'Ender's Game' Stars Harrison Ford and Abigail Breslin

In the wake of successful book-to-film franchises like Harry Potter, Twilight and most recently, Hunger Games, "Ender's Game" tries its luck at the trend.

The future is looking bright for this new teen-friendly production as co-financers OddLot Entertainment and Summit Entertainment sign on two acclaimed Hollywood actors to star.

Variety reports A-List actor Harrison Ford ("Indiana Jones") and child wonder Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine") are both locked in for roles in the film adaptation of the sci-fi novel.

Ford, 69, will play Colonel Hyrum Graff who trains the students, while Breslin, 15, is cast as Valentine Wiggin, the sister of the genius protagonist Ender Wiggin.

In this movie, Ford veers away from the typical leading man he's known (and well-suited) for.

"I'm pretty much out of the hero business these days," he tells The Sydney Morning Herald.

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"You don't play a hero. You play a person. You play the moment. You create a character that gives expression to the story. You don't show up and say 'I'm a hero,'" the famous star explains.

Breslin is several decades younger then the "Star Wars" heartthrob, but she shares the same desire to play a variety of roles.

"I never want to play the same character three times in a row, and I've been very lucky not to have to do that. I don't really have a set plan. I kind of go script by script, and if I like the character - and the script - I do it," the young actress says in an interview with Globe and Mail.

Other thespians already casted in "Ender's Game" are Asa Butterfield ("Hugo"), Hailee Steinfeld ("True Grit"), Jimmy Pinchak ("Let Me In"), Aramis Knight ("Rendition") and Moises Arias ("Hannah Montana"). Ben Kingsley is also being eyed for a role in the movie.

"Ender's Game" is the first of a series of popular books that's set in the future where mankind lives in constant anticipation of an alien invasion. As preparation, humans have taken to training the most promising children as eventual commanders.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" director Gavin Hood will spearhead this potential box-office hit, along with producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

"Ender's Game" is slated for a March 2012 release.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/271846/20111222/ender-s-game-stars-harrison-ford-abigail.htm

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NFL team has QB controversy?

After the initial novelty of veteran quarterback Seneca Wallace wore off last Sunday, most Browns fans were reminded of just how far the team has to journey in its attempt at regaining NFL respectability.

After all, it is late December in Cleveland, which is a time for both reflection and channeling blind hope toward the future.

Or, just a time for distractions.

Quarterback Controversy

"I'm going to cross that bridge when they are both healthy. Right now, until Colt's healthy, we're going to go with Seneca."

-Pat Shurmur ? 12/19/11

At this point in the season, who cares?

The growth of Shurmur's offense is so stunted that any authentic quarterback discussions are completely negated. Anyone who passionately argues for either McCoy or Wallace is completely missing the point. The offensive structure as a whole is a passive being ? one that is incapable of generating its own positive momentum.

In fact, the offense is tragically similar to Randy Lerner's tepid ownership over the last decade.

Anyway, both McCoy and Wallace bring some positive attributes to the position ? but neither are capable of transcending the current limitations set by the coaching scheme, playcalling and lack of surrounding talent. Certainly, McCoy has a strong pedigree and amazing toughness, while Wallace is somewhat experienced and mobile.

But in the end, each specific skill set is eclipsed by offensive playcalling that reflexively tightens in pressure situations and offers inopportune bursts of creativity elsewhere.

While much of this designation could be attributed to Shurmur's own learning curve as a head coach/offensive coordinator, it's troubling to think of the Browns wasting talented players like Robert Griffin III or Justin Blackmon in this offense.

Team Identity

"We were backed up, for one thing. They had three timeouts. You have to consider where you're at. If you incomplete the ball and have to punt, they're going to have a situation where they can put themselves in position to get a field goal. So you try to get a first down and do it with a couple of your best run plays as well. So if you're not, the clock is running, and they're using their timeouts as well."

-Pat Shurmur ? 12/19/11

Speaking of which, Shurmur's logic regarding the Browns' late-game malfunction is perhaps the most passive statement uttered by a Browns' head coach since the days of Romeo Crennel's innocuous post game clich?s.

Basically, the Browns' head coach/offensive coordinator admitted that he has zero faith in his team's passing game. Shurmur, who basically designed the team's passing game, is contending that his creation is so inept that the Browns would be better served to run time off the clock, rather than aggressively trying to preserve a much-needed win.

This strategy was completely ineffective, as every team the Browns have faced this year has continually stacked eight defenders against the run. In the final moments of a close game, this occurrence was certainly expected and Shurmur did not disappoint. After calling "a couple of (his) best run plays," the Browns quickly handed the ball back to the Cardinals and watched another near victory slide away.

Yet, this entire episode again speaks to the Browns' overall lack of urgency and intensity. While it doesn't appear that any players have mailed in another lost season, the coaching staff appears completely impotent at the most inopportune moments. The Browns clearly lack any sense of killer instinct.

Perhaps no better example could be found than through a simple comparison of how the Browns and 49ers each respectively handled the Steelers' hobbled Ben Roethlisberger. While the Browns passively reacted to the Steelers' offense with pedestrian four-man fronts, the 49ers sent chaos Roethlisberger's way throughout the game. Conversely, the Browns' offense performs an almost pre-meditated stumble every time they are put in a position to close out a game.

Of course, one could make the argument that the Browns' late-game deficiency is the result of a lack of playmakers. However, it's worth asking just how different things would be ? considering the tepid nature of the team's playcallers.

Draft Needs

"Everyone that I mentioned that for some reason can't play we're going to try to get them all back and then will decide how the roster looks for Saturday."

-Pat Shurmur ? 12/19/11

Another sign that it is late December is the burgeoning injury list coming out of Berea.

With another lost season already in the ledger and games against two playoff-bound AFC North opponents in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, the Browns have entered into another sort of preservation mode. No logical-thinking Browns fan expects a win over the next two weeks, but any fan with a heart at least should ask that no players get seriously injured.

At the moment, Browns' players have suffered a whopping 11 concussions on the season, highlighted by McCoy's injury against the Steelers. McCoy's injury has ultimately proved historical, as the league is pushing for changes in the medical protocol regarding concussions. However, tight end Ben Watson's third concussion of the season will ultimately prove more damaging ? considering the long-term implications of brain trauma.

As for the Browns' current roster, again the talent engaged in Berea practices is razor thin, which references the team's historical expansion history. Usually during this time of year, the Browns can barely field a 53-man roster. On Saturday against the Ravens, a depleted linebacker corps will again try to chase down Baltimore's Ray Rice, while a battered secondary will be prone to downfield attacks.

Hopefully, all parts of the team can survive into the regular-season finale against Pittsburgh. Similarly, perhaps GM Tom Heckert is still paying close attention to his hand-crafted roster. While the obvious roster needs ? such as adding playmakers ? are just that, the current injuries have exposed a woeful lack of overall depth.

Of the many needs facing Heckert and the Browns in the offseason, adding a linebacker, safety, pass rushing defensive end and cornerback top the defensive priority list. Offensively, the right side of the offensive line needs to be fixed, while receivers, a running back and new quarterback are desirable.

Of course, given the team's current lack of identity, it's worth asking what kind of impact these potential new parts would even have.

Source: http://cle.scout.com/2/1141023.html

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FAA to issue rules aimed at tired airline pilots

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Nearly three years after the deadly crash of a regional airliner flown by two exhausted pilots, the Federal Aviation Administration is releasing rules aimed at preventing airline pilots from flying while dangerously fatigued.

The pilot work schedule rules, which were expected to be made public Wednesday, have been the focus of rival lobbying campaigns by pilot unions and airlines since the FAA released a draft proposal more than a year ago.

That proposal was a mixed bag: Work hours would be shortened for pilots who fly at night, while some pilots who fly during the day could wind up spending more time in the cockpit. Pilots would be required to have a minimum of nine hours off to rest between work shifts, one hour more than under present rules.

Researchers say fatigue can impair a pilot's performance by slowing reflexes and eroding judgment, much like alcohol. The National Transportation Safety Board has been campaigning for two decades for an overhaul of pilot work schedule rules. An effort by the FAA in the late 1990s to develop new rules stalled when pilot unions and airlines were unable to find common ground.

The effort was revived after the February 2009 crash of a regional airliner near Buffalo, N.Y., killing all 49 people aboard and a man on the ground. An NTSB investigation found that both pilots were probably suffering from fatigue.

Neither pilot appeared to have slept in a bed the previous night. The flight's captain had logged onto a computer in the middle of the night from an airport crew lounge where sleeping was discouraged. The first officer had commuted overnight from Seattle to Newark, N.J., much of the time sitting in a cockpit jumpseat. They could be heard yawning on the ill-fated flight's cockpit voice recorder.

However, by a 2-1 vote the board decided not to cite fatigue as a contributing factor to the crash. The board agreed that the captain's incorrect responses to a stall warning caused the accident, and that other pilot errors contributed to the crash. But investigators said it wasn't possible to determine whether those errors were the result of fatigue.

The families of victims killed in the crash, however, have relentlessly lobbied Congress and the Obama administration for new regulations to ensure that airlines use schedules that give pilots enough time for rest and reflect an understanding of how travel through time zones and the human body clock's response to light and darkness can affect performance. They won congressional passage of a law requiring the FAA to issue new rules by Aug. 1 of this year, but the White House Office of Management and Budget delayed release of the rules.

Airlines for America, an industry trade association, has estimated that the draft rules would cost airlines as much as $2 billion a year and, over time, cut as many as 27,000 jobs directly tied to the industry. Much of the cost would be to hire relief pilots for longer flights and to adjust schedules, including cutting back flights to some smaller cities.

The companies argue that the cost isn't justified by the risk. U.S. airlines are in the midst of a period of exceptional safety. There have been no fatal airline crashes in the U.S. in the nearly three years since Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo. That flight was operated for Continental Airlines by regional carrier Colgan Air Inc.

Pilot unions say airlines have significantly inflated their cost estimates.

Cargo carriers like Federal Express and United Parcel Service, which do much of their flying at night, would be especially affected by the new rules. The same holds true for charter airlines that transport nearly 90 percent of U.S. troops and about half of the military cargo around world. They've urged the administration to allow them to operate under different rules than scheduled airlines, warning that some military missions could be jeopardized.

NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman has said the industry's argument isn't credible. They can still fly the same missions, Hersman told The Associated Press earlier this year, but they may have to add extra pilots to their crews and make sure pilots have places onboard or on the ground where they can get sufficient rest before flying again.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-21-Tired%20Pilots/id-e7736add7c4e44f3a5a369f6133e2a3b

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Shadowgun THD optimized for Tegra 3 devices

The good news: NVIDIA's shouting from the rooftops that the game Shadowgun (read our review) has been updated and optimized for Tegra 3 devices. And, the bad news: There's only one Tegra 3 device available today, and it's pretty hard to come by. But if you're lucky enough to actually have an ASUS Transformer Prime (again, check out our full review), you've gotta check this one out.

We've got some Tegra 3 Shadowgun demo video after the break. Check it.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ZsDSh4cPG30/story01.htm

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Brothers sentenced for roles in NC terror plot (AP)

NEW BERN, N.C. ? Two brothers who watched as their father transformed their rural North Carolina family home into a base camp to launch violent jihad will spend years in prison, even after cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Zakariya Boyd, 22, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison on Tuesday and Dylan Boyd, 25, was sentenced to eight years. Each had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide support to terrorists, which carried a maximum of 15 years in prison and $250,000 fine. Both received lesser sentences after cooperating with prosecutors, including credit for the jail time already served since their arrests in July 2009.

Both men apologized to their American countrymen for failing to break free of their domineering father and his radical Muslim views, as their mother and siblings sobbed along with Dylan's wife and the family of the girl Zak wanted to marry.

"I apologize to the nation for failing to preserve the national security," Dylan Boyd said as he read from prepared notes before being sentenced.

Zak Boyd, sounding like the Eagle Scout he is, told U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan the shame he endures for failing to break away from the group's terror plots would motivate him to "reclaim the mantle of truth and justice."

According to prosecutors, the brothers were part of a group of eight men who raised money, stockpiled weapons and trained for jihadist attacks against American military targets and others they considered enemies of Islam. All of the accused were either American-born or naturalized U.S. citizens, or legal permanent residents.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bowler praised the brothers for their cooperation and admirable behavior since their arrest removed them from the orbit of their domineering father, Daniel Patrick Boyd, who isolated his sons and subjected them to physical and psychological pressure to abide by his extremist views.

Prosecutors have said Daniel Boyd brewed an atmosphere of intense militancy in the family and among the other defendants. Daniel Boyd's diatribes against the United States grew along with the collection of rifles, pistols and ammunition amassed at the Boyds' home in rural Johnston County, near Raleigh, prosecutors said.

Zak was in many ways an "exemplary" young man who showed kindness in small ways to many he met, Bowler said. Dylan resisted his father's fury for as long as he could, moving away to college and pursuing a career in health care. Both worked at part-time jobs while studying to help support their family.

"This is an agonizing case with respect to sentencing, between the distilled evil (of their father) and the circumstances of these boys having this shoved down their throats," Bowler said. "The term brainwashing comes to mind."

But the brothers were not innocent, Bowler said. The terror ring the FBI began investigating in 2005 plotted attacks abroad, but Zak and Dylan Boyd must have known that the growing firepower would never have been used except within the United States, Bowler said.

Daniel Boyd, a teenage convert to Islam and drywall contractor who once moved his family to Pakistan, pleaded guilty in February to charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons in a foreign country.

Flanagan said the sentences aimed to send a message about the penalties for those involved in terrorist plots, balanced against evidence that Daniel Boyd's vitriol against the United States had twisted his sons.

"The depravity of your father is etched in the record," Flanagan said. "The oppression that you endured during your upbringing left you quite scarred."

Flanagan did not explain why she gave Dylan a lesser sentence than his brother, but the judge said she was cutting Dylan's fine to $1,000 in recognition that he had a son born since his arrest.

Carol Hewitt's daughter Jordan dated Zak Boyd and the two wanted to marry. Zak came to the Hewitt home in one 2007 bid to run away from his father, but Daniel Boyd wrestled his son into a car. Still, the young couple wanted to marry and Carol Hewitt said she was negotiating with Zak's father to let that happen.

"We love him, we really do," she said after the sentencing. "We hope the court sees it's reversible ? that without his father's influence he will be able to persevere."

Dylan Boyd testified in October against three co-defendants who were later convicted in a trial that focused on alleged plots to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va., as well as foreign targets. Daniel Boyd, whose father was a Marine officer, had lived on the base as a child.

A trial is pending for a seventh defendant, Bosnian immigrant Anes Subasic. The Boyd brothers are expected to testify at Subasic's trial, expected for the first half of next year. Flanagan said she might revisit their sentences, depending on their contributions to the prosecution.

An eighth man indicted in the North Carolina terror plot is at large and believed to be in Pakistan.

___

Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/terrorism/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_on_re_us/us_nc_terror_arrests

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NASA Probe Enters Unexplored 'Cosmic Purgatory' at Solar System's Edge (SPACE.com)

After more than 30 years of traveling through the cosmos, a far-flung NASA spacecraft has entered an uncharted region between our solar system and interstellar space, scientists announced today (Dec. 5).

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) away from the sun, and data collected from the steadfast probe indicate that it has crossed into new territory that scientists are calling the "stagnation region."

In this expanse, the flow of solar wind, which consists of charged particles that stream from the sun, has calmed down, our solar system's magnetic field appears to be compressed, and high-energy particles from inside the solar system seem to be leaking out into interstellar space. This transition zone is thought to be like a "cosmic purgatory," the astronomers said.

"Voyager tells us now that we're in a stagnation region in the outermost layer of the bubble around our solar system," Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "Voyager is showing that what is outside is pushing back. We shouldn't have long to wait to find out what the space between stars is really like." [Photos from NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 Probes]

The latest results from the Voyager mission were presented today at the 2011 American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco.

Journey to the edge of the solar system

The Voyager 1 probe is currently the farthest manmade object from Earth, but has not yet reached interstellar space, Stone said.

Data received from the probe indicate that it is still within the so-called heliosphere, which is a large bubble of solar plasma and solar magnetic fields that the sun blows around itself. At the perimeter of the heliosphere is the heliosheath, a turbulent region at the outer edge of the solar system.?

At the edge of the heliosheath is the heliopause, a demarcation line that bounds our solar system from interstellar space. Voyager 1 covers about 330 million miles (531 million km) every year, and scientists predict that it could cross the heliopause soon ? within a few months to a few years. But the precise moment when this will happen is difficult to pin down.

"I can almost assure you that we will be confused when it first happens," Stone said during a news conference today. "This will undoubtedly not be simple. Nature tends to be much more creative than our own minds."

Part of the uncertainty comes from the fact that there are still many unknowns about the characteristics of these regions at the edge of the solar system. For instance, the thicknesses of the stagnation region and the heliopause remain a mystery.

"Newton tells us the spacecraft will reach interstellar space," Stone said. "The question is, will we still be transmitting when that happens? No spacecraft has ever been there before. We continue to find our models need to be improved as we learn more about the complex interaction between solar wind and interstellar wind. The transition may not be instantaneous. There may be a turbulent interface, [and it] may take us months to get through a rather messy interface between these two winds."

Breaking new ground

In April 2010, scientists reported that the outward speed of solar wind had diminished to zero, which indicated the start of the new region. To follow up these observations, mission managers rolled Voyager 1 four times this spring and summer to investigate whether the solar wind was blowing strongly in another direction. [Voyager: Humanity's Farthest Journey ]

What the researchers found was that Voyager 1 is journeying through space in a region similar to the doldrums in Earth's seas, where there is very little wind.

Over the past year, instruments onboard Voyager 1 also found that the intensity of the solar magnetic field in the stagnation region had doubled. This increase demonstrates that inward pressure from interstellar space is causing it to compress.

"Once the wind slows down, the [magnetic] field lines get compressed and field intensity goes up," Stone explained. "That's precisely what we've seen now in the last year. Today, it's about twice what it had been for the previous four years."

As it journeys toward interstellar space, Voyager 1 has been measuring energetic particles that originate from inside and outside our solar system. Until mid-2010, the intensity of particles originating from inside the solar system had been holding steady, the scientists said.

During the past year, the abundance of these energetic particles has been in decline, reaching a point now that is half what it was throughout the previous five years. This leads the researchers to think the high-energy particles are seeping into interstellar space.

While this is going on, Voyager is also detecting a sharp increase in the intensity of cosmic rays from elsewhere in the galaxy, penetrating into the solar system from outside. This is yet another sign that the spacecraft is approaching the boundary of interstellar space.

"We've been using the flow of energetic particles at Voyager 1 as a kind of wind sock to estimate the solar wind velocity," Rob Decker, a co-investigator on Voyager's Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., said in a statement. "We've found that the wind speeds are low in this region and gust erratically. For the first time, the wind even blows back at us. We are evidently traveling in completely new territory. Scientists had suggested previously that there might be a stagnation layer, but we weren't sure it existed until now."

An ongoing voyage

NASA launched Voyager 1 along with its sister Voyager 2 in 1977 to study the outer planets of the solar system. Voyager 2 is trailing its twin counterpart, and is currently 9 billion miles (15 billion km) away from the sun. [Our Solar System: A Photo Tour of the Planets]

The instruments aboard the Voyagers are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which convert the heat from plutonium's radioactive decay into electricity. The spacecraft have enough fuel to keep the instruments running until at least 2020, Stone said.

Though no one knows exactly what they will find, scientists are hoping that the Voyager probes continue to reveal exciting new discoveries about the solar system and beyond as they continue their cosmic cruise.

Until then, scientists are eagerly awaiting the next breakthrough.

"For me, it's been constant entertainment," said Eugene Parker, a professor emeritus in the department of physics at the University of Chicago. "I hold my breath as to what's going to happen next."

And for a mission that has been going strong for 34 years, astronomers have come to expect the unexpected.

"I think the entire science team ? none of us could have imagined the wealth of discovery that continues today," Stone said. "No doubt there's still a lot of discovery left, and that's what science is all about."?

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20111205/sc_space/nasaprobeentersunexploredcosmicpurgatoryatsolarsystemsedge

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Andrew Fieldhouse: Paying for a Jobs Bill by Cutting Federal Jobs? (Huffington post)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/169735204?client_source=feed&format=rss

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LiveLead Lets You Share And Watch YouTube Videos With Your Facebook Friends In Real-Time

Watching videos on YouTube or browsing through photos on Facebook is inherently a social action that you may do with friends while in front of a computer or TV. Startup LiveLead, which is in private beta, allows you to remotely watch and chat about YouTube videos or photos remotely with your friends in real-time. Anyone in the group can search for new content, click 'lead' and it will automatically load on everyone's computer. We have 500 invites for readers to try out the service here. Here's how LiveLead works. You can create a room to share and watch YouTube videos in. You actually log-in with Facebook, and you'll see a list of your friends that you can invite into a room. You simply click the '+' symbol next to their name to send them a link that invites them to your active LiveLead group. If they are online, it will send them a link via Facebook chat, and if they are offline, you can send the invite link via a customizable Facebook message.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/geAp3fCuSW8/

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Can Mozilla survive without Google? (Digital Trends)

Mozilla?s Firefox browser occupies a unique place in the industry. Developed as an alternative to Microsoft?s market-dominating Internet Explorer, Mozilla is the only major Web browser on the planet that isn?t a commercial operation. Firefox aims to answer to actual Web users, rather than cow-tow to corporate goals and pursue every opportunity to capture users and (of course) make profits. And Mozilla has succeeded: the company has been operating for years and steadily eroded Microsoft?s share of the browser market to become Internet Explorer?s leading competitor.

However, just because Mozilla is a non-profit doesn?t mean all that work happens for free. It still has to pay for office space, connectivity, servers, hosting, employee salaries and benefits, plus all the other costs of a software development operation: computers, software, licensing, and (probably) the odd Nerf gun. Mozilla gets support from contributors, but the bulk of the company?s revenue comes from partnerships with search providers, which pay Mozilla the equivalent of referral fees every time someone comes to their search service through a Mozilla browser. Mozilla?s biggest source of revenue is Google, which is set up as the default search on most Firefox installations.

However, Google is also the developer of one of Firefox?s biggest competitors: Chrome. And Mozilla?s search partnership agreement with Google expired in November.

There has not yet been any formal statement from either organization about the agreement?s future, but the situation leaves one to wonder: Can Mozilla survive without Google? And does Google need Mozilla?

Mozilla?s finances

Mozilla isn?t exactly hurting for money. According to the company?s 2010 audited financial statement (PDF) the organization pulled in just over $123 million during 2010, a revenue increase of over 18 percent from 2009. However, of that $123 million in income, more than $121 million came from ?royalties,? which is the category that would encompass partnerships with search-engine companies. That?s more than 98 percent of Mozilla?s annual revenue for the year, meaning its search partnerships are essentially the lifeline of the outfit.

How much of that money was from Google? Mozilla isn?t saying, but some estimates put it around 85 percent, or over $100 million. Mozilla is quick to point out it has search agreements with a number of companies other than Google, including Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Yandex, and ?others,? but Mozilla hasn?t broken out royalties received from individual search partnerships since 2008. Back then, its partnership with Google accounted for 88 percent of its royalty income. It?s safe to believe that proportion has changed a bit: Not only has Mozilla expanded out into new partnerships and platforms, but Microsoft?s Bing search engine wasn?t a blip on the horizon back in 2008. Now Bing is roughly even with Yahoo for a distant second place in search market share (and powering Yahoo behind the scenes), has its own partnership with Mozilla. Getting still cozier with Bing, Mozilla just launched Firefox with Bing that makes Bing the default search engine for both Firefox?s search field and so-called ?Awesome Bar.?

However, it?s safe to say that revenue from searches Mozilla brings to Google still accounts for the bulk of Mozilla?s revenue. Although Google?s deal with Mozilla has expired, Firefox downloads still have Google set as the default browser and reports say negotiations between Mozilla and Google are currently underway. It?s probably safe to assume the two will reach some sort of agreement soon.

But can Mozilla survive on a revised search agreement with Google?

Mozilla without Google

Mozilla could get along for a while without a search deal from Google. According to Mozilla?s 2010 tax filings (PDF) the organization had over $27 million in cash and investments and about $3.3 million in expenses; the organization?s consolidated financial statement claims over $105 million in investment assets. Although the situation is complicated, Mozilla could probably coast along for a few years on its existing assets if its search deal with Google were to dry up overnight.

That?s especially true considering Mozilla?s income would not drop to zero if Google went away. Mozilla still has its other search partners (like Yahoo and Bing), and could presumably wring more revenue from them if it offered to make one of them the default search provider for Firefox. And Mozilla hasn?t been letting efforts to solicit contributions slide: It has to receive at least 10 percent of its funding from public support to file as a publicly supported charity. In 2010, that proportion was a healthy 14.71 percent, accounting for $1.3 million from over 5,500 people. That?s a 500 percent increase from 2009, showing Mozilla is getting serious about raising revenue from public support rather than relying exclusively on search partnerships.

But the bottom line is that losing its search deal with Google would cause Mozilla to scramble to find new sources of revenue. The degree to which that would impact Mozilla?s development plans is unclear: The organization claims its software development and fundraising processes are separated. That means programmers wouldn?t be pulled out of code repositories to stand on street corners holding tin cups. But it?s hard to attract (and retain) solid software talent without financing. Over time, revenue shortages would have a negative impact on Mozilla development.

Google without Mozilla

Another way of looking at Mozilla?s situation is to ask: Does Google still need Mozilla? When Google and Mozilla entered into their first search arrangement five years ago, Internet Explorer was by far the market-dominant Web browser, and (of course) has always shipped with Microsoft?s search services set up as the default. Google?s interest in a search deal with Mozilla was to put Google services front and center in Firefox: as Firefox expanded its marketshare, it took Google services along with it.

However, things have changed since five years ago. Internet Explorer is still the world?s most popular browser by marketshare, but Google?s own Chrome is gaining fast: According to Irish tracking firm StatCounter, Chrome has already surpassed Firefox to become the second most-popular browser worldwide. StatCounter has Internet Explorer accounting for 40.63 percent of the global market; Chrome accounts for 25.69 percent and Firefox is at 25.23 percent.

Not all metrics firm agree with StatCounter: Net Applications has Chrome with a 18.18 percent share of the market in November, with Firefox accounting for a 22.14 percent share. However, if current trends hold, Chrome will overtake Firefox in Net Applications? analysis of the market by mid-2012.

Chrome is important in this equation because it ships with Google?s search services configured as the default. Back when Google made its search deal with Mozilla, it couldn?t compete with Internet Explorer with a browser of its own that had Google services set up as a default. Now it can.

Another arrow in Google?s quiver is that it can count on many Firefox users sticking with Google services even if Google were to abandon the search deal with Mozilla. After all, in the last five years Google has significantly expanded the suite of Web services it offers. Very few serious Internet users are completely independent of services like Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube ? heck, a few even use Google Plus. Google also now has years of experience convincing Internet Explorer users to switch away from Microsoft services to Google; it can apply the same techniques to Firefox.

Nonetheless, the worldwide expansion of the Internet means Mozilla is bringing more searchers to Google than ever before, and it?s reasonably certain Google doesn?t want to see those users driven to Bing. Now that Google has the number two (or number three) browser, those searchers from Firefox may not be as valuable to Google as they were five years ago, but they?re almost certainly worth something.

Firefox?s future

Mozilla?s search provider brouhaha has served to highlight the current dilemma of Firefox as a desktop browser. Mozilla has seen some success with its recent rapid-release development cycle, which so far has seen the company roll through Firefox 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in 2011 alone. The release strategy has been touted as a way to get major changes to the browser out the door sooner, including performance and memory usage improvements as well as new features like tab groups, location support, the ability to opt out of Web tracking, improved add-on management, and more.

However, users have generally been underwhelmed and confused by the flurry of releases, especially since few bring high-profile new features that seem immediately useful. Instead, Firefox?s release schedule brings many users disruption and annoyance ? and let?s not forget enterprise users who don?t want to be put in a position of having to test and certify new browser releases every six weeks. While Mozilla is trying to move die-hards off old versions of Firefox 3.6 ? the last old-school release ? it also left many people behind who can?t upgrade. For instance, while Firefox will run on Windows XP, it doesn?t run on anything older than Mac OS X 10.5, leaving users of older Macs out in the cold.

Firefox also faces another challenge in that it?s a desktop app? and a lot of the Web browsing world is moving off desktop and notebook computers. Firefox has been working on mobile versions of its browser, but so far it isn?t even a blip on the mobile browsing radar. According to Net Applications, Apple?s Safari browser is over 55 percent of the mobile browsing market, with Opera Mini as its nearest competitor at 20.09 percent and the Android browser coming in with a 16.36 percent share. Firefox and Mozilla browsers total up to less than 0.04 percent. So far, Firefox hasn?t shown any convincing strategy to move forward into the mobile world ? and, ultimately, that may mean fewer people give Firefox much consideration on the desktop.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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TUF 14 picks, Vegas-style: Questions abound for lesser known fighters

LAS VEGAS - This is a huge night for so many fighters in Sin City.

Michael Bisping is fighting to stay in the mix for a title shot against Anderson Silva. While Diego Brandao, Dennis Bermudez, John Dodson and TJ Dillashaw are all out to prove they're legitimate UFC prospects.

The other cast members from Season 14 of "The Ultimate Fighter?" They all look to prove their losses during the show were a fluke.

Betting on TUF Finales always ranks as one of the biggest challenges for MMA bettors. It's difficult to judge how talented some of the competition was on the show.

Is Brandao, who won three fights via first-round TKO, overrated? Is Dodson simply too small for Dillashaw? Maybe the uber-confident Dillashaw is overlooking Dodson.

Adam Hill from the Las Vegas Review-Journal joined myself on ESPN1100/98.9 FM's "MMA Insiders" to break down TUF 14 using the Las Vegas numbers.

TUF 14 betting odds:

Best bets in bold

Michael Bisping (-190) vs. Jason Miller (+165) - Middleweight

Yves Edwards (+260) vs. Tony Ferguson (-320) - Lightweight

John Dodson (+175) vs. TJ Dillashaw (-210)- Bantamweight

Dennis Bermudez (+275) vs. Diego Brandao (-335) - Featherweight

Johnny Bedford (-235) vs. Louis Gaudinot (+195) - Bantamweight

Marcus Brimage (+130) vs. Stephen Bass (-150) - Featherweight

Dustin Pague (-270) vs. John Albert (+230) - Bantamweight

Josh Ferguson (-120) vs. Roland Delorme (Even) - Bantamweight

Steven Siler (-165) vs. Josh Clopton (+145) - Featherweight

Bryan Caraway (-425) vs. Dustin Neace (+340) - Featherweight

For live undercard, main card and postfight coverage follow Cofield and Maggie Hendricks on Twitter this evening.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/TUF-14-picks-Vegas-style-Questions-abound-for-?urn=mma-wp10152

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Biden: Sacrifices of troops allow Iraq war to end (San Jose Mercury News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Sonnen watching TUF main event closely, is he set to face the ?Mayhem?-Bisping winner?

The long-rumored Mark Munoz-Chael Sonnen tilt still hasn't been announced, so it's starting to look like a back-up plan at best.

Speaking just before the World MMA Awards show, Sonnen makes it pretty obvious, in this short video with FightHub.tv, that he's awaiting the result of the Michael Bisping-Jason Miller fight (0:32 mark) on Saturday at the Season 14 "Ultimate Fighter" Finale.

If Bisping gets by Miller and comes away healthy, Jan. 28 seems like a quick turnaround, but the Brit would have to be interested in the fight.

Who would you like to see Sonnen fight the most - Bisping, Miller or Munoz?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Sonnen-watching-TUF-main-event-closely-is-he-se?urn=mma-wp10084

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Jaime Pressly Happy to Go From Villain to Victim on I Hate My Teenage Daughter (omg!)

Who's the dummy now? She spent years regularly hurling insults on My Name is Earl, but for Jaime Pressly's return to TV, the tables have turned.

"In order for me to come back to TV ? being that Earl? is still on [in reruns] and that Joy was such a strong character ? I have to be able to play something that was completely opposite of her," Pressly told reporters on a conference call last week for her new series I Hate My Teenage Daughter. "And this character is definitely that."

Check out photos from I Hate My Teenage Daughter

On the Fox sitcom, premiering Wednesday at 9:30/8:30c on Fox, Pressly is now the one being bullied as a single mother who begins to realize her spoiled teenage daughter is morphing into the type of girl that made her life hell in high school. While Earl's Joy was known for her high hair, big ego and even bigger mouth, Pressly describes her new character Annie as "grounded" and "a bit of a dork."

"It's been incredible to be allowed to play a character against type. In this business, you can be pigeon-holed very easily," she said. "If people see that you're good at doing something, they either assume that that's all you can do, or they assume, 'Oh, that's just who she is.'"??

Pressly has found inspiration this time from being a mother herself. "I am a single mom, so in reading it, I loved the relationship between myself and Katie [Finneran]'s character, because, honestly if it wasn't for my best friends, I don't know how I would have gotten through all these tough times," she said. "You just do your best to deal with every situation and when you have a best friend with you to help you deal with it, it just makes things that much easier."

Mark Consuelos joining I Hate My Teenage Daughter

Her own son, four-year-old Dezi, has a long way to go before hitting puberty, but Pressly sympathizes with her on-screen alter-ego."It's hard raising a teenager. They are in hormone hell. They think they know everything," she said. "It's not a mean-spirited show, but it is something that goes on. Quite frankly, the daughters bully their moms more than anybody."

Although she says the show itself isn't mean-spirited in nature, Pressly embraces the sitcom's harsh title for its honesty about the parent-child bond. "Whether it's upsetting them, or they like it and agree with it, its grabbing people's attention and that was the point of it in the first place," she said. "We're just saying it for you, because it's a moment that every parent has actually had where they just want to say, 'Oh, my God, I hate my teenager,' but you don't really. Just, on occasion, they can do things that make you want to want crawl into a fetal position."

Will you watch I Hate My Teenage Daughter?

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Fire in crowded Hong Kong neighborhood kills 9 (AP)

HONG KONG ? Police say a fire that started at market stalls and spread to homes in a crowded Hong Kong neighborhood has killed 9 people and injured dozens.

People climbed to the roofs of low-rise apartment buildings as the fire spread after breaking out in the early morning Wednesday. It wasn't brought under control until midday.

Footage by The Associated Press and local media showed firefighters rescuing people and victims being carried on stretchers.

Officials said nine people died and 34 were injured.

The fire was in Mong Kok, an area packed with stalls selling toys, clothes and accessories. Mong Kok, on the Kowloon peninsula across the harbor from Hong Kong Island, is among the world's most densely populated neighborhoods.

Police said the fire had a "suspicious origin" and are investigating.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_re_as/as_hong_kong_fire

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