Contest: Win one of five Androidified TPU cases for the Samsung Galaxy Nexuxs

Androidified TPU Skin Case

OK, OK. We couldn't wait any longer. We picked up five of these "Androidified" TPU Skin Cases from Cruzerlite -- and these are for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus -- just to give away to you fine, upstanding readers of Android Central. Not a fine, upstanding reader of Android Central? Well, you should be. Just saying.

Anyhoo. What you see here is your basic TPU skin case, meaning it feels like a cross between rubber and plastic and fits snugly around your phone. This one's got some nice ribbing along the edges, to help with grip, and there are cutouts for all of the buttons and ports, as well as the secondary microphone. (That's important.) It fits our GSM Galaxy Nexus just fine, as well as Verizon's LTE version.

And we're giving away five of them. In fact, we're giving away the five you see here. How to enter? Just hit the link below for all the deets. Good luck!

Enter to win an "Androidified" TPU skin case for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/6LiNBQ7N3k0/story01.htm

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Summary Box: Siemens quarterly net down 17 percent (AP)

LOSING STEAM: Industrial equipment maker Siemens AG said Tuesday that net profit fell 17 percent to euro1.46 billion ($1.89 billion) in the final quarter of 2011 due to delays in major wind-power and rail projects.

EUROPE DEBT IMPACT: CEO Peter Loescher said the result showed that troubles In financial markets from Europe's debt crisis "have left their mark on the real economy" through weaker demand.

WORLD VIEW: Siemens fortunes are a clue to demand in the global economy, since the company is active far beyond its German home ? in the U.S., Asia and the developing world.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_germany_earns_siemens_summary_box

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Sheen: 'Men' should end after this season

CBS

Has "Two and a Half Men" run its course?

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Charlie Sheen thinks his former CBS hit, "Two and a Half Men," has run its course, and needs to end after its current season.

"I don't think they should go on past this year," Sheen told the New York Post. "I just think that people are there because there's nowhere else to go yet."

Sheen also claimed the show's quality has declined, getting in a dig at his former boss, Chuck Lorre, who famously fired him in 2011.

"I don't think that [replacement Ashton Kutcher] is working with the best writing because Chuck is doing too many shows," he told the Post. "He and Jon [Cryer] and Angus [T. Jones] deserve better material."

Sheen had kind words for his replacement, Ashton Kutcher, saying that he himself once replaced a popular actor when he took over for Michael J. Fox on "Spin City," and knows the difficulty.

"It's so f---ing hard you can't believe it," he told the newspaper. "It's all you're thinking about, and you're surrounded by these ghosts. So hats off to him for doing the best job that he can."

Earlier this month, Sheen told Us Weekly that he "was kind of impressed" by Kutcher's reported dalliance with another woman while still married to Demi Moore.

Whatever Sheen thinks of the show, it's unlikely to be canceled. Ratings are apparently up, and earlier this month, Kutcher said he is eager to film more seasons.

Should this be last season for 'Two and a Half Men'?

Should this be the last season for "Two and a Half Men"? Vote in our poll and tell us on Facebook.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10233601-sheen-men-should-end-after-this-season

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George Soros Warns Of Financial Collapse, Class ... - Business Insider

Soros at Davos in 2011

George Soros warns of financial collapse and class warfare in a chilling interview with Newsweek's John Alridge.

?At times like these, survival is the most important thing,? he says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn?t just mean it?s time to protect your assets. He means it?s time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history?a period of ?evil.? Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.

?I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I?ve experienced in my career,? Soros tells Newsweek. ?We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.?

Read the full interview at The Daily Beast >

These days Soros is holding mostly cash -- he calls gold "the ultimate bubble --? along with European bonds he picked up in the MF Global firesale -- judge for yourself whether they were a cutthroat investment or altruistic support for Europe.

In Davos this week, expect Soros to give the counterpoint to Angela Merkel and Mario Draghi's optimism on the eurozone.

Don't miss: Unpacking the Davos swag bag >

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/george-soros-warns-of-financial-collapse-class-warfare-and-the-rise-of-evil-2012-1

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YouTube: 4 billion daily views? Check. 5 billion? Stay tuned.

YouTube, already the TV of the Internet age, has skyrocketed to 4 billion page views per day. Can YouTube's new channel program push it even higher?

The recent changes video sharing site YouTube has experienced are apparently paying off.

Skip to next paragraph

The site has boosted its daily page views by 25 percent in the last eight months ? and gathering over 4 billion page views per day, reports Reuters. Also higher was the number of video uploads. According to YouTube-owner Google, 60 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute compared to the 48 hours of video uploaded per minute in May.

There are plenty of reasons for the increase in viewership. YouTube has made to make its video site accessible on more mobile devices. smart televisions, and streaming media set-top boxes (Roku, Apple TV, etc.). It?s also redesigned its website with a simplified feel to emphasize YouTube channels.

And speaking of YouTube channels, the company has previously committed $100 million for channel partnerships to increase the amount of premium, original content available on the site. Some of these channel partnerships include Madonna?s DanceOn, World Wrestling Entertainment?s Fan Nation, and exclusive bits from the Onion News Network. More recently, YouTube forged deals to bring a variety of news-related channels to the site from partners like Reuters, Young Hollywood and Penske Media-Ion TV. The company is also working with legendary director Ridley Scott on a short film festival channel, which it has committed at least $500,000 in prize money for a short video contest.

With more premium channel partnerships in place, its understandable why YouTube viewership is on the rise ? something that will undoubtedly pay off for Google. Last week during its quarterly earnings report the company stated that its display ads sales are generating $5 billion in revenue due in large part to YouTube?s success.

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut. And don?t forget to sign up for the weekly BizTech newsletter.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/SRm4lsTOKNk/YouTube-4-billion-daily-views-Check.-5-billion-Stay-tuned

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Strong storms hit Alabama, kill two (Reuters)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) ? Search and rescue team combed through debris in Alabama after powerful thunderstorms pummeled the state early on Monday, killing at least two people and leaving heavy damage just hours after tornadoes struck portions of Arkansas.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency after the predawn storms hit the Birmingham area, with the towns of Center Point and Trussville just to the northeast of the city hit particularly hard.

Two people were confirmed dead, according to Pat Curry, Jefferson County's chief deputy coroner; one in Clay, a city of roughly 10,000 people, and another in the western part of the county.

Earlier, an emergency management official had reported three deaths.

"We have major, major damage," said Bob Ammons, a Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) official, referring to Center Point, Trussville and some unincorporated areas of the county.

About 100 people were treated for injuries, said Jefferson County EMA spokesman Mark Kelly.

Last April, massive tornadoes tore through Alabama killing more than 240 people, including 64 in the Jefferson and Tuscaloosa areas.

On Monday, in St. Clair County, Alabama, spokeswoman Katie Reese said a local fire department estimated some 36 homes had been damaged, and some of them destroyed.

The possibility for sporadic thunderstorms in the region lingered, according to AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Henry Margusity, but overall the severe weather was calming down.

THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER

Clean-up and recovery efforts were under way across Alabama on Monday afternoon.

Food safety inspectors had been dispatched to assess damage and power outages at retail food establishments, state officials said, adding that any compromised products would be taken off shelves.

Search and rescue efforts were ongoing, according to Matt Angelo of the Center Point fire department. The injury count in that area northeast of Birmingham remained at about 12, he said.

At nearby Parkway Veterinary Clinic animals were being transported to a safe location after the structure sustained a direct hit during the storm, a spokeswoman said.

Earlier, rescue crews were dispatched to investigate reports of an overturned mobile home with people trapped inside, said Debbie Orange, city clerk for the city of Clanton, about midway between Birmingham and Montgomery. No injuries could be confirmed.

A preliminary report from the weather service's storm prediction center indicated a radio station in Clanton, Alabama was destroyed and a 302-foot (92-meter) transmission tower "toppled" due to the severe weather.

A tornado is suspected, but not yet confirmed, in the radio station destruction, according to the National Weather Service.

In Tennessee, the worst storm damage was in the middle of the state, with downed trees and power lines. In western Tennessee, structural damage resulted from winds whipping up to 65 mph, meteorologists said.

These were the latest in a series of powerful January storms to have torn through the Southeast.

On Sunday, twisters downed trees and powerlines in Arkansas leaving thousands without power.

A tornado ripped into an area outside of Fordyce, some 70 miles south of state capital Little Rock, damaging houses and felling trees and power lines as it moved, according to Accuweather.com.

The National Weather Service in Little Rock rated the Fordyce area tornado as an EF2, on a scale that ranges from EF0 to EF5, the most severe. The town of just under 5,000 people was one of the hardest hit areas in a series of storms that struck Arkansas on Sunday night.

Significant damage occurred to houses northwest of the small town, the city's country club and a set of transmission towers, it said in a statement.

The weather service has reported as many as eight possible tornadoes may have touched down on Sunday night in Arkansas, which was pelted by soft-ball sized hailstones and buffeted by winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour.

By Monday, almost 8,000 customers across Arkansas were still without power, according to utility provider Entergy Arkansas, Inc.

(Additional reporting by Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Suzi Parker in Little Rock and Kelli Dugan in Mobile, Alabama; Writing by Dan Burns and Lauren Keiper; Editing by Greg McCune and Sandra Maler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/us_nm/us_usa_weather

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Mixed record for Obama's State of the Union goals (AP)

WASHINGTON ? As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his annual address to Congress, many goals he outlined in previous State of the Union speeches remain unfulfilled. From reforming immigration laws to meeting monthly with congressional leaders of both parties, the promises fell victim to congressional opposition or faded in face of other priorities as the unruly realities of governing set in.

For Obama, like presidents before him, the State of the Union is an opportunity like no other to state his case on a grand stage, before both houses of Congress and a prime time television audience. But as with other presidents, the aspirations he's laid out have often turned out to be ephemeral, unable to secure the needed congressional consent or requiring follow-through that's not been forthcoming.

As Obama's first term marches to an end amid bitterly divided government and an intense campaign by Republicans to take his job, it's going to be even harder for him to get things done this year. So Tuesday night's speech may focus as much on making an overarching case for his presidency ? and for a second term ? as on the kind of laundry list of initiatives that sometimes characterize State of the Union appeals.

"State of the Union addresses are kind of like the foam rubber rocks they used on Star Trek ? they look solid but aren't," said Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. "Presidents will talk about solving some policy problem, and then the bold language of the State of the Union address disappears into the messy reality of governing."

For Obama, last year's State of the Union offers a case study in that dynamic. Speaking to a newly divided government not long after the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., Obama pleaded for national unity, a grand goal that never came to pass as Washington quickly dissolved into one partisan dispute after another.

Many of the particulars Obama rolled out that night proved just as hard to pull off.

Among the initiatives Obama promoted then that have yet to come to fruition a year later: eliminating subsidies to oil companies; replacing No Child Left Behind with a better education law; making a tuition tax credit permanent; rewriting immigration laws; and reforming the tax system.

The list of what he succeeded in accomplishing is considerably shorter, including: securing congressional approval of a South Korea free trade deal; signing legislation to undo a burdensome tax reporting requirement in his health care law; and establishing a website to show taxpayers where their tax dollars go.

White House press secretary Jay Carney argued Monday that the unfinished business from last year's speech didn't represent a failure.

"I think that any State of the Union address which lays out an agenda has to be ambitious, and if you got through a year and you achieved everything on your list then you probably didn't aim high enough," Carney said.

One of Obama's pledges from last January's speech ? to undertake a reorganization of the federal government ? he got around to rolling out only this month. And other promises are vaguer or more long term, such as declaring a "Sputnik moment" for today's generation and calling for renewed commitments to research and development and clean energy technology; pushing to prepare more educators to teach science, technology and math; promoting high-speed rail and accessible broadband; and seeking greater investments in infrastructure.

"Clearly as time goes on and a presidency matures you get less and less of it and the State of the Union becomes an aspiration for what you want to do as opposed to a road map for what you can accomplish," said Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer. As voters' enthusiasm fades and opposition deepens, Zelizer said, "You lose some of your power and you get closer to the next election and no one wants to work with you."

Last year's address already contained more modest goals than the speech Obama gave to a joint session of Congress a month after his inauguration, which although not technically a State of the Union report had the feel of one. At the time Obama called for overhauling health care and ending the war in Iraq ? promises he kept ? but also for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and imposing caps on carbon pollution ? promises unmet.

Obama this month announced plans to use tax credits to encourage employers to create jobs in the U.S. instead of overseas ? an idea he also raised in his State of the Union speech two years ago. Some of his goals, such as immigration and education reform, have resurfaced in multiple addresses, but still without being accomplished.

And rarely has Obama's rhetoric as president reached as high as the lofty promises of his campaign, when he pledged to change the very way Washington does business and remake politics itself. It's a far cry from those promises of change to the ambition of meeting monthly with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders ? but even that relatively modest goal, from Obama's 2010 State of the Union, went unfulfilled.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_state_of_the_union_promises

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Factbox: EU sanctions against Iran (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? Here is an outline of EU sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. New sanctions were imposed Monday.

MONDAY'S STEPS

A ban on the transport, purchase and import into Europe of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products and related finance and insurance. Contracts already concluded can be executed until July 1 and the measures will be reviewed before May 1.

The sanctions also ban the export of key technology for the energy sector and new investment in Iranian petrochemical firms and joint ventures with these companies.

The EU also froze the assets of the Iran's central bank in the European Union and banned trade in gold, precious metals and diamonds with Iranian public bodies and the central bank.

In addition, the sanctions bar the sale to Iran of more "sensitive dual use" goods -- those that can have a military or security application -- and add three people to a list of those targeted by asset freezes and visa bans and freeze the assets of eight more entities.

Details of the sanctions will be published in the EU's Official Journal Tuesday.

EXISTING SANCTIONS

The EU has gradually imposed sanctions on Iran since 2007 as part of Western efforts to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear work. Sanctions include those agreed by the United Nations and autonomous EU measures. Current EU sanctions include:

- Trade ban on arms and equipment that can be used for repression, and a ban on goods and technology related to nuclear enrichment or nuclear weapons systems, including nuclear materials and facilities, certain chemicals, electronics, sensors and lasers, navigation and avionics;

- Ban on investment by Iranian nationals and entities in uranium mining and production of nuclear material and technology within the EU;

- Ban on trade in dual-use goods and technology, for instance telecommunication systems and equipment; information security systems and equipment; nuclear technology and low-enriched uranium;

- Export ban on key equipment and technology for the oil and gas industries (i.e. exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining and liquefaction of natural gas). Ban on financial and technical assistance for such transactions. This includes geophysical survey equipment, drilling and production platforms for crude oil and natural gas, equipment for shipping terminals of liquefied gas, petrol pumps and storage tanks;

- Ban on investment in the Iranian oil and gas industries (exploration and production of oil and gas, refining and liquefaction of natural gas). This means no credits, loans, new investment in and joint ventures with such companies in Iran;

- Ban on new medium- or long-term commitments by EU member states to financial support for trade with Iran. Restraint on short-term commitments;

- EU governments are banned from extending grants and concessional loans to the Iranian government. Provision of insurance and re-insurance to the Iranian government and Iranian entities (except health and travel insurance) is banned;

- EU financial institutions must report to national authorities any transactions with Iranian banks they suspect concern proliferation of financing; banks must notify transfers above 10,000 euros to national authorities and request prior authorization for transactions above 40,000 euros (with humanitarian exemptions);

- Iranian banks are banned from opening branches and creating joint ventures in the EU; EU financial institutions are banned from opening branches or bank accounts in Iran;

- Ban on the issuance of and trade in Iranian government or public bonds with the Iranian government, central bank and Iranian banks;

- EU governments must require their nationals to exercise vigilance over business with entities incorporated in Iran, including those of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines;

- National customs authorities must require prior information about all cargo to and from Iran. Such cargo can be inspected to ensure trade restrictions are respected;

- Cargo flights operated by Iranian carriers or coming from Iran may not have access to EU airports (except mixed passenger and cargo flights). No maintenance services to Iranian cargo aircraft or servicing to Iranian vessels may be provided if there are suspicions that they carry prohibited goods;

- Visa bans are imposed on persons designated by the UN or associated with or providing support for Iran's proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems, and on senior members of the IRGC; as of January 22, visa bans and asset freezes apply to 113 persons (41 designated by the UN and the rest by the EU);

- Asset freeze on 433 entities associated with Iran's proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems; and senior members and entities of IRGC and the IRISL (UN designations cover 75 entities); these entities include: companies in banking and insurance sectors, the nuclear technology industry and in the field of aviation, armament, electronics, shipping, chemical industry, metallurgy, the oil and gas industry, and branches and subsidiaries of IRGC and IRISL.

HUMAN RIGHTS

In addition to the nuclear track, the EU has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 61 Iranians seen as responsible for human rights violations.

ECONOMIC RELATIONS

The EU had a free-trade agreement with Iran until 2005 and Tehran's refusal to cooperate with the IAEA on its nuclear work. Europe remains an important trade partner. Ninety percent of EU imports from Iran are either oil or oil-related products. In 2010, the EU imported 14.5 billion euros worth of goods from Iran and exported 11.3 billion euros of goods to it.

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak and David Brunnstrom; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_iran_eu_factbox

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Study finds tablet, e-book ownership soared

(AP) ? Tablets and e-readers were a popular gift over the holidays, so much so that the number of people who own them nearly doubled between mid-December and January, a new study finds.

A report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, released on Monday, found that 29 percent of Americans owned at least one tablet or e-reader as of the beginning of this month. That's up from 18 percent who said the same in December.

The iPad from Apple Inc. is perhaps the best-known example of these gadgets, along with Amazon.com's various Kindle devices and the Nook from Barnes and Noble. The iPad put tablets on the map and the cheaper Kindle Fire and Nook devices helped get them in the hands of more people.

The percentage of people who own a tablet jumped to 19 from 10 between mid-December and early January. E-book reader ownership also rose to 19 percent from 10 percent of U.S. adults.

Men and women were equally likely to own tablets, and the likelihood of tablet ownership was higher for people with higher household incomes, the report found. Those with higher levels of education were also more likely to own tablets than those who completed fewer years of school.

E-readers, meanwhile, were slightly more common among women.

The figures are from ongoing surveys conducted by Pew about tablet and e-reader ownership. They were conducted between November 2011 and January 2012. The first, pre-holiday survey was conducted among 2,986 Americans 16 and older. Two post-holiday surveys were conducted among about 2,000 adults in January.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-23-Pew-Tablets/id-1eca92449b16457fb1b2049ff7d22c01

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