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According to Reuters...

"LONDON (Reuters) - Initial tests on an Italian contact of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko show no sign of radiation poisoning, a British hospital said on Saturday.

Mario Scaramella was admitted to hospital in London when polonium 210, the same radioactive substance that killed Litvinenko, was detected in his body.
...
"He is well. Preliminary tests so far show no evidence of radiation toxicity," a spokesman for London's University College Hospital said of Scaramella. Further tests are due to be carried out over the weekend."

Only by the time AMD releases their 65nm stuff, Intel will be at 45nm http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.asp x?view=CN&storyID=2006-11-27T225533Z_01_N27466640_ RTRIDST_0_INTEL-MANUFACTURING.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

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"These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,. So it's time to get paid for it," is not from the Reuters press release. I think it originally appeared in the Billboard article announcing the Zune launch, unless it comes from an earlier interview with Doug Morris.

In the words of Universal Music's Doug Morris, "These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,. So it's time to get paid for it."

I'm looking in the linked article and I don't see the quote anywhere. The article itself is very short, so it's not that I'm missing it in all the text.

Did you link to the wrong article, or are you over-sensationalizing the article?

The only quote in the article is:

"It would be a nice idea. We have a negotiation coming up not too far. I don't see why we wouldn't do that... but maybe not in the same way," [Universal Music Group Chief Executive Doug Morris] told the Reuters Media Summit, when asked if Universal would negotiate a royalty fee for the iPod that would be similar to Microsoft's Zune.

"The Zune (deal) was an amazingly interesting exercise, to end up with a piece of technology," he added.

The plan to change the 1USD bill with a coin is already underway. It was in the news a few days ago. They will feature a different dead president every 3 months with Nixon being the last already-planned coin in 2016. Personally, I like the way the euro currency is designed. The coins increase in size and change colour based on value (penny being the smallest and 2eu being the biggest), as do the bills. So when it comes time to pay a waiter, you can just reach into your pocket and feel whether or not you have enough 1- and 2-eu coins to cover it without taking them out and showing everybody how pathetically broke you are. Not to mention one time I got paid in cash at work and I have to admit I felt like a pretty big wheel down at the cracker factory when I was folding up that enormous 500eu bill.

Here is the article about the 1$ coin:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=domesticNews&storyID=2006-11-20T134325Z_01_N2025 2060_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECONOMY-COIN.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHo me-C3-domesticNews-2

I don't see why this is a big deal. The fact that a person is making money providing a service using a MMORPG (or MMORLS if you prefer) is really no different from someone making money with any other kind of internet business. I don't see how this is much different from someone selling custom-made clothes for your Sims. Besides we already have in-game advertising, and the SL Reuters "branch office" .. does it surprise anyone that somebody's found a viable business angle? And will it surprise anyone when the new Democratic Congress starts pushing legislation through to tax it?

First: not everyone in the world has a government that allows them the same free speech rights as [your wonderful country here]

Second: I imagine that the blogger knew that criticizing government officials &/or Islam was a bad career move.

As usual, TFA isn't that informative.
Google News will usually lead you to a much better (Reuters) article

Here's the essentials:
Egyptian police detained an opposition blogger in a chance security check on Sunday, a human rights group said.

Blogger Rami Siyam, ..., was detained with three other bloggers leaving a friend's house... The four had been visiting Mohamed el-Sharkawi, himself a blogger who was detained in late July and held for almost three months.

The area is home to the opposition Ghad (Tomorrow) party's headquarters, and security was especially tight in preparation for President Hosni Mubarak's speech to parliament on Sunday.

Police asked the four for identification.... They told Siyam their records showed he faced a court case in Sharkia province, and he would be transferred there for further checks. The other three were released.

It doesn't seem to me that the Egyptian Gov't went out of its way to nab this guy

11/20/06

According to iSuppli's most recent analysis, the premium version of the Xbox 360 game machine equipped with hard disk drive has a manufacturing and materials total of $323.30, based on an updated estimate using costs in the fourth quarter of 2006. This total is $75.70 less than the $399 suggested retail price of the Xbox 360. Even though it is obvious that Microsoft still has to subtract freight, toll, retail partner's profit and other possible charges, it is highly likely that Microsoft has either managed to reduce its loss to minimal, or is making a tiny profit selling the $399 flavour of the Xbox 360.

Yep, and Victoria still washes its raw sewage into the ocean which drifts into American waters (Victoria the good neighbour you wished you didn't have). Very eco-friendly of Victoria (not). You see, this is another instance of Canadian environmentalism.

This is the same thinking that got the Canadian federal government to sign the Kyoto agreement and then allow air emissions to increase almost 35% instead of reducing them (to be fair, this really is mostly the former Liberal government's fault for signing the agreement but failing to pass any laws or regulations with teeth/penalties for not complying... only voluntary guidelines for industry... what a joke). Whether you agree with Kyoto or not, if you sign an agreement to do something, you do it. Now it is economically impossible to meet the limits they agreed to without bringing the country to screaming stop.

In Canada, if it is convenient, we'll do something. If it is not, we'll say how we should do it, and do nothing. Time to go, I need get my hypocritical ass over to go look for a Hummer H2 to get my groceries up my West Vancouver driveway before I protest about the environmental impact of the Eagle Ridge bluffs highway expansion (I'm worried the highway might block the construction company my mutual fund has bought into from building more condos up the side of the mountain in West Vancouver you see). Yep that highway is really an environmental issue causing the financial environment of the price of my house I had built on pristine mountain side to go down. I am Joe and I am Canadian.

http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/11/15/l inden-bans-copybot-following-resident-protests/

As does Air France. Google's English translation here.

Sony's got lines of 1,200 in Japan, at least according to Reuters.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx? type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-11-11T074306Z_01_ NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-275847-1.xml

According to IGN, however, the Wii lines are already bigger:

http://au.wii.ign.com/articles/744/744970p1.html

What sort of person sinks so low as to make his own ridiculous anecdotes? Cite some sources, and have them be unreliable as heck. That's the way to go about it.

Look here:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=industryNews&storyID=2006-11-09T091511Z_01_N0945 8311_RTRIDST_0_INDUSTRY-DEMOCRATS-DC.XML

"I'm trying to contain my joy," MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman told The Hollywood Reporter.

Look at the fact--Rep. John Conyers take over Judiciary. You can say 'Boucher is great, or Berman is bad' but they are minor players compared to Conyers and the power of the chairmanship (Conyers was the author of the 'analog hole' bill along with a host of other bidding on behalf of the RIAA).

Stop drinking the Kool-aid. This was no better a result than the previous crowd staying in control...

The space station is being built again. India is planning manned missions into space. A shift in power in the US Government. Now we're creating a Universal Translator! How exciting these times we live in.

Unfortunately, I find myself slipping into a more cynical attitude than yours because of those darn polls that repeatedly show that the vast majority of Americans think Saddam Hussein was connected to 9/11 --

What? But how could they think that? George Bush says (now) that there was no connection.

On the other hand, you'll notice that polls have been showing for some time that most people in the US think we should get out of Iraq, already... Just to pick one.

I think the American people can be awfully slow-witted -- certainly they seem like it to someone willing to sit down with a DSL line and do some web searches, but they do catch on eventually.

Try listening to this if you need your spirits picked-up a bit: My Strange Nation (warning: flash site, non-flash alternative is broken).

Saddam Hussein's U.S. attorney was ejected from the court before the verdict was even read (at least his U.S. attorney with a conscience was). Oh, and there is the little matter of the head trial judge having been ousted 45 days before this verdict was read. This proceeding was a sham.

It's not so amazing, actually. Those charges coming to trial would allow the presentation of evidence that would show the complicity of the US government in those actions. At that time, the US was playing a very active role in helping to ensure that Iraq did not lose the war with Iran.

Before then, however, he will continue to stand trial for genocide against the Kurds. He is due back in court on Tuesday.

Yeah, because this trial has not been a circus. The Iraqi government (installed by the United States, not really sovereign in any sense of the word) actually removed the chief judge overseeing the trial 45 days ago. So basically the executive branch did not like how things were going in the trial and so stepped in and changed the judge. And we are supposed to believe this was anything but not a fair trial?

The new judge just ejected the U.S. attorney of Saddam Hussein. Don't expect this to be reported widely, even as the verdict is.

the outcome of Saddam's orders was easy to predict, which is in striking contrast to US military policy.

Actually the U.S. military had already done the predictive exercises and determined it would be a very bad idea to go into Iraq with anything less than 400,000 soldiers. And even then the predictions were dire. Of course, Bush has not held up his hand and told the American people he had access to this intelligence from less than four years before he decided to invade Iraq. In other words, there is no striking contrast. George Bush and Saddam Hussein are two peas in a pod.

I wonder how many people will see this report Monday morning?

The OFFP was successful in its mission. Saddam didn't make all that money mainly be circumventing OFFP regulations, but through oil smuggling, something the UN itself didn't have the power or mandate to stop. The US did, however, and not onyl failed — with they even helped with the smuggling.

So, to counter your argument with something similarly simplistic, the Internet will be fine under US control until your politicians start a War on the Internet, Operation Internet Storm or decides for an online regime change.

A little off topic, but your point about canidates trying to score points near the election triggered something I have been waiting for people to start discussing, but haven't seen.

I have been hearing lots of reports about how Bush has stated over and over that he has confidence the Republicans will maintain control of the house. He even critcised a comment made by his father, about how hard the next few years will be if the Democrates take control of the house, and Bush's response was "He shouldn't be speculating like this, because -- he should have called me ahead of time and I'd tell him they're not going to (win),"http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.a spx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-10-22T193206Z_0 1_N22305445_RTRUKOC_0_US-BUSH-FATHER.xml. Even thou this sounds like an admission that he plans to steal the election, and I wouldn't put it past him to try, most election fraud is to swing just enough votes to win a close election, so far it doesn't look like this election is close. I think instead he is going to use Bin Laden's trial to scare people into voting Republican. I just can't see it being a coincedence that the verdict is being read 2 days before elections http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,221101,00.html

I suspect they will call for an execution, probably Nov 6th or 7th. They are using a man's life to gain points in an election. This man was a US ally for many decades. Even assuming he is guilty and should be taken out of power, should his life be used as a pawn to sway the American vote.

On a similar subject, I also heard on the news that the Republicans are releasing a campaign "warning" people of more terroist attacks if they are not re-elected http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/10/19/gop-to-ru n-ad-warning-aga_n_32103.html. Terroism is defined by the US Department of Defense as "the unlawful use of -- or threatened use of -- force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives." How does this not fall under that definition?

I was hoping that the time was drawing near for people to wake up and change the current situation in goverment, but I don't have enough faith in people anymore to think for themselves instead of believing whatever they are told by our goverment on TV.

It's amazing how much ineptitude seems to be rising to the top at Sci-Fi and NBC Universal.

Bonnie Hammer cancels Farscape, a show with a dedicated fan base, because she thinks that the serialized plotline is too hard for the fans to follow. She makes this decision just as the Internet is starting to become a good way for fans who miss an episode to keep up with the series (iTMS started months later, and it should have been obvious to anyone that television and movies would eventually make their way to iTunes). She replaces it with the single-season flop Tremors: The Series, and is rewarded for her poor judgment by being promoted to President of USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel.

Mark Stern shoots the company in the foot by cancelling Stargate SG-1 (another show with a dedicated fan base) despite strong backing from its production company, MGM. To add insult to injury, Stern refuses to let MGM court other TV networks for a new home for SG-1. This is combined with the decision to separate the SG-1 franchise from its follower, Battlestar Galactica. Shortly thereafter, the nature of the synergy between Stargate and BSG is revealed, as BSG's season premiere ratings were substantially lower than last season's premiere. MGM plans to release new SG-1 content direct to DVD, and they may end up producing a full Season 11 for iTunes and DVD. NBC Universal won't see a dime from those projects.

Sci-Fi Channel is also diluting their brand by airing professional wrestling, despite it already being carried on USA, in an apparent effort to mimic Spike TV, which at least runs five hours of Star Trek every weekday.

Now, Marc Graboff gets on the BSG production team's bad side by screwing them out of residuals, and tries to justify it by blaming it all on the BSG production team.

And finally, NBC decides to yank dramas and comedies from the 8pm time slot because they're "too expensive" compared to reality shows. Never mind that NBC rode the top of the rating charts for years on the backs of shows like Seinfeld and Friends (and, later in the evening, ER and Law & Order). It's almost as if NBC decided that being in last place with crappy-but-cheap shows was better than being top dog, and if they put Deal or No Deal on five nights a week, last place is where they'll end up.

Today there was also a big story about how NBC Universal is laying off about 5% of their workforce. I wonder if they're taking suggestions for whom to axe.

Funny how, as others have mentioned, one can never get a copy of any of the supposed studies which 'prove' whatever it is the product claims. Like Kevn Trudeau and his scam or the now discredited DHEA claim, this too will be shown to be a false promise of getting something for nothing.

NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Visa, the world's largest credit card payment system, said on Wednesday that it plans a series of restructuring moves that will ultimately result in the sale of shares through an initial public offering.

"They can train themselves over the Internet. They never have to necessarily go to the training camp or speak with anybody else and that diffusion of a combination of hatred and technical skills in things like bomb-making is a dangerous combination" - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff

Since when have lives mattered during this war? I doubt that most American soldiers would give a damn about talking to Iraqi civilians. Based on past incidents, they shoot first, kill innocent people, and then there are no consequences later.

Hell, even CNN is reporting about over 500,000 Iraqis being killed so far. Reuters reports that US casualties are rising.

Lives are already been lost, and at an astounding rate. I doubt this sort of technology will in any way save the lives of Iraqi civilians, or protect American troops.

Whoever decided to sue children over a bad joke should be locked away from society themselves. These kids and their parents don't deserve fines or jail time. They should have had their behinds tanned, been grounded for a month or so and have to do some community service. Why does this woman even care if others think she is a lesbian? Being a teacher she should be very used to kids saying untrue and nasty things about her. When I was in high school I was a horrible kid and I don't know how many times I said this teacher or principal was gay or a lesbian. It was the normal insult that most of my friends used. Now that I'm an adult I see how silly using gay or lesbian as an insult. If she acted like an adult and simply told the kid's parents and had the site removed the problem would have been solved without making her look like she has something to hide. Not that anyone should be hiding if they are gay/lesbian, not like their is anything wrong with it. Animals have been doing it for a long time. Those that doubt some animals are gay check this article that ran in Reuter's today. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=scienceNews&storyID=2006-10-12T124838Z_01_L12870 614_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-HOMOSEXUALITY.xml&WTm odLoc=NewsArt-C2-NextArticle-2

We are not the solution. North Korea is China's dog. The Chinese leadership have allowed North Korea to survive because they share communist idiology. But China's patience is wearing thin, China has a large ethnic korean population near the border. The Chinese military has quite a few generals who are openly disgusted by the way North Korea treats it's people. This statement openly condemning them is a very positive sign. China needs to find a way to get rid of Kim Ill Jong while keeping North Korea as a country intact. The last thing China needs is hundreds of thousands of impoverished koreans flooding their country. China would also not be happy with the prospect of North Korea united with a prosperous South Korea. That whole democracy thing might give their own people ideas. The US doing anything unilateraly in China's backyard would be foolish. This is a problem that Asian countries needs to fix not the US. If anyone is going to take out pyongyang it needs to be asian. I'm retired Air Force, I spent 3 years of my life in South Korea, they have a great culture and country. I would hate to see any war there.

Fair enough, I don't have first hand knowledge, the impression some websites I found when I first heard of this story, indicate they are a big Microsoft shop.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.asp x?view=PR&symbol=MSFT.O&storyID=84359+03-Oct-2006+ BW&type=qcna
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2001/jul0 1/07-17tescopr.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/canada/casestudies/tesco. mspx

I'm not sure where I read the .net thing from, possibly it was Sainsburys or ASDA rather than Tescos though.

Actually, Reuters is reporting it. Yahoo! is simply syndicating it.

Since they came out, prices of iPods have dropped before the pre-holiday shopping season if there was not a major advance for the time being. Apple's pricing scheme indeed fits right in with their history of pricing. Zune, however, will be sold for a loss. This articlehas Scott Ericson, the senior marketing director for Zune flat out saying they don't plan to make money this year. It looks like they are using the good old Xbox strategy of... lose money on every unit. Except by the time manufacturing costs come down enough fot the $249 price point to be profitable, Apple will have already reduced the price again (while still making a profit) or come out with an upgraded version of the iPod at around the same price point.

People might wonder why Microsoft is getting into the businesses, but to me it seems they are really pulling a reverse monopoly tactic. Yez, they are leveraging the profits they make in one market to enter another. But they are not entering the other market in order to make a profit, they are more likely entering the other markets in order to increase tie in on their primary market (Windows.)

You are happy, working, providing neat products. Your employees are happy, customers satisifed? Well, sounds OK to me.

Look at this dudes idea about selling out. Sometimes it is better to just do what you are doing at the level you are doing it at and be happy! Companies that get that "must keep growing faster and faster or we fail it!" are not the ultimate. They are just one type of business mindset, no law says you have to emulate them.

Remember the guy who was denied access to the plane until he removes his T-shirt bearing "We will not be silenced" in both Arabic and English?http://in.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArtic le.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-08-30T071006Z_ 01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-265380-1.xml

Wal-Mart says they didn't say that...

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=domesticNews&storyid=2006-09-22T185622Z_01_WEN58 36_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-WALMART-STUDIOS.xml&src=rss& rpc=22

Whoever said it was accurate? Reuters has anotherr story. http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.asp x?view=CN&storyID=2006-09-22T233423Z_01_N22181208_ RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-WALMART-STUDIOS-UPDATE-2.XML&rpc=6 6&type=qcna

"In Thailand, IMHO if you legitimately elect a leader, and he makes decisions the population doesn't like but which are within his authority, you have only a few legitimate options: Use the legal process to take away the authority or dissolve the office altogether, use legal authority to force early elections, or wait until the next election."

Apparently you haven't been reading the news lately: Thai coup leader to install new PM in two weeks. Looks like Thailand opted for the military option. ;-)

apparently the HD-DVD drive will launch in japan on Nov. 22 for about $180USD.

I find this odd for several reasons. a) There is no "Xmas shopping craze" in japan. b) they'll miss out on said craze in North America.

The only reason why I can see them doing this is because they're getting really desperate to get some units out in japan. Selling 1000 consoles a week just isn't going to cut it, and they know that. Well, you gotta give them some credit for being persistant. Not many companies can fail so badly in a region and STILL pump all that money into it.

Some other poster wrote: "BTW, do not confuse the story with real life on either side."

She wasn't. Here's a story from today's business headlines: $600M, then $800M in bri^H^H^Hconcessions were offered by Exelon to various state/regulatory agencies to grease the palms and enable Exelon to take over PSEG at a pretty high premium, and the NJ bureaucrats held out for more. Finally, CEO John Rowe Shrugged. Glad I own EXC and not PEG today.

P.S. It's "Ayn" Rand. But other than that, you're getting it.

So staying on the job and telling people things they didn't want to hear (which were nonetheless true) qualify as destroying the country. Whereas falling asleep at the switch for 9/11 and Katrina, failing to catch Osama Bin Laden, burning lives and credibility and money in fighting the wrong enemy, shredding the Constitution in the name of defending our freedoms, literally walking all over the flag, handing important political appointments to useless cronies like Michael Brown and Harriet Meiers, defaming the patriotism of credible critics, deliberately dividing the country between mindless supporters and "traitors" (anyone who disagrees with him) -- those things are comparable to, let me look at it again: a speech, and staying on the job during a crisis. Yeah. That's pretty fucking destructive.

You'll have to try harder than that. Worst President Ever takes an awful lot of fucking up, and Carter just didn't put his heart into it like he oughta.

Fact is, the leaks were a symptom of the larger problem: a lack of trust across the boardroom. Even if you ignore the moral and legal implications of spying on your own board-members (and you shouldn't), tackling the leaks alone without tackling the larger problem, a lack of trust, is lying applying band-aid for a hairline fracture.

As for why the tech press, CNET and Slashdot included, is going so strongly on Dunn, well, it isn't rocket-science is it: this time, it's personal. HP spied on everyone including that CNET's reporter's dad; obviously, there are a lot of pissed off individuals out (t)here.

Meanwhile, there's more breaking news.

ok, forget. sorry. here it is:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-09-08T124607Z_01_T73859 _RTRUKOC_0_US-SONY.xml&from=business

yes, something smells bad...

cause i can

after reading this reuters article, my guesses were pretty close after all.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=newsOne&storyid=2006-09-05T092812Z_01_SP34161_RT RUKOC_0_US-AUSTRALIA-IRWIN.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-R1 -MostViewed-1

Go figure.

http://today.reuters.com/HelpAndInfo/ContactUs.asp x

Click on 'Contact a Reuters Editor', third option down.

It was disappointed in the article format. Here's the Printer Friendly version

It'll use Windows Media:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=technologyNews&storyID=2006-08-29T181329Z_01_WEN 4632_RTRUKOC_0_US-SPIRALFROG.xml

The theater experience isn't dead, in fact this movie made it come back to life! According to this article:

"Movie chain AMC Entertainment Inc. said pranksters at one of its Phoenix theaters released two live diamondback rattlesnakes during a showing of the film "Snakes on a Plane" last Friday. No one was injured."

Reuters has the story here:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=entertainmentNews&storyID=2006-08-22T223648Z_01_ N22280791_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-USA-SNAKES.xml&archive d=False

This doesn't prove it safe.

Would you rather see the occasional headline:

40,000 volunteer vaccine test ends in failure; 76% fatality rate.

Take a at this. That's what happens when a "Phase I" or earlier trial goes bad.

They now know that this vaccine won't immediately cause death in most cases. Now, they can continue to test it.