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This is true even of games that most people would think "sell themselves" like the Grand Theft Auto series. You watch how the hype ramps up as we get closer to October/November. All of that's already been either planned or actually in place for months now. Rockstar's advertising a particular date in all those ads and they will hit it. They're actually pretty good about that as a company.

Sorry to reply to myself, but all I can say is... uh... whoops!

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUS N0238261720070802

This is a a day late, a dollar short but i think it's close enough. Although this isn't a court order, it still shows what "could happen."

From O.J. says ghost author wrote flawed murder account
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN312838 9120070801?pageNumber=2/


"The book was to have been published late last year by Regan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. But the book was shelved at the last minute. Murdoch apologized and all 400,00 copies were recalled and destroyed. Regan was later fired from HarperCollins."

There's a huge difference: The DoD doesn't sell jet fighters. Ohio is selling broadband.

Bold emphasis mine, because first, ha ha ha ha!.

That out of the way, I'll admit I was out on a limb because I didn't RTFA. And according to the article, they're leasing network access, as in paying a monthly fee for it, and allowing public and private entities to access it, as in giving it away for free. As in, the State of Ohio is spending taxpayer money to purchase broadband access for everyone, and they're spending that taxpayer money by giving it to the companies who provide network access. Again, according to the article, they already maintain a number of such public networks, and this is simply a consolidation. They simply aren't selling it. They aren't competing with the broadband companies, they are purchasing massive amounts of bandwidth from the broadband companies. This is exactly what government is for, pooling resources of the people to give them what they need. From satellite-guided missiles to broadband access to the formerly privately owned ranch up for sale that was one of the best rock climbing locations in central Texas.

The thing that does bother me is that this is an "executive order", meaning unlike the land purchase in Travis County, it wasn't a proposition that voters went out and decided on. The actual text of the order makes it sound more like an organizational change than it is expanding the scope of the program then that may be legitimate, under the assumption that an actual budget expansion would require at least the approval of Congress (making it more like the gift of arms aid to Israel described in the article, and unlike say the Iran/Contra scandal).

Then see: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN302495 9820070730
U.S. vehicles rank bottom in world fuel efficiency..

• Smart Growth
• Light Rail
• Renewable Energy Development

Yep, It's an oxidiser and needs a fuel to ignite, but when there's fuel there, it'll be a very energetic fire. I'm guessing there was some fuel vapour release, probably from the semi trailer in the photo here. http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnN26257938. html

Apple has only sold approximately 146,000 iPhones, which is much lower than the 400,000-500,000 that were predicted. Where did you get the number 700,000?

Most of these people would probably better off getting $100 which is like 5 years wages where they live.

Well, as has been pointed out before, when given the tools, the poor downtrodden usually end up using them for much less noble purposes.

When I saw your posting last Monday, I immediately forwarded it to five of my friends, saying "This is the most insightful thing I've read about the iPhone so far." They thought so too. Well, with the Google news that came out Friday http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN20 30115220070720?rpc=44, I just wanted to say -- Well Done!

Actually, looking at other mainstream press coverage suggests that it was indeed a test set of the XO computers that are part of the OLPC project. I think the Gizmodo text is mistaken.

Take a look at the most recent Reuters story, which is datelined in Nigerian capital Abuja. By inference, the "U.S. aid organization" being referred to in the lede is the OLPC nonprofit mentioned later. (Terribly ambiguous writing!)

For a little more proof, take a look at this earlier coverage of the initial laptop donation to the Abuja school. This coverage says that the "News Agency of Nigeria" (which Reuters said reported Friday about porn on the laptops) reported on June 29 that a donation of 300 laptops had been received from the OLPC program. The reason it was a story then is that the school which received the donated laptops did not have power.

An interesting question: why the negative spin? Why report that the school which got the laptops had no power; and why report that the laptops are being used to look at porn? Is there coverage of positive educational uses of the devices that the other media isn't picking up?

Did anyone else see this http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL191922 3520070719?pageNumber=1&sp=true/ in TFA

Disgusting assholes

contact the editors about it politely.

After the US-EU GPS story broke, the Air Force decided to announce their plans for contract bidding for the upcoming GPS III.

In short, it's dilberisque bullshit.

I'm not saying you're wrong in the general case, but I did a little bit of searching in the case of EA. Have a look at this:

I don't know if I'm reading that right, but those figures seem to show negative sales growth (compared to a positive from the rest of the industry). There are some other interesting figures in there too, such as the return on assets.

It seems there may well have been problems at EA over the last 12 months, and the last quarter in particular. Of course, the extent to which their choice of material is a factor is still open to debate.

Still, it may well be more than just routine PHB verbiage.

Except for when the skilled labour tries to blow us up :-).

Reuters Article

http://secondlife.reuters.com/media/SDOC1202.pdf

You could read the court filing, instead of guessing.

He's claiming both trademark and copyright infringement. It looks like the emphasis is on the trademark, since that's a more clear cut case.

http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/topNews?t ype=topNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B9KobpniD QffCOR77fHrDXw&src=blogBurst_topNews&bbPostId=CzBh si93ZandcCzE5hO3Df3AuBCz6vliARh84afCzAIKUTFb2s5E&b bParentWidgetId=B7qp5dlHYnIr2YRoUoOjnxK

Saddam's extravagant Republican Palace (the largest of his palaces) is 41 acres,
The new American embassy will be 104 acres

Who's taking a loss? Apparently the mark-up on the 8 GB version is 55%.

It may take longer than a day...

Both Apple and AT&T shares are down.

According to Bill Shope, an analyst at JP Morgan, "we believe initial demand may have been disappointing, but it's still early."

Actually, it's 300,000 - 500,000 sold between Friday and Sat, according to most estimates. JP Morgan is saying 300k, and PiperJaffray is saying 500k. So it's somewhere in the middle.

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?s toryID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20070702:MTFH48869_2 007-07-02_14-36-39_N02339932&type=comktNews&rpc=44

You don't have to care about Apple at all to know that 38% of people aren't having problems with activation. Just ask Reuters. They say 2%, and I trust their sources infinitely more than an Engadget poll with roughly the same number of responses as every other Engadget poll and absolutely no mechanism to restrict responses--two clicks to a vote is an easy target.

Really? Then why did AT&T say today that they have sold out of iPhones at almost all of their stores?

Apple, btw, hasn't released any numbers, as they're most likely waiting until the start of the new week to mention anything.

The yes Men site links to the following article

A small quote

"Masquerading as officials from ExxonMobil and the U.S. National Petroleum Council, the two appeared before an oil industry audience and the buzz was that they would deliver long-awaited conclusions of a study commissioned by U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman."

Maquerading!=parody

Does this non-anecdotal evidence disagree with you?

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idU SL2273073120070523

I suspect your opinion about Americans being assholes has more to do with you than with Americans.

It means there's a nice warm international vacation destination with no Americans.

We're not so bad...

Google is a publicly held company, not a soup kitchen

Why you should read newspapers.

Not only did Reuters just publish an article, but there have been a flurry of websites all providing information on how to survive the sidewalk in various cities.

Reuters article on iPhone campers.

The original Reuters article, before it got "amended" by China Daily, is here:

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx? type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2007-06-21T212831Z_ 01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-304208-1.xml

This case specifically -> http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1 529267420070616?feedType=RSS&rpc=22 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/03/06/AR2007030602705.html

What does her brain have to do with a Kg?

http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/topNews?t ype=topNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B9KobpniD QffCOR77fHrDXw&src=blogBurst_topNews&bbPostId=CzBh si93ZandcCzE5hO3Df3AuBCz6vliARh84afCzAIKUTFb2s5E&b bParentWidgetId=B7qp5dlHYnIr2YRoUoOjnxK

Saddam's extravagant Republican Palace (the largest of his palaces) is 41 acres,
The new American embassy will be 104 acres

Even though some people have access to rumours earlier and have a better circle of friends, you can get yourself a Bloomberg and Reuters terminal and here you go you will have the same real-time news than the other traders !

It often comes down to the fact that some people are better at spotting/evaluating opportunities ...

Or Canada!

'cause he actually particapated in a failed coupe back in '92(Ars has already updated their article to show this). His goal isn't shutting down those who were necessarily against him, it's bringing as much as he can under governement control. He's recently enacted a bill where the private oil companies must give up at least 60%+ of the operations in the country(these were private companies that had already bought the rights, set up machinery, trained workers, and made Venzuela the oil producer it is today). He is flat out nationializing the country. While alot of what he is doing is helping his people, particularly those who usually suffer the most under government, it's not necessarily better for them in the long run.

Also, boycotting Citgo is hardly effective. They are just a gasoline distributer for Venezuela. The oil from the country goes out to all the sellers, except those who refuse to do so. Here is a good explantion.

Go is not yet as well-automated as chess, but it appears that go-playing software is rapidly advancing:

"Two Hungarian scientists have now come up with an algorithm that helps computers pick the right move in Go, played by millions around the world, in which players must capture spaces by placing black and white marbles on a board in turn.

"On a nine by nine board we are not far from reaching the level of a professional Go player," said Levente Kocsis at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' computing lab SZTAKI.

The 19 by 19 board which top players use is still hard for a machine, but the new method is promising because it makes better use of the growing power of computers than earlier Go software."

Link

See also:

http://zaphod.aml.sztaki.hu/papers/ecml06.pdf

http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/vanderwerf03solving.ht ml

http://www.primidi.com/2007/02/26.html

-kgj

I'm not sure why the Post is just getting around to this when everybody else was discussing it back in March:

USA Today

The BBC

Reuters. This last one has some interesting speculation on why altruism may be related to the similarly-entrenched idea that it's not OK to kiss your sister.

I was going to put something troll-ish in here about the fact that Slashdot seems to be serving up quite a bit of this warmed-over stuff recently--days and days after it's hit the mainstream news outlets. It would probably be a more effective use of time to go and read the article about Google and malware...

How about a website without a required login?
Nissan warns U.S. cellphones can disable car keys

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idU SL2272661220070323

So why is it again that China gets off scot-free while the US ends up at the bottom of the dogpile?

Well!! Obviously YOU don't speak the language!

Got milk?

http://www.reuters.com/resources/js/refresh.js

Might be the reason... adblock that javascript.

Thanks for the tip, but it doesn't work.
I installed that plugin and http://www.reuters.com/ still refreshes

Sony's stock overall just hit a five year high due to their exceeding sales in other departments.

That's not really correct. Sony's stock raised after the electronics maker forecast a six-fold jump in annual profit on sales of LCD TVs and expectations for smaller losses in its game division.
Reuters article here

Here the correct links are. Well, I hope. :-)

Biden shills for MPAA. Maybe he'll follow that link on Hollywood Accounting.
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN1 627037420070517

Oooohhh! Obligatory photo of pirated DVDs:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/18/news/international /bc.usa.china.currency.reut/

(Sadly) this isn't the Chinese government kissing American butt. They've got some "bad" publicity last week, so this poor sap is being made an example of.

Meanwhile the RIAA and MPAA continue to lie, cheat and steal with politicans at their bidding (that's the DMCA Congressman).

Microsoft selling software is like Exxon selling gasoline. Except that Exxon has better sense than to brag about their monopoly.

ExxonMobil is huge, exerts much influence, and makes dickloads of profit, but they have nowhere NEAR the stranglehold Microsoft does.

Apparently this is the rage in Australia right now. Cat Poo Coffee:

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSS YD8159120070516?src=051607_0854_ARTICLE_PROMO_also _on_reuters

Bunch of Savages, I tell ya.