Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Robbing bank with a smile

Two young women, possibly teenagers, robbed a supermarket bank branch, laughing as they held up a teller with nothing but sunglasses to disguise their faces. They could be young as 16.

P.S. I don't think they are laughing now. Cops are searching for them... and that is not fun.

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Monday, February 26, 2007

Do you think Reflexology is for real?

Reflexology, or zone therapy, is the practice of stimulating points on the feet, hands and ears, in order to encourage a beneficial effect on some other parts of the body, or to try to improve general health.

Do you think its True or False? (Click here to comment)

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DirectRevenue Pays $1.5 Million to Settle FTC Charges

Adware distributor DirectRevenue will have to pay $1.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it used unfair and deceptive methods to install its software on users computers, and then obstructed them from easily removing it.

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Thursday, February 22, 2007

FDA Warns About Asthma Drug, Xolair

The FDA is calling for a "black box" label warning for the asthmaasthma drug Xolair, alerting users it can cause potentially life-threatening allergic reactions.

The FDA issued the alert after reviewing 48 cases of anaphylaxis -- life-threatening allergic reactions - submitted to the agency from June 2003, when Xolair was approved, through December 2005.

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Saturday, February 17, 2007

Implant to 'cure' blindness within 2 years

An implant that restores partial sight to the blind could be commercially available in just two years.

Trials are soon to begin on the latest version of the Argus retinal prosthesis system which allows patients to distinguish different shapes and detect movement.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

YouTube Wrongful Viacom Copyright Claims

The YouTube's filmmaker page bore a notice that said: "This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Viacom International because its content was used without permission."

"That note said to anyone looking for my trailer that I violated someone's copyright. And that isn't true. That's where they defamed me," filmmaker said.

Viocom said it regrets its errors.

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Canada Added to List of Piracy Havens

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which represents U.S. software, music, movie and video game firms, has asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to add Canada to the U.S. "priority watch list" of countries considered havens for piracy, which includes China, Russia and Venezuela.

The IIPA said that Canada must update its copyright laws and increase enforcement.

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Judge Dismisses Online Predator Suit Against MySpace

A federal judge has granted MySpace's motion to dismiss charges of negligence, fraud and negligent misrepresentation filed by the family of a girl from Austin, Texas who was assaulted by a man she met on the website, Reuters reported.

"To ensure that Web site operators and other interactive computer services would not be crippled by lawsuits arising out of third party communications, the Act provides interactive computer services with immunity," Judge wrote in his ruling.

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Social Networking sites to be banned in schools, libraries?

A new bill introduced by Illinois Senator Matt Murphy (R) proposes that schools and libraries to block access to social networking sites.

Murphy considers his bill as a "proactive" move to "protect kids" from potential new threats such as sexual predator looking for victims on sites such as MySpace.

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Leonardo DiCaprio in Enron Movie?

Warner Bros has announced a new movie about the 2001 Enron scandal that will star Leonardo DiCaprio. He will also be a producer on the project, through his production company Appian Way.

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Electronic Arts Buys Online Karaoke Community SingShot Media

Everyone is into social networking these days :)

Electronic Arts announced that it has acquired San Francisco-based SingShot Media, developer of an online karaoke community.

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Google Accused of Aiding Movie Pirates

One more for Google...

Media firms including News Corp., Viacom, Sony, NBC Universal, Disney and Time Warner have accused Google of enabling piracy by selling keyword ads for sites that offered illegal movie downloads, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Google held negotiations with the media firms on Friday, and said that it would remove objectionable ads and refrain from selling ads to sites that sell pirated content.

P.S. Attention Google Salespeople: you enable software piracy by allowing sites to sell illigal software, please stop that as well.

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Google Loses Newspaper Copyright Case

Google lost in a copyright case where Belgian newspapers accused Google of infringement for posting their news articles without permission.

The court also ordered Google to pay a fine of about $32,400 for each day it did not comply with the ruling, down from an earlier ruling in September that put the fine at $1.3 million a day.

Google said it will appeal the ruling.

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Barack Obama launches his own social networking website

U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who recently announced his intention to run for President, has become the first candidate to launch his own online social networking website.

While many campaigns have created profiles for their candidates on sites like MySpace and Facebook for previous elections, Obama appears to be the first to launch a social network on his own site.

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Fastest-growing companies making use of Social Network

The nation's fastest-growing private companies are making use of social media — including blogs, social networking and podcasts — at a rate more than twice that of Fortune 500 companies, according to a new study.

P.S. For the social networking solution, try KickApps. It could be branded or changed as needed.

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Friday, February 02, 2007

Helpline for distressed Harry Potter fans

A British book retailer is planning to set a Harry Potter Helpline because two popular characters in the J K Rowling saga will die in the final installment.

"This could be a similar moment to when Take That (a pop band) split up - there could be a lot of upset teenagers out there. We are looking to set up a helpline for them," Debbie Williams of the book chain Waterstone's was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.

The final book will be published at midnight on July 21.

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YouTube to remove 100,000 unauthorized video clips

Viacom Inc., asked YouTube on Friday to remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips from its video-sharing site.

Viacom said in a statement that after several months of talks with YouTube and its corporate parent, the online search leader Google Inc., "it has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to a fair market agreement that would make Viacom content available to YouTube users."

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Man diagnosed with terminal lung cancer wins million dollars a month later

A man diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, wins a million dollars next month broken down into installments for 20 years. Unfortunatelly, he doesn't expect to receive all the money because his doctors have given him a year to live.

He picked up his first payment last week - 34,000 dollars after taxes. Other than a hunting trip to Alaska, he says he doesn't want to buy anything fancy with his winnings. He says he just wants more time.


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Global warming is very likely man-made

The most extensive report on global warming to date was released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change today. In the report, an international collection of leading scientists warn that the Earth's climate will continue to heat up for centuries.

For the first time ever, the report confirms that global warming is very likely man-made.

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