largest, in a stock swap worth $10.6 billion to gain the benefits of scale in a shrinking business.

The combination would have about 18 million phone lines serving customers in 37 states, but would still be dwarfed by AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. It would be based at CenturyTel’s headquarters in Monroe, La., rather than in Denver, where Qwest is based.

The article says it wouldn’t be great for job count, though apparently, “The Communications Workers of America, the largest union in the telecommunications industry, said it “looks forward to serious discussions” with both companies.”

It might be good for broadband…

But they hope the acquisition can make their combined company more competitive as a provider of telecommunications services to businesses and expand the reach of their broadband Internet service for consumers.

The Wall Street Journal has already chimed in with an opinion on “Why CenutryTel Finally Pulled the Trigger on Qwest”. The answer seens to be bigger is better, synergies are better, limited federal tax payments are better. They also indicate that more consolidation may be to follow.

GigaOm also jumps in with an opinion that focuses more on the impact on broadband and other services to rural areas.

The demand for wireline telephone and DSL services is on the wane, but at the same time, the need to spend money to maintain old lines and invest in new technologies like fiber is on the rise. … Adding to this grim mix is the coming reform of the Universal Service Fund, a government subsidy program aimed at offsetting the costs of providing rural telephone service. The program is being shifted away from telephone subsidies and toward paying for broadband expansions. The Federal Communications Commission is also trying to rein in some of the waste associated with the program. Within five years the FCC hopes to stop paying companies like CenturyTel for voice lines with USF money. Some of that loss will be made up through new USF broadband subsidies, however, so this deal may be a way for CenturyLink to reap a larger portion of those fees.

And for anyone who wonders how policy has an impact on consumers…

Historically, these telecom consolidation deals have been a loss for consumers and even the firms who make them. Verizon has sold many of its rural assets, leaving its purchasers to file for bankruptcy. Taking on the burden of costly assets and a lot of debt doesn’t seem to be a winning strategy for telephone companies, but maybe the hope is to become something that’s just too big to fail. Given the government’s current focus on boosting broadband, perhaps such a strategy isn’t such a bad idea.

We have another pair of celebrities to add to the list of Hollywood mentionables — which already includes Coco-T and Scott Baio — who might want to consider taking a temporary timeout from Twitter.

We were all treated to a “TMI Moment” on Wednesday when Donald Faison (Turk of Scrubs fame) was snapped nude on toilet for a humiliating Twitpic that hit the blogosphere yesterday. Making an awkward moment even more uncomfortable, the pic was taken by none other than Donald’s girlfriend, The Price of Beauty’s CaCee Cobb!

Word is Donald and CaCee regularly use their Twitter accounts to lovingly poke fun at one another, but he must really love this little lady if he’s willing to forgive her for this!

Could you please tell if it’s okay to give my dog, a 9 yr. old Brittany spaniel, 2% milk. He loves it and does not seem to have any side effects from it, ie; diarrhea, vomiting, etc. I give him about 3 cups a day besides his wet dog food and people food which he likes better than any dog food. Thank you for any advice. SW, Michigan

Dear SW,

While it sounds like it’s fine in your case to give your dog milk, in my opinion three cups a day is a bit much. Most dogs (and cats) lose the ability to digest dairy products after weaning so offering milk, cheese, even yogurt can result in problems like you mention: diarrhea, vomiting (or flatulence). Yours still seems to have the enzymes needed to break down the lactose sugar in milk so that these problems aren’t occurring.

However, three cups seems a bit excessive. The rule of thumb for the amount of water a dog drinks per day is 1 ounce per pound body weight. You have a Brittany Spaniel that the AKC says should weigh between 30 and 40 pounds so he should be drinking about 30 to 40 ounces (four to five cups) of water daily. So three cups of milk is more than half of his total fluid intake. I would like to see him drink more plain water than milk.

I also looked up the nutrient profile of 2% milk. Each cup has 137 calories so three cups has 411 calories. A 30 to 40 pound dog only needs about 600 to 800 calories from its food each day, so you’re also supplying over half your dog’s daily caloric requirements with the milk. The bottom line is I don’t think your dog is getting a complete and balanced diet (especially when you say he likes people food better than any dog food).

Since he has perhaps become a picky eater but you enjoy providing “people food” for him, you sound like excellent candidates for home cooking. However, that’s expensive, time-consuming and recipes are often hard for owners to stick with. I have a better suggestion for you! First, cut back on the milk. Treats and table scraps should not make up more than about 25% of the diet or they will unbalance it and add too many calories, so give him no more than one cup of milk per day as a special snack. Then, provide him with human grade food that you’ll feel good feeding and he’ll feel good eating: Proportions.

A new concept in feeding dogs, it includes hand-carved chicken breast in pumpkin stew in one pouch with dehydrated fruits and vegetables in another pouch. Most owners mix it with PortionPaks of high quality dry food but either way, it’s complete and balanced, wholesome nutrition for your dog.

A question for you. When was the last time you surfed the net ? Can you remember when you just clicked around looking to discover new sites or a site to occupy your time ? Now ask yourself when was the last time you sat on your couch or laid in bed clicking the remote looking for something to watch on TV.  Finally, how long do you regularly spend  on Facebook ?  How much time do you spend checking out your Wall, your friends’ Wall and hopping from profile to profile checking people out ?

If you are like most, you kill more time hopping around on Facebook than you do exploring the Net.  IMHO, while good old TV remains the ultimate, passive cure for boredom at home, Facebook is now where we kill time at work, on our mobile devices or while at home with the TV  on.

Everything that the net was 5 or more years ago, Facebook is today.

The interesting thing is that Facebook knows it.  Slowly but surely they are extending their tentacles into traditional websites, mobile apps (android/iphone/Ipad) and soon your HDTV .

It started with Facebook Connect.  It extended with search from inside the Facebook Platform.  Now they are accelerating their extensions through Virtual Currency (a future goldmine as it extends to business), allowing websites to add a Like button with user pictures through a simple widget and much much more. In other words, your favorite website doesnt know it yet, but Facebook is in the process of annexing  it.

Brilliant in its simplicity. Facebook is putting out trojan horse after trojan horse and no one seems to care.  The only thing FB has not done is create a  mobile operating system ala Android/Iphone as a platform for applications.

Why would Facebook create a mobile operating system ? For the same reason Google did. For the same reason that Apple banned Flash and other meta platforms from the Iphone.  The mobile  operating system is the ultimate trojan horse for billions of devices.  If you can create a mobile operating system that phone manufacturers adopt and that becomes a  popular platform for application development, you have hope of controlling your own destiny.  If you are just an application on someone else’s operating system and perceived as a threat you can be “Flashed”.  Does Facebook have a choice but to create a mobile operating system ?

It wont be long, if it hasnt already happened that Google and Apple will see Facebook as a unique threat to their future.  Apple has some level of connection to its customer/users, Google has minimal if any connection to their users. Facebook knows more than all of us like to admit about its users. They have our personal information, our pictures, our friends, our family members, our employers and business associates all in a database and they are extending that information base to what we like on sites outside the Facebook platform.  Plus they are creating their own currency.Just as important is the fact that we are progressively spending more time on Facebook than we are sites and applications that Apple and Google can control .  That is a threat to Apple and Google.

It wasnt all that long ago that the concept of Apple excluding Flash from its mobile platform would have been laughable. Its not any longer. Both Apple and Google have to see Facebook as the greatest threat to their futures. The question is what do they do about it and how does Facebook respond ?

Unlike Google and Apple, Facebook doesnt have 10s of billions of dollars in cash to subsidize development and distribution. They can’t outlast a direct assault from Apple or Google.

Enter Microsoft. Already a shareholder.  Already with a mobile and desktop operating system /development platform. Most importantly, already with billions in cash and the capacity to pay 15 or 20 Billion dollars or more to acquire Facebook.

There is no doubt that this is NOT the direction that Facebook wants to go. They want to remain independent. But just as Apple and Google quickly turned from friend to foes, Facebook will soon be the object that both of those companies see in the rearview mirror.  I dont see either Apple or Google as being suitors to buy Facebook. That isnt their style. On the other hand, its straight out of the Microsoft playbook. If you cant beat them or outlast them, buy them.

Time will tell, but there is no question that Facebook is quickly becoming the biggest threat to the futures of Apple and Google

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