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posted by Thom Holwerda on Fri 26th Feb 2010 21:09 UTC
Microsoft's server and tools chief Bob Muglia has chided Oracle for peddling a return to '1960s computing', accusing its rival of going against industry trends and backing a dying and expensive operating-system architecture. "There are some things that Oracle is doing that I just shake my head at," Muglia told financial analysts attending the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, California, "I don't understand what's going to happen - what they think they're going to do with Sparc. I don't see how Sparc can live long-term."

subset: commoncrawl


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|Remove Year: 2006
|Energy topic:
|Social equity
|Remove Energy topic: Social equity
Alleviating Urban Energy Poverty in Latin America
This regional study entitled Alleviating Urban Energy Poverty in Latin America is comprised of three case studies, which concentrate on Greater Buenos Aires, Caracas and Rio de Janeiro – Cajú. Each case focuses on the analysis of specific aspects of urban poverty, energy availability and policies to improve living conditions from the energy point of view. Unlike […]
Published in February 2006


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Storms Possible for Tuesday
Storms Possible for Tuesday
The widespread rain chances have really been few and far between. A weak front moved into the area on Monday providing some isolated chances for rain and storms.
That same front will retreat north as a warm front on Tuesday. The northern side of the front is a place for elevated showers and storms to develop.
The rain and storms are going to be rather hit or miss; however, we're expecting a 30% to 40% chance for rain during the afternoon and evening.
The front should move north of us by Wednesday nd Thursday as highs spikeinto the upper 80s and lower 90s. A stronger front will arrive on Friday with better chances for rain and storms across the entire area.


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The Oppo N1 knows it will need to fulfill the promises made by the Oppo Find 5. The latter essentially placed the company on the international map but the newcomer does look like a much improved and mature product that will aim even higher. The Find 5 was designed to impress and had an amazing screen a solid foundation for the N1 to build on, and it does not fail. Prior to release, Oppo went over and beyond to promote the upcoming smartphone with regular YouTube teasers and sneak peeks, getting CyanogenMod's top man, Steve Kondik, on board. That collaboration will bear fruit in a limited edition Oppo N1 with a CyanogenMod ROM but the one we are about to have a closer look at runs the company's homebrewed Color OS.
Oppo N1 is a seriously good-looking slab. The device has an aluminum alloy frame going around its sides and the back is treated to an impressively sleek soft finish, which is great to the touch and virtually impervious to fingerprints, while offering excellent grip. The front is dominated by the immense screen, with the three capacitive buttons enjoying plenty of space at the bottom. At this size though, they are almost unusable in a single-hand scenario reaching all the way down to them you risk dropping the N1 almost every time.
The camera is the most obvious attention-grabber, the lens placed on a 206°-rotating module, which has the earpiece and proximity sensor on one side and the 13MP camera with dual-LED flash on the other. A rotating camera design scores big on exclusivity in the current smartphone game, although we cannot discount Nokia's early efforts in the field with the 3250 and N90. More importantly though, the N1's camera has hardware you rarely see in a smartphone, and the software backing to make it count in more than just high-resolution selfies.
Various accessories
The Oppo N1 comes in a flat retail box with separate little boxes inside for the various accessories, for a premium touch to the packaging. One little box holds the O-Connect Bluetooth accessory, while the cable of the bundled earphones with volume controls wraps around the slotted sides of another container. A pin is supplied too for ejecting the SIM card, as well as an A/C adapter with detachable USB cable. The O-Click Bluetooth accessory is good-looking and quite efficient. Using Bluetooth 4.0 LE it will pair with the handset and serve several useful purposes. You can make the phone ring the remote or the remote ring the phone.
The Oppo went big on its latest flagship. With the rotating camera module and ample space below the screen for the capacitive buttons, the Oppo N1 is taller than devices of similar screen size like the Nokia Lumia 1520 and the HTC One Max.
The main focus is undoubtedly on the display and camera but Oppo did well to fill in the details there is an immense battery, ample 2GB of RAM and a solid connectivity set. It's the Snapdragon 600 chipset that looks a bit out of place. Not that you should worry about general speed and responsiveness, but it just does not provide as much in terms of future-proofing as the Snapdragon 800 . And it can't manage 4K video recording, which is a potential eyebrow-raiser in a package that bets so heavily on imaging.
Weight is about average. At 213g, the Oppo N1 is right between the Lumia and One Max. So is thickness, at the reasonable 9mm which is still nowhere near though the Z Ultra's 6.5mm.
LED Flashes
Above the screen, the earpiece and sensors are on one side of the rotating bit, the 13MP camera and two LED flashes on the other. There are two flashes one is a bright LED for regular shots, but when you turn the camera beyond a certain angle, the phone uses automatically the diffused one so your selfies turn out with a more pleasing skin tone. There are restrained chrome accents that work well against the pure white paint. The Oppo logo is engraved at the back, the rotating piece, as well as the sides of the phone have slim metal framing. The camera lens, and the couple of LEDs are encircled in metal, while the earpiece and the loudspeaker have the same grille pattern.
Rotating camera module
By placing the camera lens on a rotating piece, Oppo has ensured an almost clinically clean back panel. It has a microphone and company logo and seemingly nothing more. Located under the OPPO insignia, the O-Touch pad is as good as invisible. The camera and screen are the highlights on the Oppo N1 and clever design makes sure they get all the attention. The phablet is big and heavy, no doubt about that, but the styling is as clean as it possibly can, yet with great attention to detail. We like the sparing use of accents and are delighted with the finish - that goes to premium feel and excellent grip in equal measures, the latter being essential in a device of this size.
Above the 5.9" screen there's the 206°-rotating module, which holds the earpiece and proximity sensor on one side and the 13MP camera and couple of LEDs on the other. If you enable it in the settings, rotating the swivel top will automatically launch the camera. Of course, it will launch in self portrait mode after all these are the highest-resolution selfies we can think of.
The sides of the Oppo have different duties. Near the top on the left side of the phone is the SIM tray, which takes a dedicated eject pin to pull open. On the opposite side you will find the power and volume buttons placed a little lower than usual, so as to be comfortably within reach. The lock key may see less use than usual, as the Oppo N1's screen can be double-tapped to wake up. There is nothing at the top of the Oppo N1, while on the bottom there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microUSB port and a recessed speaker grille. The frame around the device is nicely etched out to provide room for these three.
Top and bottom
The back of the Oppo N1 has the company logo, a noise-suppressing microphone and the O-Touch pad, which enables more ways to interact with the device. Scrolling is the most typical scenario but you can set it to launch apps too. We had a double tap start and stop the camera but it can be any app really, from the dialer to the torch. The touchpad can serve as a shutter key too as in tap to focus, release to capture. It also lets you control music playback.
Battery life
The Oppo N1 did fabulously in our dedicated battery life test but that was to be expected from a battery this big. The N1 makes use of a 3610 mAh battery. True, it is not removable, but you would not need to keep a spare with that sort of endurance. For starters, it took us the amazing 25h of talk time on a 3G network to bring this battery down. And finally, our dedicated video test ran for a total of 11h 15min before the battery ran flat. We took into account the standby battery consumption with the screen off and we came up with our proprietary battery rating of 79h.


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Teen hurt in Amherst boating crash
May 18. 2013 9:48AM
AMHERST — A teenager was treated at the hospital after she was injured in a boating accident on Baboosic Lake on Friday night, authorities said.
A motor boat, operated by Nathan Demers, 20 of Merrimack, and a row boat with two passengers aboard collided about 7:30 p.m. in the area of Camp Young Judaea, according to Marine Patrol.
A 15-year-old girl in the row boat was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua for treatment and released with a bruised knee.


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In two separate deals, his discount chain sold 78 stores to
Not a bad start to the summer for a company that the
Since its shares resumed trading in June 2003, Kmart has become a highflier, its stock rocketing from $19 to $76 a share thanks to such deals as well as the market's willingness to follow Lampert.
"He's doing everything he can to drive up the stock price," said former Kmart executive Gary Ruffing, now head of the retail services group at turnaround management firm BBK Ltd. "Even people who own only a few Kmart shares are happy."
Folks are also wondering what he has planned for another down-on-its-luck American icon, Sears.
His holdings in the Hoffman Estates-based department store chain have doubled to 14 percent since October 2002. But Lampert has a different set of challenges with Sears.
"With Kmart, he bought in for almost nothing," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of
"The problem with Sears is they have to turn it into a viable company, and that's difficult," he added.
Lampert, 41, is somewhat reclusive and plays his cards close to the vest. He declined to be interviewed for this story.
But one thing that he has made known is that he's a fan of
Both are value investors, favoring stocks out of favor. "If you want value, do you go to high tech? Retail is a mature industry," Davidowitz said.
Lampert has acknowledged that Buffett was one of his investing heroes. "[He's] No. 1 for his emphasis on looking at stocks as businesses and at the real economics of those businesses, as opposed to just looking at their reported earnings," he told
And that fuels speculation that Kmart, as a retailer, is on the road to liquidation.
"He'll turn Kmart into an investment company just like Buffet did with Berkshire Hathaway," said Davidowitz, who has been involved in two retail liquidations. "He'll have a vehicle for acquisitions after there's no more Kmart."
Lampert didn't reach No. 140 on Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans by being risk averse.
Comfortable beginnings
The son of a lawyer and a housewife, Lampert grew up comfortably in
But at age 14, his world was shattered when his father died of a
He got his interest in stocks from his grandmother, who had little money but dabbled in the market. "
In his senior year as an economics major at
After graduation, he worked at the investment house for four years along with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
In 1988, Lampert started ESL Investments with the help of former Goldman Sachs bigwig Richard Rainwater.
Lampert's ESL is like a private investment firm for the megarich. It counts record mogul
Investors are required to put up at least $10 million for a minimum of five years. Its classic investment style is to be contrarian and friendly, initially taking a stake of 10 percent to 12 percent in companies.
Kmart was a whole new ballgame for Lampert. When the Troy, Mich., discounter filed for bankruptcy in January 2002, Lampert's ESL owned about a third of Kmart's debts.
A year later, in January 2003, Lampert agreed to make an additional investment in Kmart in return for the ability to convert his claims to Kmart stock.
The reorganization also gave ESL the power to help pick four members of the board of directors and ultimately resulted in the firm becoming Kmart's biggest shareholder.
Willing to make a deal
In the 18 months since, ESL's stake has grown to more than half of Kmart. And during that time he has shown a willingness to unload anything that would bring a hefty price.
Take the sale of stores to Home Depot. Kmart is fetching an average price of $15 million for each of the 24 stores it's selling to the Atlanta-based home-improvement chain.
"He's saying, `It'll take us 10 years to make $15 million out of the stores, so let's sell them,'" said Ruffing, the former Kmart executive.
Through such deals, Lampert is building up a hoard of cash exceeding $2 billion. He hasn't said what he intends to do with that money.
"I'd expect at some point that cash would be returned to the shareholders, including himself, instead of reinvested in the business," a former Sears executive said.
Kmart also has about $3 billion of tax losses that it can apply to future earnings. Plus, with its stock price at lofty levels, the company's shares can double as currency, avoiding the need to use cash.
That's why others believe he'll ultimately turn Kmart into an investment vehicle just as Buffett has with Berkshire.
But even if Lampert's ultimate plan is to liquidate Kmart, the chain won't disappear tomorrow.
By striking only piecemeal deals to sell off its stores instead of having one massive liquidation, Lampert is able to maximize the price he gets for Kmart locations.Still, while Kmart is proving lucrative now, it could turn out to be a retail land mine. "He can play this game only so long," Davidowitz said.
Shoppers are increasingly throwing up their hands at Kmart. Its sales have been dropping by double-digit rates.
And Home Depot and Sears likely cherry-picked their better stores. That leaves Kmart with about 1,400 stores that are probably less desirable.
Rivals expanding rapidly
At the same time, rival discounters
For its part, Kmart says it's in business for the long haul. It just announced hires of executives formerly with FTD,
These days, Lampert is also a looming presence at Sears.
"He's very present in the place," a former Sears executive said. "When a decision is made, the question is, `Who'll call Eddie?'"
Lampert is widely believed to have been behind Sears' decision to sell its credit business last year. Another former executive, however, doesn't buy it, believing there was another primary reason for the sale.
"Sears panicked in a bad credit cycle," the former Sears executive said, explaining that the decision came on the heels of well-publicized problems in the industry.
"No doubt (Sears CEO Alan) Lacy talks to Lampert, but that 's a far cry from calling the shots."
For its part, Sears said neither was a factor. It just got a good offer from
While Lampert is Sears' biggest single investor, he "has no input in nor does he manage the day-to-day operations of Sears," Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite said.
"After making a major business decision, once we've made that public, we have in the past made a courtesy call to ESL to apprise them of our actions."


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Click here for our list of the Top 50 Brokers of 2012.
It has been a challenging year for futures commission merchants (FCMs). One dominated not by the usual issues of technology builds, disintermediation, transitioning to cleared over-the-counter (OTC) trading and the continuous challenges of a competitive landscape, but by a customer base weary of the very structures they have depended on and assumed were rock solid. End-user confidence in the industry took a double-barreled hit over the last year with the Peregrine Financial Group (PFG) failure occurring eight months after the MF Global debacle.
Futures invited six industry leaders representing the entire spectrum of the FCM community to talk about the state of the industry. Here is what they had to say.
Futures Magazine: Let's start off by talking about the elephant in the room: The impact of MF Global and PFG on your business and the industry.
Gerry Corcoran: The largest impact of the MF Global and PFG disasters really surrounds the regulatory response. We have seen shock and awe in terms of a regulatory response to what occurred. In most cases the strengthening of the rules and regulations surrounding the protection of customer assets [was] good. In fact, the industry played a large role in forming and shaping the rules and regulations that came out. I personally don't believe the industry volumes that we see that have diminished in a macro sense relate to MF Global or PFG at all.
Scott Gordon: You also have to go back to the trust issue. Those events created an issue with customers, and the concept of customer confidence is a big one.
Salomon Sredni: I agree; I don't think the volume drop is related to that. I don't think it helped, but the biggest issue is [that] volatility in the marketplace in general has greatly diminished. It diminished on the equity side and on the forex side. Every competitor in the business would attest to that. By the way we didn't do any business with MG Global or PFG so we didn't suffer ant direct losses. Those two cases were a black eye for the industry and it shook customer confidence. Before that I would hear, 'nobody lost any money trading futures.' Those two instances, in a short period of time, shook the confidence of prospects and customers.


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Tanzania seeks long-term solutions to forest loss and energy crisisOct 19, 2010
The sight of men on bicycles carrying firewood and charcoal is a common one throughout Tanzania: It is the human face of deforestation.
The business of unsustainable logging is flourishing, with more than 39 million, or 90 percent, of Tanzania's population relying for household cooking fuel on firewood and charcoal, which are also the primary energy sources for brick and tobacco-curing industries.
As a result, the country's forest cover has reduced over the last 40 years from 6.3 hectares per capita in 1961 to around .08 hectares in 2009, leaving behind miles of barren land incapable of absorbing water or supporting plant life of agriculture.
With only a minority of Tanzania connected to the electricity grid—12 percent nationally, down to about 2 percent in rural areas—the country is facing a critical energy crisis, which United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is addressing through a pilot project to reduce firewood use by 50 percent.
Working with a sample of 40,000 people, the project involves district-level training to increase the efficiency of biofuels by, for example, using techniques to thoroughly dry out wood, making sawdust bricks and switching to improved clay firewood stoves.
The long-term objective is for policy makers and planners to ensure that all current and upcoming public programmes work towards providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy services.
"We want to demonstrate the best existing energy technologies that can be easily adopted by the poor," said Bariki Kaale, UNDP Tanzania forest expert. "We need to encourage people to make the most of the energy sources they use. They are using 1,000 kilograms of wood to produce 100 kilograms of charcoal when they could triple the amount of charcoal while using much less wood."
It is estimated that if all households in the country started using improved firewood stoves, deforestation could be reduced by around 206,000 hectares per year. This in turn would enhance the conservation of water resources and biodiversity, and reduce deforestation's contribution to climate change.


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Gray Lady Down:What the Decline and Fall of the New York Times Means for America
by William McGowan
The New York Times was once considered the gold standard in American journalism and the most trusted news organization in America. Today, it is generally understood to be a vehicle for politically correct ideologies, tattered liberal pieties, and a repeated victim of journalistic scandal and institutional embarrassment.
In Gray Lady Down, the hard-hitting follow up to Coloring the News, William McGowan asks who is responsible for squandering the finest legacy in American journalism. Combining original reporting, critical assessment and analysis, McGowan exposes the Times' obsessions with diversity, soft pop cultural news, and countercultural Vietnam-era attitudinizing, and reveals how these trends have set America's most important news icon at odds with its journalistic mission — and with the values and perspectives of much of mainstream America.
Gray Lady Down considers the consequences — for the Times, for the media, and, most important, for American society and its political processes at this fraught moment in our nation's history. In this highly volatile media environment, the fate of the Times may portend the future of the fourth estate.
What they are saying about Gray Lady Down:
"A thoughtful, vividly supported expose."
- Juan Williams, FOX News
"McGowan shows us that things at the Times aren't as bad as we'd thought. They're worse!"
- Mickey Kaus, Newsweek
"Read William McGowan's book to better understand how and why the Gray Lady has fallen on such hard times."
- Cliff May, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Also by William McGowan:
Only Man is Vile: The Tragedy of Sri Lanka
Coloring the News: How Political Correctness Has Corrupted American Journalism


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Sea Ray spot on with another one.
Sea Ray spot on with another one.
Paterno was clearly more interested in preserving his legacy than helping children. And that's disturbing, to say the least.
Yes, we knew this all along, those who don't want to see things badly enough find ways to keep themselves in the dark.
"Reality tells us there are no guarantees. Except that some day Jon Lester will be on that list of 100-game winners." - Peter Gammons
From the bits and pieces I've read in the Freeh report it's really really bad. I can't begin to imagine how many Clery Act violations the school will face, and what the possible punishments from that will be.
Like looking the other way wasn't bad enough, they even covered it up. Disgusting.
Yeah, those thinking it will all wind up falling on the shoulders of Paterno as a "scapegoat" are way off, IMO. That implies others won't carry their fair share of the responsibility. This will forever paint JoePa and a really bad guy, but that will not have any impact on the others who knew and covered up. There's more than enough scorn to go around to think because JoePa gets painted a certain way, then others somehow will be let off the hook. This report is going to be VERY bad for a lot of people.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
Potential NCAA violation? PermabanSpanier never declared Sandusky a "persona non grata" on Penn State campuses, as he did toward a sports agent who, before the 1997 Citrus Bowl, bought $400 worth of clothing for a Penn State football player. Spanier was very aggressive in that case170 and banned the agent from campus. Spanier said the agent "fooled around with the integrity of the university, and I wonʹt stand for that." 171 The University conducted its own investigation, and provided the results to law enforcement.172 In an email dated May 13, 1998, Spanier said, "The idea is to keep [the sports agent] off campus permanently, to keep him away from current athletes, and to keep him away from current graduates or students whose eligibility has recently expired."
Potential felonies being committed? Shhhhhhhhhh
The more I read the worse it gets.
Hmm...looks like CNN report was right. Who ever would've guessed it
Just copy this over and over for the cultists
"Based on the evidence, the only known, intervening factor between the decision made on February 25, 2001 by Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schulz to report the incident to the Department of Public Welfare, and then agreeing not to do so on February 27th, was Mr. Paterno's February 26th conversation with Mr. Curley."
Last edited by ervinsm84; 07-12-2012 at 12:40 PM.
Joey Votto does not care about RBI.
So, too, do the rest of them.
Paterno was a horrid little man with no sense of decency or honor, as evidence by his conversations with other Penn State officials and his complicit behavior to cover up Sandusky's crimes.
Obviously, Sandusky is worse, as he committed the crimes. But Paterno is close.
Those that have insisted, in the past, that he's some bastion of integrity, have some serious egg on their faces.
Penn State should also receive the death penalty, IMO. Football coaches covering up crimes this serous with no thought given to anything other than PR?
The NCAA is there to protect the integrity of their fellow institutions. This is the most heinous integrity issue the sports world has perhaps ever seen.
"You can learn little from victory. You can learn everything from defeat."
-- Christy Matthewson
"Show me a good loser and I'll show you an idiot."
-- Leo Durocher
This should be a wake up call for investing so much adoration and power in the hands of a coach. College coaches are often the most powerful individual on a campus (with Joe probably being the biggest example of that in recent memory).
I remember when the story first broke, watching ESPN break down the adoration of Joe and how that may have blinded the people working around him as well as the Joe himself. They were televising the Penn State fans protesting in support of Joe. They then seemlessly transitioned into an show starring Nick Saban that followed him as he coached, helped the community (after the Tuscaloosa hurricane), and then did an interview in his opulent office where he played the all knowing father figure role. It was the height of irony and cognitive dissonance.
Variatio delectat - Cicero
Joey Votto does not care about RBI.
Paterno's legacy might look different to a lot of people now, but it doesn't to the students. He's still a hero in their eyes. They would probably start a riot if his statue was torn down. There's a cardboard cutout of that little weasel in every window on that campus.
That kind of blind idolatry is unfathomable to me.
Arise and walk, come through. A world beyond that door is calling out for you. Arise and walk, come through. It's calling out for you.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.


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IONIA, Mich. (AP) — Officials say man serving life behind bars for murder in four 1993 deaths in Michigan has escaped from prison and may have abducted a woman before she got away in Indiana.
Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan says in an email that 40-year-old Michael David Elliot was discovered missing around 9:30 p.m. Sunday from the Ionia Correctional Facility in mid-Michigan.
Marlan says Elliot may have abducted a woman from Ionia using a knife or box cutter and drove to Elkhart in Indiana, where they stopped for gas. Marlan says the woman was able to escape at the gas station and call police. Marlan says Elliot left and was at large Monday morning.
Elliot is serving life sentences for first-degree murder. He also has convictions for arson and armed robbery.


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IncGamers: Media powerhouse Vivendi is still looking to get rid of its majority €8 billion stake in Activision Blizzard, a "credible source" claims.
Said source has claims that a Vivendi sales of Activision Blizzard still "absolutely remains under consideration", despite Vivendi's finance director saying last week that a break up of the company was out of the question.
News first arose of Vivendi's plans to sale Activision Blizzard this past July, when a price tag of €10 billion was touted.
sony if i were you i'd try to buy out the spyro and crash IP's from activision through vivendi. best do it now since vivendi is trying to sell blizzard Activision off.
they would probably not be able to afford the price as Im sure activision would want tons of money for spyro since skylanders is huge at selling plastic junk to children for 10-15$ a pop. Its like COD DLC but for children who are to young to know they are being ripped off. They buy some characters and its suddenly a 120$ game they are playing. Way more profitable then waiting for the sequels to make the next 60$ from the series, especially when the sequel comes out a year later anyways with its own DLC.
I dont think Activision would sell that for cheap.
Honestly suprised Sony does not want to buy it. Just for Billzard's WOW Itself I thought SOE was a huge player in the mmo industry they could take over wow.
Having all of activisions library would be also good especially taking back some of its old first party titles like crash
8 billion is a lot of money to spend on something.Would you risk that kind of money, even when the longtime shareholders seem so eager to be rid of them?
I wouldn't.
Even if it's 8 Billion I'm sure any company who buys them will more than make their money back on COD and WoW (guaranteed money) and all the other titles. Not much of a risk if you look at it that way.
"Honestly suprised Sony does not want to buy it. Just for Billzard's WOW Itself I thought SOE was a huge player in the mmo industry they could take over wow."
Sony can't afford it. Activision Blizzard is worth 14% more than Sony at the moment. In fact, Activision Blizzard has no debt while Sony has plenty of debt.
So there is almost no way Sony could buy *half* of Activision Blizzard even if they wanted to because of their own business situation. At least not without huge loan and huge risk.
It seems like a no brainer to go out and buy Activision Blizzard, but 8 billion is a lot so it is no surprise Sony isn't interested.
It would be interesting if Microsoft picks up Activision. Seeing Spyro and Crash exclusive to Xbox would be something you wouldn't think of in a million years, now there is an actual possibility for that to happen.
its actually not a really good investment and this is why Vivendi is looking to sell. Right now is the perfect to sell before we begin to see the beginning of the end. I'll give my opinion
1. I will bet anything they want to sell before November We will see how much marketshare the CoD franchise has lost by the end of the year. Blackops topped 25 mil, MW3 is still in the teens. I'm gonna guess BO2 doesn't break 10 million. still impressive yes but if you're a shareholder you are NOT happy. I can guarantee you CoD becomes Rainbow Six next-gen. Short term it'll make you money but this franchise is done.
2. I guarantee they want to sell at a price that will have you depending on the revenue of WoW for at least 5-10 years. Would you bet everything on a game that's losing subscribers? It's a war of attrition right now. Does anyone really believe WoW will be on top 10 years from now?
Vivendi is simply trying to maximize profits before the inevitable demise.
I think I could live without those two franchises.... Two fairly good games from a by gone era....Truthfully, I'm not really a platformer.
*PSN titles only? ....maybe.
It's true, but it would makes sense for Sony by reducing complications anytime they want to go back and revisit the IPs, in the way they're currently doing with All-Stars.
Also, Spyro is worth a fortune right now.
well thats the problem. THey cant spend that much money just to maybe make some game that probably wouldnt even sell very good. If they did buy spyro/crash back they would HAVE to start pumping out skylanders games in order to make their money back and that really isnt what we would want them to do with the ips.
They couldnt spend all that money and then make some platform games that probably wouldnt sell good.
Seems like a waste of money to me. Instead of spend an arm and a leg to buy up Activision just for Crash and Spyro, why not devote resources to already owned franchises of a similar calibur, like R&C, Sly, and J&D?
Also, Sony has made some of the most compelling new IP this gen - why the need to buy old ones when they are more than capable of revolutionizing with new?
And we seem to be forgetting that Sony saw one of their steepest share drops in some time, but we're endorsing they toss 10 Billion at Acti/Blizz?
It's being sold for good reason. The company is volatile. The CoD bubble won't burst, but it will be surpassed by others nex-gen. MMO's are going FTP, WoW will soon follow suit by the end of 2013. And Diablo III pissed a lot of people off.
I'd stay away from it too.
Buying activition is to risky for sony right now. If ms buys them then game over. I don't like xbox though.
As for pc gamers they hate MS for good reason. Might see Bizzard kinect game maybe. Diablo 4 will have xbox menu on pc version.
There is no company that is as anti pc gaming as MS. Even origin/EA is better than them.
I wish valve had the cash to buy acti.
perhaps is someone else took over they'd actually make some interesting games? rather than just releasing sequels to the same few over and over again.
Like Resistance, Uncharted, GT, God of War, Ratchet & Clank....etc.
Why stop pumping out IP's that actually sell to a consumer base that actually like them....heaven forbid.
He says something about Activision, a company that is notorious for pumping out sequel after sequel, to the point that it completely ruins and kills all interest in once great franchises, and seemingly gives new IPs the lowest priority of any publisher out there, and your first thought is to jump on Sony?
Well Sony really can't afford it and Microsoft seem sure they have activision's bias for years to come yet.
Even though Sony is bleeding money at the moment, they still have over 13 TRILLION Yen in assets ($166 billion). So I'm pretty sure they can afford to buy Activision. They just don't want it.
What a magical world you seem to live in...
Hopefully blizzard gets back their second half of the companies shares and splits leaving only bobbyvision.
Microsoft owning Call of Duty and World of Warcraft & a few other IP's would be interesting.
Sorry to disappoint...but even if MS took the deal....I seriously doubt WOW would ever make it to 360....maybe it's successor, but even then....
and don't MS already own COD (lol) Jokes aside.....COD would suck even more if it was exclusive to MS...just 'cos.
Never said anything about exclusivity on those two games, but exclusivity on the less stellar IPS intergrated w/ kinect features. that's where my thoughts were heading
He didn't say anything about being on the 360 exclusively. WOW could still stay on the PC only, but Diablo could see it's way to the 360 exclusivly....COD could be an exclusive. This could help push more consoles, either 360's or 720's out the door and into consumers homes.
to lvl_up_gamer
Buying Blizzard for MS would be not smart, knowing they take forever with releasing their games. If Blizzard started work on Diablo for the next Xbox, it wouldn't release until Xbox 4 was close to announcement. So ponying up 8 billion for Blizzard isn't worth it, maybe I'm wrong and they work on a new IP which is based around consoles architecture. COD which is a fan favorite currently could also change in the future and be on the way down. Currently the only profitability in owning Acti-Blizz is for short term only. Currently I don't see a future for MS to buyout Acti-Blizz. This could change with the new leadership MS will be bringing if they buy them out.
that stupid thought would be awesome imo. Id love Microsoft to ruin those franchises just like they did with Rare and all of its games.
Ruin what games ,they will keep the money maker making profit like they do now.
Rare was crap, top guys had gone elsewhere nothing left but a modest group remained.
The Rare purchase was more of an investment in IP's. as for the non stellar games that A/B has they can be rejuvenated w/ some kinect features .
I think Microsoft is more comfortable just paying them off for the ad rights and timed-exclusive DLC.
There is absolutely nothing within the Activision roster that warrants the purchase IMO. Both MS & Sony have their own key franchises.
.....and for the love of gaming, let's hope Apple don't snap this opportunity up....I dread to think what could happen if COD and other IP's became exclusive to any platform.
*Sorry to discount Nintendo...but I think we might all agree 1st Party is more to their interests and agenda, even if Ninty is trying to secure better 3rd party support.
Wow i wonder what it would mean for ps3 if M$ did aquire acti/bliz, 360 timed exclusivity would be the bright side after that, i fear.
Do it MS!
this would basically put MS and Sony even exclusive wise.
No not even close as a matter of fact. Though if microsoft could force that side to create new I.P.s and bring back dead ones then yes unfortunately that is neither microsofts nor activisions style
Wow, I would think MS and Sony would be wrestling on the floor to get rights to Blizzard?Activision IP's. #1 MMO and RTS and the #1 FPS on consoles not mention the other IP's Activision has ran into the ground could be solely MS's or Sony.
Imagine CoD exclusive to one console? That to me would be a huge game changer.
Sony does not have the cash to buy it.. They could afford millions not billions.
There's so many reasons not to buy Activision. First of all, they're a multiplatform company. Take that away, and you've got a company that loses a substantial number of it's potential customers, and therefore, a lot of it's value.
Being bought by MS or Sony means they'd go exclusive. Everyone playing CoD on the platform that loses it isn't going to suddenly flock to another console. Some will, but definitely not all. That bump in sales isn't worth it for basically just Call of Duty.
Activision is big on licensed games. Go exclusive to one console, and Marvel goes elsewhere for Spiderman. Hasbro goes elsewhere for Transformers. Those companies don't care about console wars. They care about being able to sell to the biggest audience possible. Go exclusive, and there goes a big chunk of the business.
What's left is CoD, Skylanders, WoW, and the corpse of Guitar Hero. By comparison, look at what could be done with the money it would cost to buy them. MS and Sony are better off reaping the benefits of Activision, without taking on all the risk, and putting their own money into improving their own platforms. I don't know the currency conversion, but pretty much any amount with a "billion" after gives you one hell of a budget for creating new IP, building studios, and securing publishing deals.
"There's so many reasons not to buy Activision. First of all, they're a multiplatform company. Take that away, and you've got a company that loses a substantial number of it's potential customers, and therefore, a lot of it's value. "
This could be said about any 3rd party that chooses to develop solely for a single console like Insomniac and Quantic Dream. They would have a much larger audience if they released their games multiplatform yet choose not too and they are still in business. MS is a very very rich company so taking a multiplatform company and making it an exclusively only company could result in larger sales for hardware at the cost of software. It all depends where MS would want to allocate the loss and which would be more beneficial to them. Heck, MS could still allow Activision to make multiplat games...it's just more money in MS's pocket at the end of the day. They could just have exclusive DLC for their console. Media Molecule didn't have a problem selling out to Sony when they could have maintained as an independent studio who could make whatever games they wanted and put them on any platform they wanted.
If MS owned Activision, it would give a much larger incentive to purchase a MS console over their competitors thus resulting in a much larger market share. It could also push more "games for windows" on PC's.
Sure not ALL will "flock" to the other console, at least not at this point in the generation. Start of next gen could be a different story. New next gen purchasers that would normally have bought a PS4 may now decide to just buy a 720 because that is where they will get their COD fix. That in turn will cause their friends to buy a 720 since that is were all their friends will be playing COD.
Again, examples like Marvel and Hasbro are not AAA games and don't sell that much anyways let alone define a console and give it identity, but just because MS would own activism doesn't mean EVERYTHING that comes out will be exclusive. Games like Transformers and Spider-man could very well remain as multiplatform.
Why should MS put the money into "bettering their own platforms" when their platforms not only rate highly amongst the industry with titles like Forza and Halo but also already bring in hundreds of millions of dollars? Why not buy Activision and increase the size of your exclusive library with the likes of Diablo, COD, Guitar Hero, WoW etc?
So many complain about MS's lack of exclusive IP's and now that MS may now have a chance to expand their exclusive library of IP's by purchasing already well established IP's, you all want them to not do it.
The ONLY ones that seem to have a problem with MS buying activision are those who strongly support the competition.
As per your reply up top - You need to re-read what I wrote. I wasn't jumping on Sony, I stated that great games deserve sequels because people purchase them consistently. Why are you so defensive when anyone mentions Sony...even to the point of ignoring when it's a compliment?
Sheesh...issues much?
Those are not good reasons at all you mentioned.
CoD is THE largest FPS franchise out right now all over the world. Imagine if one console got the rights to this franchise, you mean to tell me that wouldn't be a game changer in this "console war"?
Skylanders is a HUGE success, it has captured MAJOR attention from kids all over. Imagine if the third sequel came out for one system and come Xmas the kids are screaming and nagging to their parents to have the latest Skylanders. For the easily swayed parents they have to buy the system if their kid doesnt have it and purchase the game. That would be huge and also capture a big chunk of the kids/casual market.
On the Blizzard side you have WoW, the number ONE MMO out on the market, DIII and Starcraft II which are both just as equally popular. Imagine having some version form on console for those three extremly popular and world recognized IP's on one console system.
Also you get any in house development tools or engins that these guys might use to ceank out their games.
There are just as many reasons to buy them.
Actually, Sony or MS buying Activision doesn't mean any franchise has to be exclusive. It only means favoritism to one platform. Besides that, MS could influence Blizzard to release some of their games exclusively on PC and Xbox since they don't appear on consoles yet.
Keep in mind that only half of Activision Blizzard is on sale (unfortunately the half that has the power).
Also to answer your other question why buying ATVI is a great idea? It is because you get a controling stake by only buying half a company and you get a known quantity of quality business. Blizzard itself is a crown jewel.
Under normal circumstances you would have to pay the full price for this sort of access!
Which leads me to this:
"I don't know the currency conversion, but pretty much any amount with a "billion" after gives you one hell of a budget for creating new IP, building studios, and securing publishing deals."
How much did it cost to create a MMO? How many have been successful? You instantly get access to not only a very profitable business and ip, but also instant access to the leader in MMO.
As far as I can tell, nobody else has been able to profit from large scale MMOs.
@lvl-up, ben, and nukeitall
Let's get the nonsense out of the way. MS has no interest in developing for all the competing consoles. In fact, the logic for justifying why they should buy Activision... more exclusives... contradicts it.
Now, did one of you prove why it's worth spending 8 billion euros, or the equivalent $10 billion to buy Activision? Nope!
I can come up with a few reasons not to though, just to get that common sense flowing again.
1. Gears of War cost $10 million to develop. $10 billion lets you develop GoW 1000 times over. GTA4 cost $100 million. They could develop GTA4 100 times over. Or they could come up with a few more blockbusters of their own and use those to sell the console. I hear that "Halo" thing worked out well for them.
2. In 2010, Live revenue was over $1 billion. MS could make Live free for 10 years. And that figure may or may not include digital sales, which if anything, just goes to show what $10 billion gets you.
3. They could knock $100 off the price of the first 100 million next-generation Xboxes sold. People like discounts!
So, I just layed out what $10 billion could buy MS... An astronomical development budget which would provide all the exclusives MS would ever need, a way to instantly eliminate all criticism against Xbox Live and make it the undisputed leader in online service both in value and functionality, or they could offer a whopping discount on day 1 to drive console sales, which in turn drives software sales.
Now, which do you think would be most beneficial to MS as they compete in the next generation? I know for damn sure "make CoD 37, Skylanders, and a few Blizzard games exclusive to Games for Windows " isn't going to make me buy an Xbox, and more importantly, continue to spend my money on Xbox anywhere near as much as any of the options I came up with.
Oh, and did I mention, Microsoft can continue to reap the benefits of maintaining their relationship with Activision. Oh and they can recoup lost revenue with a new premium tier of service. Or they could sell those games they develop at a profit, bringing the cost of all these ideas down. Crazy, right?
Now, let's look at the reasoning from all of you... people would buy an Xbox instead of other consoles for an Activision game. That's true! Except for all those who would by two consoles either way and would just buy that one game for that different platform. And all those people that just won't buy it because they like everything else on PlayStation or Wii or PC or whatever. Or the ones that find an alternative to a game like CoD... like Battlefield, or Medal of Honor, or Homefront, or Killzone, or any other game that pops up to fill the void on the non-Xbox platforms. So few choices!
So, I ask, why exactly, are a few Activision games, and all the Bobby Kotick-y goodness that comes with it the best use of Microsoft's $10 billion?
Now that that's out of the way...
"This could be said about any 3rd party that chooses to develop solely for a single console like Insomniac and Quantic Dream."
Yeah, it could. It can't be said about basically every other developer and publisher out there though. So a few developers choose to let Sony buy them for whatever reason... security, less financial risk, creative freedom other publishers don't provide... who knows. The few examples you listed pale in comparison to the fact that nearly every major studio is now multiplatform.
"Marvel and Hasbro are not AAA games and don't sell that much anyways"
And yet you suggest MS might want to take on the responsibility of developing them. For all platforms no less. Uh huh.
"So many complain about MS's lack of exclusive IP's and now that MS may now have a chance to expand their exclusive library of IP's by purchasing already well established IP's, you all want them to not do it."
Yeah, everyone out there has been just clamoring for MS to take content away from other consoles, rather than create their own new content. Seriously, this kind of thing needs to be explained?
"The ONLY ones that seem to have a problem with MS buying activision are those who strongly support the competition."
Of course. Pay no attention to the fact that three staunch Xbox supporters are here trying to argue with me. It's always "those other guys" that are the problem, right?. It's never you. Oh, no, never.
"Why are you so defensive when anyone mentions Sony...even to the point of ignoring when it's a compliment?"
Let's recap. A guy criticizes Activision's milking of their franchises. You follow that up with "Like Resistance, Uncharted, GT, God of War, Ratchet & Clank....etc." How could I have possibly mistaken that for anything but a glowing compliment? Perhaps I should have read further to when you used the term "pumping out". Such an endearing term. I would have used "dumping" or shoveling". Nothing implies a positive tone quite like comparisons to plumbing, ditch digging, and trash disposal. I know if someone came up to me and told me how proud my dad must have been when my mom "pumped me out" I'd be pleased as punch.
"Sheesh...issues much?"
Was that a complement too? It's hard to tell with you. Now, onto the comments Ben pumped out...
(See how complimentary that sounds?)
You said nothing of substance. We all know they are big franchises. But you didn't provide a shred of context to that. I came up with some perspective. Three ideas... many of which address the core areas that will determine how the next Xbox will fare against the competition... pricing, games, and online.
I did find this amusing though...
"Also you get any in house development tools or engins that these guys might use to ceank out their games. "
Yeah. Microsoft wants Activision's development tools for their own console. Because we all know Activision is the pinnacle of technical achievement this generation. Who needs Epic or Crytek and their impressive engines, or even your company's own knowledge of it's console when you've got a modified Id Tech 4 engine? I can hear Steve Ballmer now... "WRITE THE FREAKIN' CHECK!!!"
If microsoft buys blizzard that will be a sad day for their fans since that means byebye PC and hello Xbox.
8 billion is a lot. Hard to see how anyone would be making back that money. Especially this late in the game. I'm thinking it will end up selling to some conglomerate non gaming entity. After all Vivendi own 61% so that is controlling interest. Hopefully they keep the company around and don't try and sell of all its assets in the hope of making back their 8 billion plus a little extra.
If Apple/Google wanted to get into the console market this could be a potential buy in. But I think any company looking to make money and continue the company wouldn't be looking at anything like exclusivity to a console as the IP's would be pushed as making as much money as possible. So the more devices the better. So not really a feather in the cap of Sony or MS (and again at this late stage with the next gen around the corner).
So short term buyer (some Bain Capital type company) would be thinking of making as much money as quick as possible by any means necessary. They wouldn't be a gaming interest.
A long term buyer would only buy the company if they are a gaming company themselves and hoping to make a profit in 20 years or so :p But at least the company would continue.
I thought the funny thing is if Microsoft does acquire them they get Bungie working right under them again! lol
Microsoft better not buy it cause it will ruin the Call of Duty brand forever.
I know 343 is still unproven, but ms actually does have some decent devs or at least had.
If ms bought cod, it might actually be beneficial for the franchise, and i doubt ms would make it exclusive. Just to not lose out on millions of sales of course make the other version inferior as incentive to switch platforms for cod fanatics.
How much lower can cod honestly go, it's already been left in the dust by countless games.
The reason this is unlopular on n4g is a buyout from ms could put the final nail in $onys coffin. That coffin is allready laid out with several nails in it.
And it's dumbass comments like this that leads to 38 ignores, by all means let ms buy out activison and make cod exclusive to the xbox. The only idiots going out and buying a 360 for it are the cod casuals who play nothing else.
Actual gamers have alot more content to choose from. Speaking of coffins, ms might want to revamp it's lineup, i see only 2 new games that look to be good and one is a third party title.
I don't count mp's since, the 360 is a secondary console for me.
You know some of us, ignore the console war bs at time and just enjoy playing fun games. Post your psn id, my gt is spiredequation0, either prove you own the console or stfu.
While we are on the subject why do 360 owners just assume ms will have as many new ip's under development for the 720 as the 360 did. When ms has done the exact opposite(close studios) the last 4 yrs.
343 is only dealing with halo, you need alot more than 1 studio and a few kinect based studios.
There are 2 types of posters on n4g typically, opinionated assholes that play games and give their personal opinions on systems ect.
And then various spin docters, shareholders and sales analysts who refute any criticism of their preferred game or console by screaming about sales numbers.
And typically create new accounts every few months when their old accounts are either debubbled or get too many ignores.
The kind of comments on N4G shows how little many people know about business. It's not simply having the money to buy it, it's if the company fits in with your plans. To buy a company you have to think synergy, if it fits in with your short and long term plans, if it is necessary, or profitable or cost effective.Just like most things people just think like a fanboy and think 'Oh gee you get Call of Duty, Spyro WOW and Crash and that is wonderful and if I owned a company I would buy it just like that'. But whether a company has the money or not doesn't automatically mean that you run out and buy anything that comes your way. For example Microsoft ran out and brought Rare and Rare was not the type of company that fits with Microsoft's way of gaming which is one of the reasons the games they made failed so miserably.
They didn't connect with the company they just latched them on to them and hoped for the best. So Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard could very well be a catastrophe if they are just buying them just for the sake of buying them. People always think that when companies buy other companies everyone will just click and make friends and everything will just go smoothly from then on but if they have no synergy going on between them and the employees then you might as well leave it alone.People always think it is only all about money. Many times companies don't buy other companies because they know very well it isn't going to work between them or fit into their plans.
But people seem to forget that a company is made up of people and all the money in the world isn't necessarily going to make it work for you.You can have all the resources but that doesn't mean you can make it work for you. Sony buying a company like this may sound like a good idea to a gamer or a missed opportunity but could be a very bad idea to them business wise. A new company means more people to deal with, more resources to manage and more positions to organize.The reason why I am writing this is in response to the 'Sony can't afford it' claim when they could just not want it at all.


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You can't hurt me!! I have an ASSUMABLE MORTGAGE!!


text:
Guillermo Del Toro is photographed on June 17, 2103. Click through the gallery for a look at some milestones in his career. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)Link
"Cronos" (1993): Del Toro's first feature, the Spanish-language thriller "Cronos," centered on a young girl and her grandfather, who stumble onto a golden, scarab-like device with a secret inside. (October Films)Link
"Mimic" (1997): Del Toro famously warred with studio executives on this film about killer insects, which was his second feature and his first Hollywood production. (Kerry Hayes / Dimension Films)Link
"The Devil's Backbone" (2001): A moody ghost story set during the Spanish Civil War, the film chronicles what happens when a young fatherless boy arrives at a haunted orphanage. (Sony Pictures Classics)Link
"Blade II" (2002): A race of super vampires is on the loose in this comic-book inspired sequel directed by Del Toro and starring Wesley Snipes. (Bruce Talamon / New Line Cinema)Link
"Hellboy" (2004): Longtime Del Toro collaborator Ron Perlman starred, with Selma Blair, in the filmmaker's adaptation of Mike Mignola's signature comics about a grumpy demon summoned to Earth. (The Orphanage / Columbia Pictures)Link
"Pan's Labyrinth" (2006): Del Toro's brilliant, beautiful dark fairy tale follows the stepdaughter of a cruel military man as she stumbles into an elaborate fantasy world. The film won three Oscars. (Teresa Isasi / Picturehouse)Link
"The Orphanage" (2007): Del Toro produced Juan Antonio Bayona's terrifying Spanish-language thriller, which helped introduce the filmmaker to a wider audience. (Picturehouse Entertainment)Link
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (2008): Perlman's title character is only one of dozens of magnificent monsters who become embroiled in an epic supernatural conflict that threatens the people of Earth. (Universal Pictures)Link
"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" (2010): Del Toro co-wrote and produced this remake of a 1970s scarefest that was among his favorites as a child. (Carolyn Johns / Miramax Film Corp.)Link
"Mama" (2013): Del Toro fell in love with Andrés Muschietti's spooky short film, then signed on to produce the writer-director's full-length expansion of the story of two orphaned girls visited by an apparition. (Universal)Link
"Pacific Rim" (2013): Rinko Kikuchi starred as one of the pilots of the massive Jaegers that fought against invading Kaiju in Del Toro's love letter to Japanese monster cinema. (Warner Bros.)Link
"The Strain" (2009 book): Partnering with author Chuck Hogan, Del Toro penned an apocalyptic vampire trilogy that he now hopes to translate to television. He's currently directing the pilot for the show in Toronto. (William Morrow)Link
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and "Metal Gear Solid" creator Hideo Kojima will join forces for a return trip to Silent Hill.
Word about the new installment in the long-running video game series arrived Tuesday via an interactive teaser released on the PlayStation store.
Near the conclusion of an hour-plus long demo for a game referred to as "P.T.," title cards appeared on screen featuring both Del Toro's name and Kojima's (another suggested the game could be titled "Silent Hills").
Also glimpsed was a character modeled on "The Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus, who could be seen standing on a desolate city street at night.
Although some years away from its creative zenith, the "Silent Hill" franchise won a legion of fans for its atmospheric thrills and surreal imagery. It spawned two films — 2006's "Silent Hill,"and more recently, 2012's "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D" — neither of which was particularly well received.
For Del Toro, the project marks yet another creative endeavor the busy writer-director is juggling at present.
He's producing the upcoming animated feature "Book of Life," which arrives in theaters Oct. 17; and he's finishing his 2015 horror film, "Crimson Peak," starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Hunnam.
Additionally, he's beginning work on "Pacific Rim 2," the sequel to last summer's movie that paid glorious homage to the Japanese pop culture he adored as a child in Guadalajara.
His FX TV series, "The Strain," adapted from a trilogy of vampire novels he wrote with Chuck Hogan, was recently renewed for a second season.
Are you excited about a new "Silent Hill" game? What do you expect from the Del Toro/Kojima collaboration? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
— Gina McIntyre | @LATHeroComplex
Del Toro signs 'The Strain' in Hollywood
Guillermo del Toro opens his 'Cabinet of Curiosities' with new book
'Pacific Rim': Del Toro on why he's like Raleigh Becket
'Pacific Rim': Del Toro on directing big-budget kaiju epic
Guillermo del Toro edges toward greater success with 'Pacific Rim'
'Pacific Rim's Del Toro: Say no to reboots, yes to robots
'Pacific Rim': 50 images from the kaiju film
Del Toro on 'Pacific Rim,' 'Monster,' 'Justice League Dark'


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Bubble Hem Romper is rated out of 5 by 3.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Sparkle10 from Beautiful Romper I bought this in small, wore last weekend with a white belt and white/silver wedge sandals. Received a lot of compliments.
Date published: 2014-06-20
Rated 5 out of 5 by Princesss from Love it :0 I just purchased this romper on sale :), it is very cute and light weight for a afternoon out at the beach bar. Its not to short either. **** Love it, Love it Love it.
Date published: 2014-05-22
Rated 2 out of 5 by Maitai from Not worth it Unimpressed. It went back immediately and without hesitation.
Date published: 2014-05-18


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'83 Sox flashback: 'We really had a lot of fun'
By Scot Gregor
SoxFest is always a great time to catch up with current players, and it capably serves as a kick-off to the upcoming baseball season.
At this year's annual winter gathering, White Sox fans were also able to reconnect with a slew of 2005 World Series heroes, headed by Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede, Aaron Rowand and Paul Konerko, the only active player left from Chicago's first championship team in 88 years.
As an added bonus, Sox fans were treated to seeing plenty of faces from the 1983 "Winning Ugly" team.
Truth be told, I was still locked in on my favorite baseball team back in '83 -- the once-proud, now-pathetic Pittsburgh Pirates.
But I kept tabs on manager Tony LaRussa's team from 30 years ago and remember the 99 wins and first-place finish by 20 games over the Kansas City Royals in the old American League West.
The most remarkable thing about the 1983 White Sox? They were 34-34 on June 24 before standout players like Ron Kittle, Harold Baines, Greg Luzinski, Carlton Fisk, LaMarr Hoyt, Richard Dotson and Floyd Bannister banded together and closed with a 65-29 record.
Unfortunately for those Sox, the Baltimore Orioles barreled through the East and won 98 games. The O's went on to win 3 of 4 in the AL Championship Series, ending the White Sox' season.
Tom Paciorek split time with Greg Walker at first base and batted .307 for the '83 Sox, later returning to the TV booth alongside Ken "Hawk" Harrelson from 1988-99.
At SoxFest, Paciorek still had fond memories of the "Winning Ugly" season.
"We had great players on that team," Paciorek said. "And we had great guys and a great chemistry. We really had a lot of fun."
Winning 99 games and running away with the division undoubtedly contributed to the fun factor, but Paciorek said that was only part of it.
"It was like there was a different joke played on somebody every day," Paciorek recalled. "My favorite one was with Ron Kittle, who was a rookie that year. Remember the 'Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson and the Carnac routine he always did?
"Somebody would hold up a card to their head like Carnac and another guy would yell out: 'Catch 22.' And then everybody would yell out: 'Catch 22.' And you open the card and it would say: 'What would Ron Kittle do if you hit him 100 flyballs.'"
Paciorek still has the hysterical laugh, and it came out again at SoxFest after he told the Kittle story.
Shifting to a serious tone, Paciorek noted a comparison to the 1983 club and the 2012 White Sox.
"We lost two really great guys after the '83 season," he said. "Charlie Lau was our hitting coach, he was the greatest hitting coach of all time, and he had colon cancer. And Loren Babe, who was a longtime White Sox scout, he traveled with us the entire year, we lost him (also to colon cancer) after the season, too.
"I think one of the reasons we played so well that year was because of those two guys inspiring us. We knew at the end of the season, chances are we weren't going to see them again. And we were right because they both passed that winter."
In 2012, Sox ambassador Bill "Moose" Skowron died in April and pregame instructor Kevin Hickey passed away in May. Hickey was a relief pitcher for the 1983 White Sox, going 1-2 with a 5.23 ERA and 5 saves.
"Two great guys, just like Charlie and Loren," said Paciorek, who was moving gingerly at SoxFest following artificial replacement surgery on both hips. "Gosh, being able to be here is really nice. You just have to live every day like it might be your last. That's one reason why it's so much fun to see all the guys again."
As a tribute to the powerhouse team, the White Sox will wear the 1983 S-O-X uniforms during Sunday home games this season.


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Bullock, Paige spark Tar Heels to 76-65 win against rival Wolfpack to avenge last month's loss
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RALEIGH, N.C. – Reggie Bullock had 22 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to help North Carolina beat rival North Carolina State 76-65 on Saturday.
Freshman point guard Marcus Paige added 14 points and eight assists for the Tar Heels (19-8, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won three straight games to build momentum and climb the league standings.
North Carolina went ahead for good with an 18-2 run in the second half while holding the Wolfpack to a single basket during a nearly 5-minute stretch.
James Michael McAdoo also scored 14 for UNC, while P.J. Hairston added 12. The Tar Heels also scored 24 points off 17 turnovers to offset the Wolfpack's size advantage.
Scott Wood scored 19 points to lead the Wolfpack (19-8, 8-6), who snapped a three-game winning streak and couldn't complete what would've been the program's first regular-season sweep of the Tar Heels in a decade.


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This particular story occurred about 8 years ago. My daughter "Allie" was about 4, and was excitedly discussing at an extended family dinner what she had asked Santa Claus for. My husband's brother "Mark" jumped into the conversation, asking some pointed questions about what she had said. It quickly became clear, to our utter disbelief and horror, that Mark was trying clue Allie in to the fact that her parents were in fact Santa Claus. For example, "Well, don't you find it strange that Santa Claus uses the same wrapping paper as your parents?" and "Don't you think it's pretty impossible that Santa Claus is able to get to ALL those houses in one night?" My husband and I were livid, but were able to hold it together long enough to refute his not-so-subtle points, put a stop to his line of questioning and quickly change the subject.
Turns out, Mark (who was childless at the time) was against children believing in Santa Claus. He felt it was misleading and cruel when the child found out the truth. So, he felt it was his place to fill Allie in. I might add he completely blindsided us with this. We had no idea he felt this way, nor did he ever discuss our decision with us. I had some choice words for him later in the evening when Allie was out of earshot.
Fast forward several years…My sister and Mark now have 3 beautiful little girls. They changed their tune about Santa Claus, and all of their children look forward to Santa coming each Christmas. The mature side of me has chosen to take the high road and not bring this particular incident up to him now and point out the irony, tempting as that is! Although, I must admit part of me (OK, a large part!) would like an apology, which was never forthcoming.
I believe every parent has the right to raise their children in whatever traditions they see fit. I do understand his point completely, and raising your children to not believe in Santa is certainly a viable option, but don't tell me how I should or shouldn't raise my own children! 1229-11
I raised my children to not believe in Santa Claus and I experienced the reverse with people trying to sabotage this by insisting to my children that Santa Claus was real. So, disrespecting other parents' choices does go both ways.
My thought on the OP's submission is that while parents may choose to follow a tradition of Santa Claus with their own children, other people are not under an obligation to disregard their own convictions to support yours. In other words, I won't lie to children when asked if I believe in Santa Claus nor will I play along with verbal games meant to fish from people their wish list for Santa or pledge an allegiance to a belief in Santa Claus. I may say nothing or beandip like crazy which is awkward but a lot less awkward than bluntly stating my own truthful beliefs.


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Value Line is regarded as the best independent research available. More than just recommendations, Value Line provides the rationale behind its picks for greater understanding.
Issues defined as "growth stocks" have a number of common traits, but the most important is that their earnings are expected to grow at a faster pace than the broader market over a period of time. With that in mind, Value Line runs a screen in its Summary and Index that searches for stocks that meet this key criterion. It focuses on issues that have recorded good per-share earnings gains in recent years and that ought to continue to do so in the future, such as Agrium (AGU) and Tractor Supply Company (TSCO).
To make our list, a company's annual growth of sales, cash flow, earnings, dividends and book value must together have averaged 10% or more over the past 10 years and be expected to average at least 10% in the coming 3-5 years, which is no easy feat considering that this time span included varying rates of economic growth. Below we highlight some of the stocks from our screen with sound investment
Agrium, Inc.
Agrium is a leading producer and marketer of nitrogen fertilizer and potash. The company has three primary operating segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Advanced Technologies. Nitrogen-based fertilizers account for 37% of wholesale sales; Potash, 15%; Phosphate, 16%; and Other, 32%. Has major production facilities in North America and Argentina, and a network of more than 1,250 facilities worldwide.
We look for Agrium to register solid results in the near future. Demand for high-quality seed should be strong during the 2013 growing season, owing to reduced supply (reflecting the domestic drought), high crop prices, and improved genetic offerings. Crop nutrient prices should remain attractive moving forward. Consequently, we anticipate moderate top- and bottom-line gains for the company for 2013. However, we may have to alter our estimates if significant economic weakness occurs.
We view 3- to 5-year industrywide fundamentals as being attractive. Global population growth and increased per-capita spending in developing nations should help boost crop demand. Farmers might well continue to seek improved crop quality and greater yield, which might well boost fertilizer prices. Hence, Agrium appears to be well positioned to capitalize on this trend. Though macroeconomic ambiguities remain a concern, we look for markedly higher sales and earnings per share by 2015-2017.
Agrium has returned capital to shareholders. During the fourth quarter of last year, the company bought back more than 8.7 million shares of common stock. This ought to benefit the bottom line in the forthcoming years, as it provides a level of support. What's more, healthy dividend growth is expected to continue and the board of directors has boosted the frequency of the payout from semiannual to quarterly, effectively doubling the distribution.
Tractor Supply Company
Tractor Supply Company is the predominant operator of retail farm and ranch stores in the United States. It operates under the Tractor Supply Company and Del's Farm Supply banners and is three times larger than its five nearest competitors combined. Its niche merchandise selection consists of 16,000 to 19,500 unique products per store, with approximately one quarter of sales being derived from high-margined private label merchandise. Its customer base consists mostly of homeowners with above average incomes and little debt, including recreational farmers and ranchers, as well as those who enjoy the rural, "out here" lifestyle. Product offerings include horse, pet, and small animal products necessary for their health, care, growth, and containment; hardware, truck, towing, and tool products; seasonal items including lawn and garden goods and power equipment, maintenance products and work/recreational clothing and footwear. It operates approximately 1,150 stores in 45 states. These outlie major metropolitan areas and are generally in rural communities.
Tractor Supply boosted its bottom-line guidance for the year just ended. This reflected a third-quarter sales increase of nearly 3%, driven primarily by continued gains in consumable, usable, and edible (CUE) products. These are largely animal and pet-related items. Although this figure might seem modest relative to last year's comparable period (11.5%), it came despite unfavorable September weather. We believe that Tractor Supply likely benefited from the sale of emergency-related products during the fourth quarter, reflecting Hurricane Sandy and other weather-related occurrences.
We look for strong growth to continue in 2013. We think customers will continue their conservative buying pattern with the CUE products in the forefront. We forecast some gross margin improvement, while further maturing of recent-year site additions (about 250 units since 2010) would also be a positive. And, better weather conditions, which are very difficult to predict, would lend support to our profit-growth assumptions.
The company has significant room for store expansion 3- to 5-years hence, in our view. Demographic studies indicate the potential for 2,100 units (about 80% above the current total), with the western U.S. and smaller stores (80% of the size of a traditional location) being the most logical real estate opportunities. A healthy balance sheet enables Tractor to add 8% square-footage growth per year. That's a pace far faster than the average retailer.
At the time of this writing, the author did not have any positions in any of the companies mentioned.


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Getting ready for the lion of all awards shows tomorrow night? Yeah, it's a little show called the Academy Awards. So for some Oscar love (and discontent) that I've been looking at recently, please check out my "Oscarmania? Guilty!" post over at my personal site. It includes Oscar Bingo cards!
I'll check back in with you Monday for a post-Oscar high.


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A festive instrumental theme in the genre of dance electronica, driven by punchy syncopated rhythmic patterns and fat bass lines, enriched with lush techno synthesizer cords, playful bongo percussion, and cool vocal exclamations; excellent for visual scenarios where high energy, bodily and spiritual excitement, and technological innovation come together to create an atmosphere of ecstatic physical release. Two versions are included: 1) with the vocal FX (2:16), 2) without the vocal FX (2:16).
The item is included in the following music pack:
For more choice in the same music genre or application, please, see these public collections:


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All Roads Lead to Nano
Nanoinformatics 2020 Roadmap is the first broad-based attempt to comprehensively meet the needs and goals of nanoinformatics.
At the intersection of nanotechnology, computer science, and data management, nanoinformatics is the key to determining which information is relevant to the nanoscale science and engineering community. The "Nanoinformatics 2020 Roadmap" identifies the field's current stakeholders, projects, needs, capabilities, and connections; and provides a realistic timeframe to establish an effective system of nanoinformatics data, tools, and infrastructure. According to Jessica Adamick, digital librarian and manager of the NNN's website, InterNano, the roadmap is the first broad-based attempt to comprehensively meet the needs and goals of nanoinformatics.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, the plan arose from a workshop of 80 nanoinformatics experts brought together by the NNN. "We played a leading role alongside several groups who felt that this needed to be done," says NNN director Mark Tuominen, physics. "We strategized so this road mapping would be steered by and for the nanoinformatics community and no single institution or government agency would dominate."
Literally thousands of groups in the nanoscale science and engineering community do independent investigations, producing valuable information, but they are unable to fully access and use each other's developments, according to Tuominen. "We realize that there's been a tremendous effort over the last ten years—new manufacturing methods and nanoscale applications in medicine and energy, and lots more," he says. "But presently, there is no way to mine for this data." Unimaginable amounts of polished and usable technology are collecting dust.
For example, CHM is using brand new materials and techniques for nano-manufacturing. However, there's not much information on the properties of the materials or the rules of using these processes. Tuominen likens the situation to a recipe for scrambled eggs: the burner can't be too high or too low. "It's similarly true with these processes. There are optimum conditions," he says, "and we need to communicate them to people developing manufacturing procedures in the industry."
How has UMass Amherst come to play first fiddle in this prominent, nationally organized nanoinformatics network? As early as 2003, UMass Amherst was one of the nation's leading universities in nanotechnology research funding. So, when the Mass Nanotech Institute, an on-campus, eight-department unit of acclaimed researchers in nanotech sciences, proposed to form CHM, the National Science Foundation provided support. In 2006 the center opened its doors, with a chartered role to act as a facilitating hub for a network designed to create an information clearinghouse.
In addition to its established history in nanotechnology research, UMass Amherst has an attractive direct regional link to industry leaders in Massachusetts. CHM focuses on processes that can be scaled up to manufacturing, and that means tapping the state's established paper and plastics industries to implement preexistent roll-to-roll technology in the making of flexible electronics and high-technology devices such as solar cells, cell phone displays, batteries and sensors. As testament to its good work, the National Science Foundation recently awarded the center a $20 million expansion of the original grant.
"We called the roadmap '2020' because we estimated it would take about 10 years to really implement this in an effective way," says Tuominen. In the next couple of years, we can expect to see the network launching some pilot projects—a set of metadata standards to make the information searchable, visualization tools to utilize the data, and a mode of automated data collection.
There is much to be done. Although it will take place on many campuses, on many manufacturing floors, and by several government agencies, the crucial intersections of this unimaginably vast network are being designed at UMass Amherst.
David Bartone '12G


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Download - DWodp live for Scripts 1.2.5
DWodp live for Scripts 1.2.5
DWodp live is a free PHP powered script which allows you to dynamically insert a pre-populated web directory to your website.You have full control over the easy to edit templates and PHP source code so you can intergrate DWodp live into your own site design easily.DWodp live makes use of Netscape's Open Directory which is free to use so long you follow their license. The default template supplied with DWodp live does have both the ODP...
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A Motley Crue concert erupted in turmoil Saturday night when a crazed fan burst onto the stage and knocked over 62-year-old guitarist Mick Mars, according to reports.
The band, currently on a cross-Canada tour, was performing at Spectra Place in Estevan, Saskatchewan, when the unknown male jumped onto the stage.
He was tackled by security guards while attempting to hug lead singer Vince Neil, but not before swiping past Mars, reportsTMZ.
Mars suffers from a condition called ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic, inflammatory form of arthritis that affects the spine and pelvis.
This comes amid news pop superstar Justin Bieber was attacked on stage by an overzealous fan in Dubai. Click here to read the full story.


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ANGEL FIRE, N.M. (AP) — The pilot of the single-engine plane that crashed during takeoff in 55 mph winds, killing four people, had been warned against leaving the northern New Mexico ski resort because of the gusts, airport officials said Monday.
But airport manager Harvey Wright said the pilot, identified as San Antonio aerospace engineer John Phillip Verhalen III, "felt comfortable with his abilities and the aircraft. And given as we are not policemen, we can't ask him for the keys."
Wright said winds were gusting at 55 mph when the plane crashed at about 1:24 p.m. Sunday, killing Verhalen, 33; his sister, Sara Verhalen, 41; her daughter, Chloe Marie Jameson, 13; and the pilot's girlfriend, Jennifer Warren, 26.
"They were returning after a ski trip, they had stayed there with cousins," said the pilot's father, Phillip Verhalen, of Scottsville, Texas, who said he lost his only children and only grandchild in the crash.
Verhalen said he spoke with his kids Sunday around noon and they said it appeared to be a good day to fly.
But there were strong gusty winds across northern New Mexico Sunday afternoon and "we had all kinds of warnings posted on the front desk, plus we questioned the pilot as to whether he really wanted to go in that weather," Wright said.
No other flights came in or left Sunday afternoon, he said.
Verhalen III was an aerospace engineer and his sister worked in human resources for a large company in the Dallas area, their father said. He declined to name the companies for which they worked. No plans for their return or funeral services have been made so far, he added.
The plane was registered to Verhalen Flyers in Scottsville, which is about 150 miles east of Dallas.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.


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University Relations and Communications
Groseth named new chancellor at MSU Billings
November 15, 2010
Dr. Rolf Groseth, Chancellor, 657-2300
Dan Carter, University Relations, 657-2269
Appointment will go forward for approval to Board of Regents this week
MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — A longtime member of the Montana State University family has been named chancellor of Montana State University Billings.
Dr. Rolf Groseth was named Monday by MSU President Dr. Waded Cruzado as the second chancellor of the Billings-based university. Groseth succeeds Dr. Ron Sexton, who had served as chancellor of MSU Billings since 1995. Sexton retired in August.
Groseth was named chancellor after an extensive national search process that yielded more than 80 applicants and narrowed down by a search advisory committee of academic, alumni, administrative, student, business and community representatives.
"Dr. Groseth has a proven track record of dedication to Montana State University and its units across the state," Cruzado said. "He has the ability to connect to the people and students at our campuses and has proven he can garner support in the communities we serve. I very much look forward to continue working with him to take MSU Billings to the next level of excellence." Groseth said he was honored by the appointment and said he was eager to get started in his new leadership role.
"I appreciate the confidence shown in me by Dr. Cruzado and look forward to this next step in the advancement of this university in the Billings community," Groseth said. "There is a lot of work to do and it's the kind of work that I'm excited to do."
Groseth, 64, has been serving as interim chancellor at MSU Billings since July. Before arriving in Billings, he was serving as vice president for inter-campus affairs at Montana State University in Bozeman and was interim chancellor at MSU Northern in Havre from January 2008 to August 2009.
"Universities are living, breathing organisms and I look forward to working with students, faculty and staff on the next stage of growth at MSU Billings," he said.
Dr. Stacy Klippenstein, vice chancellor for student affairs at MSU Billings and search advisory committee co-chair, said the search process yielded a strong field of candidates to lead MSU Billings and is looking forward to the next chapter.
"We are excited that Dr. Groseth has accepted the position," Klippenstein said. "We firmly believe that Dr. Groseth will be a wonderful addition to the team and will help MSUB move forward in the future. His communication style, commitment to shared governance and learner-centered philosophy proves a great match for our institution."
As the inter-campus affairs vice president, Groseth worked to provide coordination among executive officers on the Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls and Northern campuses of the MSU system, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and the Montana Board of Regents. He has worked as executive assistant to the MSU President from 1994 to 2004 and had extensive student affairs experience at MSU in Bozeman from 1977 to 1994 and before that at the University of Florida and Georgetown University. Groseth also served two years in the U.S. Army, including a 12-month tour of duty in Vietnam.
He is married to Jaynee Drange Groseth, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association. They have two grown sons.
Located in Montana's largest city, MSU Billings is a comprehensive regional university with an enrollment of more than 5,300 students. It has more than 80 academic programs in five colleges that provide certificate, two-year, four-year and master's degree education.
It is one of four universities in the MSU system that serves students and the state through campuses in Bozeman, Billings, Havre and Great Falls.


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SAN FRANCISCO -- The autocratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia doesn't have much to worry about, at least not yet, from democracy activists and the Internet, one of the country's best known bloggers predicts.
"It is very unlikely that we will see any change in the country in the short and medium term," Ahmed Al Omran, creator of SaudiJeans.org, said at an event in CNET's offices in downtown San Francisco yesterday evening. Al Omran left Saudi Arabia to study at Columbia University and now lives in Washington, D.C.
A so-called Day of Rage protest that was supposed to occur on March 11, 2011 in Saudi Arabia led to worries about oil spiking to $200 a barrel and Fox News Channel contributor Charles Krauthammer warning that "all hell" could break loose.
Those mass protests never happened. Saudi security forces came out in strength, and only a "small number" of people actually showed up, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. (Massive Arab Spring protests elsewhere in the Middle East last year -- including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya -- led to the fall of governments.)
In the long run, Al Omran predicted during last night's "geek reading" event, organized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the natural human desire for more freedom and a democratic government will spread to Saudi Arabia as well.
"It is building, just very slowly," he said. "You can see the signs of this change online, on the Internet, where the kind of language you see on Twitter, on other platforms online, is something very unprecedented by Saudi standards. You go on Twitter and you see people making fun of the royal family, using their real names, with their real photos. This is something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago."
Saudi Arabia, the region's largest oil producer and exporter and a longtime U.S. ally, is hardly a bastion of electoral, religious, or sexual freedom. Blogger Hamza Kashghari was arrested in February on blasphemy charges for daring to criticize Islam.
A 2012 report from Freedom House, which evaluates political rights and civil liberties, lists Saudi Arabia as "not free." Reporters Without Borders calls it an "Internet enemy" for blocking Web sites deemed pornographic or "morally reprehensible." The country scores better in The Wall Street Journal-Heritage Foundation's economic freedom index, however, earning a score of "moderately free."
Al Omran said that the kingdom's tradition of restricting news through broadcast censorship no longer works. "They cannot be bought with the money the government is spending and they cannot be brainwashed the way the older generation was," he said. "We have access to many more sources of information than older generations... We're not going to be satisfied with living, raising a family, and being quiet. We want freedom. We want the ability to elect our leaders."


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With only the Euro 2008 final remaining to watch, I spent some time studying the recent NBA draft. In doing so, I came across this video of the Senior Night performance of a Vanderbilt player named Shan Foster. In this game, Foster hit nine consecutive three-pointers, all of which were contested, and scored 42 points against a quality Mississippi State team. One of the three-pointers was the game-winning basket. In his senior year, Foster averaged 20 points per game and shot 47 percent from three-point range.
Foster was taken in the second round of the draft (51st pick overall) by the Dallas Mavericks. He was the SEC's player of the year. Foster must have some major weaknesses that caused him to be taken so late. Shooting the ball doesn't seem to be one of them.