Weird Christmas Trees -- You Glow Girl! - Urlesque (blog)

Weird Christmas Trees -- You Glow Girl! Urlesque (blog) If you decide to make yourself the Christmas tree, you can either go for the sexy look or the conservative look. I'd go with conservative, because while ... and more »

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Houston picks conservative Annise Parker as mayor, first lesbian to head a ... - Los Angeles Times (blog)

Reuters

Houston picks conservative Annise Parker as mayor, first lesbian to head a ... Los Angeles Times (blog) In a light turnout and a relatively close runoff, she defeated local attorney Gene Locke with about 53% of the vote with not quite all ballots in. ... How did Houston's gay mayor win?The Week Magazine Houston elects its first (yawn) gay mayorExaminer.com Annise Parker Wins Historic Houston Mayoral RaceLez Get Real Digital City -Atlantic Online (blog) -Wall Street Journal all 1,572 news articles »

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Sigh. Gran Turismo 5 reportedly shooting for Summer 2010 release

Filed under: Toys/Games

The release date for Gran Turismo 5 hops around so much we're going to call the game The Flea from now on. From a couple of dates late this year to early next year in Japan to possibly, maybe, potentially a Summer release for the U.S. It's not that we can't keep up anymore -- we might just be tired of trying.

That summer date for our shores isn't even set: the folks at Sony are "eying" that window. Back in September Polyphony Digital head Kazunori Yamauchi said "I don't think it's going to be that different for U.S. and Europe" to get the game around the same time as Japan. Apparently the marketing department, which was given as the reason for the delay, remains deep in "discussing their issues."

We have but one issue: it's hard to keep hanging on for the supposed Second Coming (or is that Third? Fifth?) of driving games when the "Coming" part refuses to happen. And we sure hope they're working on GT6, because at this rate we're going to be buying that game with our Social Security check.

Gallery: Gran Turismo 5

[Source: Joystiq]

Sigh. Gran Turismo 5 reportedly shooting for Summer 2010 release originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One: T-Mobile Partners on Google Phone

The Nexus One, the upcoming “Google Phone,” will be sold online and unlocked. But Google is also partnering with T-Mobile to push the phone after Verizon declined.

That partnership also explains why the Google Phone will use GSM rather than CDMA technology, limiting it to AT&T or T-Mobile: Google only made the decision after Verizon passed on the opportunity to market the device, according to MediaMemo. A January 2010 launch date has been rumored.

Upon receiving the phone, users will choose their carrier from a menu. It’s a bold move that will break the hegemony of the carriers, but might also mean we pay more (unless Google devises a way to partially subsidize the phone itself).

More Google Nexus One Coverage

1. Nexus One: The Google Phone Has a Name

2. Nexus One: Google Phone Shows Up in Visitor Logs [PIC]

3. Nexus One vs. iPhone: What Google Needs to Succeed

4. Google Phone: Google Confirms �Dogfooding� of New Phone

5. The Google Phone Cometh?

Reviews: Google

Tags: Google, nexus one, T-Mobile

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Is There a $100,000 Book on Your Shelf?

One lucky British family happened to see a photo of the spine of a first edition of "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin. Don't we have that at home?, they thought.

They did. According to Reuters, the book was purchased for "a few shillings" in the 60s or 70s and has been sitting on the shelf, undiscovered, until now. Tuesday marks the edition's 150 year anniversary, and it will be auctioned off at Christie's. It is estimated that the book is worth £40,000 - £60,000 ($66,000 - $100,000).

If you've got a first edition or a very old book on your shelf, if might be worth searching it on abebooks.com and alibris.com to see if it's commanding a high price. The price of your book will be affected by the rarity of the edition, condition, and things like typos or signatures. Empty Mirror Books offers more insight here.

**Update 9:20 PM, 11/24/2009**
Guess what it fetched at London's Christie's? Including the buyer's premium, it sold for £103,250 -- about $172,000 -- almost twice the maximum estimated price. The AP reports that the shelf it was sitting on was a "toilet bookshelf." If you've got Darwin in your collection, you might want to note that British authorities are reportedly "searching for a leather-bound notebook Charles Darwin used in developing his theory of natural selection."

[via Reuters]

Filed under: Books

Is There a $100,000 Book on Your Shelf? originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sebastian Coe rules out political role - Scotsman

Times Online

Sebastian Coe rules out political role Scotsman Lord Coe, a Conservative peer, served as William Hague's chief of staff during his leadership from 1997-2001, and there has been speculation that he might ... 2012 boss Coe rejects return to politicsAFP Coe rules out return to politicsBBC News For Seb Coe, Delhi trip was a quest to retrace Indian rootsIndian Express Times Online all 103 news articles »

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Luxist Giveaway: Swatch Automatic Chrono "Sign in the Sky" Watch

Enter to win this watch! Brand new from Swiss Swatch, comes the the new Automatic Chrono line in the Irony collection. Five good looking watches push Swatch timepieces up to a more luxurious level - but retain the light and airy character that they are known for. The watches house a brand new ETA automatic chronograph movement and retail for $370 each. Style is suitable for a man or a woman, but at about 45mm wide, the watch is sized for a man. Follow Swatch on Twitter here.

I have for you one of the pictured watches, known as the Swatch Automatic Chrono "Sign in the Sky." You can learn more about it directly from Swatch right here. You can see the nicely engineered automatic movement through the case back of the watch, while the dial has a mixture of textured white and brushed metal tones. The bezel is steel with lume dots, and the case is a tough semi-transparent plastic. I quite like the soft, white rubber strap. You'll like this watch too - perfect for snowy days ahead.

To enter, leave a comment on this post sharing why you'd like to win the watch. The giveaway ends on December 4th at 8:00pm PST. See additional rules below.

* To enter, leave a confirmed comment below.
* The comment must be left and confirmed before December 4th, 2009 at 8:00PM Pacific Time.
* You may only enter once.
* One winners will be selected in a random drawing.
* One winners will receive one Swatch Auto Chrono Sign in the Sky watch valued at $370.
* Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia, who are 18 and older.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER. THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING

See full giveaway rules here.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Filed under: Timepieces

Luxist Giveaway: Swatch Automatic Chrono "Sign in the Sky" Watch originally appeared on Luxist on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Give your Dashboard a kick in the pants

Filed under: Productivity, Freeware

After reading through the comments on my post about Dashboard Widgets, I noticed quite a few people lamented the fact that the widgets have to go through a 'start-up' process every time you turn on your Mac or log out and log back in. Well, not anymore.

We actually covered this four years ago, back when it was an application named Dashboard Starter. Today it's called Dashboard Kickstart and its taken the form of a System Preference pane by Alwin Troost that runs in the background and reacts to the starting or re-starting of the Dock. Every time you log in or out, you restart the dock. When that happens, Dashboard Kickstart initiates the starting sequence of the Dashboard Widgets. This prevents the delay you'll experience when launching Dashboard the first time you want to use it.

I've used Dashboard Kickstart, in its different iterations, for years and its always worked flawlessly. Once installed, open your System Preferences and simply set how long you want the delay to be between the time your computer starts, or wakes from sleep, and the time you want your widgets 'kicked'. I set the sliders to the lowest time possible.

Dashboard Kickstart is free and requires 10.4 or above. Let me know what you think of Dashboard Kickstart in the comments!

TUAWGive your Dashboard a kick in the pants originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pokemon remake screens, now in English

ONM has posted the first English screens of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, coming to North America and Europe in spring 2010. The site highlights the newly redesigned Pokedex, which comes in both red and pink, and enables touchscreen-based obsessive browsing of your collection. Also visible: your starter Pokemon, who now follows you around like Pikachu in Pokémon Yellow.

There's still no mention of the PokeWalker accessory, unfortunately, making it increasingly likely that the Pokemon-training pedometer will be left out of the Western release.

Pokemon remake screens, now in English originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Bachelor weds HDTV in its fourteenth season

Likely as much of a triumph for the cost effectiveness of shooting in high-definition as proof of its mainstream acceptance, the fourteenth season of ABC's The Bachelor will be the first to air in HDTV. As viewers tune in for this weeks episode of stupid human tricks and absolute degradation, they can take comfort in knowing every tear, argument and rose ceremony on the way to wedded bliss will be captured in 720p. Hey, with Jon & Kate off the air we needed this one, don't judge us.

The Bachelor weds HDTV in its fourteenth season originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video interview: Heavy Rain producer confirms DLC, talks game marketing

Last month we spoke with Heavy Rain executive producer Guillaume de Fondaumiere about Quantic Dream's upcoming PS3 adventure game. As a game far from the everyday, de Fondaumiere agreed that Heavy Rain has been a challenge to market. "It's a difficult game to market, because it's difficult for people to understand what it is unless they experience it," he admitted in our video interview above. "So we have to show it to them. We probably have to give them a playable demo for them to see and experience for themselves how different and unique this experience is."

We argued that a playable demo would simply reveal how unconventional the controls could be, to which de Fondaumiere responded: "You simply cannot use conventional game mechanisms when you want to create a unique experience. But I think that -- and user tests we've conducted show that -- you get used to it very quickly. It's quite intuitive. I'm not too concerned about this. At all, actually."

Finally, when asked if he had any final words to tell the Joystiq audience, de Fondaumiere advised fans not to sell the game back to GameStop after completing the story. "Buy the game, don't sell it. Keep it to yourself. You'll need it to continue and experience more episodes in the months following the launch of the game." So, DLC confirmed, right?

Video interview: Heavy Rain producer confirms DLC, talks game marketing originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Something's changing in the iTunes App Store

Filed under: iTunes, App Store

Jason Grossman, author of Irene's Spirit, just tipped us that the look of the iTunes App store seems to be changing. At least that's the case for his app, and we'll be keeping an eye out to see if the rest of the store follows suit.

Instead of the gray background with descriptions on the right and pictures that can be clicked upon to change the picture, now the background is white, the pictures are all displayed using a scroll bar, with the review summary on the left and, as usual, reviews at the bottom.

Now to get the description of the app, you click on a More button on the right of the screen that brings up the author's description, and which devices and OS are required.

Let us know, in the comments, if you see others magically changing.

TUAWSomething's changing in the iTunes App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Borderlands patch restores skill points, Achievements

A new Borderlands title update is available on Xbox 360 (with a PS3 version coming soon). The patch fixes a number of issues, the most serious problems affecting skill points, Achievements and Trophies. Some players have encountered glitches that made them lose skill points, while others have had trouble unlocking Gamerscore/XP -- even after successfully completing an Achievement. Thankfully, the patch should apply retroactively, awarding players their rightfully earned skill points and gamer cred.

To see the full list of fixes in the patch, click past the break.

Continue reading Borderlands patch restores skill points, Achievements

Borderlands patch restores skill points, Achievements originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Synaptics Fuse concept handset puts a new squeeze on touchphone interaction

In case you weren't aware, Synaptics dabbled in the touchscreen handset game way back in 2006 with the Onyx concept, before phones like the LG Prada and Apple's iPhone came along and proved the idea so convincingly. However, Synaptics thinks innovation has stagnated since, and has girded itself once again to attempt another trend-setting concept. This one's a bit more wild: the "Fuse" involves contributions from Alloy, TAT, Immersion and Texas Instruments, and includes squeeze, tilt and haptic interaction. The big idea is to approach single-handed and no-look operation on a touchscreen handset, no small feat to be sure. The result is a pure kitchen sink of sensors, including a touchpad on the back of the phone, touch and pressure sensitive strips along both sides of the phones, dual haptic feedback motors, a 3-axis accelerometer and of course a new-generation Synaptics touchscreen in front. The TI OMAP 3630 processor powers the TAT Cascades 3D UI Engine which attempts to contextualize UI interaction with perspective tilts and fancy motion, and the haptics feeds back to let you know where your finger is on the screen -- an attempt to emulate feeling out the correct nub for keypad orientation on a button phone. We'll have to play with it to find out if Synaptics is really on to something, but even if the Fuse isn't the next best thing, we could certainly see somebody using some of these sensors to improve existing handset interaction. Check out a quick video after the break.

Continue reading Synaptics Fuse concept handset puts a new squeeze on touchphone interaction

Synaptics Fuse concept handset puts a new squeeze on touchphone interaction originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gordon Ramsay is in hot water, as his business goes down in flames

Filed under: Economy, People, Investing

Anyone hoping for the foul-mouthed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to get what's coming to him will have their wildest dreams come true. Ramsay's restaurant empire is in tatters, done in by ill-advised overexpansion, just as the economy was tanking.

The bellicose Brit's failure as a businessman is breathtaking to behold. "In the fall of 2008, his London-based Gordon Ramsay Holdings Ltd. breached the covenants on a £10.5 million [$17 million] loan and overdraft facility from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.," according to Bloomberg News. "In late December, Ramsay says, KPMG recommended that the company declare bankruptcy, fire hundreds of people and close all but its best-performing restaurants."

Continue reading Gordon Ramsay is in hot water, as his business goes down in flames

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Far West in the Far East: Eating banana roti

Filed under: Food and Drink, Asia, China, India, Laos, Thailand

You'll find banana roti all across the banana pancake trail in Asia. A backpacker favorite, banana roti is a cheap, almost-Western treat - the Asian version of a sweet crepe. I don't know much about the migration of the banana roti to Thailand, Laos, and Southwest China, but I'm assuming that because it's a roti, it originated in the Indian subcontinent.

Now, however, you can find a banana roti stand in almost any town in Southeast Asia that you might find a backpacker.

Last week I traveled to Xishuangbanna (loosely pronounced "shee-shwan-bah-nah") in southern Yunnan province. My first stop was Jinghong, a slow-paced tropical town along the Mekong river. I was thrilled to discover a banana roti stand; it felt in tune with the Southeast Asian vibe of the town.

To make the roti, the vendor takes a small lump of dough that he slaps onto the counter repeatedly, until the dough is paper thin and stretchy. Then he dumps a frightening amount of oil onto a large, flat wok, and sets the dough to sizzle on it. Some vendors add sliced banana at this point; the vendor in Jinghong (who was from Burma) tossed the sliced banana as well as chocolate and sweetened condensed milk into a cup and mashed it up before pouring it onto the dough.

Continue reading Far West in the Far East: Eating banana roti

Far West in the Far East: Eating banana roti originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Copenhagen talks should consider conservative ideas on global warming - Daily Cardinal

Telegraph.co.uk

Copenhagen talks should consider conservative ideas on global warming Daily Cardinal The debate over climate change has recently been thrust back on to the world stage at the global climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. ... Jon Snow falls for Ed Miliband's figuresTelegraph.co.uk all 968 news articles »

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The Fashion Statement: Cruise into 2010

There was once a time when the resort/cruise collections were made for the rarefied woman who could afford to escape the winter by heading to the tropics (she needed swimwear and a caftan, did she not?). Not anymore. While still a David to the Goliath fall and spring collections, resort is catching the attention of more and more people.

Like air travel and cell phones, is resort bound for the masses?

Collections are just now beginning to hit stores and, for a season that's ostensibly all about lounging around on the beach or the deck of a boat, there's a lot of fashion news to digest: optical motifs, exotic locales like Marrakesh, sheer, leathers for day, aquatic, scuba, old-world charm, draping and, of course, nautical.

The media is doing their part. Fashion magazines are pointing out 'It items' like the floral ribbon-laced sandal from Prada, a bright green croc tote from Roberto Cavalli and pretty much everything in Chanel's stunning parade of black and white caftans and graphics (above).

Fashion insiders have long contended resort/cruise is either an evolution of fall or a preview of spring. That's not necessarily the case today, says style and beauty expert Mary Alice Stephenson. Stephenson explained to me this week that fashion has become like fast food and designers are compelled to feed the hungry. In other words, a resort collection must stand on its own.

"People want whatever's new," she says. "And designers like to keep customers surprised with their unique point of view. Shoppers are putting more thought into their splurges. So designers have to seduce the buyer with making the pieces usable in every aspect of their lives."

Others tell me resort/cruise is the one time designers get to cut loose and get creative. Saleability is less of an issue for a season that lasts, at most, two months. Of course, some designers go overboard. Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa caught hell from my former employer Women's Wear Daily for his lineup of transparent dresses: "A long-standing argument against such [formal runway] presentations for resort is that inevitably some designers will crossover to the too-editorial side." Too-editorial means that those dress will have nothing whatsoever with how you and I dress in reality.

Still, as buyers we are demanding uniqueness, a slice of our favorite label. We want pieces to seamlessly integrate into our wardrobes. We want reality. And we want season-less items to wear far into next year.

We want it all, don't we?

Filed under: The Fashion Statement

The Fashion Statement: Cruise into 2010 originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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