| Xbox is crack for kids
In the dog-end of the Christmas holidays my sons and a friend were re-creating the rolling boulder sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark by charging up and downstairs pursued by my new purple gym ball. As the crashing reached a climax and Harrison Ford slammed his head into the bannister, I found myself thinking: oh, why can't they just sit down nicely and watch TV for a bit? I soon stamped on this heresy, of course, since children doing vaguely energetic, imaginative things must be celebrated, at whatever cost to the nerves. These days the mother who parks her kids before the Dave channel in order to work is no better than the one who shoves chips through the school railings to her children or feeds the family dog two-quid unhappy chicken just to hack off Jamie Oliver.
Joe Cole gives Chelsea final glow
A 1-0 victory at Goodison Park earned Chelsea a 3-1 aggregate semi-final win over Everton and left Grant, who had suggested that the Merseyside club’s need was by far the greater, to launch a strong defence of his brief reign. Since losing his first match in charge, against Manchester United in September, his team have been beaten once in 27 matches in all competitions and, after Joe Cole’s superbly taken goal had confirmed their place at Wembley on February 24, the Chelsea first-team coach suggested it was time they were given a little recognition. "I think everyone needs to see what Chelsea is doing in the last few months," Grant said. "It’s not just in the league or the Champions League, we’re also in the Carling Cup final now. Most of the people thought we wouldn’t succeed, but now we’re at Wembley, we’re four points from the top of the league and we’re in the last 16 of the Champions League.
New Mexico Gov. Richardson drops out of '08 race
The time has come to end my quest and come home to tackle the challenges before us in New Mexico," Richardson told cheering supporters in his state capital of Santa Fe. "Our legislature starts next week, and I intend to put my full efforts behind our No. 1 priority -- extending health insurance to every New Mexican by the end of my term." When making his announcement, Richardson declined to endorse any candidate but called the Democratic field "the most promising field in my lifetime." He predicted the party's eventual nominee would win the White House. While praising each of the remaining contenders, he also urged them to swear off personal attacks against one another. Watch Richardson bow out of the race » "To do otherwise could result in another four to eight years of more of the same, and that would be the biggest tragedy of all," Richardson said.
McAfee predicts 2008's worst security threats
McAfee has forecast that nine security threats will increase in 2008, while it expects ad-serving software known as adware to decrease. The forecasts are based on the development of attacks seen in the firm's own lab. Greg Day, McAfee security analyst, said that Web 2.0 sites would increasingly be used by cyber criminals to distribute malware or steal volumes of data. Web 2.0 sites offering everything from consumer social networking to business relationship management could prove an easy form of attack, being "the internet version of a shopping mall or crowded city," Day said. The Storm Worm, also known as Nuwar, set a precedent in how botnets are likely to develop, said McAfee. Storm Worm’s creators "released thousands of variants and changed coding techniques, infection methods and social engineering schemes far more than any other threat in history" and "created the largest peer-to-peer botnet ever" said the report.
GM's next generation Chevrolet Impala will remain FWD-based
Instead, Chrysler is developing new "Phoenix" high-output V6 engine to take the place of the Hemi. The engines will feature dual overhead cams, variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation. Ranging-topping variants are likely to surpass 300 HP, like its competitors, and provide better fuel economy than its Hemi counterpart. When it comes to actual vehicle platforms, General Motors is already taking steps to comply with the update CAFE. The company originally planned to resurrect the Pontiac GTO -- again -- using the same underpinnings as the upcoming Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac G8. Those plans are now shelved. "I think (the Monaro/Pontiac GTO) is gone for now," said GM's Bob Lutz. "We've got nothing in the product plan right now like that. We'd like to have, but you can't do everything." GM was to also build the next generation Chevy Impala using the same RWD platform.
Switchball Rolls on to Xbox LIVE(R) Arcade
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Sierra Online, a division of Vivendi Games, has released Switchball(TM), a new puzzle game for Xbox LIVE(R) Arcade. The Switchball game challenges players to guide a transformable ball along extensive maze-like courses suspended in midair and set in stunning, expansive worlds. The game has already received critical praise, winning TeamXbox.com's "Best Downloadable Game of E3" and "Editor's Choice" awards, as well as a 9.4 out of 10 rating from the site. "Switchball exemplifies the innovation and level of quality we are bringing to Xbox LIVE Arcade," said Nicole Perez, vice president of marketing, Sierra Online. "Switchball's striking graphics, as well as the physics-based gameplay, advances the genre." Developed by Atomic Elbow, the Switchball game features an advanced Ageia-based physics engine, making the physical puzzles intuitive and allowing players to interact with objects just as they would in the real world.
The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry
At press time, analysts were speculating that customers would snap up about 3 million units by the end of 2007, making it the fastest-selling smartphone of all time. It is also arguably Apple's most profitable device. The company nets an estimated $80 for every $399 iPhone it sells, and that's not counting the $240 it makes from every two-year AT&T contract an iPhone customer signs. Meanwhile, about 40 percent of iPhone buyers are new to AT&T's rolls, and the iPhone has tripled the carrier's volume of data traffic in cities like New York and San Francisco. But as important as the iPhone has been to the fortunes of Apple and AT&T, its real impact is on the structure of the $11 billion-a-year US mobile phone industry. For decades, wireless carriers have treated manufacturers like serfs, using access to their networks as leverage to dictate what phones will get made, how much they will cost, and what features will be available on them.
Impact of landfill referendum unclear as Election Day nears
But with an advisory referendum facing county residents in less than two weeks, officials with stakes in both sides of the question are campaigning for votes even though the outcome may have little effect on whether toxic chemicals will be permitted to be stored at the Clinton Landfill on the city's southwestern edge.Last fall, the DeWitt County Board approved an amendment to the host agreement with the Peoria Disposal Co., owners of the Clinton Landfill. That agreement set the amount paid to the county by PDC based on the waste volume deposited at the facility's landfill.“It is, potentially, the most lucrative (agreement) of its kind in the state of Illinois on a per-ton basis and may generate between $25 (million) and $36 million over the next 24 years even before applying built-in inflation adjustments and without raising taxes on DeWitt County residents," said board member Levi Sturgeon.In addition to approving the amendment, the board unanimously supported the plan for the landfill owners to move forward with a permit to store wastes with a concentration of greater than 50 parts per million of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, which are a blend of chemical compounds used in a variety of industrial products.Following that vote, Clinton resident Matt Varble formed WATCH (We're Against Toxic Chemicals), a group to oppose the portion of the plan to store chemical wastes in DeWitt County.
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