BSkyB to launch online TV service (Reuters)

(Adds details, quotes)

LONDON, Jan 31 ? Britain's BSkyB is to launch an online TV offering to non-Sky customers to enable it to better take on firms such as Lovefilm and Netflix and following some signs of slowing growth at its main satellite base.

Britain's dominant pay-TV group said it would launch the new service to tap in to the 13 million homes that do not currently pay for a television service. It made the announcement as it revealed it had added 40,000 net new customers to its main TV service in the second quarter, slightly below expectations.

The new offering will launch in the first half of 2012 and will enable new customers to watch Sky content including movies and eventually sports on flexible tariffs and without signing a contract.

BSkyB has grown consistently through the economic downturn by attracting consumers to its range of sports, movies and broadband, but it has started to show signs of slowing growth to its overall base in recent quarters.

The 40,000 net new customers added in the second quarter was above the 26,000 it added in the first quarter but below the 140,000 added in the second quarter a year ago. Analysts had expected net new TV customers of 58,000.

To balance out the slowing growth it sold an increasing number of different services to existing customers, such as high-definition TV or broadband, enabling it to post strong first-half results.

Revenues were up 6 percent to 3.4 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) and due to improving efficiencies in the business it posted adjusted operating profit up 16 percent to 601 million pounds.

Its shares have performed weakly so far this year as investors fear that an auction for crucial football rights, investments in fiber networks and new competitors from the likes of movie service Lovefilm could all hit the business model.

($1 = 0.6377 British pounds)

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/wr_nm/us_bskyb

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Natural Products for Stressed Out Pets | Care2 Healthy Living

We live in a world of sensory overload. Human made sounds are constantly buzzing, beeping, dinging, and ringing. Each sound represents something that is calling our attention. And if we treat ourselves well, we have mechanisms for providing our bodies and souls with de-stressing techniques such as yoga, meditation, drinking green tea, etc. But, how about our pets? They don?t know what a text message sound or the buzz of the laundry machine finishing it?s cycle means. If they are lucky, they get a lot of exercise, but what about environmental enrichment that helps calm them?

We put domesticated dogs and cats in our human world and basically say, ?Please adjust?. I feel it?s our responsibility as loving pet owners to provide them with natural remedies to relieve the stressful human world they live in with us. Recently on Good Morning America, Dr. Marty Becker, known as America?s Veterinarian, recommended four products that help de-stress pets. Each is a natural product that appeals to a different sense. Since dogs and cats rely so heavily on their senses, it?s no surprise that these products help to calm them while engaging their auditory, tactile, olfactory, or visual capabilities.

Here are Dr. Becker?s recommendations of stress relieving calming pet products:

1. Scent: Feliway Electric Diffuser (for cats) and Adaptil (for dogs)

The smells in the diffuser and Adaptil resembles pheromones that the mother produces to soothe their puppies and kittens. The diffuser works well when cats are left alone. And Adaptil can be sprayed on any area where your dog lives ? in a crate, on a dog bed, etc. Dr. Becker sprays this on his hands to help calm his patients.

2. Sound: Through a Dog?s Ear

This specially designed and simplified classical music is clinically demonstrated to calm the canine nervous system. Anxiety issues were greatly reduced with 85% of dogs when tested in their home environments, and over 70% of dogs in shelters calmed to the soothing sounds of Through a Dog?s Ear. As a side benefit, the music also calms the human nervous system. Listen to sound samples and watch the video to see how the shelter dogs at the Humane Society of New York chill very quickly when Calm your Canine Companion is played for them.

3. Sight: Gentle-Leader Calming Cap

Dogs can also be overwhelmed visually. Like horses, sometimes taking away some of their visual awareness helps to calm them. While the gentle fitting cap covers their eyes, it is sheer so they still have some visibility.

4. Tactile: Thundershirt

This pressure wrap uses gentle, constant pressure to calm your dog, effectively aiding anxiety, fearfulness, barking and more. Originally developed to help dogs with thunder-phobia, it?s also helped with many other anxiety issues.

Next: Watch Dr. Becker on Good Morning America discuss his recommendations.

Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/natural-products-for-stressed-out-pets.html

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UK musical to lampoon euro in currency's heartland (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? Europe's top politicians and policymakers will need an extra-thick skin this Friday when an irreverent musical turns up on the doorstep to thumb its nose at the embattled euro.

Narrated by an umbrella-toting, finance-savvy Briton, "EuroCrash!" depicts the single European currency's founders - former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former French President Francois Mitterrand - as a mad couple who enchant wayward countries into joining their "family" in a gingerbread house.

Decor is sparse and live music limited to a piano, but the message the six-strong troupe will take to the European Central Bank's home city of Frankfurt with just over an hour of song and dance is clear -- the euro was doomed from the start.

While a gregarious Kohl and a seductive female incarnation of Mitterrand try to teach their "children" discipline, bad boys Ireland, Greece and Spain busy themselves with individual delusions of grandeur: housing booms, early retirement, and world financial domination.

"But there's no going back from the euro," they sing as their plans crumble. "Regardless of who's getting poorer."

The slapstick show wheels out various protagonists of the euro zone debt crisis that left one Berlin audience laughing aloud, giggling at an oompah homage to the Bundesbank and an appearance by U.S. ratings agencies dressed as cowboy yodelers.

It also contains a trove of insider jokes for euro history buffs: a dance of the "currency snake," references to ECB leadership struggles, and Britain's 1992 crash out of the euro's precursor, the exchange rate mechanism.

It remains to be seen whether the theatrical reverence for the German mark and its victory over the euro will resound with audiences beyond euro-nerds, but writer David Shirreff already has his sights set on Brussels and possibly Athens.

A Berlin-based foreign correspondent, Shirreff insists the show is not prophetic and he does not want the currency to fail, despite lamenting what he calls the euro's poor groundwork.

"The show's a warning -- but I'm sure it will all be fine now, especially with Angela in charge," he said, referring to current German Chancellor Angela Merkel's leadership in fighting the crisis.

The show will play at Frankfurt's House of Finance from January 27 to 29th, before heading to London in February. Tickets are available at www.frankfurt-ticket.de

(Writing by Brian Rohan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_ecb_musical

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Is 'Hunger Games' YA's Best Chance For A Best Picture Oscar?

As Harry Potter weathers his final Academy snub, Hobnobbing wonders if Katniss Everdeen can carry the genre's mantle.
By Amy Wilkinson

Jennifer Lawrence in "The Hunger Games"
Photo: Lionsgate

"The Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence set aside her flaming bow and arrow in favor of a gilded envelope Tuesday morning to announce the 2012 Oscar nominations alongside Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak. And sadly — though not entirely surprisingly for young-adult-literature aficionados — the "Harry Potter" franchise was once again (and for the final time) overlooked for a Best Picture nomination.

Which raises the question: Does the Academy have something against YA adaptations?*

Curiously, adaptations have historically been strong performers at the Academy Awards. Past statuettes have gone to the literary likes of "All Quiet on the Western Front," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Silence of the Lambs." And this year's contenders are no different. Six of the nine Best Picture nominees, including "The Descendants," "Hugo," "The Help," "Moneyball," "War Horse" and "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," can be found lining the shelves of your local Barnes & Noble, while five of last year's 10 nominees were also based on bound works, according to USA Today.

The side of the equation, then, troubling Academy voters seems to be the "young adult" variable. Though to be fair, there's not much of a precedent for awards recognition seeing as mining teen lit for film fodder is a relatively new phenomenon. Sure, there are exceptions like S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" (made into a film all the way back in 1983, starring Matt Dillon and Patrick Swayze), but for every "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" or "The Princess Diaries" there are tens (if not hundreds) of seminal works, like "The Catcher in the Rye" or "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," languishing in pre-production hell or undeserved obscurity as far as film financiers are concerned.

Which leaves us with "The Hunger Games," the latest YA sensation, which blazes into theaters in less than two months. And while it's hard to predict the awards-season viability of a movie we haven't even seen yet, there are at least a few indicators to suggest it could be the first YA novel adaptation to win (or at the very least be nominated for) Best Picture. For one, Oscar's already made acquaintance with many members of the cast and crew. Our friends at NextMovie crunched the numbers, discovering that the actors and technical experts behind "The Hunger Games" boast 30 Oscar nominations — even Effie Trinket couldn't turn her nose up at that. And while a film like "Twilight" (which, let's be honest, won't be sharing a feather-strewn canopy bed with the Academy anytime soon) focuses on a fantastical, star-crossed-lovers plotline, "The Hunger Games" deals more seriously with issues of life, death and government control, likely giving it more credence with voters.

Though most of the above could surely have been said of "Harry Potter," it apparently wasn't meant to be. Hopefully with "The Hunger Games" (and the slew of approximately 4 million teen novels in various stages of adaptation) the Academy will begin recognizing artful YA adaptations as the deserving films that they are. Because we already do.

Do you think "The Hunger Games" is blazing a path for YA novel adaptations? Sound off in the comments below and tweet me @amymwilk with your thoughts and suggestions for future columns!

*Whether, in fact, "Harry Potter" constitutes YA is a topic of much debate in and of itself, though for the sake of this piece, I assert that the final novel's dark tone and subject matter secure its spot at the teen table.

Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677988/hunger-games-oscars-odds-2013.jhtml

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Test Might Predict Risk of Lung Cancer's Return (HealthDay)

THURSDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- A new industry-funded study suggests that a molecular test can provide insight into whether patients are at high risk of a relapse after surgical treatment for a form of lung cancer.

The test, which is currently available, could help doctors decide whether the patients should undergo chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from returning.

There are caveats: The test is expensive, and researchers don't yet know whether patients determined to be at high risk will live longer if they undergo chemotherapy.

Still, "this may be one of the very first examples of where we understood enough about the molecular biology of a cancer to truly personalize the treatment of patients and actually improve the cure rate for that cancer," said study co-author Dr. Michael Mann, an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.

At issue is non-small-cell lung cancer, by far the most common kind of lung cancer. Even if tumors are diagnosed early and removed, the cancer will spread and kill 35 percent to 50 percent of patients.

In these cases, "even when the tumor is small and they got it all, microscopic disease has spread around the body," said Dr. John Minna, co-author of a commentary accompanying the study. He is a cancer researcher and professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Scientists are trying to find a way to predict what will happen to patients after surgery so they can figure out if chemotherapy treatment is a good idea.

In the new study, researchers gave the molecular test to 433 lung cancer patients in California and 1,006 patients in China. The researchers found that the test helped them to predict the likelihood that patients would survive for five years.

Conceivably, physicians could adjust the treatment of patients after surgery to coincide with the risk of a recurrence of their cancer. For now, though, that's not proven. The research "doesn't tell you that if you had a bad prognosis and you were treated with chemotherapy, then you'd do better," Minna said.

Still, information about the risks faced by a patient could help doctors make choices about treatments, said Minna, who called the test "promising."

Study co-author Mann agreed: "There may be an important conversation that you can have with your oncologist about potential benefit from additional therapy to reduce the likelihood of the cancer coming back."

Mann said the test -- which is currently available -- could cost several thousand dollars. Minna, the commentary co-author, said any cost over a few hundred dollars could be an issue for insurors.

The research was funded by the firm that developed the molecular test, and several of the study authors serve as consultants to the firm.

The study appears in the Jan. 27 online issue of The Lancet.

More information

For more about lung cancer, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120127/hl_hsn/testmightpredictriskoflungcancersreturn

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Video: PFT Live: Contract questions for Ravens

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/46119402#46119402

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China: Overseas groups distort truth about unrest (AP)

BEIJING ? China on Tuesday accused overseas advocacy groups of twisting the truth about unrest in a politically sensitive Tibetan region in order to undermine the government.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said order has been restored in Luhuo county in southwestern China after a clash Monday between police and Tibetans that left one Tibetan dead and four others injured.

Five police were also injured in the clash, Hong said. He called the Tibetans involved in the violence in Sichuan province's Ganzi prefecture a "mob" and said authorities will act firmly to fight crime and maintain order.

"Overseas forces of 'Tibet independence' have always fabricated rumors and distorted the truth to discredit the Chinese government with issues involving Tibet," Hong said in remarks carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The unrest comes amid high tensions following the self-immolations of at least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans in the past year. Most have chanted for Tibetan freedom and the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Ganzi is a rugged, deeply Buddhist region filled with monasteries that has been at the center of dissent for years. It is among the traditionally Tibetan areas of Sichuan province and other parts of western China that have been closed to outsiders for months amid a massive security presence.

Tibet activist groups and witnesses said police opened fire on protesters in Monday's violence in Luhuo. The London-based International Campaign for Tibet said three Tibetans were killed and nine wounded, while another group, Free Tibet, said one died and up to 30 others were shot and wounded in Luhuo, also known as Draggo in Tibetan.

A Tibetan monk from Shouling monastery in Luhuo said in a phone interview that police fired at about 10,000 protesters, killing one Tibetan farmer and injuring 32.

"The protesters just want peace and religious freedom," said the monk who would not give his name out of fear of government retaliation. He said the demonstrators were mostly local Tibetan residents plus a few monks and Han Chinese residents.

"Today it is quiet here, but we can see police patrolling around the government offices and the monasteries," he said.

Tuesday was a holiday for the Lunar New Year and calls to the local government and Communist Party offices rang unanswered.

Xinhua said more than 100 people, including monks, gathered to attack a police station after hearing rumors that three monks would set themselves on fire.

It said some were armed with knives and hurled stones as they smashed two police vehicles and two fire engines and stormed nearby shops.

In a sign of the government's sensitivity over the unrest, state-controlled domestic media did not report it. Hong's remarks were carried only by Xinhua's English-language service and were not posted on the Foreign Ministry's website.

Many Tibetans resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule and the large-scale migration of China's ethnic Han majority to the Himalayan region. While China claims Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time.

___

Gillian Wong can be reached on http://twitter.com/gillianwong

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_as/as_china_tibet

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Sudan to give U.N. only limited access in border states (Reuters)

KHARTOUM (Reuters) ? Sudan will continue to allow only limited access to United Nations agencies and aid groups in two war-stricken border states, the foreign ministry said on Sunday, despite calls from the United States to allow more access to avert famine.

Fighting broke out between government forces and rebels in South Kordofan in June last year, shortly before South Sudan declared independence under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war. The conflict spread to Blue Nile in September.

Both states border South Sudan and are home to tens of thousands of fighters who battled Khartoum as part of the southern army during the civil war. Sudan accuses Juba of continuing to back the insurgents, which South Sudan denies.

"Regarding relief, delivery and distribution will be through the humanitarian aid commission and the Sudanese Red Crescent society," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

U.N. agencies and aid groups have only been able to keep small teams of local staff on the ground since the conflict erupted. The government, citing security risks, has stopped aid workers from visiting areas where there has been fighting.

The Foreign Ministry said office managers will only be allowed in state capitals and must obtain permission.

The United States has pressed Khartoum to allow more humanitarian access to South Kordofan and Blue Nile, saying food security could deteriorate sharply by March if aid flows do not increase.

Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations dismissed the concerns on Tuesday, saying the situation in the two states was "normal.

The violence has already forced about 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan, the United Nations estimates. Locals have faced air raids and sporadic ground fighting, according to rights groups and refugees.

(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/wl_nm/us_sudan_aid

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NATO official previews Chicago summit (AP)

LONDON ? The U.S. Ambassador to NATO says America is committed to staying its course in Afghanistan until 2014.

But whether cash-strapped European nations feel the same at an upcoming Chicago summit in May is another question.

Ambassador Ivo Daadler said Monday the summit will focus on NATO's strategy in Afghanistan, costs and the alliance's capabilities. He said its planned missile defense system will go forward with or without the cooperation of Russia.

Daadler also spoke about Iran, saying international isolation may force Tehran back to the bargaining table.

The EU on Monday banned the purchase of Iranian oil. Iran responded, threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude is transported.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_nato

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Explosive volcano may lurk beneath Death Valley

California's Death Valley, already one of the hottest places on Earth, may have the potential to get a whole lot hotter ? and live up to its name in a surprising (and possibly scary) new way, according to new research.

Scientists have long known that the craters that pepper this dry landscape were formed by long-ago volcanic eruptions, triggered when hot magma ascending from inside the planet hit pockets of water.

Some researchers now think the area erupted far more recently than thought, meaning the parched swath of central California, home to desolate salt flats and scalding temperatures, could be primed for a follow-up.

Dates for the geological catastrophe are fuzzy, but researchers used to think that Death Valley's largest crater, a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) wide gash in the Earth nearly 800 feet (240 meters) deep, formed in 4000 BC.

Yet new evidence uncovered by a team of scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory suggests the dramatic crater, called Ubehebe, last erupted only 800 hundred years ago.

Although that may sound like ancient history, in geological time 800 years is a mere blip. And because the crater formed relatively recently, it might still be restive, and plenty of liquid hot magma may still be lurking beneath it.

The cataclysmic explosion that formed the crater was likely a terrifying spectacle, according to the study's authors, whose work is published in the current issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

When the hot magma hit groundwater, the interaction likely produced a powerful explosion that smashed a hole through the overlying rocks, sending out a scalding-hot mushroom cloud of deadly gases that raced across the ground at 200 mph (320 kph).

"It would be fun to witness ? but I?d want to be 10 miles away," said study co-author Brent Goehring, in a statement from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

The evidence comes from chemical signatures trapped in small fragments of rocks the team gathered near Ubehebe. Dating techniques and analysis revealed that the rocks were birthed by eruptions that happen once every 1,000 years or so, and that the most recent large eruption occurred around the year 1300.

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That could put the present day within the geological cross hairs, according to Nicholas Christie-Blick, a Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory professor.

"There is no basis for thinking that Ubehebe is done," Christie-Blick ?said in a statement.

However, there's a good chance the crater would provide plenty of warning ahead of any deadly fireworks. The awakening volcano could set off small earthquakes and open steam vents as early as a year before an eruption, the scientists noted.

Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter@OAPlanetand onFacebook.

? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46108186/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Gingrich: Only I can go 'toe to toe' with Obama (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Emboldened by his victory in South Carolina's Republican primary, Newt Gingrich said Sunday his hardline conservative views and confrontational style will be needed by Republicans this fall to fight President Barack Obama's "billion-dollar war chest" and take back the White House.

In several televised interviews, the former House speaker said rival Mitt Romney was a moderate who left GOP voters cold and that only he, Gingrich, could go "toe to toe" with Obama.

"I think in South Carolina it began to become really clear that if you want to beat Barack Obama, then Newt Gingrich is the only person who has the background, the experience and the ability to get on the stage and drive home a conservative message with authenticity," he said.

Gingrich's win in South Carolina has helped invigorate his once struggling campaign and cast fresh doubt on Romney's ability to easily cinch the Republican nomination.

Returns from 95 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 41 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was winning 17 percent, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul 13 percent.

Next stop is Florida, where Gingrich and Romney will compete with Santorum in the Jan. 31 primary. Paul has said he was bypassing the state in favor of smaller subsequent caucuses.

Romney and his supporters are dismissing Gingrich's win in South Carolina and say his nomination would be a disaster for the Republican Party, citing his rocky tenure leading House Republicans in the 1990s and allegations of ethics violations.

"I think Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party, over time," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. "Whether he will do it again in the future, I don't know. But Gov. Romney never has."

Christie, who has endorsed Romney's nomination, said he would "listen" if Romney were to ask him to be his running mate this fall. But, he added, he expects to remain in his current position as governor.

Gingrich says his views on lower taxes, less government regulation and foreign policy put him in stark contrast to Obama and that the dynamics of a Gingrich-Obama fight are much more alluring to voters.

"I think Gov. Romney's core problem was that he governs (as) a Massachusetts moderate, which by the standards of Republican primary voters is a liberal. And he can't relax and be candid," he said.

Gingrich spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," NBC's "Meet the Press" and CBS "Face the Nation." Christie spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich

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James' passion, great range remembered (AP)

NEW YORK ? On her last album "The Dreamer," released just three months before her death, Etta James sings a mix of covers, from the R&B classic "Misty Blue" to the Ray Charles song "In the Evening." But perhaps the most curious tune included on the disc may be the Guns N' Roses staple "Welcome to the Jungle."

That a 73-year-old icon of R&B would tackle the frenetic rock song ? albeit in a pace more fitting her blues roots ? might seem odd. But the song may be the best representation of James as both a singer and a person ? rambunctious in spirit, with the ability to sing whatever was thrown at her, whether it was jazz, blues, pining R&B or a song from one of the rowdiest bands in rock.

"She was able to dig so deep in kind of such a raw and unguarded place when she sang, and that's the power of gospel and blues and rhythm and blues. She brought that to all those beautiful standards and rocks songs that she did. All the number of vast albums she recorded, she covered such a wide variety of material that brought such unique phrasing and emotional depth," said Bonnie Raitt, a close friend, in an interview on Friday afternoon after James' death.

"I think that's what appealed to people, aside from the fact that her personality on and off the stage was so huge and irrepressible. She was ribald and raunchy and dignified, classy and strong and vulnerable all at the same time, which is what us as women really relate to."

James, whose signature song was the sweeping, jazz-tinged torch song "At Last," died in Riverside, Calif., from complications of leukemia. Her death came after she struggled with dementia and other health problems, health issues that kept her from performing for the last two or so years of her life.

It was a life full of struggles. Her mother was immersed in a criminal life and left her to be raised by friends, she never knew her true father (though she believed it was billiards great Minnesota Fats), and she had her own troubles, which included a decades-long addiction to drugs, turbulent relationships, brushes with the law, and other tribulations.

One might think all of those problems would have weighted down James' spirit, and her voice, layering it with sadness, or despair. While she certainly could channel depression, anger, and sorrow in song, her voice was defined by its fiery passion: Far from beaten down, James embodied the fight of a woman who managed to claw her way back from the brink, again and again.

It's an attitude that influenced her look as well. Despite the conservative era, she dyed her hair platinum blonde, sending out the signal that she was far from demure, and owning a brassy, sassy attitude. She relished her role as saucy singer, a persona that she celebrated in her private life as well.

"In terms of 1950s rhythm and blues stars, she had kind of a gutsy attitude and she went out there and did what she did, and she was kind of bold ... and it had a huge influence," said David Ritz, the co-author of her autobiography "Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story." "I think her gutsiness and her lack of fear and just her courage (made her special). ... I believe that made her important and memorable."

Beyonce, who played James in the movie "Cadillac Records" about Chess Records, also spoke about her influence on other singers.

"I feel like Etta James, first of all, was the first black woman I saw with platinum, blonde hair. She wore her leopard and she wore her sexy silhouette and she didn't care. She was strong and confident and always Etta James," said Beyonce in a 2008 interview.

James could often be irascible. Ritz remembers when he was working with her on her autobiography, touring with her around the country, that one time he approached her with his tape recorder and she barked: "If see that tape recorder again I'm going to cram it up your (expletive)."

But at other times, she'd be effusive and warm and anxious to talk.

"Once she did talk, she was always candid and unguarded. She was a free spirit," Ritz said.

While Ritz put her in the category of other greats like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye, she never enjoyed their mainstream success. Though "At Last" has become an enduring classic, there were times when James had to scrounge for work, and while she won Grammys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she did not have the riches, the multitude of platinum records or the hits that some of her peers enjoyed.

"She at least enjoyed a great resurgence like John Lee Hooker did and B.B. King, (and) has had some great decades of appreciation from new generations around the world," said Raitt. "There's no one like her. No one will ever replace Etta."

And Ritz said the lack of commercial success does nothing to diminish her greatness, or her legacy.

"Marvin certain knew it and Ray knew it ... the people who know that she was in that category," he said. "Whatever the marketplace did or didn't do or whether her lack of career management didn't do, it has nothing to do with her talent."

And on Friday, the Queen of Soul was among those who paid tribute to James greatness, calling her "one of the great soul singers of our generation. An American original!

"I loved `Pushover,' `At Last' and almost any and everything she recorded! When Etta SUNG, you heard it!"

___

AP Entertainment Writer Chris Talbott and AP Writer Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.

___

Nekesa Mumbi Moody is the AP's music editor. Follow her at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_en_ce/us_etta_james_appreciation

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Fred Wertheimer: Court's Decision Will Not Stand the Test of Time and History

On January 21, 2010, two years ago, five Supreme Court Justices issued a radical decision in the Citizens United case that is now wreaking havoc on the 2012 elections. The Citizens United decision has done enormous damage to our political system and our democracy.

The Citizens United decision fundamentally undermined the nation's anti-corruption campaign finance laws.

The decision is beyond extreme in explicitly stating that the ability of the country to be protected from the corruption of our government is outweighed by the right of a corporation to make unlimited expenditures to influence elections. The decision is beyond the pale in flatly stating that it is perfectly OK to use campaign money to buy influence over our elected representatives in Washington.

The Founding Fathers were well aware of the dangers of corruption when they wrote the Constitution. The Court's extreme position in Citizens United notwithstanding, the Founders did not create an overriding right for corporations that would leave the new nation unable to protect itself from corruption.

The five Justices who voted for the Citizens United decision -- Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito -- will go down in history for issuing one of the worst and most misguided decisions in the history of the Supreme Court.

Citizens must and will overcome the damage done to the country by five Supreme Court Justices who valued the right of corporations to influence elections over the right of citizens to be protected from corruption of their government.

In the end, the Citizens United decision will not stand the test of time and history.

The eloquent dissenting opinion in Citizens United written by Justice John Stevens on behalf of four Justices will one day become the Supreme Court's majority position.

?

Follow Fred Wertheimer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FredWertheimer

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-wertheimer/courts-decision-will-not-_b_1218841.html

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Oprah Winfrey charms "chaotic" India at book event (Reuters)

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) ? Amid raucous cheers from thousands of admirers, television superstar Oprah Winfrey praised the contrast of calm and chaos in India at the region's largest literature festival fast becoming a global cultural gala.

Considered one of the world's most influential women, Winfrey lived up to her billing as the headline draw at an event boasting literary giants such as Tom Stoppard, Michael Ondaatje and Richard Dawkins, charming the crowds on Sunday morning.

"I came here with an open mind, and it has been expanded... It's the greatest life experience I have ever had," Winfrey said at the annual Jaipur Literature Festival in India's north-western state of Rajasthan.

"You feel like you're in the centre of something bigger and greater than yourself."

Hundreds of eager visitors jostled against barricades at the back of the main stage area as Winfrey began speaking. Security guards struggled to shut the main entrance gates as angry admirers tried to push their way inside.

"It's like being in a video game. I don't know which way to look," Winfrey told crowds on her arrival in Mumbai. "It's a bit chaotic, but there's an underlying calm, a flow, that you all seem to understand. India is a paradox."

The 57-year-old has caused a media storm in India, with news channels and front pages filled with stories of her touring the city of Mumbai with the Bachchans, Bollywood's first family. On Sunday she drew huge cheers as she appeared on stage in a traditional Indian churidar kameez smock.

"I will take with me a sense of calmness, and a genuine respect... people don't talk religion here, they live it," Winfrey said.

Her appearance on Sunday was seen as a welcome distraction from the Salman Rushdie furor that has overshadowed the five-day festival, after the author cancelled his planned visit due to reported assassination threats against him.

The talk-show host and interviewer's "Book Club" turned little-known authors into global stars, with 59 of the club's 70 selected books making the USA TODAY Top 10 best-sellers list.

Winfrey told the festival that in 2008, after witnessing the completion of her mission to get then-Senator Barack Obama to the White House, she stuck a picture of a woman riding a camel on her pinboard, that said "Come to India."

"It was important for me to go to slums but not show the worst of the worst, but show that people can live in poverty and still have hope and meaning in their lives," said Winfrey, who also called for Indians to work to eradicate discrimination against widows in society.

(Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/stage_nm/us_india_festival_oprah

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Kingston launches new family of high performance SSDs, doesn't care if you're a business or a consumer

Kingston's turning its SSD solutions up to eleven on its new SSDNow family of products. The SSDNow V+200 is a solid state drive toting SATA 3.0 SandForce SF-2281, capable of up to 535 MB/s read speeds and 480 MB/s writing speeds. Regardless of whether it's for your office or home rig, Kingston reckons it's got your storage needs covered, offering up the V+200 in 60GB, 90GB, 120GB, 240GB and 480GB sizes. The 2.5-inch drives arrive with self-encryption as standard, alongside a three-year warranty with support -- something that's getting increasingly rare. The full press release is waiting below.

Update: Prices, alongside the upgrade kit, range from $156 to $985 -- depending on exactly how many photo albums you need on solid state storage.

Continue reading Kingston launches new family of high performance SSDs, doesn't care if you're a business or a consumer

Kingston launches new family of high performance SSDs, doesn't care if you're a business or a consumer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/TINCn3cAwK0/

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Report: Undercover police had kids with activists (AP)

LONDON ? Britain's Guardian newspaper said Friday that two undercover police officers have fathered children with the activists they were spying on.

Key details were hazy but the revelations are the latest in a series of reports which has cast doubt on whether undercover police in the U.K. go too far in seeking to infiltrate environmental, animal rights and extremist groups.

British authorities are already preparing a report into the use of undercover officers after one of them caused a trial to collapse when his cover was blown.

The Guardian said that two other police operatives had children while on the job, although the timing of the officers' alleged relationships is unclear.The paper said one of them fathered a child in the 1980s and that another one did so "some years ago." The paper said it was withholding the women and children's names for reasons of privacy.

The newspaper cited one of the now-former police operatives and an unnamed second person as the source for its reporting. An email seeking comment from the ex-officer named in the article was not immediately returned late Friday.

A spokeswoman for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, the police body which is looking into the use of undercover officers, said she was checking to see whether the group could comment on report, which is due out in the Guardian's Saturday edition but was available online late Friday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_undercover_fathers

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Kno adds new smart textbook capabilities: Kno Me, gets to know you (video)

Remember those iPad textbooks from Kno? Well, conveniently in advance of that other education announcement this week, the company has added two new features to the edu-party: Kno Me and Kno Flashcards. The former is an interactive graphical dashboard that details your learning habits, such as time spent in a book, understanding of key terms and test grades -- perfect for nosey moms. Kno Flashcards, on the other hand, puts a new spin on the classic analog memory-jogger. Key points are automagically drawn from the book and compiled into cards, the software then uses metacognition, spaced repetition and episodic memory -- three terms that need flashcards right there -- to help you learn. Both are detailed in the video and PR after the break. Yes, there will be a quiz later.

Continue reading Kno adds new smart textbook capabilities: Kno Me, gets to know you (video)

Kno adds new smart textbook capabilities: Kno Me, gets to know you (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/18/kno-adds-new-smart-textbook-capabilities-kno-me/

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Britney Spears, Jason Trawick Wedding: Details Revealed!

Detail number one: there will be lap dancing. Lots and lots of lap dancing.

Jason Trawick popped the question to Britney Spears just before Christmas, kicking off that whole slew of celebrity holiday engagements. And now, we have some details on the impending wedding.

"It's going to be a very intimate wedding with only immediate family and very, very close friends," a source told RadarOnline.com. "It will probably be a destination wedding in a very warm, tropical location."

And apparently, Britney wants everything to be as simple as possible. The source continued:

"There is absolutely no drama with the planning of the wedding and Britney will probably wear an off-white dress that will show off her killer bod."

When I hear quotes like this, mentally I squint and think, "okay, who is this?"

"Britney's sons are absolutely going to be a part of the ceremony as ring bearers, and Jason has something very special planned for the boys that will take place during the wedding," the source said.

Meanwhile, one of Spears' ex-handlers wants to write a tell-all book about the singer, namely it's about "orgies and hot tub sessions." Fernando Flores, the same dude who filed a lawsuit against Spears for sexual harassment, is now saying:

"Her tours were an anything goes environment. I heard stories of threesomes, orgies, girls making out - things that would make your hair stand on end."

Dude, we've all seen Jersey Shore. I'm pretty sure were completely desensitized to any kind of wild sex acts that could've gone on during a Britney Spears concert.

"I was in her bathroom and saw this picture of her in a tub with some girls. It was very sexual. She told me, 'That was on tour and s**t got crazy.' I asked what she meant and she said they all got it on. Her and the girls."

Big deal. Deena went down on Snooki after making out in front of everyone. Try again, buddy.

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Source: http://feeds.revnewmedia.com/~r/hollyscoop/news/~3/Gy0Qm141KDI/britney-spears--jason-trawick-wedding-details-revealed.html

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