DC police identify students involved with drug lab - Washington Post

District police have identified two students and a campus visitor who were arrested Saturday on charges that they maintained a drug lab in a Georgetown University freshman dorm. Georgetown students Charles Smith and John Romano, who live on the ninth floor of Harbin Hall, and John Perrone, a visitor and friend of one of the students, were arrested and charged with manufacturing a controlled substance. Police said the three had a lab set up to produce the hallucinogenic drug DMT in the campus dorm room. District police did not release the ages or the home towns of the three. Police also did not say how much, if any, of the drug was found, although officials said chemicals used in the production of the drug were discovered in the room. Police were alerted to the room early Saturday when people reported a chemical odor in the building, later prompting a series of evacuations. District officials said that a few people were treated for exposure to the chemicals but that they posed no further threat to other dorm residents.

- Josh WhiteD.C. Water sued by Cafritz on fire losses

Peggy Cooper Cafritz, whose Northwest mansion and collection of African and African American art were lost in a fire last year, is suing D.C. Water for failing to maintain proper water pressure in her neighborhood along Chain Bridge Road. The lawsuit alleges that a lack of water pressure to area hydrants led firefighters to lose control of the July 29, 2009, blaze, and that testing showed that the water pressure was about one-third of the acceptable minimum for firefighting. A District report in August 2009 said that the water flow was low but that whether the extensive damage to the home and its artifacts could have been prevented is "debatable" because the blaze was so intense and fast. The fire started on a porch and consumed the civic leader's home and its irreplacable contents. The damage to the home, artwork and a rare book collection was officially estimated at $15 million, although the lawsuit says Cafritz's losses were $30 million. Cafritz's lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, seeks $30 million in punitive damages against D.C. Water, formerly known as WASA, to "ensure that the dangerous conditions caused by WASA's misconduct do not result in similar harm to other D.C. residents."D.C. Water officials have not commented specifically on the lawsuit, which was filed last week. "We recognize the very real tragedy in this situation and empathize with the loss Ms. Cafritz and her family experienced in the summer of 2009," George Hawkins, D.C. Water's general manager, said in a written statement. "While we have not yet reviewed her complaint, we look forward to reading it and taking whatever action is necessary at that time."

- Josh WhiteMARYLANDMan is arrested inburning of woman

A man accused of setting a woman on fire was arrested Saturday night by Howard County police.Police have not confirmed the identity of the man, who is believed to be homeless. The woman, who also might be homeless, was taken to Johns Hopkins Burn Center with severe burns.Howard police said the incident occurred in a wooded area near Gorman Road about 2:45 p.m. Saturday. A woman who is also thought to be homeless called the police from a nearby store.After a search, police found a man on Greenwood Place about 5 p.m. and took him into custody.

- Ovetta Wiggins

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Whitman, Fiorina and McMahon: Spending big, failing bigger - Washington Post

All sharp, successful businesswomen who made millions as executives in the private sector, they identified 2010 as an apt historical moment for a Republican candidate with no political experience to break into politics. In pursuit of higher office, each committed considerable resources - more than $200 million combined - to challenge seemingly vulnerable Democrats.

Each risk-taker came up far short of her goal.

Whitman, the 54-year-old former chief executive of eBay, burned through more than $140 million of her own money in a colossal loss in the California governor's race to Attorney General Jerry Brown. Also in California, Fiorina, 56, the former Hewlett-Packard leader, spent about $7 million of her own luchre in a bitter Senate loss to the incumbent, Barbara Boxer. And McMahon, 62, who with her husband built the smack-down empire called World Wrestling Entertainment in Connecticut, spent $50 million in seeking an open Senate seat, losing to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

The question isn't so much why three savvy businesswomen threw so much good money after bad in losing ventures to win political office. In a year when voters overwhelmingly registered their dissatisfaction with Democrats and the unemployment-riddled economy, the candidates had every reason to consider the millions a sound investment. Instead, the question is how they failed so resoundingly.

"It's in some ways like a highly underdeveloped country that suddenly strikes oil and they don't know what to do with the money and start spending it unwisely," said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. Baker said that money is a threshold requirement in politics, "but above a certain amount you don't get a dividend for every extra dollar."

"And when it's your own money, you cast aside some of the restraints and keep spending, to the point where you cast aside certain other aspects of the campaign that might be deficient."

Whitman was the shakiest campaign presence of the three, and a colossal ad campaign could not correct that. Awkward on the trail and hounded by embarrassing reports that she had failed to vote most of her adult life and that her housekeeper was an illegal immigrant, she hired expensive media consultants, including chief strategist Mike Murphy, who made hundreds of thousands of dollars of Whitman's money and financed an onslaught of on-air ads that targeted women, Latinos and other traditionally Democratic constituencies. But the millions she spent to boost her appeal seemed to have the opposite result, as her likeability dropped below where it had been when she started.

Both Whitman and Fiorina waited an exceptionally long time to concede to their rivals, the former expressing pride in her campaign as she called it quits in the middle of the night, the latter waiting until a Wednesday morning conference call to admit defeat.

"We had an exceptional campaign," Fiorina said, blaming the loss on an inability to "overcome the registration advantage" Democrats enjoy in population centers like Los Angeles. Ultimately, she refused to "engage in a game of coulda, woulda, shouda."

But there was plenty to second-guess in Fiorina's inability to drift back to the center after her sharp tack right in the primary. In contrast to most centrist California candidates, Fiorina stuck to her opposition to abortion except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother's life; touted the benefits of offshore drilling; and championed gun rights.

Boxer pounced on Fiorina's positions on social issues and constantly linked the Republican to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who endorsed the GOP challenger.

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HP, RIM Tablets Duel for Enterprise Customers - eWeek

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By: Wayne Rash
2010-10-24
Article Rating: / 2

There are 4 user comments on this Enterprise Mobility story.

HP, RIM Tablets Duel for Enterprise Customers
( Page 1 of 2 )

Hewlett Packard and Research in Motion demonstrated at the Gartner Symposium/IT Expo in Orlando that there is more than one way to slice the tablet market.  

Both companies highlighted their tablets, both aimed at the enterprise market, and both tablets were completely different from the Apple iPad and from each other. Could this mean a fragmentation of the tablet market or simply a market that is too broad for one device to satisfy? 

HP is the first out of the gate with an enterprise tablet. The Slate 500 went on sale just after midnight on October 22 on the HP Web site. Chris Preimesberger, who examined the device, describes it as being narrower and lighter than the iPad. More significantly, the device runs Windows 7 Professional. 

According to HP?s press materials, this tablet is designed as a business machine rather than a consumer electronics item. This means that it comes with Microsoft Office 2010, it has a stylus for entering handwritten notes and for writing e-mails. The Slate 500 includes a docking station with additional USB ports, a video port, and it includes two cameras, one facing to the front and one to the rear for video conferencing and for taking photos of things. The four-finger multi-touch screen also means that you aren?t dependant on the stylus to use the Slate. 

What?s less well-known is that tablet computers aren?t new at HP. I used the first one well over a decade ago. In those days the device was more like a laptop with a detachable screen. On the bottom was the keyboard. Enclosed in the screen section were a battery, the hard disk and the WiFi radio, and a socket for holding the electronic stylus. You needed to use the stylus or a USB mouse and keyboard to use the computer. Over the years HP has updated its line of tablet computers, and the Slate 500 is a logical evolution of that product line. 

RIM?s tablet, meanwhile, may be aimed at the enterprise, but it has little in common with the HP Slate. The RIM device is designed to be used in conjunction with a BlackBerry smart phone. Like the HP, the PlayBook has support for WiFi and Bluetooth. Also like the HP, it does not have a 3G or 4G radio. The PlayBook is designed to sync with BlackBerry devices, and it?s designed to tether to them for access to high speed wireless Internet access. 

RIM claims the PlayBook is also not competing with the Apple iPad for consumer dollars. While about half of all BlackBerries are sold to consumers, it?s hard to imagine a large number of consumers wanting their tablet tethered to their phones. 

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Suspect package found at airport - BBC News

3 November 2010 Last updated at 18:44 ET Part of Glasgow Airport has been evacuated after a suspicious package was found.

The package was discovered in the departures security area at about 1955 GMT.

A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said security staff had become aware of an item "deemed to be suspicious in nature".

Passengers who had already passed through departures security were allowed to travel.

It is not clear whether the bag had already been screened in the search area of the airport.

A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said: "A suspect package was found in the search area. Because it is in the search area we can no longer process passengers for their departures.

"We are still accepting flights as normal. We are not closed but we have cordoned off that area until the police say it is safe."

He added: "We have had to evacuate the search area and the adjacent road at the front of the terminal. The terminal is still accessible.

"The suspect package was found by one of the staff."

The last two flights due to leave from Glasgow Airport were delayed.

They are Easyjet's 2055 to Gatwick and British Midland's 2125 flight to Heathrow.

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Kinect Dashboard: The beginning of the end? - Computerandvideogames.com

Is it wrong to let a Dashboard worry me? Should I really let a superficial, skin-deep tweak play on my mind?

I've always been an over thinker, maybe it's just me, but my beloved Xbox has changed.

Why have, bright, solid, green and yellow ribbons replaced the orbiting of a newly born, Planet Xbox eclipse on start-up, for example?

Where are her subtle curves? What's happened to the attention to detail and the way menus slide neatly behind each other and stretch back to the horizon?

Instead of a sleek, sexy, inviting welcome, now when I boot up my 360 I get bright but sharp-edged, straight, shallow hello. Something's up.

I know, I know, it's still the same machine it was yesterday. Today's Dashboard update doesn't change the fact that it can still play Gears - and in a couple of weeks I'll be hitting Black Ops with the rest of the world - but don't tell me it's just a backend. It's not.

It's the first thing I see when I boot up my console and it sets my gaming mood. Ok, up until now it was probably a subconscious thing, but you know what they say about not knowing what you've got 'til it's gone.

I'm not saying Microsoft has paved paradise exactly, but the Dashboard re-design has bigger implications than you might realise.

A console's boot-up menu is its shop floor, its front garden. That green gallery is the hotel reception of the 360. It reflects a brand; it's symbolic of the experience you can expect as an Xbox owner.

It's the same for the other two consoles. I can remember touching my PS3 to life for the first time and being intrigued by the operatic swell, the wave of light, flowing like a ribbon across the screen and a sophisticated, logo-less "Sony Computer Entertainment" fading in on the right of the screen.

I thought I was being lead into some sort of Hollywood movie but no, that's just the entrance to the XMB.

At first it struck me as odd but the more I thought about it the more sense it made. The PS3 is pitched at that slightly older section of gamers as more than a video games console. It wants to make the leap from the kids' bedroom to the living room as multimedia hub.

The PS3 XMB backdrop, with its standard jet black set-up, looks more like a Jaguar advert than a gaming portal.

The Wii dash is the exact opposite; pristine, solid white surfaces, baby blue trim, a nice big round button for mail. Every option is spread out in front of you across a wall of mini-screens for simplicity.

You don't need me to tell you that the Wii is going for a different type of gamer to the PS3 but look how the Dashboard reflects it. It's clean, friendly and Gran doesn't have to worry herself with tricky sub-menus.

The Xbox 360 has always sat in between the PS3 and the Wii. Of course, as a hardcore console its snuggled right up against the PS3, but where Sony's console might play more Blu-rays in some households than it does games, the 360, by and large, stays with the gamer.

It's one for the FPS lover, the racing nut, the football fanatic. The 360 is about the lads and lasses who gather round to compete. Sweeping generalisation? Maybe, but the 360 Dash of old pitched itself at gamers.

It was shiny and slick but it didn't take itself quite so seriously as the PS3. It was sophisticated but grounded in fun.

Of course, back when the dashboard I'm currently sticking up for was first unleashed, I did do a mini-sick in my mouth when I saw what were essentially Miis jumping about my screen.

I got over that, but this latest update seems like phase two of the move towards Wiiville. It's just too stark and simple.

And that start-up tutorial video, the one that tells us how to use the analogue sticks to scroll through the menu. Please.

And that's the problem. This isn't just a case of the Xbox sticking on a bland sweatshirt - with its flat, grey boxes - it's the dumbing down of a console in preparation for the casual gamer.

Granted it's only a visual dumbing down, and Microsoft would call it streamlining in preparation for Kinect users, who'll be swiping around the menu screens, but in a way that's worse.

With Kinect's starting line-up, bar a few potentials, it hasn't done a lot to convince me that it's going to cater for the hardcore sufficiently. I want the 360 to drag Kinect to the core, at the moment it looks like Kinect is going to push the console to the casual.

I'm sure that the 360 will provide more than enough for real gamers for a long time, but today it feels like my console is trying to impress someone - and that someone isn't me.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I feel like I'm losing my Xbox 360.

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