centerimg border=0 title="Tactile iPhone Case" alt="Tactile iPhone Case" src="http://www.uberphones.com/photos/2008/12/tactileiphonecase.jpg" style="margin: 0 0 0 0;" //center br/pEverybody wants an iPhone, and even if you are visually impaired, we’ve no doubt that deep down you want an iPhone too. If this concept design becomes reality, visually impaired iPhone fans will probably be able to get an iPhone for themselves. The Silicon Touch iPhone case can be used to an app store application that is designed for the blind and visually impaired, and will give users specially accessibility functions such as text-to-speech and a tactile keyboard. The silicon case will cover the whole iPhone, and has engraved icons, keyboard and multi-touch scrolls, which should help our visually impaired users navigate the phone./p pPermalink: a href="http://www.uberphones.com/2008/12/apple/tactile_iphone_case/"Tactile iPhone Case/a from a href="http://www.uberphones.com"Uberphones/a | a href="http://www.uberbargain.com/"Good deals/a | Hot: a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/11/blackberry_storm_review.html"BlackBerry Storm/a/p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/ra00VadZETrFH2hw_m1W-ALeUtQ/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/ra00VadZETrFH2hw_m1W-ALeUtQ/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

No doubt inspired by games like Gears of War and countless zombie killing scenarios in popular culture, a weapons enthusiast on the AR-15 forum has managed to modify his rifle with a chainsaw...

When you take your clothes off, you no doubt want to look good naked, whether you're posing for an art class or photographer, going skinny dipping, visiting a nude beach, or just baring all for a special someone. The most obvious way to look good naked is to get it into the shape that you want it to be in, and that requires discipline. However, there are other ways to look good naked that don't involve hitting the gym or counting your calories.

pFiled under: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/ford/" rel="tag"Ford/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/volvo/" rel="tag"Volvo/a/pimg vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/12/studio_for_sale_opt.jpg" alt="" /br /br /Ford announced today that it's "re-evaluating strategic options for Volvo Car Corporation", which in plain English means that it may sell the Swedish brand that it's owned since 1998. The Dearborn-based automaker says this re-evaluation will take about three months, during which Ford and Volvo will work together as they always have. While the sale of Volvo will be no doubt be decided upon during this time, Ford has also said it will be working on propping Volvo up as a stand-alone business since the Premier Automotive Group, which once included Volvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover, has been dismantled. There's no mention of how much Ford thinks it can get for Volvo or whether any companies have actually expressed interest in the foreign brand known most for slavish devotion to safety. Though Volvo sales have been down sharply this year, the same can be said for virtually every brand in the industry. Potential suitors of Volvo may also be interested in the a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/24/volvo-s60-concept-teased-again-ahead-of-detroit-auto-show/"new S60/a that will debut next month at the Detroit Auto Show and may improve the brand's fortunes.br /br /[Source: Ford]pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/01/swedish-sell-a-thon-ford-reconsiders-selling-volvo/" rel="bookmark"Continue reading emSwedish Sell-A-Thon! Ford reconsiders selling Volvo/em/a/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/01/swedish-sell-a-thon-ford-reconsiders-selling-volvo/"Swedish Sell-A-Thon! Ford reconsiders selling Volvo/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.autoblog.com"Autoblog/a on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:59:00 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.autoblog.com/2008/12/01/swedish-sell-a-thon-ford-reconsiders-selling-volvo/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1387278/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/01/swedish-sell-a-thon-ford-reconsiders-selling-volvo/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/2QNunFYhMhGt5I3L0QJgyvG7X1Y/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/2QNunFYhMhGt5I3L0QJgyvG7X1Y/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=7CxdpGMC"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=7CxdpGMC" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=IQ7FDp8s"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=IQ7FDp8s" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~4/y5WczDaK5gE" height="1" width="1"/

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/81417?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Mumbai+terror+attacks%3A+Rice+calls+for+%27transparency%27+from+Pakistanch=World+newsc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Mumbai+terror+attacks+%28News%29%2CTerrorism+-+international%2CIndia+%28News%29%2CPakistan+%28News%29%2CUS+news%2CWorld+newsc5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Randeep+Ramesh%2CJason+Burke%2CPeter+Walkerc7=2008_12_01c8=1126818c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Mumbai+terror+attacksc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FMumbai+terror+attacks" width="1" height="1" //divpThe US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, today called for "total transparency" from Pakistan over the Mumbai terror attacks as an angry India blamed its neighbour for the mass killings./pp"I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation and that is what we expect [from Pakistan]," Rice told reporters travelling with her to London, Reuters reported./ppRice was scheduled to meet David Miliband, the foreign secretary, later today in London before travelling to India on Wednesday./ppThe US and UK have been urging restraint as India's government said it had raised security to a "war level" and had obtained definite proof of a Pakistani link to the killings./ppSri Prakash Jaiswal, India's minister of state for home affairs, said last night that the country's "intelligence will be increased to a war level, we are asking the state governments to increase security to a war level". The Press Trust of India, India's official news agency, also reported that the government was considering suspending the four-year-old peace process with its neighbour./ppJaiswal said there was "no doubt that the terrorists had come from Pakistan ... We have evidence of their nationalities. We will reveal everything soon"./ppA police officer involved in the interrogation of the only attacker captured alive by Indian commandos, named as Ajmal Amir Kasab, a 21-year-old Pakistani, told Reuters the militants had spent months in Pakistan having military-style training. It is believed 10 militants carried out the assault./ppIndia's actions prompted Pakistan to say it would end military operations against Islamist militants on the Afghan border, which are critical to the hunt for al-Qaida-linked militants, due to the "unwanted conflict" with Delhi./ppPakistan's government has condemned the Mumbai assault as a "barbaric act of terrorism" and denied involvement by any "state institutions". But the group named by India, Lashkar-e-Taiba, has longstanding relationships with Pakistan's security establishment./ppIn an interview published this morning, Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, appealed to India not to punish his country, warning that "non-state actors" could provoke the nuclear-armed neighbours into conflict./pp"Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?" he told the Financial Times./ppAs many schools and shops opened this morning for the first time since the attacks on Wednesday evening, state government officials said the final siege site to be cleared, the Taj Mahal hotel, had now been completely checked. The death toll has now been put at 172, including 19 foreigners. One Briton was among the dead./pp"We were apprehensive about more bodies being found. But this is not likely. All rooms in the Taj have been opened and checked," said a spokesman for Maharashtra's state government./ppIn India, the government is struggling to contain public anger over the attacks with demonstrators taking to the streets to vent their anger over the inability to stop the killings./ppThe chief minister of Maharashtra state, Vilasrao Deshmukh, said today he had offered to resign. India's home minister, Shivraj Patil, stepped down yesterday./ppIndia's ruling Congress party, which faces a general election next year, has been attacked by opponents for being soft on terrorism, a potent charge given that India has suffered a major attack every month this year. The government said last night it would urgently upgrade maritime and air security and look to create a federal investigative agency./ppThe peace process between India and Pakistan now appears in doubt. "There is a view in the government that India should suspend the peace process ... to show that it is not going to take lightly the deadly carnage in Mumbai," the Press Trust of India reported. It quoted sources as saying the government, "including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is very upset as it feels that Pakistan has not kept its promise made at the highest level to end terrorism directed at India"./ppLashkar-e-Taiba, which is fighting Indian control of the disputed Kashmir region, was behind a deadly 2001 assault on the Indian parliament that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mumbai-terror-attacks"Mumbai terror attacks/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/terrorism"Global terrorism/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/india"India/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pakistan"Pakistan/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 2008 | 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 href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/07ZvwR_Ib-VMeUVUjIuth1us1O4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/07ZvwR_Ib-VMeUVUjIuth1us1O4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

pimg alt="Facebook Connect" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/imgFacebookConnect.jpg" width="150" height="175" /If the initial development race of Web 2.0 centered around "building a better social network" then the next phase will certainly focus on extending the reach of existing social networks beyond their current domain. How? By using the elements of the a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_graph_concepts_and_issues.php"social graph/a as the foundational components that will drive the social Web. Where we once focused on going to a destination - particular social network to participate - we will now begin to carry components of social networks along with us, wherever we go. In the next phase of the social Web, every site will become social./p p align="right"emSponsor/embr /a href='http://d.openx.org/ck.php?n=12758amp;cb=12758' target='_blank'img src='http://d.openx.org/avw.php?zoneid=861amp;cb=12758amp;n=12758' border='0' alt='' align="right" //a/p pTo date, a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_friend_connect_manages.php"Google Friend Connect/a, a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yahoo_opens_yos_to_developers.php"Yahoo! Open Strategy/a, and a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_connect_coming_soon_t.php"Facebook Connect/a have all been rushing to take the lead in this next phase. Today, a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/technology/internet/01facebook.html?pagewanted=2_r=1partner=rssemc=rss"The New York Times reports/a that Facebook has taken another step forward by delivering Connect functionality to new crop of sites./p pWhile the first group of sites that were allowed to leverage Connect - CBS The Insider, CNN The Forum, Connected Weddings, Global Grind, Govit, Indie GoGo, MoveOn.org, and Red Bull - were a good test case, Facebook is stepping into a whole new realm with its next round of sites - Discovery Channel, The San Francisco Chronicle, Geni, Hulu, and Digg. It's a safe bet that Digg will be the most interesting test case to date./p h2What Does Facebook Connect Do?/h2 pFacebook Connect proposes to make data and friend connections currently held within the walled garden of Facebook accessible to other services. This has two distinct benefits, one for the sites and one for Facebook./p pFor the participating sites, Facebook Connect provides more social functionality without a great deal of additional development. A new user can opt to share the profile information in Facebook instead of developing a new account. This gives the user access to the site and its services without the tedium of developing yet another profile on yet another site. In addition, users can use the relationship information in Facebook to connect to their friends on the other services. In short, it makes the new partner site an extension of Facebook./p pAnd that hits upon the distinct benefit for Facebook: more data. Before Connect, Facebook's understanding of user behavior was relegated to what occurred on Facebook and, potentially, through third-party Facebook apps. With Connect, Facebook will extend its reach exponentially. In so doing, it will gather even more data on Facebook users, whether they're within the walled garden or not./p h2Facebook Beacon, Part 2?/h2 pOne of Facebook's primary marketing concerns with Facebook Connect has been to extend the value of its advertising-based revenue model while - obviously - avoiding the a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_beacon_apology.php"debacle that was Facebook Beacon/a. That has pushed Facebook to pursue a slow, methodical release of Connect, proceeding with caution to avoid any similar gaffs./p pFor now, they have the luxury of time. Facebook has continued to roll out their distributed social offering more quickly than the competition. And no doubt, they're learning a few things along the way that will give them a decided advantage over similar services. /p pBut can they turn that early lead into a decisive victory?/p h2Adoption Is the Key/h2 pIf Facebook beats everyone else to the party, that doesn't mean they've won the race. The true value for Facebook is getting users to adopt Facebook Connect and extend their profiles to these external sites. Adoption will be the true deciding factor./p pAnd that's why this new group of Facebook Connect sites will be interesting to watch. With the first group, Facebook was able to prove the concept had merit. With this latest group, they will be working to prove that users actually want to use the service. /p pWill Digg users be willing to connect their profiles and begin shouting to their Facebook friends? Is there a great deal of crossover between Facebook users and Discovery Channel? Will enough Facebook users watch the latest SNL skit on Hulu to provide useful data? /p pIt's safe to assume that there is crossover between Facebook and any number of sites. But, the question remains: will the population of users who opt to use Connect be large enough to pay off? It's hard to say. We'll just have to wait and see how Connect performs in the wild./p stronga href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_connect_readies.php#comments-open"Discuss/a/strong pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/bEq1wLjzqEqpTmjliRi5b_ItsFM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/bEq1wLjzqEqpTmjliRi5b_ItsFM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=sUZOjjKY"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=1035" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=MIyodfNo"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=96vBE9fK"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=96vBE9fK" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=zffafNEi"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=zffafNEi" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=pjrdfaLG"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=pjrdfaLG" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=a5vHmDlS"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=SaJs0XjR"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=1034" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~4/hb9oaMvHRnw" height="1" width="1"/

The conflict within the state senate's Democrats and a push for re-election of Governor David Paterson has some lawmakers wary of attempting to pass a marriage equality bill in New York this session, perhaps not until 2011, the NYT reports:

"Internally, the debate has created two camps among lawmakers who back the bill — with one group saying a vote should happen as early as possible in 2009, and another camp arguing for an indefinite delay. But delaying it could upset some advocates of same-sex marriage, who poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into State Senate races this year. 'Since when are fixing the economy and civil rights mutually exclusive?' said Daniel J. O’Donnell, an assemblyman from the Upper West Side who led the push for the bill in the Assembly. Mr. O’Donnell added that expectations are high in the gay community that New York will be able to deliver the movement’s next victory. 'The leadership of the Senate and others in our community collected a lot of money from a lot of people with the promise — spoken and unspoken — that if the Democrats won the Senate, they would take a vote,' he said. Mr. O’Donnell plans to introduce a bill relatively early in the 2009 session, setting up a possible confrontation with the Senate."

O'Donnell, if you'll remember, spoke out about marriage equality when a bill was waiting to be taken up by the Senate in July 2007.

I posted about the status of the Democratic conflict within the Senate on Wednesday. No doubt there will be more pressure in coming weeks.

A message from the Facebook group 'Stop a marriage referendum in N.Y.: Malcolm Smith for Majority Leader', AFTER THE JUMP...

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Monday, December 1, 2008

It’s time to flex your political muscles again. Program the following contact into your cell phone:

Senator Carl Kruger
Democrat, Brooklyn
Phone: (718) 743-8610
Email: kruger@senate.state.ny.us

And just as you did two weeks ago with Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., email that contact information to everyone you know in New York, everyone you now in the country, and everyone you know on Facebook, MySpace, or Friendster. Post it in every Facebook group. If you have a blog, post it. Post it in your status on Facebook and on Twitter. If you’re part of a wiki, post it there.

And while you’re at it, make sure nobody forgets Senator Diaz’s number – (718) 991-3161.

Then, starting today, start calling Senator Carl Kruger, and make sure everyone you know starts calling. And just as you did with Senator Diaz, in the most polite, respectful, non-argumentative way, I want you to tell whoever answers the phone that you are counting on Senator Kruger to be true to his party, the Democratic Party, and to support Malcolm Smith as Senate Majority Leader. Do not call to ask him to support marriage equality. Just remind him, he is Democrat, and it’s his duty to support the Democratic Majority Leader.

Why? BECAUSE YOU ARE EFFECTIVE.

For two weeks you and thousands upon thousands of marriage equality supporters have called Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. to tell him the same thing. It appears you’re beginning to have an impact. Read this note for the evolving story of Diaz and Smith: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=37752848556.

Now, without taking the heat off of Senator Diaz, it’s time to focus that attention on Senator Carl Kruger as well and to show him how effective we can be.

Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn, another member of the so-called “Gang of Three” is also using his opposition to marriage equality to defend his stance against supporting Malcolm Smith.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/17804?ns=guardianpageName=Society%3A+Charities+lose+faith+and+hope+as+funding+crisis+leaves+them+with+%26pound%3B2.3bn+black+holech=Societyc3=The+Guardianc4=Voluntary+sector+%28Society%29%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CMoney%2CSociety%2CUK+newsc5=Society+Weekly%2CPersonal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CSocial+Care+Societyc6=Robert+Booth%2CPatrick+Butlerc7=2008_12_01c8=1126633c9=articlec10=GUc11=Societyc12=Voluntary+sectorc13=c14=h2=GU%2FSociety%2FVoluntary+sector" width="1" height="1" //divpCharities are facing a multi-billion pound black hole in their finances as companies withdraw sponsorship and individuals cancel standing orders as the economic downturn bites, according to an authoritative study published today. /ppA survey of 362 charities by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Institute of Fundraising and the Charity Finance Directors' Group reveals that charity incomes are expected to fall in real terms and costs to rise. PwC estimates that the shortfall could reach pound;2.3bn next year as the UK heads towards recession./ppThe forecast is the clearest sign yet of the crisis facing the charitable sector as a result of the credit crunch and has been met with warnings that charity services - often aimed at helping victims of financial hardship - will be curtailed, and some may even collapse./ppThe squeeze has already seen the value of corporate donations tumble. The British Red Cross was forced to cancel its winter gala ball beside the Thames this month as it could not find a corporate sponsor for an event which usually raises pound;500,000. Shelter, the housing charity, lost pound;400,000 in the space of six weeks this autumn when corporate sponsors, including the nationalised mortgage lender Bradford Bingley, cancelled donations./ppCharity chief executives will now press ministers further to release a pound;500m emergency fund to help see them through the slump. "There is no doubt that over the coming year we will see charities fail," said Stephen Bubb, director of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations. "We need help to help the victims of this recession."/ppDemand for services which deal with homelessness and mental illness has grown at the same time as a fifth of charities report increased cancellations of direct debits by individual donors - often a bedrock of income. Of the charities surveyed, 71% said they expected corporate donations to fall or stay static over the next year, and a fifth of those feared they could lose at least 15% of corporate income. Some reported declines of up to 50% already./ppAfter a decade of strong growth in revenues, the value of legacies and wills - which account for a third of the income of UK charities - has also plunged, and the charities' investment income has collapsed in line with the equity markets. According to the survey, the only growth looks set to come from charity shops, as bargain hunters turn to second hand goods. Even that is threatened by a lack of goods to sell, as some would-be donors try to raise extra cash by selling their bric-a-brac online./ppThis afternoon a group of 27 charities which have lost pound;46m in investments in Icelandic banks will lobby a creditors meeting for the release of their frozen assets. Among them are Cats Protection and the children's hospice Naomi House, which together invested pound;16.9m with Kaupthing Singer Friedlander./pp"In all but a technicality the recession is upon us and the economic climate is looking bleak," said Keith Hickey, chief executive of the Charity Finance Directors Group. "The one certainty is that our beneficiaries will need us more than ever. We must respond to this demand by ensuring that our charities are strongly led and able to ensure that we make the maximum possible use of resources."/ppThe crunch has come at a difficult time for Shelter, which offers advice on mortgage problems, homelessness, keeping warm and coping with rent arrears. Banking donors, who account for a third of corporate donations across the sector, pulled the plug on sponsorship deals as a rise in repossessions precipitated a 20% increase in demand for services. It had already laid off 30 staff./pp"If the situation worsens there will be an impact on our services," said Adam Sampson, Shelter's chief executive. "It is the speed with which it has happened which has made it very difficult to adjust. We have to plan for a significant proportion of our loyal donors not being able to afford their five pounds a month standing order payments."/ppDonations from the rich and legacies have slumped, according to the survey. Of charities polled, 86% expected legacies to either decline further or remain static over the coming year./pp"Giving from rich individuals, which had been flagged up as the next big thing, has gone down the pan," Mark Astarita, director of fundraising at British Red Cross, said. "The bulk of the value of legacies is in property and shares, and their value has plummeted. We have predicted a 20% decline next year." That would wipe more than pound;3m off the charity's pound;100m annual income./ppOverall, however, the British Red Cross, believes its income will grow modestly next year, largely from monthly direct debit donations gathered through face-to-face fundraising./pp"It is going to be tough, but it is not all doom and gloom," he said. "We are watching our individual donations closely and there is no detectable change."/ph2Short of funds/h2pWith more than two-thirds of charity bosses believing corporate donations will fall or stay static in the next year, charities which rely on this stream of income will be under pressure./ppThe strongMoney Advice Trust/strong, which provides free advice for individuals struggling with debts, relied on corporate donations for 65% of its pound;7.3m annual income in 2006-07. Five high street banks each gave it more than pound;500,000 in that year, including Royal Bank of Scotland, now nationalised./ppThe strongPrince's Trust/strong depends on the commercial largesse for around a fifth of its pound;22.5m fundraising income./ppstrongBreast Cancer Care/strong depended on corporate donations for 52.6% of its income, strongBreakthrough Breast Cancer/strong, for 16.6% and the strongRoyal Opera House/strong for 16.1%./ppThe crisis-hit UK financial sector accounts for around one third of UK charities' income from corporate donors. Figures from financial information group strongCaritas Data/strong show RBS gave pound;57m in cash and kind last year, Barclays pound;52.4m and HSBC pound;50.7m./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/voluntarysector"Voluntary sector/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession"Recession/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch"Credit crunch/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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 href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/926Ypjk1CSQjwUdlv-98U_M_fs4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/926Ypjk1CSQjwUdlv-98U_M_fs4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/83377?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+At+war+level%3A+India+raises+security+status+amid+griefch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Mumbai+terror+attacks+%28News%29%2CTerrorism+-+international%2CIndia+%28News%29%2CPakistan+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Randeep+Ramesh%2CJason+Burkec7=2008_12_01c8=1126687c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Mumbai+terror+attacksc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FMumbai+terror+attacks" width="1" height="1" //divpThe Indian government raised the country's security to a "war level" yesterday saying it had certain proof of a Pakistani link to the Mumbai attacks./ppThe dramatic move prompted Pakistan to say it would end military operations against Islamist militants on the Afghan border, which are critical to the "war on terror", for an "unwanted conflict" with Delhi./ppWith bodies being pulled from the Taj Mahal hotel, where gunmen had made their last stand after a rampage that left more than 170 dead, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, India's minister of state for home affairs, said the country's "intelligence will be increased to a war level, we are asking the state governments to increase security to a war level". The Press Trust of India, India's official news agency also reported that the government was considering suspending the four-year-old peace process with its neighbour./ppPakistan's government has condemned the Mumbai assault as a "barbaric act of terrorism" and denied involvement by any "state institutions". But the group named by India, Lashkar-e-Taiba, has longstanding relationships with Pakistan's security establishment. /ppThe US and UK have been urging restraint since the Mumbai terror attacks and escalating tensions on the subcontinent are likely to top the agenda when Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, meets David Miliband, the foreign secretary, today in London./ppThe Indian minister said yesterday there was "no doubt that the terrorists had come from Pakistan ... We have evidence of their nationalities. We will reveal everything soon"./ppIndian police say they have in custody one of the gunmen, a 21-year-old Pakistani, Ajmal Amir Kasab, and detailed accounts of an alleged confession given by him have been played out in the Indian media. Authorities have also recovered a satellite phone that appears to corroborate much of his testimony./ppA fresh confrontation between India and Pakistan would jeopardise attempts by western powers to persuade Pakistan to take on militants linked to the Taliban and al- Qaida in its tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, rather than pitting its forces against India. Pakistani defence sources said nearly 100,000 troops deployed on the western frontier with Afghanistan could be pulled back to deal with a more immediate threat. /ppIn India the government is struggling to contain public anger over the attacks with demonstrators taking to the streets to vent their anger over the inability to stop the killings. The wave violence unleashed claimed its first political casualty yesterday when India's home minister, Shivraj Patil, resigned as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures. /ppIndia's ruling Congress party, which faces a general election next year, has been attacked by opponents for being soft on terrorism, a potent charge given that India has suffered a major attack every month this year. The government said last night it would be urgently upgrading maritime and air security and looking to create a federal investigative agency./ppThe peace process between India and Pakistan now appears in doubt. "There is a view in the government that India should suspend the peace process ... to show that it is not going to take lightly the deadly carnage in Mumbai," the Press Trust of India reported. It quoted sources as saying the government, "including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is very upset as it feels that Pakistan has not kept its promise made at the highest level to end terrorism directed at India"./ppLashkar-e-Taiba, which is fighting Indian control of the disputed Kashmir region, was behind a deadly 2001 assault on the Indian parliament that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war. /ppIt is believed at least 10 militants carried out the assault on Mumbai. Among the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans and a Briton./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mumbai-terror-attacks"Mumbai terror attacks/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/terrorism"Global terrorism/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/india"India/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pakistan"Pakistan/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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 href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/DC-klSKeh1_nZ9pgx18SpGkS_Hw/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/DC-klSKeh1_nZ9pgx18SpGkS_Hw/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/55533?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+%27I+never+think+about+retiring+any+more+-+if+my+health%27s+fine+I%27ll+carry+on%2C%27+says+United+manager+ahead+of+today%27s+Manchester+derbych=Footballc3=The+Observerc4=Manchester+United+%28Football%29%2CSir+Alex+Ferguson%2CManchester+City+%28Football%29%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CObserverc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Paul+Wilsonc7=2008_11_30c8=1126376c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Manchester+Unitedc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FManchester+United" width="1" height="1" //divpMark Hughes is the 13th a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchestercity"Manchester City/a manager to pit his wits against a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/sir-alex-ferguson"Sir Alex Ferguson/a in the battle for Mancunian supremacy, and the first with personal experience of playing under the old firebreather at Old Trafford. /ppUnlucky for some? The two managers make an irresistible sub-plot to the 150th Manchester derby this afternoon, because Hughes has only been in the job five minutes and has already been made nervous by City's faltering form, whereas his former mentor has just announced his intention to carry on forever. /ppFerguson did not say that in so many words and also stopped short of indicating he would have to be carried out of Carrington in a box, though he did concede that contrary to his last statement on the subject he might go on managing into his seventies after all. /pp'I don't know what I'm going to do or when I'm going to go, it's very difficult to say,' the a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchesterunited"Manchester United/a manager, who turns 67 next month, said. 'My only plan at the moment is not to have a plan. I don't ever think about retiring any more, I'm not going to put myself into that situation. I've stopped thinking, "Should I go this season or next?" You're not forced to retire now, after all. If your health is all right and your team is doing well there's no reason not to carry on. There's no pressure on me, and what there is doesn't come from the supporters it comes from the media. If United have another 0-0 draw I should have retired three weeks ago.' /ppFerguson says he will know when it is time to go and promises to keep the club informed. 'I'll send them a letter,' he joked. 'Tell them I've left. I really don't know what will happen, though, because you can't just wake up one day and decide to finish. The ideal time to retire, if you are going to retire, would be at the end of summer. I always tell players never to retire at the end of a season. I remember Billy McNeill did that, he thought he'd had enough but all he needed was a rest. By the end of summer he was ready to go again. Sometimes all you need is a holiday and you're looking forward to training again. The day you come back off your break and think, "Oh no, not another training session," is when you should think about retiring, but it's not happened to me yet. I love training. The only thing I will say is what I've said before - you do need your health in this job. If my health deteriorates that solves the problem for everybody. You'll be rid of me for good.' /ppWithout wishing premature conclusions to either of their careers, it is not too difficult to envisage Ferguson being around longer than his younger, fresher City counterpart. Certainly Hughes is the one with everything to prove. Given the frantic activity on the last day of summer trading, a lot depends on what City manage to achieve in the January transfer window. 'We would like to think we can do some business early in the window,' Hughes said. 'We don't want to be rushing around on the last day again. We are reasonably confident we will be able to bring in some good players in January, though not necessarily enough to take us where we want to go. Manchester United have had huge investment for 20-odd years now, we've had it for about 10 hours. It might take a number of transfer windows before we are ready to challenge for the top honours. Sir Alex is right to say his rivals for the title are Chelsea and Liverpool. City aren't in the equation at the moment, but that will change in the future. We are not United's main rivals yet, but we will be.' /ppIf City put their money where their mouth is, they probably will, though again, the part Hughes plays in the project will be determined by his success or otherwise at buying players in January and raising the level of consistency before the end of the season. There is no doubt Hughes played the market well during his time at Blackburn, what he must do now is dispel the suspicion that he is happier hunting for bargains than splashing ostentatious amounts of cash. 'As long as Mark remains in control of who is signed he'll be all right,' Ferguson said. /ppHughes bristled slightly when he heard that Ferguson had called for more protection for Cristiano Ronaldo - 'That's a bit predictable, I don't know if he's seen City recently but we haven't got any physically intimidating players' - but calmed down on realising the United manager was concerned about provocation from the fans. Rightly or wrongly, Ferguson feels Ronaldo's unpopularity with rival supporters is influencing the number of refereeing decisions going his way at the moment. 'If that is the case it is a consequence of his actions in the past,' Hughes said. 'He might not go over as easily as he once did but fans have long memories. He is a fantastic player though, an outstanding talent.' /ppAt least both managers can agree on that. Just as well, since Ronaldo is expected to pick up the Ballon d'Or - for being European Footballer of the Year - this week for his remarkable 42-goal contribution to United's double success last season. 'He's not a cheat, he's just a naturally brave boy who always wants the ball at his feet,' Ferguson said. 'He puts up with being kicked, just like all the great players have to do. Peleacute; and Maradona used to get kicked. Cristiano gets kicked so often you start to wonder who is really getting away with cheating, but he always comes back and he scores some really great goals. Even with his head, which is unusual for a winger. The one he scored against Roma last season, for instance. When did you last see a header like that? It reminded me of Tommy Lawton. He's a throwback. He deserves the award without question. We're all delighted for the boy.'/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchesterunited"Manchester United/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/sir-alex-ferguson"Sir Alex Ferguson/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchestercity"Manchester City/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague"Premier League/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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 href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/QmAOojtt95wYK5SYY3jL7Q8m0oQ/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/QmAOojtt95wYK5SYY3jL7Q8m0oQ/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

We're pretty sharp on the fairy dust market, and while it no doubt goes for a premium in certain parts of the world, there's still a serious surcharge being added in here for transparency. Japan's own Hario is catering yet again to the affluent among us with its Harion speaker set, which boasts a subwoofer, two mid-range drivers and a pair of acrylic tweeters -- all encased in heat-resistant glass. Of course, the company is no stranger to pumping out exclusive glass-based kit and charging a wad for it, as this particular package will run customers a staggering 16 million yen, or just north of $168,000. Oh, but if you and ten others dial in right now, they can be produced and sold for just 10 million yen each ($105,030). Economies of scale, now that's good stuff.

[Via Gearlog]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

$168,000 Harion speaker set crafted from heat-resistant glass, fairy dust originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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div align="center"a href="http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/hario-corp-introduces-worlds-first-glass-corn-speaker-set"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/11/11-29-08-harion1.jpg" alt="" //abr //div We're pretty sharp on the fairy dust market, and while it no doubt goes for a premium in certain parts of the world, there's still a serious surcharge being added in here for transparency. Japan's own Hario is catering yet again to the affluent among us with its Harion speaker set, which boasts a subwoofer, two mid-range drivers and a pair of acrylic tweeters -- all encased in heat-resistant glass. Of course, the company is no stranger to pumping out exclusive glass-based kit and charging a wad for it, as this particular package will run customers a staggering 16 million yen, or just north of $168,000. Oh, but if you and ten others dial in right now, they can be produced and sold for just 10 million yen each ($105,030). Economies of scale, now that's good stuff.br /br /[Via a href="http://www.gearlog.com/2008/11/harion_glass_speakers_break_bank_at_168000.php"Gearlog/a]pFiled under: a href="http://www.engadget.com/category/homeentertainment/" rel="tag"Home Entertainment/a/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/29/168-000-harion-speaker-set-crafted-from-heat-resistant-glass-f/"$168,000 Harion speaker set crafted from heat-resistant glass, fairy dust/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.engadget.com"Engadget/a on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:26:00 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.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/hario-corp-introduces-worlds-first-glass-corn-speaker-setRead/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/29/168-000-harion-speaker-set-crafted-from-heat-resistant-glass-f/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/forward/1385999/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/29/168-000-harion-speaker-set-crafted-from-heat-resistant-glass-f/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/5GM2fEotZDqKSNjCOa23atY_41I/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/5GM2fEotZDqKSNjCOa23atY_41I/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=atWw9hoT"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=atWw9hoT" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?a=PnLsc5v2"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/engadget?i=PnLsc5v2" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~4/sdSA-P76z70" height="1" width="1"/