NHL players vote in step toward dissolving union

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2012 file photo, a nearly empty hockey stick rack in the locker room of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team is shown during the NHL labor lockout in Buffalo, N.Y. The NHL lockout that's already wiped out the first three months of the season is taking its toll on Buffalo businesses. And it's no different in many of the NHL's 29 other markets. (AP Photo/David Duprey, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2012 file photo, a nearly empty hockey stick rack in the locker room of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team is shown during the NHL labor lockout in Buffalo, N.Y. The NHL lockout that's already wiped out the first three months of the season is taking its toll on Buffalo businesses. And it's no different in many of the NHL's 29 other markets. (AP Photo/David Duprey, File)

In this photo taken Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, championship banners and retired numbers of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team hang from the rafters above the ice at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The NHL lockout that's already wiped out the first three months of the season is taking its toll on small businesses in many of the NHL's markets. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

FILE - Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players Association, speaks to reporters about on going labor talks with the league outside the NHL headquarters in New York, in this July 31, 2012 file photo. Donald Fehr and the players' association are ready to get back to the bargaining table at any moment. They are now just waiting for the NHL to feel the same way. "(We aren't talking) because the owners have not indicated a desire to resume," the NHLPA's executive director said Wednesday night Dec. 19, 2012 before a charity hockey game. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

In this photo taken Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, a hockey goal sits on the ice at Joe Louis Arena home of the Detroit Red Wings hockey club in Detroit. The NHL lockout that's already wiped out the first three months of the season is taking its toll on small businesses in many of the NHL's markets. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? NHL players are a step closer to dissolving their union.

Union members voted this week to give the players' association's executive board the power to file a "disclaimer of interest" until Jan. 2.

A person familiar with the outcome of the vote told The Associated Press on Friday that the measure passed easily, drawing more than two-thirds majority that was necessary. However, the executive board hasn't made plans yet to meet to discuss whether to file the disclaimer. If the Jan. 2 deadline passes, another authorization vote could be held to approve a filing at a later date.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the results of the vote had not been announced.

If the executive board files the disclaimer, the union would dissolve and become a trade association. That would allow players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.

Negotiations between the NHL and the union have been at a standstill since talks ended Dec. 6. No bargaining is scheduled, and time is running short to save the season. All games through Jan. 14 have been canceled, more than half the season. The New Year's Day Winter Classic and All-Star game already are victims of the lockout.

A new labor agreement would need to be in place by about that time to salvage a 48-game schedule, the minimum in Commissioner Gary Bettman's opinion for the season to proceed.

The NHL is already the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout.

The NHLPA now appears set to follow the lead set by NFL and NBA players. Both dissolved their unions during lockouts last year.

The legality of the lockout is already set to be tried in U.S. federal court after the NHL filed a class-action lawsuit last week against the NHLPA. The NHL also submitted an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.

The NBA's labor dispute ended less than two weeks after the union was disbanded. Jeffrey Kessler, the lead negotiator for the National Basketball Players Association in that dispute, contends the NHLPA would be wise to go ahead with the "disclaimer of interest."

"I think this is much more likely to lead to a settlement sooner," Kessler told The Canadian Press last week. "The players have concluded that they are on the verge of possibly deciding that it is better not to be a union and using the antitrust laws to attack the lockout, which all fans should be happy with because it'll work."

The league's Board of Governors discussed the possibility of a "disclaimer of interest" on Dec. 5, and Bettman said the NHL didn't see it as a significant threat.

"We don't view it in the same way in terms of its impact as apparently the union may," Bettman said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-21-HKN-NHL-Labor/id-40bedc6fe6b8470eb5111454f88a457b

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Engadget Podcast 321 - 12.21.2012

Did we mention it's the end of the world? We did? Oh, okay. Well if that's all getting a little too much depressing, then perhaps this week's reader questions aren't for you. If you're an optimist, however, there's plenty of other gadget talk to enjoy. Just, y'know, don't say we didn't warn you.

Hosts: Brian Heater, Terrence O'Brien, Dana Wollman
Producer: James Trew

Hear the podcast

Continue reading Engadget Podcast 321 - 12.21.2012

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/21/engadget-podcast-321-12-21-2012/

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Government dumps conservatory tax plan

Published on 18 - December - 2012

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has scrapped plans to force householders wanting to build extensions to make extra improvements to their property's energy efficiency.

The Government U-turn on the 'conservatory tax' came after research found as many as four out of 10 home owners would be put off making any home improvements.

In a written statement, Pickles said: "Concerns raised point to the danger that introducing consequential improvements would, in fact, discourage people from undertaking home improvements.

"Having considered all the representations and evidence, including the public reaction, I can inform the House that we will not be going ahead with such regulatory proposals in any way at this point in time.

He added: "There is significant scope to promote take up of the voluntary Green Deal, which allows householders - if they choose - to improve the energy efficiency of their home without any upfront cost.

"We intend to work with the industry and local authorities to help increase awareness of the Green Deal amongst householders."

Research by The Energy Saving Trust research found that consequential improvements, even with Green Deal finance in place, would deter 38% of households from going ahead with building work on their property that they were otherwise planning.

Other focus group work found installers would be reluctant to accept responsibility for telling home owners of the Government's consequential improvement requirements.

Pickles said that this duty would potentially present rogue traders with an opportunity either to not inform homeowners of the requirements or to inflate the requirements and 'rip people off'.

Mike Leonard, CEO of the Modern Masonry Alliance said, "The decision to call time on the prospect of Consequential Improvements is a victory for common sense.

"To impose an additional tax on those who choose to invest their own money to extend and improve their properties would be an act of madness in these difficult times.

"Our SME Builders, brick and block manufacturers and builders merchants depend on this market which is already massively depressed due to the lack of bank lending and falling consumer confidence.

"The MMA has led the fight to stop this progressing and we are delighted that the Government has made the right decision.

"Our economy needs jobs and growth, incentives rather than penalties will make this happen so we hope the Government will take the opportunity to cut VAT to 5% on major home improvements for 12 months and that the banks will make available low interest loans to safe borrowers."

Faversham House Group Ltd 2012. BuildersMerchantsJournal.net news articles may be copied or forwarded for individual use only. No other reproduction or distribution is permitted without prior written consent.

Source: http://www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net/news/news.asp?id=8927&title=Government+dumps+conservatory+tax+plan

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New Mexico Bowl outrates Butler-Indiana on CBS

Written by Joe Lucia on Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:46.

People (myself included) wonder just what the appeal is of bowl games like the New Mexico Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Beef O'Brady's Bowl, and so on and so forth. Well, here's why there are so many bowl games: people watch them. The New Mexico Bowl on Saturday (which featured a thrilling comeback from Arizona to beat Nevada 49-48 in the final seconds) outrated Butler's basketball upset over #1 Indiana on CBS. The bowl game on ESPN drew a 1.9 overnight, while the hoops game drew just a 1.5 in the same timeslot. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (which began at 4:30 and featured Utah State and Toledo sleepwalking through three quarters before exploding in the fourth) also outdrew #1 getting upset, drawing a 1.8 overnight.

The first two of 35 bowl games to air this winter were both slightly up from last year. The New Mexico Bowl's ratings increasing 19% from 2011 (Temple-Wyoming) and holding strong with 2010's UTEP-BYU matchup. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was slightly up from 2011 (Ohio-Utah State), and was even with 2010 (Fresno State-Northern Illinois).

The remaining bowl games have the advantage of great scheduling on their side. Thursday's Poinsettia Bowl between BYU and San Diego State has no NFL Network game to compete against. Saturday's New Orleans Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl air back to back on ESPN before Saturday's NFL Network primetime game between the Falcons and Lions. The Hawaii Bowl will take place in Monday Night Football's timeslot on ESPN on Christmas Eve.?

ESPN also lucked out by not getting very many ugly matchups in the early part of the bowl season. Of the first eight bowl games of the season, the only three that don't seem to have much appeal to the casual fan are the Beef O'Brady's Bowl (UCF vs Ball State), the New Orleans Bowl (Louisiana-Lafayette vs East Carolina), and the Little Caesar's Bowl (Western Kentucky vs Central Michigan). If ESPN can keep ratings strong until Christmas, they're poised for huge gains once the big-time bowls begin.

As for CBS's disappointment with Butler-Indiana, it's not nearly as bad as you'd think. The game was up 50% from last year's comparable matchup between Butler and Purdue, and is far and away the highest-rated game of the season on CBS, destroying Arkansas-Michigan (0.9 last week) and Baylor-Kentucky (1.1 two weeks ago). While it's not a good sign that a marquee matchup like this was outrated by a mediocre bowl game on cable, it's the same argument that people make when MLB playoff games are outrated by regular season NFL games.

Football is king, and it will stay on that pedestal for as long as it wants. Just because a sport can't beat a football game doesn't mean the sport is in trouble or that the end is nigh. Comparisons need to be modified when the competition is on the gridiron, even if it's a largely meaningless bowl game between two barely above .500 teams.

(Numbers via?SMW)

Source: http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/december/new-mexico-bowl-outrates-butler-indiana-on-cbs.html

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Source: http://ninjaseomethods.com/great-techniques-to-get-free-mlm-leads/

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Judge rejects Apple injunction bid vs. Samsung

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday denied Apple Inc's request for a permanent injunction against Samsung Electronics' smartphones, depriving the iPhone maker of key leverage in the mobile patent wars.

Apple had been awarded $1.05 billion in damages in August after a U.S. jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad. The Samsung products run on the Android operating system, developed by Google.

Apple and Samsung are going toe-to-toe in a patents dispute that mirrors the struggle for industry supremacy between the two companies, which control more than half of worldwide smartphone sales.

For most of the year, Apple had been successful in its U.S. litigation campaign against Samsung. Apple convinced U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California to impose two pretrial sales bans against Samsung -- one against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and the other against the Galaxy Nexus phone.

Apple then sought to keep up the pressure after its sweeping jury win. It asked Koh to impose a permanent sales ban against 26 mostly older Samsung phones, though any injunction could potentially have been extended to Samsung's newer Galaxy products.

Yet the jury exonerated Samsung on the patent used to ban Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales, and Koh rescinded that injunction. Then, in October, a federal appeals court reversed Koh's ban against the Nexus phone.

In her order late on Monday, Koh cited that appellate ruling as binding legal precedent, ruling that Apple had not presented enough evidence that its patented features drove consumer demand for the entire iPhone.

"The phones at issue in this case contain a broad range of features, only a small fraction of which are covered by Apple's patents," Koh wrote.

"Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple," she continued, "it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions."

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on Koh's ruling, and a Samsung representative could not immediately be reached.

In a separate order on Monday, Koh rejected a bid by Samsung for a new trial based on an allegation that the jury foreman was improperly biased in favor of Apple.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc. vs. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846.

(Reporting by Dan Levine in Oakland, California; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-denies-apple-injunction-request-against-samsung-smartphones-040642268--finance.html

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European privacy watchdogs examine Microsoft's services policies

Europe's top data privacy agency has launched a formal investigation into Microsoft's privacy policy.

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that it had received a letter from the Article 29 Working Party that it would proceed with a probe. On October 26, the computer giant was notified of a preliminary investigation. The Article 29 Working Party (A29 WP) is made up of the data regulators from all European Union member states as well as the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS).

In the short, formal letter addressed to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer on December 17, the head of the A29 WP Jacob Kohnstamm, said that the investigation was taking place in response to changes in Microsoft's Services Agreement and the possibility that these would affect its privacy policy.

Related Articles on Techworld

But Robin Koch, a spokesman for Microsoft in Brussels, said: "In updating the Microsoft Services Agreement we did not change our privacy policy. We are confident they will find Microsoft's long-standing commitment to privacy has not changed. And we're happy to answer any questions the officials may have."

He added that Microsoft is working on clarifying the language of the agreement to make clear its privacy commitments. Koch also reiterated Microsoft's position that although customer data may be used to improve services, such as malware and spam filters, it is never used to target advertising.

The Luxembourg data protection authority and the French data protection authority, CNIL, will take the lead in investigating the policy. Such investigations usually take a minimum of six months to complete. Companies are normally sent a questionnaire and can then respond to questions in bi-lateral talks.

Data protection is currently policed by national regulators in the European Union's 27 member states, but the state regulators generally follow the advice of the A29WP.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/idg/uk/Techworldcom/~3/IUY-ybjUgCA/story01.htm

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