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Just saying… [Amazon]

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About that Google shopping spree, which has seen the company buy six companies since August. It’s actually only four so far.

That’s because Google’s plans to buy video compression outfit On2 have been held up by disgruntled shareholders. And the company’s plans to spend $750 million on AdMob, the mobile ad startup, can’t go through until Federal regulators sign off on the deal.

And that may take a little longer than Google (GOOG) would like. The company announced today that the FTC has asked for more information — formally, a “second request” as part of its review. From a post on Google’s Public Policy Blog:

…we know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google’s success, and we’ve been talking to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the past few weeks. This week we received what’s called a “second request,” which means that the FTC is asking for more information so that they can continue to review the deal.

While this means we won’t be closing right away, we’re confident that the FTC will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive after this deal closes. And we’ll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review.

Google was well aware that it was going to face regulatory scrutiny on this deal — in fact, CEO Eric Schmidt say the company assumes regulators will now look at every big deal it makes, simply because it’s Google.

And also because Google’s competitors are doing their best to make sure there is regulatory scrutiny. Microsoft (MSFT), which knows a thing or two about regulatory headaches, helped slow down Google’s $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick for a very long time. And it’s quite clear that Redmond intends holler loudly in Washington about other deals. Googlers tell me that they also believe AT&T (T) agitates against them as well.

I’ve tried getting Googlers to guess at how long they think the AdMob will take to clear, but they’ve been pretty reluctant to do so. “I thought DoubleClick would take a few months, and it took more than a year,” one would-be bettor told me recently. “I’m not making that mistake again.”

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This article in Parenting.com quotes UT Knoxville psychology professor Daniela Corbetta discussing babies first learning to use their hands and arms to explore their world.

Exactly one month to the day after having (accidentally) locked us out of the App Catalog, Palm has an early Christmas present for importers of the unlocked German Pre: we’re once again able to access it. The fix? As we suspected, it was an oversight on Palm’s part in implementing the latest version of the Catalog, which didn’t know how to recognize phones that had been activated on unapproved carriers. The glitch appears to have been put to bed.

Following up on the other side of webOS geo-restrictions – namely, the way the number of apps available to non-U.S. users was summarily cut in half recently – we got a brief quote from Developer Community Manager Chuq von Rospach on the subject:

We’re continuing to work to bring paid apps to all geographies and are working with the developers to make sure their apps get distributed to all regions where it’s appropriate.

It’s just a question of patience, wethinks…

With each new year comes new generations of cars being introduced throughout the industry. The 2010 model year has certainly given us some exciting and inventive cars from revivals chock-full of retro styling, to redesigned and new models. As the car industry is always a year a head of the rest of the not-as-interesting world, msnbc.com put together a slideshow of some great 2011 models we can look forward to in 2010.

Included on the list are five American cars, including the new Ford S-Max, the popular European offering of Ford’s that addresses the many concerns of the more utility-conscious Europeans, and appeals to the gradually increasing American counterparts of those Europeans.

The Chevy Volt and Cruz are also on the list, as well as the Ford Fiesta, Buick Regal, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Sienna, Nissan Leaf, Mazda’s subcompact offering, the Mazda2, and the Honda CR-Z.

Drop a line and let us know what cars you are looking forward to next year.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: MSNBC

You’re heading out the door and you realize that you don’t have a gift to give to the hostess of the party you will be attending. You only have a few minutes to throw something together, but you don’t want it to look thrown together. What can you bring? I do have a gift closet that I keep stocked with nice little things I pick up throughout the year, but sometimes I have the same problem. Here are five last minute gifts your hostess will appreciate:

• A gift card for Amazon.com – You can print the card out instead of just emailing it, which gives you a tangible item to hand to your hostess.
• Gift in a jar – I always have a few clean jars sitting around for just this sort of thing. It really only takes a few minutes to print out the recipe, layer the ingredients in a pre-cleaned jar and to tie a pretty ribbon on it. 
• Coupon book – Print out a set of coupons, cut a cardstock cover to fit and bind them with pretty ribbons. Coupons can be something as simple as an offer to babysit for an hour so the hostess can work out at the gym kid free or a promise to go on a Starbucks and pastries run on a Sunday morning.
• Gift basket – Sometimes, none of the items in my gift closet are quite enough by themselves. However, if I put a box of nice tea, that cute mug and an inspirational book together in a basket, they add up to a nice gift.
• Spafinder gift certificate – Something the hostess will really be able to use after putting together a party. Because you can print out a certificate, you can have the gift in hand in a few minutes.

Do you have any great last minute hostess gift ideas?

Photo:SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Five Last Minute Hostess Gifts for the Holidays

Pursuant to a bill recently passed by Congress, Chrysler Group has sent letters to 789 dealerships who had their franchise agreements pulled, notifying them of the new arbitration process that could potentially restore many of the dealerships. Dealers have until the 25th of January to notify Chrysler if they do in fact intend to seek arbitration.

The brass at Chrysler is none-too-pleased about the legislation, as CEO Sergio Marchionne said that the restoration of franchises could at the very least, cause much unrest in the organization.

The letters sent out did not outline the criteria used for the termination decisions; that information will be sent out by way of a mailed letter to each dealer before January 16.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

I got my first glimpse of this cake on the cover of Sunset Magazine about three years ago. With crushed peppermints enveloping the entire cake, it was quite a sight to behold – and so festive for the holiday season! I saved the picture and have been meaning to make it ever since. With my surplus of candy canes this year, I knew it had to be on my list.

I baked an angel food cake using my Perfect Angel Food Cake recipe and set it aside to cool completely. This cake isn’t exactly frosted. It is actually covered in whipped cream. Whipped cream, made from scratch, is a great way top top off an angel food cake. It is very light, like the cake itself is, and so it doesn’t weigh it down. It is also not too sweet, and since angel food cakes are on the sweet side to begin with, this makes for a good balance. I whipped up the cream right before serving this cake and recommend that you do the same, as even with refrigeration it is not a particularly stable topping (meaning it can’t be made a day in advance). I didn’t find this to be much of a problem because the cake is very light and easy to eat in large pieces, so as long as you have a crowd you should get through it in no time at all.

The candy canes are crushed and pressed gently into the whipped cream. Sunset covered the entire cake, while I opted just to do the sides. The more red your candy canes are, the more contrast you’ll have in the finished cake.

A storebought angel food cake will work in a pinch if you don’t have time to make one from scratch. I suspect that you could also get away with using thawed whipped topping (i.e. Cool Whip) in place of the whipped cream. I would not recommend using canned whipped cream because it is not stable enough. Starting from scratch with heavy whipping cream is the way to go.

(more…)

Citing advance planning, Microsoft says it will have modified versions of Office 2007 available for sale before the court-ordered deadline next month to remove a disputed feature. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that the software giant violated the patent of Toronto-based i4i when it included custom XML technology in the 2003 and 2007 versions of Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Office, of which 2007 is the most recent version, is estimated to be worth some $3 billion in annual global sales for the company founded by Chairman Bill Gates. In addition to Word, it includes Excel, PowerPoint and Groove, a collaboration program.

“We have been preparing for this possibility since the district court issued its injunction,” last May, Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz said. “Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007 with this feature removed available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date.”

That date is Jan. 11.

Kutz also said beta versions of Word 2010 already available for download do not include custom XML.

Patch Download

The custom XML feature enables Word to manipulate format and content separately, which can be used by some companies to incorporate company data and templates into documents.

In response to the ruling, Microsoft has made available on its OEM Partner Center a 12.9-megabyte Office OPK Master Download Kit patch, noting that it is now required for companies using the product in the United States, and optional for other customers.

It’s unclear who, if anyone, will enforce compliance with the court order among end users of the software.

But Microsoft said the patch will not affect most users.

“After this patch is installed, Word will no longer read the custom XML elements contained within DOCX, DOCM or XML files,” reads a Microsoft announcement on the Partner Center page….

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Filed under: Software, Cool tools

In Mac OS X (and back into OS 9 history), a creator code is a hidden value attached to a document and bound to a preferred application, allowing the OS to know which application to use for opening that file. This is particularly helpful for filetypes that have multiple valid ‘target’ apps (JPEG, PDF, etc.); the creator code lets Preview ‘own’ its PDF or image files, TextEdit automatically open its text files, and so on.

Those who are familiar with the process are already (painfully) aware that Snow Leopard ditched this system a while back (some great details at Ars Technica). For many users — especially Windows switchers — the new method is an improvement, allowing a more standardized response to double-clicking a document file that’s driven by the file name extension (.doc, .html, and the like). If you’re in the former group, though, and missing your creator codes, the developer behind PageHand has a treat for you: LaunchCodes.

LaunchCodes is an extremely simple utility which restores the creator code functionality to Snow Leopard. The creator codes never went anywhere; they’re still in the metadata. LaunchCodes just tells the system what to do with a filetype. Setup is fast and easy, just enter the extension for the file and assign an application to it (similar to “Always open with”). It runs quietly in your menubar and directs OS X to open the application you prefer for any given type of file.

LaunchCodes is $4.95US and is available as a free trial at the PageHand website.

TUAWCreator codes make a comeback in Snow Leopard with LaunchCodes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Millions of years ago, a koala looked more like a possum. By studying rare skulls of the famous marsupial that date between 5 and 24 million years old, a team of Australian researchers propose how it got to looking like it does today, with findings published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Food was one driver, they say—millions of years ago koalas ate a variety of foods. The dietary switch to an exclusive eucalypt diet seems to have occurred during the late Miocene period, some 12 to five million years ago, when a drying climate made eucalyptus the dominant forest species [Canberra Times]. As a result, they lost their snouts and developed powerful jaw muscles.

But while koalas need to adapt to the changing food supply, they also needed to stay in communication, and began to develop the low-frequency calls that today can travel half a mile. The researchers hypothesize that the ancient koalas evolved their communication system at a time when the Australian continent was drying out and the koala habitat becoming less dense. By lowering the frequency of their calls, they were able to maintain communication in the sparser forests [Wired.com]. And to hear those low-frequency calls, koalas developed a middle ear with high volume compared to other marsupials.

“The unique cranial configuration of the modern koala is therefore the result of accommodating their masticatory adaptations without compromising their auditory system,” write the researchers [Wired.com]. In other words: you put those two things together and you get today’s adorable but strange marsupial.

Related Content:
80beats: Worsening Drought Threatens Australia’s “Food Bowl”
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DISCOVER: One Marsupial Too Many

Image: flickr / tinyfroglet

Google’s acquisition of AdMob will not close right away because the FTC has issued what is called a “second request,” which means that the regulatory body believes it is necessary to have more information to review the $750 million deal.

In a blog post, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) wrote: “As we said when we announced the deal, we don’t see any regulatory issues with this deal, because the rapidly growing mobile advertising space is highly competitive with more than a dozen mobile ad networks…That said, we know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google’s success.”

In an informational brochure on the FTC website, it says that if either the FTC or the DOJ determines that further inquiry is necessary, it can request additional documents under the the Clayton Act. In this scenario, it said it typically extends the waiting period for 30 days after all parties have complied with the information request. Depending on how long Google takes to provide the appropriate documentation to the FTC, we are assuming the deal won’t close until around February now. “While this means we won’t be closing right away, we’re confident that the FTC will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive after this deal closes. And we’ll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review,” Google wrote.

Initially, when the deal was first announced on Nov. 7, Google said its “hopeful that it will be wrapped up in the next several months.”

Related

• Sources Say FTC Is Reviewing Google’s Acquisition Of AdMob
• Is Google Gearing Up To Buy A Second Mobile Ad Network?
• Google To Acquire Mobile Ad Network AdMob For $750 Million In Stock

by Terry Tamminen

As a kid in Milwaukee, my parents told me that Santa would leave coal in my stocking if I was naughty. As the post mortem of Copenhagen is written, was it a lump of coal in our 2009 holiday stocking—or could this global chunk of carbon actually be a diamond in the rough?

For the past three years, over half the states in the U.S., along with states/provinces in Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia, have been acting like nations under the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol for climate change policy. States like California have adopted laws and action plans, including the creation of a massive cap-and-trade carbon market (launching in 2012), that will cut carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below that by 2050—in line with U.N. goals. These “sub-nationals” didn’t wait for their national governments to act.

President Obama has now taken a page from that playbook by recruiting China, India, Brazil, and South Africa to take carbon-cutting action without waiting for the U.N. and the other 187 countries. This Gang of Five has effectively broken the “you go first” stalemate, because they have committed to figure out domestically what can be done—based on what a majority of their states/provinces are doing already—and put those pledges on the table next year. If those commitments, plus the work that Europe and others are already doing, adds up the goal of preventing a rise in average global temperature of 2 degrees centigrade, that’s the defacto new global climate agreement. If the individual pledges come up short when taken together, the world will know how much more needs to be done and can look at strategies to fill that gap. Either way, the first fundamental steps will have been taken—thanks to the commitments of states and provinces.

The Gang of Five may also have done the world a favor by blowing up the U.N. process in Copenhagen, because it cleared the way for parallel international alliances to blossom. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the creation of the R20, a new “sub-national U.N.” (starting with 20 regions of states/provinces/cities) that will coordinate the work of these climate leadership governors and mayors, but with a major difference from the old U.N. The R20 will set high standards for cutting carbon and creating green economies, then invite others to join—if they can meet the same goals. By contrast, the U.N. has struggled because it needs every nation in the tent and can only get things done when all 192 agree—something that rarely happens unless goals are watered down to the lowest common denominator.

So what does this mean to businesses, investors, and consumers? Carbon will have a price globally by 2012. Period. Much of that cost will be offset by reductions in energy bills, because of efficiency improvements and deployment of renewables (after you pay back the cost of a solar panel, for example, electricity is free), but the price of everything will change—some going up and others going dramatically down. Copenhagen may have failed on some levels, but it succeeded in sparking the moves by the sub-nationals and the Gang of Five to ensure at least that fundamental result.

Although I was a pesky little kid, I never actually found coal in my stocking. Given the results in Denmark this month, the future uses for coal may well be limited to this kind of holiday humor—and our environment and economies will be the better for it.

Related Links:

New Year’s resolution: Mountaintop removal ends in 2010

The Earth’s Decade

A conversation with Indian youth activist Ruchi Jain

I’m surprised that the FDA is considering approving the use of statins for people without high cholesterol. They’re taking a look at an advisory panel’s recommendation to approve the use of statins for people with normal cholesterol, but with other risk factors like high levels of C-reactive protein, believed to be a marker of inflammation.

The advisory panel recommended extended statin usage primarily based upon results from the Jupiter trial, which was funded by AstraZeneca — the people who make Crestor. Am I the only one who feels statins are so poplar mainly because there’s money to be made? Yes, I know that drug companies don’t have the same funding issues as other sources of research funding. And I’m aware of the research supporting statin usage to prevent heart attacks and strokes, but I’m not convinced the benefits outweigh the risks for everyone.

The potential price of taking statins

Most people who have considered the idea of taking a statin for high cholesterol know that the drugs aren’t risk free. They may lower cholesterol, but sometimes at the cost of some serious side effects. And now people with normal cholesterol might take statins too? I’m not a scientist, but it seems like we all need to take a deep breath and get a little less excited about these drugs. They aren’t vitamins, after all.

Some statin side effects impact quality of life. According to Mayo Clinic, muscle pain is the most common side effect reported. It can be tough to put up with muscle pain for the sake of lowering cholesterol if you’re otherwise heart healthy. Some people taking statins may also experience digestive issues. I tried a 40 mg Zocor generic and could barely move from the stomach cramps. Days later, I still felt like my stomach had been used as a punching bag.

In addition to the merely annoying side effects, statins can actually kill you. Rarely, muscle pain can signal a very serious and sometimes deadly side effect of statin use: rhabdomyolysis, muscle damage which may lead to kidney failure and liver damage. It’s this rare, but life-threatening side effect that makes me scratch my head at the thought of taking this serious drug if you don’t have to.

According to Mayo Clinic, you’re at greater risk of experiencing side effects from statin usage if you’re female, have a small body frame, suffer from type 1 ot type 2 diabetes, take multiple cholesterol-lowering medications, or if you’re age 65 or older.

Read more about this issue at CNN: FDA considers statin use for those with normal cholesterol.

Do you think the FDA should approve the use of statins for people without high cholesterol?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Statins Aren’t Vitamins

Filed under: Truck, India, Diesel

Starting to wonder if the Mahindra TR20 (two-door) and TR40 (four-door) small pickups will ever come to market here in the States? You’re not alone. Though our Magic 8 Ball still tells us it’s likely that the compact trucks will indeed make an appearance at some unknown point in the future, news comes by way of PickupTrucks.com that the Indian haulers have been delayed yet again until sometime in the spring of 2010.

Sound familiar? It should – this isn’t Mahindra’s first delay. As a matter of fact, it’s not its second delay, either, not that the extra time is completely unexpected. After all, it’s not easy to launch an entirely new brand in the United States with as-yet untested products.

In any case, Global Vehicles USA, the chosen distributor for Mahindra’s wares here in the States, is saying that the TR20 and TR40 have now passed U.S. federal safety and emissions standards and the final paperwork will be completed by February. We shall see.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Mahindra distributor reportedly says first U.S. models to hit market in spring originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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