On Wednesday we discussed news that the Authors Guild had objected to the text-to-speech function on Amazon’s Kindle 2, claiming that it infringed on audio book copyright. Today, Amazon said that while the feature is legally sound, they would be willing to disable text-to-speech on a title-by-title basis at the rightsholder’s request. “We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled. We believe many will decide that it is.”
Source:On Wednesday we discussed news that the Authors Guild had objected to the text-to-speech function on Amazon’s Kindle 2, claiming that it infringed on audio book copyright. Today, Amazon said that while the feature is legally sound, they would be willing to disable text-to-speech on a title-by-title basis at the rightsholder’s request. “We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled. We believe many will decide that it is.”
Source:yro.slashdot
Hearst Corp.’s plans to launch a wireless electronic reader for viewing the publisher’s newspapers and magazines reflects the kind of experimentation deemed pivotal to finding a business model that can compete in an era of the content-free Internet.
Hearst, which has seen its own revenue plummet as advertisers shift an increasing amount of their spending to the Web, is planning to launch an e-reader with a large-format screen this year, Fortune magazine reported Friday. The device would be big enough for the layout and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines.
Asset Management has always been a critical part of management the life cycle of your IT infrastructure. Avocent CTO Ben Grimes walks us through a hands-on look at how his company’s technology helps. BMC believes its leading the charge toward business process management. Bishop describes the future of the open CMDB (bleek) and other enabling technologies Microsoft Windows Server Group Product Manager, Manlio Vecchiet answers questions about Hyper V, network access protection and the adoption to date of Windows Server 2008.
BMC (NYSE: BMC) believes its leading the charge toward business process management. Bishop describes the future of the open CMDB (bleek) and other enabling technologies
Hearst executives declined to provide details of the business model behind the e-reader, but analysts agree that the publisher’s bold move is a necessary, if risky, experiment. Even if Hearst is unsuccessful in making money off its first attempt, what it learns can help it eventually find the right answer to reverse shrinking subscriber bases, as well as revenue losses from publications. The latter is reflected in Hearst’s recent announcement that the company may close the San Francisco Chronicle, unless it gets concessions from unions. Such a closure would leave the city without a major daily newspaper.
“This is absolutely the kind of thing they have to be doing — experimenting,” Michael McGuire, an analyst within Gartner’s media consulting business, said of Hearst’s e-reader. “There are no set answers anymore.”
Which is not to say Hearst will be successful in reversing the downward trends immediately. “It’s tough because there’s going to be a lot of experiments [by publishers] that won’t work,” McGuire said.
Hearst’s entry into the e-reader market would come at the heels of Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN).com’s success with the Kindle, a wireless reader that gives buyers access to the online retailer’s site to download and read books and newspapers and magazines. The device, introduced in November 2007, is one of Amazon’s best-selling consumer electronics. Analysts, however, say the gadget’s $359 price tag is likely to keep it out of the mainstream market and attractive mostly to traveling professionals who prefer not to carry around lots of books and periodicals.
Hearst has its best chance of striking a chord with the majority of consumers if it includes its e-reader at no additional cost with a multiyear subscription to the publisher’s magazines and newspapers, McGuire said. To make the device even more attractive, it should have a Web browser to access other content and include additional capabilities, such as the ability to share content with others over the Web.
Selling the device separately would require a device so compelling “that people say that’s how they’ll want to consume newspapers in the future,” McGuire said. “That’s going to be tough.”
Of course, the cost of developing and then hiring manufacturers to build a device that’s given away may be too great to make a profit through a content subscription. No matter which direction Hearst takes, its approach will be closely watched.
Source:informationweek
Facebook launched on Thursday a campaign polling users over its new draft Terms of Service (TOS). Applauded by advocates and seen as a revolutionary move toward democratic social networking, Facebook’s new campaign is making its way on the Internet. But what are the new TOS all about?
Facebook created virtual Town Halls where users can comment and vote for 30 days (closing March 29) on the proposed draft Terms of Service. Two groups have been created: the Proposed Facebook Principles group, which highlights the rights and responsibilities of Facebook and its community and the Proposed Statement of Rights & Responsibilities group, which looks into the highly debated problem over who actually owns your content.
To refresh your memory, Facebook updated its terms of service (those long pages of small text that too many of us almost never read) on February 4. The changes went unnoticed, only until a consumer-oriented blog attacked them, sparkling an Internet-wide debate over why should the social network own your content. Shortly after, Facebook reverted to its old TOS, hence now polling users on what changes should be made.
Inside the Changed TOS
The most radical and noteworthy change in Facebook’s proposed TOS addresses the concern of last week’s debate — who should own the content you post on Facebook. The new terms read: “You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, including information about you and the actions you take (”content”).” That’s a significant change from the previous grant of “irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers),
So in the new draft TOS, by signing up to Facebook “You give us permission to use, store, and share content you post on Facebook or otherwise make available to us (”post”), subject to your privacy and application settings,” which basically covers the fact that if you put for example a picture on Facebook you have to grant them the right to use in order for you to share it with you friends.
“You may delete your content or your account at any time with the understanding that removed information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be generally available to other users), and that content shared with others may remain until they delete it.” That seems reasonable, considering that Facebook backs up its database on multiple servers and once you delete your account, the content you uploaded won’t be “generally” available to other users.
As for “content that is covered by intellectual property rights (like photos and videos), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute, modify, translate, and create derivative works of (”use”) any content you post on or in connection with Facebook. This license ends when you delete your content or your account.” The last phrase should put to rest any concerns that Facebook will us your pictures after you have deleted them or your account. However, a gap is left here over whether Facebook will obtain financial gain when using these pictures.
Not everyone will be happy
Voting over the new Terms of Service is now open and “If users approve the draft Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, then all future policy changes would be eligible for a vote by users, provided the level of intensity of user interest would justify it,” reads a Facebook press release.
But Facebook’s move cannot satisfy the 175+ million users of the social networks. Plenty of comments started popping up in the newly crated Town Halls with various opinions (of those who are actually on topic).
Blake Davis, a Facebook user, says: “Facebook is a private company and shouldn’t have to solicit opinions of its users. Facebook is an oligarchy, not a democracy, and should be treated as such. Having people ‘vote’ on terms can only lead to havoc.”
But another user, Albatros Jones disagrees: “Vote away! As with any other organization (i.e. HOA, School Groups, etc) the community creates the rules and determines what is appropriate within the community. Facebook has become too large; it isn’t run by the creators anymore. If it was, the TOS that became so controversial would still be in effect and we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
However, Facebook left plenty of loopholes in the draft TOS and judging by the number of comments already piling up on the Town Halls pages, opinions are divided. But such a debate Facebook created, in which millions have so much to say, could only lead to a discussion that will span way over the 30 days window the social network offered.
As usual, I am highly interested in your opinion on this matter. Are you happy with the changes Facebook made into its draft TOS? Which issues do you think were not addressed? Have you found any other loopholes in the TOS? Please let me know in the comments.
source:pcworld
Legendary Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said goodbye to public service yesterday at age 89, opting to spend time with his family and tend to his upstate farm rather than run for a 10th term this year.
“Some people are slow learners and it took me a long time to realize I was getting older,” Morgenthau said jokingly at a packed news conference. “I decided I wouldn’t push my luck any further and quit while I was ahead.”
Morgenthau prosecuted common street criminals, Wall Street crooks and banks suspected of facilitating money transfers for terrorists.
His retirement after 35 years will open one of the most coveted jobs in law enforcement at year’s end.
Former Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, who lost to him in 2005, appears to be a front-runner. Other challengers include Cyrus Vance Jr., a prosecutor under Morgenthau and the son of former President Jimmy Carter’s secretary of state; Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission; and Dan Castelman, Morgenthau’s right-hand man but perhaps better known for his cameo role in “The Sopranos.”
The new district attorney follows an imposing figure. The patrician Morgenthau, who turns 90 in July, served longer than any of his predecessors.
“He is the dean of law enforcement for the last 50 years,” said Michael Cherkaskey, who served as Morgenthau’s chief of investigations in the 1980s and part of the 1990s. “This is a great man who will be terribly missed.”
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Morgenthau set the template for professionalism and “always maintained the highest ethical standards,” while Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said he “raised the bar for what district attorneys should be.”
Born into a storied family, Morgenthau seemed destined for public service. His grandfather, Henry Morgenthau Sr., served as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire for President Woodrow Wilson and his father, Henry Jr., was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s treasury secretary.
Morgenthau in 1961 was appointed Manhattan U.S. attorney by President John F. Kennedy, a boyhood friend. He was fired by Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal – a badge of honor, he said – then won election for Manhattan district attorney in 1974.
Morgenthau has served ever since, supervising close to 500 prosecutors and presiding over some of the city’s most sensational and important cases.
There were also some setbacks, most notably the prosecution of those charged in the 1989 Central Park jogger case. The suspects were convicted, but Morgenthau in 2002 threw the convictions out after another man stepped forward to claim sole responsibility.
By then, however, Morgenthau’s reputation had long been established, in real life and on screen, with “Law and Order” District Attorney Adam Schiff modeled after Morgenthau.
Morgenthau’s simple advice for his successor: “Fly straight.”
Legendary Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said goodbye to public service yesterday at age 89, opting to spend time with his family and tend to his upstate farm rather than run for a 10th term this year.
“Some people are slow learners and it took me a long time to realize I was getting older,” Morgenthau said jokingly at a packed news conference. “I decided I wouldn’t push my luck any further and quit while I was ahead.”
Morgenthau prosecuted common street criminals, Wall Street crooks and banks suspected of facilitating money transfers for terrorists.
His retirement after 35 years will open one of the most coveted jobs in law enforcement at year’s end.
Former Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, who lost to him in 2005, appears to be a front-runner. Other challengers include Cyrus Vance Jr., a prosecutor under Morgenthau and the son of former President Jimmy Carter’s secretary of state; Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission; and Dan Castelman, Morgenthau’s right-hand man but perhaps better known for his cameo role in “The Sopranos.”
The new district attorney follows an imposing figure. The patrician Morgenthau, who turns 90 in July, served longer than any of his predecessors.
“He is the dean of law enforcement for the last 50 years,” said Michael Cherkaskey, who served as Morgenthau’s chief of investigations in the 1980s and part of the 1990s. “This is a great man who will be terribly missed.”
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Morgenthau set the template for professionalism and “always maintained the highest ethical standards,” while Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said he “raised the bar for what district attorneys should be.”
Born into a storied family, Morgenthau seemed destined for public service. His grandfather, Henry Morgenthau Sr., served as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire for President Woodrow Wilson and his father, Henry Jr., was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s treasury secretary.
Morgenthau in 1961 was appointed Manhattan U.S. attorney by President John F. Kennedy, a boyhood friend. He was fired by Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal – a badge of honor, he said – then won election for Manhattan district attorney in 1974.
Morgenthau has served ever since, supervising close to 500 prosecutors and presiding over some of the city’s most sensational and important cases.
There were also some setbacks, most notably the prosecution of those charged in the 1989 Central Park jogger case. The suspects were convicted, but Morgenthau in 2002 threw the convictions out after another man stepped forward to claim sole responsibility.
By then, however, Morgenthau’s reputation had long been established, in real life and on screen, with “Law and Order” District Attorney Adam Schiff modeled after Morgenthau.
Morgenthau’s simple advice for his successor: “Fly straight.”
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country-pop singer-songwriter. In 2006, she released her debut single “Tim McGraw”, which peaked at number six on the Billboard country charts. Later in October 2006, she released her self-titled debut album, which produced five hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and was certified 3× Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. The New York Times described Swift as “one of pop’s finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults”.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, Swift was the biggest selling artist of 2008 in America with combined sales of more than four million albums. Swift’s Fearless and her self-titled album finished 2008 at number three and number six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million.She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in ten different weeks. No album has spent more time at number one since 1999-2000. It also the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at #1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs.As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift’s single “Love Story” became the country song with most paid downloads in history and has become the first country song to top the Mainstream Top 40 chart.
Early life
Swift was born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Scott and Andrea Swift. She has one younger brother, Austin.[10] Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a stock broker father and stay-at-home mother. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page long poem entitled “Monster In My Closet”.At the age of ten, Swift began to perform around her home town, singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs, and also started writing songs. During one summer, Swift devoted herself to writing a 350-page (unpublished) novel.
Career
Early work
Swift’s singing influences include her grandmother and LeAnn Rimes.Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer,Taylor’s tastes always ran more toward country and she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton at an early age. She also credits the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain for demonstrating how much impact can be made by “stretching boundaries”.
At age eleven, Swift made her first trip to Nashville hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label on Music Row. Swift faced rejection, not just from record labels, but also from her peers. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament; her rendition of the national anthem received a lot of attention.
Swift started writing songs and playing 12-string guitar when she was twelve. Swift began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. By the time she was fourteen, her family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb.When Swift was fifteen, she rejected a development deal with RCA Records because the company refused to allow her to record her own songs.Swift then performed at Nashville’s songwriters’ venue, The Bluebird Café, catching the attention of Scott Borchetta who signed her to his newly-formed record label, Big Machine Records. She also became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.
Music career
2006-2008: Debut album Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift performing at a café with a koa wood guitar
Swift’s first single, “Tim McGraw”, was released to radio in Summer of 2006 and on October 24, 2006, her self-titled album was released. Swift wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold just 39,000 copies during its first week. It later peaked at number one at Billboard Top Country Albums and number five at Billboard 200. It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks.The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. As of November 2008, Taylor Swift has sold over three million copies and 7.5 million single downloads.
Swift has surpassed the 179 million mark for music streams on MySpace. She is currently ranked in the Top 10 for the most MySpace visits for all genres of music, and is MySpace’s current top-ranking Country artist.Swift is the most searched musical artist on MySpace in 2008.
Regarding “Tim McGraw”, Swift said, “I wrote the song in my freshman year of high school. I was dating a guy who was about to go off to college. I knew we were going to break up so I started thinking of all the things that I knew would remind him of me. Surprisingly, the first thing that came to mind was that my favorite country artist is Tim McGraw.”Tim McGraw” peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts for the week of January 27, 2007. The song’s music video set a record by appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC’s fan-voted weekly Top 20 music countdown show, and reached number one on CMT’s video charts. The video also won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards.Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of “GAC Short Cuts”, a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country music channel.
On May 15, 2007, Swift performed “Tim McGraw” at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.On August 21, 2007, Swift performed live on the season finale of America’s Got Talent.
The second single from the Taylor Swift album, “Teardrops on My Guitar”, was released February 24, 2007. The song was inspired by a true event during her time in high school in which she liked a boy named “Drew Hardwick.” He only saw Swift as a friend and a go-to person for advice about his relationship with his girlfriend. She noted she heard “through the grapevine” that Drew is well aware the song was written about him. “Teardrops on My Guitar” originally made its peak positions in Summer 2007, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Country Chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released to the Hot 100 and Pop 100 in late 2007 with a pop remix that brought “Teardrops on My Guitar” to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100.
In October 2007, Swift’s songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter/Artist of the Year Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.
On November 7, 2007, Swift won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award and also performed “Our Song,” the third single from her album, which would go on to become her first #1 song the week of December 22, 2007, where it leaped up from the #6 spot. This was the biggest jump to Number One since January 1998, when Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile”, also jumped from #6 to #1.”Our Song” spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts and also peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the Billboard Pop 100.
Swift also recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, that was released October 16, 2007, exclusively available at Target stores. The album, which was not as successful as her self-titled debut, featured both holiday classics such as “Last Christmas” and original songs written by Swift.
Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift’s successful single, “Picture to Burn” was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted early in 2008 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Chart in the spring of 2008.
Taylor Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007
Big Machine Records announced the release of “Should’ve Said No” on Monday, May 19. The song is the fifth and final single from Swift’s debut album. She performed it on 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.The performance started off with her dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, but soon after a short black halter dress was revealed. In the last minute of the song, she went backstage to perform the final verse under a cascading waterfall. Swift had wanted to do that performance on stage with the water and the change of clothes since she was ten years old.”Should’ve Said No” became her second Number One single for the chart dated August 23, 2008.
In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album at #2 the same week, Swift became the first artist to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart since LeAnn Rimes did so in 1997.
2008-present: Fearless
Swift’s latest studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008.[43] The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 was the highest debut of any country artists in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay.[44] Its lead single “Love Story” became a hit on both the country and pop charts.
During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift’s sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history.[45] It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004.[46] Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 244,000 paid downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place, it is Swift’s debut Taylor Swift with sales of 212,000 downloads as of January 17, 2009.
In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Hannah Montana for the most by a female artist in a single week. With “White Horse” charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100.
“Change”, a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA’s efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics.[42] The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC’s broadcast package of the Olympics. She also released the lead single from the album, “Love Story”, on September 12, 2008. The song is accompanied by a music video that is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached number 2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, “Love Story” also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from Fearless, “White Horse”, was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009.
Swift is Billboard’s Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music’s best-selling artist of 2008.
Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada’s top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart.
Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.
On January 10, 2009, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, making her the youngest country singer to appear as a musical guest on the show in its 33-year run.Swift’s show achieved SNL’s highest adult 18-49 rating and overall viewer total since the November election (in 2008). It was tied for the #7 rating of that week among all broadcast and cable entertainment programs on all networks and outscored all its telecasts of last season in 18-49 and total viewers.
On February 8, 2009, she performed her song “Fifteen” with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards.
2009: Fearless Tour
In January 2009, Swift announced her first headlining tour. Swift will take her North American Fearless Tour 2009 to 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. Opening acts include Kellie Pickler and Gloriana, a new group in country music. The tour will feature a theatrical presentation of graphics, sets and visual elements designed by Swift. Swift will play guitar as well as piano. Multiple costume changes and a fairy-tale castle are some of the elements of the three-act show.
The tour kicks off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. On February 6, 2009, tickets went on sale for the May 22nd date at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and sold out in two minutes. Tickets for several dates went on sale in the following week and sold out quickly.
Endorsement
As of January 30, 2009, Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift’s style of dressing. It will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. But Swift said she doesn’t want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she’ll inspire the clothing company’s dress line based on her own style. “I don’t look at it like I’m branching out as a designer… It’s not the Taylor Swift designer line.”
In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League’s newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.
Personal life
Swift’s best friend has been Abigail Anderson, whom she has known since their ninth-grade year. During a discussion of Shakespeare in an English class they learned what they had in common. “We were the ones in the back of the class saying negative things about Romeo and Juliet because we were so bitter toward that emotion at the time,” said Anderson. “We just really connected … and ever since then we have been inseparable.” Swift is also close friends with Kellie Pickler, with whom she co-wrote Pickler’s second single “Best Days of Your Life” from her album Kellie Pickler.
In July 2008, Swift graduated from the Aaron Academy, a Christian school in Hendersonville, Tennessee which offers a home-schooling program.
Swift was named number fifty-seven on Maxim’s sexiest women of 2008.As of 2008, she has been a cover girl for Seventeen, CosmoGirl,and Teen Vogue.
Swift once dated singer Joe Jonas.She wrote the song “Forever & Always” about him, and the song appeared on her album, Fearless. It was the last song that she had recorded, and it was a last-minute addition to her album.
Charitable work
On September 21, 2007, Swift launched a campaign to protect children from online predators.She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, launched in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state.
Swift is an endorser of Body By Milk, a campaign calling teenagers to drink low fat milk to maintain a healthy weight.
Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening “responsibly”.
Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company’s philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift’s song, Fifteen, is featured in this campaign.
Discography
Main article: Taylor Swift discography
Albums
* 2006: Taylor Swift
* 2008: Fearless
EPs
* 2007: Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection
* 2008: Beautiful Eyes
Nicollette Sheridan (born November 21, 1963) is a Golden Globe-nominated British-born American actress. She has appeared in soap operas, movies and television series, and is perhaps best known for her roles as Paige Matheson on Knots Landing and as Edie Britt on Desperate Housewives.
Biography
Early life
Sheridan was born Colette Sheridan in Rustington, West Sussex, England, the daughter of British actress Sally Sheridan (née Adams).[1] She is of Indian Punjabi descent through her maternal side.[2][3] Contrary to rumour, Sheridan is not related to actress Dinah Sheridan. Sheridan’s biological father has never been identified. However, Sheridan has said that she considers her mother’s late ex-boyfriend, actor Telly Savalas, to be her father (and not stepfather). Sheridan’s half-brother, Nick Savalas, is his son. Sheridan attended school at Millfield in Somerset and emigrated to the United States in 1973.
Career
Sheridan made her debut in the short-lived US primetime soap opera Paper Dolls in 1984, but her breakthrough came in 1986, when she joined the cast of the CBS primetime soap Knots Landing as “Paige Matheson”. She started out in a recurring role, but proved to be so popular that she was a series regular by the 1988-89 season. For her performance in the role, she won the 1990 Soap Opera Digest Award for “Outstanding Lead Actress: Prime Time” and the 1991 Soap Opera Digest Award for “Outstanding Heroine: Prime Time”. The same year, she was named one of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People”. After the series ended in 1993, she appeared in several made-for-TV movies and the films Spy Hard and Beverly Hills Ninja and auditioned for the role of Grace Adler on Will & Grace (on which she would later guest-star). Despite her carefully cultivated sex symbol image, Sheridan has only done one nude scene during her career, in the low budget 1999 film Raw Nerve, opposite Mario Van Peebles.
In 2004, Sheridan’s role as sexy divorcee Edie Britt in ABC’s Desperate Housewives brought her renewed media attention. She was nominated for a 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and was named #48 on Maxim’s 2006 List.[4] Less positively, she was named 2004’s “worst dressed” by Mr. Blackwell. Blackwell’s citation probably resulted from the colourful and boldly-cut gown Sheridan wore as a presenter at the American Music Awards on November 14, 2004 but he had earlier (TV Guide, July 22, 1989) praised her fashion sense: “daring … with her panache, she brings it off without a hitch. For the adventurer in all of us, she’s the one to watch”.
On November 15, 2004, Sheridan was cited by the FCC for her appearance in a sketch that opened the evening’s Monday Night Football broadcast. The Desperate Housewives-inspired sketch, showing Sheridan dropping a towel to attract the attention of football player Terrell Owens who then said “ah hell”, was widely condemned as being sexually suggestive.ABC was forced to apologize for airing it, but the citation against Sheridan was dropped on March 14, 2005. On November 22, 2004, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) aired a controversial parody showing WWE Diva Trish Stratus dropping her towel to attract WWE Superstar Shelton Benjamin, but being caught in the act by the company’s chairman, Vince McMahon.
Todd Schnitt of radio station WFLZ-FM in Tampa, Florida, placed an early-morning telephone call to Sheridan on November 18, 2004, waking her to discuss the Monday Night Football controversy (which had come to be called “Towelgate”). On January 30, 2007, the FCC levied a $10,000 fine because the station violated regulations in failing to inform Sheridan that the interview was being broadcast.
Toward the close of the fourth season of Desperate Housewives, conflicting reports circulated regarding Sheridan’s future in her role. While Hollywood.com reported in April that series creator Marc Cherry had said Sheridan would depart at the end of the season,another source stated that Sheridan was confident she would return for the series’ fifth season.[9] By May 4, Entertainment Weekly reported that Sheridan would likely make several appearances in the upcoming season, but not necessarily as a regular cast member.
Actress Dana Delany, who plays Katherine Mayfair, confirmed that Nicollette Sheridan would be back to reprise her role for Season 5 of Desperate Housewives,and the Hollywood Reporter reported Nicollette’s character might be seducing another boyfriend, played by actor Neal McDonough.
When season five aired, Sheridan did indeed reprise her regular role as Edie, now married to to McDonough’s character.
In February 2009 Sheridan announced she will be leaving Desperate Housewives at the end of the season. Her final episode will be in April 2009. And according to E! Online Sheridan’s character Edie Britt will be killed off the show. “If there are no script changes, Edie will die before the season ends. She will find out that Dave plans to kill her. When he tries to, Edie escapes only to get involved in an accident that involves her car and an electrical wire.”
Actress Dana Delany, who plays Katherine Mayfair, confirmed that there will be some shocking drama when Nicollette Sheridan leaves the show.
According to Dana Delany, a party is the best way to say farewell to Nicollette Sheridan.
Personal life
From 1979 to 1985, Sheridan dated the then teen-idol Leif Garrett. They began dating when she was still about 15 and lived with him in his mother’s home while still an underage (minor). As an adult, Sheridan was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to end Garrett’s drug abuse.
Sheridan was married to actor Harry Hamlin from September 7, 1991 through 1993.
From January to October 2005, Sheridan was engaged to Swedish personal trainer, Nicklas Söderblom. After their break-up, Sheridan returned to ex-boyfriend Michael Bolton, to whom she became engaged in March 2006. Sheridan was reportedly pregnant with his child but both of them have denied these rumours.
In 2006 Nicollette Sheridan and Michael Bolton sang a duet titled The Second Time Around for the album Bolton Swings Sinatra.
In March 2008 Nicollette Sheridan posed naked for a London Fog charity ad which also featured Nicollette’s fiancé, Michael Bolton.
On March 25, 2008 Nicollette Sheridan settled a lawsuit brought by a former manager who alleged that he was fired by the actress to avoid paying a commission.
It was confirmed on August 26, 2008 that Michael and Nicollette had broken their engagement.
Filmography
* The Sure Thing (1985)
* Noises Off (1992)
* Spy Hard (1996)
* Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
* Dead Husbands (1998)
* I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998)
* Raw Nerve (1999)
* .com for Murder (2002)
* Lost Treasure (2003)
* Deadly Visions (2004)
* Code Name: The Cleaner (2007)
* Fly Me to the Moon (2008)
* Noah’s Ark: The New Beginning (2008)
TV career
* Paper Dolls (1984) (cancelled after 13 episodes)
* Dead Man’s Folly (1986)
* Dark Mansions (1986)
* Knots Landing (cast member from 1986-1993)
* Dirty Tennis (1989)
* Deceptions (1990)
* Lucky/Chances (1990) (miniseries)
* Somebody’s Daughter (1992)
* A Time to Heal (1994)
* Shadows of Desire (1994)
* Silver Strand (1995)
* Virus (1995)
* Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995)
* The People Next Door (1996)
* Murder in My Mind (1997)
* Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac (1997) (miniseries)
* Dead Husbands (1998)
* The Spiral Staircase (2000)
* The Legend of Tarzan (2001-2003)
* Haven’t We Met Before? (2002)
* Tarzan & Jane (2002)
* Deadly Betrayal (2002)
* Will & Grace (2003)
* Karate Dog (2004)
* Deadly Visions (2004)
* Desperate Housewives (2004-2009)[
(CNN) — President Obama on Thursday presented a budget that he said is an “honest accounting of where we are and where we intend to go.”President Obama says he can halve the deficit by 2013.
Congress received a 140-page summary of the budget Thursday morning. The full details are expected in April.
In introducing the budget, Obama slammed what he called a “dishonest accounting” in regard to the costs of war, and reiterated his commitment to make government “more open and transparent.”
“For too long, our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent,” he said.
“Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that kind of dishonest accounting is not how you run your family budgets at home; it’s not how your government should run its budgets either.”
The president said his budget includes investments in renewable energy, education, and health care — priorities he outlined during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Despite an ambitious agenda that requires “significant resources,” Obama aims to halve the $1.3 trillion deficit by 2013.
Don’t Miss
Sources: Weapons, subsidies, loopholes among budget cuts
Budget leaves room for more bailouts
Obama seeks $200 billion for war spending
“While we must add to our deficits in the short term to provide immediate relief to families and get our economy moving, it is only by restoring fiscal discipline over the long run that we can produce sustained growth and shared prosperity,” Obama said.
“And that is precisely the purpose of the budget that I’m submitting to Congress today,” he said.
The president says his team has already identified $2 trillion in budget savings by scouring the federal budget.
Obama said the country will save billions of dollars by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, “while giving a middle class tax cut to 95 percent of hard-working families.”
Obama warned Thursday that there will be “some hard choices that lie ahead.”
A list of some of the proposed spending cuts obtained by CNN shows that the programs on the chopping block range from outdated farm subsidy programs to pricey Pentagon weapons programs and the so-called “carried-interest” loophole on Wall Street.
Each program, however, has political patrons on Capitol Hill who will fight to save the budget items, setting the stage for major political battles as the details of the budget are debated by lawmakers in the months ahead.
One high-profile proposal involves closing the loophole that has allowed some Wall Street investment managers to pay lower tax rates than their low-paid assistants. Wall Street lobbyists have fought such changes in the past and won, but the current political environment is so sour on financial executives that the proposal could garner more support now.
On agriculture, the Obama administration is aiming to save $9.8 billion over 10 years by phasing out direct payments to farmers with sales revenues of $500,000 or more per year. The list of spending cuts claims that “about 25 percent of direct payments go to farmers with farm sales (revenue) of greater than $500,000.”
On education, the administration is considering elimination of the Federal Mentoring Program created by the previous Bush administration to save nearly $50 million.
On defense, the administration’s list suggests it will target expensive weapons systems but does not specify which programs will be cut or how much money will be saved. White House officials said they are letting Defense Secretary Robert Gates take the lead on specific announcements Thursday.
The list did contend the Pentagon’s new weapons programs are “among the largest, most expensive, and technically difficult that the Department has ever tried to develop. Consequently, they carry a high risk of performance failure, cost increases and schedule delays.”
Obama is asking Congress for more than $200 billion to fund U.S. war efforts for the next year and a half, according to defense officials.
The request will be for $75.5 billion for 2009 to cover the cost of sending more troops to Afghanistan this year and an additional $130 billion for fiscal year 2010, according to the sources.
War spending for 2010 will be part of the president’s overall defense funding request. The money will be in addition to $534 billion for the U.S. Defense Department’s other expenditures, which the president is expected to request from Congress.
Congress gave the Pentagon $65.9 billion for the first half of fiscal 2009.
Obama is also proposing a $634 billion health care “reserve fund” aimed at reforming the system, according to senior administration officials. In order to fund it, Obama will ask wealthy Americans to deal with a tax increase and wealthy seniors to pay higher Medicare premiums.
The reserve fund will essentially be a piggy bank to be used only for reforming the system by cutting costs and trying to deal with the 46 million Americans without health insurance.
Rep. John Boehner, the House minority leader, questioned Obama’s proposal to fund health care.
“Everyone agrees that all Americans deserve access to affordable health care, but is increasing taxes during an economic recession, especially on small businesses, the right way to accomplish that goal?” he asked.
The budget will leave the actual details of how to reform the system to be worked out by Congress, and top Obama officials are already acknowledging this is only a start — it will take more money to get the job done.
“This is a substantial down payment for health-care reform,” one senior administration official said of the president’s plan.
Source:cnn
Chris Brown will reportedly plea self-defence in his court case, claiming Rihanna attacked him. The 19-year-old singer – who has been accused of allegedly beating up his popstar girlfriend earlier this month – is waiting to hear if the charges will be brought to court and is set to accuse Rihanna of starting the altercation on February 7. A source told ‘Life and Style Weekly’ magazine: “Chris is already building his case. He’s saying she threw a phone at him, then hit him in the head and basically just lost it. He’s saying she attacked him.” Rihanna (21) has reportedly told police Chris beat her in his car in Los Angeles, threatened to kill her and choked her until she was unconscious. Chris has been charged with making criminal threats and was released on $50,000 bail.
Newly-wed Jack Tweed has asked probation chiefs to lift his 7pm curfew so he can care for his ailing wife Jade Goody at her home. While the tag was relaxed to allow him and the reality TV star to spend their wedding night together, early release terms state he must return to his mother’s house every evening.”Hopefully they will relax the tag to let me be with Jade. She’s my wife and she needs me by her side,” he said this week as he arrived for a meeting with officers in Essex.
While the couple wait for a response to Jack’s request, Jade – who is suffering from cancer – is focusing on organising the christening of her two sons Bobby Jack, five, and Freddie, four.
“She wants to make it into a big party for the boys,” says her spokesman Max Clifford, who adds: “She’s in good spirits, and absolutely feels that the wedding was wonderful. As she said, it’s the dream wedding she always wanted. It was the most wonderful day. She’s still euphoric about that.”
Source:hellomagzine
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