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Monday, May 7, 2012

Verizon HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE announced with 4-inch screen and Ice Cream Sandwich

Verizon and HTC have officially announced the Droid Incredible 4G LTE. It is a an evolutionary advancement from the Droid Incredible 2, which should prove to provide a solid experience for users who aren't concerned with having every single top-of-the line spec.

Here are the specs:

4-inch qHD Super LCD screen (960 x 540)
1.2GHz dual-core processor
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
HTC Sense 4
1GB RAM
8GB eMMC
8MP rear-camera with autofocus, LED flash, 1080p HD video recording
VGA front-facing camera
1700 mAh removable battery

In the announcement, HTC also said that other variants of the HTC One V will be making their way to the U.S. in the summer, so if you're not on Verizon but are interested in this phone, just wait and you'll be able to get it. The Droid Incredible 4G LTE will be available on Verizon in the "coming weeks." For more, please visit our Droid Incredible 4G LTE Forum.

Full presser's after the break.

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GOP leaders start to rally around Romney _ sort of (The Arizona Republic)

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Polls open in France's overseas territories

French Socialist Party candidate for the presidential election Francois Hollande walks with his companion Valerie Trierweiler, in Tulle, southwestern France, Saturday, May 5, 2012. The second round of the French presidential elections will take place on May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

France's President and conservative candidate for re-election in 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy, shakes hands with crowds of supporters after a campaign meeting in Sables d'Ollonne, western France, Friday, May 4, 2012. The final polls before France's presidential election Sunday show a shrinking gap between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist challenger Francois Hollande, but still predict a Hollande victory. (AP Photo/Eric Feferberg, Pool)

PARIS (AP) ? Voters in France's overseas territories began casting ballots for Nicolas Sarkozy or Francois Hollande on Saturday in a presidential election that could affect everything from Europe's efforts to fight its debt crisis to how long French troops stay in Afghanistan.

The final polls show Sarkozy making up ground on his Socialist challenger before Sunday's election in France ? but still suggest a Hollande victory. Campaigning and the release of poll data have been suspended until the results of the run-off election come in Sunday evening.

Sarkozy predicts a "surprise" and Hollande is urging voters to avoid complacency as the bitter campaign neared its climax, driven by fears about joblessness, immigration and France's economic future.

Hollande spent the weekend in Tulle, the town in central France where he has his electoral base as legislator and one-time mayor. Greeting shoppers in a market, Hollande said he was "confident, but not sure" when asked about his chances of becoming France's next president.

"We wait for Sunday, I speak only about Sunday. Monday is another day," Hollande said.

Sarkozy as spending the day at home with his family in Paris.

Under a quirk of French electoral rules, balloting got under way Saturday in France's embassies and overseas holdings, starting in tiny Saint Pierre and Miquelon ? islands south of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The election's outcome will impact on Europe's efforts to fight its debt crisis, how long French troops stay in Afghanistan and how France exercises its military and diplomatic muscle around the world.

Sarkozy, disliked by many voters for his handling of the economy, promised he could come out victorious on Sunday. Speaking on Europe-1 radio Friday, he said much will depend on whether French voters bother to cast ballots in an election that polls have always predicted Hollande would win.

But he also sounded increasingly philosophical and prepared for possible defeat.

Asked Friday what he would do if he loses, Sarkozy said simply, "there will be a handover of power."

"The nation follows its course. The nation is stronger than the destiny of the men who serve it," he said. "The fact that the campaign is ending is more of a relief than a worry."

Hollande urged his followers against complacency. "Victory is within our grasp!" he said in a rousing rally in the southern city of Toulouse on Thursday night.

Polls released Friday and Thursday show the gap between the candidates shrinking but results still solidly in Hollande's favor.

A poll by the BVA agency shows 52.5 percent support for Hollande and 47.5 percent for Sarkozy. A poll by the agency CSA shows 53 percent for Hollande and 47 percent for Sarkozy.

For both polling agencies, that was the smallest spread registered in the campaign, which a few months ago saw polls predicting Hollande winning by a crushing 60 percent to Sarkozy's 40.

The margin of error on each poll was plus or minus 2-3 percent. BVA questioned 2,161 people by telephone Thursday. CSA questioned 1,123 people by telephone Thursday.

The polls were carried out after the candidates' only debate Wednesday night, which Sarkozy had hoped would be the knockout blow he needed.

Hollande has won the support of a prominent centrist who won 9 percent of the vote in the first round of presidential elections, Francois Bayrou. Bayrou said Thursday night he would not give his voters specific guidance for Sunday's vote ? but that he will cast a ballot for Hollande.

Bayrou criticized Sarkozy's campaign rhetoric as too violent. Sarkozy has sought to lure far-right voters who supported anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round.

Sarkozy kept it up anyway Thursday at a big campaign rally in Toulon.

"We don't want different tribes, we don't want ethnic communities to turn in on themselves, we don't want (non-citizen) immigrants to vote," he said.

Critics of Sarkozy have often faulted him for his brash style, alleged chumminess with the rich and inability to reverse France's tough economic fortunes and nearly double-digit jobless rate.

Hollande has promised more government spending and higher taxes ? including a 75-percent income tax on the rich ? and wants to renegotiate a European treaty on trimming budgets to avoid more debt crises of the kind facing Greece.

___

Masha Macpherson in Tulle, France contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Another courageous casualty in Pakistan, journalism's most dangerous country

Murtaza Razvi, an editor at one of Pakistan's leading English newspapers, was murdered in Karachi yesterday. He was one of many journalists I met on a recent trip who have refused to give up their work despite threats.

Two weeks ago I was in an office in Karachi, Pakistan, with a room full of journalists, including Murtaza Razvi, an editor at Dawn newspaper, discussing challenges facing the country?s vibrant media, including risks to covering Pakistan. Yesterday I was e-mailed that he had been murdered.

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Before I left for Pakistan a few weeks ago on a journalist exchange program sponsored by the East-West Center, I asked colleagues who reported in the country, both Pakistani and American, about their greatest challenge.

Americans complained of the government's game of ?smoke and mirrors,? a disinformation campaign that puts most other government propaganda efforts to?shame. The challenge for Pakistani journalists, on the other hand, was decidedly more severe. ?We have a completely free media in Pakistan, but no protection,? said one journalist based in Islamabad.

How severe? The country leads the world in journalist murders, the latest just yesterday.

Seven of the other eight Pakistani journalists at a meeting with my group proceeded to share stories of threats. It was common, they said, to receive a threat by a phone call from the Taliban for not getting enough quotes from them, from political parties for including the Taliban in a story or not being represented the way they saw fit, and even from Pakistan?s version of the CIA, the ISI.

But this wasn?t something that had them lining up to find a new job. It was just how things work. Most of the time the person on the other end of the line is bluffing, they said. They had gotten used to the fact that Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010 and 2011, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. And killings there have been met with near-perfect impunity throughout the years. For some perspective, consider that there have been 19 unsolved murders of journalists since 2002. (see CPJ?s video)

When you put it that way, having to peer through smoke and mirrors to get to the heart of a story doesn't look so bad.

I visited the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting while I was in Pakistan. The ministry has jurisdiction over the rules and regulations relating to information, broadcasting, and the press. Like many Pakistanis we spoke to on this trip, the minister talked at length about how wonderful it was to have an active, independent, vibrant media that had absolutely no restrictions and how that was contributing to democracy in Pakistan.?

However, when we raised the question of safety and reported threats against journalist, Minister of Information Firdous Ashiq Awan (since replaced), without asking for details or pausing to smooth this over, said: ?Those are complete fabrications. It never happened. It?s not happening.?

We brought up the famous case of Syad Saleem Shazad, a prominent journalist who went missing after exposing Al Qaeda infiltration of the military. He had been ?warned? several times by the ISI for covering sensitive topics, according to his family. He was later found dead. The ISI, was implicated, though it denied involvement.

The minister dismissed the scenario of Shazad's murder as unproven. She did clarify that, "we condemn that sort of action." But she stuck with her statement that there were no threats or real dangers for journalists who were not "over smart." A former local journalist who now works in the ministry agreed with her.

At this point, Issam Ahmed, the Monitor?s Islamabad correspondent, who had been invited to the round table by the minister, shared a story about a time he had been reporting on a sensitive topic in northern Pakistan, when he was summoned into a car by agents to go meet with the ISI bureau chief. The car sped off at breakneck speed to the headquarters, where the chief warned him to ?not report critically.? So, Issam, said, it wasn't a death threat, but intimidation happens.

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Facebook valued at up to $95B in IPO price range

FILE - This Feb. 1, 2012 photo shows the Facebook logo on a computer screen in Berlin. A published report says Facebook is seeking a valuation of $85 billion to $95 billion when it goes public in a few weeks. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said Thursday May 3, 2012 that the company plans to set the per-share price of its stock in the high $20s to mid $30s. This is a narrower range than the previously expected $75 billion to $100 billion. Facebook's initial public offering will be by far the largest Internet IPO ever, dwarfing even Google Inc.'s in 2004. (AP Photo/dapd, Timur Emek)

Exterior view of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Wednesday, May 2, 2012. Facebook will go public on May 18, a Wall Street Journal report says, in one of the most highly anticipated tech initial public offerings since Google went public in August 2004. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Facebook, the company that turned the social Web into a cultural and business phenomenon, is worth as much as $95 billion, according to the price range for its upcoming initial public offering of stock.

Facebook's IPO, expected in a couple of weeks, would be the biggest ever for an Internet company. Facebook disclosed the price range of $28 to $35 per share in a regulatory filing Thursday.

At the high end, Facebook and its current shareholders could raise as much as $13.58 billion ? far more than the $1.9 billion raised in the 2004 offering for current Internet IPO record-holder Google Inc. The IPO valued the company at $23 billion. Google is now worth about $200 billion.

Facebook Inc.'s IPO has been highly anticipated, not just because of how much money it will raise but because Facebook itself is so popular. The world's largest online social network has more than 900 million users.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who turns 28 this month, has emerged as a wunderkind leader who's guided Facebook through unprecedented growth from its scrappy start as an online hangout for Harvard students.

Facebook's offering values the company at $76 billion to $95 billion, based on the expected number of Facebook shares following the IPO. That's about 2.74 billion, according to Renaissance Capital, an IPO investment adviser. The value is set by multiplying the number of shares by the expected stock price.

Facebook's next step is an "IPO road show," where executives talk to potential investors about why they should invest in the stock. On Thursday, Facebook posted a version of its road show online, with appearances from Zuckerberg; Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg; finance chief David Ebersman and other executives. The company said that putting the road show online was consistent with its focus on "authentic, engaging information."

"We think people's lives will be better and really that the whole world will function better when there is more information and understanding out there," Zuckerberg says in the video, wearing a T-shirt and jeans as he usually does.

One of the most eagerly anticipated IPOs in history, Facebook's was preceded by those from smaller social Web companies such as professional networking service LinkedIn Corp. and online game maker Zynga Inc.

Facebook's stock is expected to price on May 17 and make its public trading debut on May 18. Facebook plans to list its stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "FB."

The actual price could be higher or lower than Facebook's given range, depending on investor demand. Online reviews site Yelp Inc., for example, set a price range of $12 to $14 and priced at $15 when it went public in March.

If Facebook ultimately prices at its stated maximum of $35 per share, the IPO would raise $11.8 billion. But underwriters are likely to sell extra stock reserved for overallotments, given the excitement surrounding the IPO. That would bring the IPO to $13.58 billion.

The midpoint of the expected deal size, without the overallotments, is $10.63 billion. That would put Facebook just a hair above AT&T Inc., at No. 5, when it comes to the largest-ever U.S. IPOs.

Despite the frenzy surrounding Facebooks offering, not all IPO watchers are impressed. Francis Gaskins president of IPOdesktop.com, said Facebook's growth is "obviously slowing down" based on its most recent earnings report, for the January-March quarter.

While first-quarter revenue grew 45 percent from a year earlier to $1.06 billion, it declined 6 percent from the fourth quarter.

"The company is entering a maturation process," Gaskins said. "I think their core business slowed more than they thought for the past four months."

Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his dorm room in 2004, will keep tight control over the company even after the IPO. He will control 57.3 percent of the company's voting power, through stocks he owns or because other shareholders have promised to vote his way through shares that they own. This means he will have final say over the biggest decisions facing the company even after it goes public.

Zuckerberg will likely own about 31.5 percent of Facebook's outstanding stock after the IPO. At the high end of the expected IPO price range, his holdings will be worth $17.6 billion. This would put him at around No. 33 of the Forbes list of the world's richest people, above the likes of Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer.

Zuckerberg is offering 30.2 million shares in the IPO and plans to use the proceeds to cover taxes. Other stockholders offering shares include early investors such as James Breyer of the venture capital firm Accel Partners, who's offering 38.2 million shares. Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder-turned venture capitalist who first invested in Facebook in 2004, is offering 7.7 million.

Facebook's expected valuation will easily surpass well-known corporations such as Kraft Foods Inc. and Ford Motor Co. The amount Facebook is trying to raise in the IPO would slot it among the world's 25 largest IPOs, although as recently as November 2010, General Motors raised $15.8 billion when it shed majority control by the U.S. government.

Among the IPOs that rank higher than Facebook's, according to Renaissance Capital, are Visa Inc.'s $17.9 billion IPO in March 2008, the largest for a U.S. company, and world-topper Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., which raised $19.3 billion in July 2010. These figures do not include extra shares issued to meet demand.

___

AP Business Writer Sarah Skidmore contributed to this story from Portland, Ore.

___

Online:

Facebook's online road show:

http://facebook.retailroadshow.com/launch.html

Associated Press

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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Afghan child bride's in-laws sentenced for torture

FILE- In this Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 file photo, Afghan doctors, unseen, dress the tortured ear of Sahar Gul, 15-year-old at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. The in-laws of a child bride who became the bruised and bloodied face of women's rights in Afghanistan have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for torture, abuse and human rights violations, a judge said Saturday, May 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? The in-laws of a child bride who became the bruised and bloodied face of women's rights in Afghanistan have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for torture, abuse and human rights violations, a judge said Saturday.

The plight of 15-year-old Sahar Gul captivated the nation and set off a storm of international condemnation when it came to light in late December. Officials said her husband's family kept her in a basement for six months after her arranged marriage, ripping out her fingernails, breaking her fingers and torturing her with hot irons in an attempt to force her into prostitution.

She was rescued by police in northeastern Baghlan province after an uncle alerted authorities.

Gul's husband's father, mother and sister were each sentenced to 10 years in prison by a court in Kabul on Tuesday, presiding judge Sibghatullah Razi said.

Also found guilty were Gul's husband, a member of the Afghan army, and her brother-in-law, both of whom have been on the run since her case became public, Razi said. He said the men will be sentenced when they are captured.

Gul was present for the decision, telling the court that she wanted her in-laws "severely punished" for what they had put her through, Razi said. She has filed an appeal for a longer sentence with the help of the Women for Afghan Women, a group that works for women's rights in the country and has been caring for the teenager since her rescue.

"Of course we are not happy with the court's decision," said Huma Safi, program manager for the group.

Gul's case has prompted calls for more efforts to strengthen women's rights and end underage marriage. The legal marriage age in Afghanistan is 16, but the United Nations agency UN Women estimates that half of all girls are forced to marry under age 15.

There has been progress in women's rights since the 2001 U.S.-led campaign that toppled the Taliban regime, which banned girls' schools and prevented women from leaving the house unless accompanied by a male relative.

But ending abuse remains a huge challenge in Afghanistan's patriarchal society, where traditional practices include child marriage, giving girls away to settle debts or pay for their relatives' crimes and so-called honor killings in which women seen as disgracing their families are murdered by their relatives.

Gul, who had been married for seven months when she was found in late December, is still seeing doctors for some problems with her hands and fingers, but is doing better both physically and emotionally, Safi said. She said the girl is now very interested in studying, very different from when she first arrived.

She also has made great progress in her efforts to become comfortable around other people again, Safi said.

"She was very brave. When she was brought to us after her rescue, she was unable to speak. But this week she was able to get up and speak in front of an entire courtroom asking for her rights," Safi said.

"These are all positive signs and of course we are very proud of her."

___

Associated Press writer Chris Blake in Kabul contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Calling All Startups: TechCrunch New York Just Posted Office Hours (May 9)

Office Hours in New York was a huge success last week. We met the guys from Krossover, along with quite a few other really badass startups which we'll post about when the time comes. That said, I want more. More, more, more. (I'm greedy like that.) So we're officially posting our second round of Office Hours. This time, instead of a coffee shop, we're hitting startup turf: DUMBO Incubator in Brooklyn.

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