$1 million coin: Too big to pocket. Too heavy to lift. [Video]

$1 million coin from Australia is bigger than a manhole cover and weighs a ton. So what will Australia do with a $1 million coin?

The Perth Mint unveiled a gold coin Thursday that stretches the definition of pocket change.

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It's more than 31 inches wide and nearly 5 inches deep (imagine one really thick manhole cover). And it weighs 1.1 tons ? not exactly walking around money.

Officially, the gold kangaroo is legal tender, picturing a kangaroo on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the other. Although its face value is $1 million Australian (US $1.07 million), it's 99.99 percent pure gold, which makes its actual worth some about US $55 million at current gold prices.

The official Perth Mint, which created the coin, called it in a statement: " the biggest, heaviest, inherently most valuable gold bullion coin in the world."

That's quite a feat. But since it's unlikely the mint will sell the coin or make any other ones, what exactly does one do with a giant gold coin worth roughly the annual pay for the Florida Marlins baseball team?

"Why did we do it?" asks Ed Harbuz, chief executive officer of the Perth Mint, in a video about the making of the coin (see below). "The Australian kangaroo gold bullion coin is one of the most popular bullion coins in the world. But we want to raise its profile even more. ... The one-tonne gold coin will be another attraction people can enjoy when they visit the mint."

And it doesn't hurt that with the giant golden kangaroo, Australia grabs bragging rights away from rival Canada. Until now, the Royal Canadian Mint had the world's largest gold coins at 100 kilograms apiece, according to Guinness World Records.

That 's impressive, but only one-tenth the weight of Australia's newest and most valuable kangaroo.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/9djiFDVSIlE/1-million-coin-Too-big-to-pocket.-Too-heavy-to-lift.-Video

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Students' financial info revealed on gov't website (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The personal financial details of as many as 5,000 college students were temporarily laid bare for other students to view on the Education Department's direct loan website earlier this month, an education official testified Tuesday.

The students' information was available during a six or seven minute window as officials were making a reconfiguration involving 11.5 million borrowers, said James Runcie, the Education Department's federal student aid chief operating officer. The change was designed to improve the website's performance times.

Runcie said students who logged on during the trouble period saw the personal details of other students.

Those whose information was exposed have been notified and offered credit monitoring services, Runcie said. The department shut down the website while the problem was resolved. "We responded as quickly as we could," he said.

Runcie's testimony came before a House Education and the Workforce subcommittee, which has been reviewing the Education Department's transition to directly issuing all student loans.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the subcommittee chairwoman, said the transition has meant more customer service problems and mistakes, including the recent security problem with the website.

"The implications of this kind of website malfunction are severe, particularly when it affects millions of borrows nationwide," Foxx said.

In a statement released after the hearing, Justin Hamilton, an Education Department spokesman, said the problem occurred on Oct. 12 and the department has no reason to believe students' information was misused or accessed by anyone with "malicious intent."

Congress changed the way student loans are issued last year as part of the law overhauling the nation's health care system. It essentially stripped banks of their role as middlemen in issuing the loans. All loans are now directly issued by the government. The expectation at the time was that the measure would result in $61 billion in savings over a decade. The billions saved are to pay for Pell Grants, provide resources to community and historically black colleges, help reduce the deficit and offset expenses from the health care legislation.

Runcie said the department uses rigorous security standards but is looking to soon roll out an additional safeguard. He also said the department appreciates suggestions on ways to make its website more user friendly, and plans to make changes.

Overall, Runcie said the transition to the direct loan program has been a success.

_____

Online: Student loan website: http://myedaccount.com

_____

Kimberly Hefling can be followed at http://twitter.com/khefling

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_on_go_co/us_student_loans

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FCC set to unveil rules for rural broadband fund (AP)

NEW YORK ? Federal regulators are set to reveal their plan Thursday for an overhaul of the $8 billion fund that subsidizes phone service in rural areas and for the poor, with the goal of redirecting the money toward broadband expansion.

The Federal Communications Commission is also preparing to disclose new rules for the byzantine system that governs how phone companies pay each other for phone calls. It's a system that, virtually everyone in the industry agrees, is outdated and leads to perverse schemes by carriers to stimulate certain kinds of phone traffic.

However, reform of the system has been held up for years by competing interests.

Together, the new rules are set to be the Obama administration's most significant overhaul of telecommunications regulations. The five-member commission will vote on the rules at a meeting Thursday morning.

The Universal Service Fund was created to ensure that all Americans have access to a basic telephone line. It is supported by a surcharge on long-distance phone bills. The program subsidizes phone service for the poor and pays for Internet access in schools, libraries and rural health clinics. But more than half the money goes to pay phone companies that provide phone service in rural places where lines are supposedly unprofitable.

John Stephens, chief financial officer of the country's biggest phone company, AT&T Inc., told investors and analysts last week that "in general, we're very positive to the idea of getting a refresh of those rules."

AT&T and the other big phone companies have put forward their own reform proposal. The FCC's plan is expected to borrow at least some features from it. That plan suggested capping the size of the new fund at $4.5 billion annually, giving subsidies to only one provider in an area and directing funds toward places where there is no business case for companies to provide service on their own. In addition, it would fund wireless broadband access in remote or rugged areas where wired line construction costs the most.

Policy director Matt Wood at consumer advocacy group Free Press said the phone-company plan had "very little to do with increasing broadband adoption, and everything to do with allowing monopoly local phone providers to reach further into the pockets of consumers."

Meanwhile, small rural phone companies have their own plan, and are apprehensive that the FCC will place limits on how they use their funding and divert money to wireless broadband.

The FCC estimated last year that 9.2 million U.S. households, or about 26 million people, don't have access to wired broadband. Excluding those who can get broadband wirelessly, the number shrinks to 5 million households or 14 million people. That's 4.5 percent of the population.

Telecom consultant Rory Altman at Altman Vilandrie & Co. notes that broadband coverage has spread much faster than phone service once did, and further funding might not accomplish much.

"What are we trying to solve by funneling more money into this?" he asked.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_rural_broadband

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Tuesday Morning Talk (TIME)

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Canada cuts growth forecasts as Europe, U.S. sag (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) ? Star performer Canada cut economic growth forecasts sharply on Tuesday as troubles abroad hit exports and dampened confidence about a recovery touted as the strongest in the G7.

An expected "brief recession" in the euro zone and more weakness in the U.S. economy prompted the Bank of Canada to delay by 18 months its forecast of when the economy will recover to full capacity. The bank left its key interest rate unchanged at an unusually low 1 percent and took any prospect of an interest rate hike completely off the table.

Separately Finance Minister Jim Flaherty downgraded the growth assumptions to be used in budget projections next month and spoke more openly than before about the possible need for additional stimulus if the economy stumbled again.

"We're of course concerned that we could have external events damage our economic growth to the point where other measures would be necessary within Canada, particularly with respect to jobs," Flaherty told reporters.

Ottawa, which bases its outlook on the average of 15 private sector forecasters, sees the economy growing 2.2 percent this year, down from a 2.9 percent forecast in June, and 2.1 percent in 2012 compared with 2.8 percent previously.

The central bank's outlook varies slightly but both now see growth at closer to 2 percent than 3 percent until 2013.

Still, that outlook is hardly doom and gloom and barring an economic catastrophe stemming from Europe, Flaherty said there will not be another recession. "Most of the countries in the world would gladly change places with Canada," he said.

Canada had one of the mildest recessions in the Group of Seven rich nations and as of January recovered all the jobs lost in the downturn.

But now some of the gloss is coming off that performance, and policy makers lay the blame on other countries.

The Bank of Canada's statement focused heavily on setbacks in the global economy and said modest domestic demand would drive growth.

"If I'm just adding up the words here, more talk about the global economy than the domestic economy, which itself perhaps sums up where the net risks to Canada really lie," said Michael Gregory, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The bank's dovish tone means investors have increased the chance of a rate cut in the coming year, although the bank made no suggestion of easing. The Canadian dollar hit a session low.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said this month the bank won't be "trigger happy," but has room to cut rates if needed.

The bank now sees inflation returning to its 2 percent target at the end of 2013 rather than in mid-2012, as it forecast in July. Inflation was an above-target 3.2 percent in September, but the bank sees the rate declining to 1 percent by the middle of next year before bouncing back.

Canada's central bank was the first among advanced economies to raise interest rates after the global financial crisis, lifting the rate three times in mid-2010. It has been on hold since then, and nobody expected a move on Tuesday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111025/tv_nm/us_economy

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Wilson could make last Texas start in World Series

By STEPHEN HAWKINS

updated 8:15 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2011

ARLINGTON, Texas - When C.J. Wilson starts Game 5 of the World Series, it could be his last outing for the Texas Rangers. The left-hander can become a free agent next month.

Wilson insists that he hasn't even "really thought" about what might happen after Monday night.

"I'm just thinking about the team and where we're at and being in the World Series obviously, like there's no extra series after this," Wilson said Sunday before Game 4. "There's no galaxy series or universe series or whatever. Just trying to win (Sunday) and win (Monday) and see what we can do back in St. Louis."

After going 16-7 with a 2.94 ERA during the regular season, Wilson is 0-3 with a 7.17 ERA in four postseason starts. He gave up three runs and walked six over 5 2-3 innings in losing Game 1 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

So, just how does Wilson block out questions about free agency?

"As soon as the question gets up, I start thinking about something else. I don't even pay attention to it," Wilson said. "I just picture myself like surfing or whatever, somewhere else. So as soon as you start talking and I hear the word free agency, I just go (hums), and I don't let it register. You've got to think about it this way, right: There's nothing I can do to control, like, what happens, what any team offers me or what any team wants from me or whatever.

"I'm obviously not going to be a second baseman or a closer or a right fielder. That's the only thing I'm certain about, is that I'm going to be a left-handed pitcher next year," he said. "Who it's for, I don't know yet."

___

NICE VIEW: Matt Holliday had the best seat in the house for perhaps the greatest offensive performance in World Series history. He was watching from the on-deck circle as Albert Pujols hit three homers, drove in six runs, compiled five hits and finished with a record 14 total bases Saturday night in Game 3.

"When he gets in that zone and that confidence is there, it's fun to watch," Holliday said.

Holliday said that once Pujols got on a roll, he expected it to continue. It started with a pair of singles, followed by three straight homers, all on fastballs from different pitchers.

"He's the best I've seen at what I call piling on," Holliday said. "He gets that fourth, fifth hit."

Pujols' third homer tied a World Series record set by Babe Ruth (twice) and matched previously by only Reggie Jackson (in 1977). The offensive outburst set or tied a litany of records, so many that they were still being recited over the press box PA system when the Cardinals were in the field. Because the system was played in the auxiliary press box behind left field, Holliday heard them all.

"So I've had about an hour to put it all in perspective," he said.

And?

"It's pretty good," Holliday said, laughing. "It was pretty incredible to watch. Make sure you tell everybody I was here and I was part of it."

___

JOB HUNTING?: Joe Torre might want to get back on the bench as a manager under a couple of conditions. They have to do with Tony La Russa and October.

"Now, if he passes me in postseason wins, I'm going to start managing again," Torre said Sunday, obviously joking because he added that he'd only want to manage postseason games.

La Russa earned his 68th postseason win when the Cardinals beat Texas in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday night. That put him 16 behind Torre, now Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball operations.

Torre won four World Series and 76 postseason games with the New York Yankees. He got eight more postseason victories with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

___

ST. LOUIS SOUTH: Before the Cardinals played Game 4 of the World Series at Rangers Ballpark on Sunday night, their NFL counterparts played across the street ? the St. Louis Rams lost 34-7 to the Dallas Cowboys.

It was the second time in three years that a World Series game followed an NFL game in the same city on a day when both home teams were playing opposing teams from the same city, according to STATS LLC.

The last time was 2009, when the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles won at home against the New York Giants before the New Yankees defeated the Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series later that night.

There has been only one other similar World Series-NFL matchup. That was on the West Coast in 1988 when there was still NFL football in Los Angeles.

On the same day that the Los Angeles Dodgers won at home over Oakland in Game 2, the San Francisco 49ers won on the road against the Los Angeles Rams.

___

PUJOLS GOING YARD: Albert Pujols covered more ground with his three home runs in Game 3 of the World Series for the Cardinals than the St. Louis Rams' offense had in their NFL game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Pujols' three long balls Saturday night went an estimated 1,226 feet combined ? 423, 406 and 397 feet, respectively. That translates into just less than 409 yards, 144 more than the Rams had in their 34-7 loss Sunday.

While joining Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players with three-homer games in the World Series, Pujols also had two singles. His 14 total bases set a World Series mark and were a combined 1,260 feet on the bases, or 420 yards.

___

DUCK, DUCK, GONE: That is quite a quacky power display above Mike Napoli's locker in the Rangers' clubhouse.

Lined up in a row are 31 small ducks, one for each home run Napoli hit this year before the World Series.

Napoli's brother and a best friend sent him one of the figures, which resemble miniature rubber ducks, during spring training. That is when Napoli told them they had to send him one for every home run he hit.

"It's an inside thing with us back home," said Napoli, adding there was no real significance to sending ducks.

The shelf has gotten a bit crowded since Napoli set a career high with 30 homers during the regular season. He added another in the AL division series and hit one in Game 1 of the World Series, though he hadn't yet received a new duck for that drive.

The ducks are painted different colors for different themes. Among them are an 8-ball duck, a bowling pin and another with a tuxedo.

"They're all my favorite," Napoli said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45009524/ns/sports-baseball/

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Cool Infographics - Blog - Carbonite Small Business Disasters

Infographics as advertisments have a lot of potential.? In this one about Small Business Disasters, Carbonite.com has shared the results of research they performed with small businesses.

What would your small business do if your computers were stolen or destroyed? Would your important data still exist? In April, Carbonite surveyed small businesses with between two and 20 employees to study their disaster recovery and data backup methods. We found that almost half of small businesses have already lost irreplaceable data.

The design does suffer a little from the large-font-syndrome that tries to make the numbers really large instead of visualizing them, but there are a number of good, simple visualizations included in the infographic.

The design also seems like something is missing at the top.? No title, company logo or anything to indicated what this infographic is about.? That?s espeically important because infographics can be heavily shared and have a life of their own on the Internet, separate from any text or explanation that the origianl company posts along with it.

I will say that I LOVE Carbonite as a customer!

Source: http://www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2011/10/24/carbonite-small-business-disasters.html

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The Yahoo Circus (Animation)

The latest rumors swirling around Yahoo is that Google might bankroll a private equity buyout?although why it might do so or how such a deal could ever get past U.S. antitrust regulators remains a mystery. But ever since Carol Bartz was fired, everyone from Alibaba to AOL (our parent company) seems to be floating trail balloons for some kind of deal to buy or merge Yahoo. Confused? The helpful animation above from Next Media Animation in Taiwan explains the situation. It's a circus, and Jerry Yang is the ringmaster. I love the part where he refuses the $44.6 billion gift from Microsoft. I bet Steve Ballmer finds that part funny also.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nx_ciC8QEdc/

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Video: When will Gadhafi be buried?

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44997902#44997902

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Video: Is airline to blame in 2009 plane crash?

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45000071#45000071

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ABC's Once Upon a Time Turns Fairytales Into Reality (omg!)

"Jersey Shore" season finale ratings barely up from last week Tim Kenneally - Reuters - 9 hours ago

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Season 4 of "Jersey Shore" started out with a bang, ratings-wise, and while the season didn't exactly end with a whimper, it was nothing to?? More??"Jersey Shore" season finale ratings barely up from last week

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/http___omg_yahoo_com_news75204/43347026/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/abcs-once-upon-a-time-turns-fairytales-into-reality/75204

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Public display of fallen leaders' bodies a time-tested tradition

Karim Kadim / AP

Two Iraqis watch a TV broadcast on the death of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Friday in Baghdad, Iraq.

By Robert Windrem, NBC News' senior investigative producer

Some have written that Libya had a "Ceausescu moment" on Thursday, when former dictator Moammar Gadhafi?s body was paraded through the streets of Misrata. But while photos of the corpses of former Romanian Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were widely distributed after they had were executed on Christmas Day, 1989, their? bodies were quickly buried without any public display.?

Getty Images

But history provides several more-apt comparisons of deceased leaders being publicly dishonored, including:

Najibullah, the one-named, Soviet-backed dictator of Afghanistan, who was holed up at the U.N. compound in Kabul when Taliban soldiers came for him on Sept. ?27, 1996. He had believed, incorrectly, that his presence at the U.N. compound would offer him protection and that the Taliban would not kill him. They did more than that.

---

The Taliban fighters first castrated him, then broke his fingers. Finally, they dragged him to death behind a truck through the streets of Kabul. After Taliban fighters were persuaded he was dead, his body was hung from a traffic light. His brother, who was with him at the compound, faced a less public fate. He was shot to death.

The body of Saddam Hussein, following his execution on Dec. 30, 2006, (which was recorded on a prison guard's cell phone), was taken from prison and brought to a "viewing party" at an Iraqi government official's home before being buried, according to some published accounts. There was no public parading of the body, but pieces of the hangman's rope were distributed as souvenirs to those present at the hanging.

AP

A poor choice of footwear tripped up former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Said also met an ignominious and pubic end.? After King Faisal II and his family were assassinated at the royal palace on July 14, 1958, Said fled and went into hiding. But he was discovered by supporters of the coup led by two Iraqi colonels as he sought to flee the country disguised as a woman. His fatal mistake: He was wearing men's shoes.? He was shot dead and buried, but his body was disinterred, dragged through the streets of Baghdad, where it was hung up in a public plaza, burned, and mutilated.

The closest comparison to Gadhafi?s end may be that of Benito Mussolini, the Italian Fascist leader who was killed April 28, 1945.?

In the final days of World War II, Mussolini was trying to escape to Spain through Switzerland, where his Fascist ally, Francisco Franco of Spain, had a plane waiting for him.???

Topical Press Agency / Getty Images

Italian dictactor Benito Mussolini is shown wearing ministerial garb in a 1926 file photo.

Mussolini and an entourage, including his mistress, Carla Petacci, were moving along the shoreline of Lake Como toward the border when they were stopped by partisans who recognized "Il Duce" even though he was dressed in a German military uniform.

He was taken to a house where the commander of the Communist partisans told him he was there to rescue him. The partisans put the group on a truck, but after a short ride the commander ordered Mussolini to get off and he was shot twice in the chest and killed.? Shortly afterward, the others, mostly ministers from Mussolini's government, were executed by a firing squad.

The next morning, the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci and the others were trucked south in a moving van to a plaza in Milan, where partisans had recently been publicly executed. After being dumped at 3 a.m., word spread of their arrival. Soon, all were hung upside down on meat hooks from the roof of a gas station, where they were stoned by passing Italians.?

After he was buried in an unmarked grave, Mussolini's body was dug up by loyalists and moved around Italy until authorities recovered it months later.? But it was not buried in the Mussolini family plot for another 10 years.?

Source: http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/21/8432259-public-dishonor-of-fallen-leaders-corpses-a-time-tested-tradition

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Stocks up as Europe debt crisis lumbers on (AP)

LONDON ? Markets were in a resilient mood Friday, remaining hopeful that Europe will come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with its crippling debt crisis, albeit a few days later than initially thought.

Europe's main stock markets all opened higher despite the surprise news Thursday that a European debt deal won't be clinched in time for a summit on Sunday. Germany and France said a second meeting will take place by Wednesday at the latest.

Sunday's summit was supposed to deliver a comprehensive plan to finally get a grip on the currency union's debt troubles by detailing new financing for debt-ridden Greece. It also was supposed to produce plans to make Europe's banks fit to sustain worsening market turbulence and further empower the eurozone bailout fund.

It seems that Europe's two biggest economies are at loggerheads over how to make best use of the bailout fund, the so-called European Financial Stability Facility, or EFSF. While France is proposing to turn into a bank, which would have access to unlimited credit from the European Central Bank, Germany appears reluctant to sanction such a move.

"The news of a delay in the announcement of a deal on resolving certain aspects of the eurozone debt crisis failed to dent confidence," said Derek Halpenny, an analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

However, he said the risks remain for assets such as stocks and the euro, as the delay "highlights the difficulties Europe is having in reaching a final resolution to the crisis."

Traders will continue to monitor all talk surrounding a meeting of the eurozone's 17 finance ministers later Friday in Brussels, ahead of the arrival of their leaders over the weekend.

For now though, stocks and the euro are holding their own, as they have largely done so over the past few weeks. Stocks have recovered a chunk of their losses for the year as investors became confident that the 17 countries that use the euro were preparing the three-pronged solution to the debt crisis.

In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.7 percent to 5,806 while the CAC-40 in France rose 1 percent to 3,115. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.8 percent higher at 5,428.

The euro was also trading solidly despite the debt deal delay, up 0.1 percent at $1.3778.

Wall Street was also poised for further gains ? Dow futures rose 0.5 percent to 11,524 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose by the same rate to 1,215.

Earlier, Asian gains were muted after a sluggish start of the trading day.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed little changed at 8,678.89 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2 percent to 18,025.72.

Mainland Chinese shares lost ground, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.6 percent to 2,317.28, its lowest close in 31 months. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 1.6 percent to 959.12.

In the oil markets, prices were steady. Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 7 cents at $86.17 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 22 cents to settle at $86.07 in New York on Thursday.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111021/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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UFC 137 shocker: GSP injured and off the card, Diaz-Penn now three-round main event

Dana White flew across country today to New York, when he landed, he and mixed martial art fans were greeted with some lousy news. The main event next week at UFC 137 has been scrapped because of an injury to UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

Carlos Condit will go on the shelf and wait for a healthy GSP to retur with Nick Diaz vs. B.J. Penn moving to the main event.

MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani spoke with GSP's trainer Firas Zihabi, who sent mixed signals in these comments:

"He's out for a month," Zahabi said of GSP. "I would say at least a month he can't train. So unfortunately, he's out of the fight, that's for sure. He's not in any condition to fight, that's for sure. No doctor will clear him."

That sounds like a pretty serious injury or does it?

This suddenly changes the tone of the event for Nick Diaz. Diaz freaked out a month ago as his title fight with main event status approached against St-Pierre. Does this change things for Diaz from a mental standpoint?

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
? Video: Goal of the year? Benn beats four defenders ? and the goalie
? Flyers stay up late for 'Jagr Hockey School'
? Cardinals realize Cruz can pull a fast one

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-137-shocker-GSP-injured-and-off-the-card-D?urn=mma-wp8321

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Sony Ericsson bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to Xperia handsets

HTC may be busy pondering its Android 4.0 future, but Sony Ericsson is apparently ready to take a bite out of Google's Ice Cream Sandwich. Yesterday, in a post on its Facebook page, Sony Ericsson's Dutch branch stated that it will indeed upgrade its Xperia lineup to the latest Android OS, though it didn't offer any details on release dates. We reached out to the manufacturer for confirmation, and received the following statement:

Sony Ericsson is currently rolling out the upgrade to Gingerbread 2.3.4 across its entire 2011 Xperia smartphone portfolio. This software upgrade will be available through a phased roll out in select markets. Beyond Gingerbread 2.3.4, we plan to upgrade our 2011 Xperia smartphone portfolio to the next Android platform made available to us.

The company went on to say that all official software announcements will be posted on its blog, so we'll let you know as soon as we have more details.

Sony Ericsson bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to Xperia handsets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Senate passes pipeline bill after hold dropped (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A bill to toughen federal safety regulation of oil and gas pipelines passed the Senate late Monday only a few hours after a Republican senator opposed to government regulation dropped his opposition to the measure.

The bill is an attempt to close gaps in federal safety regulations exposed by a deadly gas pipeline rupture near San Francisco last year, as well as a spate of other recent gas explosions and oil pipeline spills. It would authorize more federal safety inspectors, increase penalties for violations and require pipeline companies verify their records on pipelines' physical and operational characteristics and establish maximum operating pressures based on the verified information.

Under the bill, federal regulators could order that automatic shutoff valves be installed on new pipelines so leaks can be halted sooner. And it directs regulators to determine whether mandatory inspections of aging pipelines in densely populated areas should be expanded to include lines in rural areas. It would be paid for by industry fees.

Federal accident investigators found that officials for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. didn't know that a large transmission line under a subdivision in San Bruno, Calif., was made with short pieces of inferior pipe welded together until after the line ruptured, igniting a pillar of fire and killing eight people. The company's records for the half century old line were inaccurate and the strength of the pipe hadn't been adequately tested.

People "shouldn't have to worry about streets exploding under their feet because of lax safety regulations," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement. "Aging infrastructure demands proper regulation to save lives, and that's the path on which this bill sets us."

The bill was approved under unanimous consent procedures with no roll call vote or debate after Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky abruptly dropped his hold on the measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., simply read the bill's title, asked that it be accepted and it was done.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved the bill in May without opposition. The bill is supported by the industry's major trade associations ? the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the American Gas Association and the Association of Oil Pipelines ? as well as the Pipeline Safety Trust, a safety advocacy group.

Paul had been holding up passage of the bill for months. The lone senator opposed to the measure, he told the bill's supporters in private meetings that his opposition was based on a philosophical objection to new regulation rather than any particular concern with the provisions of the bill.

On Monday, Paul said in a statement that he had dropped his opposition because the bill's sponsors had agreed to incorporate an amendment regarding safety testing of older pipelines. A spokeswoman for Paul, Moira Bagley, said she was unable to provide a copy of the amendment, but an aide to Reid confirmed it was added to the bill.

"I have found a way to address the problems more thoroughly through these regulations, while limiting their scope and unnecessary red tape," Paul said in a statement. "My proposal will be unanimously passed and accepted by both sides, further proving that my actions have enriched this legislation."

Paul, a tea party ally and anti-tax activist, was elected to the Senate last year in part on the strength of his opposition to new federal regulations.

Two House committees have unanimously approved separate pipeline safety bills that are similar to the Senate bill. Differences between those measures are expected to be worked out in the coming weeks, with a single bill brought to the House floor before the end of the year.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111018/ap_on_go_co/us_senator_pipeline_safety

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Ipad security lock Help

The ipad has become the most sought after tablet pc in the world. This is because of the advanced features that have been incorporated into the ipad. There are more than a million ipad today in usage and the number of this ipad is rising every day. The ipad is one of the most expensive tablet pc in the world as well, and those who can?t afford it mostly resort to theft. With this information, ipad developers came with multiple [...]

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/ipad-security-lock-help/

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Monday morning(ish) KO: Kimbo Slice?s boxing win

Though most of the boxing world was focused on Bernard Hopkins this weekend, former UFC heavyweight Kimbo Slice had his second boxing match this weekend. It didn't take long.

In just 47 seconds, he took out Tay Bledsoe, a tall cruiserweight whose record is now 2-4. With two wins now under his belt in the ring, is Slice a full-fledged boxer, or is he still a former mixed martial artist who is now trying boxing? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Monday-morning-ish-KO-Kimbo-Slice-s-boxing-win?urn=mma-wp8278

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Facebook campaign heralding change in Bhutan?

THIMPHU?? For a sign of things to come with isolated Bhutan's young democracy, look no further than a draconian smoking law, some bar talk, and a Facebook page.

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For decades, Bhutan has been the world's most reclusive kingdom, with conservative villagers living under an absolute monarch. The introduction of parliamentary democracy in 2008 by the then-king was forced on many reluctant subjects who still look to the monarch as the final arbiter of justice.

But earlier this year Kinley Tshering, then a media consultant in the capital, Thimphu, discussed with friends over drinks the jailing of a Buddhist monk for three years for possessing $3 worth of tobacco, one of the first to be prosecuted under a new law banning public smoking.

More than 50 people have been jailed over the law, which allows police with sniffer dogs to raid homes in search of illegally imported tobacco and makes holding as much as a carton of 200 cigarettes a jailable offence.

Angry, Tshering decided to form a Facebook page, a digital protest unheard of in this Himalayan kingdom of 700,000 people wedged in between India and China.

Within months, the page had several thousand followers and was the talk of the town, signaling how a younger generation is embracing social media and democratic rights, confidently challenging an established order of elderly and mostly conservative leaders.

"Facebook was important. It opened the floodgates for open criticism of the government," said opposition leader Tshering Tobgay. "People feel the need to be more vocal. Only two years ago, criticism - constructive or not - was quite anonymous."

It is not just social media but traditional newspapers - the first private ones appeared in 2006 - that are becoming increasingly aggressive in probes into the government.

No one expects any revolution in Bhutan, where the king is revered. There is broad support for the kingdom's cautious embrace of globalization and its philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), the idea that personal well-being and the environment are as important as GDP.

Alienated younger generation
But, tentatively, Bhutan is becoming a country where its first-ever democratic government - elected in 2008 - may have to increasingly take into account its people, especially its younger and modern, urban and wired generation.

For decades, criticism and grievances were aired among families and close friends.

"There are a lot of speeches about GNH. It sounds like we are doing a lot," said Tashi Choden, a senior researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies in Thimphu. "But there is a different reality on the ground. The youth are increasingly alienated. We could lose what we have if we are not careful."

The predominantly Buddhist Bhutanese are mindful of the fate of other Himalayan kingdoms: the monarchy in Nepal was abolished after a civil war, Sikkim was absorbed by India and Tibet by China.

Story: Bhutan king and queen share first public kiss

The marriage of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on Oct. 13 to a young student may cement the future of the popular monarchy that acts as the checks and balances on an unsure democracy, funneling grievances through the ancient rights of subjects to appeal to the king.

But there is far more skepticism about its elected leaders.

"The next election (in 2013) will be fascinating," said Francoise Pommaret, a French anthropologist and historian who has lived in Bhutan for three decades. "I have no idea what will happen, but there are profound social changes. Our leaders will have to listen to a new generation."

Bhutan's government faces a slew of challenges.

Most glaringly, there is a massive generation gap between an elderly conservative elite and young people who pose problems for the government that range from unemployment, urban gangs and drug abuse.

There is also a growing disparity in wealth. Bhutan is not one of the world's poorest countries - its GDP per head puts it in the league of lower middle-income nations - and yet more than a fifth of the population lives on less than $0.70 a day.

Increasing expectations of better lives are fed by television, which was only introduced to the country in 1999, as well as the ever-more-frequent sight of expensive land cruisers plying Bhutan's roads.

"Is there is one thing that keeps leaders awake at night, it's the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots," said one senior government official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Tide turning slowly
It is a change that goes to the far reaches of a kingdom roughly the size of Switzerland.

In the south, lower-caste villagers with historical Hindu roots are suing their upper-caste neighbors for discrimination, saying it is illegal under the new constitution. Pommaret calls it "a landmark in Bhutan's history".

In Thimphu, some 200 people carried out Bhutan's first-ever street protest in 2009 against the slow official reaction to the drowning of seven youngsters in a monsoon-swollen river.

A highway through a national park connecting eastern Bhutan with the central part of the country has sparked national debate on television, and protests to the prime minister.

The new taste for popular debate is not restricted to an urban, educated elite: village migrants studying in college towns are embracing Facebook. And the government is smoothing the way, setting up computer centers in many rural areas.

Story: Bhutan's 'Dragon King' marries his commoner bride

Dupthob Tashiyangtse, a lawmaker from a remote rural region in the east, recounted how, after he was elected, villagers started making all kinds of demands including asking him to charge their mobile phones or pick up their groceries.

"When we campaigned we told them we were here to help them," Tashiyangtse said. "They took us literally. People are now coming forward. They are more demanding."

And everyone talks about the Facebook page.

"People are coming out," said Tshering, who is now managing editor of Business Bhutan, a newspaper that has spearheaded investigations into the government. "We were really surprised by the reaction, quite scared actually. We were unsure what the government would do."

In fact, the prime minister signed up on the Facebook page, a signal that the leaders of this country may see the tide cannot be turned.

But it is not without tension and fear.

Organizers say the street protest was photographed by plain clothes police. A normally assured prime minister angrily accused a newspaper of playing to foreign interests over an investigation into a state lottery scandal.

There is a long way to go. Many people are still reluctant to talk openly. Change will probably come hesitantly.

Asked is he had any more plans for protests, Tshering smiled, and said: "That was enough, for now."

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44919623/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

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Investing In Real Estate Investment | Webmaster Articles

Real estate investing is always good and also sometimes it is red hot. When it really is hot plenty of real estate seminars start out rolling around the world and a huge number of people spend thousands of dollars for investing education.

It?s startling to learn that of all those countless eager people that attend on these kinds of workshops simply about 5% get even one investment property. For what reason? The real estate authorities sell the ?sizzle? as well as make profiting from real estate property sound simple. The truth is it?s simple, however quite hard.

Here is a fast plan that could permit anyone to start building financial independence.

You will discover basically four steps to investing in single family houses:

1. Purchase houses below 100 % market value. Yes, people definitely do sell off houses for less than the house?s full value. The true secret is to recognize that a lot of home owners will simply consider the purchase offer which is all cash and within just 5% to 10% of their asking price.

The successful investor learns to get financially affected property owners who don?t have a choice but to offer for less than market value. They get lost their job or maybe been suddenly transferred; they?re just divorcing; these people been living beyond their particular income; the family is overwhelmed with medical payments and, not uncommonly lately, their money has gone to assist a drug habit.

Those are examples of determined sellers. They ought to sell and they will accept something apart from a traditional, all cash offer.

2. How do you find determined sellers? You work on it! Like any business you must develop a little marketing plan. One that is definitely simple, but very effective, is one that was tested 75 years ago by the Fuller Wash company; door to door sales.

You?re selling your skill like a home buyer to the people who must sell. You also have the skill to help them solve at least part of the problem. With door to door prospecting you will see more and get more houses faster than any other method. However, many people just won?t walk door to door for three or four hours per week. Fine, you will discover other means.

You could watch public notices for the announcement of foreclosure product sales. Meeting with a house owner once they?ve received a notice that they?re about to lose their house helps you deal with a very enthusiastic seller. Other open public notices that provide buying possibilities include probate, divorce and bankruptcy. You can follow the Homes For sale listings in your local newspaper or Website.

You can certainly telephone the names found in these notices or, and the least time consuming, send a postcard indicating your interest in buying their particular property. It is going to produce buying possibilities, simply not up to personal call.

3. After you have found a motivated seller you should realize how to frame offers that give advantages for both you and for the property owner. A great real estate investor immediately understands that this is not a business of stealing property, yet of resolving problems in ways that benefits the owner.

The home owner is in a tight place of quite a few kind and you save them from public embarrassment and, normally, give them at least a small cash to buy a new start.

No investor is able to leave money in every offer. No one but Bill Gates has much available dollars. You have to use inventive strategies such as, rents, option and taking over mortgage payments. Little or no cash is needed for those deals. You will find plenty of reasonable priced educational material on all those subjects in book stores or in EBay. The exact same education which seminars sell for thousands of dollars.

4. You make your profit once you purchase! Never buy till you?ve cautiously determined exactly how you will definitely get to your revenue. In the event you hold it to be a long period investment will the month-to-month rental income more than to cover the monthly house loan payment? Will you sell the deal to another investor for quick cash? Will you do several fix-up and also sell the house for full value? Will you quickly trade it for a more attractive property? Use a plan prior to deciding to buy.

There you have four measures that even a part-time buyer can do in 3 to 4 hours weekly. What?s the missing part? Your willpower and persistency. If you can unfailingly comply with the plan for a few months you will be well on your way to financial independence.

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Working with local agents such as estate agents hereford
can supply great peace of mind because they are familiar with the region and also have often developed a strong network of acquaintances. By having a qualified expert such as estate agent petworth assist with a property deal tends to make the task much easier.

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Source: http://webmasterarticles.net/investing-in-real-estate-investment/

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NamUs: Where missing people can be found

There is a place where the lost can be found.

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Long before Lisa Irwin vanished from her Kansas City home, there was another desperate search in Missouri for a little girl. Her name was Elizabeth Gill. On the afternoon of June 13, 1965, Elizabeth was in her family's front yard in Cape Giradreau. It was the last time the 2-year-old was seen alive.

Scott Kleeschulte also disappeared in Missouri. On June 18, 1988, the 9-year-old freckled face boy was walking down a street in St. Charles County. To this day, nobody knows what happened to him.

The three cases, separated by decades, share a common bond with thousands of other files accessible to the public on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System website.

Known as NamUs, the vast national registry lets relatives, law enforcement, victim's rights advocates, and anyone scan the records and search for information that could help solve these heartbreaking mysteries.

NamUs, which is run by the National Forensic Science Technology Center, is under the direction of the National Institute of Justice.

Story: $100,000 reward in Lisa Irwin disappearance

?We know that NamUs could really be the key to making a difference in the lives of families that have been waiting and waiting to find missing loved ones,? said Kristina Rose, deputy director of the National Institute of Justice

There are more than 8,800 total missing persons cases on NamUs, of which 75 percent remain open, including one that goes back to the Great Depression.

'Really cold cases'
Joseph Lawrence Halpern was 22 on Aug. 14, 1933. That was the day he disappeared while hiking in Colorado?s Rocky Mountain National Park. The NamUs website indicates Halpern was wearing a light blue shirt, brown trousers and was carrying an army backpack.

?Many are really cold cases,? Rose told NBC News, ?but the more people you have looking at them and make the connection and build bridges to share information, the chances become much higher in solving those cases.?

There are many familiar names in the NamUs system, names like Lauren Spierer, the Indiana University student who vanished last June. The case of Etan Patz, who was the first missing child to appear on a milk box, is also detailed in the database.

?Etan was last seen at 8:00 a.m. at Prince and Wooster Streets going to the school bus stop,? the NamUs information indicated. ?He was wearing a black cap, a blue corduroy jacket, blue pants, blue sneakers, and carrying a blue bag with elephants on it.?

NamUs said it has helped solve 62 missing and unidentified person cases, including that of Paula Davis.

Video: Home videos released of missing baby Lisa (on this page)

?She went missing in 1987 out of Kansas City, Missouri and 14 hours later a body was found in Ohio,? Rose said.

In 2009, after watching a public service announcement for NamUs, Davis? sister searched the database and ultimately determined that the body discovered in Ohio was that of Paula Davis.

NamUs gave her an answer. But many other families are still waiting for one, including that of Jamie Peterson.

The 30-year-old Pittsburgh mother was home Sept. 26 when her children went to school. When they returned in the afternoon, Peterson was gone.

Her file, #12519, was entered into NamUs last week.

?I think there?s always hope,? Rose said, ?and that?s what NamUs does, it gives people hope that these cases will be solved.?

? 2010 msnbc.com? Reprints

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44907467/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Husband in custody in death of DC-area woman

This undated handout photo provided by the Maryland State Police/Child Recovery Unit shows 11-year-old son William McQuain. Montgomery County, Md. police are investigating the killing of a Germantown woman and the disappearance of her son. Police say they found 51-year-old Jane McQuain dead in her bedroom Wednesday. Investigators say there was trauma to her body. Maryland State Police have issued an Amber Alert for McQuain's William. Authorities say he was last seen at the home on Sept. 30. Police believe he was abducted. (AP Photo/Maryland State Police/Child Recovery Unit)

This undated handout photo provided by the Maryland State Police/Child Recovery Unit shows 11-year-old son William McQuain. Montgomery County, Md. police are investigating the killing of a Germantown woman and the disappearance of her son. Police say they found 51-year-old Jane McQuain dead in her bedroom Wednesday. Investigators say there was trauma to her body. Maryland State Police have issued an Amber Alert for McQuain's William. Authorities say he was last seen at the home on Sept. 30. Police believe he was abducted. (AP Photo/Maryland State Police/Child Recovery Unit)

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) ? The husband of a slain woman was arrested in North Carolina on Thursday and charged with first-degree murder, but police said they were still searching for her missing 11-year-old son. The boy lived with his mother but was not home when officers arrived.

Curtis Lopez, 45, was taken into custody around 9:30 a.m. Thursday as he was leaving an EconoLodge in Charlotte, N.C. The arrest came after Jane McQuain was found dead in the bedroom of her condominium on Wednesday night in Germantown, about 30 miles northwest of Washington.

Police found her car, but not her son, William McQuain. He was last seen Sept. 30, police said. William is Lopez's stepson.

"Our priority, our focus right now is to locate William McQuain," said Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger. "We were hoping that we would find him with Mr. Lopez, but we did not."

Details about the couple's relationship were not immediately available. Manger said Lopez had recently been seen removing property from McQuain's home and placing it inside her car.

Police discovered the 51-year-old McQuain after an acquaintance called police earlier in the day and said she'd not been heard from for about two weeks. It wasn't clear when she was killed, Manger said, but she is believed to have been alive as recently as Oct. 1 or 2 and possibly later. Detectives spoke with Lopez, and he was deemed a suspect in part because of his inconsistent statements, Manger said.

It was not immediately clear if Lopez had an attorney.

McQuain suffered trauma to her body, but police would not reveal more information about the death pending the release of autopsy results. After her son was not found, the Maryland State Police issued an Amber Alert for the boy. Montgomery County police also obtained a warrant charging Lopez with murder.

Manger said he did not know whether Lopez was being cooperative. It was not immediately clear when he would be returned to Maryland to face charges. Montgomery County detectives went to North Carolina on Thursday to speak with Lopez and search for evidence.

The boy is a sixth-grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.

Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the Montgomery County public school system, said he could not discuss the specifics of McQuain's case, but typically the school sends a recorded phone call to a student's guardian after an unexplained absence. After more than four consecutive absent days, the guidance office then assumes responsibility for trying to track down a parent or guardian.

"We're looking at the timeline in this case and we have shared that information with the police," Tofig said.

Officials at the middle school declined to comment.

Students found out about McQuain's disappearance Thursday. A letter would also go home to parents, Tofig said.

Josh McDonald, 23, who lives nearby, said he often saw William playing outside with friends but did not know his mother. A photograph distributed by police shows a smiling William in a recreational baseball uniform, with a red, white and blue ribbon around his neck

McDonald said violent crime in the neighborhood was very rare.

___

Associated Press writer Sarah Brumfield in Baltimore contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-13-US-Mother-Killed-Son-Missing/id-d868955aff424d59ba57b5ca293f1938

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Samsung Series 3 (NP305V5A)

The Samsung Series 3 (NP305V5A) ($599.98 list at Staples) may look luxurious, but its AMD Llano APU's performance and battery life is anything but. It has little else to recommend itself, unfortunately, in the way of features?aside from its integrated Bluetooth technology, a spacious 750GB hard drive, and its AMD Radeon HD 6520G GPU, which gives it an edge on the gaming grid over Intel's integrated graphics. Better laptops, in terms of performance and features, can be had for $20 less in the Gateway NV55S05u ($579.99 list, 4 stars) or $40 more in the Asus U56E-BBL5 ($649.99 list, 4 stars).

Design
The Series 3 (NP305V5A)'s design is a huge part of its appeal. Its sharp corners make it stand out from the usual rounded edges of laptops like the HP Probook 6465b ($730 direct, 4 stars). Its lid has a dark brown brushed aluminum texture that makes it look like table-top wood, and a silver band frames the lid, further adding to its elegance. The whole package weighs in at 5.25 pounds (1.24 inches at its thickest point), which puts in on the lighter side of the 15-inch laptop space, compared with the Gateway NV55S05u (5.6 pounds) and Asus U56E-BBL5 (5.5 pounds). In general, toting around anything heavier than 4 pounds on a day-to-day basis isn't the best for your back, unless you have a backpack with great support or use a wheeled bag.

Its 15.6-inch screen is perfect for multi-taskers who like to work with two windows side-by-side. The screen displays in 1,366-by-768?a standard resolution found in most all laptops at this price. The speakers offered a fairly average listening experience: Bass was low, and audio didn't go up terribly high, but it was enough to satisfy two or three people crowding around a laptop watching a movie or some trailers. Above the screen is a webcam for video chatting and taking pictures. The full-size keyboard is in the chiclet style, with a half-sized numeric keypad off to the right side. I found the typing experience to be satisfactory as far as laptops go, and the navigating experience offered from the matte multi-touchpad was smooth. The mouse buttons were also easy to click and didn't make much noise.

Features
Compared with other budget systems, like the Asus U56E-BBL5, the Series 3 (NP305V5A) is limited when it comes to features. It has the usual offerings: three USB 2.0, HDMI and VGA video, a 4-in-1 card reader (SD, SDXC, MMC), audio and mic jacks, DVD-RW drive, and an Ethernet jack. The only outlier is its integrated Bluetooth technology, which allows you to connect wireless peripherals like headsets, mice, and keyboards. The Asus U56E-BBL5, on the other hand, features WiDi 2.0, a technology that allows you to wirelessly stream your computer's contents to your HDTV in 1080p (provided you have a Netgear Push2TV receiver, a $99 option). It also has an integrated 3G wireless broadband technology called WiMAX. The Series 3 (NP305V5A) only has 802.11n Wi-Fi.

The Series 3 (NP305V5A)'s 750GB, 5,400rpm hard drive is the largest capacity you can get at this price in a laptop. It's bigger than the 640GB hard drive found in the Asus U56E-BBL5 and Gateway NV55S05u. The hard drive is also filled with a number of pre-installed programs, better known as "bloatware." There's an eMusic app, Amazon reader, Bing bar, Skype, and a bunch of Samsung's own proprietary software. Personally, I'm of the mind that a new PC should feel like a fresh start, not some company's commercial playground.

Performance
Llano APUs are the most powerful chipsets in AMD's arsenal. But when the Series 3 (NP305V5A)'s quad-core 1.6GHz A6 3410MXP chip and 4GB of RAM was pitted against the Intel Core i3 CPU?the lowest end of Intel's Core i-series?found in the Gateway NV77H05u ($629.99 list, 3 stars) it didn't quite step up. The Gateway NV77H05u (2,004) beat the Series 3 (NP305V5A) (1,516) in PCMark 7 by 488 points?a significant margin. The Series 3 (NP305V5A) managed to get through our Handbrake video encoding test in 3 minutes 18 seconds, 55 seconds slower than the Gateway NV77H05u and 1:23 behind the Asus U56E-BBL5 (a Core i5 system). In day-to-day tasks, the Series 3 (NP305V5A) will give you enough power to perform, but you'll likely start to see it slow sooner than its Core i5 counterparts.

The Series 3 (NP305V5A)'s AMD Llano APU does have an advantage when it comes to 3D gaming, as its graphics processor (AMD Radeon HD 6520G) sits on the same die as the CPU. In Crysis (DirectX 10) it managed 30 frames per second (fps) and 21.7fps in Lost Planet 2 (DirectX 9) on Medium quality settings at 1,024-by-768 resolution. However, it was beat out by the Gateway NV55S05u with its AMD Radeon HD 6620G GPU that was able to score 36.7fps on Crysis and 38fps in Lost Planet 2. At these frame rates, you'll be able to play most low-end titles easily (i.e. Limbo, Team Fortress 2), and mid-range titles like Starcraft 2 and Portal 2, provided you make some adjustments to the settings.

Its 48Wh (6-cell) battery only managed to last 3 hour 16 minutes on our MobileMark 2007 battery test. The Gateway NV55S054u lasted longer (4:54), and the Asus U56E-BBL5's larger 8-cell 74Wh battery garnered a total battery time of 7:34.

The Series 3 (NP305V5A) may have a luxurious exterior, but its parts are lackluster. If Web browsing and day-to-day tasks, with some gaming on the side, are what you have in mind, then the Gateway NV55S05u will give you a more advanced Llano APU and save you $20 on your overall purchase. However, the Editors' Choice Asus U56E-BBL5 (only $40 more) is equipped with a Core i5 CPU that will last for a few years before it start to become noticeably slower, and will chew through more CPU-intensive tasks at a quicker pace.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Samsung Series 3 (NP305V5A) with several other laptops side by side.

More laptop reviews:
??? Lenovo IdeaPad V570-1066AJU
??? Samsung Series 3 (NP305V5A)
??? Asus G74SX-BBK8
??? Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269
??? Gateway NV77H05u
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/QYYwDlOtEIA/0,2817,2394654,00.asp

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