Erin Andrews secretly videotaped nude in hotel

ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was secretly videotaped in the nude while she was alone in a hotel room and the video was posted on the Internet, her lawyer and the network said.

The blurry five-minute video shows a nude blonde woman standing in front of a hotel room mirror. It’s unknown when or where it was shot.

Andrews’ lawyer, Marshall Grossman, says the 31-year-old reporter plans to seek criminal charges and file civil lawsuits against the unknown cameraman and anyone who publishes the material.

"While alone in the privacy of her hotel room, Erin Andrews was surreptitiously videotaped without her knowledge or consent," Grossman said in the statement. "She was the victim of a crime and is taking action to protect herself and help ensure that others are not similarly violated in the future."

A woman answering the phone Tuesday at Grossman’s office said he would have no further comment.

Andrews has covered hockey, college football, college basketball and Major League Baseball for the network since 2004, often as a sideline reporter during games.

A former dance team member at the University of Florida, Andrews was something of an Internet sensation even before the video’s circulation. She has been referred to as "Erin Pageviews" because of the traffic that video clips and photos of her generate, and Playboy magazine named her "sexiest sportscaster" in both 2008 and 2009.

She last appeared on the network as part of its ESPY Awards broadcast on Sunday, and is scheduled to be off until September, when she will be covering college football, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said.

"Erin has been grievously wronged here," Krulewitz said. "Our people and resources are in full support of her as she deals with this abhorrent act."

It was not clear when the video first appeared on the Internet. Most of the links to it had been removed by Tuesday.

Ephraim Cohen, a spokesman for the video portal Dailymotion, could not confirm the video had actually appeared on his company’s site, but said it may have been there months ago. He said a search for the name of the user who purportedly uploaded the video showed the person had opened an account in February, but had since closed it.

"As far as we can tell, the user took the account and the video down a while ago," he said.

Illegal videos often are posted to multiple sites such as YouTube and Dailymotion, which remove them as soon as they are found. The videos also often circulate on peer-to-peer or file-sharing sites, much like illegal music downloads.

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Oracle buys Sun

After some time of speculation of IBM buying out Sun, which failed to produce a result, today Oracle have swept in and bought Sun Microsystems.

Oracle Corporation suprise the industry when it struck a deal to buy Sun Microsystems for a whooping $7.38 billion and thus brushing aside IBM. This is the latest sign of how recession is taking it's toll on weaker player and leaving them open to be exploted, I guess.

Sun, whose server computers have long been sold along with Oracle's database software, was widely believed to need a bigger partner to compete with giants such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. Sun has suffered from erratic profitability and revenue problems since a boom phase ended with the collapse of the dot-com bubble.

And taking from Don Clark's article:

Oracle has emerged as one of the most powerful players on the tech landscape, buying rivals to assemble a long list of programs used by companies.

The deal gives Oracle control over important Sun software -- notably the popular programming technology called Java, which is used to build software for Web sites and cellphones. Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison described Java as "the single most important software asset we have ever acquired."

Some analysts said they were stunned by Mr. Ellison's move, predicting that Oracle may eventually choose to divest Sun's hardware business. But Safra Catz, one of two Oracle presidents, said Oracle intends to make Sun's hardware operations a profitable business unit.

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Apple to unveil next-generation iPhone OS

Was reading through the tech news at inquirer.net and saw this article regarding the iPhone, looks like they'll be introducing a new OS with new features for their phone.

Personally I don't own one, didn't see much reason to buy it. I'd much prefer a Blackberry Storm than an iPhone :) ( even though BB Storm doesn't have WiFi, heck i don't use Wifi anyway with my Phone). If this new "next-gen iPhone OS" will be great them we'll see :)

Here goes the article...

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 09:10:00 03/13/2009

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple plans to give the world a peek next week at its next-generation operating system for iPhones.

Apple on Thursday invited news reporters to a "town hall" event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, and promised a "sneak peek" at the upcoming iPhone 3.0 operating system.

The maker of iPhones, iPods, and Macintosh computers said the event will center on a new software developers kit for its popular multi-purpose mobile devices.

More than 500 million applications for the Apple iPhone have been downloaded from the company's online App Store since it opened in July of last year.

A study released in February, however, indicates that users quickly lose interest in those applications.

The study by Pinch Media found that fewer than five percent of iPhone users are still actively using an application a month after downloading it.

Apple iPhone users lose interest in free programs slightly faster than in paid ones, said Pinch Media, a company which offers advice to developers of applications for the hot-selling smartphone.

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Francis M Magalona Dead at 44

I am very sad to hear that a music icon, talented man and a proud Filipino passed away. My condolences to Francis M's family.



Rapper, actor and TV host Francis Magalona, diagnosed with leukemia last year, died Friday at the Medical City hospital. He was 44.

Survived by his his wife Pia Arroyo and eight children--Unna, Nicolo, Francis Jr., Isabella, Elmo, Arkin, Clara, and actress Maxene Magalona.

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Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton showdown will push through after all

was reading at http://www.inquirer.net when I came to this article by Cedelf P. Tupas...


A day after the fight looked doomed, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum Thursday said the duel between boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter and its 140 lb king is back “under control” because Pacquiao has agreed to a 50-50 split with Hatton.

The Los Angeles Times Thursday reported that Pacquiao is expected to sign the fight contract “sometime Thursday.”

“There was a lot of confusion about why we did 50-50, but everyone now understands why this is a good deal,” Arum told the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire. “This thing is going to happen. Thursday (Tuesday) was disarray. Today, everything’s back in order.”

Pacquiao’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal, on Monday said the Filipino superstar was demanding a 60-40 revenue sharing for the fight and hinted that they would look for another opponent if their terms were not met for the fight that is expected to gross $58.4 million.

The demand prompted Hatton’s handlers to threaten the Filipino champion with a lawsuit and Arum to call off the fight since the American promoter and the British Hitman’s handlers had verbally agreed to equal sharing late last month.

Pacquiao apparently backed out on his demand due to the expected windfall from the pay-per-view revenue in Britain, which Arum said is “attributable to Hatton.” The Filipino would get half of the PPV revenue.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. did not receive any share from the PPV income in Britain when he knocked out Hatton in 2007, Arum said.

Arum said that when he explained the Mayweather Jr. case to Pacquiao’s advisers, “everybody ... calmed down.”

The super fight, which will be held at a still undetermined venue in Las Vegas, is expected to be announced officially next week.

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Obama climate czar has socialist ties

was reading this from http://www.washingtontimes.com by Stephen Dinan:

Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name and biography had been removed from Socialist International's Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group's congress in Greece was still available.

Socialist International, an umbrella group for many of the world's social democratic political parties such as Britain's Labor Party, says it supports socialism and is harshly critical of U.S. policies.

The group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, the organization's action arm on climate change, says the developed world must reduce consumption and commit to binding and punitive limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Obama, who has said action on climate change would be a priority in his administration, tapped Mrs. Browner last month to fill a new position as White House coordinator of climate and energy policies. The appointment does not need Senate confirmation.

Mr. Obama's transition team said Mrs. Browner's membership in the organization is not a problem and that it brings experience in U.S. policymaking to her new role.

"The Commission for a Sustainable World Society includes world leaders from a variety of political parties, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair, in serving as vice president of the convening organization," Obama transition spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

"Carol Browner was chosen to help the president-elect coordinate energy and climate policy because she understands that our efforts to create jobs, achieve energy security and combat climate change demand integration among different agencies; cooperation between federal, state and local governments; and partnership with the private sector," Mr. Shapiro said in an e-mail.

Mrs. Browner ran the Environmental Protection Agency under President Clinton. Until she was tapped for the Obama administration, she was on the board of directors for the National Audubon Society, the League of Conservation Voters, the Center for American Progress and former Vice President Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.

Her name has been removed from the Gore organization's Web site list of directors, and the Audubon Society issued a press release about her departure from that organization.

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