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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Sky Go for Android adds support for Ice Cream Sandwich, Samsung's Galaxy S III, Nexus and Note

When v2.0 of the Sky Go for Android app arrived earlier this month it promised another update would follow soon with support for Android 4.0 and more phones, and now it has arrived. We're not seeing it in Google Play yet, but the press release (included after the break) indicates the app is ready to run on the Galaxy S III, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note from Samsung, and is also finally Ice Cream Sandwich compatible on those devices and the HTC Sensation / Sensation XE. That brings the total supported device count for the video on-demand player to a round 11, which is less than the "all" we're looking for but still more than the zero supported prior to February.

Continue reading Sky Go for Android adds support for Ice Cream Sandwich, Samsung's Galaxy S III, Nexus and Note

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment

Sky Go for Android adds support for Ice Cream Sandwich, Samsung's Galaxy S III, Nexus and Note originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 04:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/pCo3u1wemsA/

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Friday, July 20, 2012

Afghans plan soccer league, with assist from TV

Associated Press Sports

updated 3:52 p.m. ET July 18, 2012

(Eds: With AP Photos.)

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Amid deadly war in an impoverished nation, the promise of a new professional soccer league is offering hope in Afghanistan.

Thousands of young Afghans have signed up for a reality television program called "Maidan e Sabz," or "Green Field." They are looking to for a chance to play on one of eight soccer teams being formed in their country.

Abdul Sabor Walizada, a trainer for the project, said Monday the idea is to bring soccer into Afghan homes, stimulate business and strengthen national unity through sports.

"After years of civil conflict and war, people will focus on football and the businessmen from each zone will try to have the best players," said Walizada, a former member of the Afghanistan national team.

"It will create national unity because if the central zone, for example, has a really good player, the southern zone team will want to buy him," he explained. "They will not care about his ethnicity. They will not care about his tribe. They will care that he is one of the best players."

The league is being organized by the Afghan Football Federation and sponsored by Roshan Telecom Development Co., a major communications company in Afghanistan, and the MOBY Group, which owns and operates media industries in developing nations. The group owns TOLO TV, a leading Afghanistan television station that will broadcast the reality show and the league's inaugural season of 16 matches, beginning in September.

Eight competitions are being filmed across the nation for Maidan e Sabz. Among them are the big cities of Kabul, the Afghan capital; Kandahar, in the south; Mazar-i-Sharif, in the north; Heret, in the west; and Jalalabad, in the east. Of the thousands of applicants, groups of 30 players will be selected to vie for slots on one of the teams from eight zones.

A battery of physical, mental and soccer tests - one involves running through mud and water while wearing ankle weights and then heading a suspended soccer ball - will whittle each group to 21 contestants. Each studio audience then will select the best 18 finalists.

At the end of all eight shows, 168 players will remain - enough for eight 18-man squads.

Maidan e Sabz debuted last week featuring film clips of famous players like Argentina's Lionel Messi, Brazil's Pele and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Tell me, do you know more about (President Barack) Obama or Messi and Ronaldo?" TOLO commentator Makhtar Lashkari said, asking his TV viewers to illustrate the popularity of the sport.

Afghans began playing soccer about 90 years ago, but there were few if any rules. The Afghan Football Federation was founded in 1922 and joined FIFA, the sport's governing body, in 1948.

Soccer gained a strong following among Afghans in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, but the sport nearly died out during the 10-year Soviet occupation from 1979 to 1989 and the civil war that followed from 1992 to 1996.

After the hardline Islamic Taliban regime was toppled in 2001, sports in Afghanistan was reborn. Cricket has already made inroads, with the Afghan team improving its ranking considerably in international limited-overs competition. Now, with the start of the soccer league, teams with names like "Eagles of Hindu Kush" - named after a mountain range - will compete to be the best in Afghanistan.

"This will be very effective for the new generation," said Keramuddin Karim, president of the Afghan soccer federation. "This program is going to uncover new football talent across the country."

More newsMike Stobe / Getty Images

Chivas USA edges Timbers 1-0

CARSON, Calif. (AP) - Miller Bolanos scored his first MLS goal to lift Chivas USA to a 1-0 victory over Portland on Wednesday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48215551/ns/sports-soccer/

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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Dan Garblik and Lalit Kalani: Lie to Your Friends - A Primer in Receiving Honest Feedback on Your Recipes

Some while ago, a mutual friend served her "world-famous" sugar cookies for dessert at a dinner party she was hosting. She looked around proudly as we all hemmed and hawed. Not a crumb was left. Over cocktails, we followed the lead of her husband and talked through a go-to-market strategy to deliver these cookies to the masses. Dollar signs were floating in her eyes.

The problem is the cookies weren't amazing. They were okay, but not special enough to compete with Otis Spunkmeyer. We didn't mean to lead her on -and I suppose you can blame both alcohol and groupthink for the fruitless strategy session. Mainly, we were just happy to see her happy, and we frankly didn't think she'd ever actually follow through on any of it. Thankfully, she did not.

Friends and family are typically the first line of tasters for new recipes. They want to support you, which is precisely why they have the potential to be lousy guinea pigs if you're seriously thinking about selling your product. Even though everyone has a loose-lipped cousin or embarrassingly blunt friend who will tell you their real opinion, it's probably best to keep tasting sessions as objective as possible. The way to do that is to lie to them. Here are a few strategies:

The Check-Out-What-My-Friend-Made
Strategy: Remember when you were in junior high and you wanted to know if that girl had a crush on you, so you said that you had a "friend" who liked her? Bring out your product and say that an unnamed 'friend' made it and is looking for feedback.
Pros: It's easier for your friends to insult a product if they don't think it's yours
Cons: You can give yourself away when you know way too much about the product's preparation. Or when you push the product's website at your friend with your name all over it.

The Fake Packaging Switch-Up
Strategy: Go to Whole Foods and find the most obscure competitor to your product. Empty out the packaging and substitute your own product. Feed it to hungry friends the next time you host.
Pros: It's simple to get objective feedback - especially if friends ask how much you paid and where they can find it
Cons: Be weary of this strategy with obnoxious foodie friends (the ones with cats and way too much free time) as they may go out of their way to know about every product and will not hesitate to blow up your spot.

The Angry Restaurant Waitress Experiment
Strategy: Bring your product to a restaurant. Find a waitress who hates her job. Not the bubbly kind - go with the surly, trucker-mouthed, say whatever the eff I want type. Every restaurant has one - just look for the star tattoos along the forearms .
Pros: If she has the right personality, this woman would love to tear into your stupid product and embarrass you - which would be refreshing candor. You also get to taste your food in a new surrounding outside your kitchen
Cons: She could always be angling for a better tip - or is just upset that you're keeping her past shift to taste your rubbery homemade pretzels

The Kids-Will-Try Anything-Once
Strategy: Children don't know how to be polite when it comes to food - which is embarrassing for parents but awesome for potential entrepreneurs. Serve to your friends' kids without telling them you made it.
Pros: The looks on kids' faces are priceless - just YouTube "lemon babies" for a quick laugh. Aww. We are also blacklisted by one friend after learning a lesson first-hand that hot sauce shouldn't be given to young children. Totally worth it though.
Cons: Kids don't know how to give the most prescriptive feedback. Instead of getting a "cool it with the citrus, bro" - expect more of "my dog eats grass."
So there is our take on how dishonesty begets honesty. And though these tactics may be a bit deceptive, you should want the most objective feedback possible before throwing your life savings into the cheese doodle startup your friends claim to love so much. Once you've properly vetted your recipe to unwittingly forthright friends, you should start to actively think about showcasing your product in outside venues.

First Side Note: Bandar Foods is not responsible for any adverse reactions from your friends.
Second Side Note: Almost two weeks left in our Kickstarter campaign! Please support us - and... don't lie to us!

Next Post: People like your product, but will they remember it?

Thanks!
Lalit and Dan
www.bandarfoods.com

Follow Dan Garblik and Lalit Kalani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@bandarfoods

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-garblik-and-lalit-kalani/lie-to-your-friends---a-p_b_1685105.html

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Epson PowerLite 435W Multimedia Projector

The Epson PowerLite 435W Multimedia Projector ($1,149 direct) is an appealing short-throw projector for classroom or business use, capable of throwing a large image when placed close to the screen. It has a good selection of connectivity ports, with optional WiFi. In our testing, it showed above-par video quality for a data projector. Although its data image quality isn't up to the best in its class, the 435W is well worth considering if you're in the market for a short-throw projector.

The 435W, rated at 3,000 lumens, has native WXGA (1,280-by-800) resolution, and a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio compatible with many laptops. The projector employs a light engine that uses 3LCD technology, which Epson helped develop.

The two-tone (white and gray) projector measures 6.2 by 13.6 by 11.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 8.7 pounds, large enough so you wouldn't want to travel with it regularly. (Epson sells ceiling mount accessories should you want to permanently install it.) As is typical of a short-throw projector, the lens assembly resembles a large, bulbous eye. Behind it is a focus slider, with which I was able to bring the projector to a good focus.

The 435W has a generous selection of ports: two VGA-in with audio jacks; a monitor-out VGA port (with an audio-out jack); HDMI-in; 3 RCA plugs for composite video and audio; S-video; a type B USB port for connecting with a PC (USB Plug ?n Play provides easy connectivity with both Macs and Windows PCs); a USB type A port that fits a thumb drive; RS-232C; an Ethernet port; and a microphone jack. An optional WiFi adapter is also available ($99 direct).

Testing
The 435W's image filled our 60-inch-diagonal test screen from just under feet away. The image was bright enough to show up well even with modest ambient light. In our DisplayMate ?testing, the PowerLite 435W?s data image quality proved suitable for typical classroom or business presentations. Smaller-sized type wasn't quite as sharp as we expect from a data projector. Some data images showed traces of red or green tinting, while borders between bright and dark areas at times showed blue or yellow fringing.

Video quality was above average for a data projector, making the 435W suitable for showing short or medium-length clips as part of a presentation. Sound from the single 16W speaker was loud enough to fill a mid-sized room, though you'll want to turn it down a bit as there was some distortion (crackling) at higher volumes.

The 435W's lamp lifetime is rated at up to 6,000 hours in Eco mode, and up to 4,000 hours in normal mode, both good figures. You shouldn't have to replace the bulb very often, if ever.

If you're looking for a short-throw WXGA projector for school or business use, the Epson PowerLite 435W is worth putting on your short list alongside two Editors' Choice models, the Optoma TW610ST ($1,000 street, 4 stars) and the NEC Display Solutions NP-M300WS ($1,099 direct). Both have largely similar feature sets to the 435W, but offer better data image quality?though the Epson's image quality is fine for typical business presentations.

The Epson PowerLite 435W Multimedia Projector is a good choice if you use a lot of video in business or classroom presentations. Both the 435W and the NEC NP-M300WS displayed very good video quality in our testing, and both have thumping sound systems?though you might not want to play the Epson's at full volume, as it crackles a bit. As they're LCD based, these two projectors' video is free of the rainbow effect common in DLP projectors (in which little glints of the three primary colors appear, mostly in moving images) that impacted the TW610ST's video quality. However, as a DLP projector, the Optoma supports 3D viewing using DLP-link glasses (sold separately), while the Epson and NEC projectors have no 3D capabilities.

More Projector Reviews:

??? Epson PowerLite 435W Multimedia Projector
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/ruBUeHJfvX8/0,2817,2407235,00.asp

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Monday, July 16, 2012

Microsoft, NBC dissolve MSNBC.com joint venture

FILE - In this Dec. 14, 1995, file photo, Robert Wright, president and chief executive officer of NBC, speaks in New York with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, displayed on screen, speaks from Hong Kong, during a news conference announcing that NBC and Microsoft would form a joint venture to start a cable news channel and related online service called MSNBC. Microsoft is pulling out of the joint venture that owned MSNBC.com so it can build its own online news service. The breakup, announced late Sunday, July 15, 2012, dissolves the final shred of a 16-year marriage between Microsoft Corp. and NBC News, which is now owned by Comcast Corp. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Microsoft is pulling out of the joint venture that owned MSNBC.com, freeing the world's largest software maker to build its own online news service.

The breakup announced late Sunday dissolves the final shreds of a 16-year marriage between Microsoft Corp. and NBC News, which is now owned by Comcast Corp. The relationship began to unwind in 2005 when Microsoft sold its stake in MSNBC's cable TV channel to NBC.

NBC is buying Microsoft's 50 percent interest in the MSNBC website for an undisclosed amount. MSNBC.com will be rebranded as NBCNews.com, and readers who logged into MSNBC.com late Sunday were automatically redirected to NBCNews.com.

The website will move its headquarters from Microsoft's corporate campus in Redmond, Wash., to NBC News' longtime home in New York.

The online divorce stemmed from the two partners' desire to gain greater control over their digital destinies as the Internet becomes an increasingly important part of their businesses.

The inherent constraints of being locked into a joint venture sometimes handcuffed Microsoft and NBC.

Microsoft, in particular, had grown frustrated by contract terms requiring it to exclusively feature MSNBC.com content on its own websites. That exasperation was exacerbated by the MSNBC cable channel's strategy to counter Fox News Channel's appeal to conservative viewers by tailoring its programming for an audience with a liberal viewpoint.

The strategy fed a perception that material from MSNBC's website was politically slanted, too.

"Being limited to MSNBC.com content was problematic to us because we couldn't have the multiple news sources and the multiple perspectives that our users were telling us that they wanted," said Bob Visse, general manager of MSN.com.

Now that it has shed those shackles, Microsoft is preparing to launch its own news service this fall. Although he declined to provide many details about the operation, Visse said the news staff will be about the same size as the roughly 100 people who created original content for the MSNBC.com.

By hiring its own news staff to feed material to its websites, Microsoft is embracing the same strategy as the owners of two other major Internet companies, Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc.

Microsoft has leaned on its lucrative franchise selling personal computer software to pay for massive Internet investments that have rarely paid off, much to the frustration of its shareholders. The software maker initially invested $220 million in the MSNBC joint venture. It's unclear if Microsoft ended up making any money on the alliance. As a whole, the company's online operations, which include the Bing search engine and MSN portal, have lost more than $10 billion in the past seven years.

Even as it sets out to compete against NBC News, Microsoft will continue to highlight the top stories from its former partner for the next two years under terms of the split.

NBC News, in turn, believes it will be able to attract more traffic to its stable of websites by forging other partnerships that were off limits when it was tied to Microsoft.

"There is no question that we are going to have more flexibility to make our own decisions," said Vivian Schiller, NBC News' chief digital officer. "This is really an amicable breakup. We think competition will make us better."

MSNBC.com and its affiliated sites ranked as the Internet's fourth most popular site for general news in the U.S., with nearly 50 million visitors in June, up 5 percent from last year, according to the research firm comScore Inc.

Yahoo's recently formed alliance with ABC News topped the charts with 81 million visitors, followed by AOL/Huffington Post, and CNN.

As part of its online restructuring, NBC News plans to create a new online destination for the MSNBC cable channel's personalities next year.

Although it will be based in New York, NBCNews.com will retain a significant staff in the Seattle area, according to Schiller. About 170 of MSNBC.com's 300 employees worked in the Seattle area.

Microsoft is letting NBCNews.com remain in its Redmond office while it looks for a new location in the area.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-07-15-MSNBC-Microsoft/id-60db77a095ab4afc83865f562ef741b1

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Friday, July 13, 2012

NBC launches 2 apps to watch the Olympics

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nbc-launches-2-apps-watch-olympics-181836898--spt.html

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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Putin orders probe into Russia flood deaths

A bridge is destroyed by flooding in the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, southern Russia, Saturday, July 7, 2012. Torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water in the Black Sea region of southern Russia overnight, unleashing intense flooding that killed over a hundred people and forced many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Ignat Kozlov)

People walk in a muddy street after flooding in the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, southern Russia, Saturday, July 7, 2012. Torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water in the Black Sea region of southern Russia overnight, unleashing intense flooding that killed over a hundred people and forced many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Ignat Kozlov)

People eat food distributed by Russian emergency situation ministry in Krimsk, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, late Saturday, July 7, 2012. Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed 103 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Artur Lebedev)

Map locates the Krasnodar region of Russia where 99 people have died in flooding

Local people get water in Krimsk, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, late Saturday, July 7, 2012. Intense flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia killed 103 people after torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water, forcing many to scramble out of their beds for refuge in trees and on roofs, officials said Saturday. The poster in the background reads "I love you, my Krimsk." (AP Photo/Artur Lebedev)

KRYMSK, Russia (AP) ? Russia's president moved quickly to address anger over the deaths of at least 153 people in severe flooding in the Black Sea region that turned streets into swirling muddy rivers and inundated thousands of homes as many residents were sleeping.

Vladimir Putin, who was criticized in past years for a delayed or seemingly indifferent response to disasters, flew to the region in southern Russia committed to showing he was taking charge of the situation.

He ordered the head of Russia's investigative agency to establish whether enough had been done to warn people about the floods. Federal prosecutors also said they were investigating whether the population had been properly protected from "natural and technological catastrophes."

Russia has seen a series of natural and man-made disasters in recent years, many of them blamed on aging infrastructure or lax safety rules.

Torrential rains dropped up to a foot of water in less than 24 hours, which the state meteorological service said was five times the monthly average. The water rushed into the hard-hit town of Krymsk early Saturday with such speed and volume that residents said they suspected that water had been intentionally released from a reservoir in the mountains above. Local officials denied this, saying it was not technically possible to open the sluices.

Federal investigators, however, acknowledged Sunday that water had been released naturally from the reservoir, but they insisted it did not cause the flooding and the dam had not been breached. They said the problem was the heavy and sudden rainfall.

Krymsk received a total of about 221 millimeters (almost nine inches) of rain overnight, but 50 millimeters (two inches) of that came in less than an hour late Friday, the meteorological service said.

Many residents remained unconvinced, however. During an outdoor meeting with the regional governor, who tried to persuade them that the reservoir was not the source of the flooding, residents shouted that they did not believe him and repeatedly interrupted him. The governor then agreed to allow five citizens and a journalist to fly over the dam in a helicopter.

Putin had already sent his emergencies minister on an inspection mission, a further indication of the concern over the condition of the reservoir. Vladimir Puchkov later reported that he had flown over the dam and seen no evidence of any damage.

Putin, however, did not meet with any residents affected by the floods, perhaps not willing to risk being the target of their anger.

Even heavier rain fell in Gelendzhik, a popular seaside vacation spot about 200 kilometers (120 miles) up the coast from Sochi, where preparations are under way for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Novorossiisk, a major Black Sea port, also was affected.

The Interior Ministry said Sunday that 153 bodies had been recovered, 142 of them in and around Krymsk and nine in Gelendzhik, including five who were electrocuted after a transformer fell into the water. The majority of the dead were elderly who were unable to escape the sudden deluge.

Residents of Krymsk described a wave of water that washed over the hoods of cars and inundated one-story homes. Some sought refuge on roofs and in trees.

Viktor Nikolyuchiny said he and his wife were roused by their daughter, who lives a block away.

"I came out and the water was already up to my waist," he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying Sunday. "My wife has difficulty walking, and if not for our neighbor she would have drowned." He said they waited out the storm at the neighbor's home, which unlike theirs has a second story.

Putin arrived Saturday evening and viewed the damage from the air. Television footage of Krymsk shot from Putin's helicopter showed the city of 57,000 people partially submerged in muddy water. The city stadium looked more like a lake.

Across the Krasnodar region, more than 5,000 homes were flooded.

Gov. Alexander Tkachev said during the meeting with Krymsk residents on Sunday that the first warnings of possible flooding came at 10 p.m. Friday, and the heaviest rainfall was from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday. Tkachev

"Do you think my dears ... that we could have warned each of you? With what forces? That's one. And two, would you have gotten up and left your homes," Tkachev said during the confrontation, which was shown on NTV television.

The city set off a siren at around 4:30 a.m., but the residents said they didn't hear it.

___

Lynn Berry reported from Moscow.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-08-EU-Russia-Flooding/id-a1cf9d0140154a44b74275e3ca2731ff

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