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Saturday, December 31, 2011
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Friday, December 30, 2011
More small firms expect to buy workers new iPads, tablets in 2012
Just when Apple may be poised to unveil a sparkling upgrade to its iPad, many small firms of fewer than 1,000 are looking to buy new tablets for workers. Demand for tablets is up,?a new survey finds.
Here's good news for workers at smaller companies: More bosses are thinking about buying employees a new iPad just as Apple is rumored to be unveiling a new, higher-resolution version of the popular tablet.
Skip to next paragraphThat is according to a new survey of small businesses ? those with fewer than 1,000 employees ? by NPD Group, a business research firm. Some 73 percent of the small firms surveyed say they plan to purchase tablets over the next 12 months ? up 5 percentage points from NPD?s previous quarterly survey. Nine in 10 firms surveyed say they will maintain or increase their previous spending on tablets.
When small businesses are making plans to purchase tablets, the iPad is the most frequently considered brand, Stepehn Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. ?The iPad, just as it is in the consumer market, is synonymous for ?tablet? in the business market,? he said.
The small business urge to buy iPads comes as Apple is rumored to be about to roll out two new models of the popular device. For example, the website DigiTimes predicts that two new versions of the iPad will be released in January. Other reports place the release later in the first quarter of 2012. Apple does not comment on future products. But the rumor mill expects the new tablets to have a more powerful processor, a higher-resolution screen, and a more capable camera. ?
Whatever the precise nature of the next iPad, the NPD survey found that the bigger the firm, the greater the likelihood it plans to buy employees an iPad or other tablet over the next 12 months. At firms with fewer than 50 employees, 54 percent had plans to buy workers iPads. At companies with 501 to 999 employees, nearly 90 percent of those surveyed said they intended to buy tablets in 2012.
Although more small companies plan to buy workers tablet computers in 2012, not every employee will get one, of course. At the smallest firms ? those with fewer than 50 employees ? the average company planned to spend just $1,912 on tablets, the NPD survey found. With iPads ranging in price from $499 to $829 depending on configuration, only a handful of workers will have the latest electronic toy courtesy of their employer. At companies with up to 999 workers, the average planned expenditure on tablets is $38,749. NPD did not release the number of survey respondents, and its data were collected in September, the firm said.
?Businesses of all sizes appear to be determined to capitalize on the tablet phenomenon,? NPD vice president Baker said in his statement.
A separate study of larger companies released in May by Model Metrics showed iPads gaining traction at larger enterprises. That study found 72 percent of firms had iPads in use, even though many of the companies had not formally deployed the tablets through their IT departments. In April, when the survey data were collected, only 22 percent of the survey respondents had formally deployed iPads, but 78 percent planned to do so by the end of 2013. ?
Tablets made by electronics companies other than Apple figured in corporate plans. But the iPad is the most likely brand to be adopted, the Model Metrics study found,?with 83 percent of companies that plan to deploy tablets citing that brand. The next most common brand is the BlackBerry PlayBook, cited by 19 percent of companies that plan to deploy tablets.?
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In Solar Power, India Begins Living Up to Its Own Ambitions
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Two years ago, India said it would drastically increase its use of solar power by 2020. Many analysts said it couldn?t be done. Now they aren?t so sure.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=4e0f0a8ce84c7ac15eb061640ab40f74
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Mexico arrests drug dealer linked to boss Guzman (Reuters)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexico has captured a senior drug trafficker with links to the country's most wanted man, Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who has suffered a series of blows in recent weeks.
Mexico's federal police said on Wednesday they captured Luis Rodriguez Olivera, known as "El Guero" (Blondie), for whom U.S. authorities are offering a reward of up to $5 million.
In a statement, Mexican police said Rodriguez Olivera and his brothers were responsible for trafficking cocaine to the United States between 1996 and 2008 for Guzman's gang.
But a "wanted" statement on the U.S. State Department's website said Rodriguez Olivera and his brothers split with the Sinaloa cartel around 2005 and later forged a strong relationship with Guzman's rivals in the Los Zetas cartel.
The U.S. statement was undated but posted after 2008.
U.S. and Mexican authorities could not immediately say where the allegiances of the 39-year-old Rodriguez Olivera lay at the time of his arrest on Tuesday in Mexico City.
At the end of last week, Mexican security forces arrested a senior lieutenant of Guzman, the latest setback for the country's most powerful drug trafficker.
President Felipe Calderon's conservative administration has been dominated by a military crackdown on drug cartels that has claimed more than 45,000 lives in the past five years, eroding support for his National Action Party, or PAN.
The PAN has been trailing its main rival for months as Mexico gears up for a presidential election in July 2012.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Stocks open lower as European worries persist (AP)
NEW YORK ? Stocks opened slightly lower Wednesday as worries over the European debt crisis persist, overshadowing a strong auction of Italian government debt.
The European Central Bank said the continent's banks parked a record $590.72 billion overnight at the bank, reflecting distrust in the European banking system.
Italy held two successful bond auctions, paying much lower borrowing rates than it did in other auctions last month. The strong demand from investors raised hopes that Italy would be able to avoid sinking into a financial crisis, as smaller countries like Greece and Portugal have.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 56 points at 12,235 as of 10 a.m. Eastern. Materials and energy companies were leading the declines. Alcoa Inc. fell 1.4 percent. Only one of the 30 stocks in the Dow average rose, AT&T Inc.
Trading was very quiet in a holiday-shortened week. Markets were closed Monday in observance of Christmas. The Dow closed 2 points lower Tuesday.
The S&P 500 was down 6 points at 1,258. The Nasdaq composite was down 17 points at 2,608.
The Bank of Italy raised $11.8 billion in two bond auctions, reflecting investor approval of the country's recently passed austerity measures. The yield on Italy's six-month bill offering was half the interest rate the country paid in a similar auction last month. The yield on the country's 10-year bond remained dangerously high, however, at 6.93 percent. It had risen to 7 percent Tuesday, a level that is considered unsustainable.
Italy is the euro zone's third-largest economy and is considered too big to save under the euro zone's current bailout funds. Investors have grown fearful over the past few months that Italy will find it difficult to pay off its massive debts, which stand at around $2.5 trillion.
Investors particularly feared that a global contagion could spread if any of the European countries defaulted on their debt. European banks held large quantities of debt from their countries.
The banks' distrust of each other was reflected in the record amounts of money they have parked with the European Central Bank. Instead of making money by lending to each another, banks have chosen to hold money at low interest rates at the ECB.
The worries were reflected in U.S. bank stocks. Bank of America Corp. fell 2 percent, while Regions Financial Corp. fell 3 percent.
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Golf, hikes and sea turtles fill Obama's Hawaii vacation time
Reporting from Honolulu?
It?s too early to say whether President Obama has the upper hand in campaign 2012, but the verdict is in on one point: Obama is having the more relaxing week.As the Republican presidential field jockeys for advantage in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, the Obamas move from one really fun sun-splashed outing to the next.
Tuesday found the first family releasing four green sea turtles into Hanauma Bay. The turtles, each 18 months old, were born at Sea Life Park north of the bay.
The bay is closed on Tuesdays for routine maintenance, giving the Obamas privileged access to a tourist spot famous for its spectacular snorkeling.
Afterward, First Lady Michelle Obama peeled off, and the president and his two daughters stopped to visit Sea Life Park.
?From swimming with dolphins and sea lions to sitting in on a penguin trainer talk -- from feeding sea turtles to diving with rays --? no other park gets you this close,?? the park?s website boasts.
Obama, of course, paid his dues in Iowa four years ago, where he staked his long-shot campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton on a victory in the Democratic caucuses.
One advantage of running unopposed is he no longer has to trudge from Waterloo to Davenport in freezing temperatures. So, the president is filling his vacation days with rounds of golf, hikes, morning workouts and close encounters with green sea turtles.
It all ends Jan 2. Then it?s back to Washington and a resumption of payroll tax cut negotiations.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
NYT: For Joplin, a love letter in ruins
JOPLIN, Mo.?? As this rebuilding city races to finish clearing the rubble from the deadly tornado last spring, one irreparably broken structure has been allowed, for now at least, to remain.
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The building, a modest red brick house, has no roof. All but one of its exterior walls are missing, splintered and scattered by the storm, leaving an impression of a giant dollhouse. A Christmas tree, dressed in ornaments, has been placed in a tidy living room arrangement of two couches and a coffee table.
The reason this house has so far survived the wrecking ball can be found scribbled on its walls, on its floorboards, in its closets and along virtually every other remaining surface. They are personal messages, thousands of them, handwritten by the volunteers who flooded the community to help sift through and cart out the debris. Every day visitors and locals alike stop to add a note to the collection.
Every disaster has its memorials, from the organic to the carefully orchestrated. Several monuments have emerged here as the city labors to clear the remaining rubble of the tornado that cut through the heart of the community on May 22, killing 161 people. But as that effort nears completion, the community is questioning what to do with a memorial that is itself rubble.
City leaders have been discussing whether to move the whole structure or perhaps simply take parts of the building for public display. ?We think there is some value to preserving it,? said Mark Rohr, the city manager. ?But we can?t let it sit there forever.?
In the meantime, the walls of the building, known here as the volunteer house, are peeling under the assault of sun and rain and wind. Like a love letter slowly torn to pieces, the peeling paint is littering the floorboards with snippets of messages, often just a few letters, a name or a word, like ?home,? ?rebuild? and ?alone.? In the newly barren patches, more messages are being scrawled.
The serendipity of the monument stands in sharp contrast with the deliberate stone and steel structures put up in nearby Cunningham Park. The first structure is a three-tiered fountain with 5, 22 and 11 streams of water on the different levels to symbolize the date of the storm. The second is an enormous metal replica of the rubber wristbands handed out to volunteers, emblazoned with the message ?The Miracle of the Human Spirit.? A third one honoring relief workers is planned.
These are the official memorials, the ones visited this month by a collection of men in suits who had gathered for the announcement that a company had donated $25,000 to the park. At the end of that ceremony, a man dressed as Santa emerged to present the assembled politicians, including the governor, with a giant check and to pose for photos. ?Ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas, everyone,? he said, ?And thank you, Coca-Cola.?
Throughout Joplin, it is hard to miss the signs and sounds of progress. New houses and businesses have emerged on the flattened landscape. Plans to replace the destroyed high school and hospital are moving forward. And though many are still struggling, the feared exodus has not begun.
That progress, city leaders have said repeatedly, could not have happened without the assistance of volunteers. Nearly 115,000 volunteers, from every state, have registered with the city since the storm, and perhaps as many simply showed up and started helping.
This was what Tim Bartow, the owner of the house, was responding to when he wrote a message of thanks to the volunteers who lent their hands and backs to the hard, messy work of clearing the rubble. Mr. Bartow, who rode out the storm with his family in the basement, spray painted it in large letters on the side of the home: ?You are our heroes.?
Then he cleared space in the house for the storm-damaged furniture, which had been strewn over several blocks, so that volunteers would have a place to rest. After a while, the volunteers started writing messages of their own, offering love from Georgia and prayers from Texas. Now many make a point of stopping here before they leave the community.
Some just signed their names, but the more expansive recited Scripture or offered words of support. The sentiments expressed are hardly unusual, reminding that in moments of tragedy, people seek comfort in the worn truths underlying clich?s.
?The human heart, even after this,? reads one message written on the kitchen floor, each letter on a different tile, ?remains stronger than this very ground.?
The foundation of the house, in truth, is crumbling, Mr. Bartow said. But he has decided to leave the house up until city leaders decide on the question of preservation.
Patrick Tuttle, director of the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the decision would be made soon because cleanup deadlines were looming. ?Whether we take part of it or all of it is the question,? he said.
Then, whatever remains will be torn down so the property can be sold as an empty lot.
For now, though, the house stands, oddly resilient to the deconstructive power of the storm and the constructive power of the rebuilding city, speaking to a moment in between that will be harder to explain when it is gone.
This story, "For Joplin, a Love Letter in Ruins," first appeared in The New York Times.
Copyright ? 2011 The New York Times
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45788442/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
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WResidencesAtl: Football, New Year's, and pageantry all come together on Saturday as the Chik Fil A Bowl Parade makes its way... http://t.co/DgUfFR1M
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Monday, December 26, 2011
UW campuses reach out to Chinese universities
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) -- Officials from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, Stout and River Falls campuses are working to increase student and faculty exchanges with Chinese universities.
Campus representatives say the exchange programs help prepare students for the increasingly global business world. UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich recently returned from guest lecturing at Jinan University in Guangdong province. The chancellor says he was able to establish contacts with other Chinese universities which he hopes will help the university meet its goal of doubling the number of international students by 2014.
UW-River Falls is working on a partnership with a university in Hangzhou, on the eastern coast of China. UW-Stout, meanwhile, recently hosted officials from Bei Fang Universities of Nationalities in north-central China.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Source: http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/UW_campuses_reach_out_to_Chinese_universities_136188093.html
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Reports: Doni admits fixing Serie B matches
Associated Press Sports
updated 6:32 p.m. ET Dec. 24, 2011
CREMONA, Italy (AP) -Former Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni has reportedly admitted helping to fix Serie B matches involving his team last season. He said he agreed to go along with the scam because his team was not supposed to lose.
Doni was among 16 people arrested across Italy on Monday in an ongoing investigation into match-fixing and illegal betting on games.
After five days of solitary confinement, Doni was permitted to meet with his lawyer Friday and was then questioned by prosecutors.
"Yes, I knew about the fix for Atalanta-Piacenza. I gave my approval and I bet," Doni is quoted as saying by Saturday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "I also tried to do the same thing for the match with Ascoli. But they were all personal initiatives, I'm not part of any organization. ... The club didn't know anything."
Atalanta beat Piacenza 3-0, while the Ascoli vs. Atalanta match finished 1-1. Details have not yet emerged as to precisely what Doni did in the fixed games.
In June, 16 people were arrested as part of the first wave of the inquiry, and Doni was then placed under investigation.
Doni said at the time that he was innocent but in August he was banned from football for 3 1/2 years by the Italian football federation's disciplinary committee, and Atalanta - which was promoted to Serie A for this season - was given a six-point penalty.
"I said yes to the fixes because Atalanta benefited," Doni said, according to the Gazzetta. "I would have never listened to anyone who offered me money to make my squad lose. I made a mistake and now I can't even look at myself in the mirror because it makes me think about all the pain I've caused my family and the fans.
"The relegation to Serie B hurt me and that's why I accepted these offers," Doni added. "By winning we were sure to be promoted."
The latest arrests come five years after another major match-fixing scandal - restricted to club and referee officials but not players - resulted in Juventus getting relegated to Serie B for a season, plus point penalties for Lazio, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Reggina in Serie A.
The prosecutors in Cremona, who are leading the current investigation, have detailed an extensive match-fixing ring stretching as far as Singapore and South America and that has allegedly been in operation for more than 10 years.
Three Serie A matches from last season are also under investigation: Brescia vs. Bari, Brescia vs. Lecce and Napoli vs. Sampdoria.
A phone call was reportedly intercepted between Doni and Ravenna goalkeeping coach Nicola Santoni - who was also arrested - in which the pair discuss tampering with Santoni's iPhone, which had been confiscated by police in June.
Doni was arrested on suspicion of attempting to destroy evidence. He was due to be released from prison Saturday, but will remain under house arrest.
Others arrested Monday include former Inter Milan and Roma player Luigi Sartor, former Serie B player Alessandro Zamperini and active players Carlo Gervasoni of Piacenza and Filippo Carobbio of Spezia.
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Chandler: What demons possess men to rush the playing field and attack athletes? And lately athlete-fan field interaction has taken a darker turn.
AFP - Getty ImagesTerry to be charged
England captain will face a criminal charge over allegations that he racially abused an opponent in the Premier League.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45720816/ns/sports-soccer/
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Act as if You're Being Filmed at Work [Video]
Most of us have seen the YouTube video of a FedEx driver throwing a computer monitor over a fence. This driver will probably be facing pretty stiff disciplinary action. If he had acted as though he knew he was being recorded he might have done his best to gently place the package over the fence. The resulting video would not have gone viral and the driver might now be up for a raise instead of a reprimand.
Personal Finance weblog The Simple Dollar points out that most of us are fortunate enough not to have our worst days at work broadcast over the internet, but the best way to establish a career reputation is to always behave at work as though you're being recorded. This will keep you from taking shortcuts and doing things like throwing away a stack of paperwork rather than dealing with it. Video by goobie55
FedEx Delivery and Your Career | The Simple Dollar
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
gsmarena_com: Sony promises Ice Cream Sandwich update to Tablet S, fails to mention a release date: Sony may not have had a lo... http://t.co/CnRw9A3r
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Review: Pampered Pets on a Budget | Way Cool Dogs
Posted on December 22, 2011 by: WayCoolDogs
We received a book in the mail by authors Jeffrey L. Barnes and Kristen M. Levine, titled ?Pampered Pets on a Budget,? from Fetching Communications. A small book, it is chock full of all kinds of valuable insight that separates our pets? nice-to-have items compared to their must-haves!
The bottom line is that you do not have to break the bank to properly care for your pet.
The subtitle of the book explains it all, ?Caring for your pet without losing your tail.? Well, many of us have already lost our tails over the last year or two, but a few hints or two won?t hurt anyone at anytime! A few of the main topics are pet adoption, bonding with your pet, the internet is NOT always right, trusted online pet resources, ?how valuable is your vet, pet health insurance, food as the best pet medicine, how to choose groomers, breeders and boarding facilities.
The best part of the?co-authored book is that it is about different ways families can save on pet products and services without compromising their pet?s well-being. ?If not, the cost in upcoming vet bills will more than make up for the money saved by buying and breading this book.
To me, one of the most important parts of the book is, ?Pampered Pets on a Budget,? about how important the family vet is to the pets. ?Our country vet lives right down the road, and has become our right-hand man. As a pet owner, it is imperative to find a vet you are comfortable with, can trust, and is affordable.
I say?affordable?because most pet owners refuse to take a sick pet to the vet until the last minute, almost always too late, due to high costs. The book highlights this problem, with sentences like ?? but consider the cost involved with operating a veterinary hospital, the prices pet owners get charged may come into better perspective.? The vet is still an economical solution compared to letting the pet die badly.
Once you open the book and begin reading, it will be easy to see that pet ownership is responsibility that can be fun and exciting. But most important, it doesn?t have to break the bank and can be affordable!
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Source: http://www.waycooldogs.com/review-pampered-pets-on-a-budget/
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Britney Spears first to hit 1 million followers on Google+
Britney Spears accepts the best pop video award for "Till the World Ends" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)
Zap2it8:02 a.m. EST, December 23, 2011
Well, it appears people do use Google+ after all. The search company's second foray into the social media space (remember Google Buzz?) has delivered its first account with 1 million followers. And that person is Britney Spears.The pop star recently surpassed the milestone and now leads the second most popular person, Google co-founder Larry Page, by just more than 100,000 fans. Coming in third place is self-professed "Spiritual Advisor" Snoop Dogg. The rapper has 941,000 followers.
These numbers all seem like a lot until you realize that they pale in comparison to more popular social media outfits like Facebook and Twitter.? On Facebook, Spears has nearly 16 million "likes" and she's just shy of 12 million followers on Twitter.Considering Spears had only 1,100 followers as recently as mid-July, it's still a pretty impressive number.
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Gary Johnson Will Run As a Libertarian. Can He Win New Mexico? (Atlantic Politics Channel)
Senecas to nearly double hotel rooms at Salamanca casino (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Sagging box office looks for a Christmas miracle (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? After a miserable few weeks at the box office, Hollywood is counting on a flurry of big movies hitting theaters starting Tuesday to reinvigorate its business.
In fact, between Tuesday and Sunday, five films will go wide, while close to half a dozen notable specialty titles will either expand or open, too.
That tally doesn't even include the film picked to finish No. 1 this week, Paramount's PG-13-rated "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol," which will expand wide at 5 p.m. Tuesday into about 3,400 domestic theaters after a successful $12.8 million start at 450 locations last weekend.
Sony's R-rated "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" opens two hours later, starting out in about 2,800 locations. Also on Tuesday, Paramount will open Steven Spielberg's PG-rated "The Adventures of Tintin" at about 3,000 theaters.
In limited release Tuesday, Roadside Attractions opens the R-rated Glenn Close drama "Albert Nobbs."
Then, on Friday, Fox's PG-rated comedy "We Bought a Zoo" opens wide in about 3,000 theaters, while GK Films' R-rated "In the Land of Blood and Honey" opens at three arthouses.
On Sunday, Disney opens DreamWorks' Spielberg-directed "War Horse," and Summit tries some counterprogramming with its PG-13 sci-fi thriller "The Darkest Hour."
Among specialty fare on Sunday, Warner Bros. opens 9/11 drama "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" at six locations. And the Weinstein Company plans expansions for "The Artist" and "My Week With Marilyn."
Studios had hoped that the box office would come back to life last weekend, when Warners opened "Sherlock Holmes -- A Game of Shadows" and Fox debuted "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked." But audiences largely stayed away, and the weekend was down 14 percent compared to last year.
The weekend before that -- December 9-11 -- was the worst at the box office since September 2008.
And this year's overall North American box office is about $900 million behind last year's at the same point in time.
One problem with this weekend and next: Saturday night generally is the best moviegoing night of the week, but this year, both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fall on Saturdays, dampening expectations.
The movie with the best tracking, according to the research firm NRG, is Paramount/Skydance's "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol."
Paramount opened the fourth installment in its action series at 425 locations -- 300 of them IMAX -- on December 16 to build a buzz. It seems to have worked: According to NRG, 89 percent of Americans are familiar with the movie.
The numbers are strongest for men -- 92 percent of men younger than 25 and 95 percent of men 25 and older report familiarity with the film.
More important, 56 percent of younger men and 54 percent of older ones say they have "definite interest" in seeing the film.
The movie, which cost an estimated $145 million to make, has a very nice 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Tom Cruise stars in the movie, which Brad Bird directed.
Box-office watchers figure "M:I4" will gross around $40 million for its six day holiday period.
Sony's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," based on Stieg Larsson's bestseller, is tracking strong across all demographics, and the studio expects it will gross around $35 million at 2,914 locations through Monday.
Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara star as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander in the movie, which has an 84 percent ranking at Rotten Tomatoes and cost about $90 million to produce.
NRG says that 85 percent of Americans are familiar with the movie.
Tuesday's other wide release, Paramount's "The Adventures of Tintin," already has grossed nearly $240 million overseas.
It is expected to take in somewhere in the high $20 million to low $30 million range over its first six days.
The movie, which has a budget estimated at $130 million, is based on a comic book by Belgian artist Georges Remi, better known as "Herge."
In the motion-capture animated movie, which Spielberg directed and Peter Jackson produced, young adventurer Tintin and his friend Capt. Haddock search for a sunken treasure ship that was commanded by one of Haddock's ancestors.
The film has an 80 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Fox comedy "We Bought a Zoo," meanwhile, has sterling credentials: Cameron Crowe directed the film, which stars Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Thomas Haden Church. It is about a father who loses his wife and moves with his children to the country, where they try to renovate a struggling zoo.
The movie cost an estimated $50 million to make, and box-office watchers expect it will gross $15 million-to-$18-million from Friday through Monday.
Its Rotten Tomatoes score is 65 percent.
On Sunday, DreamWorks releases the second Spielberg movie of the weekend, the World War I movie "War Horse." It's currently scheduled for 2,376 locations -- a number that is likely to increase slightly by Sunday.
The film, which cost an estimated $70 million to make, is about a young man who enlists in the British Army after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry.
Disney is releasing the DreamWorks movie, and expects it to gross $3 million on Sunday.
The movie has a solid 75 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is tracking strongest among men.
Finally, Summit is releasing "The Darkest Hour," a sci-fi movie starring Emile Hirsch and directed by Chris Gorak.
The 3D movie, set in Moscow, is about five young people who find themselves stranded after a devastating alien attack.
It opens in 2,299 locations, although that number could increase by Sunday.
The co-production between New Regency and Summit cost an estimated $30 million to make, and has not been screened for critics.
The film has fairly weak tracking: NRG says that 49 percent of men younger than 25 and 48 percent of those older than 25 are aware of it.
Summit expects the movie to gross between $2.5 million to $3 million on Christmas Day, and between $4 million and $5 million on Sunday and Monday.
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Video: Super Saturday for shoppers
>>> friday, cyber monday and now on this final full weekend of the holiday shopping season what stores are calling super saturday. what amounts to a last-ditch attempt by nervous retailers to stave off a blue christmas . you may recall this shopping season got off to a pretty healthy start. americans seemed to be in a buying mood. good news for stores and the economy. but since then, business has slowed. and tonight many retailers are going to great lengths to get folks buying again, starting with some pretty big bargains. nbc's michelle franza is among the shoppers in new york tonight.
>> reporter: lester, shoppers here in herald square are out in force thanks to extended hours. although black friday set records a few weeks ago, sales since then have fallen off. that's why today was so important. in new york today, tina mccloud felt the rush and the crush of holiday shopping.
>> every store is crowded. there are lines like almost out the stores.
>> reporter: all on the hunt for deals.
>> we're really trying to be very strategic. get things we know folks will love but get them at bargain prices if we can
>>> and on this super saturday, shoppers around the country were not disappointed.
>> the sales are 40 to 50% off and most of the stoefrs we've gone into today.
>> i just bought a really great sweater for $15.
>> reporter: super saturday with its deep discounts is usually the last saturday before christmas. this year, that would fall on christmas eve . so many national chains and stores slashed prices a weekend early, analysts say, because they can't afford to wait.
>> 40 percent of holiday season sales between december 15th to the 25th, the most important day may be this saturday, december 17th , in determining a very successful holiday season or just a good holiday season .
>> reporter: retailers hoping to draw in customers who have been waiting before spending.
>> it's christmas so you do what you need to do. i shop with coupons to save money. so if there's a store that i know has a sale, that's where we go.
>> reporter: and today, stores were fighting for that business. target offering a $10 gift card with every $75 purchase until noon. j.c. penney slashing up to 70% off clothing, jewelry and electronics. and sears not only offering discounts but staying open until midnight through next week.
>> this is the last hoorah. so retailers are treading water. they're trying to get us in the stores and spending money any way they can.
>> reporter: roughly 40% of shoppers say they've already wrapped up their gift buying, which means the majority of us still have a long way to go for shopping in this next
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45708939/
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Danny Schechter: Occupy Wall Street Is Now Three Months Young: Protests Mark Anniversary
New York, December 17 2001: Saturday marked the third month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. It was also Bradley Manning's birthday. It was one of those days that confirmed the validity of the chant: "All Day, All Week, Occupy Wall Street".
Ok, maybe, it wasn't a whole week but Saturday felt like a week in one day.
The plan for the day, as announced, was to gather at Duarte Park at 6th Avenue and Canal Street to attempt a RE-Occupation of vacant land owned by Trinity Church, more of a real estate company than a house of worship.
For a few weeks, the Occupy Movement had been demanding that the church allow the movement to take "sanctuary" on that land. There were earlier protests and even a hunger strike that made page one of the New York Times.
Police in riot gear had ousted the occupiers the last time they tried to take over the space a few weeks back, and, since then, there has been a rancorous standoff between a Church that is supported by many fat cat one-percenters and OWS's volunteer non-violent army of outrage.
The Church has repeatedly turned the movement down, despite support for the OWS demands from many clergy in New York and the most famous Episcopal priest in the world, South Africa's Desmond Tutu. (Tutu sent OWS a supportive message but, then later sent the Church a disclaimer of any attempt on his part to sanction violence.)
No doubt church lawyers were expressing worries about financial liability should there be any claims, but many of the their trustees had political objections. They are Wall Streeters, including, a Vice President of Brookfield Properties, the owner of the "public" Zuccotti Park that had been the Movement's home until they were unceremoniously and violently ejected by police in the dark of night.
Trinity Church may be there to serve God, but the defense of their real estate portfolio seems to come before their pretensions at social justice.
The gathering at Duarte Park was predictably surrounded by cops, some in riot gear, while what looked like the Zuccotti Park alumni association roamed around on a sliver of a City Park next to the unholy Trinity site.
At least half of the crowd, which grew as the day progressed, appeared to be covering the other half with still or video cameras and tape recorders. The press was out in force too, no doubt hoping for a bloody confrontation. Pacifica Radio outlet WBAI was broadcasting live and its programming was played back at the crowd on boom boxes.
The librarians of the People's Library were on hand with a few boxes of newly donated books, but, despite the rhetoric, the scene seemed tired except for those who were dancing around or looking for action.
A few activists and clergy were arrested for climbing over the fence while others tried, but failed, to knock it down. (There were more than 50 arrests Saturday)
I was pretty discouraged by the relatively small turnout and the focus on getting to occupy a new tiny land base in an area with no real pedestrian traffic nearby, instead of finding more ways to reach out to mainstream America.
Saturday was a big Xmas Shopping day. While tens of thousands of New Yorkers were flocking to stores in Times and Herald Square. I thought that if you want to hit at economic power, you should be Occupying Macy's or Toys 'R' Us.
All the stores were putting on new sales after Black Friday turned out to be a relative bust. Why not a march by Occupy Santas?
It all seemed unpromising when announced concerts at the park by Lou Reed and others didn't seem to materialize, or at least I missed them.
But I left too soon.
Unknown to me, the movement then launched a previously unscheduled march but, at the last minute changed its direction and headed uptown, catching the police unaware.
The Live Stream people went with them so what happened next was shown on the Internet. One of the live streamers was busted but kept his camera-computer going from inside a police paddy wagon.)
At one point, I saw coverage by three cameras. One view, in ironic counter-point, covered several cops defending the statue of the Bull on an empty Wall Street traffic junction. No one there was bullish. Bullshit anyone?
The cops attacked as the activists marched up Seventh Avenue at 29th Street, arresting some for marching when they should be walking, a crime that may soon be punishable by the crazed new NDAA measure treating the homeland as a battlefield.
The crowd then broke into smaller guerilla-style groups, darting in and out of various streets, and ending up in a packed Times Square on a Saturday night at the height of the Christmas shopping season.
This march was spontaneous, powered by the power of surprise. The police actually chased some out of towners out of Times Square to try to cut them off at the pass, but failed.
Before the men in Blue, led by men in White, could reassert their version of Law and Order, and while shoppers and tourists watched, the occupiers began "mic-checking," with individual after individual shouting out "Why I Occupy," and offering personal statements and testimony that were repeated several times.
In this way, individual members of the movement, from every class, color and gender, spoke with eloquence about their reasons for protesting -- personal reasons and social reasons, national reasons and global reasons, economic reasons and political reasons reached out to thousands.
They had to electrify whoever was watching, their passion and sincerity was there for all to see.
I watched the Live Stream of the event on a computer in Harlem and was moved, at some points, to tears by how articulate and reasonable they were. They later left the square and returned to Zuccotti Park for a late-night General Assembly meeting.
Not only was this the best show on Broadway on the "Great White Way" for that hour, but it proved the correctness of a political claim, asserted in one of the OWS signs written after the police raided Zuccotti Park.
It reads: "It's So Not Over."
News Dissector Danny Schechter has been covering the Occupy movement for his News Dissector.com blog and other websites including Al Jazeera. He has collected his reporting into a new book, available next week, with a preface by writer Greg Palast.
For more information and to comment: Dissector@mediachannel.org
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Follow Danny Schechter on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Dissectorevents
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-schechter/occupy-wall-street-trinity-church_b_1156231.html
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Grab your salt ? new rumor says Apple prepping 7-inch iPad for spring release (Appolicious)
Is your B.S. meter functioning properly? Since we?re just days away from the start of 2012, you might want to get it checked in preparation for the wave of new iPad rumors that are likely to start washing up. Today we?ve got an interesting one: Apple is preparing a 7.85-inch version of the iPad for release this year.
The rumor comes from Asian publication DigiTimes, which cites unnamed sources working on the component supply side of iPad manufacturing. According to the rumor, Apple is working on the smaller tablet, tentatively referred to as the ?iPad mini,? largely in response to the success of the Kindle Fire 7-inch Android tablet from Amazon.
DigiTimes says the device is going to be released sometime before the fourth quarter of 2012, though it notes that Apple is expected to release its next iPad iteration at the end of the first quarter. The sources say Apple will be buying 7.85-inch screen panels from LG Display and AU Optronics and that they?ll likely start producing those panels at the end of the Q2 2012. So releasing this supposed iPad mini would take place sometime later in the year, it sounds like.
Truth or fiction?
Now, excuse me if this rumor sets off my own B.S. detector, because this one seems a little out of the realm of possibility for me. First off, late former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was on record as saying the 7-inch tablet was too small back when he ran things at the company, and I somehow doubt that minds have been drastically changed in so short a time. The Kindle Fire isn?t doing well because it?s small, it?s doing well because it?s cheap. That?s a wholly different market that Amazon is tapping, and as we?ve discussed here before with the iPhone, Apple is in the business of making premium products. To alter that plan is to devalue its brand. That?s why Apple isn?t out there making cheaper laptops or cheaper iPhones, even though it could make plenty of short-term money doing it. In the long view, Apple wants to keep its high-end market strong.
Another thing to consider is, the reason iOS devices work so well, and the reason Android devices struggle to compete with them in many arenas, is scalability. Developers can make a single app that works with the iPod Touch, the iPhone and the iPad without having to do extra work of making them compatible. All the devices have basically the same features and screen resolutions but at different, scalable sizes, and they all control the same way. This convenience means that the iPad has hundreds of thousands of apps, while developers have to struggle to make their apps compatible with as many Android devices as possible.
Potential for fragmentation
So Apple would have to make sure that the resolutions of any new device is in sync with its other devices, in order to maintain that software convenience and avoid ?fracturing? among its devices. GigaOM reports that rumors had Apple testing 7.85-inch screens back in October, which reportedly had compatible resolutions with its existing devices. If that?s the case, an iPad mini might work, however, if the resolution is incompatible, that?d probably be the necessary nail in the iPad mini coffin.
Even with a compatible screen size, the iPad has a very good thing going in the 10-inch market, and the Kindle Fire isn?t really competing with the iPad at all at its size and price. It?s possible Apple is thinking about expanding the iPad, but from my viewpoint, it?s unlikely that the company would have its head so thoroughly turned by one decently successful Android tablet. I?ve been wrong before, though ? then again, so has DigiTimes.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Palestinians light Christmas tree in Bethlehem (AP)
BETHLEHEM, West Bank ? Hundreds of Palestinians have gathered in Bethlehem to light a Christmas tree ahead of the holiday festivities in the town where Jesus was born.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pressed a button lighting up the decorations on the 50-foot (15-meter) tree Thursday, along with the lights illuminating the rest of the square outside the Church of the Nativity.
Christmas brings the world's attention every year briefly to this West Bank town south of Jerusalem.
Fayyad said Christmas was an opportunity to "celebrate the Palestinian identity of Jesus Christ."
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Friday, December 16, 2011
More companies ending the year without the bonus
By Allison Linn
If your company is ending the year with a hearty bit of holiday cheer - rather than an actual holiday bonus ? you?re definitely not alone.
More than 40 percent of companies say they do not offer year-end bonuses, gifts or other perks, according to a new poll released this week by Challenger, Gray and Christmas.
That?s a substantial increase from 2007, when just 28 percent of companies said they never offer such year-end perks.
Of course, things have changed substantially in those four years. With the nation?s unemployment rate still very high by historical standards, many companies may feel like they don?t need to give their employees extra rewards.
The lingering effects of the recession, which technically ran from December 2007 to June 2009, may also have left some employers without much extra cash left over at the end of year.
Still, more than half of the approximately 100 human resources executives surveyed said they do offer year-end perks. About half of those offering perks said they give nonmonetary gifts, while the rest said they gave some type of cash bonus to at least some employees.
The company said it did not ask whether employers offer bonuses at other times during the year.
Does your company offer a year-end bonus or perk?
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