Conservative Leaders Urge Rejection of Louis Butler Nomination - American Spectator (blog)

Conservative Leaders Urge Rejection of Louis Butler Nomination American Spectator (blog) RE: Louis Butler's nomination to be a US District Judge for the Western District of Wisconsin. On December 3 the Judiciary Committee voted out this ...

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Texthook holder puts your phone where it belongs: between you and your progeny

Finally, proper protection for your baby. The child, too.

Texthook holder puts your phone where it belongs: between you and your progeny originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Darksiders trailer brings nothing but Ruin

If there's one thing we learned at E3, it's that Ruin, the Hellish steed of Darksiders, is not meant to be ridden by ordinary mortals. While we learned this firsthand, you can be saved the risk of serious bodily harm by simply watching the trailer embedded above. It explains that Ruin is "born of smoke and flame," which really should be the first clue that it's not the horse for you. It is, however, the perfect horse for a horseman of the apocalypse.

Watch the trailer for plenty of Ruin, as well as some of the other beasties you'll be riding in Darksiders.

Darksiders trailer brings nothing but Ruin originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ponderings on a Faith Journey: Decline in <b>Conservative</b> Churches <b>...</b>

It has long been believed that conservative churches grow and liberal ones decline. Conservative churches held this "fact" over the heads of those churches it deemed "liberal." More recent studies report that with few exceptions, ...
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Europe getting Dante's Inferno 'Death Edition,' includes playable Isaac Clarke

In an inspiring attempt to try and take even more gratuitous liberties with the works of Dante Alighieri, Visceral Games has announced a Europe-only special edition bundle of its upcoming Hell-based action title, Dante's Inferno. The "Death Edition" bundle comes with a copy of the poem, some making-of documentaries, and an art book. However, its greatest bonus is a new skin for the game's scythe-wielding protagonist: The slot-helmeted outfit of Dead Space's hero, Isaac Clarke. Check out the full costume after the jump.

Now that we think of it, there's something pretty similar to this cross-promotion in the text of Dante's epic poem:

"I saw multitudes
to every side of me; their howls were loud
while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push.
They struck against each other; at that point,
this space miner came in and killed them with this big scythe.
Needless to say, it was pretty [expletive deleted] radical."

Source: Console Planet (Google Translate)

Continue reading Europe getting Dante's Inferno 'Death Edition,' includes playable Isaac Clarke

Europe getting Dante's Inferno 'Death Edition,' includes playable Isaac Clarke originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NintendoWare weekly: Bejeweled, Blaster Master, Earthworm Jim 2

As promised, Sunsoft's brought Blaster Master to the Virtual Console -- though we think the impact is somewhat dulled by the quantity of other games available for download this week. There's a total of 11 different games available, so head past the break for the full list.

Continue reading NintendoWare weekly: Bejeweled, Blaster Master, Earthworm Jim 2

NintendoWare weekly: Bejeweled, Blaster Master, Earthworm Jim 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More dungeon finder tips

Like many of you, I've been spending the last few days happily hitting up the new dungeon finder over and over again. The rewards are pretty amazing for the time involved, and the whole system is usually pretty painless. I've picked up a few tips and tricks along the way, on top of what was covered in Saturday's post by Mike Schramm, and here's what I have to share.

• If your dungeon pops and then gives you the dreaded "additional instances cannot be launched," you can try again by simply selecting "teleport to dungeon" from the DF menu on your minimap (the eye icon).
• If you have a full group (of guildies, say) and want to do a particular instance, you can use the DF to queue up for just that instance, and thereby gain the ability to teleport straight there. Sure beats flying.

Continue reading More dungeon finder tips

Filed under: Patches, Instances

More dungeon finder tips originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Health Care Progress Report: December 14 - CBS News

Reuters

Health Care Progress Report: December 14 CBS News Last week, it appeared the Senate could very well do so, as a group of key liberal and conservative Democrats worked out a plan to get past divisive issues ... Why Lieberman Hates The Health Care BillAtlantic Online (blog) WaPo blogger: Lieberman wants to "directly kill" uninsuredWashington Examiner (blog) First thoughts: Oh, Joemsnbc.com Wall Street Journal -Los Angeles Times -The Spokesman Review all 3,136 news articles »

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The Colosseum: Patch 3.3 and the Arena

The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, Furious, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We're especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player.

There have been no immediate changes to the Arena directly due to patch 3.3. Okay, well, that's not entirely true, but the changes to the Arena are mostly change by implication. Nonetheless, there's enough little things that will affect the gladiators that it's worth spending a little time examining.

Probably the biggest change we've been hearing about is that you can now pick up Arena points from doing your daily battleground quest. At 25 Arena points per daily, It's not a huge amount of points. If you're already a very highly rated arena team, then you're probably not going to get a large amount of use from an extra 175 points a week. What the extra arena points do successfully, however, is promote a reason for battleground-players to try out the Arena.

While they could use the Arena point to pick up extra Honor points, it's not like those have ever been hard to come by. Instead, these new Arena points will hopefully tantalize those who haven't tried the Arena in Wrath of the Lich King. If that does happen, it will lead to some amount of inflation in Arena ratings. That would provide some relief to teams who are struggling to get a little higher, as well as introduce new players to our favorite e-sport.

Take a look behind the cut to see what else might be changing.

Continue reading The Colosseum: Patch 3.3 and the Arena

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Colosseum

The Colosseum: Patch 3.3 and the Arena originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First gameplay footage of Medal of Honor revealed [update]

It's been a while since the Medal of Honor franchise has found its way on to store shelves, but we're interested for what the series will bring to the crowded realm of modern shooters. At tonight's 2009 Video Game Awards, the first footage of the recently revealed Medal of Honor impressed with solid visuals and a metric ton of explosions.

Not enough for you? The gameplay trailer concluded with one NPC kicking a booby trapped prisoner through a high rise window. Now we're not marketing pros, but that should be the first bullet point on the back of the game's box. Check out the trailer -- in all its YouTube quality glory -- after the break.

Update: Hi-res version now available above.

First gameplay footage of Medal of Honor revealed [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top Five Ways to Lower Your Cell Phone Bill

Filed under: Cell Phones, Advice, Editor's Picks, Top Lists, BlackBerry, Featured Stories, BlackBerry 101

While few of us have actually received a cell phone bill as large as this poor fellow, we've all been privy to the occasional shockingly huge cell phone bill. It's no surprise, considering the ways in which carriers can hit us with hidden fees, exorbitant rates for going over our monthly minutes, or extra charges for seemingly innocuous extra feature such as call waiting. Fool us once, shame on us; fool us twice, and we find a way to cut those costs. So, take a look at our five top tips for lowering your phone bill.

1. Choose The Right Plan

The easiest solution to high cell phone bills is as simple as switching your plan. If you're not using all your monthly minutes, then downgrade to a cheaper plan with less talk time. If you're going over your minutes, then it's upgrade time. But there are other options: Whether or not you have a family, you should still consider a Family Plan, which lets you get extra cell phones and bulk minutes at reduced rates, and the best thing is that any calls to other phones on the plan don't use up any of your minutes. If you're a heavy caller, texter, and e-mailer, then consider one of the new unlimited plans, which let you do all of the above for around $99-$150 per month (again, it' s a savings if you're a power user). There are also alternatives to being stuck with a plan. Most carriers now offer a pay-as-you-go alternatives that allow you to pay for the calls you make, which is useful for those who rarely use their cell phones at all.

Next >>

Top Five Ways to Lower Your Cell Phone Bill originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Send virtual 3D gifts with Little World Gifts

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

When Apple launched the App Store, there were no in-app purchases, but it quickly became apparent that some mechanism for buying stuff within an app itself would be needed. I remember thinking a store of virtual gifts seemed like a no-brainer, but the in-app purchase block was a show-stopper.

Kisky Netmedia isn't the first company to enable in-app purchases, of course, but Little World Gifts [iTunes Link] is precisely what you'd expect to evolve on the iPhone: a little store of 3D trinkets which you can purchase and share with friends. Little World Gifts (which we covered a few weeks ago) would be relegated to a "gee whiz" factor were it not for the Facebook component. My purchases appear in the Facebook LWG app (as seen in the gallery below) and from there I can share with my friends who also enable the Facebook app. No iPhone required. Uh oh.

The implementation is simple: you see a series of little shelves with little 3D items, and you can buy them. Some are simply 3D objects you can rotate and zoom in a little staging area, while some have associated animations (none that I tested had sound). You will need a network connection to browse this store, as new items may appear periodically. I found the store pretty easy to use, as most in-app purchases tend to be low friction. Viewing an item is a little tricky sometimes, and you have to intuit to double-tap to bring up a "close this view" button, but the models are quite wonderful to behold.

You can send gifts to people via the app or into Facebook, and there's even a tracker to see who has picked up their gift. As I said, this is the practical evolution of virtual gifting on the iPhone, and via Facebook, frankly. I can envision a raft of new, branded stores popping up, too. Perhaps someday your Sims could wear Abercrombie or your virtual villagers in Pocket God could get a dancing Elvis? I'd be happy to ship toxic waste to Farmville.

Currently the gifts on the store are rather limited and have a holiday theme. I'm sure there will be more items to buy as time goes on, but I'd love to see a "real" market a la Second Life, where users could build their own 3D trinkets and sell them on this store. Hey, maybe we could resurrect the 3DMF format? Who threw that virtual tomato?

The Little World Gifts app is free, of course. The gifts normally range from $.99 to $3.99 or more (or less), but for a short time all gifts are only $.99US to celebrate the app's debut.

Gallery: Little World Gifts

TUAWSend virtual 3D gifts with Little World Gifts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Omega Preps For Winter Olympics By Opening New Vancouver Watch Store

Being the official time keeper for the Olympics is hard work. Not only do you need to lobby the Olympic Games counsel, but you also need to create cool limited edition watches every two years. Then, you need to make sure that all your promotional work pays off. Thus, Omega has decided that Vancouver will be the city to open its 4th boutique store in North America - where only Omega watches are sold (including some of the limited edition Olympics models I hope).

The shop is open in the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver. You'll find that dedicated watch brand stores often have much more informed staff and of course a larger inventory (especially or rare watches). All in time for watch lovers who either live or will be visiting Vancouver for the winter Olympics or otherwise.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Filed under: Timepieces

Omega Preps For Winter Olympics By Opening New Vancouver Watch Store originally appeared on Luxist on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota officially launches plug-in Prius program, retail sales in 2011

Filed under: Hybrid, Hatchback, Toyota, Electric

Toyota Prius PHEV - click above for high-res image gallery

In Japan today, Toyota officially launched its Prius Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) lease program. Over the next six months, Toyota will be building and deploying 600 examples of the plug-in Prius for testing primarilly in Japan, United States and Europe. The Japanese market will get 230 units, with 150 coming to the States and 200 going to Europe. The cars will be leased to government, commercial, and university fleets for field testing that help to gather more data on how PHEVs are used in the real world.

To accommodate plug-in charging the Prius gets a 5.2 kWh lithium ion battery pack in place of the standard nickel metal hydride unit. The battery and associated charging hardware appear to be the only significant mechanical changes to the PHEV. The motor and other hybrid hardware are apparently carried over intact. Even with the standard motor, Toyota claims a maximum EV speed of 62 mph.

On the Japanese JC08 cycle, the Prius can run about 14.5 miles before depleting the battery. It's not clear what the performance level will be in EV mode and what sort of driving will trigger the engine to start up while the battery still has available power. Based on that driving cycle, the PHEV is rated at 72 mpg (U.S.) in post-EV hybrid mode which compares with the 50 mpg or so that we typically see in real use. Since the hybrid system is essentially unchanged, the 14 mile range is probably a bit optimistic. The combined efficiency based on a utility factor of .436 (43.6 percent of driving in EV mode) the Prius is rated at 134 mpg (U.S.). The PHEV Prius will undoubtedly get very good mileage, but we suspect that triple digits are unlikely for most people. During the presentation, Toyota also announced a target of retail sales for the PHEV of late 2011 at an "affordable" price. Video of the presentation and the press release are after the jump.

Presentations:

• Sustainable Mobility
• Prius PHEV Overview

Gallery: Toyota Prius PHEV concept

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading Toyota officially launches plug-in Prius program, retail sales in 2011

Toyota officially launches plug-in Prius program, retail sales in 2011 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Camcorder brings video recording to iPhone 3G and 1st gen

Filed under: Video, App Store, SDK, App Review

Want to record video on your iPhone 3G or 1st generation unit? No need to jailbreak anymore. A $0.99US app called "Camcorder (for iPhone 3G and 2G)" [iTunes link] promises real time video recording on your older equipment, similarly to the free Ustream app.

So how does it work? In our initial and very quick try, not so badly -- but at the same time, really not so great. Prepare for a slow frame rate (tested on 3G and on a 3GS) with just okay audio. For $0.99, there's not much value there, especially considering you can't do anything with the videos you capture except watch them on your phone until you delete them (although they are backed up with your sandbox data, they are inaccessible except to iPhone geeks).

The GUI is flimsy as well. For example, you actually have to reach under a toolbar to swipe-to-delete the most recent recording. While the entire application feels a bit like a rush job, you've got to admit that it's nice to have approved access to App Store video recording without jailbreak on older equipment -- but for now, you'd be better off with the Ustream app and the ability to save your videos to a destination.

For jailbroken phones, I personally love Cydia's Cycorder app -- it has recorded many school plays and concerts. Camcorder provides a bit of the same functionality (albeit at a slightly lower quality) without having to go the jailbreak route. That's a good thing... and it will be a better thing when/if the app adds some export functionality.

This app works by using the long-blacklisted UIGetScreenImage() function that I've written about in the past. (I discovered this use by scanning the application using my APIkit scanner.) Apple must have willingly given the go-ahead for its use, as their automated scanning must have picked the same function call. Good news on the "more flexible review" front. Since Apple recently gave the green light to the UStream video app, with Qik hot on its heels, it's likely we'll see more of these applications that provide iPhone video functionality for livecasting or recording from your device.

So how much is Apple loosening up? It's hard to tell, despite the buzz surrounding recent "non-rejection" letters, where developers are warned about API use at the same time their applications are given the go ahead for App Store. I may just go ahead and resubmit my AppFlow application launcher that Apple rejected ages ago, which is full of unauthorized APIs from one end to the other. Maybe its time has come.

Update: TUAW reader Josh points to the $0.99 iVideoCamera [iTunes link] also new on App Store (December 12), that does let you save to your camera roll.

TUAWCamcorder brings video recording to iPhone 3G and 1st gen originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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<b>Conservative</b> Groups Load Up For Major Anti-Health Care Ad Push

A host of conservative groups are ramping up their efforts to derail health care reform in Congress, spending more than $3.91 million for a fresh wave of ad buys in key states, according to data provided by a Democratic ad tracker.
Read More... [Source: Conservative - Google Blog Search]