Lodsys files suit against third-party App Store developers

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Filed under: Apple

by Chris Rawson (RSS feed) on May 31st 2011 at 7:30PM

Making good on its threats, Lodsys has filed suit today against several third-party iOS developers. According to Florian Mueller, Combay, IconFactory, Illusion Labs, Shovelmate, QuickOffice, Richard Shinerman, and Wulven Game Studios are among the developers targeted in the suit.

A series of defensive blog posts on its site explains Lodsys's rationale for filing suit. "Lodsys chose to move its litigation timing to an earlier date than originally planned, in response to Apple's threat, in order to preserve its legal options." Lodsys also appears confident it will win these suits, claiming it will offer developers US$1000 if its claims aren't held up in court. Lodsys also claims that Apple's position, that App Store developers are covered because Apple has already paid licensing fees to Lodsys and developers are doing nothing more than using Apple's own APIs, does not protect developers from Lodsys pursuing claims against them. "Lodsys has sent a detailed legal position on the license interpretation issue, in writing to Apple that has been previously only verbally communicated."

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/31/lodsys-files-suit-against-third-party-app-store-developers/

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President Obama Tours Arlington National Cemetery's 'Section 60'

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ABC News' Avery Miller and Ann Compton report: Saying "this day is about you," President Obama paid tribute to America?s fallen soldiers and participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery.

In his speech, the president told a story about two roommates at the Naval Academy, Travis Manion and Brendan Looney, who were both deployed after graduation. Travis was killed by a sniper in Iraq in 2009. Three years later, Brendan died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

?Heartbroken, yet filled with pride, the Manions and the Looneys knew only one way to honor their sons? friendship,? the president said.� ?They moved Travis from his cemetery in Pennsylvania and buried them side by side here at Arlington.

??Warriors for freedom,? reads the epitaph written by Travis?s father. ?Brothers forever.??

Obama also quoted a letter written to him by Army veteran Paul Tarbox who mentioned he had seen a photo of the president walking amidst the marble headstones in ?Section 60? in 2009. He wanted the president to know about a special friend of his and a brave warrior -- Staff Sgt. Joe Phaneuf -- who was buried under one of those headstones.

?Joe, he [Paul] told me, was a friend of his, one of the best men he?d ever known, the kind of guy who could have the entire barracks in laughter, who was always there to lend a hand, from being a volunteer coach to helping build a playground,? the president said. ?It was a moving letter, and Paul closed it with a few words about the hallowed cemetery where we are gathered here today.

?He wrote, ?The venerable warriors that slumber there knew full well the risks that are associated with military service, and felt pride in defending our democracy.�The true lesson of Arlington,? he continued, ?is that each headstone is that of a patriot.� Each headstone shares a story.� Thank you for letting me share with you [the story] about my friend Joe.??

?Section 60? is the part of Arlington Cemetery where mostly soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, who have died since Sept. 11, 2001, are buried.

On a rainy Veterans? Day in 2009, the president stopped unannounced at ?Section 60? -- which some people call ?the saddest acre in America? -- surprising families who were visiting the gravesites.�It was early in his presidency at a time when the combat mission in Iraq was augmented by a surge in additional forces.

Today, when the combat mission in Iraq is over and the U.S. is preparing for a drawdown in Afghanistan, the president again wandered amid the marble headstones with his wife Michelle Obama. Aides said they spent time greeting families whose loved ones died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earlier today, the first couple hosted a breakfast at the White House for those who have lost family members in combat.

Although this is a holiday weekend for most Americans, the president has had a demanding schedule. After returning from his European tour late Saturday, Obama visited tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo. on Sunday where he honored the dead and vowed to help the small town rebuild.

The president did find some recreation time today after the Memorial Day ceremonies. He played golf at Ft. Belvoir, Va.�despite the�sweltering, 90 degrees weather.

Today?s ceremonies represent a far cry from last year when President Obama came under criticism when he decided to take his family home to Chicago for the long weekend, breaking the tradition of attending ceremonies at Arlington Cemetery. Obama, instead, laid a wreath at the national cemetery outside of Chicago, though his Memorial Day address was cut short by a rain and lightning storm.

-- Avery Miller and Ann Compton

May 30, 2011 Permalink Share User

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Source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/president-obama-tours-arlington-national-cemeterys-section-60.html

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High surf, coastal flooding are forecast for Southern California beaches

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Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/high-surf-coastal-flooding-forecast-for-southern-california-beaches.html

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TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Air Penguin

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Filed under: iPhone

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (RSS feed) on May 30th 2011 at 8:00AM

Air Penguin from GAMEVIL is one of those deceptively simple, casual pick-up-and-play games for US$0.99 on the App Store. What I look for in these types of games are polish and a great control scheme. Luckily, Air Penguin has both. Your goal is to jump and slide your way through levels until your penguin safely arrives at the end of the series of obstacles and challenges in your way. Usually this means having your penguin jump or slide around obstacles, or ride various sea critters around obstacles. You pick up what look like Goldfish crackers for scoring, although the primary goal is to simply complete a level without falling in the water. Apparently your penguin cannot swim very well.

The controls are based on tilt only and cannot be changed. The good news is that the controls are responsive without being too twitchy. It is possible to adjust the sensitivity, and before you begin a level, there's a countdown that allows you to level your iPhone (resetting the tilt). You can change the penguin's direction in the air, which is useful because certain levels require you to juke around obstacles while in midair -- tricky but not impossible. Sometimes you're able to flick the iPhone up at the end of a run and go flying through the air (the dream of many penguins). When you're not airborne, you might be sliding across the snow, controlling the velocity and direction with tilt. You may also ride an animal, again controlling speed and direction with tilt.

Air Penguin is simplicity itself, and its speedy gameplay, polished graphics and sound and adequate controls make it a pleasant diversion for kids and adults. I have no idea what the extra fish you can buy via in-app purchases are used for, but you get 50 free fish for fun. You won't need much beyond the $0.99 price to have a quick, enjoyable game. Check out Air Penguin for cute, casual fun.

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/30/tuaws-daily-iphone-app-air-penguin/

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TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Air Penguin

Skip to Content

Filed under: iPhone

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (RSS feed) on May 30th 2011 at 8:00AM

Air Penguin from GAMEVIL is one of those deceptively simple, casual pick-up-and-play games for US$0.99 on the App Store. What I look for in these types of games are polish and a great control scheme. Luckily, Air Penguin has both. Your goal is to jump and slide your way through levels until your penguin safely arrives at the end of the series of obstacles and challenges in your way. Usually this means having your penguin jump or slide around obstacles, or ride various sea critters around obstacles. You pick up what look like Goldfish crackers for scoring, although the primary goal is to simply complete a level without falling in the water. Apparently your penguin cannot swim very well.

The controls are based on tilt only and cannot be changed. The good news is that the controls are responsive without being too twitchy. It is possible to adjust the sensitivity, and before you begin a level, there's a countdown that allows you to level your iPhone (resetting the tilt). You can change the penguin's direction in the air, which is useful because certain levels require you to juke around obstacles while in midair -- tricky but not impossible. Sometimes you're able to flick the iPhone up at the end of a run and go flying through the air (the dream of many penguins). When you're not airborne, you might be sliding across the snow, controlling the velocity and direction with tilt. You may also ride an animal, again controlling speed and direction with tilt.

Air Penguin is simplicity itself, and its speedy gameplay, polished graphics and sound and adequate controls make it a pleasant diversion for kids and adults. I have no idea what the extra fish you can buy via in-app purchases are used for, but you get 50 free fish for fun. You won't need much beyond the $0.99 price to have a quick, enjoyable game. Check out Air Penguin for cute, casual fun.

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/30/tuaws-daily-iphone-app-air-penguin/

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The Unkillable Yield Curve Fallacy (Wonkish)

Bad ideas in economics never die; they just wait a few months, then resurface, once again touted as wisdom.

This morning I read the FT telling us that bond markets are signaling worries about growth, as indeed they are; but I also see Caroline Baum telling us not to worry, because the yield curve is upward-sloping.

Sigh.

I?ve written about this repeatedly. Just to reprint the argument:

The reason for the historical relationship between the slope of the yield curve and the economy?s performance is that the long-term rate is, in effect, a prediction of future short-term rates. If investors expect the economy to contract, they also expect the Fed to cut rates, which tends to make the yield curve negatively sloped. If they expect the economy to expand, they expect the Fed to raise rates, making the yield curve positively sloped.

But here?s the thing: the Fed can?t cut rates from here, because they?re already zero. It can, however, raise rates. So the long-term rate has to be above the short-term rate, because under current conditions it?s like an option price: short rates might move up, but they can?t go down.

I?m getting tired of this.

Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/the-unkillable-yield-curve-fallacy-wonkish/

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Copenhagen Interpretation Finance

The New Yorker

Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/copenhagen-interpretation-finance/

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Budget Disinformation, Part 1 Million

I?m late in getting to Glenn Hubbard?s debt column, but it still needs further bashing. Here?s what Hubbard says about the Obama administration:

Ruling out long-term entitlement spending restraint, Mr Obama has argued that fiscal sustainability can be accomplished by raising marginal tax rates on households earning more than $250,000 per year.

This is what it technically known as a ?lie?. Has Obama ruled out entitlement spending restraint? Here?s his health policy head, explaining the plan:

While we?ve made real and significant progress, there is more work to do to strengthen Medicare for future generations. That?s why the President?s framework for shared prosperity and shared fiscal responsibility includes reforms that would save at least an additional $200 billion for Medicare over the next decade. The framework would:

-Bend the long-term cost curve by setting a more ambitious target of holding Medicare cost growth per beneficiary to GDP per capita plus 0.5 percent beginning in 2018, through strengthening the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).

-Reduce Medicare?s excessive spending on prescription drugs and lower premiums for beneficiaries without shifting costs to seniors or privatizing Medicare.

You can be skeptical about whether this plan will work ? but it?s just a lie to say that Obama is ?ruling out? spending restraint; and it?s equally false to say that he?s relying on tax hikes to do the whole job.

Then, of course, there?s the howler: describing Paul Ryan?s plan as ?well-crafted?. It is, on the contrary, ideology aside, a piece of junk on simple technical grounds ? and obviously so.

Oh, and while some people are still trying to praise Ryan for starting a useful conversation, the reality is that he?s totally unwilling to let facts enter the debate. Look at his exchange with Ezra Klein over health care costs: this is not the sound of a sincere, open-minded guy,. Notice how he evades Klein?s attempt to get him to accept the overwhelming fact that other countries pay much less for health care than we do.

Sorry, but we are not having a discussion ? nor will we, as long as right-wingers like Hubbard and Ryan feel that they can distort the facts with impunity.

Paul Ryan has experienced quite a comedown since a Democrat won Tuesday?s election in New York?s 26th Congressional District.

Held Hostage Over the Debt Ceiling

Will President Obama confront Republicans and say no to budget blackmail?

Seniors, Guns and Money

Those promises of no new taxes will mean savage cuts to benefits for older Americans.

The Unwisdom of Elites

The anatomy of a top-down disaster.

Opinionator

French Press

Why can't the French and the Americans just get along?

Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/budget-disinformation-part-1-million/

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Stats of the Union brings American demographic data to the iPad

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by () on May 29th 2011 at 2:00PM

If you have an interest in American demographics and statistics, you need to check out the Stats of the Union iPad app. Statistics are only useful when you have a clear way of organizing and viewing the data. Without being able to do that, you can't glean any useful information from the numbers. What Stats of the Union does is take a host of data from the Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) report and present it on an interactive, color-coded map.

Stats of the Union allows you to visualize any number of statistics for the entire country, all the way down to the county level. There are multiple subcategories in the seven prime categories including Summary, Demographics, Births, Deaths, At-Risk Groups, Diseases, and Risk Factors. For example, with a few taps I can see that in the county where I grew up (St. Louis County), life expectancy is 77.4 years, and population is 991,830. 20 percent of those people are at risk of health issues from smoking, and 102,548 people under the age of 65 (over 10 percent of the population) lack health insurance.

Those stats are only a small fraction of the information I can examine in the app. Stats of the Union is one of those apps that shows just how powerful of a learning tool the iPad can be. For those of you wondering, the app isn't political; it just presents a lot of complex data in an easy-to-view form and asks users to make their own conclusions about America's health. Stats of the Union is a free download.

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/29/stats-of-the-union-brings-american-demographic-data-to-the-ipad/

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Latest build of Mac OS X 10.6.8 hints at Lion upgrade path through Mac App Store

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by () on May 29th 2011 at 4:30PM

Yesterday we told you that Apple released a third build of Mac OS X 10.6.8 to developers. At the time there were no known issues with the build and developers were asked to focus on AirPort, Networking, Graphics Drivers, QuickTime, VPN, and the Mac App Store. Now it turns out that the Mac App Store may be the biggest component of that 10.6.8 upgrade.

German site fscklog was the first to point out that the release notes for the 10.6.8 build specifically notes that this point upgrade to Lion will "Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion." The release notes all but confirm that Apple will be pushing the Mac App Store as the primary upgrade mechanism for Mac users. Also, if 10.6.8 is released before WWDC, which starts on June 6, it could be a signal that Apple is set to release Mac OS X 10.7 Lion sooner than most people expect -- which is something we've heard they might do.

[via Electronista]

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/29/latest-build-of-mac-os-x-10-6-8-hints-at-lion-upgrade-path-throu/

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Coming Up Short on Specific Pledges, G8 Superpowers Say Up to $20 Billion Available for New "Arab Spring" Democracies

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DEAUVILLE, FRANCE -- The G8 nations today announced what it called "the Deauville Partnership" with the people of North Africa and the Middle East, "support(ing) the aspiraitons of the 'Arab Spring'" and pledging up to $20 billion in potential aid over the next three years to "free, democratic and tolerant societies."

Bereft of much detail, the "Deauville Partnership" seemed very much a work in progress -- as is the Arab Spring itself.

?It?s not a blank check, it?s in the context of overall reform programs," said Mike Froman, President Obama's deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs. "It?s an envelope that could be achieved in the context of suitable reform efforts.?

With officials from Egypt and Tunisia and the Secretary of the Arab League on hand, the G8 leaders issued a communique stating that the world leaders "welcome the work done by Egypt and Tunisia in presenting to the international community of donors their program of actions towards economic and financial stability and preparing for�more inclusive growth, and stand ready to support them. We welcome the�Egyptian authorities? decision to request IMF and multilateral development banks? assistance and Tunisia?s request for a joint and coordinated development policy loan."

"In this context, multilateral development banks could provide over�$20bn, including ?3.5bn from the EIB," -- European Investment Bank -- "for Egypt and Tunisia for 2011-2013 in support of suitable reform efforts," the communique stated.

There were not many specifics beyond those numbers and the previously announced $2 billion in US aid for Egypt. On Thursday, French officials said they would offer Egypt up to $250 million a year in aid, and officials from the UK said they could expand their aid to 110 million pounds.

Some officials from the US had hoped for more specific pledges from other countries, but that did not happen.

Other American officials today said the G8 meeting was not intended as a donors conference, and that they were pleased with what had been achieved.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that the Egyptian and Tunisian leaders with whom he met "said their main problem was the economy. They need some support. I think they are ready. Let's do everything to support the Arab Spring. I think they can succeed."

"G8 members are already in a position to mobilise substantial bilateral support to scale-up this effort," the G8 communique stated. "We welcome support from other bilateral partners, including from the region."

The G8 leaders called for "action plans" from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank / FEMIP, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Islamic Development Bank.

"There was a lot of discussion about how does this compare to the fall of the Berlin wall," Froman said, "what the G7 at that time did to help drive institutional reform at the international level as well as democratic and economic reform in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the willingness of the G8 to step up and try and do the same thing with the Middle East and North Africa."

"There are vast differences between Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa so it's not an analogy�that one should overstress," he added. "But in terms of moments in time when important democratic and economic transitions begin this is a comparable moment"

-Jake Tapper

May 27, 2011 in Jake Tapper, President Obama | Permalink | Share | User

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Source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/coming-up-short-on-specific-pledges-g8-superpowers-say-up-to-20-billion-available-for-new-arab-sprin.html

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Microsoft applies lessons from PlayStation Network downtime: don?t hunt hackers

Microsoft has chosen to ?nurture? the talents of a 14-year-old boy who attempted to hack into the company?s online gaming network, Xbox Live, rather than slap the kid with lawsuits ? which was a strategy that might have led to Sony?s own online game network being crippled for nearly a month.

It?s a lesson that Microsoft has not ignored, because Xbox Live competes directly with the PSN ? along with other online gaming networks that also sell games and demos like Valve?s Steam network for the PC and Mac computers. Sony learned the hard way what happens when a critical service like the PSN goes down, and�lost around $171 million while the network was down for 24 days. The PlayStation Store, a critical service for Sony that lets it sell games and distribute them�digitally, still remains offline.

Online hacktivist group Anonymous, which routinely takes up political causes like defending Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, brought Sony?s PlayStation Network (PSN) online gaming network to its knees with a distributed denial of service attack as part of ?OpSony.? The group attacked the company because it tried to prosecute George Hotz, a 21-year-old hacker that modified his PlayStation 3 to install unauthorized software ? a process called jailbreaking the device.

It was around that time that a group of hackers was able to crack into the PSN and steal sensitive information about more than 100 million PSN and Station.com users, Sony said in a statement.�When the PlayStation Network crashed on April 21, Anonymous said it was not behind the attack. Instead, the hacktivist group said, ?Sony is incompetent.?�The PlayStation Network is a critical service that competes with Microsoft?s Xbox Live online gaming service ? as well as other online gaming services. There are also 948 games now available in the PlayStation Network store, as well as 4,000 pieces of add-on content for games. (We previously published a timeline for the Playstation Network outage and credit card information theft scandal.)

Microsoft General Manager Paul Rellis said the company was working with the teenager to develop his talents for legitimate purposes ? though they wouldn?t specify what that meant.

Companies: Microsoft, Sony

About the Author, Matthew Lynley

Matthew Lynley is VentureBeat's GreenBeat writer. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/28/microsoft-playstation-network-lesson/

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Spot the Dot for iPad is a fun, simple children's game

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Filed under: Software, iPad

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on May 28th 2011 at 3:30PM

Don't look now, but it's 2011 out there. Contemporary kids are playing with contemporary toys, and Ruckus Media Group's iPad-only app Spot the Dot (US$3.99) is an example of just that. Spot the Dot was created by author David A. Carter, whose One Red Dot book (among others) inspired the app.

Spot the Dot is a fun mix of memory, visual discrimination and puzzles that will keep toddlers engaged. Most importantly, the game encourages adults to sit with the young player(s) and offer another level of engagement. When used as intended, Spot the Dot is more than an electronic baby sitter. Here's my review.

Look and Feel

Carter's books feature brightly-colored pop-ups and a challenge. In One Red Dot, readers must find the red dot hidden among the ornate pop-ups. In 600 Black Dots, readers have -- you guessed it -- 600 black dots to find.

Spot the Dot keeps with both the aesthetic and the theme. The game features 10 "play spaces," each with its own mission and gameplay. A simple welcome screen and voice-over provide the instructions. Everything is brightly-colored and friendly.

Gameplay

Spot the Dot is simple, yet still compelling to young minds. For example, the initial welcome screen invites players to find a red dot. Simple black text ("Spot the red dot.") appears on a field of green, and the "o" in "dot" is red. Users tap the "o" to begin the first challenge.

The welcome screen "slides" aside to reveal the first puzzle, which resembles an ornate quilt comprised of triangles, squares and yes, dots. Again, the voice-over provides an instruction ("find the red dot") and it's time to begin the hunt. Tap the wrong dot and a tone is heard. Get it right and the dot slides into a series of circles at the top of the screen, one for each challenge.

The second level has jr. hunting for a yellow dot from under 12 orange "cards." Tapping each card reveals the shape (or series of shapes) beneath. If s/he gets it wrong, the game continues. Once s/he's correct, the yellow dot joins its red counterpart at the top of the screen and the 3rd level begins.

Thus the game continues. As I said, the gameplay changes. One features shapes that grow and then "pop," Perfection-style (my 6-year-old found this level the most challenging), and another displays "floating" shapes that must be tapped to assemble the target circle.

Once all challenges have been met, players can jump to any level they wish durning subsequent games. Plus, the target dot always appears in a different spot, preventing kids from simply memorizing its location.

Encouraging Engagement

I'm on the fence about handing the iPad over to my kids. On one hand, it's something they enjoy and can be a powerful reinforcer. Also, they exist in a world that's significantly different than the one I inhabited as a toddler. Electronic games are nearly ubiquitous and kids are proficient.

The temptation is to leave them be once they're "plugged in." An Angry Birds marathon during a multi-hour car ride is one thing. The same as an alternative to time spent outdoors or embedding Play-Doh beneath some fingernails is another. We've all done it -- including me -- and felt guilty afterwords.

The nice thing about Spot the Dot is that it's a game you can play along side jr., and you needn't have a degree in education to figure out how. Talk about the other colors and shapes on the screen. Try to predict where the dot might be, listen to the music, do some counting and so on.

My 6-year-old (he's my official kids' app tester) fully enjoyed Spot the Dot, and had fun using each level as a game once he met all of the challenges. He was a bit old, admittedly, but I imagine the tasks will be perfect for a kid of 3, 4 or 5 years.

Conclusion

Spot the Dot features electronic versions of many games that would be at home in a preschool classroom. The re-play options are nice and there's ample opportunity for "floor time" with a parent or guardian. For just under four bucks, most kids (and parents) should enjoy Spot the Dot.

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/28/spot-the-dot-for-ipad-is-a-fun-simple-childrens-game/

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Toyota Prius crash prompts emergency court filing

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An attorney representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Toyota asked a Los Angeles judge Friday afternoon for an emergency order to preserve evidence after a Toyota Prius drove through a Pasadena mini-mall, trapping a woman in an elevator.

The accident occurred Thursday morning when the car smashed through a plate-glass window and went through a martial arts studio. The car came to rest partially lodged in an elevator shaft.

Driver Gerry Young told KTLA-TV Channel 5 News that the car would not stop, even after she pulled the keys out of the ignition.

Attorney John Kristensen, who is representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Toyota in Los Angeles County Superior Court, said he has asked a judge to issue an emergency order preserving any evidence in the case. Kristensen said a hearing on the matter is scheduled to be held Tuesday morning.

The lawsuit focuses on sudden acceleration on a variety of Toyota vehicles, including the Prius.

ALSO:

LAPD is chasing stolen SUV through Hollywood

Quakes strike near Big Bear City, Lake Arrowhead

Pedestrian is struck, killed by Metro Blue Line train

-- Ken Bensinger and Shelby Grad

Photo: Toyota Prius crash scene in Pasadena. Credit: KTLA-TV Channel 5 News

About L.A. Now

Help keep government open and honest ? share your documents.

The best in investigative and insightful reporting.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/toyota-prius-crash-that-left-woman-trapped-in-elevator-prompts-emergency-courtroom-filing.html

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Los Angeles regional weather forecast

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More forecasts: Long Beach | Pasadena | San Diego | Santa Monica | Van Nuys

About L.A. Now

Help keep government open and honest ? share your documents.

The best in investigative and insightful reporting.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/los-angeles-regional-weather-forecast-36.html

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Apple education deal rumored for WWDC

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Filed under: Apple, Mac, iPad

by Kelly Hodgkins (RSS feed) on May 27th 2011 at 5:00PM

BGR broke out a rumor today suggesting Apple may unveil a new Back-To-School promotion at WWDC. As part of this sale, everyone who buys a new Mac with their educational discount would receive a free iPod touch or $200 off the cost of an iPad.

For the past several years, Apple has kicked off a back-to-school promotion in late May or early June. It would not be surprising to see this discount extended to the iPad this year.

The WWDC part of this rumor, though, has us scratching our heads. In previous years, these promotions were announced on Apple's website. There was no event, not even a press release. Yes, they occurred around the time of WWDC, but they were not announced at WWDC. Why would this year be any different?

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/27/apple-education-deal-rumored-for-wwdc/

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Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me customize my ringtone

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by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on May 27th 2011 at 2:00PM

Dear Auntie,

Just got my first iPhone, but the ringtones stink! How do I take my super awesome Star Trek MIDI file and use it as a ringtone?

Hugs and snuggles,

JayW. in MN

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/27/dear-aunt-tuaw-help-me-customize-my-ringtone/

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No Ideas

Ezra Klein points us to the House GOP?s rather pitiful jobs manifesto. Ezra describes it as ?now more than ever?: the GOP?s response to the employment crisis is to demand exactly the same things it demands when the economy is doing well.

Actually, the same is true of the Ryan plan: when the GOP claimed that deficits don?t matter, it called for privatizing major social insurance programs while cutting taxes on the rich, and now that it claims to be deeply concerned about deficits, it calls for privatizing major social insurance programs while cutting taxes on the rich.

This is a major asymmetry: people on the other side really do offer different prescriptions for different problems. I?m often accused of inconsistency for warning about deficits back in 2003 while favoring continuing deficits now ? but the point is that these were responses to different issues. The Bush tax cuts were intended to be permanent ? so they were designed to increase deficits even when the economy was at more or less full employment. This was a bad thing. By contrast, deficits are helpful when the economy is depressed and in a liquidity trap, as it is now.

Anyway, the new ?jobs plan? illustrates, once again, the foolishness of believing that we can reach any real bipartisan agreement on economic policy. The GOP stopped thinking a long time ago; all it knows how to do is parrot Reaganite rhetoric over and over. And there?s so little there there that the document ? look at it! ? has to rely on extra-large type and lots of pointless pictures to bulk it out even to 10 pages.

Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/no-ideas/

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Hawthorne officials remember officer who died in motorcycle crash as a dedicated officer and a good father

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Hawthorne city officials on Thursday evening were stunned and saddened by the death of Officer Andrew Garton, who was fatally injured in a motorcycle collision during a funeral procession for a fellow officer.

Garton, 44, a 7 1/2-year veteran of the Hawthorne Police Department, collided with an El Segundo motorcycle officer and was thrown into oncoming traffic as the motorcade passed through Torrance on Thursday afternoon, authorities said. The other officer was listed in stable condition.

Garton "was an excellent officer and very hard working,? Hawthorne Mayor Larry Guidi said. "This is a tragedy, but it will bring us all closer together. You kiss your family goodbye in the morning, and you never know what will happen.?

Mayor Pro Tem Alex Vargas remembered Garton as a jovial, well-liked father who enjoyed riding bikes and playing baseball with his two boys, ages 7 and 12.

"He loved his kids," Vargas said. "He was the finest officer any police department could have. ... The loss hurts me, and it's going to affect the community."

The officer who was injured was identified as Sgt. Rex Fowler, a 20?year veteran of the El Segundo Police Department who wrote a fictional account of police work and mentoring called ?A Frangible Quest," authorities said.

He was listed Thursday evening in stable condition with a broken leg, according to police officials.

Officers from several departments were escorting the funeral procession of Manhattan Beach Officer Mark Vasquez, who died recently after a battle with cancer. The funeral procession was heading from American Martyrs Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach to Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.

RELATED:

Motorcylce officer dies after funeral procession crash

-- Richard Winton (Twitter: @LAcrimes) and Robert J. Lopez (@LAJourno)

Photo: Officer Andrew Garton. Credit: Larry Guidi.

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Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/hawthorne-officials-officer-dies-crash-funeral.html

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Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo.

As Steven Pinker points out, the above is a grammatical sentence. You have to posit that there?s a kind of buffalo called a Buffalo buffalo; what the sentence then asserts is that beast of this kind, if buffaloed ? that is, intimidated ? by fellow members of their species, go on to do the same to other co-speciesists. Buffalo buffalo that are buffaloed by Buffalo buffalo go on to buffalo Buffalo buffalo themselves.

Which brings me to the special election in NY-26. (OK, it only includes some of the Buffalo suburbs, but still.)

The obvious point is that Republicans, having run in 2010 largely by scaring seniors with tales of death panels, are now horsed on their own pet aardvark, or something.

The difference is that whereas Democrats were not, in fact, trying to impose death panels, Republicans really do want to dismantle Medicare ? and that?s the truth no matter how many times Very Serious People reach for their smelling salts when Democrats say that. And you would think that would make Medicare an even more potent weapon for the Dems than it was for the Rs (unless they go out of their way to ignore what the electorate is really concerned about.)

It?s now starting to look like a real possibility that we will have had three electoral waves in a row ? a Democratic sweep in 2006-2008, a Republican countersweep in 2010, and a countercountersweep in 2012 as voters realize that the GOP is the same as it always was, only more so.

Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo/

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Police identify bodies found in apparent Huntington Beach murder-suicide

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Police have released the names of the two people found dead in the upstairs bedroom of a Huntington Beach home Wednesday after an eight-hour standoff.

John Steven Raeuchle, 55, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Lt. Russell Reinhart.

Valerie Ellen Pare Estes, 58, died of two shots that appear to have been inflicted by Raeuchle, Reinhart said.

Both resided in the home in the 8600 block of Garfield Avenue.

Preliminary investigation results indicate the deaths were a murder-suicide, he said.

Explosive charges were used to enter the residence, where neighbors heard arguing and gunshots in the morning.

A SWAT team set off the first charge about 2:30 p.m. to open an iron security gate, which had prevented police from entering the property.

More security gates were found inside the house. Additional charges were used before police entered shortly before 4, Reinhart said.

The person who called police about 8:30 a.m. described hearing arguments followed by gunshots, then someone shouting, "Oh, my God," before another gunshot, he said.

Read the full story here.

-- Mona Shadia, Huntington Beach Independent / Times Community News

Photo: Huntington Beach SWAT officers prepare to enter the home Wednesday afternoon. Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

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Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/police-id-bodies-found-in-apparent-huntington-beach-murder-suicide.html

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Kaboom! Kabam raises $85M for hardcore social gaming business

Here?s a ?kaboom? for all those social game skeptics out there. Kabam has raised $85 million in a fourth round of funding to fuel its business making hardcore games for social networks such as Facebook. The backers include Google Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures, Performance Equity and SK Telecom Ventures, as well as earlier backers.

It?s as good a sign of disruption in games as any. Based on the funding from such heavy-duty backers, Kabam is now one of the most valuable independent companies making games on Facebook. In terms of users, it is far outgunned by market leader Zynga (poised for a possible initial public offering) which has 247 million monthly active users on Facebook. Kabam has just 7.2 million monthly active users. Zynga has raised hundreds of millions of dollars, but Kabam is holding its own, raising $125 million to date.

People will shake their heads at the amount of money here and what it says about the likely valuation. But as we noted in a review of Kabam?s games, the investors here aren?t crazy. Kabam clearly has users who are far more valuable than the standard social game player, because Kabam?s users are willing to pay Kabam a lot of money for a hardcore game experience on Facebook. Kabam?s four active games include Dragons of Atlantis, Kingdoms of Camelot, Glory of Rome and Global Warfare (below).

They?re all hardcore role-playing games where the users play for four hours at a session, compared to maybe 10 minutes for a Zynga game. About 90 percent of Kabam?s players log into their games six or seven times a week. That?s what Kevin Chou, chief executive of Kabam, calls engagement. Those gamers are running the game in the background while they?re multitasking. That allows them to have lots of time to play all day long, even as they do other work. Such gamers would never have a four-hour stretch to play a console game.

Chou says that about 80 percent of the company?s players say they play hardcore games on the consoles or the PC. And now they are spending less time with those games and more time with Kabam games. This had to happen. With nearly 700 million users, Facebook has become a mirror of society. And society includes a lot of hardcore games. Kabam is one of the few companies to realize this and to target those gamers, who are accustomed to spending a lot of money on games. Kabam blends the immersive game play of massively multiplayer online games with the social satisfaction of social networking games.

Kabam was in 2007 as Watercooler, funded by Betfair and Canaan Partners. It had around 20 employees for quite a while as it experimented on Facebook, making sports fan pages and sports games. It had a big hit with its first major role-playing game, Kingdoms of Camelot, which quickly garnered millions of users. The game still has 1.5 million monthly active users 19 months after its launch. Kabam also acquired WonderHill, a San Francisco game company that developed Dragons of Atlantis, which has become Kabam?s most successful game today.

Ken Pelowski, managing director of Pinnacle Ventures, said that Kabam?s typical user numbers are similar to the number of hardcore fans for each console game hit.

Kabam?s users are as dedicated as console gamers. They?re willing to spend more than $60 sometimes, just to get a much-needed advantage that will make them look good in front of their fellow alliance members (as many as 100 players can band together in alliances). Chou has said that Kabam isn?t really going after Zynga. It?s the anti-Zynga. It?s going after Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts instead, with the aim of disrupting their traditional business, Chou said.

This is the place in the story where traditional game company executives cackle at the audaciousness of Chou. But there are a lot of former game industry veterans working for Chou.

Kabam doesn?t disclose its financial results. But the tea leaves are there. With just four games and $125 million in funding, Kabam has been able to grow from 25 employees to more than 400 in the past 16 months. Chou said the team will be shipping more impressive games, including five coming later this year.

Console gamers may laugh at the low interactivity of Kabam?s games now. But Chou says there?s a full pipeline of games coming, and each one will reflect learnings from Kabam?s direct observation of millions of gamers. Traditional video game executives would kill to get that kind of feedback. Global Warfare, Kabam?s newest game, has minimalist, cinematic-style cut scenes (as much as Facebook can handle) and it takes the game play from Glory of Rome to a higher level. The game forces players in an alliance to be more social by requiring them to coordinate assaults on strategic resources in the game. I?ve been playing it since the game debuted on May 3 and I?ve spent most of that time getting ready to do real battle. That might bore other players, but I consider it to be a fun investment of my time.

There is some precedent for Kabam?s funding. The game industry took notice of the Kabam-style model of getting more dollars out of hardcore gamers when China?s Tencent bought the majority of Riot Games for nearly $400 million in February. Riot Games had only 1 million users playing one game, but those dedicated gamers spent a lot of money. In January, Kabam raised eyebrows and fears of a ?bubble? in social gaming when it raised $30 million.

EA, for its part, has its own online role-playing game Lord of Ultima online on Bigpoint.com. But there?s an opening for Kabam to get big in this niche because many of the big traditional game publishers have left the PC game market to focus on the consoles. And the traditional game publishers who have entered the Facebook market are focusing on competing with Zynga for the new demographic of casual gamers on Facebook. No one is really competing directly with Kabam, except other startups such as Kixeye.

But Kabam has to walk a delicate balance with its users. It can get the games to monetize better by making ordinary tasks take longer and longer to do, like sending scouts on a recon mission. The users may get fed up and pay Kabam some money so that it can eliminate the wait. But if the users feel like Kabam is holding them up at every turn and deliberately trying to frustrate them, then the users will move on to another free-to-play game that doesn?t treat them that way.

There are some risks for Kabam. The company can stage some massive battles where users send reinforcements to stop attackers from looting a city. But it takes a lot of computing power to make sure that the game doesn?t crash or make the wrong calculation in this kind of scenario. And overall, Kabam needs more servers because its users are online so much. Kabam has to make sure that it doesn?t hit a wall with Facebook?s infrastructure, which wasn?t really built for real-time engagement.

Over time, the social network platform will become better at running online games. And then Kabam will likely try to create games that include the animations and 3D graphics that hardcore gamers want. Chou says the company will also expand into new markets such as Asia, where there is a lot of potential among hardcore gamers. Pelowski acknowledges that there is still a gap where the best console games have a higher quality bar, but Kabam is starting to close that gap. And even while Kabam has not yet closed that quality gap, the company is still monetizing its current games very well.

All of that adds up to a lot of� value, says Pelowski. As to whether Kabam is part of a giant social gaming and social networking bubble, Pelowski says that the underlying metrics of the business justify the investment.

Other investors in the deal include existing investors Intel Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Canaan Partners.

We?ll be exploring the most disruptive game technologies and business models at our third annual GamesBeat 2011 conference, on July 12-13 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. It will focus on the disruptive trends in the mobile games market. GamesBeat is co-located with our MobileBeat 2011 conference this year. To register, click on this link. Sponsors can message us at sponsors@venturebeat.com. To pitch a startup at the Who?s Got Game contest at GamesBeat 2011, click here.

Previous Story: TechCrunch Disrupt winner Getaround off to a good start

Tags: Dragons of Atlantis, Global Warfare, Glory of Rome, hardcore games, Kingdoms of Camelot, video games

Companies: Activision Blizzard, Canaan Partners, Electronic Arts, Google Ventures, Intel Capital, Kabam, Performance Equity, Pinnacle Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, SK Telecom Ventures

People: Ken Pelowski, Kevin Chou

About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/26/kaboom-kabam-raises-85m-for-hardcore-social-gaming-business/

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Mother convicted of killing her daughter

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A Quartz Hill mother charged with killing her 18-month-old daughter in March 2009 was convicted of first-degree murder, authorities said Wednesday.

Stacey Marie Barker led detectives to a lot in Sylmar, where her daughter's body lay amid the weeds, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.

Toddler Emma Leigh Barker received injuries consistent with suffocation caused by a hand being placed over her nose and mouth, according to prosecutors.

Barker initially told detectives that she was at a Lancaster park near the 14 Freeway and had just placed Emma in her car seat when she was struck from behind by an unknown assailant.

She told them that she awoke about 10:30 p.m., five hours later and several miles away at a Palmdale park-and-ride lot and that her daughter was missing. After Barker recanted, detectives discovered the toddler's body.

Barker is scheduled to be sentenced June 17 and faces up to 25 years to life in state prison, the district attorney's office said.

RELATED:

Mother arrested in death of her daughter

? Robert J. Lopez

Twitter: @LAJourno

Photo: Emma Leigh Barker. Credit: KTLA.

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Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/mother-convicted-of-killing-her-daughter.html

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