Apple acquired NeXT 15 years ago, Jean-Louis Gass?e still dreaming of what could've been

It might be hard to picture now, but back in the mid-nineties, the threat of bankruptcy was very real for a company headquartered in Cupertino. That would all change with the purchase of NeXT on December 20, 1996 -- a move that gave the fledgling computer maker a modern OS, but more importantly brought one of its founders, Steve Jobs, back into the fold. The rest is history, as Jobs eventually secured the helm, forming a team that would go on to birth products like the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. But hardware innovation aside, ultimately that comeback wouldn't have been possible without OS X -- an OS which arose directly out of the ashes of NextStep. Sure, there was the occasional misstep along the way -- G4 Cube and hockey-puck mouse be damned -- but frankly we can't think of any turnaround as epic, nor relevant. Can you?

Apple acquired NeXT 15 years ago, Jean-Louis Gass?e still dreaming of what could've been originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Romney sidesteps tax dispute; Gingrich dives in (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? Mitt Romney refused to be pinned down Wednesday on how Congress should break an impasse that threatens to raise taxes for 160 million workers ? the latest pressing policy debate the Republican presidential hopeful has sidestepped. Rival Newt Gingrich, in contrast, castigated Congress for "an absurd dereliction of duty."

With less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, the two rivals exchanged ever sharper words over a barrage of negative ads coming from Romney's allies as they took a divergent approach on the payroll tax dispute deadlocking Washington.

"I'm not going to get into the back-and-forth on the congressional sausage-making process," Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, said in Keene, N.H., as the day began. "I hope they're able to sit down and work out a solution that works for the American people. My hope is that the solution includes extension of the payroll tax holiday."

But Romney left open the terms for an extension, which is the crux of the stalled debate in Washington. He suggested the extension should last more than two months and ideally a year, but called such details "deep in the weeds."

House Republicans rejected a bipartisan compromise in the Senate that would have kept the tax cuts going for two months, instead calling for talks seeking a one-year extension.

In Iowa, Gingrich called a two-month extension "insufficient" and scolded the Democratic-controlled Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama's administration for "lurching from failure to failure" and marveled: "They can't figure out how to pass a one-year extension, so the Senate leaves town?"

"It's game-playing," added the former House speaker, who stopped short of criticizing House Republicans and their leader Ohio Rep. John Boehner. Gingrich also did not criticize Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader from Kentucky who signed off on the short-term extension.

The different postures over the payroll tax extension played out against a backdrop of intensifying rancor - and a dispute over negative advertising - between Romney and Gingrich with the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses drawing close.

Romney argued that Gingrich wasn't strong enough to withstand the criticism coming his way, especially from $2.8 million in ads by the pro-Romney group Restore Our Future. The group is going after Gingrich relentlessly in Iowa and exacting a price in the former speaker's standing in polls.

"I'm sure I could go out and say, `Please, don't do anything negative,'" Romney said on Fox News. "But this is politics. And if you can't stand the heat in this little kitchen, wait until Obama's Hell's Kitchen turns up the heat."

Gingrich shot back from Manchester, N.H.: "If he wants to test the heat, I'll meet him anywhere in Iowa next week." He went on: "If he wants to try out the kitchen, I'll be glad to debate him anywhere. We'll bring his ads and he can defend them."

Gingrich tried to show he was aiming for a higher road. He started collecting petition signatures from like-minded people who don't want to see the Republican candidates ripping into each other.

"Attacking fellow Republicans only helps one person: Barack Obama," the petition states.

Gingrich has complained that the Restore Our Future ads, most painting him as an ethically challenged Washington power broker, are untrue. But he declined to say during a news conference in Des Moines on Wednesday what specifically is inaccurate about the ads, instead citing independent reviews that have questioned their validity.

"It would be nice if Governor Romney was either honest about his former staff and his supporters running negative ads, and either disown them - ask that they take them off the air - or admit this is his campaign," Gingrich said.

Gingrich made similar remarks later in northern Virginia, a state where he must file 10,000 voters' signatures by Thursday to qualify for the March 6 primary. Romney and other candidates took care of that task long ago. Gingrich told a crowd in Arlington he had more than enough names, but his staff signed up everyone in the room all the same.

For his part, Romney largely took a pass on the payroll tax matter despite casting himself as an outsider with the business expertise necessary to fix Washington and the economy. He has spent much of the year declining to weigh in on the hot-button fiscal issues Congress has wrestled over.

He stayed out of the summertime fight over raising the federal debt ceiling, urging cooperation but stopping short of endorsing the House GOP's one-year extension or the Senate's two-month extension. He eventually opposed the deal.

In the spring, he was initially reluctant to embrace Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal, which would have essentially transformed Medicare into a voucher system. Since then, he's endorsed parts of it.

And on Wednesday, Romney told NBC's Chuck Todd that if he becomes the nominee, he will not release his tax returns to the public.

Gingrich, conversely, hasn't shied away from injecting himself into the latest debates on Capitol Hill, eager to show that he has the leadership qualifications necessary to run Washington and the country - even when it was politically perilous.

He supported raising the debt ceiling, anathema to many conservatives, and castigated the Medicare portion of the Ryan plan, popular with the GOP's right flank, as "right-wing social engineering," a phrase he later apologized for using. On the latest issue, Gingrich favors a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut.

He has argued that he's a proven national leader for having battled Democratic President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. He usually doesn't mention that as House speaker back then, he bore much of the blame for the federal government twice shutting down when he could not agree on a budget with the Clinton White House.

On Wednesday, in Iowa, he tried to use the latest stalemate to his advantage, saying: "This is an example of why people are sick of Washington and sick of politics."

Meanwhile, in eastern Iowa, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, vying for the conservative crown in Iowa, blasted the extension as "a very bad proposition" that's too costly.

Gingrich is trying to end his slide in Iowa, where the attacks have taken hold in the past two weeks, with a show of force from establishment Republican leaders in early voting states endorsing his candidacy. He also was dispatching former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts to Iowa to meet privately with GOP leaders and the media in an attempt to stabilize the campaign.

The spat between Romney and Gingrich over third-party ads has dominated the GOP campaign in recent days and highlighted the role of super PACs, independent groups that may accept unlimited donations but are not supposed to directly coordinate with candidates.

Such groups have sprung up to support every serious Republican candidate following a Supreme Court decision last year that said individuals, unions and corporations can donate unlimited sums of money to outfits advocating the election or defeat of candidates.

Two pro-Gingrich groups have started raising money and Gingrich's longtime aide Rick Tyler just signed on with one of them. But Romney's supporters have had a head start in raising money and are slated to spend $3 million this month in Iowa alone, most on anti-Gingrich ads.

Gingrich, who trails Romney badly in fundraising, said he would disavow any group that runs negative ads on his behalf.

Signaling a possible softening of ads just before the holiday, Gingrich this week began showing a Christmas greeting commercial while Texas Gov. Rick Perry launched one featuring his wife, Anita.

But the spirit hadn't hit with a group supporting Perry, which launched an ad criticizing Romney for his past support of abortion rights and Gingrich for ethics violations while in Congress.

___

Hunt reported from Keene, N.H. Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Manchester, N.H., and Charles Babington in Arlington, Va., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Obama welcomes home troops from Iraq

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is welcoming home troops who served in Iraq, offering up their service as a lesson of the nation's character.

"There's a reason our military is the most respected institution in America," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "They don't see themselves or each other as Democrats first or Republicans first. They see themselves as Americans first.

"For all our differences and disagreements, they remind us that we are all a part of something bigger, that we are one nation and one people."

Obama marked the end of the Iraq war earlier in the week, meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in advance of the last American troops leaving Iraq by Dec. 31. The withdrawal caps a war in which nearly 4,500 Americans were killed, about 32,000 were wounded and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent.

"Our troops are now preparing to make their final march across the border and out of the country," Obama said. "Iraq's future will be in the hands of its own people."

The president met with troops at Fort Bragg, N.C., on Wednesday to discuss the end of the war and to honor the military's sacrifice. Obama opposed the war as a state lawmaker and then made ending the war in Iraq a key part of his 2008 presidential campaign.

Obama said the nation needs to enlist soldiers returning home in the rebuilding of the nation's economy, noting that his grandfather's generation returned home from World War II "to form the backbone of the largest middle class in history."

"This is a moment for us to build a country that lives up to the ideals that so many of our bravest Americans have fought and even died for," Obama said. "That is our highest obligation as citizens. That is the welcome home that our troops deserve."

Republicans said in their weekly address that soldiers returning home are most concerned about finding a good job and cited the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline as an example of a project that could put people back to work.

Republicans have pushed for a swift decision on the pipeline proposed from Canada to Texas. Obama recently announced he was postponing a decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 elections to allow for more time to study the environmental ramifications of the proposal. An agreement reached by Senate leaders Friday night on a two-month extension of a Social Security payroll tax cut and jobless benefits would require Obama to decide within 60 days whether to grant a permit for the pipeline.

The pipeline would carry oil from western Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. The project is expected to create up to 20,000 jobs.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the project would transport 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada and the "steady source of energy from our friend and ally here would make us less dependent on energy from the volatile Middle East ? and that is good for America."

Environmentalists have opposed the project but some unions have supported the plan, complicating Obama's decision.

___

Online:

Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-17-US-Obama/id-a2a3a2e042b5484987fb17c25d50959f

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Israeli lawmakers move to annex West Bank, one museum at a time (The Christian Science Monitor)

Kedumim, West Bank ? As Rachel Slonim shows a visitor around the modest, unheated archeological museum in this West Bank settlement, she becomes animated when she reaches a display case with artifacts from the biblical Israelite period.

''The Israelite period was the most beautiful period in the history of Samaria,'' says Ms. Slonim, referring to the 600-year era that she says climaxed with the reign of King Omri, who built his capital near the area where she lives today. ''Settlement is very important in our eyes and the eyes of the Holy One Blessed Be He, who gave us this land.''

Slonim and her husband, Zvi, who helped found the Kedumim settlement more than three decades ago, are among more than 300,000 Israelis with homes outside the borders of Israel proper. Technically they live under military rule, established after Israel conquered the West Bank in the 1967 war.

Five largest Israeli settlements: Who lives there and why

But the trappings of civilian Israeli government and the implied annexation that comes with it have been accumulating in the area in recent years. Now a new bill in Israel's parliament would give unusually high-profile endorsement for the expansion of Israeli government in the disputed territory, which settlers see as the biblical cradle of Jewish civilization but Palestinians consider to be the heartland of their future state.

Legislator Uri Ariel of the far-right National Union party says the first step, outlined in this bill, would be securing government funding for museums in settlements, like the one in Kadumim. With backing from Israeli Culture Minister Limor Livnat, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, the bill passed its first reading last week and looks likely to become law.

While the bill itself appears modest, critics say it amounts to declaring an annexation policy that boosts right-wing settlers and their supporters at the expense of Palestinians and Israelis who are uncomfortable with the notion that the West Bank ? and its majority Palestinian population ? will become part of Israel someday.

''The policy has been to continue Israeli rule and extend Israeli law in bits and pieces, gradually to Israelis living in the West Bank while keeping Palestinians living under military occupation or a mix of military occupation and Palestinian Authority autonomous rule,'' says Gershom Gorenberg, a prominent historian of the settler movement. He says what is new about Mr. Ariel's bill is that the annexing is being done brazenly.

''He is saying, I don't want to do it like thieves in the night, I want to do it publicly, I'm proud of this. Ariel wants public recognition of what he is doing," says Mr. Gorenberg, author of The Unmaking of Israel. "The goal is to take the long process of applying Knesset [parliamentary] legislation and military orders to settlers, which blurs Israel's borders and who lives in Israel and who doesn't, and make it a declared policy.''

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi termed the museum bill ''the death knell of any chances of peace.''

''It is ensuring that settlements remain part of Israel and it exposes a very dangerous policy,'' she added. ''Israel keeps talking about a two state solution, but in reality, it is working for a one state solution.''

Equality for settlersAriel says the bill is needed to ensure that the right to culture of settlers is equal to that of other Israelis, something he says has not been the case until now. ''First of all there will be equality,'' he says. ''They can get orderly budgets and it will definitely bring more visitors, more culture, more everything."

If approved, the bill would make museums in the settlements eligible for the first time to apply for a share of the 40 million shekels ($10.5 million) in government funding currently allocated only to museums inside Israel proper.

Slonim, who works on a voluntary basis and is nearly an octogenarian, says the bill could enable the hiring of a salaried successor to her as guide and curator.

''I hope this law will help us to do things we could only dream about,'' including seminars on archeological preservation and the holding of temporary exhibits, she says.

The museum displays mostly objects garnered from excavations at Kedumim, located near the Palestinian city of Nablus, as well as some finds from elsewhere in the vicinity. There are also displays aimed at making the link to modern Israel, with one of them showing David Ben-Gurion's declaration of the state in 1948.

Poetry books of the late right-wing writer and politician Moshe Shamir ? a founder of the Whole Land of Israel movement, which lobbied for settling the West Bank after its capture ? are on sale and there is a display of posters, including one from before Israel's establishment, of a muscular man with a shovel. ''Help him build Palestine,'' it says in Hebrew.

What's different this timeBut Ariel, and critics, say the law is not just about the museums, but rather about applying Knesset legislation to the settlers, despite their being beyond Israel's internationally recognized boundaries.

In a departure from past practice where the intent to apply Israeli law in the West Bank is buried in the text, if mentioned at all, Ariel says he has this time put it in the title of a bill. Indeed, the bill is called ''The Museums Proposed Law (Amendment-Application of the Law to Judea and Samaria).''

''There are other laws that apply in Judea and Samaria, but this one is outstanding in the sense that it is right there in the name. This is a bit of an innovation,'' Ariel says. He added that he intends to do the same thing in the future with further bills addressing realms where Israeli law is not being applied to settlers, but declined to specify those topics.

In his Knesset remarks, Ariel said the museum law ''constitutes the realization of the voters desire to strengthen settlement and Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,'' using the biblical names for the West Bank.

Decades-old debate In a sense, the application of Knesset law to the settlers is almost as old as the occupation itself.

While in the immediate aftermath of Israel's stunning victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, Theodor Meron, the legal counsel of the Israeli foreign ministry, advised the government that it was illegal to settle civilians in occupied territory, he was disregarded. (The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 bars an occupying power from transferring its citizens into the occupied territory.)

A month after the war ended, a military order was issued in July 1967 specifying that Israelis who committed offenses in the West Bank could be tried in Israel as if the offense was committed in Israel.

This order has been re-ratified by the Knesset at various intervals ever since, with riders tacked on, including that Israelis can register nonprofit organizations in settlements, that settlement residents would have the same tax obligations as other Israelis, and that Israel's National Health Insurance Law applies to Israeli residents of settlements.

In Kadumim, Slonim harkens back to King Omri, casting him as a hero for his settlement efforts even though scripture says he "was evil in the sight of the Lord and dealt wickedly above all that were before him."

"He was an idol worshiper, but he engaged in settling the land of Israel so his other sins are forgiven," she says.

Five largest Israeli settlements: Who lives there and why

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/fossils/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20111216/wl_csm/437476

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German manufacturing shrinks for 3rd month in December: PMI (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? German manufacturing contracted for a third straight month in December and looked unlikely to provide a lift to Europe's largest economy soon as new orders continued to dry up, a survey showed on Thursday.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the sector by Markit showed a slight improvement, edging up to 48.1 from 47.9 in November, but it remained well below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.

With economic headwinds picking up in the wake of Europe's sovereign debt crisis and slackening global demand, the figures left economists skeptical of whether a downturn could be avoided.

A forward-looking sub-index tracking new orders added to the downbeat picture for the months ahead, rising only slightly to 43.9 from 43.2 in what marked another strong contraction.

"Incoming new orders in manufacturing, and exports, are still falling at a very steep pace," said Chris Williamson at Markit. "Much steeper than the rate of decline in output suggests is necessary at this stage."

"What is worrying is that the rate of decline is only being stopped from falling further by companies eating into their backlogs of work," he added, referring to survey details.

Germany's export-driven economy recovered quickly from the 2008/09 financial crisis but the outlook has darkened as euro zone debt worries have begun to weigh on the real economy.

Domestic demand helped it grow a healthy 0.5 percent in the third quarter, but investor morale has since soured, fuelling expectations of a sharp slowdown going into the new year.

TREAT WITH CAUTION

Such concerns were again underlined on Wednesday, when researchers at the country's Ifo economic institute halved their growth forecasts for 2012 to a meager 0.4 percent.

Citing falling corporate investment by domestic firms as well as downward pressure on exports, Ifo went as far as to say the country could slide into recession if the euro zone debt crisis deepens.

Data last week rammed that point home, showing exports posting their biggest fall in half a year in a sign that Germany was no longer immune from the effects of the debt crisis on its key euro zone export markets.

Thursday's PMI manufacturing figures also took the shine off stronger-than-expected activity in the services sector, which in a separate index showed growth picking up to 52.7 from 50.3 a month earlier -- its best reading since July.

That reflects a more mixed picture painted by other recent data on German economic activity and the scale of its slowdown, which has in turn led some economists to believe a recession can be averted.

The latest Ifo business sentiment index for example rose unexpectedly in November for the first time in nearly half a year, while industrial output for October also beat expectations, bouncing back after a steep fall.

Markit's Williamson however remained cautious, pointing out that it is too early to say if slight improvements in the German as well as French readings mean a turning point was coming in the near future or if further deterioration could be expected.

"This is December, which is a very difficult month to take the temperature of any economy," he said of the PMI. "It can be a very volatile month.. It is encouraging but to be treated with caution."

(Reporting by Brian Rohan; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111215/bs_nm/us_german_manufacturing

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Madison finance committee moves meeting time | al.com

MADISON, Alabama

-- The Madison City Council finance committee has moved its meeting to Monday at 6 p.m. at the Madison Municipal Complex, 100 Hughes Road.

The finance committee normally meets at 5:30 p.m. before City Council meetings at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of the month. But because of the Madison Utility Board of Directors holding its monthly meeting at 5 p.m. at the Madison Municipal Complex Monday, the council moved its meeting to 7 p.m. That will allow council members Steve Haraway and Larry Vannoy, both on the Madison Utilities board, to attend both meetings.

Vannoy is also chair of the finance committee.

For more information, visit www.ci.madison.al.us/.

Source: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/12/post_760.html

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As US troops leave Iraq, some ask: Was the war worth it? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Baghdad ? As the American war in Iraq comes to an end, some troops find themselves grappling with a question that has dogged them through multiple deployments: Was the sacrifice worth the price that US forces paid here?

?I?ve had people come to me, ?Why were we there? What did we do? Why did 4,000 die in Iraq? Why did I lose my friend?? ? says Lt. Col. Mark Rowan, an Air Force chaplain who has served 12 deployments and who has counseled troops returning from Iraq. ?We don?t really know the answer to that yet.? 

Commanders say it?s a question that they can?t readily answer, either. ?My opinion about sacrifice is that it?s a very personal thing,? says Maj. Gen. Russell Handy, the senior US Air Force officer in Iraq. To pronounce whether the war was ?worth it,? he says, would mean ?putting words in the mouths of family members? who continue to mourn for loved ones.

IN PICTURES: Leaving Iraq

Beyond those directly connected with the war, few Americans will ever understand the scale of loss for the US military, many here also believe.

It?s ?almost impossible for the American people to comprehend the level of sacrifice? that US troops have made in this war, says Handy.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, flying into Baghdad for the official ?close of mission? ceremony Thursday, addressed the troops, as well as the question that many silently ask themselves. 

?To be sure, the cost was high,? he said. But ?those lives were not lost in vain: They gave birth to an independent, free, and sovereign Iraq.? 

US forces who have been working with their Iraqi counterparts up until their last hours here wrestle with whether America did indeed accomplish what it set out to do.

They wonder, too, whether the answer to the war's worthiness hinges on another question ??? the question of, say, whether America won the war.

?We came to give them a democracy,? says Staff Sgt. Donald Rice of the 447th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. ?We gave them a chance at democracy. Was 4,400 lives worth the cost of giving them the chance at democracy?? he wonders.

?I?m not going to judge personal sacrifice,? says Handy, ?but I can tell you it?s tremendously important for this country to be stable.? Iraq today has a ?democratically elected and inclusive government,? he adds, and there remains hope for ?what that might mean to the region,? as the Arab Spring enters the winter season.

Rowan, the chaplain, says he has fielded agonized questions from troops, particularly among those who have experienced the heartbreak of losing their comrades.

He recalls presiding at the moment of death of a soldier, a married father of three who was shot while out on a 2009 patrol in northern Iraq. 

?I stayed with him and held his hand,? Rowan says, ?and did all the last rites before he passed.?

When his fellow soldiers learned that he had died, ?they exploded and threw their helmets down.? 

They wondered, too, whether the war was worth this ??? the loss they witnessed again and again. 

Rowan says that sometimes it helps to turn the question around: ?I ask them, 'What do you think you accomplished there? For the Air Force, or outside the base, maybe you were part of a team that got terrorists out of a town. Were people able to live free again?' ?

The point, he says, is to focus on, ?What good did you do there.? For America, for the politicians, he tells them, ?History will decide the rest.?

RECOMMENDED: Iraq after the US: Will it survive?

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20111216/ts_csm/437790

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