He may disagree with his characterization in “The Social Network,” but screen scribe Aaron Sorkin’s and director David Fincher’s depiction of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in their overachieving film might have done the boy some good, as it turns out. Related Entries December 9, 2010 The WikiLeaks Hacker War Rages On December 8, 2010 Rolling Stone Finds ‘Lost’ Lennon Interview
Continue reading …The first government estimates of food-borne illnesses in a decade find that one in six Americans gets sick, 128,000 people are hospitalized, and 3,000 people die each year after eating tainted food.
Continue reading …We’ve been tracking the MIT-originated Siftables so far with grudgingly bemused expressions on our cynical, internet-hardened faces. Now we find out they’re called Sifteo Cubits, and they’ve got a slated release for the first quarter of next year. Sure, sure, we can keep it together. But then we saw this adorable press shot, and the callouses just fell right off our hardened blogger hearts. The 1.5-inch LCD-equipped blocks, which can sense motion and proximity while communicating with each other wirelessly, are going to be mostly used for games initially, though the possibilities seem endless — and endlessly quirky. At $149 it might be a hard sell for most, but Sifteo had us at “pixel art.” We should know more in January when Sifteo makes the full unveil. Sifteo Cubits launching next year; still really cute originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Now that he has six years, I guess he’s got more latitude to hit them harder, which he is. Here’s the transcript: In just a few minutes we’re going to proceed to the START treaty. I’m told the Republicans are going to make us read the entire treaty in an effort to stall us from passing it. Isn’t that wonderful? That piece of — that treaty has been here since April or May {14:10:49} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } of this year. Plenty of time to read it. These are additional days of wasted time we could be using to pass legislation to get home for the holidays. Yet some of my Republican colleagues have the nerve to whine about having to stay and actually do the work of the American people. We make large salaries, madam president. We could work as most Americans do during the holidays. Perhaps Senators Kyl and DeMint have been in {14:11:22} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } Washington too long because in my state, Nevadans employed in casinos and hotels and throughout the state of nevada and on ranches, basically every place have to work hard on holidays, including Christmas, to support their families. The mines don’t shut down in nevada on Christmas. People work. They get paid double time a lot of times when they have good contracts, but they work on Christmas holidays. Most people don’t get two weeks off on any time, let alone Christmas week. And these {14:11:54} (Mr. Reid { not an official transcript } people who are lucky enough to have a job in these trying times need to work extra hours to make ends meet. So it’s offensive to me and millions of working Americans across this country for any senator to suggest that working through the Christmas holidays is somehow sacrilegious. They decide to work with us, we can all have a {14:12:30} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } happy holiday. If they don’t, we’re going to continue until we finish the people’s business. Madam President, i move to proceed to executive session to calendar number 7, the START treaty. I ask for the yeas and nays. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that a full reading of the START treaty would not be necessary.
Continue reading …The wife of the man who held a Florida school board at gunpoint said Wednesday that her husband was a ‘gentle giant’ who was pushed over the edge by the economy and frustrated over her losing her teaching job. (Dec. 15)
Continue reading …If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our stratospheric rise in smartphone adoption over the past several years (with no end in sight), it’s that we can never have enough spectrum to run data services for them — just ask the chairman of the FCC , the president of the CTIA , or pretty much anyone who’s ever tried to load Engadget on an iPhone in Times Square. To that end, we’re excited to see that the FCC has slated another round of 700MHz spectrum — the pure gold that Verizon, AT&T, MetroPCS, and others are using for LTE deployments — but we wouldn’t get too excited, because it’s actually just a few blocks left over from the last auction that went unsold or unpaid. Markets in Puerto Rico, North Dakota, North Carolina, and South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia make up the 16 licenses available, so if you were planning on setting up 4G services in the Bismarck metropolitan area, you’re in good shape. FCC to auction off deadbeat bidders’ 700MHz spectrum on July 19th, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The push to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” has met with mixed reactions in Congress in recent weeks, but on Wednesday, the House of Representatives made a decisive move to promote the cause by passing another measure designed to cancel out the controversial policy. The next formidable frontier, however, is the Senate.
Continue reading …On Wednesday's Hardball, Chris Matthews brought on former Washington D.C. chancellor of public schools Michelle Rhee to discuss the state of public education in this country and praised her for work on the part of students but also warned her to “stay away from the right wing” because she was “too good to be grabbed by some ideological fool.” After Rhee explained to Matthews why public school students needed an organization like the one she founded, Students First, to counterbalance the influence of the teachers unions Matthews congratulated her for not becoming a tool of conservatives. (video after the jump) read more
Continue reading …Veteran left-hander Cliff Lee finalized his contract with the Phillies Wednesday and is back with the team that traded him a year ago.
Continue reading …MSNBC's “Morning Joe” hosted a pity party for President Obama on Wednesday. Discussing public opinion of President Obama amidst his trials as President, liberal Watergate journalistic “legend” Carl Bernstein won the pity prize, asserted that Obama inherited a bigger mess than any other president since the 1930s. “Very few presidents have come into office inheriting what President Obama has taken on,” Bernstein opined on Wednesday's “Morning Joe.” “You'd have to go back, I think, to the thirties to really have a comparable situation,” Bernstein continued. Bernstein also blamed staunch GOP opposition and a broken political system for Obama's travails. “He's been trying to deal with it with a Republican opposition that has said 'no' to everything, and a political system – we keep going back to it – that simply is not functional or concerned with the national good.” The segment began with MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd and “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough agreeing that the current White House suffers more bad news than normal. “This White House always seems to have incoming,” Scarborough noted. “Just constant, and it's been constant from the day they walked in the front door.” read more
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