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Lyle Shove-It wipes his forehead with his greasy hat. He stares at me, prompting me to repeat the question. “What do you think of that politician, Sarah Palin?” He understands me this time, his eyes get big, and his hands fidget.

Lyle digs in his pocket but doesn’t take anything out. He scratches his leg, pulls on his beard, and changes position on the bench we usually sit on each week we meet. I still won’t tell you where it is, for fear of a tourist flood.

I’m expecting a long answer from the Hollywood oracle, full of 1960s era criticism of fascism and war, of the Conservative party. I’m rather excited by Lyle’s outward excitement.

Lyle, finally cooling down, says, “I’ve seen her on the magazine covers. And oh, boy, I’d make her mine, real quick.” Lyle is quiet, says no more.

So, there you have it.

For the background information on Lyle Shove-It:

Hollywood’s Most Famous Bum Weighs In On the Supposed Kardashian / Bryant Feud

Lyle Shove-It, Hollywood’s Most Famous Bum & Oracle Says

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Samsung SyncMaster 2494LW

IPod fanboys beware – your days could be numbered if a firm with the interests of the original Beatles has its way.

For the third time, multimedia rights trustee Apple Corps Ltd., which oversees the collective works of the Beatles, is going to court over Apple Computer – this time with the claim that iTunes violates a noncompete agreement between the two entities. 

According to the history of the conflict, it was first a name dispute; then it was over the music capabilities of the Macintosh computer system (meaning, for the record, that Macs can now edit and play – but not explicitly create – music). Now the fight centers around whether or not the iTunes Music Store equates to participation in the music business, a forbidden territory for Apple Computer resulting from the first legal battle between Apple and Apple if you will pardon the pun.

The idea is that iTunes has become so popular that it also has become something of a music business mainstay, a fact that Apple Corps plans to use as proof that Apple Computer has crossed the line set forth by the agreement. Apple Computer, on the other hand, believes that iTunes is more of a content delivery system for digital media sales than a music publishing service and therefore should be exempt from the agreement. 

And while there is no denying there are two sides to this argument, the case could have devastating effects for Apple Computer’s iPod strategy, which as we all know by now centers solely around iTunes for digital content portability – meaning you can’t just buy from Napster or MSN Music and expect iPod compatibility. Not as long as Apple plays its current strategy, anyway. And as we all know by now, the reverse is true as well.

But what if this latest dispute forces Apple Computer to close its iTunes businesses in the United States and elsewhere? In that case, the iPod is dead in the water unless Apple Computer makes some sort of emergency plan with Microsoft Corporation to produces an iPod firmware patch that’s certified for the Vole’s Plays for Sure iPod alternative marketing – and as long as iTunes stays around, that’s not as likely to happen as it would otrherwise be. In other words, if iTunes survives this one, iPods stay locked to it; if Apple loses, then there goes the neighborhood – and the iPod could be opened up to Windows Media as a last-ditch attempt to remain in the MP3 player game.

Apple Computer is no doubt feeling the pressure. According to MarketWatch, Apple has stated, in lieu of issuing a more detailed comment, that “unfortunately, Apple  and Apple Corps now have differing interpretations of this agreement and will need to ask a court to resolve this dispute.” And Apple Computer has every right to proceed with this approach. Because if Apple Corps wins round three, it’s the end of iTunes, and the end of the iPod as we know it. And that would change the digital media game so drastically that it’s not even funny. For now, we’ll just have to see how it plays out.

On a related note, Apple Computer has already had to make one minor change to the iPod – the company has recently answered the ever-present complaints about speaker volume – especially where earbud use is involved – with a firmware update that allows users to set a maximum decibel level for their music.

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Becker Traffic bestellen

San Francisco – Apple CEO Steve Jobs opened his keynote address at Macworld 2008 on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 telling the crowd that there were four items he wanted to talk about: Leopard, iPhone, and iTunes. What Steve Jobs really talked about was a new backup appliance that works with Leopard’s Time Machine, called Time Capsule. He also talked about the Macbook Air, a new laptop. For iPhone updates he discussed maps with location and the release of SDK, for iTunes he announced iTunes Movie Rentals,

New Products, Updates and Services

#1 Macbook Air
*New Ultraportable Laptop

According to Steve Jobs, the Macbook Air is 0.76 – 0.16-inches thin. This is the announcement that Mac users were most hopeful for: an ultra-portable notebook. The Macbook Air features a full-size keyboard, and according to Jobs, “it’s the world’s thinnest notebook.”

#2 Free iPhone Software Updates
*Software Updates*

People who use the iPhone have been anxiously awaiting these two new iPhone updates. These free iPhone software updates are available today for free, Steve Jobs said. The new iPhone features include:

Maps with location.
SMS more than one person.
The ability to create up to nine home screens.

He also noted the much-anticipated, and correctly predicted release of SDK in February. SDK allows people to write their own iPhone applications.

Steve Jobs stated that Apple will be working with Google and Skyhook wireless.

#3 iTunes Movie Rentals
*New Apple Service*

The iTunes Movie Rentals service is another well-predicted announcement from Steve Jobs at Macworld. The new iTunes Movie Rental service will launch today. Steve Jobs said there will be free software updates available for iPhiones, iPods and iTunes, which will support the new service.

What was originally not known was how many studios would actually be participating in the service. According to Steve Jobs, the following major movie studios are on board:

Fox
Lions Gate
MGM
Miramax
Paramount
Sony
Touchstone
Walt Disney
Universal
WB

According to Steve Jobs, the new iTunes Movie Rentals will launch with 1 thousand films by the end of February. These movies can be viewed on the iPhone, iPods, Macs, and even on PCs.

The iTiunes Movie Rental service has pricing that is very competitive with cable’s on demand services.

According to the Apple CEO, “To rent a library title will cost $2.99 — new release? $3.99.” The 24-hour viewing rule is also similar to the standard on-demand rules of cable companies.

#4 Time Capsule
*New Apple Product *

One new product Steve Jobs mentioned was Time Capsule. Time Capsule is a companion product to Time Machine, which enables wireless back up of a notebook. According to Jobs, the Time Capsule backup appliance will be available in 500GB and sell for $299. The other version of Time Capsule will be a 1TB model and retail for $499. Time Capsule is scheduled to ship in February

#5 iPod Touch Updates
*Software Updates*

Five new features are being added to the iPod Touch, Steve Jobs said in his keynote address. These five new features are:

maps
mail
notes
stocks
weather

According to Steve Jobs, these new upgrades for existing iPod touch users will cost $20. Other Touch iPods will now have these five features built in.

#6 Apple TV goes HD

Another prediction was kicked around before the keynote speech: HD for the Apple TV. Apple has made it easy to now rent movies directly to the Apple TV, in DVD quality or HD.

#7 Mac Office for 2008

It was no surprise that Steve Jobs also went on to mention Mac Office for 2008. Steve Jobs also noted that Mac Office for 2008
“is the last big app to go native on Intel.”

Apple Sales Information

During his keynote address at Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs also mentioned some sales figures for different Apple products:

iPhone Sales:

According to Steve Jobs in his keynote speech, Apple has been selling about 20 thousand iPhones per day.

iTunes Movie Sales:

Steve Jobs said that they have sold $7 million in movies. No timeframe was given, only that this figure is too low, which prompted them to launch iTunes Movie rentals.

Leopard Sales:

Steve Jobs told that crowd that the sales of the latest Mac OS operating system, Leopard was the “most successful release of Mac OS X ever.” In its first three months, 5 million copies were sold.

About the Keynote Address and Macworld Expo

CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, during his keynote address at Macworld 2008 on Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Steve Job’s much-anticipated Macworld Expo keynote speech occurred at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 9am PST. Last year’s big announcement at Macworld. turned out to be the iPhone.

The 23rd Macworld Expo began on January 14, 2008 and ends on January 18, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Traditionally, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils new products and technology during his keynote address.

Sources

Apple.com, Steve Jobs Keynote Speech
c/net News, news coverage
Macworld Conference & Expo, http://www.macworldexpo.com

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Becker Traffic Assist Special Edition Z108 Navigationssystem (10,9 cm (4,3 Zoll), TMC, Kartenmaterial Europa 40 Länder, Fahrspurassistent, 3D-Geländeansicht)

In order to receive a 40 % discount on the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-5246 at Amazon.com, click through the following link. The discount will apply automatically to all items in your cart upon checkout.

40% off Coupon for the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-5246 13.3-Inch HD Laptop (Black Brushed Aluminum) at Amazon.com

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-5246 is a 13.3-inch laptop equipped with a 2.26GHz Intel Core i3-350M processor, 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1066 SDRAM, and 320GB 5400rpm Hard Drive. It sports a 13.3″ LED Backlit Widescreen Display, Intel GMA HD Graphics, Integrated Webcam and Microphone, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 10/100/1000 LAN, HDMI, and 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery, which supports up to 8 hours of battery life. The laptop runs on Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) operating system. Needless to say, such a configuration is good enough for our daily use, people are very happy with it.

As a well-configured 13.3″ laptop, the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-5246 is great for students and travelers, especially business travelers, it’s easy to take it anywhere with you, so you won’t miss a thing. And it can handle your tasks very fluently.

The Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-5246 laptop is a perfect balance to mobility and portability at just under 4 pounds, it features a premium durable design with a black brushed aluminum cover and a brushed metal palm rest that not only looks sharp but protects from fingerprints as well. Burn through the hottest new digital media, content creation and advanced 3D gaming with the breakthrough performance of the Intel Core i3 processor. So I think you guys will love this Acer laptop too.

The Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-5246 comes with some very outstanding features, let’s have a look.

Features & Specs:

• 2.26 GHz Intel Core i3-350M dual-core processor for a fast, responsive PC experience (3 MB L3 cache). It comes equipped with Intel HD Graphics, an advanced video engine that delivers smooth, high-quality HD video playback, and advanced 3D capabilities, providing an ideal graphics solution for everyday computing.
• 4 GB of installed DDR3 RAM (1066 MHz)
• 320 GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)
• 13.3-inch HD widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit display
• Intel HD Graphics with 128 MB of dedicated system memory
• 8x SuperMulti DVD±R/RW drive can also write to CD, DVD-RAM, and dual-layer (DL) DVD±R discs-which can hold up to 8.5 GB of data.
• 1.3-megapixel HD webcam
• Stereo speakers with third-generation Dolby Home Theater audio enhancement technologiestransforms the experience of movies, music, and games.
• Wireless-N Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) for ultra-fast connectivity to home and business networks. This laptop uses Acer InviLink Nplify technology that enables multi-stream input or output for faster and more reliable bandwidth.
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)
• Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity enables you to communicate and synchronize with Bluetooth-enabled peripherals such as printers and cell phones.
• Multi-Gesture Touchpad allows you to pinch, flick and swirl your fingers across the touchpad for more natural photo and video viewing as well as intuitive navigation of websites such as Google Earth.
• Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader compatible with Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick PRO (MS PRO), xD-Picture Card (xD)
• 4 USB ports
• HDMI high-definition audio/video output allows a single cable to transmit uncompressed high-definition video to your digital TV or LCD
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) makes it easy to create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. And you can watch shows for free when and where you want with Internet TV on Windows Media Center.
• Up to 8 hours of battery life (6-cell battery)
• Weight: 3.97 pounds
• Warranty: One-year parts and labor limited warranty with concurrent International Traveler’s Warranty

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Sony BRAVIA KDL

Today morning saw plenty of economic data:

Jobless claims got most of the attention, though other important statistics too were announced.

How many new people applied for jobless benefits this week?

6,000 – that many jobs disappeared officially. The total claims being processed thus became 445,000. The four-week average of initial claims rose to 440,000.

How many more Americans started receiving jobless benefits at the end of August?

122,000 – raising the total to 3.53 mln in the week ended August 30, the highestsince October 2003. The four-week moving average of continuing claims rose 36,750 to 3.43 mln, the highest since November 2003.

Trade figures:

Import prices fell 3.7% in August against an expected -1.7%. But this was largely due to a 12.8% drop in petroleum prices. If fuels were excluded the fall would have been 0.3%. Exports also fell, by 1.7%. July’s trade deficit rose to $62 bln from $58bln in June.

Governmental actions:

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee wants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) to freeze foreclosures on loans in their portfolios for a minimum 90 day period. They think non-performing assets may change into performing ones, if given sufficient time.

A report was tabled before the U.S. Senate today that alleges big banks shielded clients from tax liabilities. Those named include Citigroup (C), Deutsche Bank (DB), Lehman (LEH), Merrill Lynch (MER), Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBS).

The Department of Justice is concerned that Google (GOOG) may monopolize and throttle the information highway. So, not only they may look into the Google-Yahoo (YHOO) affair, but they may extend the investigation into internet search arena too.

30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 5.93%, down from 6.35% a week ago. May be, we will find new re-mortgage activities by consumers again.

Natural gas reserves went up by 58 bcf, more than the forecast 55 bcf, to 2905 bcf.

Crude oil prices went down so much that at one time it was only a few points above the 5-month old $100 level. It closed at $100.87. Gold fell by -$17.50 to $745.00.

The dollar is having a joyride with lot of its opponents in trouble: European economy, oil and gold. If this trend can continue into a longer ride, a stronger dollar will have beneficial impact on our trade deficit with lower oil prices. But too much strength will also make our exports costlier.

Market Indices made a quick recovery in the afternoon:

Dow was UP by 164.79 (1.4%) to 11433.71
Nasdaq UP by 29.52 (1.3%) to 2258.22
S&P 500 UP by 17.01 (1.3%) to 1249.05

NYSE saw 1431 stocks advancing and 1785 declining. 15 stocks topped their 52-week Highs and 377 registerd a new 52-week Lows.Total volume traded was 1.4 bln.

Nasdaq had 1310 advancing stocks against 1565 declined. 15 stocks broke above their 52-week Highs and 258 registered new 52-week Lows. Total volume of trades stood at 2.3 bln.

Today started with financials at the front of a slide, plagued by Lehman Brother’s uncertain future.

Goldman Sachs denied the rumor that they are interested in buying LEH. Things brightened up in the afternoon with the report that LEH had initiated a sale proposal to Bank of America (BAC).

Later, financials did make a comeback with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) spearheading the attack.

While oil production stocks suffered, refining stocks made considerable advance and even contributed for the late upswing in the indices, as their input costs were slashed with falling oil prices.

Market News:

Petrobras (PBR) struck bigger oil finds in their Iara field and estimates the output will be enough to supply Brazil’s oil needs for five years.

Longs Drug Stores (LDG) agreed to settle shareholder lawsuits over the $2.6bln merger with CVS Caremark (CVS). They admitted the failure to seek third-party valuation of real estate assets before the take-over.

Amazon (AMZN) struck exclusive deals to publish Kindle e-book biographies of Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain.

French JCDecaux is offering $1 bln for News Corp’s (NWS) Russian outdoor advertising unit.

Mexican telecom tycoon Slim Helu bought a 6.4% stake in The New York Times Company (NYT). This comes on the heels of Rupert Murdoch making public his dreams of owning NYT.

Chrysler is seriously considering the development of electric cars.

Northrop Grumman (NOC) had happy news after yesterday’s disappointing cancellation of the coveted in-flight tanker bids by the Pentagon. Today, It was awarded a seven-year $5.1 bln contract to build the first in a new class of US aircraft carriers.

Early reports emerge that Rituxan, an arthritic drug from the duo, Genentech (DNA) and Biogen (BIIB), may result in brain disorder.

Vishay (VSH) raised its buyout offer for International Rectifier (IRF) to $1.7bln

King Pharmaceuticals (KG) also hiked its bid for Alpharma (ALO) to $1.6 bln.

Deutsche Bank (DB) is engaged in talks to acquire a stake in rival Deutsche Postbank.

Japanese cell phone operator NTT DoCoMo (DCM) is trying for a stake in Tata’s telecom business.

Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) is offering $455 mln to buy 15% of Australia’s Portman Ltd.

Intellectual property case between MGA Entertainment and Mattel (MAT) regarding Bratz had recently resulted in a jury verdict in favor of MAT. Now, MGA says it is willing to share future revenues with MAT.

Lululemon Athletica (LULU) and Campbell Soup (CPB) brought out earnings exceeding analyst expectations.

Analysts’ Ratings:

The following company stocks were upgraded:

AEGON N.V. (AEG), Albemarle (ALB), ArcSight (ARST), Covidien (COV), Potash Corp (POT), Southern Community Finanacial (SCMF) and Yadkin Valley Financial (YAVY).

Stocks downgraded include:

AXA (AXA), American Commercial Lines (ACLI), Bank of America (BAC), Becton Dickinson (BDX),Globecomm Systems (GCOM), H.B. Fuller (FUL), Jones Apparel (JNY), Lehman Bros (LEH), Max Capital Grp (MXGL), Medarex (MEDX), NVIDIA (NVDA), PDL BioPharma (PDLI), Pinnacle Financial (PNFP), Quantum Fuel (QTWW) and Trex (TWP)

AEGON N.V. (AEG) and Kenexa (KNXA) received both upgrades and downgrades.

It is very alarming the way rumors are having a field day now-a-days leading to choppy markets. We already saw the world’s foremost stock market taken for a ride by the United Airlines bankruptcy rumor and its reacting to it without bothering to verify with the company in the first place.

As a whole the market is showing some strength, by turning the loss of 1.7% in the forenoon into a 1.5% gain in the afternoon.

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KCS Gamer PC 184130

We all see nerds everywhere. While most of us would deny it to our dying breath, we are all nerds to some degree. We have our little quirks that if not carefully hidden might expose us as the nerds we are. We have nerds on our TV screens on a daily basis. I’m going to list some that you might agree are on everybody’s list of wedgie recipients and some who might shock you. No matter what, you will either agree, laugh, or look at me like I must be nuts. Anyhow, here goes:

10) Abby Sciuto, NCIS (Pauley Perrette): Don’t let her Goth appearance fool you, this woman is a nerd. Abby is a dedicated and well versed forensic scientist. That alone qualifies her as a nerd, albeit a very attractive nerd.

9)Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, NCIS (David McCallum): Ducky is the Medical Examiner on NCIS and has the classic appearance of a nerd. These being glasses, bowtie, porkpie hat, use of proper pronunciations, and living with his mother after the age of 50. He is a classic nerd but do not let his style and demeanor fool you because he can be ruthless and lethal when he needs to be.

Doogie Howser, Doogie Howser MD (Neil Patrick Harris): Douglas “Doogie” Howser is a child prodigy who is able to graduate high school at a young age and begin medical school at an age when most of his friends are starting high school. Doogie has a rough time fitting in. We sometimes can all feel that way but Doogie manages to make friends along the way.

7) Charile Eppes, Numb3rs (David Krumholtz): Charlie is another prodigy. He is a young professor at Caltech. He often is called on to help his FBI agent brother David solve some perplexing crimes using mathmetics. This shows us the importance of math in our lives. I may be a klutz when it comes to math but I can see how math is used in everyday life. We often put objects in place of numbers, but we use math every day.

6) Mythbusters: This gang of people devote days and months researching and experimenting with all kinds of destructive action to prove or disprove the possibility and probablility of things based on Urban Myths, Legends, and things we see on TV. Though they strongly disclaim that we should never try their stunts and experiments at home, they do a lot of cool destruction.

5) Alex Trebek, Jeopardy: Alex has had a career of over 40 years yet he is most recognized for his 25-plus years as the host of Jeopardy. He seems to be very knowledgeable of his subjects and has a calm demeanor. Alex reportedly lived with his mother as well (according some jokes by comedians). He shaved his trademark moustache a few years ago. Alex, bring back your stache!

4) Steve Erkel, Family Matters (Jaleel White): Erkel had every appearance of a nerd, from his nerdy glasses to his perpetually worn sweater and high hemmed pants. Erkle was good at revealing the nerd in all of us. He was extremely annoying yet loveable. He was inventive and yet had his short comings. He started out as a one shot character to being one of the main characters in the show. Everyone of us has a little Steve Erkel inside.

3) Mark Green, ER (Anthony Edwards): Dr. Green was the shy unimposing young doctor on one of TV’s longest running dramas. He seemed to resemble Gilbert Lowe from “Revenge of The Nerds” not only because of being portrayed by the same actor, but also because he had some of the same mannerisms and personality. Mark did leave the show after 2002 due to dying from Cancer, however he had his moments. There was one episode where the father of an abused child he had treated became one of his patients and he let him die in the elevator. He also had to deal with divorcing his first wife and splitting custody of their daughter and then remarrying and becoming a father again only to not be able to enjoy seeing the second child grow. Dr. Green showed the shy side of all of us.

2) Spock, Star Trek TOS (Leoanard Nimoy): Spock was half human and half Vulcan. He was also the science officer aboard the USS Enterprise on their mission to boldly go where no man has gone before. Spock was very knowledgeable in pretty much everything. He showed no emotion and always used logic to base his decisions and suggestions on. Though his advice might be rebuffed by Captain Kirk, he was faithful and dutiful in his work and devotion to his crew. Though he often struggled with his human side, Spock used that struggle to build his character. Spock showed that all creatures struggle with things throughout their lives.

1) Bill Nye The Science Guy: Bill Nye is a former engineer with Boeing and based his first series on PBS in Seattle. He would fascinate people of all ages with his explanations of the science of everyday things. He still does this and his subject could be anything simple from water and steam to more complex subjects such as rocket science and the universe. Bill travels to many places and is often easily recognized in his bow tie and lab coat or sport coat. He definitely loves what he does and is not afraid of being called a nerd. Bill Nye is the ultimate TV nerd.

I don’t know if you noticed a pattern in my listing of the Top 10 TV Nerds, but I listed them and was very positive in my assessment of each one. Though we find nerds to be the subject of ridicule we need nerds and we are all nerds. If it was not for nerds, we would not have the internet or the means to be able to use the internet. So look at these nerds and see how cool they are. Nerds are not always geeks in the corner who need to be avoided at all costs but among us and to you nerds I say “thank you”.

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I made some shots in the last days – please tell me your thoughts:

Tell me if you like them – i love to discuss the photos with you! And support my: Samsung UE32C5100 80 cm (32 Zoll) LED Backlight Fernseher (Full HD, 50 Hz, DVB-T/-C ) anthrazit-schwarz

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced that his office is investigating the on line site Facebook over claims by the company concerning safety measures that they say are in place on the site.

The Attorney General sent a letter along with a subpoena asking for documents. In the letter he warned the executives of Facebook that in a preliminary review it was revealed that there are significant defects not only in the site’s safety controls, but in the company’s response to complaints as well. He states that the deficiencies that they found are in direct contrast to the security statements on the web site and those made by the officials of the company.

Over the past few weeks, investigators conducted undercover tests of the safety on Facebook. They posed as underage users and they were solicited by adult sexual predators again and again. Not only that, they were also able, as underage users, to access pornographic images and videos. One of the most disturbing things the investigation bought out was the fact that Facebook either was slow to respond to complaints made by the investigators, or did not respond at all. In this case, the investigators posed as parents asking the sire to take action against predators who had been harassing their children on the site.

During the investigation, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) set up multiple profiles as users between the ages of 12 and 14. Almost immediately after opening the accounts, the agents received many sexual solicitations all from adults sent to several of the underage profiles, including:

“u look too hot……. can i c u online (webcam)? im avl at . . .”
“I’d love to get off on cam for you hun ; P”
“do you like sex?”
“if u want call me [number deleted] or u can give me ur number?”
“call me if u want to do sex with me [number deleted] ok”
And these are only the mild ones.

They also complained to Facebook about inappropriate content and communications on the site. Facebook did take down many of the images within a week of the complaints, but complaints about user groups that are hosting hardcore porn were ignored. These are still on the site as late as today.

They give one specific example. On August 30, an OAG investigator made up a profile as a 14 year old girl from New York. About a week after posting the profile, they received a message from a 24 year old male asking if she had any nude pics. The investigator, posing as the girls mother lodged a complaint and Facebook responded the next day by saying that they would review the material and that they would remove anything that was in violation of their terms of service. Up until today, no action has been taken and the man’s profile is still on the site.

The subpoena asked the company for complaints that Facebook has received about any inappropriate solicitation of the underage users as well as inappropriate content that is on the site and any responses they have made to complaints. It also calls for all of their policies on user safety and all of the representations that they have made to their customers concerning the safety of the site.

Source: New York State Attorney General http://www.oag.state.ny.us/

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I made new Pics in the last weeks – please tell me what you think:

Tell me if you like them – i love to discuss the photos with you! And support my: God of War 3 – Ultimate Trilogy Edition

Star Wars Fan Days III has come and gone. What can be said? A whole lot. For instance, I can tell you that this was by far the best convention I’ve been to that was run and put together by C2 Ventures or Official Pix. There was tons to do and never a dull moment. Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin this article. I guess I’ll just start from the top and try to cover as much as I can remember.

We got to the Plano Center in Plano, TX around 11AM and headed for the back parking lot the same way we always do. There was one big difference this time, though. Driving up and down the aisles, it was pretty evident that every single parking space had already been taken. There were even people parked on the sides of the lot. That is insanity and was a sure sign of how packed it was inside.

Upon entering the building, we were immediately hit with the scene of tons of people in costumes. We’re talking tons – Darth Maul, Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Asajj Ventress, Stormtroopers, Clone Troopers, Jabba the Hutt, Darth Vader, tons of Jawas, and many more I can’t even remember. Let me explain why this is a big deal. Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed a serious drop in people wearing costumes to the conventions in the Dallas area. People in costumes is really a big part of the convention experience, so when your not seeing hardly any at events, it starts to kind of effect the atmosphere of the whole show.

I didn’t get hardly any time in the Dealer Room, as there way too many panels to attend. While I was in there, I did run in to Star Wars zombie artist Matt Busch. It was pretty strange, because I had just run across his work on StarWars.com because he had entered a contest for the new horror novel Death Troopers. He told me that Lucasfilm had taken down his art off their site, because someone there didn’t like it (maybe it was too graphic or something?). That’s too bad because the art he did was zombie parodies of the actual movie posters, and they were pretty cool.

Next, I headed over to the main auditorium to check out the Don Bies question & answer panel. Very interesting person to hear talk, as he has not only starred in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi as Barquin D’an and Boba Fett in the special edition of the film and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace at the pod racer mechanic, but he has also been the droid unit supervisor and R2-D2 operator for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He also worked on Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (special edition), and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (special edition) as the ILM model and creature maker. It doesn’t stop at Star Wars, either. You’ve seen his work in The Fly II , Flubber, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, Fire in the Sky, Congo, Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, Artificial Intelligence: AI, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, War of the Worlds, The Island, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and many more.

My next stop was the Prop Replica Room. This place delivered big time. They had a full size C-3PO, Battle Droid, Pit Droid, mouse robot, and several other cool items. They had R5-D4′s dome and the crowning piece of the room – a wall mount Han Solo in carbonite. It was just like a flat plaque with his face and body parts sticking out, but it did the job of looking cool and fulfilling my dream that was shattered the night before at Star Wars in Concert. As I mentioned in my Star Wars in Concert article, they failed to have the Han Solo in carbonite displayed at the Tour Exhibit. The coolest thing was, they had it mounted on the wall and Boba Fett and Jango Fett props were standing guard in front of it.

I rushed back to the main auditorium to catch part of the Ray Park Question & Answer panel and got there just in time. Ray shared stories about how he got into acting through his martial arts. He also talked about his dream role of getting to play super hero Iron Fist in the future. I asked him what the face mask he wore in G.I. Joe as Snake Eyes was made out of and he answered that it was a type of Lycra or something of that nature. He said that he couldn’t hardly breathe in it and would keep pulling it down to take breaths and the crew would get worried about him tearing it up.

The Lucasfilm: The Future of STAR WARS presentation by Head of Fan Relations Steve Sansweet and Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni was pretty cool. Sansweet shared some convention footage, a trailer for The Old Republic video game that’s coming out, a trailer for The Clone Wars: Season One DVD that’s coming out next week, and talked about how they’re still trying to find a location for the upcoming Celebration V event. The Old Republic game looks really cool, and I don’t even play them. Then, Dave Filoni joined him onstage and told us what we could expect from the upcoming episodes of Clone Wars, and how the animation and the show have progressed positively since it’s beginning. I have to agree that the animation has definitely improved and become more fluid since the theatrical release of the “pilot” episode.

After the Lucasfilm presentation, I just wandered around a bit and shot some pictures of the Yak’s Pub set and visited with the guys from Texas Frightmare Weekend. If you’re not familar with Yak’s Pub, you have to go to their website immediately. It is a sort of comic strip done with Star Wars action figures acting out different stories in the character Yak’s pub, which I believe is the Mos Eisley cantina playset. It’s absolutely genius. Think Star Warsmeets Cheers. The Texas Frightmare Weekend guys never stop working. I think they add a new guest to their already unbelievably impressive guest list every other day. They also had some new prop friends for their full-sized Jason they take around with them. They had Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger joining the party this time around.

I headed to the main auditorium again for the Live Auction that was benefiting polycystic kidney disease. They had all kinds of Star Wars memorabilia, old unopened toys, and collectibles they were giving the audience members a chance to fight over. Steve Sansweet was the auctioneer, which was very cool and added a special air of “officialness” to it. I got to get a jab in when he was presenting an Ewok alarm clock for the auction and I said quite loudly “Burn it, Burn it!” He gave me a dirty look and found it necessary to defend the Ewok products for the rest of the event. The craziest thing I saw during the auction was a guy paying $1,600 for an autographed trading card from George Lucas. It was the one of I think they said nine.

To end the day on Saturday, there was a costume contest. Like I said earlier, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many costumed convention-goers. The entire room was filled with spectators and contest entries. I didn’t get to stay for the whole thing, but it was craziness. The Star Wars costume that should have won the entire contest was a kid dressed up in a fully homemade Cad Bane outfit. We’re talking homemade mask complete with tubes coming out of it, the clothing, and even the spaghetti western Clint Eastwood hat. It was incredibly well-done. There were also a couple of non- Star Wars costumes, like Ghostbusters, and Left 4 Dead characters.

The only thing I really got to do on Sunday was attend the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Question & Answer panel. It was not only a Q&A panel, though. This time, the cast did a live reading of a script in their individual characters. Dave Filoni had written it on the fly while taking red eye flight from California to the event. It was made up of two parts. One part for the good guys, which included Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), Catherine Taber (Padme Amidala), James A Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Tom Kane (Yoda), and Dee Baker (Commander Rex, Cody, and all Clone Troopers). The last part was for the bad guys (and girl) and that one included Matthew Wood (General Grievous), Nika Futterman (Asajj Ventress), and David Acord (A-4D). Stephen Sansweet acted as the Narrator of the proceedings. Then, Filoni offered a little verbal behind-the-scenes of how a typical reading and recording for the show goes. He bragged about how many voices James A. Taylor could do by making him read the parts of Obi-Wan and Anakin in the character of Doc Brown and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. This was unbelievably hilarious, as I’m sure one would expect. It was funny hearing him talk about General Grievous, Asajj Ventress, and the Clone Wars in those voices.

I got to talk to Dave Filoni briefly about him possibly showing Grand Moff Tarkin a little love in The Clone Wars. He replied with a sly smile “Interesting Question” and then said something of the nature of that part of the glory of doing a television show is your pretty much open to expand on anything story wise or character wise.

The other thing I got to do Sunday was see the legendary 3D footage of Star Wars: A New Hope. Yes, it really is happening. T3D Media out of Carrolton, TX was at Star wars Fan days III with their home theater set-ups. Yes, that’s right – Real 3D home theater systems. They had two big-screen TV’s hooked up. One was for a receiver that played the “official” 3D movies that have been released for home viewing. Supposedly, there’s only around 70 right now. On that screen, they were playing the Star Wars: Episode IV footage, which consisted of the Star destroyer flying over Tatooine and the battle in the corridors of the Rebel Blockade. All I can say is wow. I can’t wait to see this thing completely transformed in the theater. They had a couple of minutes of footage of Star Wars: Episode II, as well. That footage consisted of the scene where Anakin and Obi-Wan are chasing that shape-shifter through the city of Coruscant, and it was equally impressive. The other television they had hooked up to a receiver that they have that actually takes any DVD you would have at home and transfers it to Real 3D on the fly. I know, it’s almost too good to be true, but you read it right. Get this thing set up at your house and you can watch any DVD movie – Lord of the Rings, Terminator 2, Transformers, you name it – your little heart desires.

Star Wars Fan Days III was probably the best sci-fi or comic book convention I’ve been to in the DFW area in a long while. It was jam-packed with things to do and there really was never a spare moment to be bored. It was non-stop activity from start to finish. Kudos to Ben Stevens, Mark Walters, and Philip Wise for a very memorable event.

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{ Puma ALEXANDER McQUEEN HerrenschuhAMQ TENDON LOW

I would like to share my experience with my Fujitsu M2010 netbook, or mini notebook as Fujitsu describes it. I am writing this from the perspective of just an average user. I am no techie.

Several years ago, I purchased an HP laptop. I had trouble with it from the start. I had to send it back to the factory for repairs twice within the first month of owning it. Customer service was not US based, and it was very, very difficult to communicate with the representatives. The device only lasted 2 years before it died. Long story short, I decided my next purchase would be based on buying from a company more committed to quality than I believe HP is. After doing some research online, I was ready to bank on Fujitsu.

I decided I wanted something smaller than my previous laptop, so I was really interested in a netbook. My biggest concern was if I was going to be able to type on such a small keyboard. I tested a few display models out and decided I could probably get used to it.

I purchased the Fujitsu M2010 in November 2009 for around $400. I was happy right away. The device really does have a feel of quality to it. I have not had a bit of trouble with it so far. It works great. The screen display is bright and beautiful. The sound quality is good. I have to say it does run noticeably slower than my desktop computer, but I was expecting that, given what I had read about netbooks in general. For just browsing the internet and watching videos on youtube, I am perfectly happy. I like to play Farmville on Facebook, and it does have trouble keeping up with that though. I really would not recommend it for playing games.

Here is a rundown on a few of the features, as described in the user’s manual:

Microprocessor: Intel Atom N280
Video Display: 10.1″ wide SVGA display
Device Ports: MS/SD card slot, 3 USB ports, LAN connector, headphone and microphone jacks
Operating System: Windows XP
Weight: ~ 2.93 pounds
Built-in speakers, web cam, and microphone
Also compatible with Bluetooth

If you are looking for a quality netbook, I would recommend the Fujitsu M2010. It is really light and easily portable. It is just the right size for sitting on your lap comfortably. It did take me a little time to get used to typing on such a small keyboard, but I did, and it really was worth it to have such a portable device. You definitely will not be disappointed with the bright, clear picture it produces. It may not be the least expensive netbook out there, but it is high quality.

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I made some shots in the last months – please tell me when you like them:

Tell me if you like them – i love to discuss the photos with you! And support my: Philips 46PFL7605H/12 shop

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