Afghan police: Grenade thrown at police office (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? Assailants threw a hand grenade at a police station in the Afghan capital on Friday, triggering an explosion and a gunbattle with police.

Police fired on the attackers but they escaped, said Sardar Mohammad, a police officer at the scene in western Kabul. No one was injured, said the capital's police chief, Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi. He said reports that attackers got inside the police station were inaccurate.

The gunfire damaged nearby houses.

"The glass is broken," said Abdul Salam, 70, who lives across from the police station. "See, there were five bullets," Salam said, showing an Associated Press reporter damage to his home.

An Afghan National Police quick reaction force responded to the scene as well as troops from the NATO international military coalition.

The most recent major attack in Kabul occurred on Dec. 6 when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Shiite shrine, killing at least 80 people.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

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PFT: Peyton not cleared to practice yet

Getty Images

Romeo Crennel is making a change at quarterback.

Crennel, who took over as Chiefs interim head coach after Todd Haley was fired this week, plans to demote Tyler Palko and start Kyle Orton on Sunday against the Packers. The only question is whether the injured finger on Orton?s throwing hand will cause him any problems. But if Orton can?t throw because of the finger, Palko still won?t start ? Crennel told the Chiefs today that he has decided to move rookie Ricky Stanzi ahead of Palko on the depth chart as well.

?I told them we?re making a change at quarterback, that we?re changing the quarterback and that Tyler would not be the starter this week,? Crennel told the media today after talking to his players. ?Orton or Stanzi will be the starter. Which one? I?m not exactly sure yet because Orton has a finger that he has got to work through, and we?ll have to see during the week how his finger is and how he comes along and if he can handle it with that finger. Stanzi is a rookie and if Orton is able to go and can do it, then Orton is going to be the quarterback. If Orton cannot do it, then Stanzi will be the quarterback, and I told the team that today.?

Crennel hinted that the Chiefs might go all shotgun, all the time on offense if Orton is the starter.

?He?s been throwing a little bit with the trainers, and they said that for short passes, he?s been doing pretty good,? Crennel said. ?Now, we?ll have to see how he does in practice. We might have to protect him a little bit from taking a snap, and we?ve got a plan in place to do that so that we can still operate the offense without him having to take a snap.?

That plan may not sound like a winning formula on Sunday against the Packers, but considering how badly Palko has played, the Chiefs had to do something.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/14/peyton-manning-still-not-cleared-to-practice/related/

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PFT: Ravens expect to have Lewis back

AP

If NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith ultimately receives a $1 million bonus for his efforts in conjunction with the new labor deal, there?s a chance it could also be a severance payment.

Smith?s contract expires in March.? Even if he keeps the job, it won?t happen without a fight.

Multiple sources have informed PFT that the players intend to take a serious look at whether Smith is the right man to lead them into the next decade of labor peace.? Though most seem to have an open mind regarding the question of whether Smith should remain in the position now that the labor situation has been resolved, one source says that a group of player representatives intends to ask Smith to not even run for re-election.

Candidates who have been discussed as a possible alternative to Smith include, in no particular order, former NFL linebacker Derrick Brooks, NFL Alumni executive director George Martin, agent Tom Condon, sports lawyer and former NFLPA executive director finalist David Cornwell, Colts center Jeff Saturday, and NFLPA in-house counsel Tom DePaso.? It?s unknown whether any of these men actually want the job.

In contrast to the long tenure of Gene Upshaw, whose contract renewals were more automatic than an extra point attempt in a domed stadium, Smith?s reappointment will come, if at all, only after a comprehensive debate regarding the full range of his performance on the job.? And while Smith has supporters among the Executive Committee and the Board of Player Representatives, he also has vocal detractors among these two key groups who?ll determine whether Smith or someone else runs the union.

Helping Smith is the fact that he successfully stared down the NFL, preventing the owners from rolling back dramatically the percentage of the total revenue that the players traditionally have enjoyed.? As to the critical TV deals, which are expected to generate $7 billion per year by 2014, the players will receive 55 cents of every dollar that passes through the cash register.

But Smith has absorbed widespread criticism for his dotting of the i?s and his crossing of the t?s in the 11th hour of the negotiations.? In sharp contrast to the 2006 CBA renewal, which featured multiple player-friendly noneconomic terms that the NFLPA slipped past the league while the league was obsessed with issues like cutting up the pie and sharing revenue among the 32 clubs, the 2011 agreement became finalized without sufficient attention being paid to key details, such as the application of the personal conduct policy to players arrested during the lockout, the reintegration of the policy regarding recreational drugs, and the agreement to submit to HGH testing.? Most recently, one member of the Executive Committee tactfully, but distinctly, expressed regret regarding the failure of the NFLPA to insist on improved protocols for in-game concussion diagnosis.

Then there?s the question raised by some regarding whether Smith, a former litigator, has the skills ? or the desire ? to preside over a union that isn?t fighting tooth and nail with management.

Some wonder whether Smith even wants to stay.? Smith has faced questions in the past about his long-term goals and ambitions.? Some owners believed during the lockout that Smith was hoping to spark a protracted and contentious lockout in order to create the kind of name recognition that would support a run for political office.

Regardless of whether Smith ever has to campaign for Congress or the Senate, Smith finds himself in a slowly boiling campaign for the job he currently holds.? At some point soon, he?ll need to make sure that the players know that he indeed intends to try to keep it.

And then he may need to work almost as hard as he did during the lockout to make that happen.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/14/ravens-expect-to-have-ray-lewis-back-on-sunday/related/

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RIM writes off value of tablet inventory

NEW YORK (AP) ? Research In Motion Ltd., the struggling maker of the BlackBerry phones, is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets, since it has to sell them at a deep discount.

The Canadian company on Friday said it's taking a pre-tax charge of $485 million in the just-ended quarter to account for the declining value of the tablets. The model originally priced at $500 now costs $200.

A year ago, co-CEO Jim Balsillie said pent-up interest in the PlayBook was "really overwhelming." Companies are looking for an equivalent of the iPad of corporate use, he said.

In March, Balsillie said "The launch of the PlayBook may well be the most significant development for RIM since the launch of the of the first BlackBerry device back in 1999."

But when the tablet went on sale in April, reviewers puzzled over the lack of email software, saying the device seemed half-baked. RIM now promises updated software in February.

RIM said it shipped 150,000 PlayBooks to stores and distributors in the fiscal third quarter, which ended Nov. 26. "Sell-through," or the number actually bought by users, was slightly higher, reflecting sales of tablets shipped earlier. It shipped 500,000 in the first quarter and 200,000 in the second.

Apple Inc., meanwhile, sold 11.1 million iPad tablets in its most recent quarter, which ended Sept. 24.

RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said RIM is still committed to the PlayBook, despite its issues.

RIM also said it sold 14.1 million BlackBerrys in the third quarter, slightly better than analysts expected. It then expects sales to fall slightly in the current quarter, roughly in line with analysts' expectations.

The company provided preliminary revenue and profit figures for the third quarter that were lower than it previously projected, but not a surprise to analysts.

RIM said it expects earnings at the "low to mid point" of the $1.20 to $1.40 per share it previously forecast. Analysts polled by FactSet have on average been expecting $1.18 per share.

The company expects revenue slightly the below the $5.3 billion to $5.6 billion in its previous forecast. Analysts had been expecting $5.27 billion, on average.

RIM shares fell $1.81, or 9.7 percent, to close Friday at $16.77. The stock hit a seven-year low of $15.98 last month.

The PlayBook charge comes as analysts have started to conclude that RIM's management has no chance of really righting the ship. They've started to value the company not on its future prospects, but on how much it would be worth if acquired, broken up, or simply run down while keeping BlackBerry service going.

The company is also taking a charge of $50 million for an embarrassing October outage of email and Web services that lasted days for millions of overseas BlackBerry users. It briefly spread to the U.S. and Canada before the company was able to contain the damage.

RIM reports fiscal third-quarter earnings on Dec. 15.

RIM's announcement is the latest in a string of bad news for the company. A widespread outage frustrated tens of millions of BlackBerry users in October. On Thursday, RIM suspended two employees after their drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver.

RIM has also delayed the launch of new phones with the company's new QNX operating system for several months. RIM disappointed many in October when the company didn't announce a clear timeline for when it would release phones with the new software which is now called BBX.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company continues to have success overseas but has increasingly lost market share in North America. Many U.S. users have moved on to phones with big touchscreens such as the iPhone and various competing models that run Google's Android software.

___

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-12-02-Research%20In%20Motion-Tablet/id-f56a3bb4ff8543d8a276780ef667f09f

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Cisco Linksys E3200 High Performance Dual-Band N Router

You know that router you have been putting off buying for a friend or relative because you know you'll be called in to troubleshoot after the recipient becomes lost in the tricky setup process? Consider the Cisco Linksys E3200 High Performance Dual-Band N Router. It has a flawless setup process that's so simple just about anyone can manage.

Cisco Linksys has come close to perfecting the art of router setup with the E3200. We saw the genesis of Cisco's Easy Connect setup process when the Cisco Valet Plus debuted almost two years ago. The Valet delivered a setup process unprecedented in its ease?yet there were still some issues with the Cisco Connect software, (a conflict using both Cisco Connect and the router's Web-based management console was the most problematic). Cisco Linksys has worked out the kinks with the E3200.

Besides giving an effortless setup, the E3200 delivers good throughput, and it retains a signal well at longer distances. I found only two issues that caused concern in my testing of the E3200. First, it felt quite warm to the touch after running overnight. Second, although it's almost identical in specs to its predecessor, the Cisco Linksys E3000 High Performance Wireless-N Router, the E3200 didn't match the E3000's excellent 5-GHz band speed. The E3200 bests the E3000 in setup and software, however and it has excellent throughput at 2.4 GHz.

Listing for $160 (although, as with many routers, it can be found cheaper online), the E3200 is a simultaneous dual-band router with 6 internal 2x3 antennas, the same antenna configuration as the E3000 model.? The E3200 features four Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and a USB port that can be used to connect a printer or a storage device for NAS functionality.

The E3200 has the flattened, elongated shape of Cisco Linksys's newer E-series single-band routers like the E1200 and the E1550. It's an unusual design for a Cisco Linksys dual-band, since most of the Cisco Linksys dual-band routers are larger with a design reminiscent of a flat space ship.

Setup

The E3200's setup is incredibly simple?it takes only seconds and just a few steps. You double-click open the bundled CD that ships with the router and accept the license terms in the window that opens. The software then checks for latest software, which will be futile for most users, since they won't have Internet at this point. Setup also does not require a wired computer connection. My laptop that ran the setup CD was automatically connected to the router without requiring me to do a thing.

The software details how to properly connect the router with clear, easy-to-follow graphics. One click more and the router automatically gets configured with an SSID, security, and passphrase which is displayed on screen that you can copy and paste in a document.

Finally, the software re-checks for firmware updates which you can apply right on the spot or the next time you open the Cisco Connect software.

Setup is easy and elegant. Except in specific cases of hardware failure or broadband issues, I cannot imagine a majority of users having problems. All that's required is the ability to follow a few simple instructions. Cisco Linksys has hands-down, the best router setup on the market.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/dEYUerwcbNw/0,2817,2397219,00.asp

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Nielsen admits error in kids' viewership numbers (Reuters)

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Reuters - Nielsen says it erred when it told The Wall Street Journal that childrens' viewership is up this season even as Nickelodeon's ratings are down -- but still stands by its Nickelodeon numbers.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/tv_nm/us_nielsen

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Pneumonia-stricken Billy Graham improving, hospital says (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Evangelist Billy Graham, who is battling pneumonia for the second time this year, was showing improvement at a North Carolina hospital on Sunday but no date has been set for his discharge, the hospital said.

The 93-year-old Graham, who entered the hospital on Wednesday, is undergoing physical therapy and walking in a private corridor outside his room, Mission Hospital of Asheville, North Carolina, said in a statement.

"Doctors are encouraged by Mr. Graham's significant clinical progress but have not yet set a date for discharge," the statement said.

He was visited over the weekend by his son, Franklin Graham, his daughters Gigi Graham and Anne Graham Lotz and other family members, the hospital said.

Graham, a preacher of Christian gospel to millions of followers worldwide and a spiritual advisor to several U.S. presidents, was treated in May for a previous bout of pneumonia.

His wife, Ruth, died in June 2007.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst; editing by David Bailey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/us_nm/us_billygraham

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