“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all...
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/HO6_Whx4Cjs/story01.htm
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Monday, November 21, 2011
A Charlie Brown Christmas now available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
A Charlie Brown Christmas is now available in the App Store and it looks like another excellent app by?Loud Crow Interactive Inc. The Charlie Brown Christmas app is an interactive book based on the 1965 Charlie Brown Christmas TV special.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Passive Occupy protesters take pepper spray blast (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO ? Protesters sitting on the ground supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement on the campus of the University of California, Davis took a face full of pepper spray at close range from an officer in riot gear in an incident that was captured on cellphone video and spread virally across the Internet Saturday.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi described the video images as "chilling" and said she was forming a task force to investigate even as a faculty group called for her resignation because of the police action Friday.
However, a law enforcement official who watched the clip called the use of force "fairly standard police procedure."
In the video, an officer dispassionately pepper-sprays a line of several sitting protesters who flinch and cover their faces but remain passive with their arms interlocked as onlookers shriek and scream out for the officer to stop.
"The use of the pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this," Chancellor Linda Katehi said in a message posted on the school's website Saturday.
The protest was held in support of the overall Occupy Wall Street movement and in solidarity with protesters at the University of California, Berkeley who were jabbed by police with batons on Nov. 9.
The UC Davis video images, which were circulated on YouTube and widely elsewhere online, prompted immediate outrage among faculty and students, with the Davis Faculty Association saying in a letter Saturday that Katehi should resign.
"The Chancellor's role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it," the faculty association said in its letter.
It called Katehi's authorization of police force a "gross failure of leadership."
At a news conference later on Saturday, Katehi said what the video shows is "sad and really very inappropriate." The events surrounding the protest have been hard on her personally, but she had no plans to resign, she said.
"I do not think that I have violated the policies of the institution. I have worked personally very hard to make this campus a safe campus for all," she said.
Charles J. Kelly, a former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant who wrote the department's use of force guidelines, said pepper spray is a "compliance tool" that can be used on subjects who do not resist, and is preferable to simply lifting protesters.
"When you start picking up human bodies, you risk hurting them," Kelly said. "Bodies don't have handles on them."
After reviewing the video, Kelly said he observed at least two cases of "active resistance" from protesters. In one instance, a woman pulls her arm back from an officer. In the second instance, a protester curls into a ball. Each of those actions could have warranted more force, including baton strikes and pressure-point techniques.
"What I'm looking at is fairly standard police procedure," Kelly said.
Images of police actions have served to galvanize support during the Occupy Wall Street movement, from the clash between protesters and police in Oakland last month that left an Iraq War veteran with serious injuries to more recent skirmishes in New York City, San Diego, Denver and Portland, Ore.
The forcible Oakland protest eviction, the first of its kind on a large scale, marred the national reputation of the city's mayor and police department while rallying encampments nationwide beset with their own public safety and sanitation issues.
Police chiefs and mayors held conference calls to discuss containment strategies in the days after the Oct. 25 Oakland eviction. The use of rubber bullets and tear gas dropped off, though police departments have turned to pepper spray when trying to quell large crowds.
Some of the most notorious instances went viral online, including the use of pepper spray on an 84-year-old activist in Seattle and a group of women in New York. Seattle's mayor apologized to the activist, and the New York Police Department official shown using pepper spray on the group of women lost 10 vacation days after an internal review.
In the video of the UC Davis protest, the officer, a member of the UC Davis police force, displays a bottle before spraying its contents on the seated protesters in a sweeping motion while walking back and forth. Most of the protesters have their heads down, but several were hit directly in the face.
Some members of a crowd gathered at the scene scream and cry out. The crowd then chants, "Shame on You," as the protesters on the ground are led away. The officers retreat minutes later with helmets on and batons drawn.
Ten people were arrested.
University spokeswoman Karen Nikos said nine people hit by pepper spray were treated at the scene. Another two were taken to hospitals and later released.
Nikos declined to release the identity of the officer in the video.
At Saturday's news conference, UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said the decision to use pepper spray was made at the scene.
"The students had encircled the officers," she said. "They needed to exit. They were looking to leave but were unable to get out."
Many Twitter and Facebook comments supported the students and criticized the response.
"Stomach churning video of police using pepper spray on seated anti-Wall Street protesters in Davis, Calif.," actress and model Mia Farrow wrote in a retweet of the video.
Elsewhere in California on Saturday, protesters in Oakland tore down a chain-link fence surrounding a city-owned vacant lot where they planned to set up a new encampment.
After a march, several hundred Occupy Oakland protesters breached the fence and poured into the lot next to the Fox Theater on Telegraph Avenue, police said.
One organizer shouted "More Tents! More Tents!" over a loudspeaker, the Oakland Tribune reported.
Police removed the main Occupy Oakland encampment Monday at City Hall, and city officials said they won't tolerate new camps.
Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said surrounding streets had been closed and officers were protecting surrounding buildings.
Watson said there had been no arrests or citations, but the city's position remains that the protesters can't stay overnight.
San Francisco public works crews removed tents at two Occupy sites in the city. The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/ui5yIa ) that the workers moved in on the encampments in Justin Herman Plaza and in front of the Federal Reserve Bank, removing dozens of tents on grassy areas.
There were no reports of violence, according to San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza. He said the action was not a raid.
Police were present but did not become involved.
___
Associated Press reporters Nigel Duara in Portland, Ore., and Meghan Barr in New York City contributed.
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Apple vs. Samsung current U.S. product lines
Interesting comparison by Minimally Minimal of Apple vs. Samsung product strategies, including their current U.S. device lines. (Spoiler: 3 vs. 134). No doubt there's a debate to be had about when both lack of and way too much choice become frustrating. Hit the link below for more. Source: Minimally Minimal via Daring Fireball
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/DXSOrV84mqk/story01.htm
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Freddie Mac, on taxpayer support, pays big bonuses
Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae defend $13 million in bonus payments. Executives tell House committee that bonuses needed to keep qualified staff at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.?
Top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Wednesday defended their companies' pay practices from attack by lawmakers angry that the government-controlled firms were paying out nearly $13 million in executive bonuses.
Skip to next paragraphThe chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's argued the compensation structures at the mortgage finance firms were needed to retain and attract qualified staff.
A bill to block the pay packages was approved by the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday in a 52-4 vote. The full House must still vote on the measure. A similar bill has been introduced in theSenate.
The two money-losing firms have been propped up by about $169 billion in federal aid since they were rescued by the government in 2008.
In testimony before a House committee, the executives said cutting compensation at their firms would be disruptive and limit their ability to attract skilled management.
``We need to compensate our executives and employees to ensure that we have and keep the leadership we need to continue our progress,'' Fannie Mae CEO Michael Williams told the HouseOversight Committee.
Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate have expressed chagrin that the companies, the two largest sources of U.S. mortgage finance, were paying out $12.79 million in bonuses for 10 executives.
At the hearing, Democrats also blamed the companies and their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, for not doing enough to help troubled borrowers by reducing loan balances.
``Congress and the president passed a law directing FHFA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac to 'maximize assistance for homeowners.' This has not happened,'' said Representative Elijah Cummings, the panel's top Democrat. ``And nobody should be receiving million-dollar bonuses by claiming it has.''
Democrats and Republicans agree the firms eventually need to be shuttered, but lawmakers are moving cautiously given the central role the companies play in the housing finance system.
Williams argued that without legislative direction from Congress on the future of the two government-sponsored enterprises, it was ``difficult to attract and retain employees with highly specialized skills, expertise and experience.''
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Saturday, November 19, 2011
Obama heads to Bali for East Asian summit (AP)
DARWIN, Australia ? Aiming to knit Asian allies ever closer as China's might rises, President Barack Obama is completing a nine-day Asia-Pacific trip with a visit to his boyhood home of Indonesia, where he'll become the first U.S. president to take part in a summit of East Asian nations.
Security issues and the U.S. vision for an increasingly robust American role in Asia are expected to be central themes for Obama's participation in the East Asia Summit in Bali, where the president was due to arrive Thursday night after traveling from Australia. But concerns over China may shadow the president's meetings Friday and Saturday with leaders of smaller Asian nations increasingly alarmed over China's claims to maritime passage and rich oil reserves in the South China Sea.
Obama will also get a chance to meet on the summit sidelines with leaders such as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with whom the president has an especially close personal relationship, as the U.S. looks to bulk up regional alliances and encourage big roles for friends.
For Obama, the visit will mark a homecoming to the country where he lived for four years as a boy after his mother married an Indonesian man and moved them to Jakarta. Obama visited Jakarta last year and spent time during that visit reflecting on his personal ties to Indonesia, something he probably won't have as much time for on this trip. But Obama's background as a Hawaii native partly raised in Indonesia has shown throughout his trip, which began with an economic summit in Honolulu and ends when he departs Bali on Saturday.
While in Bali, Obama will be aiming to expand commercial ties and export opportunities with fast-growing Asia, looking for ways to underscore the connection between his foreign travels and U.S. jobs with an election year approaching. Nuclear nonproliferation, disaster relief and maritime security also are U.S. priorities.
But behind it all, China looms large.
The centerpiece of Obama's visit to Australia was announcement of a new military agreement that will allow more U.S. military aircraft and a rotating presence of U.S. Marines into Australia, a move largely seen as a hedge against China, which immediately objected.
In Bali, Obama will encounter more allies eager for U.S. support as China and its smaller neighbors argue over the South China Sea, an area that is critical to U.S. interests as well.
He arrives after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earlier this week signed a declaration with her counterpart from the Philippines calling for multilateral talks to resolve maritime disputes such as those over the South China Sea. Six countries in the region have competing claims, but China wants them to negotiate one-to-one ? and chafes at any U.S. involvement.
Clinton said the U.S., during the East Asia Summit, "will certainly expect and participate in very open and frank discussions," including on the maritime challenges in the region. Beijing said Tuesday it opposes bringing up the issue at the summit.
It's not clear how much will be said publicly about the dispute, but U.S. officials are quick to note the importance of the South China Sea, where $1.2 trillion in U.S. trade moves annually, according to Adm. Robert Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific Command. Briefing reporters traveling with Obama this week, Willard called it "a vital interest to the region, a national interest to the United States, an area that carries an immense amount of commerce, and an area in which we must maintain maritime security and peace and not see disruptions as a consequence of contested areas."
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Regis Philbin Signs Off, Speculates on Replacement
The day has come. Regis Philbin has taken a seat alongside Kelly Ripa on Live for the last time. At his farewell press conference yesterday, he reflected on his exit.
"I feel pretty good," he said. "I'm not saying I'm gonna feel as good on Monday down there in Miami, but right now... I wasn't looking forward to this moment."
"You never are in your life - especially when you're leaving a success that you worked your tail off to make, and it's here. And why not hang around and enjoy it?"
"But I have and its time really to move on."
So what's next for the 80-year-old?
"I don't know. I have nothing, don't know what is coming," he said. "I think reality [TV] is a phrase, it's not the truth. But you know, it entertains a lot of people."
But more importantly lingering on the public's mind, including Kelly Ripa's, is who replace the daytime legend, or at least fill the seat he occupied for so long.
"Frankly I'd like to stay out of it. I don't wanna disappoint other people looking for the job," Philbin says. "Kelly is a great little storyteller in her own right."
"I tell ya, its not as easy as it looks, this cohosting thing. It just wasn't for me. So we'll see what happens, I'm interested myself to see who gets it."
Who should replace Regis Philbin?
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/regis-philbin-signs-off-speculates-on-replacement/
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What you need to know from this week on ?The Ultimate Fighter?
We're moving ever closer to the finale of the last season of "The Ultimate Fighter" to air on Spike before it moves to the Fox family of networks. Hopefully, that doesn't mean the last of the coaches challenges, which happens tonight. Huzzah! Read on for spoilers and recaps.
The show started out on a sweet note. Dustin Pague passed the same homeless man on the street during the drive from the house to the training center every day, so he decided to put together a bag of food, drinks and an encouraging note and handed it off to the man. The van barely slowed down long enough for him to do it, but kudos to Pague for thinking outside his own world of training.
Jason "Mayhem" Miller stopped by the house for a BBQ, and is somehow devolved into a competition of bug-eating. I don't even ... I can't even ... Why? Pague ate a bunch of bugs, so he won, I guess?
Oh, but there's a real competition this week! COACHES CHALLENGE! Nothing perks up a season of TUF like the coaches' challenge. Remember Brock Lesnar losing at football? Jens Pulver becoming a pro ping pong player? Forest Griffin dominating Quinton Jackson in basketball? Exactly.
This time around, it's air hockey. As usual, the winning coach gets $10,000 and each of his team members gets $1,000. Both Miller and Bisping say that they haven't played in years, and it's obvious by their poor technique.
Bisping scores first, second and through six until Miller finally scores. Miller is terrible, and Bisping easily took the first two games. To the surprise of no one, Bisping started talking crap, and Mayhem took the third one. The last game was tight, but Bisping took it. He jumped on the table to celebrate, but then fell off the table.
The semifinal fights continue tonight, with the winner headed to the finale. Dillashaw has an obvious wrestling advantage, while Pague is much more comfortable standing up. This isn't a big trash talk-filled bout. Dillashaw is the last bantamweight to be standing for Team Bisping, which he says proves how much better he is than his opponents.
Semifinal bout: Dustin Pague vs. T.J. Dillashaw in three-round bout
Round 1: Dillashaw landed solid strikes and then got his first takedown in the first minute. He couldn't pass guard, but he did a good job of holding off Pague's submission attempts. Dillashaw landed several big elbows and completely controlled him on the ground until the final 30 seconds. Pague pushed him off, landed a big knee, but didn't have time to get a rhythm going from his feet.
Round 2: Again, Dillashaw started with an easy takedown, but was much closer to the cage. He had to move to side control and spin Pague around slowly to get him away from the fence. For the rest of the round, Dillashaw kept Pague on his back. It wasn't exciting, but it was effective.
Between rounds, both corners realized that Pague had to get a knockout or a submission for a win, because the judges cards would be on Dillashaw's side.
Round 3: Dillashaw had a harder time getting the takedown this time, but guess what? He still did it. He also landed some nasty strikes that opened a cut on Pague's face. Aside from the blood, the second round looked exactly like the third.
Dillashaw took the decision and moved on to the finals with a score of 30-26, 30-27, 30-26. He very kindly consoled Pague after the loss.
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