Woman kills husband with folding couch - Weird news- msnbc.com

ST PETERSBURG - A Russian woman in St. Petersburg killed her drunk husband with a folding couch, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

St. Petersburg's Channel Five said the man's wife, upset with her husband for being drunk and refusing to get up, kicked a handle after an argument, activating a mechanism that folds the couch up against a wall.

The couch, which doubles as a bed, folds up automatically in order to save space. The man fell between the mattress and the back of the couch, Channel Five quoted emergency workers as saying.

The woman then walked out of the room and returned three hours later to check on what she thought was an unusually quiet sleeping husband.

Police refused to comment.

The St. Petersburg Emergency Services Ministry said a private rescue service removed the man's body.

Video on the television channel's Web site showed emergency workers sawing away the side panels of a couch to remove a man in his underwear lying headfirst between the cushions.

Emergency workers said the man died instantly.

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FOX Sports on MSN - NBA - Brand episode typical for doomed Clippers

You knew it had to be too good to be true.

If anybody in the NBA is burdened with an odious destiny, it has to be the Los Angeles Clippers. It has been going on far too long, and has occurred in such a variety of ways, there is simply an inevitability, regardless of which way the wind is blowing.

Undoubtedly, the Elton Brand Saga was just the latest nightmare.

Just last week, free agent All-Star point guard Baron Davis shocked many people when he opted out of the $17.8 million final year of his contract with the Golden State Warriors, and agreed to a five-year, $65 million with his hometown Clippers. It was more than going home; it was about being closer to his future in the movie industry, and the tacit excitement of Davis and Brand bonding on and off the floor.

All that had to happen was for Brand to accept the five-year offer from the Clippers after opting out of his deal, and they'd be together. With all the excitement in the air, there were even rumblings out of fellow Clippers free agent Corey Maggette's camp that he might consider sticking around. Considering the growth of rookie forward Al Thornton and the drafting of talented young guard Eric Gordon, there were plenty of reasons for optimism to be flowing.

Except we're talking about the Clippers.

Well, Wednesday Brand has signed a five-year, $82 million contract with Philadelphia, Maggette is bound for the Warriors for $50 million over five years, and Davis still hasn't signed his implied agreement. Sure, the Clippers could turn their gaze to the Atlanta Hawks multi-talented young restricted free agent Josh Smith now that the Sixers shocked themselves by signing Brand. Despite his awe-inspiring talent, Smith remains a big gamble considering his attitude problems before last season. Even the Hawks' Keystone Cops ownership isn't likely to let him go without matching the offer.

Yep, only the Clippers could fall this flat under these circumstances.

Too bad for coach Mike Dunleavy, who has done everything humanly possible to stabilize what has been a horrible franchise since Donald Sterling bought the San Diego Clippers in 1981 and three years later moved them to Los Angeles. They got to within one game of the conference finals in 2006, and there seems to be little doubt that will be the highlight of the Dunleavy era with the Clippers, and maybe the furthest any coach ever will take this franchise. Keep in mind at five years and counting, Dunleavy already has a longer tenure than any coach dating back to the founding of the franchise in Buffalo in 1970.

There are those who believe it's simply bad karma from Sterling, who for years was the penny-pinching gazillionaire real estate mogul. In his 27 years as owner, the Clips have been in the playoffs exactly four times, and Dunleavy is the only coach to take them out of the first round. Sterling did alter his ways to attract Dunleavy, and matched big offer sheets thrown at Brand and Maggette the last time around. He even gave Dunleavy a huge extension in 2006. Still, they had their first major blowup last season, and most believe if he didn't owe Dunleavy so much money, Sterling would have dumped him on the spot. Nonetheless, Sterling was willing to spend in this case, and they were looking like a solid playoff team — even without Maggette.

And then they got Falked ... as in David Falk, super agent for Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, et al who vanished for a few years and is now back wielding his mighty sword. Sure, the Sixers gave Brand more money and have a bright future of their own with former Clipper Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young coming off a good rookie year in the timid Eastern Conference. Moreover, Brand's within a reasonable drive of his home and family in upstate New York.

But this isn't just any old schlep breaking his word. We're talking Elton Brand here. Brand just happens to be in the select crew of Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan as the only active players in the career 20-and-10 club. Plus, he's an A-plus guy in the locker room and the community. That's why it's so shocking that this guy went back on his word after a career as one of the good guys. The difference in money just couldn't have been the issue.

That's why you can smell Falk at the bottom of this, particularly after an impatient Dunleavy reportedly dodged Falk last week and went straight to Brand. Evidently, things broke down from there and Brand bolted for Philly

Agent David Falk may have played a part in Elton Brand's dissing of the Clips. (Garrett Ellwood / Getty Images)

Thus, the whole situation became Clipperized, and Dunleavy will suffer the consequences. He still has a fine young 7-foot center in Chris Kaman, Thornton, Gordon, presumably Davis as his point guard and aging gunner Cuttino Mobley at shooting guard. He's seemingly lost point guard Shaun Livingston, who looked to have a spectacular future during their playoff run only to suffer a horrendous knee injury in February of 2007. He hasn't played since, and at 23, they didn't even make him a qualifying offer.

Aside from bizarre front office dealings, stars suffering career-changing injuries have also hit the Clippers at a disproportionate rate. Consider the team they had put together in 1989-90 with Danny Manning after they virtually stole Ron Harper from Cleveland for the ludicrously overrated Danny Ferry. At the time, Harper was comparable to Clyde Drexler as a dynamic shooting guard just a notch below Jordan. Harper played 28 games for the Clippers before tearing his ACL, never regaining the superior athleticism and having to reinvent his game as a defensive-minded role player (that got him five championship rings). Harper and Manning, who also suffered the dreaded ACL tear, did make it to the playoffs in 1992 and 1993 with Larry Brown as coach, but the die had been cast with both and the franchise.

Before Harper, Norm Nixon, Marques Johnson and Bill Walton also suffered similar fates with career-altering injuries. And don't forget that Brand tore his Achilles last summer and didn't play last season until the final eight games.

So this is where they are today ... again. Just when they seemed primed as never before to get back into the race, the Clippers found themselves hopelessly treading water in the deep end of the pool with no life preserver in sight.

Not even Michael Phelps can save them at this point.

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Ask.com Search Boxes to Pop Up on Photobucket - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

On the heels of a matchup between Getty Images and Yahoo-owned Flickr, Ask.com on Thursday announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with photo Web site Photobucket.

The Ask.com search box will now be featured throughout Photobucket.com, allowing Photobucket users to do searches within the Web site. Display ads and sponsored listings will also be syndicated on Photobucket.

Photobucket, which was acquired by News Corp. in May 2007, has approximately 44 million monthly unique users worldwide, according to the company.

"Photobucket has one of the largest online audiences, and now Ask.com provides these consumers with the answers to the questions they ask every day," Andrew Moers, senior vice president and general manager for Ask.com's Partner Network, said in a statement.

"Photobucket users view, store and share billions of images each month and Ask.com will serve as a great resource in helping those users find specific content quickly and efficiently," said Alex Welch, president of Photobucket.

Earlier this week, Flickr announced that Getty Images will be trolling the online photo site in order to find shots worthy of a commercial licensing deal. In the next few months, Getty will extend invites to Flickr members, who will then have the opportunity to participate in a collection created by the photo house. Getty will become the exclusive commercial rights manager of the photos.

In May, an unknown security issue on Photobucket prompted the photo Web site to request that all its users change their passwords.

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DailyTech - Hitachi Second Generation 1TB HDD Ships in July

Second generation 1TB drive uses 43% less power than the original

Hitachi was first out of the gates with a 1TB HDD and the other major hard drive makers -- Seagate and Samsung -- had to play catch up. Hitachi announced its second generating 1TB HDD this week that promises to be the most energy efficient 1TB 7,200 RPM hard drive in the world.

The drive is known as the Deskstar 7K1000.B and the main feature is the use of three platters that each store 374GB of data. With the drive only needing three platters, the idle power consumption of the drive is reduced up to 43% over Hitachi’s first generation 1TB HDD. The 7K1000.B also offers users the option of bulk data encryption (BDE) for the entire contents of the drive.

The 7K1000.B makes use of perpendicular magnetic recording and the drive’s BDE option uses AES encryption certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to deliver the strongest commercially available levels of security for data.

Power requirement for the 7K1000.B is 5.2W at idle and the drive uses a 16MB cache. The drive has a maximum media transfer rate of 1388 Mbits/s.  The Hitachi 7K1000.B will ship worldwide in July at an undisclosed price.

For enterprise users needing a high mean time between failure (MTBF), a DeskstarE7K1000 drive is also being introduced that has up to a 32MB buffer and a 1.2 million hour MTBF featuring the same low power requirements and optional encryption technology.

The first generation Hitachi 1TB HDD was released in January 2007.

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Why is YouTube hoarding data? - Los Angeles Times

Viacom's billion-dollar lawsuit against Google's YouTube has enormous implications for the flow of information online. At stake is the degree to which websites will have to monitor and restrict the material that users post for others to peruse -- a community approach to content that's at the heart of social media sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. But last week, a pretrial ruling in the case caused a furor for reasons that had nothing to do with copyrights.

Granting a request from Viacom, District Judge Louis L. Stanton in New York ordered YouTube to turn over all the data it had collected about what its users watched. As it turns out, YouTube has kept extensive records of all its users' viewing histories, including the Internet addresses of the computers they were on at the time. And the data include not just the videos watched on youtube.com but also the YouTube clips embedded on other sites. Although the revelation might have come as a surprise to users, YouTube's privacy policy says the company "may record information about your usage," including the videos watched, the time spent on the site and the clips uploaded. It adds, "If you are logged in, we may associate that information with your account."

Privacy advocates hit the panic button, saying the combination of user names and Internet addresses could provide enough information to identify individual users. Although Stanton imposed strict limits on the data, the disclosure nevertheless raised the specter of Viacom trying to identify and sue those who uploaded clips from its TV programs without permission. To their credit, Viacom and Google have been scrambling to comply with the order without disclosing the identities of any users. Yet the lawsuit illustrates how YouTube threatens its users' privacy simply by collecting and retaining so much data. Just because Viacom isn't interested in users' identities doesn't mean that other copyright holders, law enforcement agencies or aggrieved parties won't be.

Stanton's order is a reminder that websites shouldn't retain personally identifiable data any longer than the law or their services require. Google argues that the data enable it to improve its services, combat fraud and personalize offerings. Its approach, though, reflects an engineer's habit of hoarding information for the sake of as-yet-unimagined features, not the cautious practices of a privacy-conscious company. If YouTube really needs to keep months' worth of data about what users do, the least it can do is remove the links to who's doing it. In the meantime, users should remove the links themselves by following instructions on the site for erasing their viewing histories.

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The Associated Press: Apple iPhone debuts to lines in Japan, elsewhere

TOKYO (AP) — Gadget lovers worldwide are already camped out ahead of Friday's global rollout of the new model of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which is also the first iPhone to go on sale in many countries.

Carrier Softbank Corp., which beat market leader NTT DoCoMo for the right to sell the iPhone in Japan, is planning a countdown ceremony at its flagship downtown store. By late Thursday, a line of nearly 800 iPhone fans snaked around the block, with some sleeping on the streets to ensure they would be among the first customers.

The iPhone goes on sale there five hours earlier than other nationwide outlets, helping to kick off a global rollout in 22 nations. The first model, which launched in the United States a year ago, ended up being sold only in six countries.

Because of time differences, the new iPhones are going on sale first in New Zealand, then Australia, followed by Japan and Hong Kong. In the United States, phones will be available at 8 a.m. in each time zone.

Japan, though, is the tech-mad market that analysts like to watch. It is home to powerful electronics brands such as Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s Panasonic, but its consumers are trend-chasers and have long adored Apple products such as the iPod.

Japan has about 107 million cell phones, or about one for every person. Many of the phones already work on 3G, or third-generation, wireless networks, offering the speedy Internet access that the new iPhone will also deliver. The old iPhone used a relatively slow cellular network combined with the ability to use fast Wi-Fi hotspots.

The iPhone's capabilities are less revolutionary here, where people have for years used the tech-heavy local phones for restaurant searches, e-mail, music downloads, reading digital novels and electronic shopping. They tend to shrug off foreign models, such as those of Nokia Corp.

The latest Japanese cell phones have two key features absent on the iPhone — digital TV broadcast reception and the "electronic wallet" for making payments at stores and vending machines equipped with special electronic readers.

But they don't have the iPhone's nifty touch screen or glamour image.

Another key difference is that the iPhone is designed to browse the Web in the much the same way computers do. The networks promoted by Japanese carriers, such as "i-mode" from NTT DoCoMo, are more closed than the Web. Such systems have allowed carriers to control services and charge fees.

Masayuki Otani, deputy chief of research at Maruwa Securities Co. in Tokyo, said the iPhone faces competition from emerging rivals, who offer mobile Internet devices in Japan, and the iPhone may attract a limited following.

"The iPhone is a fad," he said. "There are lots of people who love it and jump at it, but there are those who are going to be less impressed."

Norikazu Sasaki, a 20-year-old student among those in line for the iPhone in Tokyo, was already won over.

"The iPhone is so user-friendly, more than any other mobile phone. It combines the best features of a PC with the best features of a phone," said Sasaki, who's been taking turns with two friends to save his spot in the line since 1 a.m. Wednesday.

"There isn't anything else like it," Sasaki said.

The iPhone has sparked similar enthusiasm in Australia.

In downtown Sydney, Brett Howell, 36, didn't mind fighting the chill of the Down Under winter for the distinction of being first in a line of about 40 at an Optus store Thursday.

"I wanted to make sure I got one," he said as he huddled on the sidewalk with a small blanket and a book. "It's only 11 hours in total."

Ben Thomas, 27, had his own explanation for iPhone mania.

"It's a chick magnet," he said.

Apple plans to sell its 8-gigabyte iPhone for $199 in the United States and the 16-gigabyte version for $299. The company, based in Cupertino, Calif., says it has sold about 6 million iPhones since last year. It hopes to sell 10 million by the end of 2008.

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Don't Buy an iPhone 3G - Columns by PC Magazine

The media blitz for Apple's iPhone 3G is in full swing. In every other story you read, the iPhone is being spun as the apex of technological sophistication. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today reviews, written by authors handpicked by Steve Jobs to receive early review units, have been predictably glowing and effusive. There are even lines of people waiting outside Apple Stores across the country, shorter than those for the original iPhone, but still far longer than any sane person should wait to buy a phone. (A Nintendo Wii, on the other hand…) Nonetheless, you shouldn't buy one.

Now, don't get me wrong, the iPhone is a great little handheld. The touch screen is a ton of fun to use, the music- and video-playback capabilities are fantastic, and it's easily the best mobile Web-browsing device out there. And if this version fixes some of the original iPhone's flaws, including poor voice quality, lousy data rates, and a dearth of third-party apps, it will likely score a high rating. Only our PC Magazine Labs testing will tell for sure.

For now, I'll give the phone a pass on voice quality since the early reports indicate that it is much-improved. The fact remains, the iPhone 3G simply isn't ideal for most people. I am on record as being a BlackBerry convert, so I'm not without some bias here. Even so, before you spend your hard-earned cash for an iPhone 3G, you should consider each and every one of these facts:

The iPhone 3G is AT&T only. This alone means that two thirds of the country should look elsewhere. Even if you don't like AT&T's service, coverage, or pricing, it's your only option if you have to have an iPhone. There is a persistent belief out there that you'll be able to buy an iPhone 3G and unlock it—after all, you could do it with the original iPhone—but this isn't a realistic solution for most people. Even if you succeed with the unlocking, Apple is determined to brick your phone each time it updates the device's firmware. It simply isn't sustainable. And if you're like me and are tied into a Sprint (or any other non-AT&T contract), you'll have to pay to switch.

The iPhone 3G costs more than $199. That appealing under-$200 price tag is featured prominently in many of Apple's ads, but for most people, it's pleasant fiction. That entry fee is only for new subscribers who sign up for a two-year contract, and even then, there's an additional "upgrade fee"; if you want to get picky, it's really $217. The pricing is fairly complicated, but the bottom line is that a new 16GB model could conceivably cost you as much as $699. See our iPhone pricing story for phone and service specifics. Speaking of more money: This is a high-end smartphone and your monthly bills will reflect that.

The iPhone 3G isn't worth the upgrade. There's no shortage of iPhones already out there. Walk down a New York City street and you'll see them everywhere. I'd go as far as to say that anyone who really wanted an iPhone already has one. The addition of 3G and GPS are great bonuses that come with this iteration, but since existing iPhones can run iPhone 2.0 software and all the new third-party apps too, why upgrade? You'll pay more for an iPhone 3G contract each month, and that original iPhone certainly wasn't cheap.

The iPhone 3G's battery life is going to suck. Unfortunately, I don't know this for sure since Apple didn't give us the head start it gave to David Pogue of The New York Times and author of iPhone: The Missing Manual. Still, this has been a chronic problem for 3G phones of all varieties. And when you add a display that is as large as the iPhone's, power usage will most definitely increase. If you want to use your iPhone as your MP3 player, PDA, e-mail device, and phone, you'll never be able to actually leave the house with it. And, of course, defying all logic and reason, that battery isn't user-replaceable.

The iPhone 3G's storage is limited to 16GB. Right now 8GB and 16GB are your only choices, but I bet we'll see a 32GB version by the end of the year. At 32GB you'll have a device that could truly serve as a full-time iPod replacement, with room to store thousands of MP3s and high-quality video files. Now that might be worth buying—depending on the price.

The iPhone 3G is not a feature leader. The touch screen and interface are impressive achievements, but when it comes to features, the iPhone isn't a leader. What's missing: support for additional flash memory; stereo Bluetooth support; picture messaging; video recording; and the rudimentary ability to cut-and-paste text. Its 2-megapixel camera doesn't even have a flash! In short, there are free phones with better features than the iPhone 3G.

Granted there's more going for the iPhone 3G than just the phone itself. The App Store will make it a genuine smartphone platform, instead of a trumped-up feature phone. And MobileMe could make the device a key part of an increasingly cloud-based computing environment. But right now, despite the incessant buzz, I'm underwhelmed.

The original iPhone was a game changer, and with it Apple permanently altered the mobile-communications landscape. That said, given the drawbacks outlined above, I still can't see why people would rush out to buy an iPhone 3G. If you already own an iPhone, download the upgrade software. Otherwise, ignore the hype, skip the long lines, and enjoy the weekend. That's what I'll be doing.

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ABC News: Yes, There Is Water on the Moon

In a study published today in Nature, researchers led by Brown University geologist Alberto Saal found evidence of water molecules in pebbles retrieved by NASA's Apollo missions.

The findings point to the existence of water deep beneath the moon's surface, transforming scientific understanding of our nearest neighbor's formation and, perhaps, our own. There may also be a more immediately practical application.

"Is there water there? That's important for lunar missions. People could get the water. They could use the hydrogen for energy," said Saal.

The pebbles were scattered by lunar volcanoes that erupted three billion years ago, when the moon was still a cooling hunk of magma cast into orbit by the collision of a Mars-sized asteroid with Earth.

That impact enveloped the Earth in temperatures reaching 7000 Kelvin -- more than enough, it was thought, to obliterate all traces of hydrogen and oxygen.

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AT&T and AOL Will Sign Child Porn Agreements - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

Two of the largest Internet service providers, AT&T and America Online, have reached agreements with the state attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, to eliminate access to newsgroups where child pornography is posted and purge their own servers of child porn Web sites.

The deal, announced on Thursday morning, follows agreements reached last month with Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable.

The attorney general will also ramp up the pressure on more providers to sign on with a new Web site, nystopchildporn.com, where consumers can download letters to send to their providers “that have failed to make the same commitment to stop child porn,” according to a news release issued by Mr. Cuomo’s office.

The deals are significant, because newsgroups have been a somewhat forgotten corner of the Internet where child porn has flourished. But the agreements will only go so far in eliminating the scourge of child porn on the Web — it does not prevent customers from accessing Web sites on other servers not controlled by those companies.

“These agreements with two of the nation’s largest ISPs to eradicate child porn websites from their servers tighten the noose around this despicable trade,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “I call on all ISPs to quickly adopt the reforms in our code of conduct.”

David Condit, AT&T’s senior vice president of state legislative and regulatory affairs, said in the statement:

We’re happy to work with Attorney General Cuomo’s office and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the effort to help prevent the distribution of this harmful and abusive content.

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FORTUNE: Apple 2.0 Countdown to the iPhone 3G launch «

With the July 11 launch date fast approaching, the machinery required to execute the worldwide release of Apple’s second generation iPhone is kicking into gear. A timeline:

• Tuesday, July 1: Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) unveil details of their pricing plans. Apple issues a pair of video guided tours and AT&T publishes a checklist and video on how to get “iReady.” (See A tale of two videos.)
• Friday, July 4: First line for the iPhone 3G starts forming outside the glass cube of Apple’s flagship store in New York City.
• Sunday, July 6: Apple holds retail meeting to brief Apple Store employees on release-day plans. (See MacRumors here.)
• Monday, July 7: Telefonica’s O2 UK division starts taking pre-orders online for iPhone 3Gs in England; sells out in three hours.
• Monday, July 7: Noon Pacific Time deadline for software developers to submit applications for sale on the App Store, Apple’s venue for 3rd party software for the iPhone and iPod touch.
• Monday, July 7: Apple begins installing jumbo-size iPhone 3G displays in its U.S. stores. (See Gizmodo’s slideshow here.)
• Wednesday, July 9: Apple’s .Mac service scheduled to go offline between 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. PT to make way for MobileMe, a collection of Web services that will push e-mail, calendars and contacts to iPhones and desktop Macs. (See AppleInsider here.)
• Thursday, July 10: The first iPhone 3Gs go on sale in three New Zealand stores at 12:01 a.m. July 11 local time, which corresponds to 8:01 a.m. July 10 in New York City. (See here for the uproar in New Zealand over Vodafone NZ’s pricing plans.)
• Friday, July 11: Doors open at 8:00 a.m. local time in 20 countries, moving east to west, at Apple Stores and the stores of local carriers. Lines are expected to move slowly as carriers perform credit checks and unbrick phones on site.

For a different kind of timeline, see the infographic published by iPhoneGold here. It starts in 1999, when Apple registered iPhone.org, and ends with the launch of the iPhone 3G. Its creators promise regular updates as important developments occur. (Click on the thumbnail to see the image full-size.)

[Apple Store display photo courtesy of Gizmodo.]

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Yahoo Offers Open Source Search With BOSS - The Channel Wire - IT Channel News And Views by CRN and VARBusiness

Yahoo is opening up its search engine vault and letting third parties develop customized Web searches using its own technology. Build your Own Search Service (BOSS) encourages start-ups, Web developers and anyone else to build and launch Web-scale search products that take advantage of the Yahoo Search index. Yahoo is giving the keys to its crawling and indexing capabilities along with ranking and relevancy algorithms to developers in the hopes to increase its own search market share while encouraging the next step in search engine functionality.

The Yahoo Blog states that the biggest entry barrier for potential budding search companies is money. Giving access to a preexisting infrastructure affectively removes that barrier and allows developers to focus on getting their search algorithms right.

Trying to compete with search engines like Google and Yahoo requires, "hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in engineering, sciences and core infrastructure -- from crawling and indexing technology to relevancy and machine learning algorithms, to stuff as mundane as data centers, servers and power," Yahoo writes on its blog.

"Because competing successfully in web search requires an investment of this scale, new players have effectively been prohibited from delivering credible alternatives to Yahoo and Google," Yahoo said.

BOSS is calculated to remove those obstacles and allow people with the desire to innovate Web search.

Speaking to Reuters, Prabhakar Raghavan, the chief strategist for Yahoo Search, said that the motivation behind BOSS is simple. "We want to disrupt the search market by removing that entry barrier and make room for more players and more ideas," Raghavan said.

Currently Google holds approximately 62 percent of the U.S. Web search market, while Yahoo maintains 21 percent, according to Reuters.

Raghavan and Yahoo believe that BOSS will allow the development of industry and social specific searches. Healthcare search, for example, is one area Raghavan believes that a start-up can develop a useful search tool for a specific industry. The potential for a social aspect of search is also something Yahoo isn't ruling out, with the results being ordered based on what a user's friends find interesting.

Yahoo already has two partners on the BOSS bandwagon. Me.dium is a personalized search start-up and Hakia is a leading semantic search engine.

The company has previously offered a search API to developers -- and the concept isn't new to the industry -- however, companies looking to use an existing API have traditionally been restricted in their access. By using BOSS, developers have unlimited queries per day, no restrictions on presentation, re-ordering is allowed, blending of proprietary and Yahoo search content is allowed.

Monetization, a potentially tricky issue with BOSS, is currently unavailable, but is coming soon. According to Reuters, Yahoo will require their own ads to be run alongside search results in exchange for the tools they provide.

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software

Trying to figure out how to justify the company paying for Apple's new 3G iPhone? Oracle wants to help.

Oracle (NSDQ: ORCL) became the first major business software vendor to deliver applications for the iPhone, joining hundreds of software developers, many of them tiny or consumer-oriented, hawking wares at Thursday's opening of Apple's online App Store.

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Oracle's Business Indicators applications let users of several Oracle business intelligence applications get information sent to their iPhones. Finance, sales, and manufacturing managers can get alerts and updates based on predefined business metrics, such as if sales goals are met or shipment levels dip.

The mobile apps are free to Oracle BI customers, and data can be viewed in graphical or tabular format. Oracle plans to broaden the line to include apps that let managers make approvals -- for things such as new hires or expense reports -- using their phones. It's also promising apps that bring capabilities from its CRM software, such as contact management and sales forecasting, to iPhones.

Oracle isn't the first to develop BI capabilities for the iPhone. Information Builders has provided iPhone access to its BI reports running on servers for months, and open source BI vendor Pentaho last week announced a similar capability. On-demand ERP vendor NetSuite provides iPhone access to data in its systems.

Apple is trying to push the iPhone further into business. The 3G iPhone, to be released on Friday amid the now typical sleep-on-the-sidewalk anticipation, supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for pushing e-mail, calendars, and contacts to the devices. It has the ability to view Word and Excel attachments within e-mails, and Apple offers a secureCisco (NSDQ: CSCO)-based VPN into corporate networks. Apple released a software development kit for the iPhone earlier this year; its first application store coincides with the 3G launch.

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The Associated Press: Obama targets women's issues with Clinton at hand

NEW YORK (AP) — Going after the women's vote, Democrat Barack Obama chastised Republican John McCain on Thursday over his opposition to an equal-pay Senate bill, his support for conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices and his abortion-rights objections.

"I will never back down in defending a woman's right to choose," the likely Democratic nominee said, drawing a sharp contrast with his GOP rival.

"That's what's at stake," Obama added as he campaigned with his half-sister and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the pioneering former first lady he toppled during the Democratic presidential primary, at a "Women for Obama" breakfast fundraiser.

Obama packed his day with female-focused events in New York and Virginia, a reminder of his need to win over women who include some still smarting from Clinton's loss. She had tried to become the first woman to win the White House, and women were her base voters. They took her defeat hard, so much so that even a few are promising to vote for McCain.

Thus, to underscore his differences with McCain on women's issues, Obama cited Senate legislation from the spring that sought to counteract a Supreme Court decision limiting how long workers can wait before suing for pay discrimination.

Obama said McCain "thinks the Supreme Court got it right."

"He suggested that the reason women don't have equal pay isn't discrimination on the job — it's because they need more education and training," Obama said, eliciting groans from the audience. Obama said the problem is some employers aren't paying women enough and many women aren't able to challenge that. "The solution is to finally close that gap and pay women what they've earned, nothing less."

Obama backed the Senate legislation that would have made it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination. McCain opposed it, saying at the time: "I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation ... opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems."

Seeking an edge, the Democrat also raised the issue of abortion rights, which is shaping up to be a major point of difference between the candidates. Obama supports keeping the landmark decision that legalized abortion, Roe v. Wade, intact, while McCain opposes abortion rights and wants to appoint Supreme Court justices akin to Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

"Senator McCain has made it abundantly clear that he wants to appoint justices like Roberts and Alito — and that he hopes to see Roe overturned," Obama said. "I stand by my votes against confirming Justices Roberts and Alito."

The Democrat said voters will decide in the fall election "whether we'll have judges who demonstrate sound judgment and empathy, who understand how law operates in our daily lives, who are committed to upholding the values at the core of our Constitution — or judges who put ideology before justice, with our fundamental rights as the first casualty."

The Republican National Committee argued that although Obama opposed the confirmation of Roberts and Alito, he backed the court's recent decision on gun rights and sided with the minority on the death penalty in child rape cases. Said RNC spokesman Alex Conant: "Considering his recent reversals and partisan record, rather than attack Justices Roberts and Alito, Obama owes the American people more than just political expedience."

Obama started his day at the 2,300-person fundraiser with Clinton — their second joint fundraising appearance in as many days — and with his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.

"I'm grateful for all of you who have come together," Clinton said as she introduced Obama. "I know you'll be there in November."

She noted that Obama had mentioned that she looked rested after being off the rigorous campaign trail, said she's trying to exercise now and compared her habits with Obama's during the primary season. "Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. I would get up and have my hair done," she quipped.

Later, Obama was scheduled to hold a town-hall event in Fairfax, Va., on his economic plan and how it would help women and all parents balance work and family demands. Virginia first lady Anne Holton planned to introduce Obama.

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Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

July 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Reverend Jesse Jackson's derogatory comments about Barack Obama could provide a boost for the presumptive Democratic nominee, giving him an opportunity to win over some voters who have been skeptical of his candidacy.

Jackson was appearing on Fox News on July 6 when a microphone picked up his remark suggesting that Obama was ``talking down to black people'' in recent speeches at black churches, according to a tape of the comments played on Bill O'Reilly's show on the Fox News Channel.

He then said, referring to Obama, ``I want to cut his nuts off,'' according to the Fox News Web site. At the time, he was speaking to Reed Tuckson, executive vice president and chief medical officer of United Health Group Inc.

Jackson, 66, apologized for his remarks, telling CNN yesterday that they were ``crude.'' The comments may turn out to help Obama by emphasizing his call for personal responsibility, a favorite topic of Republicans, said Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia.

``It reinforces Obama's effort to present himself as an advocate of responsible personal behavior, a position that Republican candidates like to secure as uniquely their own,'' Rozell said.

The Illinois senator, who in August stands to be the first minority candidate to be nominated for president by a major political party, spent Father's Day last month at one of Chicago's largest black churches telling the audience that they should set better examples for their children and shouldn't abandon them.

`Any Fool'

``Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father,'' Obama, 46, said at the Apostolic Church of God, which has more than 20,000 members. ``Too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes.''

Jackson's comments help Obama in other ways as well, said Steffen Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University in Ames.

``This helps Obama make the case that he is not a `black' leader but just a Democratic candidate for president,'' Schmidt said. ``Cynics are asking if Jackson made this comment on purpose to help Obama.''

Jackson, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, said he didn't know the microphone was on when he commented on Obama's speeches.

`I Offer Apologies'

``Anything I said in a hot-mic statement that's interpreted as a distraction, I offer apologies for that,'' Jackson said at a news conference yesterday after his remarks became public.

``I have supported Barack's campaign with passion from the very beginning. I thought the very idea made sense,'' Jackson said. ``We've been there all the way, because I think this campaign is a redemptive moment for America and a great opportunity to redefine America.''

Jackson told CNN that his criticism about Obama was that he ``comes down as speaking down to black people.'' He said Obama should also be talking in the black community about issues like health care, jobs and justice.

``That's a range of issues on the menu,'' he said. ``Then I said something I regret was crude.''

Jackson's comments were criticized by his son, Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., an Illinois Democrat and a national co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign.

``I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric,'' the lawmaker said in a statement. ``He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.''

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Obama ``will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology.''

He should do more than just forgive Jackson, said David Schultz, a professor in the graduate school of management at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

``Obama should give Jackson and O'Reilly an award for helping his campaign with white voters,'' Schultz said.

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BofA seen likely to honor Countrywide's debt | Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - While Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) still has not explicitly said it would guarantee Countrywide's debt after it completed the acquisition of the largest U.S. mortgage lender, bondholders are seen likely to be made whole.

The second largest U.S. bank last week completed its purchase of Countrywide debt for about $2.5 billion, but bondholders are still waiting for the Charlotte, North-Carolina based bank to say how it would treat the mortgage lender's debt, estimated at $40 billion.

Bank of America provided no guarantees in its latest regulatory filing on Tuesday but the new organizational structure detailed there indicates bondholders will be repaid, CreditSights analyst David Hendler said in a report.

"Countrywide's bank credit facilities have been repaid and its outstanding debt has been assumed by an indirect subsidiary, created and wholly owned by BofA," Hendler wrote.

"Our view continues to be that BofA will ultimately honor the outstanding indebtedness from (old) Countrywide, based on our discussion with the company following this filing, as well as our prior analysis."

Countrywide's bonds have rallied and its credit default swaps have tightened as investors felt more secure. Spreads on Countrywide's 4 percent notes due in 2011 narrowed to 2.96 percentage points over Treasuries on Wednesday, from as wide as 7.49 percentage points in May.

Both bond and credit default spreads gapped out when Bank of America in April said it was examining options for Countrywide debt and that there was "no assurance" it would redeem, assume or guarantee the debt.

But according to the latest filing, a fully-owned Bank of America subsidiary assumed Countrywide's indebtedness, including subordinated notes, junior subordinated notes, euro medium term notes, preferred stocks and convertible securities.

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Abu Dhabi Acquires a Stake in Chrysler Building - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

The government of Abu Dhabi bought a 90 percent stake in the landmark Chrysler Building on Tuesday for $800 million from German investors and Tishman Speyer Properties.

You would think that Abu Dhabi got a controlling interest in New York’s Art Deco masterpiece for that kind of money. But you would be wrong.

Despite having only a minority holding, Tishman Speyer Properties will continue to control the property, much as it has since 1997. That is because it controls the land beneath the 77-story tower with the stainless steel crown, gargoyles and elevator cabs that evoke the chrome laden autos of years gone by.

Tishman Speyer Properties did not return calls requesting comment and the often secretive Abu Dhabi Investment Council, an arm of the Gulf emirate government, was also mum. Teresa Miller, a spokeswoman for Prudential Real Estate Investors, confirmed on Wednesday that “we no longer own a 75 percent stake in the Chrysler Building.” She declined to disclose the sale price.

Real estate executives familiar with the transaction said the other 15 percent was purchased from Tishman Speyer. The total price was $800 million, or 166 percent more than the $300 million the German investors paid in 2001.

In a separate deal, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council is negotiating to buy the retail space in the seven­-story glass Trylons, a pavilion, that Tishman Speyer built next to the Chrysler Building.

Jerry I. Speyer, the chairman of Tishman Speyer, and its partner Travelers Group, bought the skyscraper at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue and the adjoining Kent Building in 1997 for $220 million. Mr. Speyer outwitted competing bidders for the property by pre-emptively securing a deal with Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, which owned the land underneath the tower.

Although the Chrysler Building’s lobby featured African marble and chrome and the Sky Club on the 66th floor offered spectacular views, it had a run down feel to it. Tishman Speyer poured $100 million into renovations.

Less than four years later, Travelers sold its 75 percent stake for $300 million to a real estate fund for German investors called TMW. Prudential later acquired TMW, selling the stake in the Chrysler Building on Tuesday. The funds generally buy assets for five to seven years and are not interested in being long term owners of real estate.

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Initial jobless claims fall 58,000 to lowest since April - MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since April in the latest week, but continuing unemployment claims reached a level not seen since December 2003, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Initial claims fell by 58,000 to 346,000 for the week ended July 5, their lowest mark since April 19 and the largest one-week decline in more than two years.

The prior week's claims were unrevised at 404,000, only the second time in the current cycle when claims had risen above the 400,000 mark.

"We expect that initial claims will move back towards the 400,000 level in the coming weeks and we do not view today's report as evidence of an improvement in labor market trends," wrote John Ryding and Conrad DeQuadros of RDQ Economics.

"This is one of those times we have to say 'wait 'til next week,'" wrote Robert Brusca, chief economist for FAO Economics. "Claims often are skewed lower in holiday weeks."

The first two weeks of July usually show large increases as automobile and other manufacturers temporarily lay workers off to retool production, a Labor Department spokesman said.

The four-week average of initial claims was 379,250, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week. The four-week average smoothes out distortions caused by events such as holidays, weather and strikes.

More ominous, the latest continuing claims numbers suggest that jobs are increasingly difficult to find.

For the week ended June 28, continuing claims rose by 91,000 to reach 3.2 million. It was the highest since Dec. 27, 2003.

The four-week average of continuing claims also rose, up 16,500 to 3.13 million, the highest since Feb. 21, 2004.

"Businesses remain cautious considering the uncertain outlook and notable downside risks," wrote Andrew Gledhill, an economist for Moody's Economy.com. "Unemployed workers are likely to stay unemployed for longer stretches of time."

Benefits are generally available for those who lose their full-time job through no fault of their own. Those who exhaust their unemployment benefits are still counted as unemployed if they are actively looking for work.

The insured unemployment rate rose to 2.4% from 2.3%.

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Yahoo, Turner Broadcasting form alliance - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

Yahoo Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said Thursday they will collaborate on advertising and sports-related content.

In the multi-year strategic alliance Turner will represent online ad sales for Yahoo Sports' NBA, golf and NASCAR pages.

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) will have access to basketball, golf and NASCAR content from Turner-managed league sites such as NBA.com, PGATOUR.com, PGA.com and NASCAR.com.

"Our relationship with Yahoo provides tremendous benefits for our online consumers who will receive enhanced coverage of NBA, PGA TOUR, PGA and NASCAR news and events," said Turner.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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AFP: Banking group Wachovia says loss may hit $2.8 bln

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Wachovia, a major US banking group, has warned investors it could post a second quarter loss as large as 2.8 billion dollars as loan and property-related losses continue to roil its finances.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based, bank is due to announce its second quarter earnings on July 22. It warned of swelling losses in a statement late Wednesday.

"Wachovia expects to report an after-tax loss available to common stockholders of 2.6 to 2.8 billion dollars," the bank said.

The bank blamed its expected losses on writeoffs it was having to take on certain loan portfolios as a widespread credit crunch sweeps the banking sector.

It also said it expected to take a charge of 280 million dollars relating to its commercial real estate exposure. Wachovia endured a first quarter loss of 393 million dollars.

Like other US banks, Wachovia has seen its profits squeezed dramatically by the housing market slump and mortgage-related losses. Such losses have roiled domestic banks and big foreign banks that snapped up US mortgage securities during the housing boom.

Analysts say that other big banks are also likely to post continued losses in coming weeks as major corporations unveil their latest earnings.

Wachovia also announced late Wednesday that it had hired a high-ranking Treasury official, Robert Steel, to be its new chief executive and president.

Steel, who resigned as a Treasury under secretary on Wednesday, takes the helm after Wachovia ousted its previous CEO following hefty mortgage-related losses.

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Target, Wal-Mart June sales pick up - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Target Corp. same-store sales were up 0.4 percent in June, the retailer announced Thursday, beating the company's predicted estimates.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected same-store sales would fall 0.5 percent.

"Our comparable store sales performance in June was slightly above our planned range," Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel said in a statement. The company was predicting same-store sales for June would be in a range of flat to down 2 percent.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are a key measure of retailer performance.

Rival, Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) recorded a 5.8 percent gain in same-store sales, citing economic stimulus checks as a booster of customer traffic. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected an increase of 3.8 percent.

Target, Wal-Mart June sales pick up - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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By Soyoung Kim and Poornima Gupta

By Soyoung Kim and Poornima Gupta

DETROIT, July 11 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research)(TM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it would start building its Prius hybrid in the United States in 2010 and suspend production of slow-selling big trucks for three months in a sharp reversal of strategy forced by slumping sales and high gas prices.

Toyota, which has faced widening shortages of fuel- efficient small cars in recent months, will start building its top-selling hybrid at a new Mississippi plant, originally scheduled to produce the Highlander sport utility vehicle.

The unusual and costly moves by Toyota, now the global auto sales leader, underscored the pressure across the industry as major automakers scuttle truck production and take steps to ramp up output of passenger cars to keep up with a dramatic shift in U.S. buying patterns.

Hit by an industry-wide slump in trucks and SUVs, Toyota posted a 6 percent drop in first-half sales in in the United States, its single-biggest market.

To clear inventory, Toyota said it would suspend production of its Sequoia SUV and redesigned Tundra pickup truck for three months beginning in early August.

At the same time, Toyota said it would work to retool a plant still under construction near Tupelo, Mississippi to build the new Prius, starting in late 2010. All of the Prius models now sold in the United States are built at a dedicated assembly plant in Japan.

The Tundra represents Toyota's attempt to break into the market for full-size pickup trucks, still dominated by Detroit automakers. The Japanese automaker had called plans for its expanded production in the United States its most important vehicle launch ever.

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