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August 2009

Internet Radio Device

Internet Radio Device

On November 7, 1994, WXYC (89.3 FM Chapel Hill, NC USA) became the first traditional radio station to announce broadcasting on the Internet. WXYC used an FM radio connected to a system at SunSite, later known as Ibiblio, running Cornell's CU-SeeMe software. WXYC had begun test broadcasts and bandwidth testing as early as August, 1994. WREK (91.1 FM, Atlanta, GA USA) started streaming on the same day using their own custom software called CyberRadio1. However, unlike WXYC, this was WREK's beta launch and the stream was not advertised until a later date.

On May 1, 2007, the United States Copyright Royalty Board approved a rate increase in the royalties payable to performers of recorded works broadcast on the internet. This was the result of a two year proceeding, with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of documents from over twenty different parties, including large and small webcasters, NPR, college stations, and SoundExchange. The CRB was privy to private financial records and business models of the webcasters, and after reviewing the evidence and testimony, issued their decision on May 1, 2007 (which is currently under appeal). If enforced, this decision will undermine the business models of many Internet radio stations, which had previously relied on the rate of $0.000768 per song that had been unchanged from 1998-2005. These rules were scheduled to go into effect on May 1, 2007, with the first due date being July 15, 2007, and apply retroactively to January 1, 2006.

Ted Kennedy remembered and hailed in TV coverage (AP)

NEW YORK – The passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy just a few hours earlier absorbed TV newscasts Wednesday morning.
With the Massachusetts senator's grave medical condition widely known, the networks were ready with tributes, commentators and mournful music to air at each commercial break.
Archival footage was also ready, from glimpses of an impossibly young-looking Senate freshman in 1963 at the funeral of his slain brother, President John F. Kennedy, to excerpts from his rousing "torch will be passed again" speech delivered exactly a year ago at the 2008 Democratic Convention.
ABC News was on the air at 1:18 a.m. EDT reporting Kennedy's death. A fresh West Coast edition of the Tuesday "Nightline" was completed for airing at 2:35 a.m. EDT.
The Wednesday morning news shows (on ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as MSNBC and CNN) mostly cleared the decks to cover Kennedy's death.
At times, the coverage seemed to extend beyond reportage to wardrobe: Ann Curry, co-hosting "Today," was dressed all in black.
Fox News Channel seemed a bit more selective, adding to its mix such reports as unruly health care demonstrations, how prison inmates are getting stimulus plan money and a Muslim girl who worried that her parents will kill her if she converts to another religion. Football coach Lou Holtz paid a visit and country singer Jack Ingram performed.
Friends and colleagues paid homage, as did journalists.
On CBS' "Early Show," veteran correspondent Bob Schieffer likened Kennedy to "a fictional character: in fiction the hero is not someone who's perfect. He is someone who overcomes his own flaws and then goes on to do noble things."
On MSNBC, Chris Matthews spoke of Kennedy as "a brother to his brothers," each of whom had died young and violently. Then, referring to Kennedy's crucial choice of Democrat for the presidency last year, Matthews went on, "I think he extended that brotherhood to Barack Obama. He made him the new brother ... and the Clintons were passed over."
And Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly offered what was less a paean than an impassioned defense, which she framed by saying, "no matter what your thoughts about Sen. Kennedy ... that man was a public servant."
She went on, "We're getting a lot of e-mail from some folks saying, 'You're not mentioning some of the other parts of his legacy — of course, Mary Jo Kopechne was killed and he was at the wheel, and was cited and pleaded guilty to abandoning the scene of the accident, something that later derailed his presidential hopes, many believe. ... But the major part of his legacy is the service he provided to this country."
Several networks announced special programs devoted to Kennedy's life and career to air Wednesday night:
• "Ted Kennedy, the Last Brother" (CBS at 8 p.m. EDT).
• "Remembering Ted Kennedy" (ABC at 10 p.m. EDT).
• "Teddy: In His Own Words" (previously aired by HBO, airing on CNN at 7 p.m. EDT).
• "The Kennedy Brothers: A Hardball Documentary" (previously announced by MSNBC, airing 9 p.m. EDT as well as Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT).
• Bio Channel announced "Bio Remembers: Ted Kennedy" to air Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT.

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Associated Press Television Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.

Panasonic ties up with 'Avatar' movie to go 3-D (AP)

TOKYO – Panasonic Corp. has signed on "Titanic" director James Cameron and his upcoming film in an advertising blitz for its TVs equipped with 3-D technology, both sides said Friday.
The deal between the major Japanese electronics maker and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.'s "Avatar" — the first major Hollywood 3-D release that's not animation — comes as competition heats up in flat-panel TVs that show three-dimensional images, or stereoscopic vision.
To watch 3-D TVs, viewers must wear special glasses that block vision in one eye and then the other as the TVs switch rapidly between images for each eye to create an illusion of depth.
Panasonic is planning to start selling 3-D TVs next year. Rivals, including Sony Corp., which has its own movie division, and Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea have shown prototypes and may offer similar products.
The problem is the scarcity of content to view in 3-D. Skeptics say a number of Blu-ray discs of appealing 3-D movies must come out for 3-D TVs to catch on.
Several animation films are already being shown in theaters in 3-D, but "Avatar," set for release Dec. 18, will be the first major non-animation film debuting worldwide in both 2-D and 3-D.
"I believe 3-D is how we will experience movies, gaming and computing in the near future. 3-D is not something you watch. It's a reality you feel you could step into," Cameron said on video.
Panasonic is hoping its collaboration with Cameron will give it an edge in brand image as a 3-D leader as well as in obtaining suggestions for technological improvements for home TVs, said General Manager Masayuki Kozuka.
"We want to get global interest rolling," he told The Associated Press. "For people to want to watch 3-D at home, the movie has to be a blockbuster."
Panasonic plans to have several trailer-vans driving around in the U.S. and Europe next month with large-screen 3-D TVs inside showing "Avatar." In Japan, footage from "Avatar" — a science-fiction "Pocahontas"-like romance set in a futuristic jungle inhabited by creatures evocative of Cameron's "Aliens" — will appear in ads for 3-D TVs.
Details on the 3-D Blu-ray release of "Avatar" for TVs have not been set.

Stress Balls

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Although many types of balls are today made from rubber, this form was unknown outside the Americas until after the voyages of Columbus. The Spanish were the first Europeans to see bouncing rubber balls (albeit solid and not inflated) which were employed most notably in the Mesoamerican ballgame. Balls used in various sports in other parts of the world prior to Columbus were made from other materials such as animal bladders or skins, stuffed with various materials.

Its psychological uses are frequently metaphorical rather than literal, used as a catch-all for perceived difficulties in life. It also became a euphemism, a way of referring to problems and eliciting sympathy without being explicitly confessional, just "stressed out". It covers a huge range of phenomena from mild irritation to the kind of severe problems that might result in a real breakdown of health. In popular usage almost any event or situation between these extremes could be described as stressful. The most extreme events and reactions may elicit the diagnosis of Posttraumatic stress disorder.

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,334 (AP)

As of Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009, at least 4,334 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,465 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is one fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 179 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.
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The latest deaths reported by the military:
• No new deaths reported.
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The latest identifications reported by the military:
• Army Pfc. William Z. Vanosdol, 23, Pinson, Ala.; died Wednesday at Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy rocket fire struck his quarters; assigned to the 172nd Support Battalion, Schweinfurt, Germany.
• Army Spc. Matthew D. Hastings, 23, Claremore, Okla.; died Monday in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident; assigned to the 582nd Medical Logistics Company, 1st Medical Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command, Fort Hood, Texas.
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On the Net:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/

3 share lead at rainy Wyndham (AP)

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Three players share the lead during a delayed first round at the Wyndham Championship.
Chez Reavie, Ryan Moore and former winner Brandt Snedeker each shot a 64 Thursday at the PGA Tour's final event before the playoffs.
But the big story at Sedgefield Country Club was the weather. Heavy rains and lightning forced a mid-afternoon delay of about four hours, and play was suspended shortly before 8 p.m. because of darkness.
PGA official Mark Russell says play will resume at 7:45 a.m. Friday with the second round to follow.
Justin Rose, Kevin Streelman and Colt Knost were one stroke back at 65, with Chris Riley also at 5 under through 14 holes. Fred Couples and John Daly were among those two strokes back.

U.S. sues AT&T for age discrimination (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued AT&T Inc on Thursday, accusing the nation's largest phone company of discriminating against workers over 40.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the EEOC said Dallas-based AT&T had "no legitimate business or reason" for its nationwide policy not to rehire employees who had retired under various retirement and severance programs.

The EEOC said tens of thousands of retirees covered by the programs, including a Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program and an Enhanced Pension and Retirement Program, are harmed by the policy, which it said took effect in October 2006.

"From what AT&T has told us, there are in excess of 50,000 individuals subject to these plans," said Louis Graziano, an EEOC lawyer handling the case, in an interview. "At most, very few people under 40 would be affected."

Graziano said that for many years prior to 2006, the programs let retirees reapply for jobs after a six-month waiting period. The current AT&T was created in 2005 when SBC Communications Inc bought what had been AT&T Corp.

Marty Richter, an AT&T spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit. He said the phone company makes diversity a top priority, and that discrimination of any sort, including on the basis of age, "is not tolerated."

AT&T employs 294,600 people, according to its website.

The EEOC is seeking the rehiring of and payment of back wages to affected employees, an injunction against further discrimination, and other remedies.

It brought the case on behalf of John Yates, who was 57 years old when AT&T turned him down for employment.

Yates could not immediately be reached for comment.

The EEOC filed a similar federal case in Missouri against a unit of the insurer Allstate Corp in 2004. That case is still ongoing.

AT&T shares were up 17 cents to $25.55 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The AT&T case is EEOC v. AT&T Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan), No. 09-7323.

The Allstate case is EEOC v. Allstate Insurance Co, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), No. 04-1359.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Leslie Gevirtz)

Mom, 80, shoots at deputies as son hides in closet (AP)

JACKSON, Tenn. – An 80-year-old West Tennessee woman and her son are being held in jail after deputies said she shot at them when they came to arrest the man. Sheriff Melvin Bond said the elderly woman fired several shots at officers Friday night in a standoff that began when deputies tried to capture her 60-year-old son.
The Jackson Sun quoted Bond who said four deputies went to the woman's mobile home on a tip that her son was there. Bond said officers heard the man talking inside the trailer and — when they knocked on the door — the woman opened it, slammed it shut and fired a shot through it.
The deputies took cover and, during the hour-long standoff, two more shots were fired through the door.
There were no injuries. The man was found hiding in a closet.
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Information from: The Jackson Sun, http://www.jacksonsun.com

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST-SELLERS (AP)

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese)
2. "Smash Cut" by Sandra Brown (Simon & Schuster)
3. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam/Amy Einhorn)
4. "That Old Cape Magic: A Novel" by Richard Russo (Knopf)
5. "The Girl Who Played With Fire" by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
6. "The Eleventh Victim" by Nancy Grace (Hyperion)
7. "Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner (Atria)
8. "The Magicians: a Novel" by Lev Grossman (Viking)
9. "Swimsuit" by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown)
10. "Bad Moon Rising: A Dark-Hunter Novel" by Sherrilyn Kenyon, (St. Martin's)
11. "The Defector" by Daniel Silva (Putnam
12. "Inherent Vice" by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin)
13. "Dead and Gone" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)
14. "Blindmans Bluff: A Decker and Lazarus Novel" by Faye Kellerman (Morrow)
15. "Intervention" by Robin Cook (Putnam)
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. "Culture of Corruption: Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies" by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing)

2. "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I" by Julia Child, Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle (Knopf)

3. "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment" by Steve Harvey (Amistad)

4. "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown)

5. "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect" by Ronald Kessler (Crown)

6. "Catastrophe" by Dick Morris, Eileen McGann (Harper)

7. "Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto" by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions)

8. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion)

9. "Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body!" by Jillian Michaels and Mariska van Aalst (Crown)

10. "How Did That Happen?: Holding People Accountable for Results the Positive, Principled Way" by Roger Connors and Tom Smith (Portfolio)

11. "Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America" by Douglas Brinkley (Harper)

12. "In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic" by David Wessel (Crown Business)

13. "Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009" by J. Randy Taraborrelli (Grand Central)

14. "My Journey with Farrah: A Story of Life, Love, and Friendship" by Alana Stewart (Morrow)

15. "The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election" by Dan Balz, Haynes Johnson (Viking)

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS

1. "The Quickie" by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge (Vision)

2. "Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Dead and Alive" by Dean Koontz (Bantam)

3. "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

4. "From Dead to Worse" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

5. "Club Dead" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

6. "Smoke Screen" by Sandra Brown (Pocket)

7. "My Life in France" by Julia Child, Alex Prud'Homme (Anchor)

8. "The Assassin" by Stephen Coonts (St. Martins)

9. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult (Pocket)

10. "Chosen to Die" by Lisa Jackson (Zebra)

11. "Dead to the World" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

12. "Dead as a Doornail" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

13. "Living Dead in Dallas" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

14. "Mastered by Love" by Stephanie Laurens (Avon)

15. "Storm of Visions: the Chosen Ones" by Christina Dodd (Signet)

TRADE PAPERBACKS

1. "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger (Mariner Books)

2. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine" by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions)

3. "The Shack" by William P. Young (Windblown Media)

4. "The Weight of Silence" by Heather Gudenkauf (Mira)

5. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson (Vintage)

6. "Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously" by Julie Powell (Back Bay Books)

7. "Olive Kitteredge" by Elizabeth Strout (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

8. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial)

9. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith (Quirk Books)

10. "The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel" by Garth Stein (Harper)

11. "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb (Harper)

12. "My Life in France" by Julia Child, Alex Prud'Homme, (Anchor)

13. "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin)

14. "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing)

15. "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" by Jeff Sharlet (Harper Perennial)

NASA Wins Emmy for Apollo 11 Moon Broadcast (SPACE.com)

NASA Television has been awarded a primetime Emmy award for
engineering excellence, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the
technological innovations that led to the first broadcast from the moon by Apollo
11 astronauts on July 20, 1969.

"I congratulate the many NASA staffers who are being
recognized by the academy with this award for contributions to television
engineering excellence," said NASA chief Charles Bolden. "From the
first landing of man on
the moon in 1969 to today's high definition broadcasts of America's ongoing
space exploration initiatives, television has been a powerful communications
tool that enables the agency to share its achievements in exploration and
discovery with the world."

The 2009 Philo T. Farnsworth Award, named after the man
credited with designing and building the world's first working television
system, honors an agency, company or institution with contributions over a long
period of time that have significantly affected the state of television technology
and engineering.

Farnsworth and his wife Elma, whom he called 'Pem,' watched
that first
broadcast from the moon as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
touched down on the lunar surface.

"We were watching it and when Neil Armstrong landed on
the moon Phil turned to me and said, 'Pem, this has made it all worthwhile,'"
Elma Farnsworth said in a 1996 interview.  "Before then, he wasn't too sure."

The Emmy will be presented to NASA during a ceremony on
Saturday at the Renaissance Hotel in Los Angeles.

Richard Nafzger, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will accept the award along with Apollo 11 Lunar Module
Pilot and moonwalker
Buzz Aldrin on behalf of NASA. Nafzger was 28 years old when he worked with
the team that brought television from the moon to a world-wide audience
estimated at more than 600 million people.

"I am honored to have been selected to accept this
award on behalf of NASA and the hundreds of engineers and technicians who made
the telecast of this historic event possible," Nafzger said.

This is NASA Television's second Emmy Award for 2009. In
January, the Midsouth Chapter of the National Television Academy awarded NASA
TV the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement at a ceremony in Nashville, Tenn.

SPACE.com
Video Show: Moon Shots: Apollo Astronauts Remember
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Special Report - THE MOON: Then, Now, Next
Original Story: NASA Wins Emmy for Apollo 11 Moon BroadcastSPACE.com offers rich and compelling content about space science, travel and exploration as well as astronomy, technology, business news and more. The site boasts a variety of popular features including our space image of the day and other space pictures,space videos, Top 10s, Trivia, podcasts and Amazing Images submitted by our users. Join our community, sign up for our free newsletters and register for our RSS Feeds today!