With Windows Phone 7 offering full Zune functionality and then some , the new mobile OS has clearly created a surplus of lower-capacity Zune HD devices, causing Microsoft to respond with a rather significant price drop. Typically, a discount would indicate an imminent refresh, but we doubt that’s the case here . The 16GB Zune HD has shaved off $30, to $169.99, and you can now grab the 32GB version for $199.99 — the same price you would have paid for the 16 gig before the drop, and nearly $100 less than the $299 you’ll spend on a 32GB iPod touch . The 64GB model is holding fast at $349.99, but with a $70 plunge on the mid-capacity model, you might have just enough cash left over for that tattoo you’ve always dreamed of . [Thanks, Daniel] 16GB Zune HD drops to $169, edging closer to EOL? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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In what seems to be a move to go head on against Apple’s iTunes, Spotify is now launching its own music downloads store, adding iPod syncing to its desktop client, and opening up its mobile apps to users of its free service. The new features will be part of the updates to Spotify’s desktop and Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Next Web Discovery Date : 04/05/2011 08:07 Number of articles : 5
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Labour says police forces are forcing 2,100 of the most experienced officers into early retirement, some of whom are then being asked to rejoin on a voluntary basis Police officers with more than 30 years experience who have been forcibly retired because of budget cuts are being asked to return as part-time volunteers, Labour has disclosed. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said 13 police forces have so far confirmed plans to force more than 2,100 of the most experienced police officers in England and Wales into early retirement by 2015. A further nine forces are considering similar action. Chief constables have no legal powers to make police officers redundant, but can forcibly retire those with more than 30 years service with 28 days notice under an obscure A19 provision of the police pension regulations on grounds of efficiency of the force. A Labour survey of current police budgets reveals that 13 out of the 43 forces, including the West Midlands, North Yorkshire and Surrey, have already decided that 2,124 officers should be compulsorily retired using the A19 regulation by 2015 in order to make up for 20% cuts in Whitehall police funding. The issue was raised at prime minister’s questions by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who cited the case of PC Martin Heard, who is being forcibly retired after 32 years as a neighbourhood officer in Wolverhampton. Heard received the “Copper’s copper” award from the Police Federation last year, and some weeks after he was forced to retire, he got a letter asking him to rejoin the force as a special constable on a part-time unpaid basis. He was among a group of experienced officers being retired under A19 due to meet the home secretary, Theresa May, today. Others included Detective Constable Tim Kennedy, a recognised specialist in serious acquisitive crime, Sergeant Dave Hewitt, who is 48, with 32 years service, and is one of the youngest officers in the country to be retired, and Inspector Mark Stokes, a leading specialist in crime prevention. Cooper said Heard was not alone in being asked to rejoin on a voluntary basis, adding: “You couldn’t make this up. “Senior, experienced officers are being forced out by the pace and scale of the Tory-led government’s cuts, then asked to come back and do the same job for free because everyone knows they are needed in the fight against crime.” In the Commons, Miliband claimed the policing cuts demonstrated that the prime minister had broken his pre-election promise to send any cabinet minister who came to him with proposals to cut frontline services packing. Cameron told Miliband: “Decisions about police numbers will depend on the decisions made by individual chief constables in individual parts of the country. “The point I would make is that we see, in case after case, that there are far too many police officers in back-office jobs doing paperwork and carrying out corporate development work who should be on the front line. “Responsible chief constables are getting these police officers out on the front line to fight crime, and crime under this government is falling.” He accused Labour of “complete and utter hypocrisy” over police numbers, citing Alan Johnson’s admission when he was home secretary before the general election that he could not guarantee numbers would not fall in the event of the party remaining in power. “The question is not should the budget be reduced – of course the budget has to be reduced,” said Cameron. “The question is who is going to cut the paperwork, who is going to get rid of the bureaucracy, who is going to trust the local managers to make sure we get police on the front line? These are steps we are taking, and steps his government never took.” Police Theresa May David Cameron Labour Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance Yvette Cooper Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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Pakistan property experts say US government description of ‘$1m mansion’ was way off the mark, as further exaggerations come to light Osama bin Laden’s house, described by the US government as a $1m (£605,000) mansion, is in fact worth no than $250,000 say property professionals in Abbottabad, the town where he was killed. The revelation is the latest of several erroneous descriptions about the nature of Bin Laden’s hideout – and the manner of his death – which have dogged the White House in recent days. On Tuesday US officials retracted claims that Bin Laden was armed when killed, and that he had used one of his wives as a human shield . Descriptions of Bin Laden’s hideout have also been prone to exaggeration. After Sunday night’s dramatic raid by US Navy Seals, a senior Obama administration official told reporters that the property, an “extraordinarily unique compound” in an “affluent suburb”, was valued at around $1m. But two property professionals in Abbottabad – a quiet, military-dominated town – said that much of that was incorrect. Based on the size of the plot and the house, which was built in 2005, and using recent property sales as a guide, they estimated that it would fetch no more than $250,000 on the current market. “Twenty million rupees, maximum,” said property dealer Muhammad Anwar, a 22-year veteran of the local market, at his Abbottabad office. “No swimming pool. This is not a posh area. We call it a middling area.” Asked about the American estimate, he chuckled. “Maybe that’s the assessment from a satellite. But here on the ground, that’s the price.” The assessment was backed by the local branch manager of a major Pakistani bank, who himself owns land in the same locality. “If it was worth that much, we would all be multi-millionaires round here,” he said. A doctor who sold the land where the compound was built identified the buyer as Mohammad Arshad, a name that partially matches that of one of the two brothers who lived in the house – one of whom is believed to have been the courier who unwittingly led the CIA to Bin Laden. Property records obtained by the Associated Press show Arshad bought adjoining plots in four stages between 2004 and 2005. Dr Qazi Mahfooz Ul Haq said on Wednesday that he sold a plot of land to Mr Arshad in 2005. He said the buyer was a “modest, humble type of man” who claimed to be purchasing it for his uncle. The neighbourhood where Bin Laden lived, Bilal Town, was developed following the 2005 earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan, killing more than 73,000 people. People from quake-hit towns such as Mansehra and Balakot streamed into Abbottabad, seeking to build new homes in a more secure area. Many residents come from middle-income backgrounds, having built their homes with family inheritances, said Mr Anwar’s 24-year-old son, Junaid. Osama bin Laden Pakistan US foreign policy US military United States Middle East Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
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Prince William and wife return to Anglesey; Nicollette Sheridan’s case goes to court; Jason Aldean to perform at CMT’s. (May 4)
Continue reading …It’s looking bad for Republicans in Wisconsin. Really bad. Because when a solidly Republican district falls to a Democrat after Scott Walker has been “carrying out the will of the people” I think it’s safe to say the will of the people doesn’t look much like Scott Walker and his cronies in the Wisconsin legislature think it does. Here’s the straight scoop, right from the keyboard of Fox News : Democrat Steve Doyle defeated Republican John Lautz for the Wisconsin District 94 Assembly, flipping a seat held by Republicans for 16 years in a race that focused attention on Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to curtail collective bargaining right for most public employees. With 92 percent of precincts reporting, Doyle won 54 percent to 46 percent , based on unofficial results in Tuesday’s special election. The race flips a GOP Assembly seat for the Democrats, who remain in the minority. This is what it looks like when the will of the people rises up and participates.
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(05-04) 04:00 PDT Baghdad — A car bomb tore through a cafe packed with young men watching a soccer match Tuesday in Baghdad, killing at least 16 people, officials said. It was the first major attack since U.S. commandos killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, which struck a Shiite enclave in a mainly Sunni neighborhood, but it bore the hallmarks of the…
Continue reading …Margaret Carlson: ‘Professor Obama Turned Into General Obama And Ran This Incredible Raid’
May 4, 2011 No Comment
Just when the media adulation of Barack Obama might have been showing signs of waning, along comes the killing of Osama Bin Laden to drive it to new sycophantic heights.
Continue reading …The rebels who have set up an interim government in eastern Libya say they’re running out of money to fund and are seeking up to $3 billion in loans. The rebel operation warns that it may soon be unable to pay public employees or provide food and medicine to civilians,…
Continue reading …Osama bin Laden didn’t want his wives to remarry or his children to become terrorists after his death, according to what a Kuwaiti newspaper says is a copy of his will. In the document—written on a computer, dated December 2001, and signed by “your brother Abu Abdullah Osama Muhammad…
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