Technology Slice Blog

Leslie Nielsen Is Remembered - If it’s true, as many claim, that showbiz deaths usually come in three's, then we should fear the worst for some living legends during the next day or so. Why? Within the past 48 hours, we have lost two conspicuously accomplished octogenarians: Leslie Nielsen, the journeyman character actor who deftly reinvented himself as a splendidly straight-faced farceur, and Irvin Kershner, the veteran filmmaker credited by many fans as auteur of the very best Star Wars movie ever made. Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, Nielsen found steady employment as heroic lead or reliable guest star in a variety of TV series, often finding himself persuasively cast as a steely-eyed cop (The New Breed, The Bold Ones) or a cold-hearted villain. On the big screen, he made his biggest impact – fleetingly, but unforgettably – as the ship’s captain whose shocked response to an oncoming tidal wave (“Oh my God!”) set the shamelessly melodramatic tone for The Poseidon Adventure. ...

Dems Seek Unemployment Extension - The scary prospect for thousands of Oregon families not getting an extension of their federal unemployment benefits thanks to congressional inaction brought about a dozen unemployed Oregonians today to a rally in downtown Portland to protest. “We are on the verge of disaster,” said Eleyna Fugman, who’s been sporadically employed for 18 months. Fugman says she relies upon the weekly $257 she gets in unemployment benefits and that the money goes right back into the economy through her payment of bills. She says cutting off her money won’t help to end the recession. At the rally and news conference organized by the Sunnyside Self-Help Employment Group in advance of the deadline Nov. 30 for Congress to act, organizers said 7,500 Oregon families would immediately lose their money if Congress refuses to continue the benefits. And in another month’s time, 7,500 more Oregon families would lose their unemployment benefits as well. Francisco Holdman, ...

Soul Train Awards 2010 - Proving it's wide-ranging enough to incorporate both R. Kelly and Wolf Blitzer, the Soul Train Awards aired Sunday night to dole out awards and celebrate the stars who came (Cee-Lo, Erykah Badu, Anita Baker) and those who didn't (Rihanna, Usher, Alicia Keys). The show, which was taped November 10 in Atlanta, was hosted by Academy Award-nominated actors Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, who returned to the show's stage for the second year in a row. Taking top honors for the night were Usher and Alicia Keys, who both grabbed two awards respectively. While neither superstar was present to make an acceptance speech, the newly cemented Mrs. Swizz Beatz garnered awards for Best Female R&B Soul Artist and a songwriting nod for Record of the Year. Usher won Best Album of the Year and tied with Trey Songz for Best Male R&B Soul Artist. While other winners like Ciara, Eminem and Rihanna weren't on hand to claim their trophies either, Bl...

Bank Of Ireland To Raise Funds - The Bank of Ireland and Irish Life & Permanent Group Holdings PLC said Monday they are launching capital-raising drives to meet the terms of the country's multibillion-euro bailout. The Bank of Ireland said it aims to raise €2.2 billion ($2.91 billion) by Feb. 28 through a combination of internal initiatives, support from existing shareholders and other capital-markets sources. The Irish government will subscribe for the incremental capital, should the bank "not be in a position to raise sufficient capital within the proposed timeframe," it said in a statement. Separately, Irish Life said it aims to raise €100 million from its own resources in an unspecified time frame. It said the move will have a "modest impact" on the group. Irish Life Chief Executive Kevin Murphy said the strengthening of the capital position would reassure international investors over the ability of Irish banks to withstand the impact of the cur...

Ron Isley's New Album - Available to buy from November 30th, Ron Isley‘s new album Mr. I now features only two guest features from T.I. on “Put Your Money On Me” [listen below] and Aretha Franklin on “You’ve Got A Friend”. What a shame; here is a notable absence of his collaboration with Lauryn Hill covering the Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned classic leaked “(They Love To Be) Close To You“. Mr. I is out next week via Def Jam – pre-order now available on Amazon. Check out the full album tracklist and Mr Isley’s collaboration with T.I. below. Ron Isley ft. T.I. – “Put Your Money On Me”: TRACKLIST 1. Take It How You Want It 2. No More 3. If I Lose My Woman 4. Put Your Money On Me (feat. T.I.) 5. Supposed To Do 6. Dance For Me 7. What I Miss The Most 8. I Need You 9. You’ve Got A Friend (feat. Aretha Franklin) 10. You Had Me At Hello Ron Isley's New Album

Haiti Elections A Shambles - Voters say they can't find their names at polling centers as allegations of ballot stuffing and other fraud abound. Twelve of 18 presidential candidates call for the elections to be canceled. With the country reeling from the effects of January's earthquake and a devastating cholera epidemic, the general elections slid into chaos Sunday as thousands complained they could not cast ballots and a majority of presidential candidates accused the Haitian government of committing "massive fraud." Twelve of the 18 presidential candidates issued a declaration saying the hastily prepared elections should be canceled and that the people should "mobilize" to reject the results. They accused President Rene Preval of conspiring with the country's electoral council to ensure that his party, Unity, was in control of Parliament, and its candidate, Jude Celestin, won the presidency. Protests erupted in parts of the rubble-strewn capital...

Comcast Outage Hits Boston - Comcast's cable Internet service on the U.S. east coast was hit with problems late Sunday that left many users unable to access the Internet. The outage affected at least Boston, the company said, but comments on Twitter pointed to service being down in several other cities including Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. "Our engineers are working very aggressively to fix the problem," said Doreen Vigue, a Boston-based spokeswoman for Comcast. She said she didn't have any specific information about the cause of the fault or the cities affected beyond Boston. Twitter postings point to a DNS (domain name system) server problem. DNS is the system that converts human-friendly Internet address like "www.pcworld.com" into a numeric Internet address, which are vital to Internet communications. If the DNS servers go down there's no way for a user's PC to address data correctly and so communication stops. Several users said ...