| Pakistan takes baby steps to filmdom
Pakistani cinema is entering the international age with moves to normalize the country's own movie industry and the reversing of a 43-year embargo against Indian films. Caretaker minister for industries, Salman Taseer on Saturday announced that the entertainment sector has been granted 'industry status' following a decision by the Cabinet. Spanning studios, production companies and animation, the status is intended to allow the sector to build infrastructure, conduct research and engage in training schemes. "Duty-free import of equipment related to this industry will also be allowed," he said. Industry status may also allow normal financial interaction with other parts of the economy. Neighboring India's granting of industry status eight years ago foreshadowed bank lending and outside financial investments in the sector and a modernization boom.
Wal-Mart site offers workers' blunt opinions about products
Microsoft is one of Wal-Mart's biggest suppliers. But that did not stop the Wal-Mart employee in charge of buying computers from panning Microsoft's newest operating system, Vista. "Is it really all that and a bag of chips?" he wrote on his blog. "My life has not changed dramatically - well, for that matter, it hasn't changed at all." Known for its strict, by-the-books culture - accepting a cup of coffee from a supplier can be a firing offense - Wal-Mart is now encouraging its merchants to speak frankly, even critically, about the products the chain carries. The new website, which was created during the holiday shopping season, has become a forum for unvarnished rants about gadgets, raves about new video games, and advice on selecting environmentally sustainable food.
UK takes tough stance on piracy
This legislation would mean the UK would have the most stringent and prohibitive anti-piracy laws in the world. It would be a technical challenge for ISPs to do this. Monitoring traffic that is shared using file-sharing tools like BitTorrent is perfectly feasible - as the programs use specific internet ports. In fact, ISPs already monitor file-sharing traffic across the net in order to shape the flow of information - prioritising certain bits of data over others. Knowing where to look isn't the problem; knowing what to look for is. Every day many terabytes of data are being shared over the internet using file-sharing tools. Individual packets of information can be inspected - but who can tell if Person A is sharing an MP3 file of his own band performing with Person B or if it's the latest Kylie track? Would all digital content have to be watermarked? Would ISPs have responsibility for this? If not, who would? And there is evidence that more people are encrypting files that they send over peer to peer networks, making it difficult to know exactly what they are sharing.
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A group of unhappy shareholders called a halt to the school's expansion schemes, and started talking profits. They brought in Career Education Corporation, a young but rapidly expanding company in the for-profit education business. Career Education was a favorite of Wall Street investors. In 1995 it had revenues of about $19 million; by 1999 revenues were up to about $217 million, according to annual reports. It grew through a decade-long buying spree, snapping up small or struggling schools and rapidly expanding their programs and enrollment. CCA was a typical acquisition. Career Education had already bought six culinary schools, and considered them a profitable and growing sector. The corporation paid about $31 million for CCA, then quickly nixed the New Orleans deal and shut down the satellite campuses.
Nexidia Technology Awarded Patents - Further Strengthening Market ...
ATLANTA, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexidia, the market-leading provider of audio search and speech analytics solutions, today announced the granting of two U.S. patents pertinent to Nexidia's core technology and solutions offerings. Patent 7263484 is based on a pioneering approach to indexing recorded audio to enable highly scalable, accurate phonetic search. This capability is an integral part of the Nexidia Phonetic Search Engine (PSE) and has been leveraged by Nexidia's global customer base since the company's inception (as Fast-Talk Communications) in 2000. The Nexidia PSE is the core technology for all Nexidia's market leading applications and services offerings including ... This patent was applied for in 2001, is assigned to Georgia Tech Research Corporation (a technology licensing division of the Georgia Institute of Technology) and exclusively licensed to Nexidia as part of the founding of the company.
CORNER CUBE MONDAY 2/25: Thoughts on Mayweather and Big Show press ...
Updated throughout the day from the corner cubicle, Torch columnist James Caldwell's weekday blog focuses on hot topic current events and other items of interest from around wrestling. Updated Monday, February 25 - Mayweather press conference. I've determined I'm never eating at Jack in the Box again after sitting through the same JitB commercial for 30 minutes waiting for WWE to stream the Mayweather press conference on their website. That aside, it's clear that Mayweather is the heel in the program against Big Show unless it's strictly a pro-De La Hoya and anti-Mayweather thing in Los Angeles. But, Mayweather is a natural heel, so I believe the best dynamic here is to keep Mayweather cocky and arrogant, while keeping Big Show tough and the aggressor. Even with Rey Mysterio by his side, Mayweather created his own heel wrestling persona at this press conference by flashing dollar bills and flaunting that he's got money, mansions, cars, and girls.
Knifeman jailed for terrifying knife attack on teenager
Undy was charged with attempted murder but eventually pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated attempting to cause serious harm. Judge Simpson said Undy had co-operated with police after giving himself up but could not give a reasonable explanation for the attack. "You told police you had no idea why you did what you did and asked if you could apologise to the victim," she said. Undy, who suffers agoraphobia and panic attacks, was suicidal and had been drinking in the hours leading up to the incident. The 48-year-old had eight prior convictions for assault. Undy will be eligible for parole after serving three and a half years behind bars. Ms Utting said she was happy with the sentence, which she described as "fair".
New Rolls-Royce Coupe Revealed
We should have known something was up. The invitation to a dinner hosted by Rolls-Royce in a private airport hangar, held during a four-day review of BMWs and Minis, instructed the 40 or so auto journalists to wear a jacket and tie. This group is not normally known for its sartorial splendor, after all. O.K., it's a Rolls event, we thought, so a little formality is understandable. The venue was transformed from a hangar to a reserved party atmosphere. No deafening music. No laser light shows. There was a modest display of current Rolls-Royce automobiles: the Phantom, Drophead Coupe, and Phantom stretch. Journalists were allowed to get a close look inside and out. The tables were set with enough crystal, china, and silver. It was a setting equal to an elegant wedding or, if we had known, a product launch.
Update: Library Has 10 Copies of "Water for Elephants"
Librarian Bette Ammon e-mailed a few minutes ago to say that "Water the Elephants," the first selection for the new Huckleberries Online Book Club, arrived at the library Friday. They'll be available this evening. Three are reserved, including one by me. Seven others will be available. The library's open now, if you want to reserve a copy. Bette's also preparing some guidelines to help us get started on this adventure. P.S., I just finished reading Slavomir Raciwz "The Long Walk" and recommend it highly. It's a true story about 7 desperate prisoners who break out of a Communist prison in Siberia at the outbreak of World War II, in the dead of winter, and succeed in walking all the way to India, through the Gobi Desert and over the Himalayas. Easy read. Incredible story about man's desire to be free.
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