96% Tomboy

In "Tomboy," 10-year old Laure(Zoe Heran) moves to a new neighborhood with her parents(Sophie Cattani & Mathieu Demy) and younger sister Jeanne(Malonn Levana). While looking out from an apartment window one pleasant afternoon, Laure sees a group of boys playing out in the park. When she finally leaves her sister and sleeping, very, very pregnant mother behind in the apartment, the boys are gone, with only Lisa(Jeanne Disson), a girl of her age, left behind in their wake. Laure introduces herself as Mikael and they run after them together, so they can join in the fun. With that simple, elegant setup, writer-director Celine Sciamma tells an evocative and naturalistic genderblender with a very belieable sibling relationship. Sadly, the movie eventually runs straight into a narrative wall. Until then, Laure is not just being a tomboy; she is passing as a boy but not 24/7, so we'll keep to the feminine pronouns.(Actually, it is not until later that she is revealed not to be a boy.) She does this to enjoy the freedoms that boys enjoy but is too young to realize the minefield of gender that she has just walked into. That's where parents come in, as the movie smartly shows how parents help to shape their children's gender.

November 29, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tomboy_2011/

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Beijing tightens controls over popular microblogs (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? The Beijing city government said on Friday it would tighten control over popular microblogs that have vexed authorities with their rapid dissemination of news, giving users three months to register with their real names or face legal consequences.

China has repeatedly criticized microblogs for spreading what it calls unfounded rumors and vulgarities and has issued a series of warnings that online content must be acceptable to the ruling Communist Party.

Microblogs such as Sina's Weibo allow users to issue short messages of opinion -- a maximum of 140 Chinese characters -- that can course through chains of followers who receive messages instantly.

Censors have a hard time monitoring the tens of millions of messages sent every day and users have become expert at using clever, nuanced language to discuss sensitive topics such as human rights and the foibles of the top leadership.

Now, in rules unveiled by the Chinese capital's government and carried by state media, individual and company users must register with their real identification information.

Users have three months to register with "responsible departments for Internet content" or will face legal consequences, state media cited the rules as saying.

However, people will be able to choose their own user names, state-run Xinhua news agency cited an unidentified government spokesman with the Beijing Internet Information Office as saying.

Hong Kong media said the cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou were likely to follow suit.

"Not only will this not affect the development of microblogs, it will help such sites build their brands and improve their service," the government spokesman told Xinhua.

China has more than 300 million registered microbloggers, although many people have more than one account.

Wang Junxiu, an Internet commentator and investor in Beijing, said the new policy would be difficult to implement -- the rules give no details on how they will be enforced -- but nonetheless would have a chilling effect.

"I don't know how they're going to implement this because there are already hundreds of millions of users on microblogs," said Wang, who studies microblog developments.

"How do you go about checking them one by one? It will be very hard to enforce, but it still means that the intensity of controls will grow."

Peng Shaobin, general manager of Sina's microblog service department, told Xinhua that the company had been trying hard to "stop the spread of false information" on microblogs.

"We ... support the regulations," Peng said.

China already blocks foreign social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, fearing the uncensored sharing of images and information could cause instability and harm national security.

DISMAY ONLINE

Chinese microbloggers were quick to share their dismay at the new rules.

"This is a covert way of monitoring what people say and to control public opinion!" complained a user with the screen name of "huitailang." "But think about it another way -- if the subjects of heaven are full of complaints, that's bad for social harmony and for our emperors."

Still, investors may be slightly more relaxed, as they have been expecting tighter regulation for some time now, said Dick Wei, a Hong Kong-based analyst with JPMorgan.

The impact would depend on how the new regulations were executed, he added.

"If you look at the real-name registration for the online-games industry back a couple of years ago, the execution of the real-name registration on the online games industry did not impact the online game usage," Wei said.

Sina and other Chinese microblog operators already deploy technicians and software to monitor content and block and remove comments deemed unacceptable, especially about protests, official scandals and Party leaders.

While the Party has vowed to intensify control over online social media and instant messaging tools, analysts say it is unlikely to shut down what has become an important valve for monitoring and easing social pressures.

The government has also urged ministries, officials and the police to set up their own microblogging accounts to give the public "correct" facts and release authorized information to dispel misunderstandings.

(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley and Huang Yan in BEIJING and Melanie Lee in SHANGHAI)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/wr_nm/us_china_microblogs

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iPad 3 rumors: What we know, don't know, and think we know

IPad 3 rumors point toward early 2012. So what kind of features will be included? Here's a roundup of iPad 3 rumors, with a little context as to whether you should believe the scuttlebutt or not.

IPad 3 rumors increasingly suggest that the new Apple tablet will hit shelves in early 2012 ? perhaps even as soon as February. The iPad 2, of course, with its dual-cameras and upgraded innards, represented a sizable leap forward from the original iPad. So what kind of improvements can we expect from the iPad 3??

Skip to next paragraph

A caveat: Apple's?notorious secrecy makes such hypothesizing both fun and ? in its own way ? futile. Still, there's plenty of information out there, some of it probable, some of it doubtful, and some of it a little silly. Let's break it down.

As we noted yesterday,?Citi analyst?Richard Gardner recently penned a note to investors, forecasting the arrival of the new iPad. He predicted that the display on the new iPad will sport more than double the resolution of the previous model.?"[T]here do not appear to be any significant technical hurdles remaining," Gardner wrote,?according?to?Business Insider.

Also look for a new camera on the iPad 3 ? par for the course for Apple, which regularly improves the quality and megapixel-count on its iPhone cameras. Plus, Eric Zeman points out today at Information Week, it's not like the lenses on the current model iPad are winning any rewards.?

"Both cameras on the iPad 2 are horrible," Zeman writes. "Sure, they work for FaceTime and such, but the results are pitiful. While tablets are still unwieldy for taking pictures, most of the competition is fielding tablets with 3- and 5-megapixel cameras. I don't imagine I'll be using a tablet for most photo-taking needs, but having a decent one on board wouldn't hurt."

Meanwhile, the design of the iPad 3 could be a departure from the design of the iPad 2, which, after all, was a lot like the design of the original iPad.?

"It is thought the next-generation iPad 3 will be thicker in design," writes the ZD Net team. "This could suggest a larger battery that would in turn make the device compatible to cope with additional 4G LTE technology.?Rumors late last month surfaced that Japan?s largest cellular network would?receive 'two new 4G LTE enabled devices,' further leading speculation that Apple has finally jumped on the next-generation wireless technology."

Lastly, don't wave goodbye to the iPad 2 just yet. Just as Apple has continued to sell its older model iPhones for a discounted price, plenty of analysts think that Apple will keep the iPad 2 on the market for a while longer, especially as cheap Android tablets continue to proliferate. (Did you see the $99 Android tablet?) "I expect the base iPad 2 will continue to be sold, after the iPad 3 launch, for $299 all through 2012. Call it the '3GS' effect," writes John Martellaro of Mac Observer.?

For more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut. And don?t forget to sign up for the weekly?BizTech newsletter.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/knHNT6cdI90/iPad-3-rumors-What-we-know-don-t-know-and-think-we-know

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Hamas marks anniversary, hails Arab Spring Islamists (Reuters)

GAZA (Reuters) ? Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters rallied in Gaza on Wednesday to celebrate the Palestinian group's 24th anniversary and the strengthening of fellow Islamists in Egypt.

"We hope all Arab countries will come under Islamic control," said Umm Bashir al-Hetani, a woman in the crowd over which fluttered a sea of green Islamist flags.

Founded in 1987, Hamas, an Arabic acronym meaning the Islamist resistance movement, is an armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Palestinian territories.

In Egypt, the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups sought more gains in the second round of a parliamentary election on Wednesday in an army-led transition that began with the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in February.

Addressing the rally, Hamas's Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh said the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups had "spearheaded the Arab Spring" of political change in the region "either through direct confrontation with tyrannical regimes or through the ballot box."

Though Hamas sprang from the Muslim Brotherhood, it operates independently due to its location and the conflict with Israel.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has renounced violence as a means of bringing about political change, but endorses it for those under foreign occupation.

"Resistance is the way and it is the strategic choice to liberate Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea and to remove the invaders from the blessed land of Palestine," Haniyeh told the crowd, which chanted: "We will never recognize Israel."

The rally, which Hamas said 350,000 people attended, was punctuated by sonic booms from Israeli warplanes overhead, familiar sounds in the Gaza Strip, where militants frequently fire rockets into Israel and Israeli aircraft carry out raids.

"Hamas, together with other stubborn resistance factions, will lead the people towards uprising after uprising until all of Palestine is liberated," Haniyeh said, referring to territory that includes the occupied West Bank and what is now Israel.

Hamas is regarded by the West as a terrorist group for its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.

The group has said it might agree to a long-term truce with Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007. Implementation of an Egyptian-brokered Hamas-Fatah deal has been delayed by squabbling between the two sides.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111214/wl_nm/us_palestinians_hamas

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Quitting Kyoto could cost Canada down the road

Few issues have attracted international attention to Canadian policy like the withdrawal from the Kyoto accord. There was a wave of international criticism. Will Canada face a real cost?

Probably not, for now. Some climate hits have already been taken. But there is a bigger potential cost down the road.

More related to this story

There?s politics in climate change and money at stake in talks. Moral arguments aside, the politics will matter.

Canada?s Kyoto withdrawal was an unusually big news story for a country that gets little mention, playing as a big deal in international media. It was a top Web-hit story for the BBC. Reporters kept asking U.S. climate negotiator Todd Stern about Canada. Canada?s emissions story jumped to the masses. It could be the new seal hunt. Japan and Russia won?t meet Kyoto targets either, but Canada withdrew and got headlines.

There was also pointed criticism from countries such as China and France, and many more.

Still, some foreign officials don?t expect much short-term consequence for Canada. It wasn?t a surprise to them. They knew Canada wouldn?t reach its Kyoto target or buy carbon credits to comply. The Harper government wasn?t going to enter a second, post-2012 phase of Kyoto. They expect Mr. Harper to act when the United States does; the 2012 presidential election may be Canada?s climate policy-maker. Many foreign governments already saw a non-Kyoto Canada.

?There are political implications to abandoning Kyoto, but Canada has already suffered them,? said Michael Levi, an energy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

It causes diplomatic gripes and was probably a factor in Canada?s lost UN Security Council bid.

U.S. President Barack Obama delayed approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to 2013. It wasn?t just that people on the route didn?t like it. Opposition was organized by environmental activists fighting ?dirty oil.? Mr. Obama didn?t need to alienate part of his base before an election year.

California fuel standards already punish oil sands crudes. Europe?s proposed Fuel Quality Directive would do the same. Europe doesn?t buy much Alberta oil, but Canada lobbied against it, fearing a precedent. But it?s now in the hands of EU bureaucrats who aren?t surprised.

But climate-change politics matter. Pressure for action lessened with the economic slowdown, especially in North America. But unless you believe climate science is wrong, you?d expect the pendulum to swing and public pressure to increase.

?Canada has to see the writing on the wall here,? said University of Alberta economist Andrew Leach. ?We write off things like the Keystone XL decision as being all political. The question you have to ask is, ?Why was it politically advantageous to do that?? ?

It?s not just that the oil sands are a fast-growing source of emissions. Canada is 30 per cent over Kyoto targets, and the oil sands are just part. Canada is the eighth-largest greenhouse-gas emitter. China is largest, but per person its emissions are one-third of Canada?s. Ottawa has no regulation plan for big emitters. Canada can?t combat the story that the oil sands make us dirty.

One day, politics will bring cost. A 2009 U.S. bill to apply tariffs on goods for countries that fail to meet climate standards passed the House but died in the Senate. Mr. Levi expects Europeans or others to revive the idea.

Mr. Leach said: ?I think you?re going see countries looking to apply blame by punishment.?

Canada says it wants a new treaty binding all major countries. Talks in Durban agreed it would be struck in 2015, with targets in effect by 2020. But in pulling out of Kyoto, Canada didn?t drop a lesser commitment made (along with the United States) in Copenhagen in 2009. Canada will be ?hard-pressed? to meet that target, too, Mr. Levi said, and the diplomatic cost of a second pullback will be higher.

Canada doesn?t have a plan to meet that target. The United States is far closer. China, with lower per-capita emissions, may see advantage in an agreement. If politics makes a deal, a Canada viewed as a scofflaw won?t get much of a say in the consequences. It had better have a better story.

Campbell Clark writes on foreign affairs from Ottawa

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quitting-kyoto-could-cost-canada-down-the-road/article2271728/?utm_medium=Feeds:%20RSS/Atom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2271728

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Stocks slide lower as euro worries persist

By Associated Press

NEW YORK ? Stocks and the euro fell early Wednesday as worries over Europe hang over financial markets. Energy companies fell hard as the price of crude oil plunged 4 percent.

Italy's borrowing rates ratcheted higher and the euro slid below $1.30 for the first time since January, two signs that the debt crisis continues to pressure Europe's governments. The euro has lost more than 3 percent in three days.

Italy had to pay higher borrowing rates in its last bond auction of the year Wednesday. The euro zone's third-largest economy paid 6.47 percent interest to borrow?3.95 billion for five years, up from 6.30 percent just a month ago. That's a sign that investors' confidence in Italy's ability to pay its debts is waning.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 106 points, or 1 percent to 11,849 in early-morning trading. Caterpillar Inc. fell 3.4 percent, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow. The Dow is headed for its third down day in a row. It closed at its lowest level in two weeks Tuesday.

The market appears to be in "sell now and ask questions later mode," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial. The fear that another bank failure will lead to a wider financial crisis like Lehman Brothers did in 2008 overshadows everything else, he said.

In traders' minds, a slight drop in the euro or a small rise in Italian government bond yields is seen as a step toward a banking collapse. "Just the hint of bad news becomes 'Oh my gosh. The world is going to end,' " Canally said.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12, or 1 percent, to 1,214. The Nasdaq fell 38 points, or 1.5 percent to 2,541.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.92 percent from 1.96 percent late Tuesday as demand increased for ultrasafe assets. The dollar also rose sharply against other currencies. The euro lost about out penny against the dollar to $1.29.

In Europe, Germany's DAX dropped 1.6 percent; France's main stock index fell 3 percent.

The steep drop in crude prices pulled down Cabot Oil & Gas Corp, Alpha Natural Resources Inc. and Apache Corp. All three were down more than 3 percent in early trading. The price of crude oil sank $4 to $96 in morning trading.

Other commodities prices also fell sharply as investors shed assets seen as being risky. Commodity prices also tend to fall when the dollar rises, since a stronger dollar makes it more expensive for investors using other currencies to buy commodities, which are priced in dollars. Gold and copper lost each 5 percent.

First Solar Inc. plunged 21 percent, the biggest drop in the S&P 500, after the country's largest solar company slashed its earnings estimate for the year. The solar industry has been hit hard by slower economic growth around the world and as government funding for alternative energy projects has dried up.

Avon jumped 8 percent, the largest gain in the S&P 500. The company announced late Tuesday that its CEO, Andrea Jung, will step down. The cosmetics company has been struggling with erratic financial results and is under scrutiny by regulators.

The Dow is now down 2.8 percent for the week, while S&P has lost 3.3 percent. The Nasdaq is down 4 percent.

The markets have already told is that Europe currently has a broken monetary system, according to Kyle Bass, Hayman Capital Management managing partner.

?

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/14/9443632-stocks-slide-lower-as-euro-worries-persist

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Droid Xyboard tablets out soon

Verizon Wireless

By Athima Chansanchai

You have to give Android props for persistence, as two new Droid tablets are set to enter a market dominated by the iPad and now, the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Powered by dual-core 1.2 gigahertz processors and operating on Android 3.2 Honeycomb (until the 4.0 Android Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade is released), the new Droid Xyboard tablets will run on Wi-Fi or Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network when they come out later this month.

The tablets, which are available in an 8.2-inch and 10.1-inch versions, will range in price from $430 (16GB 8.2) to $730 (64GB 10.1) with new?2-year contracts with a $30 minimum data plan.?(If you're planning on getting a Droid Razr, which is also coming out in white for the holiday season, you can get $100 off the Xyboard tablet.)

Live Poll

Are you going to get a tablet this holiday season?

• 170251

  YES. And it will be an iPad.

  27%

• 170252

  YES. And it will be an Android.

  33%

• 170253

  YES. And it will be an Amazon Kindle Fire.

  7%

• 170254

  YES. And it will be a Nook Tablet.

  7%

• 170255

  NO. And I'm just fine with that.

  27%

VoteTotal Votes: 15

The tablets are said to be "lighter than a paperback and thinner than an AAA battery" and aim for consumers who use their tabs as media hubs, with an emphasis on viewing videos, photos and documents with its "high-definition displays with wide viewing angles" and magnesium-reinforced bodies with aluminum housing. The 8.2 Xyboard has 2.1 adaptive virtual surround sound to go with its HD display, which could make those Netflix movies and shows quite appealing to enjoy on the road.?

It's not all for play, either. The 10.1 Xyboard might also catch the eye of studious students and professionals who have a tendency to take notes wherever they go (raising hand here) with its stylus.?They are also "Business Ready, meaning they offer enterprise-grade security and productivity features; and they feature software unique to Motorola such as MotoCast for near-instant access to files stored remotely on your home or work PC or Mac."

In another cool nod to the increasing multi-functionality of the tablet experience, the Dijit app converts the Xyboards into a universal remote control for TVs, Blu-Ray players, DVRs and other devices.?

The Xyboards come with?1GB of RAM and MotoCast, which gives users?"remote access to non DRM-protected music, pictures, videos and documents stored on work or home computers? hard drives." For the rougher, clumsier users (raising hand again) and those with little ones, the tablets come with scratch-resistant displays and a coating of water-repellent nanoparticles, which are supposed to make them resistant to the occasional liquid oopsie.?

Other perks of the tablets include:

• Mobile Hotspot Capability ? share 4G LTE connection with up to 8 Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• 5-megapixel rear-facing HD cameras with digital zoom, autofocus and LED flash
• 1.3-megapixel HD front-facing cameras?

But will the Xyboards be hot enough to beat back the iPad and Amazon Kindle Fire one-two juggernauts this holiday season? You tell us.

More stories:

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

Source: http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/06/9093444-droid-xyboard-tablets-out-soon

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