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Monday, December 5, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
AP source: Art theft spree suspect due in US court (AP)
NEW YORK ? A wine steward suspected of a string of brazen art thefts was headed for court Friday in New York to face charges after serving time in California for snatching a Picasso pencil sketch, a person briefed on the investigation said.
Mark Lugo just finished a 138-day sentence for grabbing the $275,000 Picasso off a San Francisco art gallery wall. He is due to be arraigned Friday on grand larceny and other charges related to art heists at two Manhattan hotels, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of the arraignment.
It's unclear whether Lugo has a New York lawyer. His San Francisco attorney, Douglas Horngrad, has called him "more like someone who was in the midst of a psychiatric episode" than a calculating art thief.
Lugo, 31, has been publicly identified as a suspect in several New York heists since shortly after his July arrest in San Francisco, where police identified him as the man who walked into the Weinstein Gallery, lifted the 1965 Picasso drawing "Tete de Femme" ("Head of a Woman") off the wall, strolled down the street with the sketch under his arm and hopped into a taxi. Police tracked Lugo to a friend's apartment, where the Picasso was found unframed and prepared for shipping.
Investigators then found a $430,000 trove of stolen art and high-priced wine in his apartment in New Jersey, where the pieces were carefully and prominently displayed, authorities said.
In New York, the charges against Lugo include taking a $350,000 drawing by the Cubist painter Fernand Leger from a lobby gallery at Manhattan's Carlyle Hotel, according to the person briefed on the investigation. The drawing, called "Composition with Mechanical Elements," dates to 1917 and disappeared in June.
Lugo also is being charged with stealing a group of five works by the South Korea-born artist Mie Yim, known for her disconcerting images of toy bears and other toy-like creatures, from the Chambers Hotel, the person said. The hotel had bought the Yim works, together called "Pastel on Board," for $1,800 apiece, the person said.
The San Francisco district attorney's office had said Lugo also was suspected of several other New York art heists. It wasn't immediately clear whether the New York investigation was continuing.
The sometime sommelier and server at upscale Manhattan restaurants also is charged in New Jersey with taking $6,000 worth of wine ? in the form of three bottles of Chateau Petrus Pomerol ? in April from Gary's Wine and Marketplace.
Lugo pleaded guilty in October to grand theft for the San Francisco heist. He finished his sentence Nov. 21 but was being held until he could be transferred to New York.
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Facebook Gaming Market Favors Biggest Players: Report
Lazard Capital Markets released a report based on meetings with a half-dozen privately held social and mobile gaming companies:?CrowdStar, Digital Chocolate, Funzio, HeyZap, IGG, and Tapjoy.
The company?s conclusion on established players, such as Zynga and Electronic Arts is:
A toughening landscape bodes well (relatively) for established category leaders (such as Zynga and Electronic Arts) that have built large user bases and seem to enjoy network effects.
We acknowledge that toughening competition on Facebook could constrain margins and is generally negative for the space; however, we believe that rising user acquisition costs could be relatively positive for companies like Zynga and Electronic Arts that have already built large user bases on Facebook and disproportionately benefit from network effect and, therefore, may have an advantage over the newer companies in the space.
Other takeaways from the Lazard report are:
- The competitive landscape for Facebook games seems to be getting tougher, with rising customer acquisition costs and declining virality of the platform.
- Monetization on Facebook games seems to be improving, driven by growing awareness and growing comfort level of users with spending on virtual items.
- Given the tougher competition on Facebook, companies note that they have to either ?find a niche market (such as female audience, hardcore gaming audience) on Facebook, or look for opportunities to expand on other platforms such as mobile.
- Opportunity for the hardcore games seems lucrative, given a meaningfully higher lifetime value and relatively limited competition in the segment.
- Social-mobile games opportunity also seems lucrative given relatively faster growth, better engagement and monetization metrics, and a relatively level playing field on social-mobile compared with Facebook.
- Discovery remains one of the biggest challenges for games on mobile devices, suggesting opportunity for a game-centric platform on mobile.
- The biggest opportunity for long-term growth is cross-platform games.
Source: http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-gaming-market-favors-biggest-players-report-2011-12
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Google Chrome Passes Firefox In Global Browser Market (NewsFactor)
Chrome has moved past Firefox to become the world's second-most popular Web browser after Internet Explorer, according to StatCounter. Chrome grabbed a 25.69 percent share of the global browser market in November -- a major increase from the 4.66 market share it held two years earlier, the Dublin, Ireland-based Web metrics firm said Thursday.
In the United States, IE currently holds a 50.66 percent market share, a slight increase from one year earlier. By contrast, Firefox usage among U.S Web users is 20.1 percent -- down from 26.75 percent in the same month last year, StatCounter said.
Google's popular browser -- which held a 17.3 percent share of the U.S market at the end of November -- is clearly benefiting from Firefox's slide. At the beginning of 2011, only 10.9 percent of all U.S.-based Web users were using Chrome.
"We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen Thursday.
Stalled Firefox Growth
On a global basis, however, Chrome's gain of 7.5 percentage points in browser market share during 2011 has come at Microsoft's expense, primarily.
However, the latest data from Net Applications shows Firefox has also lost 1.5 percentage points on the desktop so far this year. Net Applications shows that IE's global market share, which stood at 52.6 percent at the beginning of December, has fallen by more than 6 percentage points this year.
Unlike StatCounter, the U.S.-based Web metric firm still shows Firefox in second place with a 25.7 percent global market share, followed by Chrome at 18.2 percent.
Despite Mozilla's decision earlier this year to emulate Chrome by introducing more frequent and more automated browser updates, the growth rate for Firefox has stalled.
The shorter development cycles for Firefox may be attractive to individual users but in the enterprise space it usually takes a while for corporations to accept and implement software changes, noted Net Applications Vice President Vincent Vizzaccaro.
In fact, the shorter development cycles for Firefox may even be inhibiting the browser's enterprise growth, Vizzaccaro said. This may especially be the case "if older versions are not supported for a long period of time," Vizzaccaro added.
An Opportunity For Microsoft
StatCounter currently pegs IE's global market share at 40.6 percent, while Net Applications reports that 52.6 percent of the world's desktop PCs and laptops are running a version of IE. The big difference between the two firms' statistics is due in part to recent changes in the way that Net Applications calculates browser market share.
According to the U.S.-based firm, mobile devices now account for 6.7 percent of all browsing activities worldwide. Apple's Safari browser currently leads the pack with a 55 percent share of the global mobile browser market, followed by Opera Mini at 20.1 percent and Google's Android browser at 16.4 percent.
Microsoft sees an excellent opportunity ahead for the company to reclaim a substantial number of browser users worldwide through the release of its next-generation operating system. The software giant believes that many users who already have Windows running on their PCs, laptops and netbooks will see the advantage of having the same OS running on their media tablets.
Though Windows-based tablets have not been a hit to date, Microsoft believes that many customers, especially business clients, will find the cross-platform design of Windows 8 attractive enough to adopt compatible media tablets when the new OS is ready for launch next year. If Microsoft's strategy succeeds, IE usage will also grow as well -- especially among business users at enterprises where IE is currently the browser of choice.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111202/tc_nf/81210
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Seahawks Crush Eagles 31-14: Marshawn Lynch Lifts Seattle Over Philadelphia
SEATTLE ? Marshawn Lynch loves the prime-time stage, even if he's rarely given such a spotlight.
Seattle's hard-charging running back bulled through Philadelphia for 148 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns, David Hawthorne returned the third of Vince Young's four interceptions 77 yards for a score, and the Seahawks rolled to a 31-14 victory Thursday night that only added to the Eagles' miserable season.
Lynch ran into and escaped from a massive pileup for a 15-yard TD run in the first quarter, then made a quick cut and went back against the flow for a 40-yard scoring dash on the first play of the second quarter to give the Seahawks (5-7) a 14-0 lead.
Golden Tate's 11-yard, toe-tapping touchdown grab along the back edge of the end zone in the third quarter pushed Seattle's cushion to 17 over the Eagles (4-8).
But the Seahawks' third victory in their last four games wasn't secured until Hawthorne stepped in front of a swing pass intended for LeSean McCoy and raced untouched in the other direction with 4:24 left.
Making his third straight start in place of Michael Vick and his two broken ribs, Young couldn't find the same magic he did in the 2006 Rose Bowl when he led Texas to an upset of Pete Carroll and USC.
Young's first pass of the night was an awful interception thrown right to Seattle safety Kam Chancellor and nowhere near an Eagles receiver. Young was intercepted in the third quarter as well when a perfect pass deflected off the hands of Riley Cooper and into the hands of cornerback Brandon Browner. Both turnovers led to Seattle touchdowns.
Then came a pass for McCoy when Young clearly didn't see Hawthorne, ruining the Eagles' last chance to rally. For good measure, Young added one more interception in the final moments, giving him a career-high four picks.
Young finished 17 of 29 for 208 yards. McCoy got more chances than he did last Sunday against New England when he touched the ball just 14 times, a number that drew criticism from Eagles fans believing the leading rusher in the NFL deserved more opportunities.
McCoy finished with 84 yards on 17 carries and added another four catches for 49 yards. But he was upstaged by Lynch.
For the fourth time in five games, Lynch topped 100 yards ? and the one time he didn't, he finished with 88 yards in a victory over St. Louis. He had 90 yards by halftime on Thursday night, the most first-half yards rushing in his career. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry and almost immediately provided a spark the Seahawks needed on a short week.
And he did it while battling an upset stomach that occasionally forced him to the sideline.
Following Young's first interception, Seattle got down to the Eagles 10 on a 26-yard third-down completion from quarterback Tarvaris Jackson to Ben Obomanu. A penalty backed Seattle up 5 yards, but that only provided Lynch more room for theatrics.
On first-and-goal at the 15, he ran into a massive crowd near the 10. He got lost in the pile, wiggled out of the arms of linebacker Jamar Chaney and suddenly burst into the end zone, a run that was reminiscent of his 67-yard, tackle-breaking touchdown gallop in the playoffs last season against New Orleans.
Lynch's second touchdown was an opportunity for him to show off his open-field speed, and it came after another important third-down conversion, this time a 21-yard pass from Jackson to rookie Doug Baldwin on third-and-7. On the next snap, the flow of the play went to Lynch's left, but he immediately cut back right and found open field, beating the Eagles defense to the corner and going 40 yards untouched.
It was the second-most yards rushing in Lynch's career, behind the 153 he had in his rookie season with Buffalo against Cincinnati.
Tate's second straight game with a touchdown grab seemed to wrap up the victory. Tate outdueled a double-team at the back of the end zone and hauled in the toss from Jackson to give Seattle a 24-7 lead. Jackson finished 13 of 16 for 190 yards and a touchdown.
But the quick bounce-back by the Seahawks only magnified their missed chance last Sunday when they blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and lost 23-17 to Washington. Even with the win over Philadelphia and another home game coming up against St. Louis, any hopes the Seahawks have of jumping into the playoff race are likely gone.
Meanwhile, the misery only continued for Philadelphia. The Eagles played without QB Michael Vick, CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and WR Jeremy Maclin, then lost CB Nnamdi Asomugha to a neck/head injury late in the first half.
Still, Philadelphia pulled within 24-14 early in the fourth quarter when Young led a 17-play, 80-yard drive that ate up more than 10 minutes of the clock. The drive included a fourth-down conversion inside the Seahawks 10 and was capped on a 2-yard shovel pass from Young to McCoy.
Young then drove the Eagles inside the Seattle 35 on their next possession with a chance to make it a one-score game, but failed to see Hawthorne lurking in the flat.
___
Follow Tim Booth on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ByTimBooth
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Friday, December 2, 2011
Zimbabwe militants call for restaurant boycott (AP)
HARARE, Zimbabwe ? A militant youth group loyal to Zimbabwe's president is calling for a boycott of a restaurant chain whose latest advertisement depicts the aging, authoritarian president as "the last dictator standing," state radio reported.
The radio on Tuesday quoted the head of the group calling for South Africa-based Nando's to withdraw the ad that depicts President Robert Mugabe or face punitive action. Jimu Kunaka, the head of a group known as Chipangano, said the restaurant chain risked action including a boycott. Chipangano is a "brotherhood" of Mugabe loyalists.
The commercial that touts chicken shows Mugabe dining alone at Christmas, his empty table set for departed dictators including Moammar Gadhafi.
To the soundtrack of Mary Hopkin's hit song "Those Were the Days," the commercial shows an actor playing Mugabe reminiscing about his times with former dictators. It portrays him and Gadhafi engaging in a water-pistol fight, with Gadhafi wielding a golden AK-47 water pistol.
The ersatz Mugabe also makes sand angels with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, sings karaoke with Chairman Mao, and holds overthrown Ugandan dictator Idi Amin astride a tank in a scene parodying Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the hit movie "Titanic."
The head of Nando's Zimbabwe franchise said it was not informed of the South African television and press campaign, and is independent of them.
Musekiwa Kumbula, corporate affairs director at Innscor Africa, holders of the Nando's franchise in Zimbabwe, said in a statement the 60-second television commercial widely seen on Zimbabwe websites was generated in South Africa for its market and clientele.
The Innscor group "strongly feels the advertisement is insensitive and in poor taste," he said.
But, he added, "No consultation takes place between different franchises when they are formulating marketing strategies."
It is an offense under Zimbabwe law to insult Mugabe or undermine the authority of his office.
Mugabe once maintained close ties with Gadhafi. But relations became strained over payments for a gasoline deal during acute fuel shortages and shortly before the Libyan leader befriended Western leaders such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom Mugabe harshly criticized for his policies toward Zimbabwe.
Chairman Mao's China helped train Mugabe's guerrillas to end white rule in the former British colony of Rhodesia and Mugabe has been a frequent visitor to China ever since.
Mugabe played host to Saddam Hussein at a world summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1986. And though Mugabe was a sharp critic of apartheid-era South African President P.W. Botha ? depicted in the commercial being pushed on a swing by Mugabe ? apartheid South Africa remained Zimbabwe's biggest trading partner.
Business tycoon Ray Kaukonde, a major stockholder in Innscor and a former provincial governor in Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, said the advertising denigrated Mugabe. He called it "a violation of business ethics" and said it was "in total disregard of African values," state radio reported Tuesday.
State radio said Chipangano demanded an apology be made to the nation for the "negative portrayal" of Mugabe, 87, who led Zimbabwe to independence in 1980. Critics, Western governments and rights groups have said he has become increasingly authoritarian and unleashed a decade of violence, vote-rigging and intimidation amid a breakdown of the rule of law since he ordered the seizures of thousands of white-owned farms in 2000.
Human rights activists accuse the Chipangano group of forming violent gangs that roam Harare's impoverished townships and seize property from street vendors and householders seen as supporters of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's former opposition party in the nation's fragile 30-month coalition government.
Harare-based officials for the South African-based satellite television provider DStv said that if the commercial is aired on South African channels, it cannot be filtered out of programs received by tens of thousands of Zimbabwean subscribers.
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