Sony's Kaz Hirai to step up as president as early as April

Nikkei is reporting that Sony will be promoting current Executive Deputy President Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai to president as soon as April, while Howard Stringer is expected to remain chairman and CEO of the company. As you may recall, Sony started its search for a new president as far back as November 2010, and with Kaz's two promotions last year (to Executive Deputy President in April and to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman in September), it isn't surprising that he's the chosen one to pick up some of Sir Howard's work. It'll be a while before we see the consequences of this promotion, and anything can happen between now and the board meeting as early as next month to seal the deal; but here's hoping that under Kaz, Sony will go easy on all these new memory card formats while it further unifies its various groups within the corporation.

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Sony's Kaz Hirai to step up as president as early as April originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pet Health Insurance Plans Growing In Popularity ? CBS Philly

file photo (credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

file photo (credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

By John McDevitt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The concept has been around for about 15 years but pet health insurance is more popular than ever with a variety of plan options.

Pet health insurance could mean the difference between a sick or injured animal getting treatment or not.

?It?s a reality and a daily occurrence.?

Sally Powell is supervisor of nursing in emergency service at the Ryan Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

She has pet health insurance plan for her animals with a $200 deductible and had to use it recently for her Pomeranian.

?And so I paid $200 dollars and the insurance paid the rest which was several thousand dollars.?

Veterinarian Dr. Larwrence Rebbecchi owns and operates Philadelphia Animal Hospital and the Philadelphia Pet Hotel and Villas. He says there are a variety of plans available but an extra step isn?t appealing some pet owners.

?Most veterinarians, probably in fact all veterinarians, do not accept that as payment and in fact the client pays and then they are reimbursed by the insurance company so that?s why a lot.?

Most plans have caps and deductibles. Premiums vary.

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Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/01/06/pet-health-insurance-plans-growing-in-popularity/

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Samsung Galaxy mais lequel ?

Le budget, je ne sais pas encore trop. En fait, j'attends aussi les tarifs Free pour pouvoir mettre en balance les tarifs entre op?rateurs, etc... et comparer le tout.

En fait, j'avais ?limin? (peut-?tre ? tort) le galaxy S car il est plus vieux et pour vivre les joies du flashage avec mon spica, je pr?f?rerais un mod?le "clefs en mains", avec tout ce qu'il faut, sans rien flasher du tout. J'ai flash? mon spica car je n'avais pas trop le choix, mais ce n'est pas mon truc.

En conclusion, je voudrais un t?l?phone fiable (pas de plantages intempestifs...), avec lequel je peux jouer un peu (par exemple angry bird, pour arr?ter de piquer l'Ipod de mes filles !!!), t?l?charger autant d'appli que je veux (enfin, fa?on de parler), une bonne fluidit? d'utilisation et un appareil photo correct (avec flash si possible).

Source: http://forum.frandroid.com/topic/86901-samsung-galaxy-mais-lequel/

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Sanwa pico projector also charges your iPhone

Apple's been making inroads with enterprise users for some time, and now Sanwa's giving the iPhone some serious presentation chops with its new pico projector. The 400-PRJ011 is compatible with both the iPhone 4 and the 4S, powered by its own 2,100mAh battery and also charges your iPhone's battery whenever you turn the projector function off. It's got a five hour charge time, can provide 2.5 hours of steady projection and throws images on the wall up to 65-inches in size at 640 × 360 resolution and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio. A global release date has yet to be announced, but our Japanese friends can pick one up for ¥19,800 ($260).

Sanwa pico projector also charges your iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/04/sanwa-pico-projector-also-charges-your-iphone/

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Futuristic hidden oven is a sci-fi dream you can actually own (Yahoo! News)

Save space and impress your friends with the ultimate stealth cooking tool

If you own a home and spend part of your evening crafting delicious entrees, you likely already know that useable?kitchen space is at a premium. A new oven design from Fulgor makes space saving a high priority, allowing the entire unit to virtually disappear into your countertop. The company calls it the?Hidden Oven, and unlike many?ultra-cool kitchen concepts, this one is available right now.

The stealthy unit uses a lift system to raise and lower the glass cooking trays ? eliminating the need to bend over to load up your food ? and the entire device responds to touch controls. It even comes equipped with safety sensors to prevent unwanted items from getting caught when the trays are being lowered. When not in use, the oven rests flush with the rest of the countertop, allowing for maximum usable space.

But there is also a downside to this futuristic cooking tool: installing it within your countertop will make any cabinet space in the oven's footprint unusable. Not to mention that despite sporting an "easy to clean" tub, we can't image scraping grease off of this artistic oven is any more enjoyable than your standard unit.

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This article originally appeared on Tecca

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120103/tc_yblog_technews/futuristic-hidden-oven-is-a-sci-fi-dream-you-can-actually-own

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Best holiday windows

The Bergdorf Goodman windows on Fifth Avenue are truly stunning, worth a look if you are in the area. The artists who put together these tableaux worked with themes like paper, metal, and mosaics and didn?t get bogged down with the holidays or merchandise.

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Tags: bergdorf goodman, bergdorf windows, fifth ave, nyc, nyc holiday windows, nyc store windows, photography

Source: http://nycpix.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/best-holiday-windows/

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New Year's shooting at condo leaves 4 dead

(AP) ? An early morning New Year's shooting left four people dead at a condominium near San Diego, authorities said.

Police responded Sunday to an emergency call from a cellphone of shots fired in Coronado, a wealthy seaside suburb of about 24,000 people on San Diego Bay. Officers found a man in the doorway of the condo. The bodies of two men and a woman were discovered inside the condo.

Sheriff's Lt. Larry Nesbit said homicide investigators have not determined how any of the four died, though police officers who were the first to arrive believe the man found in the doorway was shot.

"They checked and he had no obvious signs of life. They tried to make contact with anyone else that might be inside the building and they got no response," Nesbit said.

A SWAT team sent in a robot to the first floor and later searched the second and third floors, Nesbit said. The three dead bodies were found in "different parts" of the three-story building.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service was on scene, "in case any of the victims were members of the military," Nesbit said. NCIS spokesman Ed Buice said its investigators were participating in the probe, which was being led by the Sheriff's Department.

The victims' identities hadn't been confirmed.

Asked if the deaths are believed to be a murder-suicide, Nesbit said, "I'll let it infer what it does. We're not going to say that. Although it's very early in the investigation, we don't believe there are any outstanding suspects."

Nesbit said the emergency call was placed by a male passer-by who heard gunshots. Authorities received a search warrant Sunday afternoon to enter the three-story condo, which remained cordoned off.

The condo sits a few blocks from the famed Hotel del Coronado and a block from the main street, which is lined with boutiques and restaurants.

Coronado is home to Naval Air Station North Island and is a haven for Navy retirees. Homicides are extremely rare in Coronado, which recorded one in 2010.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-02-Condo%20Shooting/id-86227243b99b4065aef2f66b80bc1479

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Sifting through the golf sands for a hint of North Korea?s future

In keeping with his orderly ascension from ranking army general to top political official to supreme leader of the last hard-line Communist country on earth, North Korea?s chubby young Kim Jong-un is expected soon to take up golf, where he will challenge his father?s record of scoring almost a dozen holes-in-one on his first try at the game.

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Afforded little else in the way of information on the internal doings of the secretive country, observers will be reduced to parsing news of the young leader?s score, speculating on what it might mean should he fail to match his father?s 38-under-par.

Such is the fantasy scenario of North Korea?s notorious ? often ludicrous ? propaganda machine, which is operating at full throttle after the death of the country?s last demigod ruler. Observers question whether the regime can maintain the barrage of lies big and little it has used for so long to mislead and repress its citizens.

In particular, they wonder how long it will be before the flood of information loosened by the digital revolution, which helped destabilize and wash away repressive regimes throughout the Middle East this year, finally leaks through slowly widening cracks in the Kimchi Curtain.

The regime has ?boxed itself in? with the extravagance of its lies, according to Hartmuth Kroll, a retired Canadian diplomat familiar with the region. By insisting for decades that the country is isolated because other nations are jealous of its success ? and that however hard life becomes, it is always worse beyond the border ? North Korea has courted a sharp reckoning.

?They?re riding a tiger,? Mr. Kroll said. ?The more that people find out about the rest of the world, the more dangerous it becomes for the regime.?

But so far, the North Korean regime has proven adept at keeping citizens in the dark. South Korea is the most wired nation in the world, according to Paul Evans, director of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia, whereas North Korea is the least. Information in and out is rigorously controlled, and citizens face severe punishment for as little as watching South Korean soap operas on smuggled flash drives ? ?illegal and ubiquitous,? according to one expert.

?North Korea is not like anywhere else in Asia or the world,? Prof. Evans said. ?This is a neo-feudal system with theocratic overtones that makes us think of the 16th century, not the 21st.?

Although many observers cite the recent appearance of a mobile-phone network in North Korea as evidence of potential opening, calls can only be made inside the country and handsets are confined to a loyal elite. Online social networks do not exist. To get news of the outside world, according to U.S. human-rights activist David Hawk, North Koreans must make a risky trip to the Chinese border, where smugglers rent them phones that operate on the neighbouring country?s network. ?But it?s illegal and dangerous because the police are actively trying to suppress it,? he said.

To get news into the country, the South Korean government and sanctioned groups until recently floated information-loaded helium balloons over the demilitarized zone.

Some observers predict the North Korean information barrier will soon fall. ?There are holes in it that are big and are growing,? Mr. Hawk said. ?The propaganda is breaking down.?

But others aren?t so sure. ?It?s not to suggest that there aren?t really powerful forces out there, but it?s like water hitting rocks,? Prof. Evans said. ?North Korea is sui generis.?

Canadian North Korea watcher and former Pyongyang resident Erich Weingartner, editor of the CanKor website, shares that skepticism. He questions how long the regime can maintain its outrageous propaganda ? ?I doubt they?re clever enough to change their ways,? Mr. Weingartner said ? but bits and pieces of actual information floating over the border in novel ways ?is a long way off from changing the mentality of the population.?

North Korean children are institutionalized at a very early age and force-fed the pseudo-mythological history of the Kim dynasty, according to Mr. Weingartner. Throughout the rest of their lives their behaviour is monitored by informants in their neighbourhoods and at work. He doubts that many would cheer if foreign troops ever attempted to ?liberate? them.

?There?s still a lot of people who regard at least Kim Il-sung as a god figure, even if they are less happy about Kim Jong-il and the new guy,? he said.

In that, they?re not as silly as they may seem, according to Prof. Evans. ?We?ve just gone through a Christmas season of virgin births and stars travelling across the sky,? he said, explaining the miraculous nature of North Korean history as a function of the first Kim?s education in the hands of Christian missionaries. ?That hyper-religiosity is built into the philosophy of the ruling elite in North Korea,? he said.

Do the North Korean people actually believe it?

?Do people in the West believe in transubstantiation?? Prof. Evans asked in reply. ?Do they believe in the devil??

Myths are sturdy things, in other words. And although miracles do happen, they are more likely to come in the form of golf scores than an Arab-style awakening in North Korea this spring.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-International/~3/0_cOpvskaws/

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Once an afterthought, Romney eyes Iowa with hope (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? Mitt Romney, watching as Republicans flail for a not-Romney alternative, is looking with optimism at Iowa, the state that rejected him four years earlier but now appears at least open to the possibility that he could be the GOP presidential nominee.

With Iowa barreling toward its lead-off caucuses Tuesday, Romney is suddenly making a public play to win the contest he largely kept at arm's length since his stinging second-place finish in 2008. Romney planned to begin his Friday in West Des Moines with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a larger-than-life figure whom conservatives courted to join the race before he endorsed Romney's presidential quest.

Romney's declared rivals, however, were working in overdrive to emerge as his chief rival. None went directly after the former Massachusetts governor though. Instead, they kept their focus on each other as all hoped a strong showing here could yield momentum heading into the next contests in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

"Don't settle for what's not good enough to save the country," the newly ascendant Rick Santorum implored Iowans on Thursday at city hall in Coralville. He urged voters to put conservative principles above everything else and suggested that his rivals, and specifically Ron Paul, lacked them.

For the first time, Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator who lost a bruising 2006 re-election bid, became a target.

"When he talks about fiscal conservatism, every now and then it leaves me scratching my head because he was a prolific earmarker," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said of Santorum, referring to special spending projects members of Congress seek. "He loaded up his bill with Pennsylvania pork.'"

Rep. Michele Bachmann also criticized Santorum on the spending set-asides in a conference call late Thursday with supporters.

"He has a real problem with earmarks," she said.

Santorum defended the practice as part of lawmakers' constitutional role as appropriators, telling CNBC that he owed it to Pennsylvanians to bring money to the state. He said earmarking became abused and that he would support a ban on them if he were president.

Both of Santorum's critics planned to continue to hammer that point ? Perry in central Iowa and Bachmann in the western part of the state. Santorum, meanwhile, planned to campaign in north-central Iowa, including a watch party for Iowa and Oklahoma's faceoff in the Insight Bowl football game.

The maneuvering underscored the fluid ? if not convoluted ? state of the GOP presidential race as Tuesday's caucuses loom while cultural conservatives and evangelical Republicans, who make up the base of the electorate here, continue to be divided. That lack of unity could pave the way for someone who is seen as less consistently conservative.

Five days out, public and private polling show Romney and Paul in strong contention to win the caucuses, with coalitions of support cobbled together from across the Republican political spectrum and their get-out-the-vote operations ? beefed up from their failed 2008 bids ? at the ready. They're the only two with the money and the organizations necessary to ensure big turnouts on Tuesday.

The three others ? Santorum, Perry and Gingrich ? will have to rely largely on momentum to carry supporters to precinct caucuses. Each was working to convince fickle conservatives that he alone would satisfy those who yearn for a nominee who would adhere strictly to GOP orthodoxy.

Looking to capitalize on his burst of support in new polls, Santorum made a play for tea party backers lining up behind Paul by arguing that the Texas congressman is longer on promising sweeping change than enacting it:

"The guy has passed one bill in 20 years," Santorum said. "What makes you think he can do any of these things?"

___

Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont, Mike Glover, Kasie Hunt, Brian Bakst and Shannon McCaffrey contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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