Spurs wait for Van der Vaart, Liverpool failed in double raid, Schwarzer denied Gunners move & Santa Cruz in Eastlands limbo

Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp is still hoping to bring Real Madrid midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart to the Premier League in an £8 million deal. Spurs are awaiting ratification from the Premier League that they have beaten yesterday’s 6pm deadline for the former Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Everton, Arsenal and Manchester City target. The Dutchman has been perpetually linked with a move to England for the best part of three years following an underwhelming spell in La Liga, and if reports are to be believed the playmaker may be on the verge of a shock transfer to White Hart Lane following the breakdown of his pending move to Bayern Munich. Last summer City, United and Chelsea were all believed to be coveting the 27-year-old, while in January a vast number of Premier League clubs were linked with the midfielder, notably Tottenham, Arsenal and Aston Villa. (Daily Mail)

Liverpool failed to bring in a striker to help shoulder the goal scoring burden currently carried by Fernando Torres, despite making moves for West Ham United’ Carlton Cole, and Tottenham Hotspur’s Roman Pavlyuchenko. Roy Hodgson reportedly offered Ryan Babel and Lucas Leiva as potential makeweights but neither were willing to leave Anfield. (The Guardian)

Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was denied a move to Arsenal after Mark Hughes failed to bring in a replacement for the veteran Australian. The Gunners allegedly had a £4 million bid rejected because the Cottagers failed in a late move for Crystal Palace keeper Julian Speroni. (Daily Mirror)

Roque Santa Cruz will not be included in Roberto Mancini’s 25-man Manchester City squad having seen a move to Lazio fall through. The former Blackburn Rovers star has vowed to prove Mancini wrong and fight his way back into the reckoning. (The Sun)

Stoke City boss Tony Pulis secured the signature of the former Chelsea, Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur forward Eidur Gudjohnsen after he spoke with Harry Redknapp. (Daily Mirror)

West Ham United have signed Blackburn Rovers fullback Lars Jacobsen but Avram Grant rejected the chance to sign Pascal Chimbonda. (Daily Mirror)

Sunderland broker their transfer fee yesterday for Rennes striker Asamoah Gyan. Steve Bruce was pressed into action following the news that Frazier Campbell is likely to be missing for the remainder of the season with cruciate ligament damage. The Black Cats signed the Ghanaian international for £13 million. (Daily Mail)

Robinho has ended his two year association with Manchester City after the Brazilian international made a £22 million move to AC Milan. The British transfer record holder cost Manchester City £32.5 million in 2008, but he failed to settle in England. (Daily Mail)

Sport.co.uk

Time was, you could mention Apple and gaming in the same sentence and count on derisive laughter before you got to the period. Through the decades, the company has repeatedly proclaimed its commitment to the games market and repeatedly failed to deliver. Yet today’s Apple is not remotely the company that launched the ill-fated Pippin game console in the ’90s. The iOS is already a massively successful platform for handheld gaming, and if Wednesday brings an iOS-based Apple TV, Apple is poised to make some serious noise in the console gaming market as well.

As Dan Frakes pointed out, for a company that keeps cranking out hit products, Apple’s set-top “hobby” sticks out. It’s outdated and lacks many features offered by competitors. But if the product gets a rethink, starting with basing it on the iOS rather than Mac OS X, watch out. Sure, such a device would presumably be a great media player for TV, movies, and music. But as an iOS device, it also opens up the possibility that all your favorite iPhone and iPad games may be shortly playing on your flatscreen HDTV.

This presents a challenge and an opportunity for Apple. With this putative Apple TV, users would have access to a giant screen on which to play games. But what about the controls? Your TV isn’t a touchscreen, and unless you’re a James Bond villain, it’s unlikely to be fitted with an accelerometer or gyroscope. But what if you could use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad as a controller for your Apple TV?

Not only would using your iPhone or iPad solve the touchscreen issue, but it also opens up the possibility of Apple truly entering the gaming console market. Picture it: you’ve downloaded an application to your iPhone that lets you play Angry Birds on your huge flatscreen in your living room. You flick your finger on your iPhone’s touchscreen, and on your television screen you see your bird go flying. Or imagine multiplayer games where gameplay occurs on the handheld screens and the big screen simultaneously; that concept potentially works well for both pub-trivia contests and high-speed racing games.

One question I have is, what will the graphics capabilities of this AppleTV device be? At 720p, an HDTV contains more pixels than either an iPhone 4 or an iPad. Another one is onboard storage: many home-media devices and game consoles come with large amounts of storage for games and media files; if this rumored AppleTV has only flash-based storage in a relatively small amount, will it be enough?

If Apple answers those two questions in the affirmative—namely, if the Apple TV’s graphics controller has the oomph to play 720p games and enough storage space to hold media files and game files comfortably, then the company will have essentially designed its own video-game console, and one with an existing group of developers who know how to write games for its base operating system. There’s great promise in that.

If Apple goes down this path, it’s going about it in exactly the opposite way as most entertainment-hardware companies usually do it. Instead of creating a gaming device that also plays DVDs, Apple is poised to create the opposite: a device designed for watching television and movies that also plays games. While this may seem like a weird way to get into games, Apple wouldn’t be the first media-focused hardware company that also threw its hat into the gaming ring. The Philips CD-I, however, would not be something Apple would want to emulate.

Granted, if Apple were to make an announcement about Apple TV on Wednesday, it is unlikely you’ll see Steve Jobs up there playing a first person shooter on a TV screen, the video streaming from his Apple TV and his hands deftly using an iPhone as a controller. But don’t be surprised if developers see the potential for gaming, and other media applications, if Apple TV runs on iOS. The pieces are all in place. Let’s see what Apple does with them.

MacWorld.com

There may have been some Democrats at the Glenn Beck rally Saturday, but even many of them aren’t happy with the country’s direction. Does the large turnout portend trouble for Democrats?

Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington Saturday could not have been an encouraging sign for Democrats and the Obama administration.

The crowd was huge by any count – likely at least a couple hundred thousand people judging by aerial photos and the reported comments of some police officers – stretching from the Lincoln Memorial back to the Washington Monument.

And far from being a gathering of self-proclaimed rabble rousers carrying offensive signs insulting of President Obama, as has often been the case with “tea party” rallies spurred on by Mr. Beck, it was mostly a heartfelt and largely nonpartisan expression of civic concern, patriotism, and religious faith.

In other words, there may have been some Democrats in the crowd, but even they are likely not happy with the direction the country’s taking, according to recent polls – including the policies and programs pushed by the majority party in Congress and the White House.

The irony regarding Beck – a brilliant communicator whose talents earned him $32 million last year – is that much of what he told the crowd flies in the face of what he espouses in his Fox News broadcasts.

Beck’s rhetoric more mellow

“We must get the poison of hatred out of us,” he told the crowd. “We must look to God and look to love. We must defend those we disagree with.”

This from a man who has called Obama “a racist” and likened Al Gore’s campaign against global climate change to “what Hitler did” in having scientists use eugenics to justify the Holocaust.

Which drives Beck’s critics nuts.

“You can’t profit from fear and division all week and then denounce them one Saturday on the National Mall in Washington and hope nobody notices,” complains John Avlon on the Daily Beast website.

Beck “knows how to manipulate an audience’s emotions,” writes Avlon, author of “Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America.” “He uses conflict, tension, fear and resentment to keep their attention day after day, buying his books, attending his rallies.”

But none of that was on display Saturday, when Beck sounded more like an evangelical preacher than a flame-throwing political provocateur. “Today we are going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished – and the things that we can do tomorrow,” he said.

Voters increasingly unhappy with Democrat-run government

Meanwhile Americans of the type that gathered by the thousands to hear Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin (and other conservative speakers) are increasingly unhappy with their Democrat-run government.

A Rasmussen Reports survey this past week showed “voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues” – including the economy and taxes, national security, war in Iraq and Afghanistan, immigration, government ethics and corruption, health care, Social Security, and education.

An Ipsos poll (also last week) shows 62 percent of those surveyed “think that things in this country are on the wrong track” with more people (52 percent) disapproving of the way Obama is doing his job than indicating approval (45 percent).

A new Newsweek poll shows independent voters – many at the Saturday rally would characterize themselves this way – moving toward the GOP. “Forty-five percent of independents say they’ll vote for Republican candidates, compared with just 33 percent for Democrats,” reports Newsweek.

GOP should be nervous too

At the same time Republicans have to be nervous about the antiestablishment political ground swell, and some recent primary elections have given both parties pause. Establishment GOP candidates have been knocked off by tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and perhaps Joe Miller if he hangs onto his lead in Alaska.

“But to be more than a political movement that is tugging the Republican Party ever farther to the right, the tea party must show in November that its candidates are electable,” writes political analyst Rhodes Cook in the Wall Street Journal. “If not, the movement could lose much of the luster and attention that it has gained over the past year.”

Either way, Glenn Beck and his media empire will continue to prosper.

csmonitor.com

Apple tries to be very secretive about its new product launches but people find their way around this firewall with leaks from every nook and corner of the globe. That, along with our regular analysis makes for some educated guesses about what to expect. With the launch of the iPhone 4, we listed a few alternatives and people paid way more attention to those than the iPhone 4 itself.

Thus, we to believe that people want to know more about what else they can buy as an alternative to an Apple product. Everybody has their own reason; some dislike Apple’s closed system, some can’t afford their premium pricing, while a few just hate Apple in general. But you’ve got to admit it, they do create some innovative products that make other manufacturers work very hard to come up with a product with similar usability. It is like Apple creates a base, a platform if you will, and everybody tries to outdo the Apple product. We talked about this earlier when we wrote about 5 things that the Galaxy Tab did better than the iPad.

The iPod Touch is possibly going to get great additions like a Retina display, dual cameras for Facetime and taking snaps etc. Whatever the improvements may be, one will mostly still not escape their inability to copy-paste music via a file manager. Or the need to convert/downscale videos before they can be played back on the device, or the lack of support for popular video formats like DivX and MKV. For people distressed with these and other unchangeable factors about iPods, look beyond Apple! There are many manufacturers that already have or will soon have media players that could suit your needs. Here are our top 5 alternatives to the impending iPod Touch 4.

Archos 32 and Archos 43

French PMP specialist Archos has released 5 new “tablets” in all imaginable shapes and sizes. Starting from pocketable dimensions of a 2.8-inch screen on the Archos 28, all the way up to the 10-inch iPad-competing Archos 101. We’re interested in two models that can be deemed worthy as iPod Touch competitors; the Archos 32 and Archos 43. The former has a 3.2-inch 240 x 400 pixel screen, while the latter has a bigger 4.3-inch screen with a 480 x 854 pixel resolution. Unfortunately, both these screen will be based on the older resistive touch screen technology, unlike the iPod Touch’s finger friendly capacitive one. However, both are fairly powered on the inside.

The Archos 32 comes with an 800 MHz Cortex A8 processor and a graphics accelerator for better 3D gaming. They still retain the USP of previous Archos devices, yes we’re talking of video format compatibility. Both will be able to play up to MPEG-4 HD, H.264 HD and WMV9 with all supporting up to 720p resolution playback. As for file extensions, as long as they are encoded in these mentioned formats, they should play a variety of file extensions including AVI, MP4, MKV, MOV, WMV, MPG, PS, TS, VOB, FLV, RM, RMVB, ASF and 3GP. For audio, it supports all popular formats and FLAC as well. Lastly, the bigger Archos 43 has a little more muscle under the hood, thanks to the 1 GHz Cortex processor.

The Archos 32 comes with a camera at the back that shoots clips at a measly VGA resolution. You can even output to a TV using separately sold composite cables. But the Archos 43 does 720p video recording via a 2 megapixel sensor and has a HDMI output to stream video to your LCD TV (cables need to be purchased separately). Both have Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity. There’s also a microphone and a accelerometer for motion-based gaming.

Oh, and did we mention both will run Google Android 2.2 (Froyo) on sale? So, all those people who already crossed this device off their list for lack of app support can relax, Android’s growing 70,000+ market will fulfill all your entertainment and productivity needs. The only thing we’re apprehensive about these devices is the sensitivity of the now passe resistive screen.

The 8GB Archos 32 will sell for USD 150 (approx. Rs. 7,000) while the 8GB Archos 43 will cost you 200 dollars (Rs. 9,400).

PS: Both have microSD card slots for memory expansion as well.

Philips GoGear Connect

It was raining Android media players on August 31. Along with Archos’ army of devices, Philips too officially released its GoGear Connect media player. From the photographs we have seen it looks like it has a brushed metallic frame with a 3.2-inch HVGA (480 x 320 pixel) display. They haven’t clearly mentioned whether the screen is a capacitive type, but from what we could gather on the web it seems to be so. Background chatter can be eliminated on this device by the bundled sound isolating ear-phones.

Sound enhancement is also provided in the form of Philips’ patented “FullSound” tech. It is said to run Android 2.1 (Eclair) on release, which in our opinion is a fairly functional OS. It plays WMV, MP4 and AVI (encoded in MPEG-4 or H.264) up to a 720p resolution. You’ve also got Wi-Fi for internet, GPS and compass for mapping and location-aware apps. Adding a GPS in a non-cellular device seems weird. How many times are you going to find Wi-fi access outdoors to use mapping applications? (GPS does not function indoors)

There’s a built-in camera but the image or video resolution support isn’t specified. The built-in 16GB memory can be upgraded by adding a microSD card.

Samsung Galaxy Player YP-MB2

Looks like Samsung has defined Apple as their arch-nemesis; and they’ve infiltrated Apple’s territory many a times. Be it with the Galaxy S to compete with the iPhone 4 or the Galaxy Tab with the iPad. Now they’re doing exactly what Apple did with their celebrated entertainment device. After the launch of the iPhone, Apple stripped the phone components and created a cheaper, internet-friendly media player that we today know as the iPod Touch. From the leaked photos and videos we’ve seen, it seems that Samsung is giving the same treatment to their Galaxy S to create the Galaxy Player YP-MB2.

It will retain the same gorgeous 4-inch Super AMOLED screen and internal hardware of Samsung’s flagship phone, but without the phone capability. I have to say that even if the iPod Touch 4 has a Retina display, the former should trump it. My colleague had shared his experience with both the type of displays and according to him, Super AMOLED would be better suited for watching videos and photos.

Powered by the 1GHz “Hummingbird” processor and 512 MB RAM, the Galaxy Player should handle 720p videos encoded in DivX HD and even in the MKV container, just like the Galaxy S did, without need for down-scaling/conversion. That is brilliant and is way more convenient in my opinion, when you have to simply drag and drop your videos to the device for instant playback. The camera at the back is reduced to 3 megapixels according to sources, and it should hopefully retain the front-facing camera to enable those Fring video-calls over Wi-Fi. By the time it comes to market, it should ideally be running Android 2.2.

Microsoft Zune HD

It is a pity that India never got to see the Zune HD. But we keep hearing how good a media player it is from our friends in the West. A 3.3-inch capacitive OLED display portrays the Metro UI, which looks like what was the prime inspiration for Windows Mobile 7′s UI design. It is available in three sizes; 16, 32 and 64GB. The Zune makes good use of the Wi-Fi chip inside by letting you buy and stream music straight on the device, and even wirelessly sync music from your PC.

Graphically, there’s a beast sitting inside the housing; an NVIDIA Tegra APX 2600 chip. This allows projecting 720p content onto an LCD TV using an optional Zune Dock. It also has a viable alternative for people using iTunes to purchase their digital music. Called the Zune Marketplace, you can buy over 6 million tracks, TV, movies and a small collection of apps. Also, instead of paying a dollar per song like iTunes, the “Zune Pass” gives you access to their entire store with unlimited streaming and downloading music for USD 15 (Approx. Rs. 700) per month.

Sony Walkman A-series NWZ-A845/B

A non-touch screen player as an alternative to the iPod Touch? We know it is somewhat unusual, but we couldn’t miss this opportunity to let this Sony Walkman in. While most are so excited about the possibility of loading their multi-functional media player with apps and games, some dudes (and gals) just want some pure audio-video on the go.

Sony recently announced the Walkman A series, which is possibly a favorable alternative to the new iPod nano. While the latest nano added extra bells and whistles, like a camera, the Walkman offers the most important aspect of any media player — good audio-visual experience. With a 2.8-inch OLED 240 x 400 pixel screen, which sounds fairly big to enjoy videos on, this slim player also promises superior audio quality and digital noise cancellation. Although there’s no HD playback on this one, you can play up to DVD-quality (720 x 480) videos encoded in either MPEG-4, WMV9 or H.264.

The Walkman should also trump the average ear-phones that Apple has been thrusting at consumers, with Sony’s EX series cans that have large 13.5mm drivers. Sony also boasts of a 29-hour continuous audio play time with this baby.

So there you go, five seemingly kick-ass options to buy instead of the Apple iPod with their own set of pros and cons. Got any more to recommend? Let it out in the comments below. Also, don’t forget to tell us why you would prefer buying an iPod Touch over a phone (like the iPhone) in the poll to the top-right of the page.

TechTree.com

California Strikes Down Proposal to Ban Plastic Bags

After contentious debate, California lawmakers rejected a bill late Tuesday night that would have made the state the first in the nation to ban all plastic shopping bags. Opponents of the bill argued that the ban went too far to regulate personal choice.

The measure, AB 1998, which passed the Assembly in June, would have eliminated single-use plastic bags in grocery stores and pharmacies starting in 2012, and in liquor stores and convenience stores in 2013. The bill, which was rejected by the Senate, was intended to encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable totes.

Without a tote, they would have been able to buy one at the store or purchase a recyclable paper bag for 4 to 6 cents. Some California cities, including San Francisco, already have such a plastic bag ban in place.

Republicans and some Democrats opposed the bill, saying it would have added an extra financial burden on consumers and businesses already facing tough times.

“If we pass this piece of legislation, we will be sending a message to the people of California that we care more about banning plastic bags than helping them put food on their table,” said Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Lake Forest.

Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, who authored the bill, said rejecting the bill was a failure to the people of California.

“It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when consumers bring their own bags and become good stewards of the environment,” Brownley said in a statement early Wednesday morning.

Brownley had been trying to pass legislation to address the problem for three years. She said the bags clog California waterways, pollute the ocean and have led to the loss of various species of wildlife.

“Plastic bags are a ubiquitous product,” she said. “Consumers [have been] using it exponentially over the last decade.

“[California] uses 19 billion plastic bags a year. … We use them for 10 minutes and it takes 1,000 years to break down.”

She said it costs the state $25 million a year to to clean up the mess. “It’s very difficult to really completely clean it up,” Brownley said. “It’s very easy for us to change our habits.”

California’s Plastic Bag Ban: David vs. Goliath

“We have the grocers, retailers, labor in support of this bill,” she said.

She said that while environmentalists have heralded the bill for the past couple of years, grocers joined the fight last year.

“They decided this is something for them to join,” the assemblywoman said. “[Statewide regulation on plastic bags] is good for them and their business model.”

The American Chemistry Council was the ban’s biggest opponent. “I can’t underscore this enough. … This is their battleground,” she said. “The ACC is opposing this. Hiring lobbyists, showing ads, targeted radio spots.”

Keith Christman of the American Chemistry Council said that more than 500 organizations and companies were against the ban. He said groups were concerned about the cost the ban on plastic bags would put on working families, specifically $1 billion per year to buy paper bags.

“It doesn’t help the working poor who have to bring their groceries home” and forget to carry a reusable tote, he said. “Mandating isn’t the best way to go. People should have a choice in how they bag their groceries.”

Plastic Bags: What About Recycling?

Bill Magavern of the Sierra Club California said that California’s recycling program, which is in its fourth year, is not working to reduce the amount of plastic bag pollution. His group’s website states that fewer than 5 percent of single-use plastic bags are recycled.

“Most recyclers don’t want them,” he said. “They gum up machinery.”

His group supported the ban. “This year’s bill represents the best opportunity to virtually eliminate plastic bag pollution. It won’t take away every plastic bag but it will cut down [their use],” Magavern said.

“One million seabirds and 100,000 other animals including sea turtles eat them or get tangled in them. Plastic bags use nearly 2 million barrels of oil to make them,” he said.

Christman of the American Chemistry Council said his organization believes that recycling is the best approach. “Plastics don’t belong in the ocean,” he said, responding to concerns voiced about wildlife and the environment.

“We support Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Preventing litter,” Christman said. “We worked with California state parks and others to put recycling bins in key locations.”

Nationwide since 2005, he said, the recycling of plastic bags and plastic wraps has grown by 28 percent, according to a study by Moore Recycling Associates Inc.

He said that the American Chemistry Council worried that the ban would eliminate the recycling infrastructure and that it had worked with members to propose legislation to enhance the state’s recycling program.

Plastic Industry: Workers Lose Their Jobs

Christman said the council was more concerned about the 1,000 Californians projected to be put out of work if the ban had passed, although that number was put at 500 by Brownley’s office.

An amendment to the bill, added last week, would have provided $2 million in grants and loans to retain jobs in businesses making plastic bags so they could retool and produce reusable bags. A spokeswoman for Brownley said that she believed the bill would have created more “green” jobs as competitors came to California to expand their production of reusable totes. But, Christman said, workers want their jobs.

“Workers don’t want training programs. With millions of people out of work,” he said. “We don’t need this today. They want their jobs.”

Four cities in California have banned plastic bags: San Francisco, Palo Alto, Fairfax and Malibu. Elsewhere, Washington, D.C., now charges 5 cents for paper and plastic bags, and Austin, Texas, is debating whether to ban plastic shopping bags.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he supported the bill.

ABCNews.go.com

First Batch of 2010 CMA Awards Nominees Announced

A partial list of nominations was announced today, with Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum topping the 2010 CMA nominees.

The first of the Country Music Awards nominees were announced on Tuesday morning with the remaining categories to be announced tomorrow on ABC’s “Good Morning America”.

Here’s the CMA 2010 nominees announced Tuesday:

New Artist

Luke Bryan
Easton Corbin
Jerrod Niemann
Chris Young
Zac Brown Band

Vocal Group

Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Rascal Flatts
The Band Perry
Zac Brown Band

Vocal Duo

Brooks & Dunn
Joey + Rory
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland

Single of the Year

‘A Little More Country Than That’
Easton Corbin
Producer: Carson Chamberlain

‘Hillbilly Bone’
Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins
Producer: Scott Hendricks

‘Need You Now’
Lady Antebellum
Producers: Paul Worley and Lady Antebellum

‘The House That Built Me’
Miranda Lambert
Producers: Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke

‘White Liar’
Miranda Lambert
Producers: Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke

Song of the Year

‘A Little More Country Than That’
Songwriters: Rory Lee Feek, Don Poythress and Wynn Varble

‘Need You Now’
Songwriters: Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Josh Kear

‘The House That Built Me’
Songwriters: Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin

‘Toes’
Songwriters: Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette, John Driskell Hopkins and Shawn Mullins

‘White Liar’
Songwriters: Miranda Lambert and Natalie Hemby

Music Video

‘Hillbilly Bone’
Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins
Director: Roman White
Watch the ‘Hillbilly Bone’ Video

‘Need You Now’
Lady Antebellum
Director: David McClister
Watch the ‘Need You Now’ Video

‘The House That Built Me’
Miranda Lambert
Director: Trey Fanjoy
Watch ‘The House That Built Me’ Video

‘Water’
Brad Paisley
Director: Jim Shea
Watch the ‘Water’ Video

‘White Liar’
Miranda Lambert
Director: Chris Hickey
Watch the ‘White Liar’ Video

Musician

Paul Frankin — Steel Guitar
Dann Huff — Guitar
Brent Mason — Guitar
Mac McAnally — Guitar
Randy Scruggs — Guitar

OpposingViews.com

In the 43-second clip, a girl with blonde hair, wearing a red-hooded sweater is seen grabbing six puppies from a white bucket and hurling them into a river.

At one point, someone can clearly be heard saying “whee!” while she hurls a black-and-white puppy into the water.

It is unclear if the video is legitimate or potentially a hoax.

The video was posted on YouTube, but has been taken down; it has since sparked an angry online crusade to identify the woman.

“Find this dumb little b***h and throw her into a river,” one person wrote on the notorious Internet message board 4chan.

“Let’s work together on exposing this sicko!” another comment read.

According to the Daily Telegraph, some comments claim the girl is from the Central Bosnian town of Bugojno, which has a population of 50,000.

4chan users are believed to have previously outed the British woman who was caught on tape apparently grabbing a cat by the scruff of its neck and dropping it in a garbage can before closing the lid and hurrying away down the street. Death threats against the alleged cat trasher were posted on 4chan and other online forums after the woman’s name and address were apparently leaked online. She has since been given police protection.

CBSNews.com

Twitter  is blazing with references to today with a teen named Sidney Dalton. Who? What? Why?

The bottom line? Sydney Dalton is a victim of mean girls.

Sydney Dalton is a teenage girl who (shocker!) had a crush on teen pop sensation Justin Bieber. She was a true “Belieber” and member of every fan club under the sun, including the 136,000 member strong Twitter group, Bieber Army. She even got to meet the star on a few occasions. But none of this made her famous. Then one day she posted a video to YouTube. In the video, she told the world that she’s “getting over” Bieber and then, along with two friends ripped posters of the tween-popper off of the wall and into shreds before the camera.

As the video went viral, Dalton became Public Enemy #1 to the Bieber Army, which promptly stripped her of her fan club membership. Her twitter followers, many of them also rabid Bieber fans began criticizing her… and eventually the criticism turned to threats.

One detractor, in a post titled “I Hate Sydney Dalton” threatens Sydney: “I’m going to hit you the *** face with a full wine bottle. Cork & all.”

Other posts on YouTube call her an “Attention seeking *****,” and a “Stupid ****.”

This Youtube-fueled, Twitter-fast cyber bullying mimics the terror that befell a little girl named Jessi Slaughter, another “microcelebrity” on the teen YouTube circuit. According to Gawker, “Stickydrama—a crowd-sourced gossip website for 13-year-olds who loiter in mall food courts—dubiously linked her to the lead singer of emo band Blood on the Dance Floor, Dahvie Vanity. When a Stickydrama user asked Jessi for comment, she said: “gtfo dahvie and I dont exist, I’m just a fan.” The user concluded: “If Dahvie were a pedophile, why would he pick her! Other than the fact she’s a slut!”” Ultimately, Slaughter’s home phone number and address were spread from message board to message board on the internet and caused a very public (and very much on Youtube) emotional breakdown from the eleven year old.

Mean girls are everywhere, victimizing other girls. Mean girls played a part in last year’s Phoebe Prince scandal, and there were only a handful of them. What about the collective power of thousands of teenagers using the power of the web to single out one and terrorize her? Phoebe Prince’s small town bullies ultimately caused her to take her own life. But for the Jessie Slaughters and Sydney Daltons, whose terrorists are international, and who feel true ownership of a star, and in this case, the web, it makes you ask the question. When mean girls take over the web are they ever really safe from each other?

Judging from the tone in this crazed teenager’s voice? I think not. And if I were Dalton’s parents, I’d be more than a little bit concerned.

Forbes.com

Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise has been suspended from the newspaper for one month over a “horrendous mistake” he made on Twitter.

On Monday, Wise tweeted that suspended Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be suspended for five games instead of the six games he had initially been suspended for.

“Roethlisberger will get five games, I’m told,” Wise tweeted.

However, Wise made that up in an attempt, he said, to see which news outlets would pick up his report. In other words, it was a hoax (and several outlets, including the Miami Herald and ProFootballTalk, picked it up).

“As part of a bit on my show today, I tried to test the accuracy of social media reporting. Probably not the best way to go about experiment,” he tweeted. “But in the end, it proved two things: 1. I was right about nobody checking facts or sourcing and 2. I’m an idiot. Apologies to all involved,” he added.

On his radio show Tuesday, Wise said that he had been suspended from the Washington Post over the hoax.

“My bosses at the Post feel I need a month to think about the severity of my actions,” Wise said, according to FanHouse. “I tried to showcase the absurdity of bad journalism,” Wise said. “I could give you 10 reasons why I did this and what went wrong in the execution. I made a horrendous mistake, using my Twitter account that identifies me as a Washington Post columnist. ”

“Mike did not follow our guidelines and has since apologized for it,” the Washington Post said in a statement to the Huffington Post. “We take these matters very seriously; however, we do not discuss personnel issues.”

“Seems overly harsh to me,” Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz tweeted in response to the punishment.

HuffingtonPost.com

Microsoft Increasing Price of Xbox Live Gold Membership

Microsoft on Monday announced a price increase for Xbox Live Gold members in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the U.K., effective November 1.

In the U.S., a one-month Gold membership will increase from $7.99 to $9.99, a three-month membership will jump from $19.99 to $24.99, and a one-year subscription will increase from $49.99 to $59.99, Larry Hryb, Xbox Live programming director, wrote in a blog post.

Microsoft is offering a discount, however, to those who renew their subscriptions by Oct. 31. Gold members who purchase a one-year membership now can do so for $39.99, Hryb said.

“Since launching Xbox Live in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same,” Hryb wrote. “We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox Live Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.”

In the U.K. and Canada, Microsoft is only increasing the price of a one-month subscription – from £4.99 to £5.99 in the U.K. and from $8.99 CAD to $9.99 CAD in Canada. In Mexico, Microsoft is only altering the price of a one-year subscription; from 499 Pesos (about $38) to 599 Pesos (about $46).

PCMag.com