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Thursday, December 13, 2012

UN nuke inspectors renew efforts to engage Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? A U.N. inspectors' team is in Tehran in a renewed effort to engage Iran and secure access to a site linked to suspected nuclear activity.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said Thursday the seven-member team ? headed by Herman Nackaerts, a deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency ? would meet with Iranian nuclear officials.

The report says the two sides will try to reach a framework for restarting talks on Iran's nuclear program.

The IAEA has demanded for over a year to visit Parchin military site, which the agency says could have been used for experiments related to nuclear weapons. Iran insists the site is only a conventional military facility.

The West suspects Iran is trying to make a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies the charge.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-nuke-inspectors-renew-efforts-engage-iran-073941455.html

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98% Chasing Ice

All Critics (43) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (1)

The most important documentary of the year.

"Chasing Ice" is a grand adventure, a visual amazement and a powerful warning.

If you're looking for eye-popping evidence that the world's glaciers are melting, don't miss the small-scale but spectacular documentary, Chasing Ice.

The rapid disappearance of ice mountains, filmed over a period of years, is compressed through time-lapse technology into minutes and seconds. The speeded-up effect is harrowing and also, disturbingly, eerily beautiful.

The movie might have given us a bit less of Balog and a bit more of the startling sequences he produced.

Though the filmmaker's point of view on the matter seems quite clear, Orlowski does smartly acknowledge counterarguments against climate change without dwelling on them.

Chasing Ice is a uniquely visual adventure with a chilling message warmed by Balog's humanity.

Still an eco-sceptic? Clap your eyes on this lot. Awe-inspiring, terrifying, transcendently beautiful, and absolutely weighted with significance for the future of the planet.

This is a well made Documentary that becomes very involving because it's just as much about Balog's journey as it is about global warming.

Makes a convincing case that the story of climate change is best told by pictures, not words.

Despite its dire message about rising carbon dioxide levels polluting the Earth, Chasing Ice is a beautiful film, with stunning visits to snowy realms with deep blue water.

Pictures, of course, say more than a thousand flowcharts or Al Gore's PowerPoint presentations. The images here are as glorious as those in any nature documentary ever made.

"Chasing Ice" is that movie that every environmentally conscious person has been waiting for, if only to show their right-wing relatives who parrot the standard oil-industry-funded line that "the science is still uncertain."

Perhaps most eloquent of all -- the most frightening and heartbreaking proof that something is wrong -- lies in the documentary's incredible imagery.

Uses time-lapse photography to show just how drastically fast ice sheets up yonder are turning to water, raising sea levels.

Beautiful photography, chilling conclusions.

Visually spectacular montages of ice floes receding that will make you gasp and move you to tears.

Postpones the inevitable conclusion long enough to tell a good story

So long as filmmaker Jeff Orlowski keeps his focus on the findings from (James) Balog's Extreme Ice Survey (EIS)..."Chasing Ice" is gripping.

[VIDEO ESSAY] ...renders absolute proof of global warming a.k.a. climate change.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chasing_ice_2012/

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Google Maps return to iPhone with new mobile app

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Google Maps have found their way back to the iPhone.

The world's most popular online mapping system returned late Wednesday with the release of the Google Maps' iPhone app. The release comes nearly three months after Apple Inc. replaced Google Maps as the device's built-in navigation system and inserted its own maps into the latest version of its mobile operating system.

Apple's maps proved to be far inferior to Google's. The product's shoddiness prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to issue a rare public apology and recommend that iPhone owners consider using Google maps through a mobile Web browser or seek other alternatives until his company could fix the problems. Cook also replaced the executive in charge of Apple's mobile operating system after the company's maps became a subject of widespread ridicule.

Among other things, Apple's maps misplaced landmarks, overlooked towns and sometimes got people horribly lost. In a particularly egregious example flagged this week, Australian police derided Apple's maps as "life-threatening" because the system was steering people looking for the city of Mildura into a sweltering, remote desert 44 miles from the desired destination.

Google Inc., in contrast, is hailing its new iPhone app as a major improvement from the one evicted by Apple.

"We started from scratch," said Daniel Graf, mobile director of Google Maps. Google engineers started working on the new app before Apple's Sept. 19 ouster, Graf said, though he declined to be more specific.

The additional tools in the free iPhone mapping app include turn-by-turn directions. Google's previous refusal to include that popular feature on the iPhone app while making it available for smartphones running on its own Android software is believed to be one of the reasons Apple decided to develop its own technology. The friction that has developed between Google and Apple as they jostle for leadership in the increasingly important smartphone market also played a role in the mapping switch.

Google's new iPhone mapping app also will offer its street-level photography of local neighborhoods for the first time on Apple's mobile operating system, as well as three-dimensional views, public transit directions and listings for more than 80 million businesses. The iPhone app still lacks some of the mapping features available on Android-powered phones, such as directions in malls and other buildings.

There still isn't a Google mapping app for Apple's top-selling tablet computer, the iPad, but the company plans to make one eventually. Google, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., declined to say when it hopes to release an iPad mapping app. For now, iPad owners can use the maps in an iPhone mode. That won't be the best experience, but it still may be better than Apple's maps on the iPad.

Google's free mapping solution is likely to become one of the hottest commodities in Apple's app store, if for no other reason because of pent-up demand among iPhone owners fed up with Apple's alternative. Some iPhone owners even refused to upgrade to Apple's newest software, iOS 6, because they didn't want to lose access to the old Google mapping application built into iOS 5 and earlier versions.

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment about Google's new apps late Wednesday, but it approved the technology before its release.

Graf said Google isn't hoping to make Apple look bad with its new mapping app. "On maps, we have a friendly relationship," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-maps-return-iphone-mobile-app-053341404--finance.html

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Zynga unveils Elite Slots; social game firms added to Belgian online ...

Peter Amsel
December 12, 2012
No Comments

Social gaming outfit Zynga has announced the imminent release of Elite Slots, the company?s first ?synchronous, multiplayer slots game.? The six-themed game is a hybrid of traditional slots play with what game design director Josh Gause referred to as ?a massive quest system within the game.? Players can select one of 26 cutesy animals (turtles, penguins, chihuahuas, etc.) as their avatar and team up with 149 other players in their particular game room to battle evil villains (witches, vampires, abominable snowmen), so long as your definition of ?battle? involves nothing more vigorous than tugging frantically on the slots lever. The game will be the first Zynga title to launch since the company rejigged its deal with Facebook to end the social network?s exclusivity on Zynga?s output. That said, Elite Slots is set to debut on Facebook before branching out to other platforms. And no, the game isn?t currently set up for real-money play.

As the line separating social gaming from real-money online gambling grows increasingly hazy, the intense focus regulators normally reserve for online gambling operators is increasingly being turned on social game outfits. Among the 10 names added this week to the Belgian Gaming Commission?s (BGC) blacklist of unlicensed and unwanted online operators were two social gaming firms ? Denmark?s Spigo and the Netherlands? Spelpunt. The move came less than a month after BGC representatives warned attendees at the World Regulatory Briefing conference that if a social game was played for stakes and involved an element of chance, the regulators wouldn?t hesitate to act.

Belgium?s definition of a ?game of chance? differs from most EU countries in that it doesn?t require the ability to win anything via the game; it?s enough that a player?s stake can be lost. BGC legal counsel Peter Naessens told GamblingCompliance that while some of the two blacklisted firms? games were ?innocent,? they also charged players real money to play games like mahjong and blackjack in the hope of winning prizes with a monetary value. Rik Haandrikman, director at Spelpunt?s owner GamePoint, didn?t understand the BGC?s stance, describing Spelpunt?s games as ?like playing Pacman in an arcade a decade ago. Yes, you can put the money it, but you can?t take it out.? Spigo, on the other hand, allows players to transfer winnings to their bank accounts provided said winnings were achieved via what ?the Danish Gaming Authority consider to be mainly skill games.? We sincerely hope this sparks a massive ?skill v. luck? debate among Pacman users, at least, those who are still alive.

Meanwhile, the news that Facebook would host a real-money online gambling offering from 888 has generated the boilerplate ?think of the children? response from the Daily Mail. Under headlines screaming about ?tempting young to gamble,? the Mail quotes go-to denouncer of all things gambling Mark Griffiths as saying the Facebook/888 tie-up would create ?the problem gamblers of tomorrow.? Since the article in which Griffiths is quoted appears alongside the Mail?s traditional assortment of female celebrities in barely-there bikinis and a ?get naked with Bar Rafaeli? photo essay, could the Mail be said to be creating the ?problem wankers of tomorrow?? Won?t someone think of the hairy-palmed children?

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Views and opinions expressed are those of the Author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com

Source: http://calvinayre.com/2012/12/12/business/zynga-elite-slots-social-game-firms-added-to-belgian-online-blacklist/

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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Mall Santa fired for being naughty, not nice

Mall Santa fired from his job at The Maine Mall after parents reported that he was rude and grumpy. Santa was fired after a local TV station aired a story and parents posted complaints about him on Facebook.

By Staff,?Associated Press / December 7, 2012

The right way to play Santa Claus: Nathaniel Torres, 4, of Fullerton, Calif. sits with Santa at Westminster mall. A Santa at The Maine Mall in South Portland was fired after parents complained about his attitude and comments.

(AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Mindy Schauer)

Enlarge

?A mall in Maine has sacked Santa Claus after children and parents complained he was rude, grumpy and wouldn't even let one child sit on his lap.

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Officials at the Maine Mall in South Portland say they're looking for a jollier Santa and hope to have him in place Thursday.

Jessica Mailhiot and her 6-year-old daughter, Chantel, went to see Santa this week. They tell WGME-TV that he was rude and wouldn't let the girl sit on his lap when they said they didn't want to buy a $20 photo.

Chantel says when she asked Santa for an American Girl doll, he replied she'd get an "American football."

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Christmas traditions? Take the quiz

When the mom posted her story online, others shared similar experiences on "The Maine Mall" Facebook page.

"Got to tell you just got home from the mall and had the worst experience in 10 years with Santa today my youngest was scared to death and he wouldn't even talk to her. This was something my 2 oldest kids always looked forward to and having pictures to remember it by," wrote Stacey Knight.

"If any of you have little ones DON'T bring them to see Santa at The Maine Mall. One mom and her little girl came all the way just to see him, but because they had no money for pictures she was not allowed to say hi and put his hands across his lap so she couldn't even sit on him. The little girl was heartbroken. I understand money issues and
all, but don't be cold and heartless to innocent children who still believe in Santa. That's NOT okay. Go elsewhere with your kids. Just because a family has no money doesn't mean the children should be treated as such crap. It ruins the holiday spirit. Be traditional, ask the child what they want, no pictures at all, and they can leave happy. THEN WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT? BECAUSE ITS VERY SAD!!!!!!!!!!" wrote Karmen LeWCSH 6.

The Maine Mall Management responded on Facebook to the complaints about a $20 picture fee required to visit with Santa:

?We're not sure where she heard that from, but purchasing pictures are optional. There was a lot of confusion resulting from a very grumpy Santa Claus, but our policy is still that any child who wants to visit Santa can do so for free. We have a new Santa who started today who shares this belief with us, and we were delighted to see him happily waving and chatting with kids as they passed. We're still keeping our eyes and ears opened for folks affected by bad experiences before this gentleman's arrival, so feel free to pass our management office number along to your daughter if she knows of someone who deserves an apology. That number is 207-828-2063."

The station contacted the Santa, but he didn't want to comment.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Christmas traditions? Take the quiz

___

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/snKshkkzCYs/Mall-Santa-fired-for-being-naughty-not-nice

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Trader charged in $1 billion Apple scheme

15 hrs.

The Associated Press , Staff

NEW HAVEN, Conn. --?A trader from New York has been charged in a scheme that involved the unauthorized purchase of about $1 billion of Apple stock that wound up costing his Connecticut-based employer $5 million, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

David Miller, while employed as an institutional sales trader for Rochdale Securities LLC in Stamford, executed a trade to buy 1.6 million shares of Apple Inc. stock in October on a day the company was scheduled to announce earnings, prosecutors said. The scheme was designed so Miller would profit if the stock price rose, but it declined, they said.

A Rochdale customer stated it had ordered only 1,625 shares of Apple, the Cupertino, Calif.-based maker of iPods, iPhones and iPads. Miller falsely claimed that he had made a mistake in ordering many multiples of what was written in a client's order, authorities said.

In telling Rochdale that he was simply executing a customer order, Miller misrepresented that the customer was at risk of loss if the trade proved unprofitable when he knew that it was Rochdale that would bear the risk of loss, prosecutors said.

As a result of the scheme, Rochdale was left holding more than 1.6 million shares of Apple stock, authorities said. It promptly traded out of the position but suffered losses of about $5 million.

Miller was charged with wire fraud. His attorney, Kenneth C. Murphy, declined to comment Tuesday.

Authorities say Miller, who lives in Rockville Centre, N.Y., just east of New York City, duped another broker-dealer into taking on a significant short position in Apple stock. Miller convinced the broker-dealer to sell 500,000 shares of Apple stock, falsely claiming that he was trading for the account of a company with which he had no relationship and for which he was not authorized to trade, prosecutors said.

Miller engaged in that part of the scheme to hedge against the large purchase of Apple stock he was executing at Rochdale, prosecutors said. He placed the broker-dealer at risk of sustaining substantial losses, they said.

Miller, 40, appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. He didn't enter a plea and was released on a $300,000 bond. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/trader-charged-1-billion-apple-scheme-1C7426530

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