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By Richard Hubbard LONDON (Reuters) - Fears that a Greek exit from the euro zone will worsen the debt crisis facing other European nations gripped financial markets on Wednesday, sending shares and other riskier assets lower as investors shifted funds into safe havens like the U.S. dollar. The euro dipped below $1.27 to a four-month low, the main index of top European shares, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 (.FTEU3), touched its lowest level for 2012, while U.S. stock futures pointed to a weak day on Wall Street. The probability that Greece will leave the single currency rose markedly after political leaders in Athens failed on Tuesday to form a government, forcing another round of elections. Opinion polls show this is likely to be won by leftist parties opposed to the country's bailout deal. In response, markets have moved to price in a Greek exit from the 17-member bloc, but are uncertain about the impact this will have on the rest of the region, while big investors have largely retreated to the sidelines, adding to the volatility. "The idea that you can contain the spillover, the contagion, into the likes of Portugal, the likes of Spain, I just don't see that as being feasible," said James Ashley, senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets. Peripheral euro zone sovereign bonds have taken the brunt of the selling pressure as some investors withdraw to safe havens like German government debt. Price moves were most pronounced in the market for insuring bonds against a potential default. The Italian five-year Credit Default Swap (CDS) was 16 basis point (bpts) higher at 510 bpts in European morning trade, while the Spanish 5-year CDS widened 4.5 bpts to hit an all time peak of 546 bpts. In the cash market moves were less dramatic, with 10-year Spanish bond yields easing to 6.35 percent after making big gains on Tuesday. The Italian equivalent debt was little changed at 6.01 percent. The yield spread of all major emerging sovereign bonds over safer U.S. Treasuries however widened to be near 3-1/2-month highs of 386 basis points. "The re-weighted probability of Greece leaving EMU has led to a sharp widening of government bond spreads, suggesting that long-term capital is leaving the periphery of Europe," Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients. There were also signs in Athens that the prospect of a rapid devaluation of any new currency if the country leaves the euro was concerning ordinary Greeks. Central bank head George Provopoulos told political leaders savers had withdrawn at least 700 million euros ($894 million) from the nation's banks on Monday. The euro dropped to $1.2681 against the dollar putting it on track to test the January low of $1.2624, below which would mark the euro's lowest level since August 2010. "The bias is still for a lower euro and a $1.26 target for mid-year looks pretty appropriate" said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC. The dollar rose to its highest in four months against a basket of currencies (.DXY), while the euro also hit a three-month low versus the yen. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Reuters Insider on markets: http://link.reuters.com/zud38s Euro zone debt crisis: http://r.reuters.com/hyb65p ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> GROWTH IMPACT The potential for a "disorderly" outcome, either directly from Greece leaving the euro or as related contagion worsens the already stagnant euro zone economy, has sent tremors through world equity and commodity markets. Emerging market stocks as measured by the MSCIEF index (.MSCIEF) plunged 2.58 percent, with the index close to erasing all its year-to-date gains on its way to posting its biggest one-day loss in six months. Weakness in Asian share markets sparked by the Greek crisis have already pushed MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> down 3.3 percent to a four-month low. MSCI's global equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> was down 0.9 percent to 304.95 and is now up less than 2 percent for the year to date. European shares were hit by a broad-based sell-off, with the FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3) down 0.7 percent to 990.54 points, having also dropped 0.7 percent on Tuesday. Spain's IBEX 35 (.IBEX) fell 0.5 percent while Italy's FTSE MIB (.FTMIB) weakened by 1.7 percent. Oil prices slid along with world shares and industrial commodities like copper in the general move away from riskier assets, but its fall was accentuated by a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude was down $1.21 at $111.03 a barrel and U.S. oil was down $1.52 to $92.46 a barrel. Brent crude oil fell to $110.82 cents a barrel and gold extended its losses to be down $13.34 at $1,530.76 an ounce, its weakest level since late December. Gold gained nothing from flows into safe havens and fell for a fourth straight day to its lowest since late December as investors sold the precious metal to profit from the strength in the U.S. dollar. Spot gold was down 0.6 percent at $1,534.54 an ounce, having dropped by nearly 3.8 percent in the last four days - its longest stretch of consecutive losses in nearly five months. (Additional reporting by Vincenzo Albano and Jessica Mortimer; Editing by David Holmes) g8 summit netanyahu aipac vanessa minnillo lenny dykstra super tuesday epidemiology R&B superstar will also debut exclusive 'Climax' and 'Scream' performance footage during 'MTV First: Usher,' airing at 7:54 p.m. ET.
By Kara Warner <P>For all the <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/usher/artist.jhtml">Usher</a> fans out there who have been eagerly awaiting the release of the seven-time Grammy winner's new album, <i>Looking 4 Myself,</i> MTV News has you covered: The R&B superstar will be offering fans a sneak peek of exclusive performance footage of his first two singles, "Climax" and "Scream," as well as the never-before-heard track "Twisted" produced by Pharrell during "MTV First: Usher."</P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Get Ready For 'MTV First: Usher'!" id="vid:768876.id:1685086" width="415" height="255"></div><p></P><P>This special event goes down Wednesday, May 16, at 7:54 p.m. ET on MTV, when the man himself, Usher Raymond, will be on hand to introduce the footage and the new single and will stick around for a meaty interview with MTV News' Sway Calloway to discuss his new album and more on MTV.com. Fans can submit questions via MTV.com or Twitter @MTVNews with the hashtag #MTVFirst or #AskUsher.</P><P>The performances featured in "MTV First: Usher" were shot exclusively by MTV News during a special album-listening experience with the <a href="/news/articles/1684028/usher-fuerza-bruta-looking-for-myself.jhtml">off-Broadway show "Fuerza Bruta"</a> in New York City.</P><P>"I felt like the natural elements as well as the emotion of 'Fuerza Bruta' would definitely speak or be significant to some of the stories and I guess hopefully a connection [was there]," Usher told MTV News last month of tying the performance to his album. "When we began to explore different directions [for the performance like] maybe we use some of their music, maybe we use some of mine ... and before you knew it the idea came together."</P><P><i>Looking 4 Myself</i> will be released June 12 and is available for pre-order now at select retailers in both standard and deluxe editions.</P><P><b>Don't miss "MTV First: Usher" on Wednesday, May 16, at 7:54 p.m. ET on MTV, followed by a lengthy interview with the singer on MTV.com!</b></p> Related Videos Related Artists passover easter recipes live free or die hard carlos pena amanda bynes arrested f 18 jet crash in virginia beach Telephone engineer ensures that your company gets a response that?s only one quick call away in the event of any problem. When you buy your phone system coming from a business telephone company, you should expect it to be completely covered against fault or breakdown. Most telephone service-providers offer their engineer services using the equipment. In today?s action-packed business world virtually all telephone engineer providers will specify this info in a service level agreement (SLA) because it is crucial to provide these records. If a telephone system is not functioning correctly this will result in lack of service and may affect efficiency, productivity and operations with the company which ultimately leads to loss in business. Telephone Engineer Essex Even if you are using a very good telephone engineer company, you may have to accept the possibility that your system could be down to get a lengthy period of time if you experience a major fault or perhaps the unfortunate event of your fire or even theft. In addition, the add-hoc on-site visit charges and repair expenditure can be significant if you call in a 3rd party company. Loss of business is a serious problem your small business will have to cope with if your telephone system falls over. If there is no dialling tone with this test socket then your fault is very likely to be in the external network and many types of work to repair the fault could be carried out by the service provider cost-free. You will even be allocated an avid account manager to help you any time even for non-service related issues. The warranty covers phone systems, defective parts, handsets and internal cards. Each engineer provider may have their own SLA to work with and it is up to you as the customer to agree terms prior to signing any agreement. As you may already be aware, your telephone method is a crucial tool for your successful running of your organization. Having a standby system as part of your respective engineer contract would mean that you will be provided with a reserve system so that inside rare event of the significant problem you may be back up and running quickly where usually it may take days or weeks to correct or replace. An engineer contract may cover just your primary control unit but more typically it must cover the complete system just in case a significant failure or fault occurs. Telephone Engineer London Free engineer, support, and warranty is usually applicable first year. If communications include the lifeblood of your small business, you may also wish to consider a standby arrangement. Recently, there is a large increase within the number of companies that take the telephone system engineer contracts and help safeguard their businesses. After you make a call with all the service desk, the letter will be allocated to their engineer who?ll log your fault and ensure a swift response which can involve an onsite visit if your need arise. If you want to cover the labour, you must enter a mobile phone engineer agreement. In certain instances, this could stop your communication dead inside water. The telephone engineer companies give a wide range of telephone system engineer contracts to fulfill the needs of clients. As a typical business cannot conserve the system of its own, a cell phone system engineer agreement is a great solution and it?ll ensure the business keeps on opting all situations. Telephone engineer Companies have dedicated experts and certified engineer engineers covering the majority of systems available from the whole report on manufacturers. The next step is to have a telephone you are sure that is working, preferably one which does not require mains electricity, and plug it to the test socket and listen for the dialling tone. For more details please visit http://www.atelcom.co.uk/ This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2012 at 2:00 PM and is filed under Bull's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. lytro camera lytro camera andrew brietbart branson mo monkees songs danica patrick school closings A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue captain, whose Facebook comment about the Trayvon Martin shooting spurred an investigation, was demoted two ranks to firefighter Monday. WTVJ-TV's Gilma Avalos reports. By Karen Franklin, NBCMiami.com MIAMI -- A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue captain, whose Facebook comment about the Trayvon Martin shooting spurred an investigation, was demoted two ranks to firefighter Monday in a letter from the fire chief. Brian Beckmann, who posted the comment April 11, must also complete a Fit for Duty evaluation and diversity and/or sensitivity training, the letter from Fire Chief William Bryson said. Beckmann may appeal the decision within 14 days. Rowan Taylor, president of International Association of Firefighters Local 1403, wrote in an email statement that he disagrees with the demotion.
"As union President, I believe this discipline is excessive. We will immediately file an appeal to an independent arbitrator," Taylor said. For more, visit NBCMiami.com A copy of Beckmann?s initial Facebook post was in the Finding of Fact Report released by the department. Besides having disparaging words for the prosecutor, the post also said: "I and my coworkers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, (expletive), ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents, but like Mrs. Corey, we speak only the truth. They're just misunderstood little church going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn't have anything to do with why people wonder if they're about to get jacked by a thug,? he posted. A disciplinary report said that the comment altered the reputation of the Fire Rescue department. ?The statement posted cast the subject in a negative light as well as brought ill repute to our entire organization as a result of the reference to 'my co-workers.'" Beckmann, who said in an interview with the department that he was not the author of the post and rather copied it from what he thought was an editorial reply to a news article or blog, apologized to Bryson in a note. ?I know that my actions have brought you undue scrutiny and you didn?t deserve that,? he said. ?I promise I will try harder than ever to be a decent and professional public servant to the citizens of Miami-Dade County, that was always my goal and will continue to be.? Beckmann also explained why he chose to use the statement. Prosecutor files evidence, witness list in Trayvon Martin case "I have...from all the years of, all the horrible things I have seen and after a recent couple of events I was reading things that evoked a response in me that made me what to share it and it was not the response they're deeming it to be," he said according to an attachment to the memorandum. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez released a statement Monday that said he agreed with the department?s decision. ?The comments made by Captain Beckmann were reprehensible and will not be tolerated,? Gimenez said. ?We can?t have our employees, especially a supervisor, making such disparaging comments about any member of our community, much less one of our own employees." Gimenez said that he directed his staff to revise policies dealing with the issue. "It is important to reiterate my position that public servants have a responsibility to uphold the highest levels of integrity and decency, especially when you consider our multicultural, multi-ethnic community. There?s no such thing as being off-the-clock; we are public servants 24/7 and must conduct ourselves with the utmost professionalism at all times," he said in an email statement. Beckmann, who has worked for the county since 1997, was promoted to lieutenant in 2002 and captain in 2006. He has previously been disciplined twice for reporting late to work and responding to an unauthorized email ?sent to be humorous and not county business,? according to his personnel record summary. Other officers involved in the case were asked to receive counseling for their "lack of official action," the attachment said. Do you think the Florida firefighter deserved to be demoted for his Trayvon Martin comments? More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook yvette prieto hypertrophic cardiomyopathy kaye stevens michael jordan engaged kid cudi notre dame football breedlove Projects are currently underway at Binghamton University to remove asbestos ? a chemical that can cause cancer in humans who are exposed to it ? from several campus buildings, including Science II and Tuscarora Office Building. Asbestos is a group of mineral fibers commonly used in building construction up until the 1960s and ?70s for its strength and flame-retardant qualities. According to Arthur Frank, a physician and chair of the department of environmental and occupational health at the Drexel University School of Public Health, asbestos exposure can cause both non-malignant diseases like asbestosis ? scarring of the lungs and the lining of the lungs ? and cancers, typically mesothelioma or lung cancer. The University has overseen asbestos removal work this semester in the Old University Union, Lecture Hall and West Gym, among other buildings. Asbestos removal projects will begin between now and the start of the fall semester in the Heating Plant, Fine Arts Building, Central Campus Quad area, Couper Administration Building and other campus buildings. Many campus buildings not already named contain asbestos, from the numbered Science buildings to the Engineering Building, Computer Center, and all the residential buildings of Hinman College, College-in-the-Woods and the Dickinson Community. Asbestos is now highly regulated by New York state and federal agencies. Karen Fennie, spokeswoman for Physical Facilities, said that BU goes ?above and beyond what is required regarding monitoring and testing? for asbestos. ?We?ve done removal of asbestos for years on campus without any safety issues, without any exposure issues, probably because we are so diligent about the way we go about managing this,? Fennie said. Some see reason for concern, however. Jenna Fierstein, president of Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) and a senior double-majoring in biology and environmental studies, said that she was bothered by the proximity of asbestos work in a Science II hallway that remained open to foot traffic and where classrooms remained in use. ?I?ve had a lot of classes in Science II this semester,? Fierstein said. ?And every time I go in there, I see the construction thing with that big plastic barrier that says, ?warning, asbestos.? It kind of bothers me that they?re just doing construction in an area where students are heading back and forth.? Buildings undergoing asbestos removal are not limited to abatement workers because such a step would be beyond what is required of BU under New York and U.S. laws and regulations, Fennie said. ?We do what we?re required,? Fennie said. ?We do asbestos removal in a safe manner. The state set up the parameters for us to follow and we follow them.? Fierstein expressed doubts. ?Following state laws and regulations just means that they?re doing only what?s minimally required,? she said. ?And that?s not a very good defense. I mean, it?s a good legal defense if you don?t want to sued ? but it doesn?t actually make it so that they?re putting students? safety and health as their top priority.? Kate Harrigan, a sophomore majoring in French, said she has not taken much notice of campus asbestos projects. ?I think I saw some signs in the library during my freshman year about asbestos removal,? Harrigan said. ?It concerns me that I?m not more aware about it.? The majority of Binghamton University?s Vestal campus was built in the 1950s, ?60s and ?70s, when asbestos use was still prevalent. Buildings constructed with asbestos in them include campus mainstays like the Lecture Hall, Glenn G. Bartle Library, Old Union and the dormitories of Dickinson Community, Hinman College and CIW. The Binghamton University Asbestos Field Guide, a document Physical Facilities maintains for its employees, states that ?as a generality, unless there is documentation otherwise, assume that asbestos may be present? in campus buildings. The Field Guide, available on BU?s website by computers connected to the campus network, lists the most common locations of asbestos within campus buildings ? ranging from ceiling tiles to window caulking, dry wall compound and fire doors ? and checks off for each building the status of asbestos at these locations. Fennie said the Field Guide may not include the location of all asbestos on campus. She called the possibility that campus buildings built in more recent decades contain asbestos ?highly unlikely,? but she did not rule it out. ?Think about the complexity of constructing a building and all the materials that are used,? Fennie said. ?And think about every single ingredient in a product used that you?d have to go through to say, ?this building is 100 percent asbestos-free.?? Robert Mulcahy, asbestos coordinator and safety manager at BU, said that BU aims to say just that, at added expense and effort, for at least one facility: the Innovative Technologies Complex (ITC) across Murray Hill Road from campus. He said guaranteeing that the ITC is free of asbestos is a necessary step for the University to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification as to the ITC?s status as a ?green? facility. Fennie said that BU tests for the presence of asbestos in any building prior to beginning renovation work, regardless of the building?s age, in order to comply with OSHA regulations. She also said that for reasons relating to funding, BU will often wait to have asbestos removed from a building until a time when the building is also set to undergo other renovations. ?It?s kind of done on a project-by-project basis,? Fennie said. ?[Funding for asbestos abatement] all comes from the State. In the case of a capital project like the East Gym renovation, the cost of asbestos removal was rolled into that and paid for with our capital project funds ? But it?s not like the State says, ?we?re gonna give you an infinite amount of money to remove all the remaining asbestos on campus.? I don?t think the State has that kind of money.? Mulcahy said that costs of asbestos abatement projects on campus vary widely depending on projects? sizes. ?If we just have one of our construction crews doing a job, it could be $2,500, all the way up through $1 million, depending on the scope of the project,? Mulcahy said. ?With the East Gym, I know it ended up being more than $1 million.? Within the last four years, asbestos removal has also occurred in College-in-the-Woods as well as in the Engineering Building, East Gym, Decker Student Health Services Center and other areas of campus. The Decker Student Health Services Center is the only one of these buildings that is now completely free of asbestos, according to the Field Guide. Asbestos removal projects are currently underway on the third floor of Science II and in the Tuscarora Office Building. Two Brothers Contracting, Inc. of Whitesboro, N.Y. is performing the abatement in both buildings. Two Brothers Contracting?s workers are removing some 3,940 square feet and 500 linear feet of asbestos containing material from Science II, and they are removing some 10,307 square feet and 200 linear feet of asbestos containing material from Tuscarora. BU?s construction news webpage also states that the north end of the Old Union, the English department hallway in Bartle Library and the former Dickinson Dining Hall will undergo asbestos abatement this summer. Ariella Sklar, a sophomore majoring in psychology, said asbestos projects on campus do not trouble her. ?It doesn?t bother me if [University officials] say it?s safe,? Sklar said. ?We have to trust them.? Article source: http://www.bupipedream.com/news/10388/asbestos-removal-campus-buildings-moves/ oscar winners the artist sacha baron cohen oscars the old curiosity shop jane russell meryl streep martin scorsese  While he might not be the first human to admit unfamiliarity with Apple's AirPlay, he's likely to be one of the most recognizable figures amongst the bunch. In a recent interview, Time Warner Cable's CEO, Glenn Britt, said one of the main challenges faced by digital video was the lack of simple ways to stream internet-based content to television sets. Naturally, that brought up the imminent question about Cupertino's streaming goods, to which he responded by saying "I'm not sure what AirPlay is," also adding that "the current Apple TV, the little thing, the hockey puck, really doesn't do anything to help enable you to get internet material on your TV." Furthermore, he went on to say, "I hate set-top boxes," as he believes Smart TVs are a better streaming solution compared to other bits that require additional hardware. Perhaps this explains why the TWC iOS apps are still missing out on some much-needed AirPlay action. Time Warner Cable's CEO doesn't know what AirPlay is, hates set-top boxes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2012 15:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  9to5Mac |  The New York Times | Email this | Commentsyellow cab dropkick murphys guernsey nit colcannon dystonia tourettes After taking on 'American Idol' over the winter, 'The Voice' will now take on 'X Factor.'
By Gil Kaufman 
"The Voice" coaches Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton
Photo: NBC Fans of NBC reality singing competition "The Voice"
will get a double-dose of spinning chairs and clashing mentors this year, as the show is being moved to the fall for its upcoming third season. The just-wrapped singing competition whose panel is anchored by country star Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and jousting judges Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine, will move to the fall, where it will vie for eyeballs with another singing reality show, Simon Cowell's "X Factor." According to Billboard magazine, "The Voice" will benefit from Sunday night NFL promotions in its new slot, where it will run on Mondays from 8-10 p.m. and Tuesdays from 8-9 p.m. The "X Factor" will air on Wednesday from 8-10 p.m. and Thursday 8-9 p.m. Neither show has announced a firm return date. Unnamed sources close to "The Voice" told the magazine that there are a number of revisions in store for the program that could make it look much different from the first two seasons. Among them could be more air time for the top finalists instead of a renewed focus in season two on the blind audition rounds. As "The Voice" has grown into a consistent ratings generator for NBC, executives believe it will become a go-to place for labels looking to push their big fall and holiday releases in the fourth quarter during the show's live November and December shows. It's unknown how the double-dip this year will impact the careers of its stars, as Aguilera is working on new music, Levine and his band, Maroon 5, are preparing to release the new disc Overexposed on June 26 and Green has said he's working on his next solo album and prepping a return from his hip-hop crew, Goodie Mob. The only hiccup from the "Voice" move is that Cowell may steal their thunder on Monday (May 14) when he is expected to announce that Britney Spears and Demi Lovato will join the judging panel of "Factor" for season two. Related Artists gi joe jason wu for target collection jason wu jason wu the patriot nick diaz vs carlos condit hall of fame 
At first glance, it seems disturbingly exploitive: Lifetime will soon air a reality show based around the family of Whitney Houston. But sources tell TMZ the motivation behind this program isn't merely to make money off the singer's tragic death; for Cissy Houston, it's to help boost the career of her granddaughter, 18-year old Bobbi Kristina. While believing the series will push along the family's "healing process," Cissy is mostly concerned about Bobbi, insiders say, and hopes this will be a showcase for her talents. Look for the Houston family docu-series to feature a far more serious tone than similar programs such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and for Whitney's sister, Patricia, to serve as the lead. Will you tune in? veep los angeles kings earth day timothy leary jonathan frid pujols watchmen 
A couple weeks back we heard the founder of turntable.fm tell us the Android app was "coming soon", and it looks like today is the day. If you haven't played with turntable on the Internet yet, the premise is pretty simple and pretty cool. You're the virtual DJ, where you can choose your own music or from the thousands of tracks available on-site and play the music for your listeners. The listeners can in turn vote you up or down, making you the star or booing you right off the stage. It's a neat concept, and it's always fun listening to music with friends. We're going to give it the complete run-through shortly, but we wanted to let you guys and gals know that it's available ASAP so you can check it out. You'll need a device running Android 2.2 or higher, and an ear for great music. You'll also need to be in the U.S., as the service hasn't rolled out internationally yet. The link is after the break. Once you get it installed, we've started up the AndroidCentral room -- come join us! read more     matthew broderick tax refund calculator huntington disease west memphis three shaun white taxes game of thrones season 2 trailer
Toshiba's Excite 10 LE ($529 direct, 16GB) is the slimmest, lightest 10.1-inch tablet we've seen yet. At only 7.7mm (0.3 inches) thick and 1.2 pounds, it's even comfortable held in one hand, as long as that's a pretty strong hand. You'll pay a premium for the slimmest tablet on the block, though, both in money and in power, and even better slim tablets are coming from Toshiba soon.
Physical Features and Networking
Once known as the Excite X10, The Excite 10 LE looks and feels like a premium product. At 10.1 by 6.9 by .3 inches (HWD) it's super-slim, with a brushed-metal back and a groove around the smooth plastic edge. The Power and Volume buttons, and the lock switch, are in natural positions for your fingers to find. For such a slim tablet, there are a suprising number of ports around the edge: a microSD card slot, USB, HDMI, and headphone jacks, as well as a separate, large power port.
The 1280-by-800, TFT LCD screen is just okay. The Gorilla Glass covering the display is highly reflective, and you can sometimes see the pattern of the touch-screen actuators under the glass, which makes solid black areas look oddly textured.?
The Excite connects to Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n networks, albeit only on the 2.4GHz band. I had some trouble connecting the tablet to our office networks, but was able to get through after a few tries. The tablet's slender body doesn't fit much of a battery, and as such, we got only 4 hours, 44 minutes of continuous video playback with the screen set to full brightness. That's shorter than all of our competing highly rated tablets.
Android and Apps
The Excite 10 LE runs Android 4.0.3 on a TI OMAP4430 dual-core, 1.2GHz processor. It's the same processor you'll get on the Editors' Choice Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx ($199, 4.5 stars) smartphone, for instance, and it's faster than the Nvidia Tegra 2s you see in some other tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1). But it doesn't measure up, speed-wise, to the new Nvidia Tegra 3 or Qualcomm S4 8960.
You won't notice that in average use. I found the Excite 10 LE's screen to be very responsive, unlike, say, the supposedly faster Acer Iconia Tab A510 ($449, 3 stars).? While the Excite 10 LE's Antutu system benchmarks came in at half the speed of Tegra 3 tablets like the Asus Transformer TF300 ($379, 4 stars), Web benchmarks like Browsermark were almost up to par. The two places you'll notice the difference are in high-end games like Riptide GP, which are jerkier and lack some visual effects you see on Tegra 3 tablets; and on Flash-based Web sites, which operate slowly.
The fine performance here may be in part because Toshiba uses a completely stock version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The company did add some apps to try to get around Android tablets' app failures, though. Toshiba App Place is a quasi-app-store which lists several hundred tablet-ready apps in the Google Play market. Book Place is a bookstore; News Place is a good looking, Flipboard-like news app; and Crackle delivers free streaming movies. You also get Kaspersky antivirus, a media player app that supports shared servers on your local network, and a bunch of Solitaire games.
Multimedia and Conclusions
The Excite 10 LE comes with 16GB of on-board memory, and our 64GB SanDisk memory card worked in the microSD card slot. The tablet played all of our music and video formats, including H.264, MPEG4, WMV, DivX, and XviD up to 1080p resolution, and music in WMA, OGG, WAV, MP3, and AAC formats. There are various SRS-related sound options you can use to boost treble or stereo separation.
Sound through wired headphones and the twin stereo speakers on the bottom was unremarkable, but fine. Through a Bluetooth headset, I saw a slight lip sync delay in some video files. And 720p HD output from the micro HDMI port has an annoying bug which sent a slightly-too-large image to our Sony TV, clipping off the edges of the screen.?
The 5-megapixel rear camera has issues in low light, but brightens up considerably outdoors. In my tests, low-light and indoor images generally showed a lot of color noise and looked oversharpened. The 1-megapixel front camera was extremely noisy in low light. Outdoors, shots weren't bad at all, with decent color and light balance and much less noise.
Videos recorded outdoors clocked in at a smooth 30 frames per second in 1080p HD with the main camera, and VGA quality with the front camera. But indoor videos taken with the main camera were very jerky, ranging from 9-18 frames per second, even when taken down to 720p resolution.
The filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson once wrote, "Everyone's born with?one special thing." The Excite 10 LE has that one special thing. Its light and slim build stand out from the crowd of similar $450 tablets. But that isn't enough to overcome the competition. The Asus Transformer TF300 costs only $379, is just a wee bit thicker, and is much better for gaming thanks to its quad-core processor. The new Apple iPad (4.5 stars), at $499, has a far superior screen and a much broader library of tablet-centric applications. And Toshiba itself has the Excite 10 coming soon, with a quad-core processor in the same body for $500. That gives the Excite 10 LE a pretty slim niche in a crowded Android tablet market.
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??? Toshiba Excite 10 LE
??? Acer Iconia Tab A510
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Hollie Cavanagh "just kind of knew." That's what she told reporters not long after hearing her name announced as the latest American Idol elimination. That was the feeling she had when she woke up. So, once the premonition became a reality, how did Hollie feel? 
Honestly, if you'd asked me a couple of weeks ago I would've been upset and in tears, but you can't really complain when you are at the top four," she said. "There were so many people previously in the competition that would have died to have been in this spot, so I am proud of myself at this point." That's certainly the right attitude to take, but try telling it to Joshua Ledet! He was more of a mess than Cavanagh after the results were unveiled. "I don't know why the boy was crying, I'll get to see him in like two days!" Hollie laughed. Cavanagh added that she truly has "no idea" who among the final three will win, but she does have nothing but nice things to say about the judges. "They said how proud they were of me and how far I had come. Now I'm just looking to the future and see what the future brings. I don't want to look down as I have no regrets - I saw myself grow through the whole process and I'm proud of myself. I don't take anything back." DO YOU THINK HOLLIE DESERVED TO BE SENT HOME NOW? duggar miscarriage roman holiday belize adele lyrics bruno mars best new artist 2012 grammys 
Only 15 players in Major League Baseball history have ever turned an unassisted triple play. In 120 YEARS. Now a six-year-old has joined the club! Due in large part to terrible base-running by his opponents, but still. In a youth baseball game in Georgia, a soft line drive floated directly to shortstop Ross Bernath, who nabbed it cleanly, raced back to touch third base, then chased down the somehow-still-advancing runner from second. Score it 5, unassisted! The only sad part? Ross' career may have just peaked. knicks strikeforce tate vs rousey ciaa lindsay lohan the monkees strikeforce davy jones By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com LONDON -- An?American self-defense expert -- who teaches people how to deal with "kill-or-be-killed" situations -- has been banned from entering Britain.?Officials say?Tim Larkin's presence?"was not conducive to the public good." Larkin attempted to board a flight to the U.K. from Las Vegas, but was given a letter from the?U.K. Border Agency saying he would not be allowed in, according to BBC News. ?
"The home secretary [the U.K. government's interior minister] will seek to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the U.K. is not conducive to the public good," a government spokesperson told the BBC, confirming Larkin was?subject to an exclusion order. Heathrow chaos: Travelers spend more time in line than in the air Larkin, who runs a company called Target Focus Training, previously came to the U.K. in 2009, when he?taught a class to teach people how to "maim and kill in self-defense," the BBC reported. Trains Navy SEALs
According to his firm's website, Larkin is "the guy operations like the US Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces and the U.S. Border Patrol call in behind-the-scenes to teach them when it?s 'kill-or-be-killed.' The truth is ? your best self defense in a life-or-death confrontation is injuring the other guy. And it?s the one thing that makes us so different." Larkin has spoken to government officials and business people in more 40 countries about surviving life-or-death violence, according to the website.?He also co-authored a book called How To Survive The Most Critical 5 Seconds Of Your Life?and writes an online newsletter, Secrets For Staying Alive When Rules Don?t Apply. The U.K.'s Guardian newspaper ran an online poll about the decision to prevent Larkin from coming to Britain. At 10:15 a.m. ET, more than 72 percent of those choosing to vote said he should have not have been banned. The BBC said Larkin had been invited to speak at "The Martial Arts Show" conference in Birmingham on May 12 and 13, and to hold a seminar in the Tottenham area of London.?Both places experienced rioting during widespread disorder in the U.K. in August last year. Riots break out in London after fatal-shooting protest Larkin told the BBC that he thought he had been banned for arguing that U.K. law should be changed to allow people to defend themselves without fear of criminal charges being brought against them. The riots that left several London neighborhoods burning, caused major property damage and brought hundreds of arrests has given away to a spirit of renewal and civic pride. NBC's Jim Maceda reports. "You are sitting in your house and you're being attacked, or you're attacked out in the street... There's an awful lot of martial arts and self-defense being taught there right now that gives no instruction on [how to hurt] the human body," he said. The science of the London riots "There are those rare, rare black swan occasions -- like the [August] riots -- where law-abiding citizens are put in situations where they are facing grievous bodily harm and they hesitate because they are afraid of being prosecuted. That is a very real thing," he added. More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world ? dj am bully bohemian rhapsody bohemian rhapsody spike lee carson daly heejun han |
Just a day after it announced its 