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pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/01/pirates.600.2.jpg" width="804"
height="379" align="left" hspace="4" vspace="2"/The Saudi oil tanker that has been held by Somali
pirates since November was apparently freed up after a bundle of $3 million was airdropped by
parachute to the ship. An expert drop. [a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/world/africa/10somalia.html?ref=world"NYT/a]/p br
clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ a
href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=62aec797523f92a6d950be060403e7afp=1"img alt=""
style="border: 0;" border="0"
src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=62aec797523f92a6d950be060403e7afp=1"//a img
src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=62aec797523f92a6d950be060403e7af" style="display:
none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a
href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=AvtXz5Wf"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=ynD72Hmc"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=Ox3geUjt"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=Ox3geUjt" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=8ySDvqXO"img
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=8ySDvqXO" border="0"/img/a /divimg
src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/wPVSn7HBufs" height="1" width="1"/
Microsoft delayed the release of Windows 7 beta today in order to deal with a huge influx of
traffic that at least temporarily brought down the company's web servers. a
href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx" target="_blank"Microsoft's Windows 7
web site/a currently features the following note:br / br / i"The volume has been
phenomenal—we're in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We're
sorry for the delay and we'll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download
experience."/ibr / br / There are rumors that Microsoft will finally open the flood gates at 6pm
PST tonight. The company also posted a quick note about the delay a
href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/09/update-on-windows-7-beta-availability.aspx"
target="_blank"on its Windows 7 blog/a, which prompted the following reply from a disappointed
reader:br / br / i"Why? Logistically speaking, bit torrent would have been a life saver here."/ibr
/ br / The commenter apparently wasn't the only one having this thought. Someone has uploaded a
torrent of the official a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/" target="_blank"Microsoft Technet/a
iso to the Pirate Bay, and the file currently has almost 200 seeders. Now let's just hope that
Microsoft will start handing out those 2.5 million beta keys soon ...br / br / (via a
href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/01/08/official-msdn-technet-windows-7-beta-iso-appears-on-pirate-bay/"
target="_blank"Downloadsquad/a)br / br/div class="tagblock"small class="ttags"Tags: a
href="http://technorati.com/tag/microsoft" rel="tag"microsoft/a, a
href="http://technorati.com/tag/windows7" rel="tag"windows7/a, a
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pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/01/hunterfan.jpg" width="800"
height="492" style="display:block;float:none;" /I just experienced the a
href="http://i.gizmodo.com/5125665/the-hunter-concert-breeze-ceiling-fan-has-a-speaker-in-it"Hunter
Concert Breeze/amdash;the ceiling fan with a speaker in itmdash;and it's the one thing I would
definitely buy out of all of CES./p pHere are some extra details. It's going to be $449 in June,
and will come with the speaker fan, a transmitter and the remote, which controls not just volume,
but the brightness of the lights./p pIt's pretty damn good. Even though it only has one channel
playing out of one speaker, shit, it's still a speaker IN YOUR CEILING FAN. You can sync it up to
the other Soundolier speaker lamps (Hunter's fan is also using the same technology) for a more
well-rounded speaker setup. But supposedly the sound gets blasted in a 360-degree spread so the
entire room gets covered in that single channel of sound./p pAs a fan, it's got Hunter's fan
experience, so although they didn't turn it up full blast, there was a decent amount of breeze.
But, again, it's a fan with a speaker, so how could you not like it? emThis/em IS Gizmodo./p br
clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ a
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src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=1fa85b4366d62853c6a764013070fb5f" style="display:
none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a
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src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a
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src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a
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src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=QzeXWG55" border="0"/img/a a
href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=XCgG5gzk"img
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While many still consider the Vaio P as a netbook, with the exception of its ultra-compact size
and Intel Atom processor, it basically doesn’t resemble your typical netbook.
The new Sony Vaio P comes with an Intel Atom Z530 1.33GHz processor, 8-inch 1600×768 pixel
resolution display, 2GB RAM, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11n, 3G (EV-DO). GPS, Webcam, SD/Memory Stick
support, Windows Vista, and 60GB HDD, 64GB SSD and 128GBSSD storage options. Measuring it at
9.6×4.7x.78 inches in size, this has got to be one of the smallest and probably one of the
most awkward things to use. As you can see, they done away with the usual trackpad to save up on
space and used a trackpoint joystick instead. Starting price for the Sony Vaio P is at $899.99
and climbs to as high as $1499. With such an odd form factor and an insane price tag, it makes
you wonder; who, in their right mind, would consider the Vaio P as a netbook? For that amount,
I’d rather get two HP
Mini 2140 netbooks instead.
pFiled under: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/sedans/" rel="tag"Sedans/Saloons/a, a
href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/acura/" rel="tag"Acura/a, a
href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/rumormill/" rel="tag"Rumormill/a/pa
href="http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=808157"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1"
alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/acura_grille.jpg" //abr /br
/Earlier this week, emAutocar/em reported that future a
href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/06/honda-kills-s2000-replacement-v8-program-rwd-acuras/"high-end
Acura models had been canceled/a. As it turns out, those rumors were more than a bit premature, as
Jeff Conrad, Vice President of Acura, has informed his dealers via email that the long-awaited
"Tier 1" program is moving forward on schedule. It's believed that the program is based around the
large a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/13/spy-shots-2011-acura-rl/"rear-wheel drive Acura/a
that would go up against the best Germany has to offer. Also back on the table is a a
href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/28/honda-v8-coming-in-2015/"V8 engine/a to power this
range-topping sedan from Honda. But it's not all good news for auto enthusiasts. Still dead, sadly,
is the NSX revival. We're also unaware of a planned replacement for the soul-stirring S2000
roadster or a drop-top version of the upcoming CR-Z hatchback. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.
emThanks for the tip, Nick/em!br /br /[Source: a
href="http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=808157"Temple of VTEC/a]p
style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a
href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/09/who-to-believe-internal-email-claims-acura-rwd-v8-program-still/"Who
to believe? Internal email claims Acura RWD V8 program still alive/a originally appeared on a
href="http://www.autoblog.com"Autoblog/a on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:27:00 EST. Please see our a
href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both;
padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a
href=http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=808157Read/anbsp;|nbsp;a
href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/09/who-to-believe-internal-email-claims-acura-rwd-v8-program-still/"
rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a
href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1424550/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email
this/anbsp;|nbsp;a
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title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa
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Tay Zonday, an elder of the viral video set, has once again capitalized on his “Chocolate Rain” fame, this time for
TurboTax. His new original song “Freeloader Nation” hit YouTube (in
HD, no less!) earlier this week, and I guess it’s supposed to get you excited about filling
out your 1040 EZs, but after watching it, I just feel cheated.
To be fair, good for Zonday. This is the second time he’s parlayed his deep, velvety voice
into commercial sponsorship, following last year’s “Cherry Chocolate Rain” spot for Dr.
Pepper. But whereas the Dr. Pepper played on Zonday’s fame in a tongue-in-cheek kind of
way, “Freeloader Nation” just… sucks. It looks cheap (and not in the good, UGC
kinda way) and it’s bound to diminish whatever “brand” Zonday had. And why is
it so hard for him to lip sync to his own song? It’s like he doesn’t even know his
own (nonsensical) lyrics.
The harsh lesson web stars seem to be learning is that it’s all fun and games when
you’re on your own — but if you want to make money, those corporate dollars will
neuter whatever made you popular in the first place. The Eepy Bird guys’ Sticky Note Experiments, while pretty,
weren’t as explosive as Diet Coke and Mentos.
So far, Judson Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance 2,” which now gets clearances for
songs used, seems like more of
the same, and ironically for Zonday, doing a spot for TurboTax makes it look like he’s
just doing it for the money.
pLovers of analog TV may get a reprieve from the scheduled Feb. 18 transition to digital
television. President-elect Barack Obama wants to delay next months nationwide transition, arguing
that there isnrsquo;t enough money to back the program. a
href=http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=will-dtv-transition-be-delayed-2009-01-09[More]/a
pTamiflu, an antiviral used to treat the flu, doesnrsquo;t work against most of the virus
circulating in the United States this season, federal officials say. a
href=http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=influenza-drug-tamiflu-ineffective-2009-01-09[More]/a
divimg alt=""
src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/25510?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+UN+human+rights+chief+accuses+Israel+of+war+crimesch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Gaza%2CIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories+%28News%29%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CHuman+rights+%28News%29%2CWar+crimes+%28News%29%2CUnited+Nations+%28News%29c5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CCharitiesc6=Rory+McCarthyc7=2009_01_10c8=1145173c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Gazac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FGaza"
width="1" height="1" //divpThe United Nations' most senior human rights official said last night
that the Israeli military may have committed war crimes in Gaza. The warning came as Israeli troops
pressed on with the deadly offensive in defiance of a UN security council resolution calling for a
ceasefire./ppNavi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has called for "credible,
independent and transparent" investigations into possible violations of humanitarian law, and
singled out an incident this week in Zeitoun, south-east of Gaza City, where up to 30 Palestinians
in one house were killed by Israeli shelling./ppPillay, a former international criminal court judge
from South Africa, told the BBC the incident "appears to have all the elements of war crimes".
/ppThe accusation came as Israel kept up its two-week-old air and ground offensive in Gaza and
dismissed as "unworkable" the UN security council resolution which had called for "an immediate,
durable and fully respected ceasefire"./ppProtests against the offensive were held across the world
yesterday just as diplomacy to halt the conflict appeared to falter./ppWith the Palestinian
casualty toll rising to around 800 dead, including 265 children, and more than 3,000 injured, fresh
evidence emerged yesterday of the killings in Zeitoun. It was "one of the gravest incidents" since
Israel's offensive began two weeks ago, the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs
said yesterday. /pp"There is an international obligation on the part of soldiers in their position
to protect civilians, not to kill civilians indiscriminately in the first place, and when they do,
to make sure that they help the wounded," Pillay told Reuters. "In this particular case these
children were helpless and the soldiers were close by," she added./ppAn Israeli military
spokeswoman, Avital Leibovich, said the incident was still being examined. "We don't warn people to
go to other buildings, this is not something we do," she said. "We don't know this case, we don't
know that we attacked it."/ppDespite the intense bombardment, militants in Gaza fired at least 30
rockets into southern Israel yesterday. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, told al-Jazeera TV:
"This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over. We call on Palestinian fighters to mobilise and
be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry
protests."/ppIsraeli officials said they could not be expected to halt their military operation
while the rockets continued and said they first wanted an end to the rocket fire and a "mechanism"
to prevent Hamas rearming in future./pp"The whole idea that Israel will unilaterally stop
protecting our people when Hamas is sending rockets into our cities to kill our people is not a
reasonable request of Israel," said Mark Regev, spokesman for prime minister Ehud Olmert. Israel
wanted security for its people in southern Israel, he said, and dismissed suggestions his military
might seek to topple Hamas, saying they were "not in the regime-change business"./ppIsraeli public
opinion still strongly favours the war. One poll of Jewish Israelis yesterday, by the War and Peace
Index, said 90% of the population supported continuing the operation until Israel achieved all its
goals./ppOlmert held a meeting of his security cabinet, and on the agenda was discussion about
whether to intensify the offensive by launching a fresh stage of attacks in which Israeli troops
would invade the major urban areas of Gaza as more reservists were called up. There was no word on
the outcome. /ppSo far 13 Israelis have been killed in this conflict, of whom three were
civilians./ppAnother 23 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military yesterday. Seven from one
family, including an infant, died when Israeli jets bombed a five-storey building in Beit Lahiya,
in northern Gaza. There was heavy aerial bombing and artillery fire across the territory./ppMore
than 20,000 Gazans have fled their homes in the north of the strip and thousands more in the south.
In some cases Israeli troops have told them to leave, or dropped leaflets warning them to evacuate
their homes. Some are even dividing their families between different addresses for fear of losing
them all in a single air strike./pp"Many people are leaving their homes and moving to the centre of
the cities," said Abdel Karim Ashour, 53, who works with a local aid agency, the Palestinian
Agricultural Relief Committee. He, his wife and their four children fled their house on the coastal
road in northern Gaza on the third day of the conflict. He sent the four children to stay with his
brother while he and his wife are staying at a friend's house. "We were in an area of heavy
shelling, so we left and I divided the family to try to reduce the victims if we face any trouble.
We try and keep in touch by telephone but there are problems with the network," he said. "We're
just hoping for a ceasefire. If the fighting goes on there will be more victims."/pdiv
style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gaza"Gaza/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israelandthepalestinians"Israel and the Palestinian
territories/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast"Middle East/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/humanrights"Human rights/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/warcrimes"War crimes/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/unitednations"United Nations/a/li/ul/diva
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our a
href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a
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ismap="true"/img/a/p
divimg alt=""
src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/43154?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Palin+attacks+media+for+her+treatment+during+election+racech=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Sarah+Palin%2CMedia%2CUS+news%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CMedia+Weeklyc6=Ed+Pilkingtonc7=2009_01_10c8=1145206c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Sarah+Palinc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FSarah+Palin"
width="1" height="1" //divpSarah Palin, the governor of Alaska who was propelled on to the world
stage as Republican vice-presidential candidate, has come out with guns blazing against the media,
whom she blames for giving her unfair and class-biased treatment during the election campaign./ppIn
an interview with a rightwing documentary film-maker, Palin attacks local and national newspapers,
TV network news, anonymous bloggers and stand-up comics for presenting a distorted image of
herself, her family and her Alaskan administration. Not even staff working for the Republican
presidential candidate, John McCain, escape her wrath./ppIn the sharpest attack, she predicts that
the media will wear kid gloves in comparison when they talk about Caroline Kennedy, John F
Kennedy's daughter, who is campaigning for Hillary Clinton's New York Senate seat. "As we watch
that we will perhaps be able to prove there is a class issue here that is a factor in the scrutiny
of my candidacy," she says./ppKennedy herself has come under considerable media criticism after
stumbling through a series of interviews, including one in which she used the phrase "you know" 138
times./ppIn embittered comments to the talk radio host John Ziegler, who is making a documentary
that seeks to show that media malpractice lay behind the election of Barack Obama in November,
Palin said she became the victim of "absurd" gossip. Blogs were rife with the rumour that she was
not the mother of her infant child Trig, born four months before her nomination - rumours that she
said persisted today./pp"It's a sad state of affairs if the mainstream media is going to rely on
anonymous bloggers as the source of their information. Very scary," she said./ppPalin confirmed
reports from the time that relations were tense between her and the media handlers working for
McCain. She blames them for subjecting her to several interviews with the CBS newscaster Katie
Couric, even after the first encounter did not go well. "Going back for more was not a wise
decision," she says./ppThe Couric interviews helped sustain a view that Palin was naive, ignorant
and ill-equipped for presidential office. /ppIn the most embarrassing exchange, Palin appeared
unable to answer a Couric question about what newspapers she read. She now says she may have been
"too flippant" in answering that question, but insists she interpreted it as implying Alaskans did
not read at all. "Of course I read newspapers! I read publications. I spent a lot of time reading
our local papers - because that's my job to know the business of Alaska, but also USA Today yes,
and New York Times."/ppShe noted that Couric's ratings had risen after the interviews, and that
Tina Fey, the comedian who impersonated her on Saturday Night Live, had won an entertainer of the
year award./ppZiegler plays her a clip from one of the sketches in which Fey, as Palin, says: "I
believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers." Palin lashed
out at the sketch - a dig at Palin's pregnant teenage daughter, Bristol. "Cool, fine, come and
attack me, but when you make a suggestion like that that attacks a kid, it kills me, it kills me."
/ppAsked whether the bruising experience would put her off in future, she says: "I would do it
again, knowing there is great need in our country for reform", further fuelling speculation about a
possible Palin presidential run in 2012./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;
margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/sarahpalin"Sarah Palin/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa"United States/a/li/ul/diva
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of
this content is subject to our a
href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a
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ismap="true"/img/a/p
divimg alt=""
src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/22133?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Al-Qaida+chief+killed+in+Pakistan%2C+US+claimsch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Al-Qaida+%28News%29%2CPakistan+%28News%29%2CTerrorism+-+international%2CWorld+news%2CUS+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Saeed+Shah%2CHaroon+Siddiquec7=2009_01_10c8=1145209c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Al-Qaidac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FAl-Qaida"
width="1" height="1" //divpThe head of al-Qaida's operations in Pakistan has been killed by a US
air strike in South Waziristan, close to the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, a US
counter-terrorism official has said./ppUsama al-Kini was believed to be responsible for attacks
including the bombing of a Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 55 people in September, and an
unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was later
assassinated, the official added./ppIn the last week the US has concluded that Hellfire missiles
fired from a remotely piloted Predator aircraft operated by the CIA killed Kini - along with his
lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan - in the tribal area on 1 January. Both men were Kenyan-born
and on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorist suspects. They were indicted for the 1998 bombings
of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and were believed to have trained operatives to travel to the
US and Europe./pp"Al-Kini was a ... lethal operations figure within al-Qaida. The demise of a
succession of senior al-Qaida figures is certain to have at least a near-term debilitating effect
on the group," the official said./ppKini, whose given name was Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, was
believed to be 32. He became head of al-Qaida's operations in Zabul province in Afghanistan after
the September 11 attacks in 2001, and by 2007 was the organisation's operations chief in
Pakistan./ppNeither the CIA nor the Pakistani government commented on reports of Kini's death. The
US does not officially confirm air strikes, reflecting sensitivity over raids by US drone planes on
Pakistani territory./ppThe strikes have prompted public outrage in Pakistan, where there is
widespread anger over the breach of the country's sovereignty and the death of civilians in some of
the attacks. There is also scepticism about the strikes' alleged targets./pp"How many times have
they said they killed the head of al-Qaida's Pakistan chapter?" said Muhammed Amir Rana, director
of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an independent thinktank in Islamabad. "The cost is
collateral damage and has the effect of encouraging violent radicalisation in Pakistan."/ppThe
strikes, which have increased in frequency, have piled pressure on Pakistan's fragile civilian
government. While ministers and the army routinely protest against the attacks, it is thought the
strikes are tolerated because they are aimed at foreign nationals linked to al-Qaida, rather than
local Taliban militants./ppUS forces in Afghanistan carried out about 30 missile strikes in
Pakistan in 2008, according to Reuters, most of them since September. Kini was the eighth senior
al-Qaida leader to have died since July, the counter-terrorism official said./ppWhile senior
military and counterterrorism authorities say the increased Predator strikes have pushed some
insurgents deeper into Pakistan, the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy, Ayman al
Zawahiri, are believed to be at large and hiding in the Afghan-Pakistan border area./ppSeparately,
a series of blasts around a theatre in the eastern city of Lahore last night injured at least six
people./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/alqaida"Al-Qaida/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pakistan"Pakistan/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/terrorism"Global terrorism/a/lilia
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Authorities in Pakistan have often seemed in cahoots with home-grown terrorists. Not any more.
Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark report from Islamabad on a new intelligence unit pa
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Flash wheels and support vehicles are for wimps, as 73-year-old Simon Gandolfi proves when he picks
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