NICOSIA, Cyprus ? A field off Cyprus where U.S. firm Noble Energy is conducting exploratory drilling holds an estimated 5-8 trillion cubic feet (140-230 billion cubic meters) of natural gas, a significant find for the small island, the country's president announced Wednesday.
Dimitris Christofias said the offshore discovery is attracting the interest of many foreign investors and is enabling the European Union member to contribute to the bloc's energy security. But it could also risk heightening tensions with rival Turkey, which doesn't recognize Cyprus as a sovereign state.
It's the first time the size of the deposit has been estimated based on actual drilling results. The site is some 115 miles (185 kilometers) south of the east Mediterranean island near a huge Israeli gas field being jointly developed by Noble Energy and Israeli energy company Delek, that is estimated at 17 trillion cubic feet (480 billion cubic meters).
Cyprus currently relies almost exclusively on imported oil for power generation and officials have said that a trillion cubic feet of gas could meet the island's energy needs for three decades.
"The discovery of hydrocarbons constitutes a historic development for our country and our people, filling us all with feelings of optimism for the future," Christofias said in a televised address.
More exploratory drilling will be needed at the field before work to extract the gas begins, Christofias said.
Noble Energy said the discovery further highlights the "quality and significance" of the area's oil and gas potential.
"We look forward to working closely with the Government of Cyprus to develop this discovery in a manner that maximizes value for all stakeholders," Noble Energy Chairman and CEO Charles D. Davidson said in a statement posted on the firm's Website.
Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north since 1974 when Turkey invaded after an abortive coup by supporters of a union with Greece. The island joined the EU in 1974, but only the south enjoys membership benefits.
Turkey opposes any energy search by Greek Cypriots on grounds that it could undermine the rights of Turkish Cypriots to oil and gas wealth.
Ankara has responded by dispatching a warship-escorted research vessel to look for gas and oil around Cyprus and has signed a maritime border and hydrocarbon exploration deal with the Turkish Cypriots.
It has also warned that the gas search could damage long-running reunification talks.
Greek Cypriots, however, contend that the gas could act as an incentive to speed up a peace accord that would allow Turkish Cypriots to share in any gas riches and benefit Turkey as well.
"We call on Turkey to demonstrate a spirit of peace and reconciliation and to refrain from any adventurist actions and provocations that cause problems to the talks and tension in the eastern Mediterranean," said Christofias.
Under strain from Europe's financial crisis, Cyprus officials see the gas find as a potential boost to the island's euro18 billion ($23.5 billion) economy, which is forecast to grow by a meager 0.2 percent of gross domestic product next year.
Christofias said a new licensing round for more offshore exploratory drilling inside the island's 17,000 square-mile (51,000 square-kilometer) exclusive economic zone will be launched soon.
Delek has proposed a partnership with Cyprus to build a facility on the island to process and export gas found in Cypriot and Israeli waters.
Cnbc's John Fortt reports on indicators that Apple may be readying a flat screen TV set for a mid-2012 rollout, a product launch that could rival the introduction of the iPhone.
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Apps have taken over the world. If you doubt that just take a look at this app map by Horace Dediu at Asymco which shows the 123 countries in the world where iPhones are available. Of course, anywhere you can get an iPhone, you can get an iPhone app. Like the Web, apps are distributed globally. But when it comes to "media" like books, music, and movies, the distribution is much more limited on digital devices. Again, only looking at Apple, Dediu counts only 51 countries where music is available through the iTunes store, and only 6 countries where TV shows are available (see map below). My first reaction is that Apple really needs to broaden its licensing efforts internationally. But remember, iTunes started going international in 2004, and there are still more countries where you can get only apps (72) than both music and apps. Except there already is a global market for digital media. They are called apps, and they represent the future of media in many ways. Apps are media. Not only are they a form of media in the way that consumer software and games have always been considered media (they compete with TV, books, and music for consumers' time and attention). But increasingly, they are also subsuming other forms of media.
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir resumed the Indian first innings after lunch against Australia on Day 2 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (AFP Photo)
NEW DELHI: Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag resumed the Indian first innings after lunch on the second day of the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
Scorecard
Gambhir and Sehwag took the Indian first innings to 6/0 at lunch.
Earlier, Zaheer Khan took four wickets and Umesh Yadav and R Ashwin scalped three each as India bowled out Australia for 333 runs in their first innings.
The last Australian wicket fell when Nathan Lyon was bowled round his legs by Ashwin.
Australia lost their ninth wicket when R Ashwin had Ben Hilfenhaus caught by Virat Kohli at long-on.
Zaheer Khan took his fourth wicket when he had Peter Siddle caught behind by MS Dhoni.
Siddle played well to score 41 runs but fell to Zaheer who was reversing the ball both ways.
Zaheer had Brad Haddin caught by Virender Sehwag at gully in the second over of the day.
Zaheer broke the stubborn 72-run stand between Haddin and Peter Siddle as Sehwag took a good low catch.
The day's play started with Haddin and Siddle resuming the Australian first innings.
Australia ended Day 1 at 277/6 after being 205/5 at one stage.
Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, both playing under the shadow of recent injuries and lay-offs, struggled with their line and length under an overcast sky on a moisture-laden pitch that aided lateral movement when the ball was pitched up.
The hosts opened with debutant Ed Cowan and the belligerent David Warner who were off to a steady start after skipper Michael Clarke won the toss and surprised many by choosing to bat first.
Cowan betrayed no nerves and displayed a fine defensive technique and the right temperament to succeed in Test cricket.
Warner made a sketchy 37 that included a breath-taking pull for six off Umesh Yadav and several airy-fairy shots. He was out off the first ball after a brief rain-induced stoppage at the stroke of the first hour of play when he top-edged a Yadav bouncer that ballooned up to Dhoni behind the stumps.
Shaun Marsh, who has usurped Ricky Ponting's No. 3 position, hardly did justice to the promotion when his intended off-drive off Yadav flew to point, where Virat Kohli held a low catch.
Ponting received a warm welcome from the fans and a hot one from Yadav. The Indian pacer tested the Aussie great with a well-directed bouncer. Ponting, who was late in reacting, was struck just above his elbow and on the grille of his helmet before he regained his bearings and managed to kick the ball away from close to his stumps.
The former Australian captain struggled right through his innings of 62 in the course of which he got beaten several times, overbalanced on a couple of occasions but hung in there to raise 113 runs for the third wicket with the dormant Cowan.
The duo made the Indian pacers pay for their lack of length in the post-lunch session that was delayed by around 40 minutes because of yet another spell of light rain. Just when frustration was creeping into the Indian ranks, Ponting departed much like he had started: a touch shakily. Yadav, having softened him up with a snorter that Ponting somehow managed to evade, got his next delivery to move away late and the batsman edged it to Laxman at second slip.
Clarke, who looked fluent in making a sparkling 31 with five crisply struck boundaries, added a further 46 runs in association with Cowan, but gifted Zaheer his wicket dragging a short ball on to his stumps.
Click through the slideshow to look at photos from the Faith House Manhattan Tour Bus:
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The sacred services we visited on our "Tour Bus" were experiences for our whole mind, body and soul. The photos in this slideshow are from the Tour and other Faith House events with the participating communities. All pictures by Sean McGinn, a member of Faith House Manhattan who has worked for over 15 years on numerous TV and documentary productions. He currently serves as the senior editor at odysseynetworks.org and has received an Emmy award for photography.
We are coming to a realization that religious zealots cannot be fought with indifference. Extremists of all nationalities and religious persuasion feeding on prejudice, legislating exclusion, and resorting to violence cannot be prevailed upon by people with less passion. Telling them to "cool down" and to "be moderate" will not do it. We must allow fires greater than theirs to arise. Our passion for a whole and interdependent word must rise above their passion for a segregated and zero-sum world.
In Faith House Manhattan, a non-profit inter-religious "community of communities," we believe that the time of isolated faith is over. We believe that to know who I am, I must also know who you are. For three years now we have hosted more than 60 Living Room gatherings where people can experiences the practices of another religion (or path, including atheism). We invite all to join our "co-laboratory" of interdependence: "Experience your neighbor's faith, deepen your own."
Our call is to get radical. Very radical. We hold that in today's world, religious people have to remap their reality to include -- in tension and in gratitude -- 'the other.' While our ancestors may have fought for independence, ours is the great struggle for interdependence. 'The other' is not over there, but all around us. While we have been conceiving of the world in vertical terms (whose party is better, whose institution is larger, whose nation is stronger, whose god is bigger), the world is becoming increasingly horizontal, and wonderfully so. Can we learn to be a part of the whole?
This past year, Faith House started a new program with four religious communities in Manhattan, who were part of a "Tour Bus" with reciprocal visits to each of our main religious gatherings. We brought people together to trespass imaginary boundaries while preserving the real ones. From an experience of worship at a Hindu temple, to a Jewish Shabbat service, to a Sufi Zikr, to midweek "Space for Grace" at a major Protestant church -- either as "Interfaith 101? or an opportunity for seasoned pilgrims to be hosts or guests in their own setting -- this seven-week adventure was a unique New York City experience.
One of the participants, Bhakti Center monk and teacher, Chris Fici, summarized the experience this way:
Experience Your Neighbor's Faith, Deepen Your Own. This is a personal revelation a lot of us have shared recently on the Faith House Bus Tour, as the different sounds, colors, tastes and waves of devotion we have experienced together in our different houses of faith have made a deep communal resonance in our souls.
Too often (at least from my own perspective) our own practice can become caught in the mechanical. Living as a monk, in an intense and insulated environment, I often see how my consciousness during our morning meditation is directed towards how tired I am, or how I might be upset with this monk or that monk. The beautiful essence of our prayers and singing and dancing together remains lost to me.
As I was soaking up the whirling sanctity at our wonderful Bus Tour event at the Dergah of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order, the pain of my own disconnection in my own practice became manifest, and that void was quickly filled by the wonderful and mystical people I saw around me, deeply absorbed in the love and vision of the Divine. I came to realize that what they were experiencing was something I had access to every day, if I chose to. I saw very clearly how we were all pearls on the same thread of God's mercy. I returned to my own community and practice with a sense of renewal that has stayed with me ever since.
The interfaith experience is very important for me, and I think for all of us as a common human family. The turbulence of our age calls for a communication between peoples of faith that transcends our superficial differences and allows us to drink from the immense well of wisdom God has given us, to give solace and take profound action to help cure our shared ills.
This turbulence also calls from us a tremendous maturity from our humility, from a recognition that we cannot possibly have the exclusive answers, that the pieces of the puzzle we need come from our brothers and sisters in faith. In Thomas Merton's journals of his final and fateful journey to India and Indonesia, where he breathed deeply of the eastern faiths that had always intrigued and inspired him, he related a realization in this regard that has deeply touched me.
He says that those who are mature in their faith are able to enter into the experience, philosophy, and practice of another faith and gain a practical wisdom which they can take back into their own renewed and strengthened spiritual life. This is the essence of my own personal adventure in interfaith. To be able to see of and hear of and speak about and taste of and move within the common thread of our faiths together is one of the most profound experiences I have ever had in my life. It links me to the maturity needed to answer the spiritual call of our time, and I imagine it may do so for you as well.
I am always eager to point out to others that New York City is a deeply spiritual place. I want to encourage others to develop the vision of the great rivers of faith which run through this town, which are not always visible beyond the surface tumult and loosely organized chaos.
When you come to New York City, you can enjoy a Broadway show, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, check out that special night club you found on Google, enjoy this gastronomical paradise with more than 4,000 restaurants, but don't miss the rich undercurrent of spirituality you can find at every corner. The many religious traditions can help you understand yourself, and perhaps rekindle a passion for your own faith, an encounter that will change you forever. You might even come back to your home and do something radical like taking time to understand the faith of the other, whose life is now inextricably intertwined with yours.
Read articles and reflections about each stop on the Faith House tour here.
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ABUJA (Reuters) ? Nigeria lacks competent leaders to tackle its security problems, a former military ruler said on Monday, following Christmas Day bomb attacks on churches by Islamist militants that killed more than two dozen people.
Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner who lost the last presidential election in April to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, said in a statement in a Nigerian daily that the government was slow to respond and had shown indifference to the bombings.
The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia law across Africa's most populous country, claimed responsibility for three church bombings, the second Christmas in a row it has caused carnage at Christian houses of worship.
Security forces also blamed the sect for two explosions in the north and fear is growing that Boko Haram is trying to ignite a sectarian civil war in a country split evenly between Christians and Muslims who for the most part co-exist in peace.
"How on earth would the Vatican and the British authorities speak before the Nigerian government on attacks within Nigeria that have led to the deaths of our citizens?" Buhari said in the statement published by Punch newspaper.
"This is clearly a failure of leadership at a time the government needs to assure the people of the capacity to guarantee the safety of lives and property," Buhari said.
He said the government needed to do more than spend more on security to deal with the problem.
Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the attacks "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) forever. It will end one day."
Pope Benedict on Monday condemned the attacks as an "absurd gesture" and prayed that "the hands of the violent be stopped."
The pope, speaking from his window overlooking St Peter's Square in Rome, said such violence brought only pain, destruction and death.
COORDINATED ATTACKS
The attacks, which came a few days after clashes between security forces and Boko Haram killed at least 68 people, show evidence of increasing coordination and strategy by the group that could ring alarm bells in Nigeria and Western capitals.
St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Madala, a satellite town about 40 km (25 miles) from the centre of the capital Abuja, was packed when the first blast exploded just outside after Christmas mass.
A few hours later, blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos, and at a church in Gadaka in the northern state of Yobe. Residents said many were wounded in Gadaka, but there were no immediate further details.
A suicide bomber killed four officials at the State Security Service in one of the other attacks in the northeastern town of Damaturu, police said. Residents heard two loud explosions and gunfire in the town.
A Reuters reporter at the church near Abuja saw the front roof had been destroyed, as had several houses nearby. Five burnt out cars were still smoldering. There were scenes of chaos, as shocked residents stared at the wreckage in disbelief.
"Mass just ended and people were rushing out of the church and suddenly I heard a loud sound: 'Gbam!' Cars were in flames and bodies littered everywhere," Nnana Nwachukwu told Reuters.
Father Christopher Barde, Assistant priest of the church, said: "The officials who counted told me they have picked up 27 bodies so far." Police cordoned off the area around the church. Thousands of furious youths set up burning road blocks on the highway from Abuja leading to Nigeria's largely Muslim north.
Police and the military tried to disperse them by firing live rounds into the air with tear gas.
"We are so angry!" shouted Kingsley Ukpabi, as a queue of hooting vehicles lined up behind his flaming barrage.
VIOLENCE SPREADS
Boko Haram - which in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria means "Western education is sinful" - is loosely modeled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
Its low level insurgency used to be largely confined to northeastern Nigeria, but it has struck several parts of the north, centre and Abuja this year.
Last Christmas Eve, a series of bomb blasts around Jos killed 32 people, and other people died in attacks on two churches in the northeast.
At the church near Abuja, a wounded man whose legs were almost shattered to pieces by the blast was loaded onto a stretcher near an ambulance by security services.
"I'll survive," he said in a hushed voice.
The blast in Jos, a tinderbox of ethnic and sectarian tensions where deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians have occurred, was accompanied by a shooting spree by militants, who exchanged fire with local police, said Charles Ezeocha, special task force spokesman for Jos.
"We lost one policeman and we have made four arrests. I think we can use them to get more information and work on that," he said. Police found four other explosive devices in Jos, which they deactivated, he added.
The White House condemned "this senseless violence and tragic loss of life on Christmas Day."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attacks and expressed his condolences "to the people of Nigeria and to the bereaved families."
"The Secretary-General calls once again for an end to all acts of sectarian violence in the country and reiterates his firm conviction that no objective sought can justify this resort to violence," a statement released by his office said.
(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Lagos, Tife Owolabi and Buhari Bello in Jos, Mike Oboh in Kano, a correspondent in Maiduguri and Philip Pullella in Vatican City; Writing by Tim Cocks and Bate Felix; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Top 10 Holy Sh*t Gaming Moments of 2011. GR - "Your videogaming experience of 2011 may be entirely limited to Team Fortress 2, so here are some videos to show you what you might've missed out on throughout the year." (PC, PS3, Wii ...
HOUSTON ? The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by 11 this week to 2,008.
Houston-based drilling product provider Baker Hughes Inc. reported Thursday that 1,201 rigs were exploring for oil and 802 for natural gas. Five were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week Baker Hughes reported 1,714 active rigs.
Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, New Mexico added four rigs, Wyoming added three and Texas added one.
North Dakota lost seven rigs, Colorado, Louisiana and Oklahoma each lost three and Alaska, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia each lost one. California was unchanged.
The rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. A low of 488 was recorded in 1999.
The weekly report, normally released Fridays, moved early because of Christmas.
WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich failed to qualify for Virginia's Super Tuesday primary ballot, the latest setback for a candidate whose standing in polls has been slipping. Gingrich's campaign said he would pursue an aggressive write-in campaign, though state law prohibits write-ins on primary ballots.
The state party said early Saturday that Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry had failed to submit the required 10,000 signatures to appear on the March 6 ballot.
Failing to get on the ballot in Virginia, where Gingrich lives, underscores the difficulty first-time national candidates have in preparing for the long haul of a presidential campaign.
And it illustrates the advantage held by Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who has essentially been running for president for five years. Romney's team, larger than those of most of his opponents, has paid close attention to filing requirements in each state. He will appear on the Virginia ballot along with Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who also has run a national campaign before.
Ironically, Gingrich had a slight lead over Romney in a Quinnipiac poll of Virginia Republicans released earlier in the week.
The former House speaker surged in popularity in early December and tried to use that momentum to make up for a stalled campaign organization. But his standing in polls has slipped in recent days amid a barrage of negative ads in Iowa, where the Jan. 3 caucuses begin the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.
Three other candidates ? Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman ? did not submit signatures before Virginia's deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday.
Gingrich's campaign attacked Virginia's primary system on Saturday, saying that "only a failed system" would disqualify Gingrich and other candidates and vowing to run a write-in campaign.
"Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates," Gingrich campaign director Michael Krull said in a statement. "We will work with the Republican Party of Virginia to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to make sure that all the voters of Virginia are able to vote for the candidate of their choice."
However, according to state law, "No write-in shall be permitted on ballots in primary elections."
"Virginia code prohibits write-ins in primaries. He can't do it," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at University of Richmond.
Tobias said Gingrich may have had trouble meeting a requirement that he must submit 400 signatures from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.
Gingrich's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gingrich had been concerned enough to deliver his signatures personally. Rushing Wednesday from New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Jan. 10, he had supporters sign petitions before entering a rally in Arlington, Va.
Virginia GOP spokesman Garren Shipley said in a statement that volunteers spent Friday validating signatures on petitions that Romney, Paul, Perry and Gingrich had submitted. "After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary," the party announced early Saturday on its Twitter feed. Shipley did not respond to telephone calls Saturday seeking comment.
Forty-six delegates will be at stake in Virginia's Super Tuesday primary. That's a small fraction of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination. But they could prove pivotal in a close race, especially for a candidate like Gingrich, who expects to do well in Southern contests.
Gingrich already missed the deadline to appear on the ballot in Missouri's Feb. 7 primary, though he insists it doesn't matter because the state awards delegates based not on the primary but on a Republican caucus held in March.
Meanwhile, Virginia's Democrats said President Barack Obama's re-election campaign gathered enough signatures to get him on the state's primary ballot though he was the only candidate who qualified.
___
Associated Press writers Will Lester and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.
When Twitter acquired Whisper Systems last month it was unclear what their intentions were for the encryption software maker. But a release from Twitter this week sheds some light on their goals with Whisper?s TextSecure. Released on Github as an open source project, TextSecure is now available for developers to use for SMS encryption on Android devices. Encryption can be added for all sent and received texts from an Android phone, and can encrypt texts for transmission if they?re being sent to another TextSecure user.
It?s part of Twitter?s goals to provide a more secure experience for Android texts, which are often used for sending in updates to Twitter. In appealing to the developer community, Twitter?s also doing what it knows best ? getting others to build out the service. Twitter has plans to make Whisper?s other software projects open source as well, though no details on expected release dates have been revealed. One of the more revered technologies from Whisper is WhisperCore 0.5, which offers an array of security tools for the Nexus S and Nexus One Android handsets.
Swype brings Dragon Dictate to Android
Twitter?s not the only one updating software for Android. Swype rolled out a major update to its beta this week, marking its first big revision since it was acquired by Nuance earlier this year. Taking advantage of its new parent company, Swype has incorporated Nuance?s flagship Dragon Dictate technology into its keyboard, in place of Google?s voice recognition tool. This is also the first time Dragon?s been available on Android, limited to iOS devices until now. Swype supports English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, with more languages expected for next year. Their language algorithm, always being tweaked, has been improved to better predict what you?re trying to say, learning your speech patterns and remembering phrases for later use.
Nuance, which is rumored to have contributed some of its technology to the iPhone 4S?s Siri tool, is making headway on Android?s OS. The race to launch Siri-like technology on Android phones has brought an onslaught of releases, and even speculation that Google?s working on its own Siri competitor in a project called Majel. Nuance is putting itself in a pretty good position to deeply incorporate more speech recognition and tasks with Android devices, especially by using Swype?s widely used app.
Toymaker sues Asus over Transformer tablet
In other Android news, it seems no one is safe from copyright infringement lawsuits. Asus is under assault from Hasbro, which is suing the Android tablet maker over their latest Transformer Prime device. If you?ve seen the Transformer movies in recent years (or are a child of the ?80s), you know that Optimus Prime is a lead character from the Transformers family, though it?s doubtful many consumers would expect Asus? tablet to re-configure itself into a talking robot. The Transformer Prime?s most futuristic feat is support for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a first for Android tablets on the market.
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#trueblue50 A Chinese court has sentenced veteran democracy activist Chen Wei to nine years i... bit.ly/t7j9mZ #christianpoliticsIl y a environ 5 heuresvia twitterfeed
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Playdom's Gardens of Time took the #1 spot of Facebook's Most Popular Games of 2011 list. But wait, Zynga's CityVille was ranked #3 despite peaking at over 100 million monthly active users and 21 million daily active users -- far more than Gardens of Time's peaks of 17 million MAU and 4 million DAU,?or its current stats according to AppData. That's because Facebook's list was mostly based on Yes / No user surveys of whether they'd recommend the game, and hardly on active user count like it said It's almost as if Facebook used its cloudy methodology to keep Zynga from?completely?dominating the list, as the Mark Pincus machine currently owns all 5 Facebook games with the most DAU and still ended up with 4 of the top 10 spots on Facebook's list.
David Beckham and his wife Victoria are reportedly furious after their adorable Christmas card of their children leaked online. The Beckhams sent out a Christmas [...]
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With a glossy 14.0" display, the Dell Inspiron laptop PC brings convenience and ease back into your technological world. Featuring an 8-in-1 card reader and USB connectivity, this Dell notebook computer has the multimedia connectivity to keep your social media presence current and up to date.Dell 14.0" Inspiron Laptop PC:
4GB DDR3 SDRAM system memory (expandable to 6GB) Gives you the comfort for multimedia videos and images, video conferencing, basic gaming and all the other simple duties
320GB SATA hard drive Store 213,000 photos, 91,000 songs or 168 hours of HD video and more on your Dell notebook computer
8x CD/DVD burner Watch movies, and read and write CDs and DVDs in multiple formats
10/100 Network Connector and 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Connect to a wired network or Wirelessly connect to a Wi-Fi signal or hotspot with the 802.11b/g/n connection built into your Dell 14" laptop PC
14.0" LED widescreen display Intel HD Graphics 3000
Additional Inspiron Laptop PC Features:
1.0MP webcam
8-in-1 memory card reader
3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x headphone jack, 1 x HDMI
6-cell Li-ion battery
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Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition. To learn more about the features of Windows 7 Click here
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2010 Full Version Pre-installed (To learn more about the features of Office 2010, click here)
McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days complimentary service
Backup and Restore options built into Windows allows you to create safety copies of your most important personal files, so you're always prepared for the worst
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1-year limited warranty and mail-in service
Restore discs are no longer included with PCs. We recommend you use the installed software to create your own restore and backup DVD the first week you use the Dell notebook computer.
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Official documentation
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To see the manufacturer's specifications for this Dell notebook computer, click here.
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Dell Black 14" Inspirion 14r-1090DBK 14" Laptop PC with Intel Processor, Windows 7, Microsoft Office Home & Student Full edition Pre-loaded and Pop.Click.Switch Lid. 4.4 5 17 22
Great value as an economy laptop computer. I bought this computer as an upgrade to an old netbook I've been dragging around since May of 2009. I do most of my work on my desktop computer, but I've been very impressed with this computer in the three weeks I've had it.For having the lower-end Intel chip, it is very fast at performing the things I like to do with it (having 12+ tabs open in several Chrome windows, iTunes, work in Word, Excel, and OneNote). I'm often doing these at the same time and it doesn't miss I beat. I know this isn't exactly power computing, but it's about all I ever need to do on my laptop.I did notice that it would sometimes freeze and require a hard restart upon resuming from sleep. I wonder if that is the cursor issue the other reviewer was experiencing; that is what I thought I was encountering at first. Instead, I did a little reading online and discovered that the default Dell settings for powering down the harddrive before sleep could cause the freeze on resume from sleep. I changed the power settings to not turn the harddrive off until sleep and I haven't had an issue.Considering the relatively small battery, I was also impressed with the battery life. I've been able to get 3 to 4 hours of use per charge with the display settings held to a low level of brightness.Overall for under $500 with Office included, I thought this was a fantastic buy. 07/26/2011
great computer for college student, includes office programs, smaller size fits in backpack with books, love it 07/25/2011
Good computer for the price After my Mac got water damaged after 5 years of ownership I wasn't really in the market for an expensive replacement computer... all I really needed was Microsoft Word and Excel to get through my last year of college. I found this computer at my local store and thought for having Office pre-loaded it was a very good value. I have had this computer for about a month now and I am very happy with it. I have had the cursor jump while using Word..but I use a wireless mouse and I don't seem to have the issue. I feel like I got a good computer for the price paid. I also enjoy being able to change the lid. 07/31/2011
Excellent laptop for the price! Great industry-standard laptop! Solid build, good equipment, Dell didn't fill it with useless software and utilities. Has some awesome quick-keys to access utility functions (like turning wireless on and off).Only problem I've had is it tends to take a while to boot. Haven't identified why yet, doesn't seem to be anything in particular bogging it down, but 60% of boots take double the time it should... I'll amend the post if I find the reason.Other than that, GREAT. Love it so-far, it's sleek and fun, and every cost-effective. 08/08/2011
1-4of18 total reviews
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PARIS (Reuters) ? French President Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity has remained stable but most voters continue to be unimpressed by his policies, a poll to be published in weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche Sunday showed.
The IFOP-JDD poll indicated 34 percent of respondents were satisfied with Sarkozy's policies - unchanged from November, when the president's popularity showed a three percent rise after three months of consecutive falls.
The poll only showed approval ratings for Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon, whose popularity inched up four percent in the last month.
As the euro zone debt crisis has continued to deepen, Sarkozy has sought to show voters he is a safe pair of hands, casting himself as a dynamic crisis fighter alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But 66 percent of respondents said they remained unhappy with his performance.
Separate polls have shown Sarkozy trailing in approval ratings behind his Socialist rival Francois Hollande, who is consistently tipped to beat him in the runoff for the presidential election that will take place in two rounds next April 22 and May 6.
(Reporting by Elena Berton; Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas and Brian Love; Editing by Sophie Hares)
COMMENTARY | In what was described as a muted ceremony by CNN on Thursday, the United States officially marked the end of the Iraq War.
With so many men and woman coming home now, one has to wonder what the legacy of the years-long conflict will be. For the Iraqi people, it will be most likely looked at as a jumping off point. For some veterans, the legacy could end up being one of something that was life-changing, initiated by deception.
When the United States first entered Iraq in 2003, it was part from the claims made public by then president George W. Bush that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. We eventually found out, of course, that there were no weapons of that kind. So the legacy of the Iraq War could be something horrible based on a lie.
From the point of the veteran, the war may have given us the feeling of being expendable. According to Sky Valley Chronicle, nearly 4,500 American men and women lost their lives in this war, not counting the ones that made it out alive with debilitating injuries that will affect them for the rest of their lives.
Look at the America that they will come home to. The epidemic of unemployment is rampant, and it seems it almost takes an act by presidential mandate to give veterans the opportunity to get a job when they get home. $800 billion was spent in Iraq, and I am pretty sure that very little of it had been spend on programs to reintegrate the soldier back into civilian life.
My opinion is this: The legacy of the Iraq War will be one of deception and selfishness borne on the backs of the soldiers that fought it. People profited from this war no doubt. In a quote from USA Today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that the lives lost in this war "were not lost in vain." Maybe if when everyone finally gets back home, if we as a country finally start treating military veterans with the honor that they should get instead of being thrown the scraps, possibly that quote can carry more truth. If we look at what happens to our military after they come home, hopefully we will be far more careful with what we send them to do.
Apps have taken over the world. If you doubt that just take a look at this app map by Horace Dediu at 
When Twitter acquired Whisper Systems last month it was unclear what their intentions were for the encryption software maker. But a release from Twitter this week sheds some light on their goals with Whisper?s TextSecure. Released on Github as an open source project, TextSecure is now available for developers to use for SMS encryption on Android devices. Encryption can be added for all sent and received texts from an Android phone, and can encrypt texts for transmission if they?re being sent to another TextSecure user.
Twitter?s not the only one updating software for Android. Swype rolled out a major update to its beta this week, marking its first big revision since it was acquired by Nuance earlier this year. Taking advantage of its new parent company, Swype has incorporated Nuance?s flagship Dragon Dictate technology into its keyboard, in place of Google?s voice recognition tool. This is also the first time Dragon?s been available on Android, limited to iOS devices until now. Swype supports English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, with more languages expected for next year. Their language algorithm, always being tweaked, has been improved to better predict what you?re trying to say, learning your speech patterns and remembering phrases for later use.
christnewsrep 
Playdom's Gardens of Time took the #1 spot of Facebook's 
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