Thursday, February 17, 2011

Riot police storm Bahrain camp; 2 reported dead

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News Desk : Riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed a landmark square occupied by anti-government protesters Thursday, driving out demonstrators and destroying a makeshift encampment that had become the hub for demands to bring sweeping political changes to the kingdom.
The main opposition group Al Wefaq said at least two people were killed in the pre-dawn assault on Pearl Square, which was littered with flattened tents, trampled banners and broken glass.
There was no official word on deaths or injuries. After police regained control of the plaza, they chased protesters through side streets and put a ring of vehicles around the area with blue lights flashing in the darkened city just as the dawn call for prayers rang out.
The blow by authorities marked a dramatic shift in tactics. It appeared Bahrain’s leaders had sought to rein in security forces after clashes Monday that left at least two people dead and brought sharp criticism from Western allies, including the US which operates its main naval base in the Gulf fromBahrain.
Police held back Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters crowded into the seaside square, dominated by a 300-foot monument to Bahrain’s history as a pearl diving center.
After the crackdown early thursday, protesters who were camped in the square described police swarming in through a cloud of eye-stinging tear gas. “They attacked our tents, beating us with batons,” said Jafar Jafar, 17. “The police were lined up at the bridge overhead. They were shooting tear gas from the bridge.”

Monday, February 14, 2011

RIM To Release Two More Playbooks For 2011

Reporting live from the Mobile World Congress 2011 (MWC 2011), Research In Motion (RIM) announced plans of releasing two more BlackBerry Playbook tablets by the second half of this year. Moreover, the company phased out that the two editions which the company is planning to unveil would come powered with different features.
One of the Playbook would be able to support the LTE network while the other would come powered with the HSPA + networking technology. Previously, the company had phased out plans of a Wi-Fi only tablet and one using the WiMax wireless networking technology.

RIM Playbook
Compared to the Wi-Fi model, the LTE and HSPA + technology are more widely accepted in the mobile market. Even though the company has no share in the tablet boom era, RIM hopes that the upcoming BlackBerry models would help it stand and make an impression in the tablet world.
Apple iPad is one of the leading tablet, after which Android-based power tablets including the Motorola Xoom and the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.4, grab the market share.
RIM Co-Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis, told:

Grammy Awards 2011 Nomination and Winners List


The 53rd Grammy Awards on Feb. 13 2011 at the Staples Center in L.A. will have an eclectic line-up of performers and the range of ages is as marked as is the variety of music. On Saturday Justin Bieber rehearsed his contribution to the show and though young the 16-year-old will not be the youngest onstage.
There are lots of planned Grammy performances getting attention, but perhaps none so much as show-opener Christina Aguliera, who during last week’s Super Bowl, flubbed the lines to the National Anthem. Aguliera will sing alongside Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, and others in a tribute to Aretha Franklin.
On the other end of the age, or the musical experience scale from Smith and Bieber, are Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, 67, and a 10 time Grammy Award winner, Bob Dylan, who turns 70 in May. It’s rare for either to do an awards show but they won’t perform together. Word has it that Dylan will sing his 1965 song Maggie’s Farm. To get a perspective of the age differences between performers: when Dylan put out Maggie’s Farm, Bieber’s parents were not yet born.
Yes, there’s plenty of cynicism surrounding the Grammy Awards, and with good reason. Just check out Cracked’s list of the 7 most unforgivable Grammy snubs of all time or Nerve’s rankings of Best New Artist Grammy winners from least to most deserving.
On the flip side, she cannot sing, so you can sort of see it. Anyway, follow the jump for the full list of nominees for the 2011 Grammy Awards
GENERAL
Album Of The Year
The Suburbs — Arcade Fire
Recovery — Eminem
Need You Now — Lady Antebellum
The Fame Monster — Lady Gaga
Teenage Dream — Katy Perry
Record Of The Year
“Nothin’ On You” — B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars
“Love The Way You Lie” — Eminem Featuring Rihanna
“…. You” — Cee Lo Green
“Empire State Of Mind” — Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
“Need You Now” — Lady Antebellum
Best New Artist
Justin Bieber
Drake
Florence & The Machine
Mumford & Sons
Esperanza Spalding
Song Of The Year
“Beg Steal Or Borrow” — Ray LaMontagne, songwriter (Ray LaMontagne And The Pariah Dogs)
“… You” — Cee Lo Green, Philip Lawrence & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Cee Lo Green)
“The House That Built Me” –Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
“Love The Way You Lie” — Alexander Grant, Skylar Grey & Marshall Mathers, songwriters
(Eminem Featuring Rihanna)
“Need You Now” — Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott, songwriters (Lady Antebellum)
POP
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
“King Of Anything” — Sara Bareilles
“Halo (Live)” — Beyoncé
“Chasing Pirates” — Norah Jones
“Bad Romance” — Lady Gaga
“Teenage Dream” — Katy Perry
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
“Haven’t Met You Yet” — Michael Bublé
“This Is It” — Michael Jackson
“Whataya Want From Me” — Adam Lambert
“Just The Way You Are” — Bruno Mars
“Half Of My Heart — John Mayer
Best Pop Instrumental Performance
“Flow” — Laurie Anderson
“Nessun Dorma” — Jeff Beck
“No Mystery” — Stanley Clarke
“Orchestral Intro” — Gorillaz
“Sleepwalk” — The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Best Pop Instrumental Album
“Pushing The Envelope” — Gerald Albright
“Take Your Pick” — Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto
“Heart And Soul” — Kenny G
“Singularity” — Robby Krieger
“Everything Is Everything: The Music Of Donny Hathaway” — Kirk Whalum
Best Pop Vocal Album
“My World 2.0″ — Justin Bieber
“I Dreamed A Dream” — Susan Boyle
“The Fame Monster” — Lady Gaga
“Battle Studies” — John Mayer
“Teenage Dream” — Katy Perry
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
“Don’t Stop Believin’ (Regionals Version)” — “Glee” Cast
“Misery” — Maroon 5
“The Only Exception” — Paramore
“Babyfather” — Sade
“Hey, Soul Sister (Live)” — Train
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
“Airplanes II” — B.o.B, Eminem & Hayley Williams
“Imagine” — Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No. 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare
“If It Wasn’t For Bad” — Elton John & Leon Russell
“Telephone” — Lady Gaga & Beyoncé
“California Gurls” — Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg

TRADITIONAL POP
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
“Crazy Love” — Michael Bublé
“The Greatest Love Songs Of All Time” — Barry Manilow
“Let It Be Me: Mathis In Nashville” — Johnny Mathis
“Fly Me To The MoonÂ…The Great American Songbook: Volume V” — Rod Stewart
“Love Is The Answer” — Barbra Streisand
DANCE
Best Dance Recording
“Rocket” — Goldfrapp
“In For The Kill” — La Roux
“Dance In The Dark” — Lady Gaga
“Only Girl (In The World)” — Rihanna
“Dancing On My Own” — Robyn
Best Electronic/Dance Album
“These Hopeful Machines” — BT
“Further” — The Chemical Brothers
“Head First” — Goldfrapp
“Black Light” — Groove Armada
“La Roux” — La Roux
ROCK
Best Rock Song
“Angry World” — Neil Young, songwriter (Neil Young)
“Little Lion Man” — Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons)
“Radioactive” — Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)
“Resistance” — Matthew Bellamy, songwriter (Muse)
“Tighten Up” — Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney, songwriters (The Black Keys)
Best Rock Album
Emotion & Commotion — Jeff Beck
“The Resistance” — Muse
“Backspacer” — Pearl Jam
“Mojo” — Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
“Le Noise” — Neil Young
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
“Run Back To Your Side” — Eric Clapton
“Crossroads” — John Mayer
“Helter Skelter” — Paul McCartney
“Silver Rider” — Robert Plant
“Angry World” — Neil Young
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
“Ready To Start” — Arcade Fire
“I Put A Spell On You” — Jeff Beck & Joss Stone
“Tighten Up” — The Black Keys
“Radioactive” — Kings Of Leon
“Resistance” — Muse
Best Hard Rock Performance
“A Looking In View” — Alice In Chains
“Let Me Hear You Scream” — Ozzy Osbourne
“Black Rain” — Soundgarden
“Between The Lines” — Stone Temple Pilots
“New Fang” — Them Crooked Vultures
Best Rock Song
“Angry World” — Neil Young, songwriter (Neil Young)
“Little Lion Man” — Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters
(Mumford & Sons)
“Radioactive” — Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters
(Kings Of Leon)
“Resistance” — Matthew Bellamy, songwriter (Muse)
“Tighten Up” — Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney, songwriter (The Black Keys)
Best Metal Performance
“El Dorado” — Iron Maiden
“Let The Guilt Go” — Korn
“In Your Words” — Lamb Of God
“Sudden Death” — Megadeth
“World Painted Blood” — Slayer
Best Rock Instrumental Performance
“Hammerhead” — Jeff Beck
“Black Mud” — The Black Keys
“Do The Murray” — Los Lobos
“Kundalini Bonfire” — Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds
“The Deathless Horsie” — Dweezil Zappa
ALTERNATIVE
Best Alternative Music Album
The Suburbs — Arcade Fire
Infinite Arms — Band Of Horses
Brothers — The Black Keys
Broken Bells — Broken Bells
Contra — Vampire Weekend

R&B
Best R&B Song
“Bittersweet” — Charles Harmon & Claude Kelly, songwriters (Fantasia)
“Finding My Way Back” — Ivan “Orthodox” Barias, Curt Chambers, Carvin “Ransum” Haggins, Jaheim Hoagland & Miquel Jontel, songwriters (Jaheim)
“Second Chance” — E. Debarge & Mischke, songwriters (El DeBarge)
“Shine” — John Stephens, songwriter (John Legend & The Roots)
“Why Would You Stay” — K. Owens, songwriter (Kem)
Best R&B Album
The Love & War Masterpeace — Raheem DeVaughn
Back To Me — Fantasia
Another Round — Jaheim
Wake Up! — John Legend & The Roots
Still Standing — Monica
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
“Gone Already” — Faith Evans
“Bittersweet” — Fantasia
“Everything To Me” — Monica
“Tired” — Kelly Price
“Holding You Down (Going In Circles)” — Jazmine Sullivan
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
“Second Chance” — El DeBarge
“Finding My Way Back” — Jaheim
“Why Would You Stay” — Kem
“We’re Still Friends” — (Kirk Whalum &) Musiq Soulchild
“There Goes My Baby” — Usher
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance
“When A Woman Loves” — R. Kelly
“Hang On In There” — John Legend & The Roots
“You’re So Amazing” — Calvin Richardson
“In Between” — Ryan Shaw
“Go [Live]” — Betty Wright
Best Urban/Alternative Performance
“Little One” — Bilal
“… You” — Cee Lo Green
“Orion” — Carolyn Malachi
“Tightrope” — Janelle Monáe & Big Boi
“Still” — Eric Roberson
Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
“Take My Time” — Chris Brown & Tank
“Love” — Chuck Brown, Jill Scott & Marcus Miller
“You’ve Got A Friend” — Ronald Isley & Aretha Franklin
“Shine” — John Legend & The Roots
“Soldier Of Love” — Sade
Best Contemporary R&B Album
Graffiti — Chris Brown
Untitled — R. Kelly
Transition — Ryan Leslie
The ArchAndroid — Janelle Monáe
Raymond V Raymond — Usher

RAP
Best Rap Solo Performance
“Over” — Drake
“Not Afraid” — Eminem
“How Low” — Ludacris
“I’m Back” — T.I.
“Power” — Kanye West
Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group
“Shutterbugg” — Big Boi & Cutty
“Fancy” — Drake, T.I. & Swizz Beatz
“On To The Next One” — Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz
“My Chick Bad” — Ludacris & Nicki Minaj
“Lose My Mind” — Young Jeezy & Plies
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
“Nothin’ On You” — B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars
“Deuces” — Chris Brown, Tyga & Kevin McCall
“Love The Way You Lie” — Eminem & Rihanna
“Empire State Of Mind” — Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
“Wake Up! Everybody” — John Legend, The Roots, Melanie Fiona & Common
Best Rap Song
“Empire State Of Mind” — Shawn Carter, Angela Hunte, Burt Keyes, Alicia Keys, Jane’t “Jnay” Sewell-Ulepic & Alexander Shuckburgh, songwriters (Sylvia Robinson, songwriter) (Jay-Z & Alicia Keys)
“Love The Way You Lie” — Alexander Grant, Skylar Grey & Marshall Mathers, songwriters
(Eminem & Rihanna)
“Not Afraid” — M. Burnett, J. Evans, Marshall Mathers, L. Resto & M. Samuels, songwriters (Eminem)
“Nothin’ On You” — Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Bobby Simmons Jr., songwriters (B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars)
“On To The Next One” — Shawn Carter, J. Chaton & K. Dean, songwriters (G. Auge & X. De Rosnay, songwriters) (Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz)
Best Rap Album
The Adventures Of Bobby Ray — B.o.B
Thank Me Later — Drake
Recovery — Eminem
The Blueprint 3 — Jay-Z
How I Got Over — The Roots
COUNTRY
Best Country Song
“The Breath You Take” — Casey Beathard, Dean Dillon & Jessie Jo Dillon, songwriters (George Strait)
“Free” — Zac Brown, songwriter (Zac Brown Band)
“The House That Built Me” — Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
“I’d Love To Be Your Last” — Rivers Rutherford, Annie Tate & Sam Tate, songwriters (Gretchen Wilson)
“If I Die Young” — Kimberly Perry, songwriter (The Band Perry)
“Need You Now” — Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott, songwriters (Lady Antebellum)
Best Country Album
Up On The Ridge — Dierks Bentley
You Get What You Give — Zac Brown Band
The Guitar Song — Jamey Johnson
Need You Now — Lady Antebellum
Revolution — Miranda Lambert
Best Female Country Vocal Performance
“Satisfied” — Jewel
“The House That Built Me” — Miranda Lambert
“Swingin’” — LeAnn Rimes
“Temporary Home” — Carrie Underwood
“I’d Love To Be Your Last” — Gretchen Wilson
Best Male Country Vocal Performance
“Macon” — Jamey Johnson
“Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song)” — Toby Keith
“Turning Home” — David Nail
“‘Til Summer Comes Around” — Keith Urban
“Gettin’ You Home” — Chris Young
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
“Free” — Zac Brown Band
“Elizabeth” — Dailey & Vincent
“Need You Now” — Lady Antebellum
“Little White Church” — Little Big Town
“Where Rainbows Never Die” — The SteelDrivers
Best Country Instrumental Performance
“Tattoo Of A Smudge” — Cherryholmes
“Magic #9″ — The Infamous Stringdusters
“New Chance Blues” — Punch Brothers
“Willow Creek” — Darrell Scott
“Hummingbyrd” — Marty Stuart
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
“Bad Angel” — Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert & Jamey Johnson
“Pride (In The Name Of Love)” — Dierks Bentley, Del McCoury & The Punch Brothers
“As She’s Walking Away” — Zac Brown Band & Alan Jackson
“Hillbilly Bone” — Blake Shelton & Trace Adkins
“I Run To You” — Marty Stuart & Connie Smith

A Valentine Is Nothing Like

A Valentine is nothing like
A chocolate or a rose.
For in a week these shall be gone,
But Valentines remain.

If love were always sweet to tongue
Or fragrant to the nose,
Each day would be like Valentine's,
And we would go insane.

A Valentine just hangs around
Waiting to be kissed
Long after special days have passed
And every days are here.

So one is wise to choose one well
And chocolates to resist.
For in the midst of mania
It's nice to have one near.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Why more Americans don’t travel abroad

The numbers tell the story: Of the 308 million-plus citizens in the United States, 30% have passports. That’s just

too low for such an affluent country, said Bruce Bommarito, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the U.S. Travel Association. There were 61.5 million trips outside the United States in 2009, down 3% from

Cricket World Cup: Sri Lanka hoping to repeat triumph


Cricket fans and analysts alike in Sri Lanka hope that the 1996 champions can repeat their World Cup success when the 2011 event starts on Friday.
Sri Lanka are co-hosting the tournament with India and Bangladesh.
Roy Dias, a former vice-captain and national selector, said: "If you compare the 1996 and 2011 teams, both are very well balanced."
"I think Kumar Sangakkara's team is focussed very much to win the World Cup," Dias told BBC Sinhala service.
"There are plenty of bowling varieties with Rangana Herath coming to the team as a left-arm spinner.
"So with Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, the spinning department has three different types of bowlers with Tillakaratne Dilshan as the extra off-spinner. We also have five fast bowlers who are very good."
Dias has some concerns about the batting and added: "In 1996 we had Sanath Jayasuriya, Asanka Gurusinghe, Arjuna Ranathunga and Hashan Thilakrathne as left-handers.
"Now we have only Upul Tharanga, Sangakakara and Thisara Perera, who is more of a bowling all-rounder, so I would have preferred Thilina Kandamby as a left-handed batsman.
The most important thing I think, is that the players should enjoy the fact that they are playing in a World Cup
Marvan Atapattu
"Out of Kandamby, Chamara Kapugedara and Chamara Silva we could have had a left-handed batsman in the middle to give some strength and variety to batting as well or someone like Jeevan Mendis."
He also sees many similarities and differences between Ranatunga and Sangakkara's captaincy.
"I feel that Kumar is a very strong captain, very hard person, similar to Arjuna," Dias continued.
"But of course they are two different styles of players. We can also see similarities between Arjuna-Aravinda de Silva combination and Sangakkara-Jayawardene combination. It definitely goes in pairs."
Marvan Atapattu, a former captain and another member of the 1996 team, believes that the combination of a team which is in good from, home advantage and crowd support will be the crucial factors if Sri Lanka are to be successful.
"With all these factors in place, the team that keeps up the concentration level will be the winner at the end of the day," Atapattu told BBC Sinhala service.
"The most important thing I think, is that the players should enjoy the fact that they are playing in a World Cup. That is what coach Dav Whatmore always told us during the 1996 tournament," he added.
Atapattu said fans high expectations over Sri Lanka's chances might be an added pressure to the team but it will be difficult to avoid.
"The team should not take it as a pressure, they should focus on their game and enjoy instead," stated the former Sri Lanka skipper, who lost the opportunity to lead the country in the 2007 World Cup because of injuries.
He, however, believes that there are huge differences between the team in 1996 and 2011.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara first captained Sri Lanka at the 2009 World Twenty20
"I think there was not a single professional player in the team in 1996," he said.
"We all were doing our jobs in different places when we were not playing cricket. But that situation has completely changed, all the players are professionals now and whole world knows Sri Lanka as a cricketing nation."
Therefore, added Atapattu, there would not be a big difference in terms of Sri Lanka's game irrespective of the outcome of the tournament.
"We can only control the way we play. If another team plays better than Sri Lanka on the day, they will obviously be the winners," he continued.
"So we should be able to accept whatever the outcome."
Meanwhile, a veteran astrologer has predicted that Sri Lanka and England will qualify for the World Cup final, in accordance with present planetary positions in the horoscope of Sri Lanka.
Piyasena Rathuwithana, the eminent astrologer who has been advising Sri Lanka's many heads of state, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has told Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) that England, Australia and India will be the front-runners of the tournament.
England and India will enter the semi-finals, according to the planetary positions, but Rathuwithana has predicted that England will get a chance to play in the finals against Sri Lanka.
The prediction is the best example of fans expectations over the team's success at the World Cup.

Avett Brothers

 

Scott and Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers do a lot of things well in making their band's brand of bluegrass music, but they do one of them even better than the others. It's not that they are easily one of the most engaging and dynamic live acts in the country, turning predominantly string-based, love ballads and stories into barn-burning stomps that are unlikely candidates for being some of the most percussive songs you'll ever hear. Your body beats when they play, the heart feels the floor and the skin gets the hair shaken clean off of it. What they do so well has to do with what the two dapper and charming men of rural North Carolina care about and how they choose their reflections. Last week, I recall reading a song description refer to the inspiration for a tune coming from hearing such phony pawning of emotions that should never be taken as light and malleable, as things to be toyed with. It was such an unsettling experience to hear love and relative feelings being traded and offered so disingenuously, as if they were just a bag of dry goods or printed condolence or celebratory greeting cards. Many people are so quick to pass off the next closest thing to concern, joy or sorrow that they can find without ever investing in it. The two brothers know why they were put here and what they want to put their greatest efforts into before they get wiped away by old age and time. There is nothing fabricated or staged in the music that they and band members Bob Crawford (upright bass) and Joe Kwon (cello) make, just an extension of the gracious and tender feelings that really must rest in them. They are humble family men who can make grown men cry with a small, almost insignificant use of the word "daughter" in the song "Murder In The City," off "The Second Gleam," where Scott Avett now sings live about his recent first-born (a slight change from the recorded version, which makes all of the difference in the world in altering the mood) noting, "Make sure my daughter knows I loved her, make sure my mother knows the same/Always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name." It's almost all you need to know about the Avett Brothers before you just immerse yourself in their material, rich in that kind of heritage and in the belief that there's real love out there, unbreakable love and it only hurts when the unthinkable is happening, when it is breaking. They do adore that idea of unbreakable love - like love of the family - and it's moving. It seems to move them just as much as the songs - so alive and present and stunning - appear to be affecting them every time they play them, as if a new set of thoughts is there to join the others, adding to emotion. The emotions topple each other, bear hug them and give them a hearty slap on the back. The Avetts allow this to happen, encourage it even with eyes and an ear to the matters that they'll never tire of, finding themselves regularly going into them with such passionate blindness and fury that they rejuvenate the fires that originally brought them to the fore. It might have been said best by the band's bus driver, there in Austin with them for the first time, having never heard them play before. He sat in Big Orange along with an enraptured, small gathering at 10 o'clock in the morning. The boys were dressed in their Sunday best on this Friday morning and they unleashed, which with an even more minimal microphone set-up than we usually use, comes across. At the end of the set, the old man who was going to be behind the wheel for the long haul home said, "Boys, that gave me God bumps." Scott told him thank you and said that he should expect there to be a lot more of that.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Exhibits Your Everyday Pooch


When you think of a dog show, you may think that these dogs come from very polished lives – having quite possibly their own upscale bedrooms and being treated to the most expensive meals. But the opposite is true according to David Frei, who will narrate the annual Westminster Kennel Club Show that airs on USA and CNBC.

Of the 2,500 purebred dogs that will be competing, they really aren’t much different from the 10 or 20 dogs the average New Yorker passes every day on the street and in the neighborhood.
“The public sees that dog so disciplined in the show ring,” says Frei. “What they don’t see is that same dog outside rolling in the mud, or drooling, or shedding on your black pants.”
“That’s the real point we try to make on the telecast — that these may be champion dogs, but they’re still dogs. They’re pets, they’re members of families.”
The competition will air 8-9 p.m. today (Feb. 12) on USA, 9-11 p.m. (Feb. 12) on CNBC, and 8-11 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 15) on USA.
Will you be watching the Westminster Dog Show?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the pole while Joey Logano still is unable to select his own Bud bottle.


The 2011 Budweiser Shootout lineup was set at the Budweiser Draw Party last night, outside the Daytona International Speedway Turn 4. While the fans were good sports about all of the drivers, there is no doubt that the NASCAR fan favorite drew the pole.
Fans went crazy when Dale Earnhardt Jr. peeled back the Bud label of his choice and revealed “POLE.” Host Kenny Wallace seemed as excited as the fans as he congratulated the 2004 Daytona 500 winner.
"Pretty easy," Earnhardt Jr. said to the press after his selection. "It's not much of a big deal. If you had your choice, that's where you'd want to start. But the race can be won from anywhere in the field, and it doesn't really change our strategy or make our situation any easier."
Driver selections are made by random for the Budweiser Shootout, as drivers choose bottles lined up in no particular order, down to the final #24 spot which was, coincidentally, the last bottle to be chosen on the night. The only driver not actually picking his own spot was driver Joey Logano who, at 20, is apparently too young for the alcohol-associated event. Rather, for the third-consecutive year, Logano was accompanied by Joe Gibbs #20 Home Depot Toyota crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who physically picked the bottle as Logano looked on and offered selection advice.
Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne round out the top five for the night.
The 2011 Budweiser Shootout is set for tonight, Saturday, Feb. 12. The flag is scheduled to drop at 8 p.m. (ET). Fans can watch the race on FOX.
The full lineup of drivers is as follows:
  1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  2. Tony Stewart
  3. Carl Edwards
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. Kasey Kahne
  6. Bobby Labonte
  7. Clint Bowyer
  8. Ryan Newman
  9. Derrike Cope
  10. Michael Waltrip
  11. Greg Biffle
  12. Jeff Gordon
  13. Juan Pablo Montoya
  14. Jamie McMurray
  15. Jeff Burton
  16. Kevin Conway
  17. Kurt Busch
  18. Kevin Harvick
  19. Matt Kenseth
  20. Mark Martin
  21. Kyle Busch
  22. Joey Logano
  23. Jimmie Johnson
  24. Regan Smith

Friday, February 11, 2011

Hosni Mubarak resigns as president



Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has resigned from his post, handing over power to the armed forces.
Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, announced in a televised address that the president was "waiving" his office, and had handed over authority to the Supreme Council of the armed forces.
Suleiman's short statement was received with a roar of approval and by celebratory chanting and flag-waving from a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square, as well by pro-democracy campaigners who attended protests across the country on Friday.
The crowd in Tahrir chanted "We have brought down the regime",  while many were seen crying, cheering and embracing one another.
Mohamed ElBaradei, an opposition leader, hailed the moment as being the "greatest day of my life", in comments to the Associated Press news agency.
"The country has been liberated after decades of repression,'' he said.
"Tonight, after all of these weeks of frustration, of violence, of intimidation ... today the people of Egypt undoubtedly [feel they] have been heard, not only by the president, but by people all around the world," our correspondent at Tahrir Square reported, following the announcement.
"The sense of euphoria is simply indescribable," our correspondent at Mubarak's Heliopolis presidential palace, where at least ten thousand pro-democracy activists had gathered, said.
"I have waited, I have worked all my adult life to see the power of the people come to the fore and show itself. I am speechless." Dina Magdi, a pro-democracy campaigner in Tahrir Square told Al Jazeera.
"The moment is not only about Mubarak stepping down, it is also about people's power to bring about the change that no-one ... thought possible."
In Alexandria, Egypt's second city, our correspondent described an "explosion of emotion". He said that hundreds of thousands were celebrating in the streets.
Pro-democracy activists in the Egyptian capital and elsewhere had earlier marched on presidential palaces, state television buildings and other government installations on Friday, the 18th consecutive day of protests.
Anger at state television
At the state television building earlier in the day, thousands had blocked people from entering or leaving, accusing the broadcaster of supporting the current government and of not truthfully reporting on the protests.
"The military has stood aside and people are flooding through [a gap where barbed wire has been moved aside]," Al Jazeera's correspondent at the state television building reported.
He said that "a lot of anger [was] generated" after Mubarak's speech last night, where he repeated his vow to complete his term as president.
'Gaining momentum'
Outside the palace in Heliopolis, where at least ten thousand protesters had gathered in Cairo, another Al Jazeera correspondent reported that there was a strong military presence, but that there was "no indication that the military want[ed] to crack down on protesters".
Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage
She said that army officers had engaged in dialogue with protesters, and that remarks had been largely "friendly".
Tanks and military personnel had been deployed to bolster barricades around the palace.
Our correspondent said the crowd in Heliopolis was "gaining momentum by the moment", and that the crowd had gone into a frenzy when two helicopters were seen in the air around the palace grounds.
"By all accounts this is a highly civilised gathering. people are separated from the palace by merely a barbed wire ... but nobody has even attempted to cross that wire," she said.
As crowds grew outside the palace, Mubarak left Cairo on Friday for the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Shaikh, according to sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.
In Tahrir Square, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered, chanting slogans against Mubarak and calling for the military to join them in their demands.
Our correspondent at the square said the "masses" of pro-democracy campaigners there appeared to have "clear resolution" and "bigger resolve" to achieve their goals than ever before.
However, he also said that protesters were "confused by mixed messages" coming from the army, which has at times told them that their demands will be met, yet in communiques and other statements supported Mubarak's staying in power until at least September.
Army statement
In a statement read out on state television at midday on Friday, the military announced that it would lift a 30-year-oldemergency law but only "as soon as the current circumstances end".
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Thousands are laying siege to state television's office
The military said it would also guarantee changes to the constitution as well as a free and fair election, and it called for normal business activity to resume.
Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tahrir Square said people there were hugely disappointed with that army statement, and had vowed to take the protests to "a last and final stage".
"They're frustrated, they're angry, and they say protests need to go beyond Liberation [Tahrir] Square, to the doorstep of political institutions," she said.
Protest organisers have called for 20 million people to come out on "Farewell Friday" in a final attempt to force Mubarak to step down.
Alexandria protests
Hossam El Hamalawy, a pro-democracy organiser and member of the Socialist Studies Centre, said protesters were heading towards the presidential palace from multiple directions, calling on the army to side with them and remove Mubarak.
"People are extremely angry after yesterday's speech," he told Al Jazeera. "Anything can happen at the moment. There is self-restraint all over but at the same time I honestly can't tell you what the next step will be ... At this time, we don't trust them [the army commanders] at all."
An Al Jazeera reporter overlooking Tahrir said the side streets leading into the square were filling up with crowds.
"It's an incredible scene. From what I can judge, there are more people here today than yesterday night," she said.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters havehered
in the port city of Alexandria [AFP]
"The military has not gone into the square except some top commanders, one asking people to go home ... I don't see any kind of tensions between the people and the army but all of this might change very soon if the army is seen as not being on the side of the people."
Hundreds of thousands were participating in Friday prayers outside a mosque in downtown Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city.
Thousands of pro-democracy campaigners also gathered outside a presidential palace in Alexandria.
Egyptian television reported that large angry crowds were heading from Giza, adjacent to Cairo, towards Tahrir Square and some would march on the presidential palace.
Protests are also being held in the cities of Mansoura, Mahala, Tanta, Ismailia, and Suez, with thousands in attendance.

Algeria opposition to hold protest



Thousands of police in riot gear were in position in the centre of the Algerian capital to stop a planned pro-democracy demonstration that could mimic the uprising which forced out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Officials have banned Saturday's opposition march in Algiers, setting the stage for possible clashes between police and demonstrators.
Protesters are demanding greater democratic freedoms, a change of government, and more jobs. The demonstration was set to begin at 11:00 am (1000 GMT).
"We are ready for the march," said Mohsen Belabes, a spokesman for the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) opposition party, which is one of the organisers of the protest. "It's going to be a great day for democracy in Algeria."
Mubarak's resignation on Friday, and last month's overthrow of Tunisian leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, have electrified the Arab world.
Many are left wondering which country could be next in a region where a flammable mix of authoritarian rule and popular anger are the norm.
Police on alert
Said Sadi, head of the RCD, said earlier that he expected around 10,000 police officers were coming in to reinforce the 20,000 that blocked the last demonstration staged on January 22, when five people were killed and more than 800 hurt.
A heavy police presence is routine in Algeria to counter the threat of attacks by al Qaeda insurgents.
At May 1 Square, the starting point for the planned march, at least 15 police vans, jeeps and buses were lined up. A similar number were in a nearby side-street outside the city's Mustapha hospital.
At several road junctions, the police had parked small military-style armoured vehicles which are rarely seen in the city. Police standing outside a fuel station about 2 km from the square were wearing anti-riot body armour.
The latest rally is being organised by the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), a three-week-old umbrella group of opposition parties, civil society movements and unofficial unions inspired by the mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt.
Demonstrators in the oil-rich nation have been protesting over the last few months against unemployment, high food costs, poor housing and corruption - similar issues that fuelled uprisings in other north African nations.
Earlier this month, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria's president, said he would lift emergency powers, address unemployment and allow democratic marches to take place in the country, in a bid to stave off unrest.
Wider implications
Widespread unrest in Algeria could have implications for the world economy because it is a major oil and gas exporter, but many analysts say an Egypt-style revolt is unlikely because the government can use its energy wealth to placate most grievances.
Meanwhile, in a statement, rights group Amnesty International said "Algerians must be allowed to express themselves freely and hold peaceful protests in Algiers and elsewhere".
"We urge the Algerian authorities not to respond to these demands by using excessive force."
The government said it refused permission for the rally for public order reasons, not because it is trying to stifle dissent. It said it is working hard to create jobs, build new homes and improve public services.
Other Arab countries have also felt the ripples from the revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.
Jordan's King Abdullah replaced his prime minister after protests.
In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh promised opponents he would not seek a new term.
The Bahraini government has also made several concessions in recent weeks, including promising higher social spending. Activists there have called for protests on February 14, the tenth anniversary of Bahrain's constitution.

Michael Rosenbaum Returning to Smallville For Series Finale



Michael Rosenbaum will reprise his role as Lex Luthor for the series finale of Smallville, TVGuide.com has confirmed.
"I'm delighted to return for the series finale," Rosenbaum said in a statement. "I'm simply doing it for all of the fans out there who made Smallville the great success it is. I appreciate all of their passion, their relentlessness, and even their threats. Ha ha."
Smallville flies off with a two-hour series finale
A huge topic of speculation and fan fodder, Rosenbaum's return comes as a sigh of relief for the Smallville diehards, who hoped he would honor the fans' wishes and come back to the series one last time.
As for how Lex Luthor will return in the two-hour season finale, airing May 13, executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders say, "There'll be no doubt about how Lex becomes the great rival in Clark Kent's life. He is the villain of the story."
Smallville's Erica Durance: Lois Lane finds her place among the superheroes
Though Lex Luthor has appeared on the series in the tenth and final season as a clone, Rosenbaum hasn't been seen on Smallville since the Season 7 finale. He'll next appear in the Fox comedy Breaking In. 
TVLine.com first reported the news.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

'X-Men: First Class' Trailer: Professor X And Magneto, The Way They Were First trailer also offers brief intros to Emma Frost, Beast, Mystique and more X-Men



We all know where this is going: Professor X and Magneto will one day be the deepest enemies. How they get to that point is the story told in "X-Men: First Class," and if the first trailer is any indication, how they get there is going to be totally badass.This is an origin tale, after all, as the trailer makes clear. The footage begins with an appropriately edgy, slow-building score in the background, then a shot of Professor X's office, with his empty wheelchair in the foreground. The words "Before he was Professor X" appear over a shot of what looks like Patrick Stewart as X, hooked up to Cerebro, then, continuing the first phrase, the words "He was Charles" are shown over a shot of James McAvoy as our young Chuck Xavier.The next sequence opens with "Before he was Magneto" over shots from previous "X-Men" films and Ian McKellan wearing the famous helmet and cape, then "He was Erik" over a clip of serious/brooding Michael Fassbender as young Erik Lehnsherr.Cut to Marvel's recognizable movie insignia, the shuffling comic book pages with the logo, followed by McAvoy's Xavier and Fassbender's Lehnsherr walking together in a prison. The next clip shows the famous "School for the Gifted," with the words of JFK speaking to the Cuban Missile Crisis in the background and the rest of the cast/X-Men crowded around the television listening to Kennedy's televised address. Next up we get brief character intros, with JFK's words — "The cost of freedom is always high" — still echoing in voice-over as Emma Frost (January Jones), Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Till), Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) and saucy shape-shifter Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) all flash in succession onscreen.The last half of the 1:51 spot kicks up the action, with shots of fighter jets (Beast in the cockpit!), missiles launching, young mutants learning how to use their powers to fight and Lehnsherr taking hold of the famous helmet and stepping into the black-and-red suit of Magneto, followed by stern words from Xavier."Listen to me very carefully, my friend," Xavier says to Lehnsherr/Magneto. "Killing will not bring you peace.""Peace was never an option," he responds, which is followed by quick teases of some of the big action scenes, including one where Lehnsherr is pulling a submarine out of the water and into the air.The last thing we see is a revamped and slightly imposing logo for "Xavier's School for the Gifted Youngsters," First Class, followed by the June 3 release date.Check out everything we've got on "X-Men: First Class."

City of mud and angels


Neroli Roocke's home was all but swallowed with the raging Brisbane River when it was in full flood. Here she tells her story.
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What a shock to realise it's been a month since dirty, brown water invaded my home and I learned to see my city in a new light.
As neighbours scrambled to move antiques, plasma TVs and cars - my family waded away from our house on a Tuesday afternoon with five chickens in a box, a terrified terrier, three mice, a shouting budgie and a complaining cat.
The decision to go when we did was sound. Within an hour we'd have needed a boat to cross the road and Noah's Ark wasn't available.
The next day we accepted a lift in a tinnie to get back inside our house. With water to our knees upstairs we lifted books, instruments and keepsakes to higher shelves.
While the Brisbane River raged and roared less than a kilometre away, in my street the water was a quiet, almost stealthy, invader. It reached a peak of about 4 metres across my garden. It was chest deep in our bedrooms and kitchen but up to my neighbour's gutters.
We stayed in the home of a friend and turned off the television.
Getting back inside our house on the Saturday morning was a struggle. The back door had warped and had to be wrenched and it then took 45 minutes for us to pick our way through to the front door.
Things don't just get wet in a flood, they float and whirl around and land in all sorts of places. Not only little things move, things like fridges, beds, cupboards and sofa cushions end up all over the place coated in thick, slimy and smelly mud.
But into the mud and the mess and the shock came the angels. These are the friends, relatives and the complete strangers who helped us face and begin the task of sorting and clearing.
Soldiers carried my piano and my sofas to the street; a woman I'd never seen before and haven't seen since cheerfully emptied the putrid fridge; a neighbour's friends emptied my wardrobes and a team of more than 80 men shovelled the collapsed walls and ceilings out from downstairs.
The middle of my street looked like landfill but, in a surreal way, a carnival atmosphere developed. A band played, sausages sizzled, people offered drinks, brooms, cupcakes and hugs.
Since that weekend the shell of my home has dried slowly and it awaits a team of builders.
Women who were hit by the storms in The Gap several years ago have washed our clothes, passing on the care they accepted when they were in trouble.
I have learned it's good to cry with your neighbours, that complete strangers are happy to get filthy and weary helping you with an enormous mess, that you can fit five chickens in a cat box if you squash them a bit and that blue tongue lizards know how to keep safe from the water and find their way back your garden.
I have also learned to never under-estimate water in Queensland.
The next time someone I meet on a trip to rural Queensland tells me they couldn't live in big city because no one cares and no one knows anyone I'll set them straight. I live in Brisbane and it's a city of mud and angels

Mapping the memory of the Queensland flood

Almost every Queenslander has been affected by the flood events of late 2010 and early 2011, from having to pay more for fruit and veg or having to climb to the roof of a house as flood waters raged through the home below.

The big wet will be remembered for years to come, for the damage it caused, the cost of rebuilding, and the widespread geographic area it affected.
Above is a map showing the regions hit by the flooding with links to stories and photos of the respective regions.
Click the blue icons to find the link.

ѕαмαη†нα ᴮᴵᴱᴮᴱᴿ ツ♥


"BORN THIS WAY" COMING FRIDAY

THE COUNTDOW
THE COUNTDOWN IS ALMOST OVER... LADY GAGA'S BRAND NEW SINGLE "BORN THIS WAY" WILL DEBUT THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11N IS ALMOST OVER... LADY GAGA'S BRAND NEW SINGLE "BORN THIS WAY" WILL DEBUT THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11
THE COUNTDOWN IS ALMOST OVER... LADY GAGA'S BRAND NEW SINGLE "BORN THIS WAY" WILL DEBUT THIS FRIDAY, 

|| Dubai Desert Classic Live European Tour Golf Online ||

Watch Dubai Desert Classic Live, Highlights and Recaps. Emirates Golf Club,  Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Thursday, 10 February - Sunday, 13 February, 2011. The Dubai Desert Classic, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Watch Golf live streaming Dubai Desert Classic live tv sports European Tour Golf match. This exciting match between Dubai Desert Classic live stream online. watch all of the golf tournament around the world by using this High Quality Software. Watch Dubai Desert Classic live streaming on your computer. Are you a Golf fan! What are you waiting for? Watch Dubai Desert Classic Live Streaming Online Here. Dubai Desert ClassicEuropean Tour Thursday, 10 February 2011.TOUR: European Tour TIME (EASTERN) : 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM NETWORK : Golf Channel Friday, 11 February 2011.TOUR: European Tour TIME (EASTERN) : 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM NETWORK : Golf Channel Saturday, 12 February 2011.TOUR: European Tour TIME (EASTERN) : 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM NETWORK : Golf Channel Sunday, 13 February 2011.TOUR: European Tour TIME (EASTERN) : 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM NETWORK : Golf Channel Tournament : Dubai Desert Classic Emirates Golf Club Dubai, United Arab EmiratesWatch all the games, highlights and interviews live on your laptop or PC! The Online TV Player is ideal for the frequent traveler in long airport waits and train rides. Get instant access to the widest sports coverage on the net directly on your laptop from any location. Crystal clear coverage is essential so you don’t miss any part of the action. The High Quality Definition picture. It’s the best on the net. You’ll be completely satisfied with our services. We guarantee it.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Dynamic duo: Smith, Curry lead Duke

DURHAM, N.C. -- What did Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski learn about sophomore guard Seth Curry in Wednesday night’s 79-73 victory over North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium?

“That he’s pretty damn good,” Krzyzewski said.

Just a week ago, Krzyzewski wasn’t sure if Curry even knew how good he could be in his first season with the Blue Devils after transferring from Liberty University in 2009.

Curry, the younger brother of former Davidson and current Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, was struggling with his confidence and struggling even more to find shots.

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Streeter Lecka/Getty ImagesDuke sophomore Seth Curry had reason to scream against North Carolina after scoring 22 points off the bench.
“The last two weeks or so, he was really challenging me and telling me to play with some confidence,” Curry said. “He said you’ve got to go out there every night with something to prove and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Curry certainly did it against rival North Carolina on Wednesday night, as he and senior guard Nolan Smithcombined to score 56 points, helping the No. 5 Blue Devils erase a 16-point deficit to defeat the No. 21 Tar Heels for the third straight time.

Smith scored a career-high 34 points on 13-for-23 shooting, and Curry scored 22 points off the bench, the highest scoring output in his 24 games with the Blue Devils.

“Seth knows he’s a very good player, and he knows he can play in this league,” Smith said. “Tonight he showed that -- on the biggest stage. He showed up tonight and played the way we know he can.”

After the Blue Devils fell behind by 16 points, Curry and Smith took over the game. Curry made a jumper with seven seconds left in the first half to cut UNC’s lead to 43-29, and then the Blue Devils scored the first eight points of the second half to make it a game again.

“It wasn’t an Xs & Os adjustment,” Krzyzewski said. “It was [an adjustment] to calm them down. They were too excited -- nuts is the word. It was like, ‘What are you guys doing?’”

Smith and Curry sparked Duke’s 10-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers. Both 3-pointers came after the Blue Devils grabbed offensive rebounds on missed foul shots.

“I felt he had excellent quickness,” Krzyzewski said of Curry. “The thing he’s learned to do is get his shot off quicker. He was really coming off screens well and went right into his shot.”

Curry’s break-out performance couldn’t have come at a better time for the Blue Devils. Senior Kyle Singler, the team’s second-leading scorer with 18 points per game, labored through one of his most difficult performances of the season against UNC.

With the Tar Heels hounding him on nearly every possession, Singler scored 10 points on 3-for-17 shooting.

“At times during the season, I do stand around and watch Nolan and Kyle,” Curry said. “But coming into tonight, I had to be another punch out there for us. Nolan and I got it going in the second half, and it felt like we were turning everything around.”

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Streeter Lecka/Getty ImagesDuke's Nolan Smith scored 34 points in his final game against rival North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
UNC coach Roy Williams wasn’t happy with how his team defended Duke’s guards.

“Seth Curry was big, to say the least,” Williams said. “We didn’t give Kyle as many open ones as we gave Seth and Nolan and some of the other guys. We gave them more open shots.”

Much like his older brother, who was also largely overlooked by bigger schools, Seth Curry had to prove he was good enough to play at a school like Duke. After staring at Charlotte Christian School, Curry was named the Big South Freshman of the Year after averaging 20.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists at Liberty in 2008-09.

But doing it at Duke was an entirely different matter. Curry’s open looks weren’t as open and defenders were taller, stronger and faster.

“This is a different league,” Curry said. “You’re not just going to be out there shooting every night. You’ve got to do more than shoot and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

While Curry’s career at Duke is in its infancy, Smith’s is nearing its end. Smith said beating the Tar Heels in his final home game against them was the crowning achievement of his career -- even bigger than winning a national championship last season.

“I’ve watched a lot of Duke-Carolina games and this is definitely one of my favorites,” Smith said. “This is the biggest win of my career. The championship was great, but I’d say my last home game against Carolina was the biggest game. To come back the way we did, it can’t get any better than this.”

Dr. Tanveer Zamani Interview She Denied Wedding News with Asif Zardari

Dr. Tanveer Zamani has simply denied the news of her marriage with President Zardari. She says that such news is mere conspiracy against PPP, Bhuttoism, Zardari doctrine and anti-mafia culture.



Talking exclusively to Dunya News, Dr. Tanveer Zamani said that there are still a few people present in our country who used to make conspiracies against Benazir Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto in 80’s and such people are champions of women honour assasination. These people do not belong to PPP and now they are making conspiracies against President Zardari. She said that I definitely call out “Zardari Zardari” but just because Zardari calls out “Bhutto Bhutto”. She also said that these people are those who were right with Benazir Bhutto’s dead body during her funeral and now they are busy in conspiracies against President Zardari. American surgeon Tanveer Zamani denies marriage to Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari An American surgeon has issued a public denial to reports that she has secretly married the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto. Asif Ali Zardari is threatening to sue the Jang Group, one of Pakistan’s largest media houses, if it does not retract its story and issue an apology Photo: AP By Rob Crilly, Lahore 5:52PM GMT 06 Feb 2011 Reports have swirled around Pakistan that President Zardari was married in Dubai, just over three years after the assassination of his wife, the former prime minister. However, the president’s lawyers have now begun legal proceedings against a newspaper group that published details of the alleged romance.

HTML5 Is An Oncoming Train, But Native App Development Is An Oncoming Rocket Ship



HTML5 versus native apps. It’s a debate as old as — well, at least three years ago. And pretty much since the beginning of that debate, there has been a general underlying current among the geek community that HTML5 is good and native is bad. Native is what we have to deal with as we wait for HTML5 to prevail.
But what if that never happens?
Let’s be honest: right now, most HTML-based mobile apps are a joke when compared to their native counterparts. It’s not even remotely close. In fact, you could argue that the discrepancy isn’t much smaller than it was three years ago. And considering that the App Store was only on the verge of launching at that point, in many ways, the discrepancy is even bigger. Just look at mobile games now, for example.
Developers often state their love of HTML5 and their commitment to it going forward. But many have no choice. Native app development is not only difficult, it’s expensive.
These days, if you’re going to do native apps, you at least have to support iOS and Android. That means at least two developers for each different language, and preferably more. And if your startup is big enough or hot enough (like Foursquare, for example), you’ll probably want to have apps for Windows Phone, Blackberry, and webOS as well (which, to be fair is largely HTML-based).
Talking to developers, this is the single biggest pain point on the mobile side of things. And many talk about HTML5 as the remedy. A number now choose to build an iOS app then settle on a web app for Android at first. Others do both iPhone and Android but only offer rudimentary sites for the other platforms.
But the fact that very few, if any, choose to go HTML5-only is telling. If we were anywhere close to the language being a unifier and savior, at least some would. We’re not close.
Let’s look at the debate from the perspective of the three hottest technology companies right now: Apple, Google, and Facebook.
Apple is basically all-in on native apps. Google is half-in on native apps, half-in on HTML5. Facebook is seemingly all-in on HTML5 (at least going forward).
Apple is very interesting in this regard. When the iPhone launched in 2007, the only native apps were the ones made by them. Developers were told to build web apps in order to get on the device. Who knows if Apple planned third-party native apps all along or if they pivoted when they saw the opportunity, but a year later, we had the App Store.
It’s the single reason there’s any debate right now.
Apple is now obviously native app all the way. But it’s on their own terms. When a developer makes an app that Apple doesn’t like in some way, they recommend that they make an HTML5 app to bring it to one of their devices.
It’s more or less a “my way or the highway” approach — it’s just a nice way of putting it. Apple is using the hype around HTML5 to their advantage here. They know that those apps can’t compete with their native apps, but so many people are so bullish about the future of the technology (and, to be fair, Apple seems to be as well at least on the Safari side of things) that Apple is able to play that to their advantage.
They might as well say, “you’re welcome to build an HTML5 app *snicker*.”
Google is significantly more gray with regard to their position.
At the past two Google I/O conferences, all we’ve heard about from the search giant is HTML5-this and HTML5-that. But their actions speak louder than their words.
Google has done some great work with HTML5 — some of their mobile web apps are quite good. In fact, they’re arguably the best web apps out there. But they too are nowhere near native app good.
And take something like their Jules Verne logo today — it utilized the iPhone’s accelerometer via the HTML5 baked into Safari to move around. Very cool. But would anyone have thought twice about it if it were a part of a native app? No.
It seems like Google is well aware of this native app/HTML5 app discrepancy. That’s why we’re seeing an increasing number of their once HTML-based apps going native. And it’s not only on their own Android platform, but on the iPhone as well.
And that’s not all. Recent reports underscore Google going a bit native app crazy. There’s apparently a big push inside the company to hire any good app developers that they can get their hands on. And they’re even offering for them to work inside Google as their own startups. Essentially, it sounds like the Googleplex is becoming an app incubator of sorts. One that pays a salary.
But wait, this is Google. Again, aren’t they supposed to be the main torchbearers of the HTML5 movement? Yes. But they’ve also been hedging their bet this entire time. That’s exactly why development of both Android and Chrome OS has continued totally separate from one another.
Chrome OS, an operating system built entirely around HTML5 is still very much in beta mode. Android, an operating system built entirely around native apps is exploding with growth. Which would you back right now?
And then there’s Facebook.
Speaking at the Inside Social Apps conference last month, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor made it very clear that HTML5 is a the key focus for the social network in 2011. He reiterated as much to me when I spoke with him afterwards.
In fact, Facebook is so committed to HTML5 that they’re going to be offering tools to their broad development community in order to help them bring their apps up to speed. Most significantly, this includes games, which are today largely based on Flash.
Taylor echoed the hardships that startups face with mobile development across several platforms these days. Facebook, while much larger than a typical startup, still works in relatively small teams. And while he said that structural changes would help in 2011, they too are betting that HTML5 is the ultimate unifier.
Facebook has an odd history in the mobile app space. When the iPhone first launched, they had easily the best mobile web-based app — which was developed by Joe Hewitt. When native apps were finally allowed, Hewitt built that as well, and again, it was clearly one of the best apps available (and the top downloaded app of all time for iOS).
Then Hewitt decided he was fed up with some of the App Store rules. So he stopped doing iOS work. The Facebook app stood neglected for quite some time. And while it’s better today, it still has the same basic look and feel of the app that Hewitt built.
Meanwhile, on the Android side of things, it has been a nightmare. The Facebook Android app has long been a joke when compared to its iPhone brother. Facebook keeps slowly improving it, but it’s still not as good.
On the tablet side of things, Taylor said the iPad was an unfortunate casualty of Facebook’s lack of mobile team structure leading up to that device’s launch. He spoke about the importance of having a tablet-optimized version of the service soon.
That seemed to indicate that this would be an HTML5-based web app. But I’ve heard reports from two different sources that Facebook has been internally testing a native iPad app in recent months.
Maybe they won’t release such an app. And maybe they take an HTML5-only approach to tablets. But I certainly wouldn’t bet against a native iPad app. And maybe one optimized for Honeycomb as well.
It sounds as if Facebook is all about HTML5 — except when native apps offer a better experience. Which, love it or hate it, is still always.
And such a stance is more or less the attitude that everyone with the necessary resources seems to have. And that’s the point. After all these months and years, we’re still debatingthe HTML5 versus native app thing — but it still has yet to be a contest.
Everyone seems to pay HTML5 plenty of lip-service. But look at their actions. Apple, Google, Facebook, and developers are all focusing on native apps, not HTML5 apps.
And look at the platform pipelines. Android is (finally) about to get in-app purchasing. iOS is likely to (finally) get a revamped Push Notification system with the next iteration of iOS. Android Honeycomb will offer developers a whole new set of tools and APIs. Both platforms are likely to expand quickly into NFC and everything that can offer.
All of that will be native app only. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It was actually Hewitt who said it best when he ripped the state of web development a new one last year with a series of tweets. The best was: “I want desperately to be a web developer again, but if I have to wait until 2020 for browsers to do what Cocoa can do in 2010, I won’t wait.”
If HTML5 is an oncoming train, native app development is an oncoming rocket ship. And everyone seems to know that’s not going to change anytime soon. Even if they don’t want to admit it, their native apps speak for them.