Study: Our Smartphones Are Turning Us Into ?Real-Time Information Seekers And Problem Solvers?

Do you regularly use your cell phone to coordinate meetings, solve an unexpected problem, decide which restaurant to eat at, look up the score of a sporting event, check traffic, call help in an emergency situation or find information to help settle an argument? These activities make you a "just-in-time" cell user according to the latest study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. According to this report, 70% of all cell phone owners in the U.S. and 86% of smartphone owners have used their phones to perform at least one of these activities over the last 30 days.

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How would you change the LG DoublePlay?

It's almost baffling to see a modern Android smartphone with such an archaic design in a world more accustomed to the Galaxy Nexus. Still, LG's late-2011 DoublePlay has a slide-out physical keyboard and that dinky second screen which reminds us of a phone that's years out of date. However, when we reviewed it, we found it to be very useful, even if it lacked a front-facing camera and weighed a metric ton okay, 190 grams. But how about you? Some of you bought this phone, some of you love it, so how has it been? Tell us in the space below.

How would you change the LG DoublePlay? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 May 2012 22:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chronicle of a trial foretold: Breivik is following his manifesto's script

Anders Behring Breivik's manifesto includes instructions on what a 'Templar' should do if tried in a European court.

Among the early headlines from the fourth day of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik for the murder of 77 people last July was that, for the first time, Mr. Breivik did not perform his now-familiar clenched-fist salute upon arrival at the court. Several families of Breivik's victims said they found the salute offensive, and his lawyers apparently were able to convince him to stop and avoid undermining his case.

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But the drop of the salute is not only significant for its effect on his defense's strategy. It also marks a significant departure from Breivik's playbook: his 1,500-page manifesto. Breivik wrote extensively not only about his own beliefs about the alleged activities of "the Marxist tyrants of Europe" and the mission of the Knights Templar, or "Templars," the group to which he claims to belong. He also wrote a comprehensive set of instructions and guidelines for what a Templar should do if tried in a European court. He appears to be following it to the extent he is able.

Breivik wrote a short section on his salute, which he claims to be "the military salutation" of the Templars. He writes that the salute, which he recommends being performed in a white glove, symbolizes strength, purity, and resistance against "the Marxist tyrants of Europe." Interestingly, he claims the salute has nothing to do with either racist "white power" salutes or with the similar, open-palmed Nazi salute.

While Breivik's manifesto does not mention the salute specifically in reference to a trial, its use at trial fits closely into what Breivik argues is the best way to use trials: as propaganda. Breivik writes that after being captured, "the subsequent court proceedings may present several propaganda opportunities." He adds that "This trial is (from our point of view), not against you but rather a trial against the regime."

One of the key openings for propaganda that Breivik saw is the opportunity to present an opening and closing statement. Breivik includes a four-page sample opening statement, which he seemed to use as a source for his own.?

His sample draws parallels between the quest of the "Templars" and that of Native American leaders like Sitting Bull ? parallels he made on the first day of testimony in his own trial. As the Monitor reported, ?Were they terrorists for fighting for their indigenous culture ? or were they heroes?? Breivik asked the court. ?My acts are based on goodness, not evil,? he added. ?If anyone is vicious it is the Socialists.?

In the manifesto, Breivik also outlines a dress code for Templars, which he says should be adhered to in court. "Our dress uniform ... will be used for the sole?purpose of representing the authority of our military order and tribunal during trial," he writes. The uniform is to include a US Marine Corp dress jacket in dark blue or black, dress pants in the same color, and an extensive set of medals and decorations including epaulettes and Templar badges. Judging from the photos of his appearances in court, Breivik seems to have been following his own dress code as best he can, though he has appeared sans pseudo-military decorations.

In his game plan for Templar trial appearances, Breivik shows every expectation of losing. The heading for his sample closing statement reads: "Closing statement ? last day of trial, after judgment (guilty)." But he also expresses hope that the trial may lead to the introduction of stiffer criminal sentences, and perhaps even introduction of the death penalty, which is currently illegal in Norway.

The trial itself may not end up as anything else than a formality where the goal can be to change the law, forcing the parliament of that country to introduce the death penalty, or harshen the penal laws in other ways. Indirectly forcing the parliament of your country to change the laws will be an indirect victory to our movement because it will provide significant media coverage of our cause and thus will contribute to future recruitment efforts.

Breivik echoed this thinking during his second day of testimony, the Monitor reported.

?No, I don?t want [capital punishment], but I would have respected that,? he said, adding that if Norway doubled the current maximum sentence it would ?serve his cause? and ?prove Norway had thrown their principles out the window."

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Yahoo CEO faces calls for ouster after inaccuracy

In this Nov. 24, 2010 photo, then PayPal president Scott Thompson, who in January 2012 was named CEO of Yahoo Inc., poses for photos at PayPal's offices in San Jose, Calif. Yahoo shareholder and New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb questioned Thompson's qualifications and integrity after exposing a misrepresentation about the executive?s education. The fabrication confirmed by Yahoo Inc. on Thursday, May 3, 2012 gives Loeb more artillery as he tries to topple a board of directors favored by Thompson. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

In this Nov. 24, 2010 photo, then PayPal president Scott Thompson, who in January 2012 was named CEO of Yahoo Inc., poses for photos at PayPal's offices in San Jose, Calif. Yahoo shareholder and New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb questioned Thompson's qualifications and integrity after exposing a misrepresentation about the executive?s education. The fabrication confirmed by Yahoo Inc. on Thursday, May 3, 2012 gives Loeb more artillery as he tries to topple a board of directors favored by Thompson. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

In this Nov. 24, 2010 photo, then PayPal president Scott Thompson, who in January 2012 was named CEO of Yahoo Inc., poses for photos at PayPal's offices in San Jose, Calif. Yahoo shareholder and New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb questioned Thompson's qualifications and integrity after exposing a misrepresentation about the executive?s education. The fabrication confirmed by Yahoo Inc. on Thursday, May 3, 2012 gives Loeb more artillery as he tries to topple a board of directors favored by Thompson. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2010 file photo, then PayPal president Scott Thompson, who in January 2012 was named CEO of Yahoo Inc., speaks at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Yahoo shareholder and New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb questioned Thompson's qualifications and integrity after exposing a misrepresentation about the executive?s education. The fabrication confirmed by Yahoo Inc. on Thursday, May 3, 2012 gives Loeb more artillery as he tries to topple a board of directors favored by Thompson. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Scott Thompson's reign as Yahoo's CEO is in jeopardy after just four months on the job because he allowed an inaccuracy about his academic credentials to recur for years.

A major Yahoo shareholder who exposed the fabrication is now leading the charge to oust Thompson for unethical conduct. In a letter Friday, activist hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb demanded that the board of the struggling Internet company fire Thompson by noon EDT Monday or face possible legal action.

"CEO's have been terminated for less at other companies," wrote Loeb, who controls a 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo through his hedge fund, Third Point LLC.

Yahoo reiterated Friday that "the board is reviewing this matter and, upon completion of its review, will make an appropriate disclosure to shareholders."

Thompson's troubles revolve around an exaggeration about his education at Stonehill College, a small Catholic school near Boston where he was graduated in 1979.

Since announcing Thompson's hiring in January, Yahoo had included two bachelor's degrees ? one for accounting and the other for computer science ? on the executive's biography. The dual degrees appeared on Yahoo's own website and in an April 27 legal document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

After being confronted Thursday by Loeb, Yahoo confirmed that Thompson received only an accounting degree from Stonehill. Yahoo has since removed all references to Thompson's education from his bio on its website. The company hadn't amended its SEC filing with the inaccuracy as of late Friday.

It's unclear whether the inaccuracy about the computer science originated with Thompson or someone else at Yahoo.

But Thompson's bio with dual degrees periodically cropped up before he joined Yahoo. He was listed with a computer degree on a website touting his appearance at the Web 2.0 technology conference in 2010 while he was running eBay Inc.'s PayPal payment service. The computer science degree also has appeared in Thompson's bio in connection with his 2008 appointment to a Silicon Valley startup, Zuora.

EBay listed only Thompson's accounting degree in its SEC filings while he was working at PayPal.

Even if Thompson didn't personally write his biography, he almost certainly reviewed the information at some point and should be held accountable for the distortion, said Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

Elson believes Yahoo's board needs to dump Thompson or "it will face questions about its own effectiveness."

Yahoo blamed an "inadvertent error." After that excuse was ridiculed on the Internet, Yahoo issued another statement late Thursday about the board's intent to look into what happened. The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., didn't give a deadline.

The uproar over Thompson's qualifications and integrity is the latest tempest at beleaguered Yahoo, which has been reeling since it turned down an opportunity to sell itself to Microsoft Corp. for $33 per share four years ago.

The company has been losing ground to rivals Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. ever since, causing its revenue to steadily fall and leaving its stock price below $20 since September 2008, a few months after Microsoft's final offer. Yahoo's shares fell 25 cents to close at $15.15 Friday.

Thompson, Yahoo's fourth full-time CEO in the past five years, had just started to revamp the company, but he probably won't be around much longer, predicted Kirk Hanson, executive director for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley.

"The board really is boxed into a corner," Hanson said. "If this individual is prone to exaggeration or excessive claims, they have to be worried it might happen again down the road.

"They also have to ask themselves, 'Can this leader serve as a moral example or moral leader for our company?' Behavior rolls downhill. If the CEO exaggerates a little, then others in the organization will exaggerate a lot."

Although he was well-respected at PayPal, Thompson isn't getting much support in Silicon Valley.

Thompson alienated much of the technology industry in March when he decided to sue Facebook for alleged infringement on some of Yahoo's Internet patents. The lawsuit has been skewered in Silicon Valley as a cheap shot at Facebook Inc. as it prepared to complete an initial public offering of stock that is aiming to raise as much as $13.6 billion for the company and its current shareholders. Yahoo critics also viewed the lawsuit as the desperate act of a company that has run out of good ideas.

In his Friday letter, Loeb argued that Thompson has to be dumped to avoid "irreparable damage to Yahoo's culture." He argued that Yahoo's own code of ethics justifies firing Thompson "for cause," a move that probably would prevent him for qualifying for a severance package. Yahoo's code states that information filed with the SEC "must be full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable."

If Yahoo fires Thompson, it will be the company's second ouster of a CEO in less than a year. The company fired Thompson's predecessor, Carol Bartz in September after concluding her turnaround strategy wasn't working.

Thompson so far has been focused on cutting costs. Just last month, Thompson laid off 2,000 Yahoo employees, or 14 percent of the workforce, in the company's biggest payroll purge in history. He has also promised to close or sell about 50 Yahoo services that haven't been attracting enough online traffic or generating enough revenue.

Loeb is trying to oust Thompson as he seeks four seats on Yahoo's board of directors ? one for himself and three for his allies. Yahoo instead added three other directors in late March. Thompson told Loeb he wasn't qualified to be on the company's board.

The search for new directors was overseen by Patti Hart, whom Loeb is also attacking as an ethics liability. Loeb is upset that Hart's bio claimed she held a bachelor's degree in marketing and economics from Illinois State University. On Thursday, Yahoo clarified that Hart graduated from the college with a bachelor's degree in business administration with specialties in marketing and economics.

Loeb ended his letter by pressing Yahoo to appoint him and his three preferred candidates to avoid a showdown at the company's annual meeting later this year. Yahoo hasn't scheduled the meeting yet.

"The company can ill afford to continue this misguided fight with its largest outside shareholder while it has so many other fires to put out," Loeb wrote. "There has been enough damage already."

Associated Press

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Libertarians nominate ex-Governor Gary Johnson for president (reuters)

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Video: Andrew Young requested ?Bunny money,? witness says

>>> john edwards trial on campaign finance charges turned to finances today. testifying how money from an elderly ha lly heiress ended up being used to take care of his mistress instead. it's been an emotional day in court because everyone was thinking of elizabeth edwards who waged suffa tough battle against cancer. lea meyers reports.

>> it's been a week of high drama. testimony about the anguish of elizabeth edwards , daughter cate levering the courtroom in tears. accounts of expletive laced conversations with edwards and his campaign staff over rielle hunter.

>> brian huffman , a friend of bunny mellon told the jury how he became a middle man for what became as the mbunny money, used to help cover up edwards ' affair. he testified when mellon learned that the $725,000 she provided to help edwards was an unspecified personal problem was meant to take care of hunter, she didn't condemn him for having an affair, but huffman said, she thought she vd probably pay for your girlfriend yourself.

>> the jury erupted in laughter, as did much of the courtroom and the judge cracked a smile.

>> huffman said he and mellon referred to themany for edwards as the furniture business because they were disguised as checks to buy furniture. why hide what was going on? mellon didn't want her lawyer to no. huffson said mellon told her it was the star witness who asked her for the money.

>> that supports the defense positive theory in the case that the money flow was created by andrew young to line his own pockets, not orchestrated by john edwards to cover up the affair in a way that violated election laws.

>> edwards denies he broke any laws. they testified there was no furniture business after one of mellon 's big checks bounced. he took a closer look and was told the money was actually for john edwards . lisa myers , nbc news, greensboro, north carolina .

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Syrian activists: Explosion in Aleppo kills 5

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, May 4, 2012, purports to show Syrians chanting slogans and caring Kurdish flags during a demonstration in Qamishli, the capital of Syria's Kurdish heartland. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, May 4, 2012, purports to show Syrians chanting slogans and caring Kurdish flags during a demonstration in Qamishli, the capital of Syria's Kurdish heartland. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, May 4, 2012, purports to show Syrians chanting slogans during a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, May 4, 2012, purports to show Syrians chanting slogans and carrying Kurdish flags during a demonstration in Qamishli, the capital of Syria's Kurdish heartland. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, May 4, 2012, purports to show a man holding the portrait of a boy during a demonstration in Hama, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

BEIRUT (AP) ? An explosion in a car wash in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least five people on Saturday, activists said, while another blast in the capital destroyed nine cars.

Bomb attacks have grown more common in Syria's two largest cities as the uprising against President Bashar Assad grows increasingly militarized. Many in the opposition have taken up arms since protesters first took to the street in March 2011 and now regularly clash with government forces around the country.

But Aleppo and Damascus have remained largely in Assad's grip, shaken only by bomb blasts that often appear to target buildings associated with the military and security services.

The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the uprising's start.

Saturday's blast in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, hit a car wash and killed six people, Aleppo activist Mohammed Saeed said via Skype. He said the business in the city's southern Sukari neighborhood is owned by a man who serves in pro-government militias known as the shabiha.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on activists inside Syria, said five people were killed in the attack.

The blast follows increasing unrest in the city with university students taking to the streets and being violently dispersed by security forces.

A 16-year-old was shot dead during a protest Friday, one day after four students were killed during arrest raids in university dorms.

Also Saturday, an explosive planted under an army vehicle in Damascus blew up, damaging nine cars.

The blast shook a downtown neighborhood near a military food cooperative, and left a crater in the street, according to a reporter from The Associated Press who visited the scene.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Earlier this week, attacks on a government security compound and the country's central bank killed nine and injured 100.

On the outskirts of the capital, tanks and troops combed through fields near the Barzeh neighborhood in the northeast as well as an area near Hamouriya in the east, activist Omar Hamzeh said via Skype.

"They are moving through the fields and firing anti-aircraft guns," he said, adding that the regime was probably looking to arrest activists. "The rural areas around there have been very active in protests against the regime."

The Observatory also reported army raids in Barzeh.

Activist claims could not be independently verified. The Syrian government prevents most media from working freely in the country.

World powers remain divided on how to stop Syria's crisis, though all have fallen in behind a plan put forward by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that seeks a cease-fire in order for all sides to engage in political dialogue.

But the truce that was to begin on April 12 has never really taken hold, with regime forces continuing to shell opposition areas and shoot at protesters. Security forces killed one teenager following a protests in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday.

Armed rebels have kept up attacks on military checkpoints and convoys.

A spokesman for Annan, however, said Friday the international envoy believes his peace plan for Syrian remains "on track" ? a day after the Obama administration offered a far bleaker view, saying the plan might be doomed.

A U.N. team of up to 300 members is to monitor compliance with the truce. U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said about 40 U.N. observers are on the ground in Syria and that the force will grow to 65 by Sunday.

___

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed reporting from Damascus, Syria.

Associated Press

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