Jackie Chan .. Wheels On Meals ..

Jackie Chan .. Wheels On Meals ..

Enjoy!! Lady Gaga "Born This Way" Video Premiere

Living Free in an Unfree World: Stefan Molyneux at Libertopia 2010

Atlas Shrugged: The Freedomain Radio Movie Interview

sky .. Letters to the Sky

By: Hoda Omran

The Martyr Karim Bannouna’s mother writes him letters every day, and waits each night for his visit in her dreams. She can still hear his footsteps after each fajr prayer and waits for her son to open the door and check on her habitually as he always used to before going to his apartment upstais.

It is Mother’s day, and Karim is not with her anymore. “…I was desperately trying to find my lost son among the attendees of the celebration, he was not there”. Receiving the Ideal Mother award this year from the Egyptian Pharmacists Syndicate, Dr. Shwekare, Karim’s mother, speaks exclusively to MSN Arabia

1) What was your last contact with him?
2) How did he pass away? Subsequent to the tolerance of an internal bleeding for four days since 28th of Jan (Gom3et Al Ghadab) caused by a rubber bullet in his chest as his parents declare, Karim peacefully passed away among his family members on 1st of Feb, assured that glorious victory to his country had been realized and telling his father that going to Tahrir was the ‘Pilgrimage’ he dreamed to make. The last thing he did was reading Holy Qur’an verses that mention the reward of martyrs from Surat Al Baqarah, verse 153-155.

3) How did you raise up your kid?
29 year old Karim was the youngest among three brothers; Ahmed and Asser, and is the father of two kids; Omar 3 years, and Mariam 1 year. “He took considerable attention during his childhood as I stayed home from work taking care of him for four years, strengthening a considerable close friendship between us. He was the kind of kids who intuitionally differentiated the right from wrong and knew his obligations and responsibilities towards his life as well as his religion. He was proactive and was usually not a talkative person; his actions usually spoke louder than his words”
 
Though his mothers and both brothers were pharmacists, Karim studied at the faculty of Computer Science, worked at some companies then seven months ago he became an entrepreneur and established a small office with his friends. He had dreams relevant to designing software that eliminates hard copy paper studying and depends on soft material for students.

4) Did he show any political interests?
Karim, as thousands of other peaceful protestors, was not a political activist. “He was a proactive person and had a high level of awareness, but I don’t believe he can be called an activist and he never joined a political party. At home he did raise political and social issues and showed significant objection about the general injustice in Egypt”

5) Was there any specific incident that caused your son significant frustration? For Karim, and as a large mass of the youth who lead the 25th of Jan revolution, the murder of Khalid Saeed raised his anger. “Since Khaled Saeed’s death, followed by the latest forged parliament elections in favor of the NDP, I knew after he passed away that he was up to date with the facebook group that organized the revolution”

6) How did he get prepared before the revolution? “Just the night before 25th Jan, I knew from his wife that he was intending to participate in the revolution. Me and his father tried convincing him no to go, but he said ‘If I did not go, I will not be able to look at myself in the mirror again’. He came back that day wounded with rubber bullets in his feet, but proud of the revolution he was part of, which made him insist to participate in the revolution on 28th of Jan. He returned home so depressed from the massacre he witnessed and physically ill, and since then he was getting weaker every day and refused to talk or complain about any suffering he was going through ”

7) How can you get your son’s right back? Karim’s mother speaks to each Egyptian, particularly youth full of enthusiasm, “Get me back Karim’s right by walking the same footsteps martyrs paved. Do not give up to those trying to frustrate you and destruct the revolution. You are the champions, and far beyond our generation because you refused to take the passive position. You proved it. Undeniably I can’t wait for a fair trial of each person participating in the decision to kill the peaceful protestors; Hosny Mubarak, Gamal Mubarak, Habib El Adly, Safwat Al Sherif and any responsible individual especially those of the National DemocraticParty”

8) How do you want your son to be remembered?
“Well we would appreciate that his residence street in Mokattam changed to his name. We hear a lot of suggestions, most common a museum for the revolution’s martyrs in Tahrir, I hope his kids go see their father the hero tribute in at a place like that when they grow up.”

9) What do you want to say to other mothers?
She addresses other martyrs’ mothers with wise words that keep her moving on. “It’s a hard test that we all have to bear for a bigger reward in return, and I am waiting for the day Karim would take my hand and stay with him ever after. We all need patience, and it is very hard hold on. We lost our kids early, it’s a misery and a tragedy tearing each part of our bodies into pieces and I definitely feel what each mother is going through. Our only consolation is that our kids were granted thawab (reward) for a whole nation. Without their martyr, this remarkable value would have never been added to us”

10) Tell a message to Karim, from mother to son
Last thing to say, Karim’s mother has a message she believes her son can hear that time. Pulling herself together, and trying to hold back her tears she starts improvising: “I miss you Karim. Each day I go to sleep and wait for you in my dreams, but you still don’t visit me. Visit me frequently and tell me how you are doing. I keep writing you letters and talk to you as if you are standing right in front of my eyes.  Be delighted my darling, what you wished for, fought for and believed in is all realized. Your soul made this country a better place for your kids to live, and Omar your son applauds whenever he sees your picture ‘Baba Kimo, tahya Masr (Dad Kimo, long live Egypt)’”

Friendship .. Quotations about Friendship

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. ~Douglas Pagels

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. ~Leo Buscaglia

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. ~Sicilian Proverb

The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend. ~Aristotle

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. ~Albert Schweitzer

A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad. ~Arnold H. Glasgow

The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you. ~Elbert Hubbard, The Notebook, 1927

A good friend is cheaper than therapy. ~Author Unknown

If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. ~Edgar Watson Howe

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend. ~Henry David Thoreau

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. ~Arnold Glasow

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
~William Shakespeare

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~William Blake

A friend is the only person you will let into the house when you are Turning Out Drawers. ~Pam Brown

One's friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human. ~George Santayana

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts

If I had to sum up Friendship in one word, it would be Comfort. ~Terri Guillemets

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant repair. ~Samuel Johnson

True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable. ~Dave Tyson Gentry

You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. ~Laurence J. Peter

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer. ~Author Unknown

A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. ~Grace Pulpit

One doesn't know, till one is a bit at odds with the world, how much one's friends who believe in one rather generously, mean to one. ~D.H. Lawrence

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis

Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship. ~Dorothy Parker

Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends. ~Virginia Woolf

There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Author Unknown

The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had. ~Author Unknown

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau

A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Author Unknown

Friends are kisses blown to us by angels. ~Author Unknown

It's important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to the friendship that we are not. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. ~Marlene Dietrich

She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind. ~Toni Morrison, Beloved

Cherish the friend who tells you a harsh truth, wanting ten times more to tell you a loving lie. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Friends can be said to "fall in like" with as profound a thud as romantic partners fall in love. ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend. ~Plautus

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give. ~George MacDonald

A real friend is someone who would feel loss if you jumped on a train, or in front of one. ~Author Unknown

Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck, Answer Without Ceasing

Love is like the wild-rose briar;
Friendship is like the holly-tree.
The holly is dark when the rose briar blooms,
But which will bloom most constantly?
~Emily Brontë

Our most difficult task as a friend is to offer understanding when we don't understand. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

The friend within the man is that part of him which belongs to you and opens to you a door which never, perhaps, is opened to another. Such a friend is true, and all he says is true; and he loves you even if he hates you in other mansions of his heart. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature. ~Abraham Lincoln

Yes we are [friends] and I do like to pass the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I would miss you, do miss you and think of you very often. I don't want to lose this happy space where I have found someone who is smart and easy and doesn't bother to check her diary when we arrange to meet. ~Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body, 1992

It takes a long time to grow an old friend. ~John Leonard

He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

True friends stab you in the front. ~Oscar Wilde

Strangers are just friends waiting to happen. ~Rod McKuen, Looking for a Friend (Thank you, Carolyn.)

It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help. ~Epicurus

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. ~Henri Nouwen

Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most. ~American Proverb

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship. ~William Blake

The tender friendships one gives up, on parting, leave their bite on the heart, but also a curious feeling of a treasure somewhere buried. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Southern Mail, 1929, translated from French by Curtis Cate

A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart. ~Attributed to Heather Pryor

Friendship is a sheltering tree. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

We are keenly aware of the faults of our friends, but if they like us enough it doesn't matter. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends. ~Shirley Maclaine

What do we ask of friendship except to be taken for what we pretend to be - and without having to pretend. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Friendship is Love, without his wings. ~Lord Byron, L'Amitié est l'Amour sans Ailes

But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. ~Dinah Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859

A true friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably. ~William Penn

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine. ~Thomas Jefferson

A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~Lois Wyse

The best time to make friends is before you need them. ~Ethel Barrymore

I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing. ~Katherine Mansfield

A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself. ~Frances Ward Weller

There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound. ~Diana Cortes

If you're alone, I'll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I'll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me. ~Author Unknown

A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should. ~Author Unknown

The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away. ~Barbara Kingsolver

Probably no man ever had a friend that he did not dislike a little. ~E.W. Howe

There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul. ~Edith Wharton

I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

'Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his. ~Benjamin Franklin

The best rule of friendship is to keep your heart a little softer than your head. ~Author Unknown

If it's very painful for you to criticize your friends - you're safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that's the time to hold your tongue. ~Alice Duer Miller

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive. ~Anäis Nin

Friends are relatives you make for yourself. ~Eustache Deschamps

Many a person has held close, throughout their entire lives, two friends that always remained strange to one another, because one of them attracted by virtue of similarity, the other by difference. ~Emil Ludwig

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Journals, 1843

Ah, how good it feels! The hand of an old friend. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Mighty proud I am that I am able to have a spare bed for my friends. ~Samuel Pepys

A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hold a true friend with both your hands. ~Nigerian Proverb

Yes'm, old friends is always best, 'less you can catch a new one that's fit to make an old one out of. ~Sarah Orne Jewett


I lay it down as a fact that if all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world. ~Blaise Pascal

Friendship is Love with jewels on, but without either flowers or veil. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827

Say what you want about aging, it's still the only way to have old friends. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them. ~Francesco Guicciardini

The best way to mend a broken heart is time and girlfriends. ~Gwyneth Paltrow

Friendship is one mind in two bodies. ~Mencius

Friendship needs no words - it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness. ~Dag Hammarskjold

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. ~Aristotle

I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world. ~Thomas A. Edison

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces. ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. ~Plutarch

The essence of true friendship is to make allowance for another's little lapses. ~David Storey

Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone - but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming. ~William Hazlitt

In my friend, I find a second self. ~Isabel Norton

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

RIM unveils launch date, price for iPad rival

Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) announced Tuesday that its iPad rival, the PlayBook, would go on sale next month at a price identical to that of the hot-selling Apple tablet computer.
The BlackBerry PlayBook will be available at Best Buy and other stores in the United States and Canada on April 19, the Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM said in a statement. Orders can be placed online as of Tuesday.
RIM is offering three models of the PlayBook. A version with 16 gigabytes of storage will cost $499, a 32GB model will sell for $599 and one with 64GB will cost $699. The prices are the same as for comparable models of the iPad.
The PlayBook features Wi-Fi connectivity to the Internet while Apple sells both Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the iPad.
"Tablets are becoming a bigger part of our business everyday and the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook will heighten the level of excitement in this category," said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile.
RIM describes the PlayBook as the first "professional-grade" tablet and has stressed its integration with its BlackBerry smartphone, a favorite among many business users.
The PlayBook is RIM's first foray outside the mobile phone realm.
BlackBerry users can pair their handset with the PlayBook using a Bluetooth connection to view their email, calendar, documents or other content.
The PlayBook has a seven-inch (17.8-centimeter) touchscreen, smaller than the iPad's 9.7 inches (24.7-cm), and also plays Adobe Flash video software, which is banned from the Apple device.
At less than a pound (425 grams), the PlayBook is lighter than the iPad 2's 1.3 pounds (590 grams) and is also thinner.
It features front- and rear-facing cameras for video conferencing, a feature which was added to the iPad 2 which went on sale in the United States on March 11.
Apple sold over 15 million iPads last year and scores of other companies have been scrambling to release their own tablet computes in a bid to grab a share of the fast-growing market.

China plugging holes in 'Great Firewall'

China appears to be moving aggressively to plug holes in its "Great Firewall" censorship system, causing frustration for businesses and web users, foreign Internet companies and analysts said.
Google's email service Gmail has been heavily disrupted, as have several popular online services providing encryption software that many businesses and individuals depend on for web security and to get around the firewall.
The problems have followed a call for subtle, weekly "strolling" protests in China inspired by political uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, and indicate the government is intent on nipping dissent in the bud, analysts said.
"They're testing new capabilities to see if there are technical means of dealing with the possibility of organised opposition," Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst, told AFP.
China operates an ever-expanding system of Internet control and censorship dubbed the "Great Firewall of China", aimed at snuffing out information or comment that the government considers a threat to its authority.
Gmail users have complained of access difficulties in recent weeks that have forced some to switch to other services such as Hotmail and Yahoo!, and Google points the finger at the Chinese government.
"There is no technical issue on our side -- we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail," Google said in a statement Monday to AFP.
Providers of virtual private networks (VPNs) -- encrypted tunnels through the Internet that make communications secure and enable users to bypass censors -- also are blaming the government in occasionally colourful terms.
"Yes... The Klingon Empire scored a couple (of) solid hits on the USS Enterprise," Bill Bullock, chief executive of WiTopia, a popular VPN provider, told China-based customers in a recent email, using imagery from the US television show "Star Trek".
At least three other established VPN providers have reported disruptions in China recently.
A spokesman for provider 12VPN told AFP they were avoiding new sign-ups from China "during this unstable period."
"As far as we can tell this is part of the Chinese reaction to the calls for 'walks' as a form of protest," he said.
The mysterious online appeal for demonstrations in dozens of cities around China each Sunday has prompted tight security at designated protest sites. No obvious protests have been reported yet.
China faces rising public dissatisfaction over inflation, official corruption, and growing income disparities -- similar to the mix of problems contributing to the Arab unrest.
The Beijing government has watched the Middle East turmoil with unease, largely blocking mention of it on the Chinese Internet.
The online disruptions impact users seeking access to long-blocked sites such as Facebook or Twitter, and hitting businesses.
"It's one more strike that makes it difficult to get things done in China," said Ben Cavender, associate principal at Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.
He said companies already face a tough business environment in China including foreign complaints of a regulatory environment that discriminates against them.
"And if they have trouble accessing information, it's one more major issue to deal with."
China's government has repeatedly said it has the right to police its Internet. A ministry overseeing Internet issues did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest disruptions.
Some observers said foreign enterprises are particularly affected, as they rely on access to overseas sites for business.
But Chinese netizens also have expressed dismay, particularly over Gmail, which is popular with white-collar, educated users.
"This type of intermittent interference on the Internet -- where users have no patience -- will seriously impact the level of use (for Gmail). It's a really despicable method," one netizen said on popular web portal Sina.com.

UN rights office hit by Bahrain e-mail 'campaign'

The office of the human UN rights chief said Tuesday it appeared to have been targeted by an orchestrated e-mail campaign after it condemned a takeover of Bahrain hospitals by security forces.
"Since last Thurday, we've been inundated with e-mails telling us we got it back to front and that the protesters are the ones completely at fault," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"Many of these e-mails are very similar in content, suggesting an orchestrated campaign. That said, some or even many of these e-mails may be genuine," he added.
The UN High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, had issued a statement on Thursday condemning a takeover of Bahrain hospitals and medical facilities by military forces as "a blatant violation of international law."
Colville reiterated on Tuesday that the situation in Bahrain remained very worrying and noted that the UN rights office's sources have had their communications cut.
"This is making it quite hard to sort out what precisEly is going on, especially in the villages outside the capital Manama which are mostly inhabitated by Shias," he said.
He called on Bahrain authorities to "scrupulously abide by international standards," stressing that peaceful demonstrations or giving interviews to journalists were not crimes.

Cuba says prominent blogger part of US 'cyber-war'

Cuba on Monday accused prominent blogger Yoani Sanchez of taking part in a "cyber-war" launched by the United States and aimed at destabilizing the communist government.
The accusations came in a documentary series aired on state TV in which an engineer from the information ministry and pro-government bloggers accuse Washington of targeting the country through "cyber-dissident" proxies.
"There exists on the island a new kind of counterrevolution composed of bloggers... These cyber-mercenaries constitute a new instrument to create internal conflicts," the documentary said.
Sanchez, 35, an internationally-known blogger and dissident who writes on the site "Generation Y" has long traded barbs with a regime that accuses her of serving foreign agendas.
In a blog video in response to the latest charges, Sanchez and five other opponents accuse the government of "demonizing" the internet after revolutions led by online activists brought down longstanding regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.
"It is nervous because social networks like Twitter and Facebook can play the same role in Cuba they did in Egypt and Tunisia," it said. The video can be viewed at www.desdecuba.com/generationy.
Last month Cuba hailed the laying of a new undersea fiber-optic cable to Venezuela, which it said would allow the country to surmount a decades-old US embargo that had forced it to rely on more expensive satellite connections.
But dissidents have said the government keeps a tight grip on information and communications to stifle dissent.
Earlier on Monday, US President Barack Obama urged Havana to take "meaningful actions to respect the basic rights of the Cuban people" during a Latin America visit overshadowed by the popular uprisings in the Middle East.
The documentary series, entitled "Cuba's Reasons," is being aired following the conviction this month of a US State Department contractor on subversion charges, which further strained relations between the longtime foes.
American Alan Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly committing "acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state" in a verdict Washington has called "an injustice."
He was working under contract for the US State Department when he was arrested in late 2009 for distributing cell phones and computers to members of the island's struggling Jewish community.

Tech-savvy Indians cry out for Apple's attention

Namrata, a Delhi University student, turned an iPad tablet computer round in her hands at an electronics store in the city. It is Apple's latest must-have item -- yet it is already out of date.
"No, I'll wait for the iPad 2," she said, putting it back on the shelf, aware that the improved version has already gone on sale in the United States. "Perhaps my aunt in Australia will be able to send me one soon," she said.
India looks like a massive emerging market for Apple's iPads, iPods and iPhones, with an increasingly wealthy, young population hungry for information, entertainment and the latest craze in consumer culture.
But the original iPad finally arrived in India a full nine months after it was available in the United States -- and the iPad 2 has no scheduled release date in the country of 1.18 billion people.
The iPad 2 hit the shops in the US on March 11 having been unveiled by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, and it will be released in dozens of other countries -- including Britain and Australia -- on March 25.
Popular tech blogger Soumyadip Choudhury targeted Jobs, accusing him of using India as a dumping ground for out-of-date Apple technology.
"Is India, for Apple, only a market where you can hold your clearance sale, just before you are ready with the product's next generation?" he wrote on his blog, addressing Jobs directly.
"You officially began selling your blockbuster tablet device (the original iPad) in India exactly 30 days before announcing the new one (iPad 2)," Choudhury said.
The iPad 2 is selling in the United States at about the same prices as the iPad 1, ranging from $499.
"You have not only miffed Indian consumers with your delayed-till-it-is-obsolete releases but also with your unreasonable pricing," Choudhury wrote.
The iPad 2 is thinner, lighter and faster -- but, with no release scheduled in India, the country's vast ranks of Apple fans have been left to buy the old model, priced between about $540 and $920, or else import the new one.
"This surely has inhibited non-Apple consumers from buying Apple products," online technology magazine Pluggd.in founder Ashish Sinha told AFP.
"There is a huge demand for Apple products in India -- especially the information technology sector, which is high on consuming gadgets."
An Apple spokesman who asked not to be named said that the company did not disclose sales figures for India or discuss future release dates for products. He also declined to comment on criticism of Apple's strategy in India.
Blogger Archana Shukla said that Apple was reluctant to "reach out to local customers" in India.
"The silence is intriguing, especially at a time when most top-league multinationals are ramping up their operations and going all out to woo Indian consumers," she said.
The US-based information technology research firm Gartner suggests that Apple has been making a judgement call, balancing the unpredictability of the present Indian market and its future potential.
"Apple always targets the niche market and never focuses on the mass market," Gartner's principal research analyst Vishal Tripathi told AFP.
"It seems Apple is not getting the right signal from the market or is strategically missing the growth opportunities India offers," the analyst from the Connecticut-based firm said.
"Apple knows that hardcore Apple lovers will get the devices from abroad but what they are missing out on is new potential buyers."
Other companies are hoping to take advantage of Apple's apparent reluctance, with Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Motorola's Xoom, both priced around $650, vying to grab India's tablet computer market.
"It is a nascent market but we see the tablet segment growing to one million this year as there are some exciting clients here," Samsung spokeswoman Ruchika Batra told AFP.

Apple called on to pull 'gay cure' app from iTunes

Apple on Monday was under pressure to yank a so-called "gay cure" application from its iTunes shop for software for iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices.
More than 110,000 people had electronically signed an online petition at a change.org website calling for Apple to remove the Exodus International application from iTunes.
Exodus, a Florida-based Christian group that advocates freeing oneself from homosexuality through religion, has publicly condemned the petition as an assault on free speech and an improper spin on the application's purpose.
The free software program links users to Exodus information including videos, podcasts, a Twitter feed, and the group's page at social networking service Facebook.
Exodus boasted at its website that Apple ranked its program as containing "no objectionable material."
"This application is designed to be a useful resource for men, women, parents, students, and ministry leaders," Exodus said.
"We hope to reach a broader demographic and readily provide information that is crucial for many seeking hope and encouragement," the message continued.
The online petition picking up momentum on Monday expressed shock at iTunes approving an app from "a notoriously anti-gay organization" that used "scare tactics, misinformation, stereotypes and distortions."
Exodus advocates "reparative therapy" to change the sexual orientation of homosexuals.
"No objectionable content?" a message at the petition page at change.org asked rhetorically. "We beg to differ. Exodus's message is hateful and bigoted."

US man arrested in hacker stock fraud scheme

US authorities Monday arrested and charged a Texas man accused of masterminding a scheme using a Russian hacker and an email spam campaign to pump up the value of fledgling companies, the Justice Department said.
Christopher Rad, 42, of Cedar Park, Texas, was arrested by FBI agents on a federal indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and transmit commercial email messages with fraudulent information.
The scheme employed hackers, including at least one in Russia, to distribute computer viruses to infect computers around the world and create so-called "botnet" computers that were used to manipulate stocks, a Justice Department statement said.
"In addition to relying on unsuspecting investors to buy into the spam promotions, the hackers also hacked into the brokerage accounts of third parties, liquidated the stocks in those accounts, and then used those accounts to purchase shares of the manipulated stocks," the statement said.
"This created trading activity in the manipulated stocks and increased the volume of shares being traded, further creating an impression that the manipulated stocks were worth purchasing."
Rad is the second person charged in the so-called "pump and dump" scheme.
James Bragg, 42, pleaded guilty on October 20 to charges linked to his role in hiring botnet operators and engaging in mass email campaigns to pump up the value of stock prior to dumping shares, the Justice Department said.
The scheme began as early as November 2007 and continued through February 2009, and allowed the perpetrators to gain control of so-called "penny stocks" which were not traded on major exchanges.
In some cases, the conspirators would trade the stock among themselves to give the impression of trading volume to increase market interest.
The conspiracy count with which Rad was charged carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

'Worst song ever' tops 30 million YouTube views

A song by a California teenager that has been mercilessly panned by music critics has topped 30 million views on YouTube and rocketed up Apple's iTunes charts.
"Friday," sung by 13-year-old Rebecca Black, was uploaded to YouTube last month by Ark Music Factory, a Los Angeles-based company that was hired by the girl's parents to produce the song for their daughter.
"It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday, everybody's looking forward to the weekend," the chorus goes. "Partying, partying, partying. Fun, fun, fun, fun. Looking forward to the weekend."
The video attracted scant attention until a popular comedian linked to it on his blog 10 days ago saying "Songwriting Isn't for Everyone."
As the tune began to attract attention on YouTube, a Yahoo! music blog called it a "mind-meltingly horrific song" and asked readers "Is YouTube Sensation Rebecca Black's 'Friday' The Worst Song Ever?"
Time magazine described "Friday" as a "train wreck" and the video as "hilariously dreadful."
The poor reviews only fueled more interest in the video and it has become a viral hit, racking up millions of YouTube views, spawning a slew of parodies on the video-sharing site and making Black an Internet sensation.
A total of around 17,000 YouTube viewers have hit the "like" button on YouTube for the song while the vast majority -- 133,100 -- have gone for "dislike."
"Friday" was nonetheless number 45 on the iTunes list of best-selling 99-cent singles on Monday.
Amid the deluge of venom, Black has shown considerable poise and dignity in interviews and appearances in which she has addressed her numerous detractors.
The aspiring singer told ABC's Good Morning America that some of the comments had made her cry.
"When I first saw all these nasty comments I did cry," Black said. "I felt like this was my fault and I shouldn't have done this and this is all because of me.
"Now I don't feel that way," she said.
"I think I have talent on some level," Black told Good Morning America. "I don't think I'm the worst singer but I don't think I'm the best singer."
Asked who she would most like to sing a duet with, the YouTube star said Justin Bieber, the Canadian teen idol who was also discovered on YouTube.
"I have Bieber fever," she said. "I am in love with Justin Bieber."

Microsoft says Android e-reader violates patents

Microsoft on Monday accused Taiwan electronics colossus Foxconn and US book seller Barnes & Noble of using its patented technology in e-readers running on Google-backed Android software.
Taiwan-based Inventec Corporation was also targeted in Microsoft's legal filings with the US International Trade Commission and a federal court in Washington state where the software giant has its headquarters.
"By bringing this case, we are protecting our investments on behalf of our customers, partners and shareholders - just as other companies do," Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said in a blog post.
"Our firm view remains, however, that licensing is the best way forward for the industry."
The legal filings assert that the bookseller's Nook e-reader and Nook Color tablet violate Microsoft patents.
Patents at issue include being able to page through on-screen windows using tabs and to annotate text without altering digital documents, according to Gutierrez.
The filings raised to 25 the total number of Microsoft patents that are the subjects of infringement litigation centered on smartphones, tablets or other devices powered by Android software.
Taiwan-based HTC Corp. last year bought a license from Microsoft to cover technology in Android-powered smartphones, the attorney said.
The legal filings came after more than a year of talks with Barnes & Noble, Foxconn, and Inventec failed to culminate in a licensing deal, according to Microsoft.

Facebook buys startup to link with more mobile phones

Facebook is buying an Israeli startup that specializes in software that connects any type of mobile telephone to the leading online social network and other popular Internet destinations.
Facebook on Monday confirmed that it is acquiring Snaptu with an eye toward extending its reach to the hundreds of millions of mobile phones that don't feature the computer-like Internet capabilities of smartphones.
"As part of our goal to offer people around the world the opportunity to connect and share on mobile devices, we're excited to confirm that we recently signed an agreement to acquire Snaptu," Facebook said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.
"As part of Facebook, Snaptu's team and technology will enable us to deliver an even better mobile experience on feature phones more quickly."
The deal was expected to close in a few weeks. Financial details were not disclosed.
Snaptu was founded in 2007 with the stated goal of making available on "feature phones" innovative services people access routinely on smartphones.
Nearly 1.6 billion mobile phones were sold worldwide last year, with 296.6 million of those being sophisticated smartphones, according to figures released last month by industry tracker Gartner.
In January, Facebook launched a new software application for feature phones that was co-developed with Snaptu.
"We'll be working hard to offer a richer and more advanced Facebook app on virtually every mobile phone," Snaptu said.

German 'incest trucker' jailed

A German court on Tuesday jailed a former lorry driver for 14 and a half years for sexually abusing his daughter, stepson and stepdaughter, with whom he fathered eight children.
Spies "was utterly selfish. He treated his family as his own personal property to do with as he wished," presiding judge Winfried Hetger told the court in Koblenz, western Germany, as he passed sentence.
"He had his family in his clutches to such an extent that he didn't even have to lock anyone up.... He told his victims that what he was doing to them was 'allowed'."
In a trial that has shocked the country and drawn comparisons with the infamous 2009 case of Austrian Josef Fritzl, Spies subjected his family to an ordeal lasting more than 20 years in and around the tiny village of Fluterschen.
The court heard how he would abuse his daughter Jasmin and stepdaughter Natascha on a regular basis from their 12th birthdays onwards, raping his daughter for the first time on the back seat of his Toyota in a forest.
Spies also prostituted both girls out to other men dozens of times either in their flats, in a shed or in the back room of one of the men's Turkish doner kebab shop, the judge said.
He would sometimes watch and masturbate during these ordeals. He would be paid 40 deutschmarks and later 30-50 euros (42-69 dollars) each time, the court heard.
Spies was found guilty of 28 counts of sexually abusing minors, 42 counts of serious sexual assault of children, and 63 counts of sexually abusing people under his care.
"When you add all these crimes together you come to a total sentence of 500 years and 10 months," judge Hetger said.
"German law however does not allow such a sentence."
Visitors in the packed courtroom cheered as the sentence was handed down, while the small, thin and unremarkable-looking Spies stared at the floor, showing no emotion, as his stepchildren, now adults, sat opposite.
Spies had admitted fathering eight children, one of whom died, with his stepdaughter, who is now 28. This was however not part of the trial.
The sentence demanded -- 14 years and six months -- was just under the maximum possible of 15 years, because on Monday he had made a full confession through his lawyer. After the sentence he will be in preventive custody.
Several German media outlets have compared Spies to Fritzl, who held his daughter Elisabeth as a sex slave in a cramped, homemade dungeon in Austria for 24 years. He was jailed for life in 2009.
Fritzl raped Elisabeth thousands of times, fathering seven children with her and letting one of the newborn babies die. He was sentenced to life in prison in March 2009.
This latest case has also laid bare the failure of neighbours and authorities to detect what was going on, with social workers having conducted interviews with the family -- but with Spies present.
"If you are a trained social worker, you are supposed to go there and interview the victims without the perpetrator being present, and not all together," stepson Bjoern said previously.
It emerged on the first day of the trial that there was a criminal investigation in 2002 but that it was abandoned because the daughter disputed the accusations against her father, while the stepdaughter said nothing.
Spies was arrested on August 10, 2010.
The mother of the three victims, who is in her 50s, appeared as a witness in the trial and prosecutors have not charged her with any offence.
"This verdict is also an appeal to all other victims out there not to keep quiet, but to have the courage to speak out," Hetger said.
"Only then will the hurting stop."

A Small Story For Boy and Girl

A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The girl had some sweets with her. The boy told the girl that he will give her all his marbles in exchange for her sweets. The girl agreed.
The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.
That night, the girl slept peacefully. But the boy couldn’t sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marble.
Moral of the story: If you don’t give your hundred percent in a relationship, you’ll always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent..
This is applicable for any relationship like love, employer-employee relationship etc.,
Give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully!