Right on schedule , a day before Windows Phone 7 hits its stores in force , AT&T is letting a couple of new BlackBerry Torch SKUs out to play. They’re basic repaint jobs, described by the carrier as Sunset Red and Pure White, the latter of which almost lives up to its name by including a white keyboard but falters by sticking to the noir optical pad. Pricing is set at $499 if you never want to see AT&T again after purchasing one or $99 if you can commit to a two-year relationship. Same as with the “Charcoal” Torch. [Thanks, Matthew] BlackBerry Torch now burns in red and white hues at AT&T stores originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Nov 2010 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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HAVANA (AP) – The wives and mothers of Cuba’s most prominent political prisoners marched through the leafy streets of the capital Sunday, demanding the government honor an agreement to release their loved ones by the end of the day – or face protests and international condemnation. With the deadline approaching and no word on the men’s fate, a standoff between President Raul Castro and the island’s small but vocal opposition community appeared imminent. One dissident vowed to start a hunger strike if the 13 prisoners are not in their homes by Monday, and a human rights leader warned the government was playing with fire. “To not release them would be fatal to the promise given to the Church,…
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The polls may have closed in Burma after the military junta-ruled country hosted its first elections in 20 years, but those waiting for significant change may have to wait a bit longer: The country’s main opposition party has boycotted the “democratic” contest. As reported earlier on Truthdig, the military dictatorship apparently went to great lengths to ensure a victory for its side, including flooding the nation’s Internet infrastructure to shut it down. —JCL The BBC: Ruling generals say the polls mark a transition to democratic civilian rule but critics say they are a sham. The National League for Democracy, the main opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, boycotted the vote. Observers say voting proceeded calmly while opposition parties say it was manipulated. Read more Related Entries November 7, 2010 Why Pelosi Wants to Stay November 6, 2010 Obama Open to Tax Cut Compromise
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Apple’s new MacBook Airs aren’t exactly performance kings — if anything, they’re performance laggards given the finely aged internals they have — but there is some room for upgrading them should you wish for a little extra oomph. AnandTech cornered the maxed-out 11.6-inch variant, with a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and 128GB of flash storage on board, and put it through the usual benchmark routine. In spite of costing a much meatier $1,399 than the $999 default config, the upgraded Air was deemed to be a worthwhile improvement as it delivered an average of 15 percent better performance at the cost of no more than seven percent of battery endurance. To our eyes, the biggest driver for these improved results was the jump from 2GB to 4GB of RAM, something all of us can bear in mind when contemplating our next laptop purchase. MacBook Air has its fully upgraded 11-inch version reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Fake news by Andy Borowitz By Andy Borowitz Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past 24 hours, with more than 55 million such inquiries pouring in since late Tuesday night. Related Entries November 7, 2010 Why Pelosi Wants to Stay November 6, 2010 Obama Open to Tax Cut Compromise
Continue reading …By E.J. Dionne, Jr. I spoke with Nancy Pelosi less than 24 hours before she announced she wanted to stay on as Democratic leader, and everything she said made clear that she’s not ready to allow millions of dollars in Republican attack ads to drive her from public life. Related Entries November 7, 2010 Why Pelosi Wants to Stay November 6, 2010 Obama Open to Tax Cut Compromise
Continue reading …Maybe the Gods are trying to tell him something about visiting Indonesia : ABC News: Ann Compton reports: ABC News has learned that because of the dangerous clouds of ash spewing from an Indonesian volcano, 48 hours before Air Force One is due to touch down in the capital Jakarta White House officials are concerned President Obama may not be able to make the trip. Some commercial flights into Jakarta have been cancelled. Flights of government equipment and personnel to preposition in Indonesia are no longer flying during nighttime hours as a safety precaution, sources tell ABC News. That equipment and personnel are necessary for the president to be able to make his visit. This would be the first time in memory a President could be forced to cancel a stop while he is overseas, and it remains unclear when a White House decision will come and how it will affect the remainder of his Asian trip. President Obama has already twice cancelled announced plans to go to Indonesia where he lived as a boy. In March he was to take daughters during their spring vacation from school, but he scrapped the overseas trip to work on passage of his health care reforms in Congress. The second cancellation came in June during the BP oil spill crisis. I’m not sure where his trip was taking him after Indonesia. Maybe he can make a run down to Kenya and visit the home folks for a few days.
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PROTESTS against a train carrying nuclear waste from France to Germany erupted in violence today as police wielding batons charged activists trying to…
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Are you in the market for some highly enriched uranium? If so, then look no further than the exquisite black markets of Georgia, where evidence in a secret trial has shed light on smuggled uranium that is allegedly for sale in the former Soviet satellite state. —JCL The Guardian: At the centre of the case are two Armenians, a businessman called Sumbat Tonoyan and a physicist, Hrant Ohanyan. Both have pleaded guilty to smuggling highly enriched uranium (HEU) into Georgia in March, stashing it in a lead-lined package on a train from Yerevan to Tbilisi. Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, informed other heads of state of the sting operation at a nuclear summit in Washington in April, but no details about the case have been made public until now. The trial has been conducted behind closed doors, Georgian officials say, to protect the operational secrecy of the country’s counter-proliferation unit. Read more Related Entries November 7, 2010 Why Pelosi Wants to Stay November 6, 2010 Obama Open to Tax Cut Compromise
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Are you in the market for some highly enriched uranium? If so, then look no further than the exquisite black markets of Georgia, where evidence in a secret trial has shed light on smuggled uranium that is allegedly for sale in the former Soviet satellite state. —JCL The Guardian: At the centre of the case are two Armenians, a businessman called Sumbat Tonoyan and a physicist, Hrant Ohanyan. Both have pleaded guilty to smuggling highly enriched uranium (HEU) into Georgia in March, stashing it in a lead-lined package on a train from Yerevan to Tbilisi. Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, informed other heads of state of the sting operation at a nuclear summit in Washington in April, but no details about the case have been made public until now. The trial has been conducted behind closed doors, Georgian officials say, to protect the operational secrecy of the country’s counter-proliferation unit. Read more Related Entries November 7, 2010 Why Pelosi Wants to Stay November 6, 2010 Obama Open to Tax Cut Compromise
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