Microsoft and Yahoo Strike a Partnership

Microsoft and Yahoo's blockbuster deal to form a 10-year partnership in Internet search and advertising lands at a time when the Obama administration is taking an especially hard look at consolidation in the high-tech industry.

But the companies say it is the only way to form a credible competitor to the industry's Goliath, Google, which holds 65 percent of the market for Internet search advertising.

"We actually think this is one of those cases where us coming together will provide more competition to the market leader, not less," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said in a conference call.

The deal marks the latest move in a long dance between Microsoft and Yahoo, which have both struggled to remain relevant on the Web as Google steadily marched toward dominance in search and advertising.

Compared with Microsoft's botched attempt at a $47.5 billion hostile takeover of Yahoo last year, which led to the replacement of Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang, this new partnership is significantly scaled back. Yahoo will use Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, as the underlying technology on its popular content sites. That gives Microsoft instant access to Yahoo's millions of daily visitors. Yahoo, meanwhile, will abandon its expensive search business and focus on building content for its sites. It will also handle sales of premium advertisements for both companies.

The deal also ramps up the rivalry between Google and Microsoft, which compete in multiple high-tech businesses, including mobile operating systems, online documents and Web browsers. Much of their battles have taken place in Washington, where Google opposed Microsoft's proposed takeover of Yahoo last year, arguing that the deal would reduce competition in e-mail, instant messaging and search businesses where the two firms compete. Microsoft protested Google's ad partnership with Yahoo last year, which eventually was withdrawn after months of regulatory review.

The Obama administration has promised to increase scrutiny of anti-competitive practices in the high-tech industry. The Justice Department is reviewing Google's settlement with book authors and publishers, which would give Google the rights to millions of digital books. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the broad ties between potential competitors Google and Apple. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt sits on the boards of both companies.

Analysts said regulators will face complex questions in the Yahoo-Microsoft case about how the partnership will affect consumers and competition. Critics argue that the deal reduces the number of major Internet search companies from three to two, and privacy advocates have raised concerns that the partnership would concentrate data about users.

"Microsoft will need to make a good case that it cannot compete effectively against Google without partnering with Yahoo in a way that justifies the atrophy of Yahoo's search and that does not concede significant barriers," said Rebecca Arbogast, head of tech policy research for Stifel Nicolaus.

Together, the companies would draw 28 percent of all online searches, compared with Google's 65 percent, according to Internet survey and research firm ComScore. Analysts said the deal will be reviewed by the Justice Department's antitrust division or by the Federal Trade Commission and could also face scrutiny by antitrust regulators in the European Union. Microsoft is being investigated by the E.U. for bundling its Internet browser, Explorer, with its dominant Windows operating system.

Already, Congress has shown interest in the deal. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, said the partnership "warrants our careful scrutiny." In a statement, Kohl said members of the subcommittee are "concerned about competition issues in these markets because of the potentially far-reaching consequences for consumers and advertisers."

Microsoft and Yahoo said that they will submit their proposal for review by antitrust regulators and that they hope to gain approval by early 2010, arguing that competition concerns should be diminished from those about the merger attempted last year. "The difference here is that this transaction is about paid search and algorithmic search," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "The companies will continue to compete aggressively in other things such as portals, e-mail, instant messaging and display advertising."

Yahoo may have found itself with the short end of the bargain, analysts and legal experts said. Compared to the $47.5 billion in cash offered last year, this partnership does not give Yahoo much-needed funds upfront. And while it was being actively courted last year for its greatest asset -- the millions of visitors to its popular home page, news, finance and other sites -- its new leadership under chief executive Carol Bartz recognized that market conditions have changed and that it needed to strike a deal with Microsoft to regain its footing.

"Yahoo is one of the most attractive destinations on the Internet, but they ended up as kind of a pawn in this battle between Google and Microsoft, both with very big cash reserves," said Carl Howe, director of consumer research at research firm Yankee Group. "They used to be hot kid on the block and now they are like, 'Oh gee, how do we keep from looking old?' "

Shares of Yahoo fell 12 percent Wednesday, to $15.14. Microsoft's stock edged up 1.4 percent, to $23.80.

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 30, 2009

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Newport folk festival in 2009 without the presence of Jacko

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Newport folk festival in 2009, Newport Folk Festival started as a patient only shows that the traditional folk-music. In the years since, Newport became a groundbreaking style of mingling old and new. This is the place where Dylan went electric in 1965, and where the Pixies went acoustic 40 years later.

Head up this year to pay Pete Seeger, a prime player in the Folk Fest, and probably the most important face of traditional American music. The 90-year-old Seeger akan close second day festival this weekend.

Continue the new tradition in the past, Folk Festival lineup features 50 indie rockers such as the Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, and Neko Case with many of the usual suspects: Seeger, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie and Gillian Welch. Also on tap is more acoustic-leaning children's talents, including the Avett Brothers, Elvis Perkins in Dearland and Rhode Island alone, and Deer Tick Low Anthem.

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Fear Factor, Health Care Edition

The New York and Wall Street Journal's world-wide newsbox lead with new polls that show the American public is growing increasingly concerned that an overhaul of health care would have a negative impact in their own lives. The NYT highlights that the percentage of Americans who describe health care costs as a threat to the economy has gone down in the past month, suggesting that the public isn't buying one of President Obama's central arguments for the plan. The WSJ points out that last month respondents were evenly divided on the merits of the overhaul but now support has declined, particularly among those who are already insured. The Washington Post leads with, and the Los Angeles Times off-leads, House Democrats reaching an agreement with conservative members of their party that could help health care legislation pass the energy and commerce committee. The agreement seeks to cut more than $100 billion from the bill and would maintain the government-run insurance plan but change the wayit operates.

The LAT leads with word that the military is shifting some of itsPredator drone aircraft away from hunting al-Qaida operatives toward tracking the Taliban and aiding the general war effort in Afghanistan. The scarce drones are one of the military's "most precious intelligence assets," and the increased focus on the Taliban shows how U.S. officials now believe that the best way to beat al-Qaida is stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than hunting down individuals, although that will also continue. So more drones will be operated by conventional forces in Afghanistan and focus on tracking movements in insurgent strongholds. "We have been overly counter-terrorism-focused and not counter-insurgency-focused," said one U.S. official. USA Today leads with a look at how more Americans are failing to pay their property taxes amid the recession, meaning that many who might have survived the foreclosure wave could eventually lose their homes to tax seizures. There's no national figure, but many localities have reported a sharp increase in the number of businesses and homeowners who aren't paying their tax bills at a time when local governments are already strapped for cash.

The NYT highlights that it seems opponents of health reform have managed to make their portrayal of the plan as a government takeover that would limit choice stick in the minds of the public. And with advertising against the plan set to increase now that lawmakers will head home for their summer break, these ideas are likely to increase. The WSJ notes that administration officials agree they may have misfired a bit by focusing so much on the difficult-to-understand issue of medical costs. Now, Obama is making more of an effort to talk up the consumer-protection rules for insurance companies in order to appeal to those who already have coverage but are afraid of losing it for an arbitrary reason. In theWSJ poll, only 20 percent said they would have better care after the overhaul.

As usual with complicated issues, though, it's not clear the public really knows what it wants. The WSJ notes that when poll respondents were given details of the proposal, 56 percent said they favored it, while 38 percent opposed it. And the NYT points out that President Obama still has the advantage in winning public support for an overhaul since 49 percent say they support fundamental changes to the system and 66 percent are concerned about losing their own insurance. Respondents also overwhelmingingly—55 percent to 26 percent—think Obama has better ideas on health care than Republicans and is making more of an effort to work in a bipartisan manner.

he deal reached between key conservative Democrats and Rep. Henry Waxman would exclude more small businesses from the requirement that they provide health insurance by extending the exemption to companies that have an annual payroll of $500,000 rather than $250,000. The Blue Dog Democrats agreed to maintain a government-run insurance program but only if it's de-linked from Medicare because of concern that the government would have such a competitive advantage that it would end up driving private insurers out of business. That means the government insurance program would have to negotiate separately with providers. Many Democrats expressed their displeasure at this compromise, particularly since a Blue Dog leader made it clear it was no guarantee that the majority of his caucus would support the legislation. Meanwhile, the Senate's group of six continues to negotiate, and Sen. Max Baucus said a draft of their reform package would cost $900 billion over a decade, which is slightly less expensive and comes under the psychologically important $1 trillion mark.

The NYT takes a look at how the physician-owned hospital that became famous when it was featured in a not-so-positive light in a much talked-about New Yorker piece is a key donor to Democratic lawmakers. People affiliated with the Doctors Hospital at Renaissance have been donating big sums to candidates on both sides of the aisle and, so far, seem to be getting pretty much everything they wanted out of the health care debate. It's a minor issue in a huge piece of legislation, but the question is whether, as the New Yorker article claims, physician-owned hospitals make health care more expensive because doctors are motivated to order unnecessary tests and procedures since they get a share of the hospital's profits. While it looks like some limits will be imposed on physician-owned hospitals, existing facilities are likely to be allowed to continue as they are.

In a front-page piece, the WP takes a look at the question of whether Americans spend more on health care because the insurance they get through their employer isn't taxed. Many have said yes, and taxing at least some health benefits has received broad support. But what the Post calls a "vocal minority" has been eager to say that the ability of taxes to decrease costs has been overstated because consumers mostly just do what their doctors tell them. To these skeptics, "the dispute is a classic clash between economic abstractions and real-world practice," notes the paper. While in theory it should make sense that people spend more if it's tax-free, the reality is that the vast majority of people don't actually consume health care that way.

The NYT fronts a fascinating dispatch from an industrial city in northeast China, where more than 1,200 employees at a textile mill have come down with a variety of strange symptoms, including temporary paralysis, convulsions, and vomiting. Workers are convinced they were poisoned by toxic fumes from a nearby factory that produces aniline, a highly toxic chemical. Chinese health officials say this is all just a case of mass hysteria. And when a group of health experts visited a hospital that has been overwhelmed by patients since the factory opened they told bedridden workers to "get a hold of their emotions." Outside experts say that while it's possible that panic could lead people to describe symptoms that don't really exist, it's exceedingly rare to affect this many people at once. Plus, if this were indeed a case of paranoia to the extreme, the Chinese government is merely fueling the hysteria by being so secretive about everything.

When the Senate voted to end the F-22 fighter-jet program, many hoped it could signal the beginning of a new era in defense contracting. But today the WP makes it clear thatfew things have changed as the House gets ready to vote on a military spending bill that includes at least $6.9 billion of equipment that Defense Secretary Robert Gates says is not needed. The White House is urging lawmakers to take a cue from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and grab a huge knife, but both Republicans and Democrats have proven reluctant to cut lucrative programs for contractors that provide jobs and lots of campaign funds. Almost $3 billion of the extra funds would go to financing earmarks—pet projects demanded by individual lawmakers—and around half of that would go to projects specifically requested by private companies. "Members of Congress should not have the ability to award no-bid contracts," Rep. Jeff. Flake, R-Ariz., who has long been a critic of earmarks, said.

The LAT takes a look at how the frequent dust storms in Iraq are a sign of how the country is suffering what some are characterizing as "an environmental catastrophe." Sandstorms are quite common in the region, but a two-year drought, coupled with years of land mismanagement, means there's dust everywhere, so storms are more frequent and last longer. The problem is so bad that a country once known for its agriculture has to import most of its food, meaning it has less money for reconstruction. "We're talking about something that's making the breadbasket of Iraq look like the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in the early part of the 20th century," one expert said.

As Obama prepares to have beers with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and James Crowley, the police sergeant who arrested Gates, the WSJ takes a look at how some aren't too happy with what they'll be drinking. There are those who don't think the president should be promoting alcohol in the first place. Why not just have a friendly conversation over a glass of lemonade or iced tea? But the biggest outcry is coming from brewers. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs suggested that each of the participant's favorite beers would be on hand: Red Stripe for Gates and Blue Moon for Crowley. The president will be drinking Bud Light. The problem? They're all made by foreign companies. "We would hope they would pick a family-owned, American beer to lubricate the conversation," said a spokesman for the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. The head of Harpoon Brewery wanted to get his beer in the White House but didn't know how. "I think just showing up at the gate with a case of Harpoon would make them look at us funny."

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Be careful, Trojan Michael Jackson More raged

Not yet that old Michael Jackson died, but currently still speculation regarding the spread because of his death. Not only many curious people, but spam then also slavishly 'brisk' Jacko this problem. One spam circulated with the subject "Who Killed Michael Jackson? "That came with the identity of the sender named his X-Files.

In the message spam Jacko gave this one a link, where there is inside information who killed that Jacko. With this click the link, then the user will enter one website, where user afterwards was pushed to execute one file, that contained secret information, to find who the killer Jacko.

However, of course this executable file did not have his connection with the case of Michael Jackson's death or Jacko himself completely, because this was the file of the program data thief, that was detected by the security company Trend Micro this Trojan as TROJ ZBOT. AXY. Trojan afterwards would connect user to the URL address certain, that was automatically downloaded a previous configuration file that contained the website list for the Internet banking. Very much a user visited the website this list, then the site of the spy website will put forward the original bank that appeared in fact false, then user information important property that was put to this website, will be sent to re-Beads user.

However, this spam Michael Jckson could be still being handled by Smart Protection Network (itw.trendmicro.com / smart-network-protection) from Trend Micro, that afterwards was detected and blocked. (h n)

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Lose from facebook, friendster in sold to Asia

If Facebook was experiencing the popularity, it is another matter with the social networking site Friendster , that could also be popular in Asia, especially in Indonesia. Friendster , the social networking site eldest, was currently looking for the buyer and asked for the investment of investors, Morgan Stanley, to find the company that was interested acquiring this company on the whole or bought some of his assets. According to the exclusive document in July 2009 from TechCrunch, apparently Morgan Stanley will sell Friendster in the Asian area, by considering the basis of the popularity Friendster account totalling 75 percent that was registered was in the regional Asian Pacific.

In this document, emerged the fact that many buyers who were attracted by Friendster , Friendster because of that claimed more than 100 million registered users globally was held this site and the social control network in the Asian Pacific area, including the Singaporean country, Indonesia , Malaysia, the Philippines (Simp). This fact also mentioned that Friendster had 100,000 users and just 500 million pages view per his day, made him become a global best 20 site was based on the user traffic. Moreover, also mentioned was that Friendster had 105 headcount the official who was spread in the global network like in the Australian country, the United States, the Philippines, and Singapore.

According to the same document, was that Friendster had mentioned the value of $ 210 million, whereas Facebook have the value around $ 10 billion. Moreover, according to comScore, Friendster last May 2009, experienced the decline of 45 percent the number of unique visitors until reaching 21 million (by taking the difference between an active user was registered only), than last year in the same month. With that statistic in such a bad way him, not surprised if Friendster afterwards and his investors' remove 'his investment in Friendster . (h n)


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tell the Pentagon's F-22 to fate hangs while for longer


WASHINGTON- A high-stakes decision on the fate of Lockheed Martin Corp's premier F-22 fighter jet will be made known only with the release of the fiscal 2010 budget likely in April, not by March 1 as had been sought by Congress.

The Obama administration's plans for the F-22 Raptor, "like all big-dollar programs, and particularly programs facing execution problems ... will not be known until the budget is structured and released," Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said Monday.


The radar-evading F-22 is the most advanced fighter in the U.S. inventory. It has become an emblem of a debate about hedging for large-scale wars versus fighting guerrillas in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and a bone of contention as the government looks to find funding for massive stimulus programs to revive the ailing economy.

President Barack Obama's detailed fiscal 2010 spending plan, including for arms programs, is expected to be sent to Congress in April, after a more general summary is delivered on Thursday. Fiscal 2010 starts October 1.


The F-22 has strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress, not least because of the jobs it provides, with suppliers strategically chosen to cover the country Even if the administration opts to end the program, many lawmakers are likely to fight for continued funding.

Congress provided $140 million in bridge funds to keep the F-22's production line going until at least March 1, when lawmakers had wanted the administration to make up its mind on whether to buy more than the 183 F-22s now on order or already delivered.

Sam Grizzle, a Lockheed spokesman, said last week that some F-22 suppliers already had been notified that "we will begin shutdown activities on 1 March unless the President certifies that continued production of the F-22 is in the national interest."

Jeffery Adams, a Lockheed spokesman, had no comment Monday night.

The U.S. Air Force has reckoned the most recently purchased F-22s cost about $143 million per copy, not including development costs. Of the 183 now budgeted for, 135 had been delivered to the Air Force as of last week.


Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Obama's sole cabinet holdover from former president George W. Bush, has favored Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a multinational development effort. The F-35s cost roughly half as much as the F-22, Gates has said.

The administration plans to notify Congress on or about March 1 of its latest thinking on $90 million in congressionally provided bridge funds for the F-22 that the Pentagon has not yet spent, Morrell said .

"You should not read into it necessarily that this is a road map of where we are going" with the aircraft, he added. Rather, it would bring Congress up to date on parts that must be pre-ordered to be ready in time for production.

"Whatever we decide to do by March 1 with regard to long-lead parts is not necessarily an indication of where we're going with the program as a whole," Morrell said.

As part of its push to get more funding for the F-22, Lockheed Martin has said more than 95,000 jobs are at stake if no more aircraft are bought beyond the most recent plan of 183, which would end production no sooner than 2011.

Using two different estimating techniques, William Hartung of the private New America Foundation challenged this figures Monday. He said F-22 expenditures generate jobs in the range of 35,000 to 37,000 per year, less than 40 percent of the levels claimed by Lockheed Martin.

In addition, Hartung argued in an issue brief, any job losses that occur as a result of ending the F-22 program would be stretched out over two-and-a-half years or more, "suggesting that many of them may occur after the end of the current recession."

Adams, the Lockheed spokesman, responded: "By our careful calculations, there are approximately 25,000 direct and 70,000 indirect jobs, in 44 states and at 1000 companies/suppliers that support the F-22 program."

quoted in this article from here

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Gary Hill & Kim Coghill)

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The Zeus Bot virus infection was 3.6 Million Computers

Washington - University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) identified a false digital postcard that circled in the virtual world. The postcard that circulated the email to this email evidently kept a virus named Zeus Bot. Launched through Big News Network, on Monday (27/7/2009), Director of Computer forensic UAB said Gary Warner, Bot Zeus was known as the the virus botnet computer quite dangerous.

Up to now, Zeus bot infected approximately 3.6 million computers in America. "This false postcard will ask the owner" of the "computer to the Clique, and download content that wanted to be seen." Very much the Clique, then Zeus Bot will at once make your computer send important information, the good account of the bank account, the account email or other important, Warner said.

According to Warner, this malware used GUI (graphical user interface) to record the tracks of the computer that was infected all over the world. His only aim simply to take the data of banking account that was kept in this computer. The "message of camouflage that is contained in the email usually contained the message of the standard." If you often met the virus or spam email in inbox, definitely, and you too will know which email that contained zeus boots.

Usually, this email was sent on behalf of the web site in 1001 Postcard, Warner explained. Warner instructed so that the users of the internet careful on the consignment of the entered email to that inbox. Do not at random to Clique if you felt this email had not been hoped for by you his Arrival, rise called good that your personal banking, eBay or the other site. (srn)

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Revenue Microsoft Increasingly plummeted

New York - the Price of the Microsoft share it was predicted increasingly plummeted. Moreover in the quarter their four achievement years that ended this June. Microsoft closed the market with the price of the share with a value of USD23,45 or descended approximately 8,26 percent of the price during the opening. Microsoft also announced, to the report on the quarter to their four, the Microsoft profit net descended approximately 29 percent to USD3,05 billion. Moreover revenue Microsoft also descended 17 percent to USD13,1 billion. This was estimated resulting from the weakening of the global computer market.

The "emergence of many segments" of the "product that was wrought on by Microsoft , beginning with enterprise, small business and the consumer, Microsoft made must be dragged in the condition" for the "in various market segments." Moreover at this time, these segments were also experiencing the decline. Especially in the PC and server environment, said the Financial Analyst from Barclay, as being quoted through the AFP, on Sunday (26/7/2009). "We believed, although having the indication" of the "PC and server market will begin to be stable but was uncertain this will also take place on the Microsoft body." At least up until 2010, after they produced Windows7 this coming October 7, he added. (srn)

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European Parlement Against Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent pick for the country's top vice president continued to draw fire Thursday, with a senior cleric issuing a fatwa against the appointment, a leading reformist newspaper reported Sunday.

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The Iranian guided missile could cover all the Israeli region

Missile Tehran - Iranian Revolution forces Garda says his side will attack the nuclear facilities of Israel, the Tel Aviv if attacked Iran.

"If Zionis regime (Israel) attacks Iran. We will attack the nuclear facilities back to the Missile that country," said Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander forces the head to the Garda Revolution in an interview with Iranian television station, Al-Alam quoted and, Saturday (25 / 7 / 2009).

Garda troops Revolution is Iran's military wing forces, on land, water, and water. During this attack Israel statements, Iranian officials rarely in the launch. Jafari statement that indicates the seriousness of Israel Iranian ambition. Unlike with some Israeli officials expressed a clear desire the country's fifth largest oil exporter in the world.

Israel and the United States suspect Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Accusations that Iran be debated. Israel, which is the only country in East of Labor, says if Iran has nuclear weapons, it will threaten the existence of Israel.

Iran during this rare ability to reveal the military. So that was quite difficult to compare with the strength of Israel. (Tonne)

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Twitter to pitch add-on tools to businesses

PASADENA, California- Twitter plans a marketing campaign starting in the next few days to educate users, individual and corporate, about ways to make money off the popular microblogging site.

Co-founder Biz Stone also told Reuters the company is not interested in acquisition talks with Google or any other company.

Documents that were posted on TechCrunch revealed that Twitter had been in discussions with Google, the largest Internet search engine in the United States and a behemoth in online advertising, about some form of search tie-up.

"We have ongoing discussions with a lot of companies. One of the ways we look at Twitter, and the landscape in general, is not as a zero-sum game but how we can reduce a lot of friction between a lot of companies," Stone said in an interview at the Fortune Brainstorm: TECH conference.

"In other words, we see ourselves as complementary to big social networks, to search engines, to big commercial sites," he said.

The documents included a company forecast Twitter would take in $4 million by the fourth quarter of 2009, and grow to 5,200 employees and 1 billion users by the end of 2013.

Stone called the documents notes from meetings, out of date and not necessarily accurate.

"The key takeaway there is that we're thinking big and we're in it for the long haul," Stone said.

While the site has skyrocketed in usage and prominence, Stone said it had yet to make any significant revenue.

Stone said Twitter is in it for "the long haul," which is why it is developing ways to generate revenue, creating a company culture and doing other things internally that "you just don't do if you're interested in being acquired."

Twitter -- which lets users from celebrities to businesses to politicians and protesters post "tweets" of up to 140 characters -- was co-founded by Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey, and is backed by VCs Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.

As early as Thursday or Friday, Stone said, the company is rolling out the first phase -- an educational push -- of an effort to generate revenue through various add-on tools and services for the business and professional users of Twitter.

Stone said the company will work to educate companies, including mom and pop shops, on how they can use Twitter for their business.

The company expects that the second phase with the add-on services, which could include account certification, will come later this year, likely in the fall. Another possible way to generate revenue would be through the data that Twitter collects about its users, Stone said.

In general, the company will work to position the product as a communication network and less of a social network.

"We started out by creating this very simple status updating system. And that's not what Twitter is. It evolved into something else," Stone said.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Gary Hill)

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Komodo National Park






Komodo national park he (National parkKomodo) was the region that consisted of several islands with his sea waters. These islands were the fauna habitats of the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) that is ancient reptiles that remained in the earth. The condition for his nature was unique, was gotten by the savannah that was wide with the tree Lontar him (Borassus flabellifer).

The location area National park Komodo on the west end the East Nusa Tenggara province, to be precise about the Sumbawa Island (the West Nusa Tenggara) and Flores Island (East Nusa Tenggara). Administratively this region was located in the Komodo Subdistrict territory, West Manggarai regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province.


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Katie's solo night in NYC

KATIE has taken a (jazz) step out of TOM's shadow and showcased her musical talents.
And her gorgeous pins too.

The Batman Begins beauty got her groove on for CAT DEELEY's Stateside show So You Think You Can Dance to celebrate the 100th episode.

To see Katie in action, watch below:

Katie was promoting her involvement with new charity Dizzy Feet Foundation, aimed at helping underprivileged kids get involved with dancing.


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play super casino and roulette live tv

Casino was identical to the game and the place of gambling, there was in the various casino games like poker, black Jack, roulette and many more still him. For you who liked to play the casino, especially play a super-casino was better visited this site supercasino

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Microsoft deal talk, optimism overshadow results

From SEATTLE, Microsoft Corp will likely report the first annual sales dip in its history as a public company, but investors are looking beyond that for upbeat comments on Windows 7, signs of a tech sector recovery, and even a deal with Yahoo Inc to challenge Google Inc.

The question for investors when the world's largest software company reports quarterly results on Thursday is whether it can present enough optimism to maintain the momentum that has pushed shares up 63 percent since early March.

Tech heavyweights IBM and Intel Corp ratcheted up expectations last week by blowing through Wall Street forecasts and setting ambitious outlooks that suggest the worst may be over for the sagging computer business.

Microsoft , whose software drives more than 90 percent of the world's PCs, stands to benefit as it prepares to roll out its new Windows 7 operating system in October.

"There's been a sentiment shift," said Todd Lowenstein, a portfolio manager at HighMark Capital management. "People are starting to get excited now about the visibility of Windows 7 -- it's got good reviews and they've got some pent-up demand."

"They've turned the corner in a lot of their businesses," said Lowenstein, a manager of HighMark's Value Momentum mutual fund, which holds about 530,000 Microsoft shares.

Aside from Windows 7 -- which should help erase bad memories of its poorly received predecessor Vista -- Microsoft has a new version of its huge-selling Office suite of applications in the works, and it is finally making headway against Google with its six-week old Bing search engine.

After months of intermittent negotiations, and an aborted takeover bid last year, Microsoft finally looks ready to strike an Internet search and online advertising deal with Yahoo, according to a source familiar with the situation. An announcement could come before the results on Thursday.

"The sooner these two decide to bring the best of what they both have together and then jointly go after the market, the more it will benefit both," said Lowenstein.

PC RECOVERY

The broader technology economy could be moving in Microsoft's direction.

Last quarter's worldwide PC shipments fell about 3 percent from a year ago, a much smaller drop than expected in the depths of a U.S. recession. Analysts are now talking about growth in PC sales returning in the fourth quarter.

With Microsoft's Windows 7 scheduled to launch in late October, that could bode well for the company's fortunes.

"The new product pipeline, combined with even a modest rebound in IT spending growth, could have significant impact on Microsoft's top-line" in its new fiscal year, which started July 1, according to a Goldman Sachs analyst report last week.

Goldman put Microsoft on its top stock picks list -- calling it a "conviction buy" last month.


If the stock rises after earnings, it could trigger an "investor snowball effect", according to Goldman, whose analysts point out that fund managers in the "growth" sector -- looking for share price appreciation rather than undervalued stocks or high dividends -- are significantly underinvested in Microsoft.

"The stock was under-owned for a while -- it was in growth stock purgatory," said Lowenstein. "It hadn't delivered the higher expectations that some of the other software companies were producing."

If growth fund managers rush to buy an outperforming Microsoft stock to rebalance their positions, that could push the share price even higher, said Lowenstein.

Even after its recent surge, Microsoft stock is still reasonably priced relative to comparable investments.

Based on Friday's closing price, Microsoft shares are trading at 13.3 times expected earnings per share for fiscal 2010, according to Reuters Estimates.

By comparison, Apple Inc shares are trading at 23.4 times expected earnings for fiscal 2010, Google at 17.4 times and IBM at 11 times.

Despite rising hopes for Microsoft, some still sound a note of caution not to get ahead of a recovery that has not materialized.

"I would love to see higher revenues but I don't know if that's realistic," said Kim Caughey, senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, which holds Microsoft shares.

"I don't think their customers are expanding and thus need systems and processes to grow that. I want to see new (technology) projects starting up and I don't see that anywhere."


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‘Angela’s Ashes’ author McCourt dies in NYC at 78

A commenter says that the room in the photo is the old Stuyvesant High School building, so technically the photo caption is wrong because that's not Frank McCourt in Stuyvesant High School, it's Frank McCourt in the High School for Health Professions and Human Services in the building which was formerly Stuyvesant High School.

Anyway, I attest that it looks very much like the Stuyvesant High School I remember from the 1980s.


rish author Frank McCourt has died in New York City at age 78.

He was best known for the million-selling “Angela’s Ashes,” a memoir about his childhood. The memoir was published in 1996 and won a Pulitzer Prize.

Brother Malachy (MAL’-uh-kee) McCourt says Frank McCourt died Sunday afternoon at a Manhattan hospice.

Frank McCourt had been gravely ill with meningitis and recently was treated for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

McCourt, who was 78, had been gravely ill with meningitis and recently was treated for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer and the cause of his death, said his publisher, Scribner. He died at a Manhattan hospice, his brother Malachy McCourt said.

Until his mid-60s, Frank McCourt was known primarily around New York as a creative writing teacher and as a local character – the kind who might turn up in a New York novel – singing songs and telling stories with his younger brother Malachy and otherwise joining the crowds at the White Horse Tavern and other literary hangouts.

But there was always a book or two being formed in his mind, and the world would learn his name, and story, in 1996, after a friend helped him get an agent and his then-unfinished manuscript was quickly signed by Scribner. With a first printing of just 25,000, "Angela's Ashes" was an instant favorite with critics and readers and perhaps the ultimate case of the non-celebrity memoir, the extraordinary life of an ordinary man.

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Theb bomb in Marriot and Ritz Carlton , Manchester United Almost must fail to Jakarta


One of the English residents who became the guest in the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Fernando, really panicked with the bomb explosion that happened in the hotel the place he spent the night. With only wore shorts, Fernando ran outside the hotel. "I panicked and very confused." I just got 5 minutes up the bomb suddenly broke out, said Fernando in the Page of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Mega Kuningan, of Southern Jakarta, on Friday (17/7/2009). According to Fernando, after the bomb broke out, he saw the thick smoke left the Ritz Carlton restaurant. "Seen by me many Smokes left the restaurant of a large number." I was very confused, he said with words haltingly.

The number of casualties was killed resulting from the bomb in the J.W. Marriot hotel and Ritz Carlton became 9 people. Whereas 49 people of wounds. "9 were killed until striking 10,45, the" central" headword of the Control of the Crisis Department of Health Rustam Pakkaya , on Friday (17/7/2009). Casualties were killed 6 people in the JW Marriott hotel, 2 people in Ritz Carlton and 1 person in RS Medistra. While injured casualties at this time had 49 people. 36 people were treated in RS MMC, 1 person in RS Pertamina and 11 people in RS Jakarta.

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The disturbance between ethnic uighur and han in china

Everywhere riot bodies Victims in The Streets of the majority of the population of the Uighur minority, were the army, unrest over the city of Beijing and also point their enemies who are outside the country split Seeks China. Less than 18 months ago, when the burst of violence in Tibet, China responded to easy to guess, the hard action and hardening. Less than 18 months ago, when the burst of violence in Tibet, China responded to easy to guess, the hard action and hardening.

However, following a show of dissatisfaction in Xinjiang is rich in oil, analysts believe the debate Will have long in the body of the Communist Party to discuss the handling of ethnic minority policies which erroneously assessed. However, following a show of dissatisfaction in Xinjiang is rich in oil, analysts believe the debate Will have long in the body of the Communist Party to discuss the handling of ethnic minority policies which erroneously assessed. The conservative groups in recent years in power, leads to the very strict control of life and the use of strong language and responses to violence in Tibet that explode in the implementation of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The conservative groups in recent years in power, leads to the very strict control of life and the use of strong language and responses to violence in Tibet that explode in the implementation of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Boots riot two deadly explosion that occurred in the period a year has made public the power of government to press any little resistance since the Communist Party in power in 1949. Boots riot two deadly explosion that occurred in the period a year has made public the power of government to press any little resistance since the Communist Party in power in 1949. "Honest, the back-60 years to apostr the People s Republic of China, China is quite close from the eyes of the problems that are the faces," said Dru Gladney, President of the Pacific Basin Institute, Pomona College, California. "Honest, the back-60 years to apostr the People s Republic of China, China is quite close from the eyes of the problems that are the faces," said Dru Gladney, President of the Pacific Basin Institute, Pomona College, California.

Several decades long Communist Party of China swing hard line policy that each press release seed divisions and ethnic identity, with more gentle approach with the goal to make ethnic minorities feel comfortable with two identities, such the USA Chinese or Uighur Chinese Tibet. decades-long Communist Party of China swing hard line policy that each press release seed divisions and ethnic identity, with more gentle approach with the goal to make ethnic minorities feel comfortable with two identities, such the USA Chinese or Uighur Chinese Tibet. Those who support a more embracing approach, in May be using the explosion-blast racial unrest evidence that the USA can Beijing handled the note the broad areas of his Countryside only with violence only. Those who support a more embracing approach, in May be using the explosion-blast racial unrest evidence that the USA can Beijing handled the note the broad areas of his Countryside only with violence only.

The problem of the China has been flooding the Xinjiang and Tibet with investment penggelaran and army, while the ethnic Han majority rate the government has acted to provide enough subsidies for the development of schools, Clinics and other infrastructure projects.

The problem of the China has been flooding the Xinjiang and Tibet with investment penggelaran and army, while the ethnic Han majority rate the government has acted to provide enough subsidies for the development of schools, Clinics and other infrastructure projects. "In the past, there are many policies that benefit the minority, boots many ethnic minorities who are note able to take advantage of policies that," said Bo Zhiyue, political experts, China apostr s East Asian Institute, Singapore. "In the past, there are many policies that benefit the minority, boots many ethnic minorities who are note able to take advantage of policies that," said Bo Zhiyue, political experts, China apostr s East Asian Institute, Singapore.

"I do the note think there Is a fundamental policy issues, there Is a fundamental the problem berpemerintahan," he added, the opinions in line with what Is perceived the China elite. "I do the note think there Is a fundamental policy issues, there Is a fundamental the problem berpemerintahan," he added, the opinions in line with what Is perceived the China elite.

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kesha ni cole nichols, NBA player Richard Jefferson broke up with his finacee hours

Actually no he isn't engaged anymore. He was supposed to be getting married on the 11th of this month but called it off a couple of days ago. He left her in NY and supposedly went to Europe leaving his friends to tell her they were not getting married anymore. I don't know what happened to make him act so shady and cancel their wedding less than a week before it was supposed to happen but he's a dick for doing that to her.

That's just embarrassing.

Kesha the ex fiancee used to be a dancer for the NJ Nets which is where she met RJ.

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Sandra's biggest obstacle


Sandra had personally the production of the company, Fortis Films, and to receive the good reputation between £ 6 million and £ 9 million films. But, he acknowledged that there is the life outside Hollywood and the restaurant personally, Bess Bistro (the 'French kind and New Orleansy with a little comfort in food were thrown') in Austin, Texas, where he lived with his husband of Jesse James.

'I love the friendship from these efforts,' he said, but if you placed all the eggs in one basket, especially in the entertainment industry, and made him all of them in your life, you will have khatifah will be taken from under you sooner or later. J old my previous time thought, I passions? It turned out that I wanted to do many matters.

The Roots of Sandra from the feeling of the lying urgency close to the house. During 2000 his mother died Helga cancer aged 63, and because my mother was healthiest one between us and became was overcome about him, at that time happened, that made me think, "was waiting for a moment - he not necessarily happened to you, said Sandra."

Suddenly, I to measure the available strength and never again by means of that was good that eyes-aperture, because of making me go, "I got him - the short life." Before my mother died, I will get up and not I remembered what will be carried out the month beforehand or the month or the year. But after that I was determined to complete something and to enjoy during.

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rena sable mero

Sable | Sable WWE | Rena Mero | Brock Lesnar Wife | SablePregnant | Rena Mero Pregnant | Brock Lesnar | Brock Lesnar Wife Pregnant | Sable Playboy Former.

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the wife Steve McNair did not realise relations with Sahel Kazemi until the husband the death

The wife was killed quarterback Steve McNair perhaps only studied about the playing-field star from the affair with the pretty woman dark after several horrifying from the death, the source that close to the football player said on Sunday.
"She apostr s blindsided this," said one of the sources of Mechelle McNair, that holed in his family's house only 6 mile from condo his husband was used for the woman's bed. "She apostr s was eroded." Her Shattered was all the world.
Nashville cops it was confirmed that Steve McNair, 36, was killed by four bullets fired in the short distance, two including striking him in the head, and that governed his death the murder. His lover, Sahel Kazemi, 20, died one gunfire from half of the automatic that was same was found on the low floor of his body, police also said.
Briefly they stopped the call that slayings murder-suicide that was carried out by Kazemi, but said they did not look for the suspect. Cops governed McNair the death and the murder that did not govern in the Kazemi death, Citing the need more the test.

To see the article was more complete please visited http://www.nydailynews.com

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Vietnam-era U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara dead

McNamara was a very interesting, tragic historical figure who in later life came to recognize the error of his ways.

We can learn from his mistakes.

MOSCOW (AP) - Saying the U.S. and Russia "must lead by example," President Barack Obama has reached a preliminary deal with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev (dih-MEE'-tree med-VYEH'-dyev), to reduce their nations' nuclear weapons stockpiles. The agreement commits the two nations to cut the number of warheads to as few as 1,500 each and the number of long-range missiles for delivering nuclear bombs to between 500 and 1,100.

KABUL (AP) - The U.S. military says two more American troops have been killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan. That brings to six the number of Americans killed in the country today. Meanwhile, the Taliban claims it captured a U.S. soldier last week, though it's not offering any proof.

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that General Motors can sell the bulk of its assets to a new company, but it appears that ruling will be appealed. A Chicago law firm representing people who have sued GM in several auto accident cases has filed paperwork to do it. GM is facing a government deadline Friday to get the sale done.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The thousands of Michael Jackson fans selected to attend tomorrow's memorial service have started to gather at Dodger Stadium to pick up their tickets. One Arizona woman who says she grew up with Jackson's music says she's excited about the event but expects it to be "extremely sad." A former Jackson business associate says the singer's ex-wife Debbie Rowe will be among those attending the service at Staples Center.

GENEVA (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the world body may need more than $1 billion to fight the swine flu pandemic for the rest of this year. He says the money is needed to ensure the poorest countries get vaccine supplies and antivirals, but the funds have not come in as expected. Ban tells reporters in Geneva that the relative mildness of the pandemic so far should not be taken for granted.

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AMD Quad-Core offer Cheap

After some time before launched Opteron 6-core that was given by the 'Istanbul' name, AMD again launched his cheap processor to compete with the domination the competitor.
This company of the Intelligence rival produced one chip Opteron just that was set aside for the middle small businesses market. The Opteron processor 4-core just this, was given by the 'Suzuka' name, that was made with the system single-socket. For this reason Suzuka will not use 1207-pin socket F, but AM3 socket.
This Socket will be eventually compatible with socket AM2 (+) mainboard that already support Budapest quad-core chip. Budapset personally was the version single socket from the 'Barcelona' series. Suzuka the identity was designed like Shanghai (Opteron) and Deneb (Phenom Ii).
Suzuka use x86-64 processing cores 512 FAMILY Planning with L2 cache per core him, as well as 6 MB of L3 cache shared. Now the series of Quad-Core cheap this was still equipped DDR2/DDR3 memory controllers dual channel mode.
Chipset this processor was present with three models, namely 2.50 of GHz Opteron 1381, 2.70 of GHz Opteron 1385, and 2.90 GHz 1389. This Chip-chip specifically was present by the bus speeds 2200 Mt/s. The three of them were built with architecture 45 nm SOI the processor. Opteron 1381 valuable around US$ 189, now Opteron 1385 around US$ 229, and Opteron 1389 around US$ 269.

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