GIN INC JOURNAL

A sex theme park that featured explicit exhibits of genitalia and sexual culture is being demolished before it can even open, a government spokesman in southwestern China said Monday.The park, christened "Love Land" by its owners, went under the wrecking ball over the weekend in the city of Chongqing, said the spokesman, who like many Chinese bureaucrats would give only his surname, Yang.

Yang refused to give the reason for the demolition or other details. However, photographs of the adult-only park had circulated widely on the Internet over the weekend, prompting widespread mockery and condemnation.

Exhibits had included giant-sized reproductions of male and female anatomy, dissertations on how the topic of sex is treated in various cultures and what the official China Daily newspaper called "sex technique workshops."

The park's main investor, Lu Xiaoqing, had earlier claimed that the attractions sought only to boost sexual awareness and improve people's sex-lives.

Conflicted views
The demolition highlights conflicted views on sex in modern China, where a prudish attitude toward discussion of sexuality is paired with an almost clinical approach to its physical aspects.

While pornography is banned and sex education largely unheard of, shops selling sex toys and related items stand out prominently in many neighborhoods and sex outside marriage is widely tolerated. Prostitution, while technically illegal, is widespread and the keeping of mistresses among prominent businessmen and Communist Party officials is considered commonplace.

Such attitudes are blamed in part for risky sex and ignorance about birth control among minors. With public discussion of sex so limited, there is relatively little awareness of sexual harassment and abuse and laws and regulations covering such matters are weaker in China than in many countries.

Newspapers last week carried prominent reports on a government official who was let off with a fine simply because he claimed he had not known that the 13-year-old girl he paid to have sex with was underage.

The man, Lu Yumin, a local tax bureau official in Sichuan province's Yibin county, was arrested on charges of child rape, but was convicted only of visiting a prostitute and fined 5,000 yuan ($730).

Any time you have a pair of stand-alone Game 7s featuring the NBA's two marquee teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, those old Heinz ketchup commercials come to mind.

Anticipation.

Unfortunately, neither game delivered.

The undermanned and overmatched Houston Rockets were run out of the gym by Kobe and Company, while the Orlando Magic bucked history by routing the defending champs in Beantown.

Despite a pedestrian coaching performance by the overrated Zen master (one that single-handedly turned Aaron Brooks into a star), Pau Gasol was able to dominate the paint in Game 7 with 21 points and 18 rebounds as LA avoided the embarrassment of bowing out at the hands of a Rockets team sans Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Dikembe Mutombo.

The Lakers' lead in the first half reached 25, as I reached for my lawnmower and hoped the Magic and Celtics could hold my interest for a little longer.

They did, but just barely.

Buoyed by hot three-point shooting and a strong push to start the fourth quarter, Orlando finally pushed a Kevin Garnett-less Boston team off the tightrope it on which it had been tiptoeing for the past two seasons

In doing so, Stan Van Gundy's club pulled off a feat never accomplished before against the C's.

Orlando, which dropped the fourth and fifth games of the series in rather disheartening fashion, rallied to force a decisive contest with an 83-75 triumph on Thursday. On Sunday, the Magic brought down the anvil, sending the Celtics to their first-ever series loss after the storied franchise took a 3-2 edge.

Boston had been 32-0 in previous series when holding such a lead.

"When you look at a team that's 32-0 when leading a series 3-2 and come in and win by 19 points that's a big win," Van Gundy said. "I can't say I've ever had one that I've been happier about."

Hey, it's something.

You may have not watched any good basketball on Sunday, but at least you watched history.

Now it's time to look ahead at the NBA's Final Four as we grow ever closer to the coronation of King James the First.

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

(1) CLEVELAND vs. (3) ORLANDO

The Cavs have more playoff experience, the best player in the game, and a more competent coach.

That said, Orlando's ability to get hot from beyond the arc can make up for a lot of mistakes and figures to get them a game or two.

Fatigue should also be a key component in this series. The Magic just wrapped up a seven-game war with Boston after needing six games to dispose of a bad Philadelphia team. Meanwhile, the Cavs will have had nine days off to work on their tans.

Expect Cleveland to taste defeat for the first time this postseason at some point in this set, but don't expect them to face a stiff challenge throughout.

Cavs in 5

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

(1) LA LAKERS vs. (2) DENVER

It wasn't aesthetically pleasing, but the Lakers are in the Western Conference finals.

Houston and Rick Adelman magnified LA's flaws for all to see and I imagine George Karl and the Nuggets will torture LA with the pick-and-roll. The Nuggets, however, don't have the lightning-quick option in the backcourt like Brooks to take advantage of the Lakers' shaky perimeter defense.

Both teams are superb as the host and you play 82 games to get Game 7 at home. The Lakers have now won 16 of their last 18 home playoff games while Denver has won 16 consecutive home games dating back to the regular season. In fact, the Nuggets haven't lost at the Pepsi Center in over two months.

That said, consider this...LA is now 13-1 in home Game 7s and has won its last nine. The last and only time LA lost in a Game 7 on its home floor was in the 1969 NBA Finals, a 108-106 setback to the Celtics.

That's the difference here.

Lakers in 7

Apple's App Store isn't such a money-spinner after all – but is that surprising?

Occasionally people try to deny self-evident realities about the world, especially regarding finance and business. (Fill in your own joke about your personal least favourite MP.) But in the wider world where business strategy matters, understanding what really makes money - as in, profit that you can retain - and what doesn't is the difference between success and repeated failure.

There's been a lot of self-deception around in web 2.0-land about what you can get people to pay for; it turns out that tearing down the barriers to stuff that people were actually happy to pay for isn't so clever (I'm looking at you, Friends Reunited: you had a great business model - one that generated revenue - and you slaughtered it on a stone table.)

Thus I always find it interesting when people try to tell me that what Apple should really do is accept that it's a software company, which makes this fantastic operating system called OS X (the space between the S and X is really important to some people), and so it ought to licence Mac OS X and offer it to Dell and HP and anyone else who wants to stick it onto a computer.

Well, let's see how much of a software company Apple is. Let's start with the newest stuff, which is some detail calculated by Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners about how much Apple has made from the iPhone App Store.

Yes, the App Store, which has seen a billion - a billion! - downloads since it opened in June. Using the calculation of paid v free downloads (which are reckoned to be in the 1/15 to 1/40 range, and the estimated average cost of an app (about $2.65, he reckons, which fits with Silicon Alley Insider's own analysis, which found that the average paid-for app in the top 100 sellers - which is where pretty much all the action is - sales follow a power law, falling off radically from the top 10 to the next, and from the top 100 to the many others), Liew calculated that Apple has, with its 30% rakeoff, pulled in between $49.7m (at 1:15) and $19.4m in those nine months. Those numbers, of course, don't include the costs of running the store, which will knock at least a few million off - you've got servers to run, and people approving and disapproving apps.

Just for comparison, Apple made profits in its last three quarters (that is, nine months) of $3.9 billion. Its revenues were $26.2bn. The App Store, impressive as it might sound, is the merest flea on the elephant of revenues.

And where does Apple make its money? Hardware, hardware, hardware. The iPod, the Mac line and the iPhone. Look at its most recent quarter's results: scroll down and you'll find "deferred revenue" for the iPhone and Apple TV ranking in the billions. There's your reality: Apple makes money from hardware.

But this disconnect is quite a common one around Apple. Earlier this month there was a bizarre rumour - thank you, Techcrunch - suggesting that Apple was going to buy Twitter. (Techcrunch suggested it had come from "someone who's been hired at a senior level at Apple", which led to one of our followers on Twitter to remark sarcastically "Sure, because Apple hires all the best blabbermouths".)

Well, people got a bit excited, so we tried to throw some cold water onto it (in common with all the other reality-based journalists). The Fortune Blog did the best job, pointing to a list of "companies people have excitedly said Apple is going to buy" and contrasting it with a list of companies Apple actually has bought. On one side: Twitter, Universal Music, Sun Microsystems and plenty more. On the other: PA Semi, PowerSchool, Emagic and plenty more. Guess which is the real one?

That's the problem with the adoration around Apple: so often, it's not reality-based. I don't know why; people have for years expected it to produce a tablet computer (it hasn't) or a netbook (it won't, certainly not this year). They expected an iPhone for years and years, before Apple hadn't a single staffer specialising in mobile phone software.

I'm genuinely puzzled by it, but I don't think it's going to end any time soon. However, if anyone tries to tell you that the iPhone is just a tail being wagged by the App Store dog, and that that's where Apple is really making its money... just quote that $25m to $40m figure to them. Sure, there are startups out there - hello Twitter - that would sell their grandmothers for turnover like that (if they haven't hocked her already to pay the server fees). But it doesn't matter to Apple, which after Sony's dismal results this week can legitimately claim to be the most successful consumer electronics company out there. Ten years ago, you'd not have thought that was in its future.

Microsoft Corp is on track to release its new Windows 7 operating system in time for the holiday shopping season, an executive said on Monday, confirming talk it is ahead of its own conservative schedule for replacing the unpopular Vista system.

The world's largest software company has so far been vague on specifying the timing of its new operating system, wary of disappointing customers. But it has broadly targeted the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

"Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability," Bill Veghte, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows business said at an event on Monday, citing good test results on the early version of the system released to developers and the public over the past few weeks.

Last month, Microsoft said Windows 7 was on track for launch in fiscal 2010, which could mean as early as July this year.

That inspired some hopes Microsoft would be able to take advantage of both the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons, which usually bring a spike in computer purchases and accompanying software.

But Microsoft is taking care not to rush.

"Many are pushing us to release the product sooner rather than later, but our focus remains on a high quality release," said the head of Microsoft's Windows business, Steven Sinofsky, in a blog on Monday.

Over the last few weeks, Microsoft has been releasing an early version of Windows 7, known as a 'release candidate,' to developers and the public.

Once it makes some more adjustments to the software, the next stage is for Microsoft to hand the system to PC makers -- known as release to manufacturing, or RTM -- to install on machines sold in shops.

"Ultimately, our partners will determine when their PCs are available in market," said Sinofsky in his blog. "If the feedback and telemetry on Windows 7 match our expectations then we will enter the final phases of the RTM process in about three months."

That would put the company on track to have PCs with Windows 7 available this holiday season.

Microsoft's operating systems, installed on the vast majority of the world's PCs, are still the backbone of the company, providing more than half of its $4.4 billion profit last quarter.

The disappointing Vista, launched to the public in 2007, was incompatible with some low-power machines and perceived by many to be too complicated.

Samsung's new 70-series LCD monitors feature the contrast and response of Samsung's LCD televisions, along with slim profiles and Samsung's Touch of Color design.

Electronics giant Samsung has introduced its new 70-series of LCD monitors, featuring performance and display capabilities from Samsung's LCD television line, combined with slim profiles (as little as 30mm) and Samsung's Touch of Color design. The 70-series will be available in two sizes—20 and 23 inches—and one version will even come with a built-in HDTV tuner so it can act as both an entertainment hub and a traditional monitor.

"The 70 Series is a great monitor for someone looking a full range of color, sharpness and response," said Samsung America's Display product Manager Tony Yu, in a statement. "It also has an added benefit for those concerned about the environment. We were sensitive to the impact computers monitors have on the environment and have developed a manufacturing process for the 70 Series that would minimize this."

Samsung is being a little coy on the monitors' specs: the 70-series will consist of three models—the P2070, the P2370, and the P2370HD—all of which will feature a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a 2 ms response time, and a glossy "crystal-like" acrylic stand that provides the impression the monitor is somehow floating. The P2070 sports a 1,600 by 900-pixel resolution, while P2370 will offer full 1080p resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels; the P2370HD will also pack an HDTV tuner, HDMI and component inputs, integrated speakers with SRS TruSurround HD, and a remote control. The entire 70-series is designed to be eco-friendly, consuming about a third less power than other monitor of similar size.

Samsung hasn't released any pricing information, but says the 70-series should be available now through resellers and retail channels.

Activision has formally announced DJ Hero, a Guitar Hero-esque game where players create original song mixes using a new custom turntable controller.

Although games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are certainly popular, not everyone wants to sling a six-string or try to win points fake-shredding along to old fogey dinosaur rock. Darnit, some music has moved on from the 1950s tech of electric guitars: where's the hip-hop, the modern r&b, the house, the electronica? Where's the popping and scratching and the DJ with the turntables?

Game publisher Activision is looking to tap into that market, and has formally announced DJ Hero, a long-rumored expansion on the Guitar Hero franchise. Although Activision has released few details, the game will use a new custom turntable controller and enable users to act as DJ's who dominate the club scene with their original mixes of popular songs and music from popular recording artists and DJs. DJ Hero will feature music from multiple genres—including r&b, hip-hop, Motown, dance, and electronica—and promised to bring Guitar Hero's "social gaming" to whole new audiences.

Activision hasn't announced any release dates for DJ Hero, but industry watchers expect it to be available in time for the end-of-year holiday season.

Activision has also announced two new installments in the Guitar Hero franchise: Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero. Guitar Hero 5 will feature contemporary and classic rock tracks, and enable players to drop in and out of songs as well as change band members, instruments, and difficulty levels as they play. Band Hero will aim at the family audience, with an E10+ rating and a soundtrack compared of mainly Top 40 hits. Users will be able to play together (at different difficulty levels) using guitar, drums, bass, and a microphone.

Online dating services are becoming increasingly popular among those that are looking to find friends, and maybe even more if the time is right and they meet the right person. Many people find the thought of being set up on blind dates, and the pressure of dating somewhat forced and unnatural.

With online dating, much of the uncomfortable elements are removed. Not only do you get a chance to speak with your date first, you also get to see if it is likely you will make a connection – this removes any need for spending an evening together when you can tell you are not going to get on within the first 15 minutes.

Online dating services are also great because of the added security and anonymity that they offer. In the online world you will need to exchange telephone numbers, tell your date where you work and live, and loads of other personal details from the outset. With free dating services online, much of the need for specifics is removed, rendering it possible to share the information that you would like to and leaving out the information that would it make it possible for the wrong person to be able to contact and harass you if they would like to.

Online dating allows you to look at a profile picture of any potential dates before you enter into conversation and things go further. Because everyone has their own personal preferences surrounding how they choose dates it is ideal to have this iteration online; letting someone down is not difficult when you are online because you never have to respond to their correspondence in the first place.

In the offline world many people are limited to who they can meet. Apart from friends of friends, and co-workers, meeting others can be very difficult – especially as you get older and your social groups become more limited as your friends get married and have more strenuous work commitments. With online dating you open up a whole world of opportunities to meet new people who are in exactly the same position as you are. Not only that, but the sheer volume of people at online dating sites means you are far more likely to meet a person who is an exact match to you and your personality.

Everyone dreams their whole life of meeting a person who is perfectly suited to them, and what better way to do it than through an online dating service? With such a myriad of opportunities, and the ability to make friends in the process, there really is no reason not to give it a try. You can also save money too! With free dating services available, you do not have to waste money on pointless dates, or spend money on your credit card just to meet people in the first place. Why not sign up to a free dating service online today and see if you can meet the person of your dreams?

When purchasing your barbeque grill, think of it as an investment rather then just another item for your outdoor entertainment. You should expect this item to become a large part of your outdoor activities for many years to come. But like any other investments, proper maintenance and care is needed to ensure that your barbeque grill will work for you for many years to come.

While some maintenance and cleaning is specific to the type of barbeque grill your own (gas, electric, charcoal or smoke barbecue grill), the majority of maintenance that should be carried on does not change from grill to grill.

Step 1- Gathering The Necessary Items

You will need some common household items on hand when it comes time to clean your barbeque grill.

Brass wire grill brush
Steel wool pads, preferably that contains soap already.
Mild dish soap
Sponge or dishcloth
Spray cooking oil
Dry baking soda
Aluminum foil

Step 2- Brushing Your Grill Off

The first thing that should always be done to your grill is a routine brushing. Using your brass wire grill brush (or other brush suitable to your type of grill) you should brush off all the surfaces. By routinely brushing your barbeque grill, you will prevent any type of buildup. If buildup from food is left to long, it can become increasingly difficult to remove.

Step 3- Spray Cooking Oil

Once you are sure that your grill is free of all buildup and debris, and that your grill is completely cooled off, you will want to spray it down with a light layer of cooking oil. Spraying it down with cooking oil will prevent your barbeque grill from rusting. It is especially important to make sure your barbeque grill is completely cold, as spraying cooking oil on a hot surface may cause the oil to heat up and ignite, which could be potentially dangerous to you and your barbeque grill.

Step 4- Use Baking Soda and Aluminum Foil on Your Grill

Baking soda is a very nice cleaning and polishing agent. Once you have removed any extra debris and buildup, lightly scrubbing your barbeque grill with baking soda will give it that extra shine, similar to the day that you brought it home from the store. This can also be used on handles and knobs to remove any extra buildup that cannot be taken off with a wire brush.

Aluminum foil can also be used to keep your grill looking nice. Gently rub the aluminum foil on your grill, and you will notice that it removes grim and buildup.

Step 5- Clean Your Racks

The racks in your grill are especially important as this is where the food touches when it is cooking. You will have to use the wire brush to remove as much buildup as possible. Once you remove as much as possible, start washing the racks with dish soap. If the racks are really dirty, you may also want to use the steel wool pads. Be sure to completely rinse off all soap and residue before cooking on these racks again.

Step 6- Preventing Problems

The majority of problems that arise from barbeque grills comes from lack of cleaning and maintenance. That means if you notice something does not seem quite right with your barbeque grill, chances are it can be fixed with just a simple cleaning. Even if you clean it, and still find that it is having problems, at least you saved yourself the potential embarrassment of taking it to a professional only to find out all it needed was to be cleaned.

Finally, one method of preventing problems with your barbeque grill is protecting it from the outdoors. Covers are available for grills in all shapes and sizes, so chances are, you will find one that fits your grill. If you have a cover for your barbeque grill, then all you will ever need to do is do the regular maintenance listed above.

A complex mix of factors related to environment, lifestyle, and heredity plays a role in the causation of cancer. For example, 80 percent of all cancers are related to the use of tobacco products, to what we eat and drink, and to our exposure to radiation, asbestos, and some of the other cancer-causing agents. There’s not much you can do about your genes, but several other key risk factors are under your control.

If you identify them and make the necessary changes in your lifestyle early enough, you can substantially decrease your chances of developing a malignancy. Here are some of the risk factors you can do something about:

1. Tobacco

Tobacco is the most preventable cause of mortality in this country. Regardless of whether you chew it, snuff it, smoke it, or inhale someone else’s exhaust, tobacco is a killer. In the United States, it is responsible for 85 to 90 percent of all lung cancers, and for one-third of all deaths related to other cancers. The magnitude of the risk depends on the number and kind of cigarettes you have smoked and for how long. A pack-a-day smoker is ten times more vulnerable than a non-smoker. It is never too late to quit. After you do, your cancer risk declines gradually each year.

2. Chronic alcohol abuse

This type of abuse can cause cancer of the liver, as well as of the mouth, throat, and larynx, especially in combination with tobacco. It may also raise the risk of breast cancer. If you are going to imbibe, limit yourself to the equivalent of two drinks a day – and stop smoking.

3. Diet

People who shun fruits and vegetables have roughly twice the incidence of most types of cancer – lung, larynx, oral cavity, stomach, colon, and rectum, bladder, pancreas, cervix, and ovary – than those with the highest intake. Yet only 9 percent of Americans heed the recommendations of the National Cancer Institute and the National Research Council to eat two servings of fruit and three portions of vegetables a day. Seventh-Day Adventists, who don’t drink or eat much meat but do consume a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, have the lowest incidence of cancer in the U.S. population. This protective effect is probably due to the antioxidants and folic acid present in fruits and vegetables, which neutralize damage to chromosomal DNA caused by oxygen-free radicals.

4. A high-fat diet

This type of diet is associated with cancer of the breast, uterus, and prostate. The guilty foods are eggs, fatty meat, high-fat salad dressings and cooking oils, and diary products such as whole milk, butter, and most cheeses.

Blueberries have a higher antioxidant capacity than any other fruit or vegetable. They are said to protect against cancer by virtue of their anthocyanins and other natural phytochemicals.

5. A high consumption of soy-based food

Soy-based food such as tofu, may also protect against cancer because of the genistein content. Genistein suppresses the production of proteins that cancer cells need in order to keep growing. In China and Japan, where people eat lots of soy, there is much less cancer of the breast, colon, and prostate than in this country. Since men with prostate cancer generally have lower blood levels of selenium than their normal counterparts, selenium supplements may protect against this malignancy.

6. Some supplements

Some supplements seem to protect against certain cancers. For instance, colon polyps and cancer do not recur as often in persons who regularly take multivitamins, calcium supplements, and vitamin E. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is protective against cancer, presumably because of the beta-carotene content. So take your mother’s advice: Eat all the fruits and vegetables you can – and forget the pills.

7. Don’t have X-rays

Don’t have X-rays any more frequently than is absolutely necessary. I no longer take annual routine chest films on myself. Some dentists are too enthusiastic about X rays. Make sure you really need them before acquiescing.

Diabetes becomes more prevalent with age. About half of all the cases are diagnosed over age 60. There are two types of diabetes that can affect seniors. Type I diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system, for some yet undiscovered reason, mistakenly attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas that are responsible for making insulin. However, 90 percent of the time when an older person gets the disease, it is diabetes II.

If you have Type II, your pancreas is still doing its job. The catch is that it either isn’t producing enough insulin or it is making plenty of insulin but your body has developed what is known as insulin resistance. Although diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure, here are a few suggestions that can help you.

1. Pay Attention To Your Feet

Inspect your feet and between your toes every day. Diabetes can damage nerve endings in your feet and toes, making it difficult for you to feel sores, blisters, and other injuries. Look for cuts, breaks in the skin, or swollen, red areas. Keep your feet clean and dry. Bathe your feet with warm water and mild soap every day. Dry them carefully, especially between the toes. Apply a thin coat of moisturizing lotion if the skin on your feet feels unusually dry. Wear clean socks and comfortable, well-fitting shoes. Never go barefoot. You are more likely to get injured if you do.

2. Avoid Large Meals

Spread your calories, especially those that come from carbohydrates, throughout the day in order to keep your blood sugar levels at optimal levels. So instead of two large meals, you may want to eat five or six smaller meals like half a sandwich and an orange.

3. Step Lively

Regular exercise is a vital part of any diabetes management plan. Just taking a 15-minute walk every day can help lower blood sugar and can help your body use insulin more efficiently. Some activities such as weight-lifting may not be safe for you, particularly if you have high blood pressure or diabetic eye disease.

4. Consume Fiber

Food high in water-soluble fiber like beans, oat bran, fruits, and nuts can help people with diabetes control their blood sugar. Soluble fiber slows the absorption of carbohydrates, so your blood sugar level may not rise as quickly. Try eating at least 20 grams of fiber a day. You will be well on your way to reaching your goal.

5. Follow The Pyramid

Even if you have a dietary plan specifically designed to control your diabetes, certain basics apply to everyone. It is recommended to take reference to the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Food Guide Pyramid for people who are 50-plus as an excellent starting point for any senior who has diabetes. These guidelines give you a general eating program that balances your consumption of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in a way that should provide good nutrition.

6. Treat Yourself

In the past, people with diabetes were told that they could not eat certain foods, namely refined carbohydrates like sugar, cookies, or sweets. However, all carbohydrates have similar effects on blood sugar. That means a cookie elevates blood sugar about as much as a slice of bread or piece of fruit. Moderation is the key. Try to keep your simple-sugar intake down to 10 percent of your total calories each day.

7. Know Your Enemy

Learn as much as you can about diabetes. The better you understand the disease, the more likely you are to be able to control it. Ninety-nine percent of the care and management of diabetes is in the patient’s hands. You have to prepare your meals, and monitor your blood sugars. You have to know what to do and when to do it. And you can do it if you don’t have the knowledge and skills.

Wikipedia has signed its first major corporate partnership, a revenue sharing deal with mobile operator Orange that will put branded Wikipedia content on Orange phones.

he Wikimedia Foundation has signed its first major corporate partnership deal with European mobile operator Orange. Under the agreement, Orange customers in France, Span, Poland, and the UK will get co-branded access to Wikimedia Foundation content, including a specific Wikipedia channel and both mobile and Web-based widgets to pull Wikipedia content to their mobile devices or Web pages. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Orange will be sharing some revenue with the Wikimedia Foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation currently gets most of its operating capital from user donations.

"The Wikimedia Foundation is dedicated to spreading knowledge to as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible," said Wikimedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner, in a statement. "Orange's leadership in mobile and focus on innovation makes them an ideal partner to help us extend our reach."

The Wikimedia Foundation has turned down approaches from corporate entities before, and claims it wouldn't be open to letting commercial enterprises tap into their user communities or commerce-enable something like a Wikipedia page. However, corporate partnerships are apparently on the table for companies that aim to extend knowledge to everyone. A second phase of the partnership will apparently explore creating "simple but innovative" services drawing on Orange's complete portfolio of communications services, including potentially leveraging Wikipedia content to Orange's IPTV platform.

Lawyers for Pirate Bay have demanded a retrial after it's revealed that the judge in the trial is a member of the Swedish Copyright Association and sits on the board of Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.

Is it a conflict of interest? The founders of file-sharing site The Pirate Bay were in the dock for breaking copyright law, and the judge in the case, Tomas Norström, was a member of the Swedish Copyright Association and sits on the board of Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.

However, his association with those bodies wasn’t revealed until this week, after the verdict – a year in jail for each of the four men and a $4.5 million fine – had been handed down.

Now lawyers for The Pirate Bay are demanding a retrial, claiming the judge had a conflict of interest.

However, the judge denies that, telling Swedish radio:

"These activities do not constitute a conflict of interest."

It will all apparently be decided by the court of appeal. Peter Althin, lawyer for defendant Peter Sunde, said:

"I will point that out in my appeal, then the court of appeal will decide if the district court decision should be set aside and the case revisited."

"In the autumn I received information that a lay judge could have similar connections. I sent these to the court and the judge was excluded in order to prevent a conflict of interest. It would have been reasonable to then review this situation as well," he told Swedish radio.

The mobile industry has been keeping a careful eye on Nokia's "Comes with Music" service, which builds the license fees for unlimited music downloading into the cost of a phone…and lets users keep all the music they downloaded once their deal expires. Although the service had been given a frosty reception from mobile operators—who have been busily trying to develop their own revenue streams around downloadable media—the business model is one of the first to try to build license fees for media into the cost of a device itself…and then encourage users to buy a new device once their service expires.

Comes with Music isn't up and running in North America, but Nokia has rolled it out in five European markets, including the United Kingdom.

However, UK media consultancy Music Ally reports that Comes with Music may be off to a slow start—at least in the UK. According to Music Ally, Nokia has managed to sign up about 23,000 Comes with Music users in the UK to date…a figure far lower than many industry-watchers would have expected.

Nokia has apparently refused to confirm the figures, but says it is actually pleased with the Comes with Music launch so far, particularly in markets like Singapore. Nokia claims Comes with Music customers are downloading a few hundred music tracks in their first few weeks of use, and the majority of those downloads are being down via PCs rather than over-the-air via mobile devices. Nokia also says a decent catalog of local and regional music is important to the service with local content accounting for more than a third of downloads in Comes with Music markets. Nokia also told Music Ally that Comes with Music customers are downloading up to 20 times more back catalog titles than Nokia Music Store customers.

When Nokia launched Comes with Music it indicated it expected it would have to refine and revise its business model over time to make the service appealing in different markets; the company hasn't indicated whether it plans any changes to Comes with Music for the United Kingdom. Nokia has said it plans to bring Comes with Music to the United States, but hasn't yet revealed any launch details.

Storage maker Seagate is looking to win over the hearts (and wallets) of eco-concious desktop computer users with its new Barracuda LP line of 3.5-inch desktop hard drives. Available in 1, 1.5, and 2 TB capacities, the drives spin at 5,900 rpm and the company claims they can consume as little as half the electricity of a typical desktop hard drive—although, over the entire life of the drive, Seagate is only claiming up to a 44 percent reduction in energy consumption. What's more, up to 70 percent of the materials used in the drive can be recycled.

"Growing demand for power-efficient computing systems is not just a data center phenomenon as more builders of external storage devices, desktop PCs, and home networking systems work to provide customers with products that combine power-efficiency with rock-solid performance," said Seagate's VP pf personal systems marketing and strategy Joan Motsinger, in a statement. "Seagate is pleased to deliver a new low-power product line in our Barracuda family that enables system builders and end users alike to attain a higher level of environmental friendliness while cutting costs."

The drives sport an SATA interface, 32 MB of on-board cache, and an average latency of 5.5ms. The drives can peak at transfer rates of 300 MB/s, although sustained transfers will be about 95 MB/s; the 1.5 and 2 TB units consume an average of 5. Watts at idle, while the 1 TB version consumes just 3 Watts.

Seagate hasn't announced shipping dates for the Barracuda LP series, but pricing should start at $118 for the 1TB version, moving up to $156 and $358 for the 1.5 and 2 TB versions.

The description of the game Baby Shaker in the iPhone App Store read:

"On a plane, on the bus, in a theater. Babies are everywhere you don't want them to be! They're always distracting you from preparing for that big presentation at work with their incessant crying. Before Baby Shaker, there was nothing you could do about it. See how long you can endure his or her adorable cries before you just have to find a way to quiet the baby down!"


Shaking the iPhone would eventually bring red Xs over the baby’s eyes. You won. In fairness, it came with a warning never to shake a baby. The app for the phone, from Sikalosoft, cost 99 cents, and went on sale on Monday. On Wednesday it was removed after being noted by the Krapps website and receiving protests, including one from Sarah Jane Brain Project, one of whose founders, Patrick Donahue, wrote to Steve Jobs and Apple:

"As the father of a three-year-old who was shaken by her baby nurse when she was only five days old, breaking three ribs, both collarbones and causing a severe brain injury, words cannot describe my reaction."

Apple withdrew the game and issued a statement saying:

"This application was deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store."

"We sincerely apologize for this mistake and thank our customers for bringing this to our attention."

There was no comment from the game developer.

The question, of course, is how it came to be approved. It’s not long since Apple was almost Puritanical in its outlook, even rejecting an app that made farting noises, but of late it had relaxed a little.

Mobile audio developer Aliph has announced its new Jawbone Prime noise-canceling Bluetooth headset, promising an order of magnitude improvement in noise reduction, plus a swath of fashionable colors to appeal to even the pickiest fashionistas. Aliph's original Jawbone headset was released about a year ago to solid reviews; the Jawbone Prime aims to improve on the original with improved noise reduction that takes out an additional 6 to 9 db of background noise while leaving the speaker's voice strong and clear.

"We watched our customers closely and saw how they struggled to be heard in extreme noise environments. So, we focused our engineering team to go deeper on the tough problems like crying babies, pounding jackhammers, beeping elevators and the like," said Aliph CEO and co-founder Hosain Rahman, in a statement. "We are excited to announce Jawbone Prime, with orders of magnitude better noise suppression, so our customers can continue their conversations wherever they happen to be."

The Jawbone Prime's NoiseAssassin 2.0 technology implements a digital approach to wind nois reduction, and the headset also includes Acoustic Voice Activity Detector technology as a fail-safe mechanism when the Jawbone Prime's voice activity sensor does not touch a user's face: if the activity sensor loses contact, the headset switches to a traditional noise-canceling mode Aliph says is as good as any other headset on the market. But when the activity sensor touches a users' face, the NoiseAssassin technology kicks in. The Jawbone Prime supports Bluetooth 1.1, 1.2, 2.0, and 2.1+EDR.

The Jawbone Primes will be available in a broad range of colors, including black, brown, platinum; special "Earcandy" colors include red, yellow, green, and purple.

The Jawbone Prime is available for pre-order now for $129.99; the units are set to go on sale May 2 at selected retailers in the U.S., and are available in the UK, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, and Canada.

Last last year, Nintendo announced a partnership with Japan's largest advertising agency Dentsu to bring a video distribution service to the Wii gaming console. Now, industry reports have Nintendo getting set to launch the service on May 1 in Japan under the name "Wii no Ma Channel"—and, reportedly, the service will include support for the Nintendo DSi handheld as well.

Nintendo's original plan had been to offer original content for the service, rather than redistributing existing television or movie programming, with an emphasis on family-oriented content. The Wi no Ma Channel will appear on-screen like a family room, where Mii avatars can congregate. The service will offer both free and paid-for content (although no specific titles have been announced yet). Perhaps more interestingly, the Wii no Ma Channel will also extend to the Nintendo DSi handheld via an application called "Dokodemo Wii no Ma" (roughly, "Wii no Ma Anywhere"), which will enable users to download video from the Wii to the DSi for portable viewing. Users will also be able to download sponsor coupons—say, for a fast food restaurant—that can be scanned from the DSI screen when a user wants to redeem it.

Nintendo has not announced any plans to launch a Wii video service outside Japan.

The Australian government technology agency CSIRO has reportedly reached settlements with all the companies it had been suing for patent infringement regarding a technology built into 802.11g and later Wi-Fi wireless networking. The patent covers portions of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) implementation that first appeared in 802.11g. Although aspects of the patent were openly questioned by other players in the industry, CSIRO doggedly pursued 14 technology companies over patent infringement, including Japanese-owned Buffalo Technology, which had its products banned from the U.S. market for a time in part because CSIRO won a judgement against Buffalo.

Although CSIRO sued some 14 companies for infringement—and some of those companies, in turn, countersued CSIRO—the long-running case never made it to court, apparently in part because CSIRO wasn't asking for exorbitant royalty fees; that meant the cost of negotiating a settlement with CSIRO was likely far less than the cost of taking the case to trial. Industry watchers were skeptical how well CSIRO's rather broad patent would hold up in court. Terms of CSIRO's settlements with Wi-Fi equipment makers weren't released, but the agency apparently intends to put money from the settlements into research, same as it would with commercial implementations of any of the technology it develops.

There's no denying that Apple's App Store has been wildly popular amongst iPhone and iPod touch users—"Shaking Baby" applications aside—and that Microsoft, RIM, Palm, Nokia, and others are all looking to emulate Apple's success with application stores of their own. Just to underscore how far they have to catch up, however, Apple has announced that customers have downloaded over 1 billion programs from its App Store since it launched a little over nine months ago.

"The revolutionary App Store has been a phenomenal hit with iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, and we'd like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve the astonishing milestone of one billion apps downloaded," said Apple senior VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller, in a statement.

The actual downloader of the billionth program was 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey, of Weston, Connecticut: he will receive a MacBook Pro, a Time Capsule backup system, an iPod touch, and a $10,000 iTunes gift card. Apple has previously given out prizes for download milestones from its iTunes music store.

The Apple app store claims to offer more than 35,000 programs in 77 countries, many of which are available for free, with commercial applications tending to run from $1.99 to $9.99, with some exceptions.

Apple is planning to release its iPhone 3.0 operating system this summer, which many industry watchers expect will help solidify the iPhone's strong position in the iPhone market, and may help it further integrate with enterprise and corporate systems, an area where Apple has historically only been a bit player.

Chinese electronics manufacturers have officially unveiled the first CBHD disc players, China's home-grown alternative to Blu-ray (and, formerly, HD-DVD) which it hopes will jump-start a market for high-definition video in mainland China. Like Blu-ray, CBHD uses a blue laser to read high-capacity optical discs, although CBHD discs have a physical structure more like a traditional dual-layer DVD that could make it easier for existing DVD manufacturers to produce CBHD titles. CBHD is based in part on Toshiba's defunct HD-DVD format, and uses AACS copy protection. Dual-layer CBHD discs can accommodate about 30 GB of data.

Chinese manufacturers Chinco and TCL are getting ready to put their first CBHD players on sale, with prices starting around 2,000 yuan (roughly $293 USD), which makes them substantially cheaper than Blu-ray players, in part because CBHD players don't have to pay the licensing fees associated with Blu-ray. As for content, China hopes to have at least 100 movies available on CBHD by the end of 2009…including titles from major Hollywood studio Warner Bros.

The president of TCL Corp has been quoted as saying his company hopes to sell as many as 10 million CBHD players this year, piggybacking on rising popularity of HD televisions in Chinese urban markets. However, many industry watchers don't expect CBHD or or Blu-ray to truly take off in China anytime soon. It remains to be seen whether CBHD discs will become a notable industry in China's notoriously bootlegging-friendly environment: CBHD movies are expected to be priced at 50 to 70 yuan (about $7 to $10 USD), leaving plenty of room at the bottom of the market for illegal distributors.