Wired-PlayBook; Blackberry's Answer to the iPad

Blackberry's PlayBook: cbc.ca

(Story reported by Brian X. Chen)

Maybe Flash on a tablet isn’t as bad as Steve Jobs says it is. That’s what Adobe and Research In Motion want you to think after watching the video below.

Taped at Adobe’s MAX conference this week, the segment shows the BlackBerry PlayBook running media apps coded in Adobe Air, which is based partly on Flash. The video also shows YouTube.com playing a video with Flash 10.1 player.

“We’re not trying to dumb down the internet for a small mobile device,” says Mike Lazaridis, RIM’S CEO, during the PlayBook demonstration. “What we’re trying to do is bring up the performance and capability of the mobile device to the internet.”

Though there is no mention of Apple in the video, the comments about dumbing down the internet appear to target the iPad, which does not support Flash. In a famous blog post published April, Apple CEO Jobs explained why Apple was leaving Flash out of its mobile operating system, citing issues such as application crashes and battery drain. Later, when Flash debuted on the Android OS, some independent tests found that Flash was causing crashes on Android devices and that performance was sluggish, but battery drain was not significant.

(Click here to read the full story on the Wired Magazine website.)

Chicago Sun Times-President Obama To Lead Chicago Rally Saturday

President Obama in Chicago's Grant Park in November 2008, after his victory: Getty Images

(Story reported by Lynn Sweet for the Chicago Sun Times)

President Obama returns to Chicago on Saturday for a Democratic get-out-the-vote rally, his biggest event in the city since Election Night 2008 in Grant Park and his first free and public event here since moving into the White House. Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist Common -- a South Side native -- will perform as Illinois Democrats search for votes in the final weekend of the campaign.

Former President Bill Clinton headlines a rally at the Palmer House this morning where people will be urged to walk over to City Hall and the County Building to cast an early vote after the rally is over.

The Clinton-Obama double feature comes as massive Democratic turnout from Chicago and the surrounding Cook County suburbs is crucial if the top of the Illinois ticket -- Gov. Quinn and Alexi Giannoulias, the Senate nominee -- are to have any chance against Republican governor and Senate contenders Bill Brady and Mark Kirk, closing their campaigns positioned to win.

Chicago is one of four stops for Obama on the final weekend before the Nov. 2 midterms. Before coming home, Obama will headline get-out-the-vote rallies Saturday in Philadelphia and Bridgeport, Conn. After spending a rare night in Chicago, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden pair up in Ohio to host their last campaign rally, at Cleveland State University.

(Click here to read the full story on the Chicago Sun Times website.)

TMZ.com-Charlie Sheen; Tortured Soul

Charlie Sheen: TMZ.com

(Story reported by TMZ.com)

Charlie Sheen has been hanging out with some "bad people" over the last few months -- and some people who were trying to save him felt he might die ... this according to multiple sources connected to the actor.

Our sources say Sheen -- who is currently hospitalized after a drinking binge that ended with Charlie allegedly trashing his NYC hotel room -- has been having renewed substance abuse problems since August, shortly after he entered his guilty plea in the Aspen domestic violence case.

We're told several people came into Charlie's life soon after the court case ended that took him "in a bad direction."  We're told when Charlie was at the Playboy mansion in August, he was already drinking again.

One source who has been working with Charlie recently says he's been "a tortured soul for months" and his friends openly talked about how they feared for his life.  Another source very close to Charlie echoed the fear that Charlie's most recent downturn could end tragically.

(Click here to read the full story on the TMZ.com website.)

CNN-LeBron James=Ricardo Tubbs+Miami Vice? (Great Nike Video!)

LeBron James: The Business Insider

(Story reported by Laura Batchelor for CNN)

New York (CNN) -- LeBron James addresses the off-season controversy over his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for the Miami Heat in a 90-second video posted on YouTube by Nike.

"What should I do?" the NBA star asks rhetorically.

The video -- titled "Rise" -- begins on a set similar to the one James used to announce last summer he was leaving Cleveland, Ohio, for Miami, Florida.

The fast-paced video looks at different scenarios of what James could have done, including a cameo by "Miami Vice" TV star Don Johnson offering advice.

"You've got to deal with the heat, man," Johnson says. "Be patient. After a while the temperature drops and everything is free and easy."

James recites a portion of Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise."

"Should I be who you want me to be?" James asks as a basketball rolls off his fingertips and into a hoop.

"We're celebrating his courage to forge his own journey even when others may have disagreed with his decisions," Nike's vice president of global brand marketing, Davide Grasso, said in a news release.

(Click here to read the full story on the CNN website. Below is the LeBron James Nike "Rise" video on YouTube.)

LA Times-A Photographic Journey of Sinatra and the Rat Pack

cover of the coffee table book, "The Rat Pack": LA Times

(Story reported by David Ng for the LA Times)

Paeans to Frank Sinatra and his coterie of pals known as the Rat Pack are plentiful and remarkably diverse. On the low end of the consumer spectrum, you can spend a few bucks on a Rat Pack T-shirt from your local sidewalk merchants. On the opposite side of the scale, you could shell out $650 for a new photography volume from Reel Art Press dedicated to the legendary Vegas clique.

"The Rat Pack" is a special, limited-edition volume that is positioned as the Rolls-Royce of Sinatra memorabilia. At 448 pages, it's a hefty book filled with photos by Sid Avery, Bob Willoughby and others, and text by Rat Pack aficionado Shawn Levy. Some of the images in the book have remained stored away and undeveloped for decades.

Such a fancy volume doesn't come cheap. The launch price for the master edition is $650, while the deluxe edition is priced at $1,650. If you're looking to spend even more than that -- and who isn't in this economy? -- the heritage edition is definitely for you, with prices upward of $4,000 for the customizable version. The heritage edition is limited to 30 copies and comes with its own rare, vintage photograph.

Only 2,250 copies of "The Rat Pack" in all editions were printed.

(Click here to read the full story on the LA Times website.)

NY Times-Alessandra Stanley's Review of HBO's "In Treatment"

Gabriel Byrne as therapist Paul Weston in HBO's "In Treatment": Paul Schiraldi/HBO

(Story reported by Alessandra Stanley for the NY Times)

Therapy is out of fashion and almost off the air.

Tony isn’t discussing his dreams on “The Sopranos” anymore. “Huff,” a Showtime shrink played by Hank Azaria, is long gone, and “Head Case,” a send-up of psychiatry on Starz, was also canceled. HBO shut down “Tell Me You Love Me” after one season. All of Toni Collette’s multiple personalities in “United States of Tara” are on hiatus until next year. Neurotics and sociopaths are still rampant, of course, from a serial killer on “Dexter” to a teacher turned drug kingpin on “Breaking Bad,” but for the most part television characters carry on without counseling or medication.

Except on “In Treatment.”Monday’s season premiere on HBO picks up Paul Weston, the moody therapist played by Gabriel Byrne, pretty much where he was left off: fragile, chastened, but still in the business of healing.

This is the third season and the first that relies on original scripts instead of adaptations of episodes from the hit Israeli series “Be’ Tipul.” The first seasons were faithful adaptations, and, remarkably, it took only a few minor adjustments to transpose the psychic pain in Tel Aviv to Maryland and Brooklyn.

When it began, the American version was praised for not seeming like a knockoff of the Israeli series. Now it’s a compliment to say that Season 3 does: Paul’s relationships with his new patients are as finely etched as before. The writing may seem a little less sophisticated — each session offers incremental insights about the patient that can seem a bit pat or forced — but over all “In Treatment” is still an absorbing dramatization of psychotherapy.

(Click here to read Alessandra Stanley's full review of HBO's "In Treatment" on the NY Times website.)

Reuters-Karzai Admits Iran I$ Breaking Him Off (Paid In Full)

Afghan President Harmid Karzai: S. Sabawoon/EPA

(Story reported by Hamid Shalizi for Reuters)

(Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday his office receives cash in bags from Iran, but said it is a transparent form of aid that helps cover expenses at the presidential palace, and that the United States makes similar payments.
The comments came after a report on Sunday that Karzai's chief of staff, Omar Dawoodzai, receives covert bagfuls of money -- possibly as much as $6 million in a single payment -- which neighboring Iran sends in a bid to secure influence and loyalty.

The New York Times, citing an unnamed Afghan official, said that millions of dollars in cash channeled from Iran have been used to pay Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and Taliban commanders.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said the international community should have "every reason to be concerned about Iran trying to have a negative influence on Afghanistan."

Karzai said he gets money from several "friendly countries" but named only the United States and Iran, the latter contributing up to 700,000 euros ($976,500) twice a year.

He will continue to ask for Iranian money, he added.

(Click here to read the full story on the Reuters website.)

Politico-R.I. Dem. Says President Obama Can Shove His Endorsement

Rhode Island Dem. gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio, says President Obama can take his endorsement and "shove it": AP Photo

(Story reported by Jonathan Allen for Politico) 

Rhode Island's Democratic gubernatorial nominee said President Obama can "shove" his endorsement amid an ugly intraparty squabble that has Democrats buzzing that the commander in chief is showing too little loyalty to his own party.

Obama, showing deference to Republican-turned-independent Lincoln Chafee, is refusing to endorse Democrat Frank Caprio, even as he travels to the smallest state to do a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

"He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I'm concerned," Caprio said on WPRO radio, according to an account on the Providence Journal's Website.

There had been behind-the-scenes activity to try to get the president to endorse Caprio — or at least appear with him while in Rhode Island.

But Obama, who won a cross-party endorsement from Chafee in the 2008 presidential campaign, has made clear he doesn't intend to put his thumb on the scale for Caprio in one of the few states where his endorsement might benefit a Democrat this year.

(Click here to read the full story on the Politico website.)