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NetFront one of the first browsers for windows mobile phones has a new concept version which promises to have significant improve of functionality. Leveraging the latest NetFront Browser core available for the Windows Mobile platform NetFront Browser v4.0 for Windows Mobile Concept Version features significantly improved JavaScript execution performance.ACCESS encourages you to download NetFront Browser v4.0 for Windows Mobile Concept Version and submit your feedback by clicking on

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The BlackBerry is the businessmans best friend. It helps them move away from their desks while still maintaining some kind of order and connection to the important activities that need to be carried out daily.

For many people this “always on” capability has modified their behaviour to such an extent that they simply can not leave the device anywhere that is not within arms reach. They have to check their email, they have to read just one more article or quickly scan Twitter or the BBM inbox. Admit it folks, you either know these people or you are one of them. That being said, I have just one question for you…

Do you take your BlackBerry camping with you?
(more…)

The New York Times announced that it will start charging frequent online readers who do not subscribe to the newspaper. Rather than exhume the TimesSelect experiment from last decade, which built a paywall around the op-ed columnists and long feature pieces, the new pay-to-read strategy borrows from the Financial Times:

Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com
will get a certain number of articles free every month before being
asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the
newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.

This is the right decision.

I have nothing much to add on this post
from yesterday, but I do want to reiterate that this move underlines
the slow shift away from ad-supported media. Ads aren’t going away. But
online ad rates can’t support titanic publications like the Times. In
the future online newspapers are going to use advertising less like a rolling walker,
and more like a cane. In other words, advertising will continue to help
papers move toward their revenue goals, but the days are over when
publishers could lean on them and expect to stay upright. Here’s what I
wrote:

‘There’s a deeper story here. It’s nothing less than the slow death of advertising revenue. For the first time ever, the NYT is making more money from circulation than advertising. Next year, the FT expects
content revenue — “cover price rises, online charging and corporate
clients” — will eclipse ads. Worrying about traffic numbers and ad
figures is important, but it’s becoming secondary. A newspaper like the
New York Times — with a monstrous staff reporting stories, writing
pieces, taking pictures, and designing original multimedia and graphics
— cannot stand on a foundation of freeloading readership. The survival
of the news business requires readers to (re-)learn that the news is a
business that produces a product — that has a price.’

Other Great AndroidGuys Posts

• January 9, 2010 — PixelPipe Updates Android App (1)
• January 11, 2010 — Nothing Wrong With Google Promoting Nexus One Through Free WiFi (4)
• January 11, 2010 — Rogue Phishing App Found in Android Marketplace (18)
• January 11, 2010 — Analyst Predicts 5 to 6 Million Nexus One Phones Sold in First Year (17)
• January 9, 2010 — The Android Army is Rising (23)

Media Note: The annual observance of International Holocaust Memorial Day is Wednesday, January 27. Harper College Associate Professor Richard Middleton Kaplan, who has presented nationally on the subject, is available for interviews. Middleton Kaplan holds a Ph.D. and is the former lay leader of a Jewish congregation; he also was chosen as fellow for the 2004 Northwestern Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization. Contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected] to speak with him.

Creating Internships

There are many Harper College students who’d like to have internships. And, Harper College Career Center Director Kathleen Canfield says, there are plenty of Chicago-area businesses that would like to have interns. The College is working to bring the two together. On Friday, February 5, Harper will host its first-ever Employer Connection Breakfast, uniting College faculty and administrators with dozens of Chicago-area employers in an effort to hammer out promising internship opportunities for Harper students. More than 200 Northwest suburban employers were invited, representing a range of career fields – from healthcare and engineering to interior design, marketing and finance. “Our role as an educational institution is to do all we can to prepare these students for solid future careers,” Canfield says. “We’re trying to attract employers to this event that haven’t worked with Harper before – in the hope that, together, we can get students in the door of great companies.” Some area businesses don’t realize Harper students are available, or don’t know how such internships would work, Canfield said. Internships can prove invaluable for students, providing them with work experience and helping them beef up their resumes in a competitive job market.

Media Note: This event is not open to the public, but reporters and photographers are welcome to attend and talk with Harper faculty and administrators and local employers. The event will include a presentation on the benefits of hosting interns. Harper experts also are available to talk about the importance of internships in college students’ academic careers. Contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, at 847.925.6159 or [email protected].

Veterans’ Support

Michael James Tumilty served six years in the United States Air Force before enrolling in Harper College’s Nursing program and joining the growing ranks of veterans-turned-college students. It’s a sharp change of pace – but he’s finding support and camaraderie in Harper’s new Veterans Club, a group aimed at helping veterans forge relationships with other former military men and women who now are taking classes on campus. The fledgling club, led by Assistant Political Science Professor Bobby Summers, will look to recruit members and boost its numbers at the annual Spring Semester Club Expo, from noon until 1 p.m. Wednesday, January 27 in the Student Center on the main floor of Building A. “Veterans who join will have a place where they can come together and be among others who can relate to their experience,” says Tumilty, of Algonquin. The number of Illinois veterans attending Harper College increased by more than 22 percent between fall 2008 and fall 2009. The Post-9/11 Veteran’s Educational Assistance Act of 2008 drove more veterans to college campuses statewide, promising them help in achieving a college education. “Many veterans are taking advantage of that, and it’s up to us to help them find success in every way that we can,” says Thomas Warfield, who assists student veterans in his role in Harper’s Office of Student Financial Assistance. The club’s first meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, January 28 in Room A243, Building A. The National Survey of Student Engagement, among other studies, has shown that college students who participate in co-curricular campus activities are more immersed in their college experience and have better success rates than other students. The Veterans Club needs at least 10 members to be officially recognized by the College’s Student Activities Department. The group will be one of nearly three dozen campus organizations seeking to recruit members at the upcoming Expo. For more information on the clubs or the Expo, call 847.925.6242 or visit www.harpercollege.edu.

Media Note: Veterans Club members and adviser Bobby Summers are available for interviews relating to Harper’s club and the importance of veterans’ support on college campuses. Contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159 or [email protected].

Climbing Computer Classes

With the economy down, increasing numbers of adults are turning to community colleges to reenergize their resume. Fall semester enrollment in Harper College’s Continuing Education (non-credit) computer training courses was up 30 percent from 2008, reflecting a desire for classes that can lead to greater marketability in a tech-savvy job market. “It was all tied into the economy,” says Martha Karavitis, Continuing Education Computer Training Coordinator. “Many of our students were current professionals who perhaps still had a job but needed to update their skills to better their career. Others were laid off and looking to become more competitive as they looked for jobs.” Enrollment gains were particularly substantial in the College’s non-credit Computer-Aided Drafting courses, with a large number of local mechanical engineers and architects looking to learn new ways to apply their know-how and keep up with trends. Those courses teach professionals to create electronic drafts of designs that otherwise would have been done on paper. Harper enrollment in non-credit web animation, multimedia and project management computer courses also spiked last term. “Many people realize that computer tech skills are great ones to acquire, because computers will not go away,” Karavitis says. “If anything, computers will become even more relied upon, and the skills needed to use them will become more advanced.” Many of Harper’s non-credit coursework culminates in certificates. Other computer programs offered through Continuing Education prepare students for industry certification. Harper offers numerous non-credit computer training options, including graphic arts, Java programming, network security and support and electronic bookkeeping. To enroll in a class, or for more information, call 847.925.6300 or visit www.harpercollege.edu/ce.

Press Contact: Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected].

Mozart and More

Works by Mozart and Brahms will be performed at Harper College’s fifth annual Chamber Music Festival, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 23 in the College’s Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Algonquin Road in Palatine. This year’s edition will feature faculty members from Harper’s Department of Music, and include performances by the Harper Chamber Winds and the critically acclaimed Anaphora String Quartet ensembles-in-residence. Tickets are $15 for general admission, with discounts available for seniors and students. Children ages 12 and under will be admitted free. For tickets, call 847.925.6100 or visit www.harpercollege.edu/boxoffice. To learn more about studying music at Harper, visit www.harpercollege.edu.

Press Contact: Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected].

Reading Minds

Mentalist Christopher Carter – a mindreader and magician who uses hypnotism in his shows – will kick off Harper College’s Spring Welcome Week with a free show on Wednesday, January 20. Carter’s performance, at noon in the Student Center Lounge on the main floor of Building A, is open to all. Carter, who developed an interest in mindreading and magic at a young age, promises plenty of awe at his Harper show – saying he’ll persuade audience members to see things that don’t exist and take control of fluorescent light bulbs, turning them on at his command as students hold them. Welcome Week, a series of activities that salute the start of Spring Term 2010, also will feature Harper information tables, a Harper Hawks pep rally, free hot chocolate and a live remote broadcast by the student-run radio station. All events are free. Harper’s main campus is at 1200 W. Algonquin Road in Palatine. For more information, call the Student Activities Office at 847.925.6242 or visit www.harpercollege.edu.

Press Contact: Terry Karow, Marketing and Public Relations Specialist, 847.925.6627, [email protected].

Photo Opportunities

Event: Computer Kids Program. Elementary District 21 students whose parents are in Harper literacy courses are able to learn digital concepts and computer technology in this new class.

Date: 5 to 7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays through March 17.

Location: Harper College Northeast Center, 1375 Wolf Road in Prospect Heights

Press Contact: Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected]

 

Event: Spring Semester Club Expo

Date: Noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, January 27

Location: Student Center Lounge, main floor of Building A

 

Event: Mindreader Christopher Carter performing free show for Welcome Week

Date: Noon on Wednesday, January 20

Location: Student Center Lounge, main floor of Building A

 

Event: Chamber Music Festival featuring performances by Harper faculty

Date: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 23

Location: Performing Arts Center

 

We’ve seen all sorts of styles, publishers going creative with the boxart, getting a message across, blah blah blah happens all the time. Understandable, you gotta get some attention on the shelves. But for the Japanese

The “Hamster Shredder” is just a sculpture by artist Tom Ballhatchet, but I’ll hand it to him, a paper shredder attached to a rodent cage is actually a pretty practical idea. [Tom Ballhatchet via Unplggd]

Randy Couture had it right. Brock Lesnar is back from his intestinal disorder.

Lesnar, 32, announced today that he was able to avoid serious surgery. UFC president Dana White said Lesnar will return this summer against the winner of the March fight between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin at UFC 111. 

Lesnar said he was originally diagnosed with mononucleosis then correctly with diverticulitis. It caused him to lose 40 pounds. But the UFC’s heavyweight champ held out on serious surgical options. Another doctor’s visit on Jan. 5 indicated that Lesnar’s body was responding positively to antibiotics.

"[The doctors] were dumbfounded. They couldn’t find any problem in my stomach. It’s just a miracle to me."

Lesnar visited his doctors once more on Tuesday.

"I actually had to go to the doctor yesterday before I came out here and get another CT scan on my stomach because I just still can’t believe it."

Lesnar’s problem began in October when he was struggling with stamina and feeling lousy. He was training for his UFC 106 fight against Carwin. 

"My training wasn’t going well, I missed almost three weeks of my training camp. Kept going to the doctor, couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Finally, it was a Monday I said to my trainer I can’t do this fight," said Lesnar.

That’s when Lesnar visited doctors and got the original mononucleosis diagnosis.

"I decided to get away, and take a trip up to Canada and do some hunting. I could either stay at home and sit on the couch and climb the walls or go to Canada and do something I would enjoy. So I got up there and still didn’t feel right. Had a lot of severe stomach pain and one night I woke up in severe shock, had a 104 temperature, and felt like I was shot in the guts."

Lesnar decided that he needed to return to the U.S.

"I went to the hospital in Canada, realized quickly that I had to get out of Canadian healthcare, and get down to Bismark, to the United States, at Medcenter One. I take my hat off to this doctor there. They diagnosed me with diverticulitis."

Lesnar last fought at UFC 100 where he destroyed Frank Mir. His postfight antics immediately made him into a hero and a heel across the country. Many fans and media members called it an awful night for MMA. That may have been the case, but Lesnar’s drawing power is undeniable. The event set UFC pay-per-vew records with buys in excess of 1.3 million.

While Palm’s spiffy new PDK (Plug-in Development Kit) is right now limited to bringing fancy binary apps to webOS only from a few select developers, that isn’t going to stop Palm from showing it off to the masses. To that end, Palm will be presenting at this year’s Game Developers Conference. GDC will be taking place in March in San Francisco, just up the road from Palm’s Sunnyvale headquarters.

The hour-long presentation, scheduled for 3:00 pm on March 12, has a title that tells us pretty much everything we need to know: “An Overview to Creating Games with Palm’s Plug-in Development Kit (PDK)”. But that’s not all, there’s also a description if that left you hungering for more:

“Come learn how to take full advantage of the advanced hardware capabilities of Palm’s webOS devices–including full OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 support–using the recently announced Plug-in Development Kit (PDK). This technical session will provide an architectural overview of Palm’s hardware and software platforms and then provide hands-on details for how the PDK exposes these capabilities.”

Which makes us say “Ooooooh.” Will we see new game announcements? Considering that they’re planning to demonstrate the PDK to game developers, we wouldn’t be surprised if the PDK becomes widely available around that same time.

Thanks to Baryn for the tip!

Lindsay Lohan will accompany Austrian entrepreneur Richard Lugner to this year’s Vienna Opera Ball, the limelight-lovin’ eccentric announced on Wednesday.

Lugner, a quirky 77-year-old known for his young girlfriends and appearance on European reality shows, invites a different female star to the flashy event each year. Sophia Loren, Dita Von Teese, Nicollette Sheridan, Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra are among the beauties who have accompanied him to the event in the past.

The 2010 Vienna Opera Ball takes place Feb. 11.

Filed under: Minivan/Van, Wagon, Geneva Motor Show, Etc., Mazda

The Mazda5 has been around since 2006, going about its microvan business in relative obscurity, yet rewarding buyers with a healthy dose of zoom-zoom mixed into their three-row vanlet driving needs. The Mazda5 (Premacy in other markets) received a few tweaks in 2008, but other than new wheels and clear tail lamps, there weren’t a lot of changes. Well, Mazda just announced that an all-new Premacy will be unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, and despite the smile on its face, the changes are more than skin deep.

Cribbing heavily from recent show cars like the Nagare and Furai, the new 5 sports swoopy character lines along its flanks, and adopts the now-familiar and familial smiley face up front. Besides an all-new body, the 2011 Mazda5 will also get the company’s “i-stop” start-stop technology for its new direct-injection engine, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 15 percent according to Mazda. Mazda says the Nagare-inspired styling actually serves to reduce drag and maintain a good balance of downforce fore and aft, but we’re pretty sure people will just think it a bit overstyled.

The new Mazda5 will go on sale in Europe later this year with a choice of 1.8- or 2.0-liter direct-inject gas engines. No word yet on which engines will make it over to these shores, but we’re guessing the 2.5-liter in the current Mazda3. Hopefully Mazda has figured out a way to offer the trick karakuri second-row center seat that boosts seating to seven. We’ll have more details when they pull the cover off of it in Geneva, but for now, check out the press release after the jump and the gallery of high-res images below.

[Source: Mazda]

Continue reading All-New 2011 Mazda5 coming to Geneva

All-New 2011 Mazda5 coming to Geneva originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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German tuner Lorinser has revealed information about its Mercedes E-Class Coupe tuning package, due to be launched soon.

An  aerodynamic package has been developed for the German coupe. The front bumper now has adjusted components with LED daytime running lights. The change at the front of the car is accompanied by a fresh radiator grill. New side skirts are also available, together with redesigned door mirrors. At the rear of the car we find a roofspoiler and a discreet rear lip together wit… (read more)

Is anyone up for a little guessing game?  It involves the proxy that Tyco International Ltd. (TYC) filed last Friday.

First, read a snippet from the Fiscal Summary on p. 37:

Overall, fiscal 2009 was a challenging year for the Company, as the global economic recession adversely affected the Company’s businesses across nearly all industries and regions…In response to the downturn, management implemented a number of measures to contain general and administrative costs, including compensation costs….

Based on that passage, is your guess that:

A)    The Compensation Committee took dramatic steps to reverse some of Tyco’s past excesses; or

B)    There’s no need to hold a bake sale for the benefit of Tyco’s executives.

Well, let’s take a closer look.  On p. 38, the filing lists several steps the company took, such as:

• “reaffirm[ing] its commitment to competitive pay levels and ‘pay for performance’”;
• “enhanc[ing] the alignment of incentive pay with shareholder value creation” (here they say they ceased the practice of granting time-based RSUs and started granting “only stock options and performance share awards, which tie 100% of long-term incentives to shareholder value creation”;
• and “eliminat[ing] the practice of paying gross-ups for taxes paid by Senior Officers in connection with supplemental benefits paid on or after January 1, 2010.”

And then there’s this:

“In addition, Mr. Breen, our CEO, agreed to waive the benefits available to him under his employment agreement for New York City/State tax gross-up payments for compensation that is awarded to him after January 1, 2009. The Compensation Committee also negotiated the phase-down of severance and change in control benefits payable to Mr. Breen under his employment contract executed in December 2008.” (Longtime footnoted readers will recall that this has been anissue for nearly a decade.)

Yet the money flowing to executives is still staggering.  The Summary Compensation Table shows that four of the top five executives actually received less total compensation in 2009 than they got in 2008.  But when the lowest paid NEO is getting cash, stock, options, non-equity incentive plan compensation, and perks worth $3.6 million, the Compensation Committee’s promised action seems like much ado about (practically) nothing.

And what about Edward Breen, Tyco’s Chairman/CEO?  Well, he may be waiving that gross-up on New York taxes, but he still got cash, stock, options, and perks (including $238,795 worth of personal use of the company’s aircraft) worth more than $19.4 million.

Our vote?  Call off the bake sale.

This post was written by footnoted.org intern Kristen Scholer, who is a junior at Northwestern University.

Scarlett Johansson is the latest celebrity throwing her star power behind the effort to help the citizens of earthquake-ravaged Haiti — she’s putting herself on the auction block!

The Golden Globe-nominated star is auctioning off the chance for four people to meet her on opening night of her new Broadway play, A View from the Bridge, opening Jan. 24 at the Cort Theatre in New York City. One lucky winner of the charity auction and three guests will get to play with ScarJo at an afterparty.

All proceeds from the auction will benefit Oxfam’s Haiti Earthquake Response Fund. Click Here To Place Your Bid…..

Eyes are looking toward Apple and the expected tablet announcement that has everyone all a-twitter (except Twitter folks as it’s down a lot) but there was another tablet in the works that wasn’t being discussed as much. The folks at HTC and Google have been working on a tablet of their own, at least until recently. HTC and Google collaborated successfully on the Nexus One Android phone, and they were also working on a tablet that would run the Chrome OS. Reports have come in that HTC sales and marketing director, Anthony Petts, has stated that HTC is halting all work on the Google tablet.

According to Petts, HTC will concentrate on its forte making smartphones, and not look at the tablet market. Work on the tablet had reportedly been taking place for as long as 18 months, and a few prototypes supposedly had been produced. Word on the street had the HTC / Google tablet running the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and one model was said to be running the Chrome OS, even though it won’t be released until late this year.

Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:

BROWN WINS HANDSOMELY IN MASSACHUSETTS: On Tuesday, the voters of Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown in a special U.S. Senate election, defeating Democrat Martha Coakley. In a state where every representative to the U.S. House is a Democrat, Brown’s victory is a shocking win for an elated GOP. Now that the election has been decided, Democrats are searching for answers to what went wrong. Reports are coming out now that money may have been an issue in the Coakley campaign, even though preliminary analysis of Coakley’s fund-raising shows Democrats contributing heavily to her. And in terms of television expenditures in the week preceding the election, it is clear Democrats outspent Republicans 2-1. CRP will begin our own analysis of this campaign on Feb. 18, the day the Federal Election Commission makes the race’s complete campaign finance data available. But leaving the blame game aside, the real question is when Brown will take his seat in the Senate. Talking Points Memo has a great article describing the potential path Brown could take in becoming the 41st Republican senator, giving the GOP enough representation to filibuster key legislation, such as the health care reform bill still being debated by Congress.

LISA MURKOWSKI’S GREEN THUMB: Even if Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) isn’t known for growing plants, she could make a name for herself growing greenbacks. Following the news of an amendment Murkowski may submit to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulation carbon dioxide, articles by the New York Times and Politico have highlighted the senator’s close relationship with the energy industry. Indeed, Murkowski’s relationship with the industry is such that she consulted with two prominent energy lobbyists in drafting the amendment. Reported by the Washington Post, Jeffrey Holmstead and Roger Martella Jr, both former EPA officials, helped her navigate the language of the amendment. CRP data also shows the energy industry, when compared to all other industries, has historically contributed the most to her campaigns. Although it is unlikely the amendment will go anywhere in a Congress controlled by Democrats, Murkowski’s high-profile amendment will surely fertilize the ground for future greenbacks from conservative interests.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS: After Rep. Parker Griffith switched parties — the former Democrat is now a Republican — he made a promise to return donations to those supporters that felt “disappointed” by his decision. Weeks later, reports are coming out that Griffith’s promise came with caveats. After several contributors complained the campaign was not refunding their money, Rep. Griffith clarified his promise, stating he would only return money he hadn’t already spent. Furthermore, he is only returning donations dedicated for the 2010 campaign, not his 2008 race. No doubt, Griffith will need all the help he can get with the local Republican party declaring its opposition to Griffith’s candidacy. Taken together with the loss of his staff following the switch to the GOP, Griffith may need to use all the tricks in his book to win re-election.

Have a news tip or link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at [email protected].

You wouldn’t realize it on first thought, but Facebook has been for quite a while the largest photo site in the world and by a significant margin. Thanks to its 350 million users all uploading important and many times interesting photos of themselves, the social network can be considered a photo hosting site as much as anything else. Howev… (read more)