If you were surprised to learn that some of the Chilean miners contemplated cannibalism during their time underground, steel yourself for another big reveal: Some of them smoked pot, or so says a new book by New York Times journalist Jonathan Franklin. The Daily Mail notes that Franklin had special…
Continue reading …By John Vizcaino IBAGUE, Colombia (Reuters) – Colombia’s FARC rebels released another hostage, bringing the total to four in the past week, but the additional handover of two kidnapped military officers was suspended, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Sunday. The releases this week by the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has prompted speculation about possible talks with the rebels, even though the government has demanded it release all hostages and…
Continue reading …Who’s ready for the special Grammys edition of the Engadget Podcast? When we said “Grammys,” we meant “consumer electronics,” and when we said “special,” we meant “just like every other week, but still pretty special.” Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Guest: Chris Ziegler Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: March of the Pigs 00:02:45 – Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rallies troops in brutally honest ‘burning platform’ memo? (update: it’s real!) 00:05:15 – Nokia and Microsoft enter strategic alliance on Windows Phone, Bing, Xbox Live and more 00:09:13 – RIP: Symbian 00:11:15 – Nokia: Symbian and MeeGo not dead yet, still shipping this year (updated) 00:18:41 – Nokia tells investors that 2011 and 2012 will be ‘transition years’ 00:32:50 – Exclusive: Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 concept revealed! 00:39:34 – Live from HP / Palm’s ‘Think Beyond’ webOS event! 00:41:15 – RIP, Palm: 1992 – 2011 00:42:07 – The Engadget Interview: Jon Rubinstein and Steven McArthur talk webOS on PCs, ‘Music Synergy,’ competition, and more 00:43:20 – HP’s 9.7-inch TouchPad: webOS 3.0 tablet with 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon, coming this summer 00:45:07 – HP TouchPad first hands-on! (updated with video!) 00:48:00 – webOS Enyo framework free to developers today, brings pixel density agnostic apps to phones, tablets and PC (video) 00:48:22 – HP Pre 3: 1.4GHz Qualcomm CPU, 3.6-inch WVGA, coming this summer (video) 00:49:00 – HP Pre 3 first hands-on! (updated with video) 00:49:27 – HP Veer: smallest smartphone in the webOS stable, 2.6-inch display, coming this spring 00:50:45 – HP Veer, first hands-on! (updated with video!) 00:52:40 – HP’s Touch to Share eyes-on, starring the TouchPad and HP Pre 3 (video) 01:11:52 – Palm Pre 2 vs. HP Pre 3: what’s changed? 01:18:40 – Looking for our Motorola Atrix 4G review? 01:21:05 – We’re live at Mobile World Congress 2011! Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [ iTunes ] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [ RSS MP3 ] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [ RSS AAC ] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [ Zune ] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com. Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @engadget @reckless @zpower Filed under: Podcasts Engadget Podcast 232 – 02.13.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …hippodamos says: #mubarak coma may be bullshit. might be a way to make people feel sympathetic.
Continue reading …By CHESTER DAWSON in Tokyo and JASON DEAN in Beijing China passed Japan in 2010 to become the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S., a historic shift that has drawn mixed emotions in the two Asian powers: resignation tinged with soul-searching in long-stagnant Japan, pride but also caution in an ascendant China wary of shouldering new global responsibilities. The Long Rivalry China passed Japan in 2010 to become the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S. Compare the two economies over the past 50 years. View Interactive The Japanese government made official the long-expected flip Monday morning in Tokyo, reporting that the economy shrank at a 1.1% annual rate for the last…
Continue reading …HP told us to watch for a special new campaign during the Grammys, so watch we did — only to find this commercial and occasional on-stage pimping of the HP TouchPad. The latter is standard business practice, to be sure, but the former? Well, words (nearly) escape us. You really have to watch it for yourself, but just imagine a butchering of Lou Reed’s classic (though far, far overused) “Walk On The Wild Side,” where tales of doping and cross dressing have been replaced with tales of… Tweeting. And Digging. And other really trite stuff. The cinematography and general message of the commercial is actually spot on, but it all gets crushed under the weight of this bad musical decision. HP played this same video at the event on Wednesday, but little did we know it would be the kick-off of the company’s marketing onslaught. We’re honestly taken aback by how off key (no pun intended) this ad is. You would think after all the bad press Palm got on its previous big ad campaign (and even after some not-so-gentle advice ) the folks in charge would think twice about something this potentially polarizing. We won’t lie — we’re disappointed. Both by HP / Palm, and Lou Reed. All of you guys… back to the drawing board. Look on the bright side, though — at least you’ve got about six months to wash this out of people’s brains. HP’s ‘Everybody On’ ad goes to the Grammys, causes nationwide cringing originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Click here to view this media Glenn Beck, we can all see, is really plunging wildly over an emotional cliff in his increasingly bizarre attempts to defend his wild conspiracy theories about the unrest in Egypt. And it’s been such an epic meltdown that it’s been hard to keep track of all its many variations. But the researchers at Media Matters happened to catch one of the more hilarious of these: Beck bringing on a onetime commanding general in Iraq — Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin — to defend his theory as being on the money. That’s right: the guy who brought you Abu Ghraib, on to warn of yet another dire threat. Of course, the last we happened to notice Boykin poking his head out of his lead-lined nuclear bunker was when he was explaining how Marxism is being insidiously implemented in America under President Obama — rather like another general we once knew: Click here to view this media As we observed at the time, this was what Boykin saw as America’s biggest problem: I’m a Special Forces officer, I’m a Green Beret and I’ve studied Marxist insurgency, it was part of my training. And the things I know have been done in every Marxist insurgency are being done in America today. Among the signs that we are now on the verge of a complete Marxist takeover? — The bailouts, which Boykin says “nationalized” large chunks of the economy. — Gun control, which Boykin claims that Obama is pursuing by agreeing to a United Nations small-arms treaty. — The hate crimes law, which Boykin claims is about being able to silence pastors and other critics. And then, of course, the coup d’grace : The final thing has been to establish a constabulary force, a force that can control the population. You say “well, we don’t have that.” Well, let me remind you that prior to the election, the President stood up and said that if elected he would have a nation civilian security force that would be as large as and as well-equipped as the United States military. For what? Remember Hitler had the Brownshirts and in the Night of the Long Knives, even Hitler got scared of the Brownshirts and killed thousands of them. So you say “are there any signs that that’s happened” and the truth is yes. If you read the health care legislation which, by the way nobody in Washington has read, but if you read the health care legislation it’s actually in the health care legislation. There are paragraphs in the health care legislation that talk about the commissioning of officers in time of a national crisis to work directly for the President. It’s laying the groundwork for a constabulary force that will control the population in America. Of course, one couldn’t listen to this rant without being instantly reminded of General Jack D. Ripper . I obtained some documentary footage of Gen. Ripper and mashed it up with the Boykin video so you could do a comparison/contrast. As Kyle notes: Let me also just point out that Senate Republicans actually had Boykin on their witness list to testify against Elena Kagan at her confirmation hearing until they dropped him at the last moment. Gee, I can’t imagine why. Let me also point out that Boykin is not only one of the brilliant geniuses behind Abu Ghraib, he also played a major role in the horrendous disaster at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993. What is not known about Waco is that the final assault plan was amended on the ground by the tactical field commanders on the very day of the assault. That alteration had been discussed and rejected by the FBI brass over several weeks. Nonetheless, the FBI HRT commander, Richard Rogers implemented the rejected plan via a loophole signed by Janet Reno the morning of the final assault on April 19. That alteration was identical to the gassing and demolition plan that two Delta Force advisors seconded to the Justice Dept. in a principals meeting of April 14. Those two advisors supported the rejected plan that was later implemented “hypothetically” in order to conform to the letter of Posse Comitatus law. I also have published a peer-reviewed article with this finding. It is based on government documents–all open source. The rejected plan supported by Jeff Jamar, Richard Rogers, and the two Delta Force officers resulted in a disaster that did not have to happen. It was an ill-advised tactical approach to a religious community that feared that Satan was attacking them. Those two Delta Force officers were Peter J. Schoomaker and “Jerry” Boykin, now both top officials in the US Army in charge of military planning for the war on terrorism. Hey Glenn — we’re convinced!
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