1. Early IE9 preview confirms Microsoft's tendency towards incompatibility?  permalink

Early IE9 preview confirms Microsoft's tendency towards incompatibility?
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine

With Firefox recently racking up one fourth of the total browser market share and Microsoft's Internet Explorer constantly struggling to keep pace, with the older versions being more popular than the newer ones, the Redmond software giant hopes to reverse the trend with the upcoming Internet Explorer 9. However, preliminary test results posted ...

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Scitedaily.com
Early IE9 preview confirms Microsoft's tendency towards incompatibility? Apple vs. Microsoft: Multi-touch Mouse Comparison   —  Both Apple and Microsoft have introduced mice with “multi-touch” sensing.  This is arguably the first substantial improvement to the mouse since it was invented in 1968 by Doug Englebart.  Apple’s product, the Magic Mouse, is commercially available for $69.  Microsoft has 5 prototype mice that are still in the R & D stage.

Www.boingboing.net
Early IE9 preview confirms Microsoft's tendency towards incompatibility? Murdoch-Microsoft deal in the works   —  Microsoft is ready to pay Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to remove its news content from Google, according to the Financial Times. Microsoft has also approached other "big online publishers" with similar deals.

2. Hewlett-Packard’s Profit Rises, With China’s Help  permalink

REUTERS / NYT

The technology company tripled its share repurchase program to $12 billion, as a strong performance in China and improved margins in its services business helped lift quarterly earnings.

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Admin / Infoworld News
HP reports Q4 growth thanks to services business   —  Hewlett-Packard reported an 18 percent jump in profit for its fiscal fourth quarter, thanks in large part to the strength of its services business. HP's profit for the quarter ended Oct. 31 was $2.4 billion, or $0.99 per share, up from $2.1 billion, or $0.84 per share, in the same quarter last year, the company announced Monday. Revenue fell 8 ...

3. Obama meets with advisers on Afghanistan  permalink

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama began a meeting on Monday night with top advisers on Afghanistan as he closes in on a decision about whether to send thousands more U.S. troops to confront a growing insurgency.

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Reuters
Obama says boosting jobs is a top priority   —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama assured Americans on Monday that boosting jobs was a top priority, but gave no specifics about how to meet this goal that some economists say warrants more government spending.

4. Retrofit kit allows cars to drive themselves  permalink

Retrofit kit allows cars to drive themselves
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine

Let’s say you want to go for a ride in your car, but you don’t feel like driving it. Or perhaps you want to drive your car, but you don’t want to go for a ride in it. These two seemingly contradictory scenarios are probably not what Kairos Autonomi had in mind when it developed the Pronto4 Agnostic Autonomy System. The Pronto4 ...

5. Man Accused of Taping Erin Andrews Nude Pleads Not Guilty  permalink

Man Accused of Taping Erin Andrews Nude Pleads Not Guilty
Omg.yahoo.com

The man accused of peeping into ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews' hotel room pleaded not guilty to charges that he filmed her and tried to sell the footage, Reuters reports.

discussions

6. AP-GfK Poll: Debt turning shoppers into Scrooges  permalink

AP-GfK Poll: Debt turning shoppers into Scrooges
Yahoo! News

AP - A lot more Americans are feeling stressed out by debt this holiday season, raising the glum likelihood they'll behave like Scrooge rather than Santa.

7. Price War Brews Between Amazon and Wal-Mart  permalink

Price War Brews Between Amazon and Wal-Mart
BRAD STONE / NYT

For now, it’s a battle of discounts, but Wal-Mart and Amazon are also fighting over the future of retailing.

8. StairSteady gives a helping hand up stairs  permalink

StairSteady gives a helping hand up stairs
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine

We’ve seen some innovative free-standing personal mobility aids designed to tackle stairs in recent times, but this offering from a young UK inventor takes a fresh approach to a solution that's been around for years - the mechanical stair-lift. Conceived by Ruth Amos when she was just 16 years old, the StairSteady is a handrail with a ...

9. Verizon Ads: Apple Strikes Back  permalink

PC World Latest

Not one to take the "misfit toy" comparison lightly, Jobs & Co. produce some indirect responses to Verizon’s recent iPhone/AT&T attack ads.

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Digitaldaily.allthingsd.com
Verizon Ads: Apple Strikes Back Apple Joins AT&T/Verizon Spat With New iPhone Ads   —  Verizon’s (VZ) merciless razzing of AT&T (T) has finally elicited a reaction from Apple (AAPL). Peeved at seeing its marquee product banished to the “Island of Misfit Toys” in one of Big Red’s new holiday ads, the company is launching a pair of new iPhone ads that tout the smartphone AND the network on which it runs. Scheduled to ...

10. New Super Mario Bros. Wii Walkthrough is Live on Mahalo!  permalink

New Super Mario Bros. Wii Walkthrough is Live on Mahalo!
Jason Calacanis / The Jason Calacanis

The latest edition of the venerable “Super Mario” franchise is out on the Nintendo Wii, and Mahalo has the New Super Mario Bros. walkthrough in progress right now, complete with HD videos!

11. Kangaroo tries to drown dog, attacks owner  permalink

Kangaroo tries to drown dog, attacks owner
Yahoo! News

AP - A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs. The Australian, Chris Rickard, was in stable condition Monday after the attack, which ended when the 49-year-old elbowed the kangaroo in the throat.

12. Ford Flex 2010 to feature wheat-straw reinforced plastic  permalink

Ford Flex 2010 to feature wheat-straw reinforced plastic
Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine

Ford is the first automaker to develop and implement environmentally-friendly wheat straw-reinforced plastic in a vehicle. Before you get carried away, the car itself, a Ford Flex, isn’t made of plastic, instead, it’s just the third-row interior storage bins made from the natural fiber-based plastic that contains 20 percent wheat ...

13. Apple iPhone 3GS review  permalink

Apple iPhone 3GS review
Www.pcadvisor.co.uk

Apple's latest iPhone hit the shelves on Friday 19 June, but with less fanfare than previous models. The iPhone 3GS has the same case, style and, apart from the ‘S', the same name at its predecessor - the iPhone 3G.

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Blog.intego.com
Windows 8 Release Expected in 2012 Intego Security Memo: iPhone Worm Creates Botnet, Copies Personal Data   —  Description: For the third time this month, malware targeting the iPhone has surfaced. The first such malware changed wallpaper on iPhones, and the second harvested personal data from iPhones. This new malware, that Intego calls iBotnet.A, is by far the most sophisticated iPhone malware yet: it is not only a worm, capable of spreading across a ...

Network World on Applications
IPhone ringtone roundup   —  Ringtones say a lot about you, your style, and your attitude. And they can be a helpful aural cue to alert you to exactly who is calling. Yet, for some reason, the iPhone--the undisputed king of all smart phones--is limited in terms of ringtones. You can use either the small default selection that comes on the phone or purchase tracks from the ...

14. No Bread For Paddy  permalink

No Bread For Paddy
Walkenbach / The J-Walk Blog

Magical wafer news: Rep. Patrick Kennedy Banned From Receiving Communion . The Roman Catholic bishop of Rhode Island said Sunday that he asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy in a 2007 letter to stop receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, because of the congressman's public stance on moral issues. Bishop Thomas Tobin divulged details of ...

15. Happy Eid al-Adha?  permalink

Happy Eid al-Adha?
Walkenbach / The J-Walk Blog

An employee of Best Buy responds to the complaints from Christians: Holiday Messaging . Thanks for sharing your point of view regarding our recent ad, which included a wish for a "Happy Eid al-Adha". Best Buy's customers and employees around the world represent a variety of faiths and denominations. We respect that diversity and choose to greet ...

16. Hulu’s New Embed Policy Can Only Hurt It  permalink

Hulu’s New Embed Policy Can Only Hurt It
Liz Gannes / GigaOM

Two-year-old Hulu, which has quickly become Americans’ preferred method of consuming TV online, is now blocking startups from embedding its video library. But while Hulu is now (mostly) unfriendly to startup video aggregators, it’s still sharing its videos with its corporate parents’ friends: the big web portals and MSOs. Put ...

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Newteevee.com
Hulu’s New Embed Policy Can Only Hurt It   —  Before Hulu even had a name or its current management team, it had distribution partners: AOL, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo. All along, one of Hulu’s most distinctive and friendly features has been that all its content is embeddable.

17. Wolverton: Suggestions for tech-happy holidays  permalink

Wolverton: Suggestions for tech-happy holidays
Www.contracostatimes.com

Electronic gadgets are at the top of many wish lists and account for an ever-growing share of holiday shopping budgets. Fortunately for shoppers, tech gifts don't have to break their budgets.

discussions

18. Services, Cost Cutting Delivers Solid Quarter for HP  permalink

Services, Cost Cutting Delivers Solid Quarter for HP
EWeek

Services delivered a solid quarter for HP, generating $8.9 billion in revenue. HP CEO Mark Hurd said the integration of EDS into the company was ahead of schedule, and that HP was able to cut 19,000 jobs in the wake of the EDS purchase in 2008, which helped save on the bottom line. Overall, HP generated $2.4 billion in profit on $30.8 billion in ...

19. The New Darwin Book  permalink

Walkenbach / The J-Walk Blog

This is a few months old, but it's still relevant. Comments | Posted in General

20. How to Care for Pearls  permalink

How to Care for Pearls
Prods / Luxist

Fine cultured pearls should last for many years, even generations---but only if they are properly cared for. Cultured pearls should be kept free of perfumes, cosmetics, perspiration and dirt, advises Tiffany & Co. Acid and akali substances can be harmful to pearls, including chemicals found in perfumes, skincare products, hair products and ...