Expedia has stopped listing American Airlines flights on its website after failing to resolve a dispute over American's preferred booking system. This is part of an ongoing battle between airlines and online travel companies over distribution of flight information that could impact consumers. Some analysts are concerned that fewer online booking options and the increasing difficulty of comparing fares between airlines will negatively impact travelers. However, American and other airlines argue that consumers can still find their fares on various websites, including the airlines' own sites. Disputes around airline distribution are likely to continue as deals between airlines and online travel firms are renegotiated.

1. Expedia, the world’s largest online travel compa-
ny, will no longer list American Airlines flights on its
website, lobbing the latest volley in a battle be-
tween the airline and some Web-based travel com-
panies that could have a ripple effect on consumers.
Expedia stopped listing American’s flights as of
Jan. 1, after the two sides failed to resolve a dispute
about a booking system that American prefers and
that provides more information about services it of-
fers for a fee, such as priority boarding.
American’s fares are no longer available on Expe-
dia-owned sites including Hotwire and TripAdvisor,
but American flights remain on Expedia’s corporate
travel site, Egencia.
Expedia became the second major site in recent
days to stop listing American flights. Delta stripped
its fares from three smaller travel sites last month in
an attempt to steer consumers to its own website
and build brand loyalty.
The moves are prompting concern among some
travel industry analysts that consumers will lose
out as online booking options shrink and it be-
comes harder to compare fares between airlines.
“I think this is the beginning of a war,” says Henry
Harteveldt, a Forrester Research airline analyst.
“My concern is, the customer is going to suffer.”
Expedia said American’s preferred booking sys-
tem “is of questionable, if any, benefit to travelers,
would be costly to build and maintain, and would
compromise travel agents’ ability to provide trav-
elers with the best selection.”
As of Dec. 21, American stripped its flights from
travel site Orbitz because it also would not switch
to the newer system. Two days later, Expedia began
to make it more difficult for customers to get infor-
mation about American’s flights, listing its trips be-
low other carriers’ and requiring travelers to click
on a link to see actual fares.
But American says fliers can find its fares on a va-
riety of websites, including the airline’s. “The type
of fares that are sold by Orbitz and Expedia are fares
we don’t have a lot of difficulty selling,” said Cory
Garner, American’s director of distribution strategy.
Disputes about the distribution of airline infor-
mation are likely to continue as airlines and online
travel firms renegotiate deals, says Harteveldt.
Still, some consumer experts say that if such bat-
tles result in more fliers having to go to an airline’s
site for information, carriers might be forced to im-
prove service to woo online browsers their way.
“The decision . . . for consumers will be, ‘What
airline’s website should I go to?’ and that’s a ques-
tion of loyalty,” says Darron Billeter, an assistant
marketing professor at Brigham Young University.
“It will hopefully provide incentive for airlines to in-
vest more in customer service and make it a more
pleasurable experience.”
In the meantime, Harteveldt says, American may
have reason to worry. “This is not a move that helps
American Airlines at this time,” he says. “Because
the travel agency sites are used so extensively . . .
(American) risks being overlooked by consumers
whostillhavetheoptionofhundredsofothercarri-
ers that travel agents sell.”
Airfare
website
disputes
spread
Expedia drops
American’s flights
By Charisse Jones
USA TODAY
If you gave or got a TV set,
game console, Blu-ray player
or DVR for the holidays, you
might become the kind of
person who scares execu-
tives who run movie and
television production stu-
dios, broadcast and cable
channels, and cable and
satellite systems.
Many of these devices
now make it easy for
people with home
broadband networks to
feed content from the
Internet, including Hollywood
movies and TV shows, onto their TVs.
What media moguls fear: 2011 could become
the year when increasing numbers of people watch
Web TV content from sources including Netflix,
iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Vudu, Hulu Plus and Crackle
— and trim or even cancel their monthly subscriptions for
cable, satellite or phone company TV service.
“You can’t have a discussion in the media business today
without this becoming the sole topic of conversation,” says
Craig Moffett, a media analyst at financial services firm Bern-
stein Research. “This is the whole shooting match.”
Is it time
to cut the
cord on
cable TV?
Cover
story
Web, other
options begin
to shake up
home viewing
By David Lieberman
USA TODAY
Please see COVER STORY next page u
Newslinen News n Money n Sports n Life
New York
rising
mRevived Knicks,
Rangers energize
city and fans, 1B
Wednesday,January 5,2011
cNO. 1 IN THE USA By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY
Snooki’s
an author
mJersey Shore star
comes out with a
novel. ‘I would
buy it if I weren’t
me,’ she says, 8B
At least 42% of police officers
killed in vehicle crashes over the
past three decades were not
wearing seat belts or other safety
restraints, according to a federal
review.
The study by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Admini-
stration (NHTSA), which ana-
lyzed 733 crashes from 1980
through 2008, comes less than a
week after a separate report
found that fatal traffic incidents in
2010 were the leading cause of
officer deaths for the 13th
straight year.
“This points to a real problem,”
says Craig Floyd, chairman of the
Washington, D.C.-based National
Law Enforcement Officers Me-
morial Fund, which closely tracks
officer deaths.
Some officers resist wearing
seat belts because the restraints
slow their movement in and out
of the cars, Floyd says. Others
complain that the straps get tan-
gled in utility and gun belts.
The memorial fund reported a
37% overall increase in line of du-
ty deaths in 2010, reversing two
consecutive years of decline. In-
cluded in that number, traffic-
related fatalities jumped from 51
in 2009 to 73 in 2010.
Floyd says he has talked in-
formally with police officials
about seeking guidance from
sources such as NASCAR (Nation-
al Association for Stock Car Auto
Racing) to improve officer safety
on the road.
Of the officers killed in vehicle
crashes, 28% used some kind of
restraint in the 1980s, according
to the NHTSA report. Usage in-
creased to 56% in the 1990s. But
the report found that seat belt or
other restraint use has recently
declined to about 50%.
According to the NHTSA re-
port, fatal vehicle accidents in-
volving officers have been steadi-
ly rising, from 29% of the total
fatalities in the 1980s to 50% or
more in recent years.
In addition to the 42% who
were not wearing restraints dur-
ing the course of the review, the
study found that seat-belt use
could not be determined in near-
ly 13% of the fatalities, suggesting
that non-compliance could be
higher.
In Las Vegas, the loss of three
officers in vehicle crashes in 2009
— all not wearing seat belts at the
times of the crashes — launched
an internal campaign to compel
officers to comply with the law.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department spokesman Jacinto
Rivera says the officer deaths
“shook the foundation of this
agency.”
Rivera says the accidents re-
quired a “cultural change” within
the department, prompting
Sheriff Doug Gillespie to initiate a
number of programs:
uPolice crash survivors were
recruited to film public service
messages.
uA training panel was formed
to study how to improve driving
safety. Rivera says the panel
looked at how transportation
businesses, including UPS,
trained personnel.
uOfficers are encouraged to
report on colleagues who don’t
comply. Punishments range from
citations to suspension.
No seat-belt usage in 42%
of fatal police car crashes
‘Cultural change’
may be needed
By Kevin Johnson
USA TODAY
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration
By Frank Pompa, USA TODAY
Fatalities
California
81
43
39
36
35
33
Texas
Georgia
New York
Alabama
Florida
Tennessee
107
States that recorded the
largest number of police
deaths in vehicle crashes
from 1980 through 2008:
The Virginian-Pilot via AP
Video embarrasses Navy
mRacy skits with shower scenes, gay
slurs could end officer’s career, 2A
By Harry Hamburg, AP
Incoming
chief lays
out agenda
m Foreclosures,
WikiLeaks among
issues oversight
panel to probe,
Rep. Issa says, 5A
Got cash — not hiring
mCompanies do all they can to burn
excess cash but hold off on jobs, 6A
mMoney: $500M infusion for Facebook
Goldman Sachs investment is second deal to esti-
mate value of social networking site at $50B. 6A.
uBofA to pay $2.8B to Fannie, Freddie. 6A.
mSports: Browns’ Mangini is fired
Cleveland coach ousted as Minnesota Vikings’
Frazier moves from interim to permanent. 1B.
mLife: Musical gets new spider-woman
T.V. Carpio will replace injured actress in Broad-
way production beset by delays, mishaps. 8B.
6-12
months ago
5 months
ago or less
re than
More th
1 year ago
1
Never
54%
14%
13%
19%
USASS TODADD YSAA napshots®
Source: Harris Interactive for Intelius
By Anne R. Carey andy Veronica Salazar, USA TODAA YAA
When adhen adults say they lay la e whatast cast checked to sechecked to
sosort of information ttion therher online:re is about them ore is about them
Checking your digital footprintng your digital footfoottprintdigital fital foot
mAt Consumer Elec-
tronics Show, many to
try to ride on Apple’s
iPad coattails, 1B USA TODAY
Toshiba 4
Tablet
PR Newswire
3Vizio Tablet
Companies
play catch-up
Amare
Stoudemire
By Henny Ray
Abrams, AP
Mats
Zuccarello
mExams find trauma, but birds that
died in Arkansas otherwise healthy, 3A
By Danny Johnston, AP
Lab work: Arkansas veterinarian Brandon Doss.
Bird deaths still a mystery
mInfluential local elders have agreed to
stop insurgent attacks in one of southern
Afghanistan’s deadliest regions, 4A By Massoud Hossaini, AFP/Getty Images
Keeping watch:
A Marine stays
alert in Helmand
province, a former
Taliban stronghold.
Deal brings new
hope to AfghanistanBy Kyle Terada,
US Presswire
mOur quiz can
help you find
a plan that
fits your
life, 10B
Find the right diet for you
By Suzy Parker,
USA TODAY
International special edition
This is a special edition of USA TODAY designed
and edited for readers around the world.
Additional content and late-breaking news and
sports scores can always be found at
usatoday.com.
©COPYRIGHT 2011 USA TODAY
a division of Gannett Co., Inc.
¡¿H¢ApB-740238¿ (a)L
www.usatoday.comINTERNATIONAL EDITION
http://hotnpapers.com/

2. 2A · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 · USA TODAY
It’s sure to be a big topic this week at the Interna-
tional Consumer Electronics Show convention in
Las Vegas, where companies will unveil the new
Web-enabled TV devices they’ll sell this year.
There’s still wide disagreement over how many
people will take to Web TV and how quickly they’ll
do so. Research firm SNL Kagan estimates that 16.5
million homes have a Web TV device and 2% use it
to watch Hollywood TV shows and movies.
But most everyone agrees that the proliferation
of broadband-enabled devices could lead to the
biggest revolution in viewing habits since the ad-
vent of cable TV in the 1970s.
“The pace of change here has been mind-blow-
ing,” says Shawn Strickland, Verizon’s vice presi-
dent for consumer strategy and planning. “We’ve
been looking at this issue for the better part of a
year, and our perspective has pretty much done a
180” to a belief now that pay-TV “cord cutting” —
industry jargon for consumers who drop their cable
or satellite TV service — “will happen.”
If he’s right, Web TV could upend the pay TV in-
dustry that generates about $140 billion a year
from ad sales and consumer subscription fees, says
analyst Laura Martin of financial services firm
Needham and Co.
The pieces are falling into place.
SNL Kagan forecasts that by 2014, about 46.3
million homes will have at least one TV with a
broadband connection to the Internet and 7% of all
households will depend on the Web instead of pay
TV to watch professionally produced content.
That could lead to a world in which “low-cost
streaming services like Netflix will increasingly be-
come a ‘good enough’ substitute for traditional pay
TV,” says analyst Spencer Wang of financial services
firm Credit Suisse.
Increasing content online
Any forecast has to be taken with a grain of salt,
however, because we don’t know yet the extent of
programs people will be able to see online.
Most of the content legally available on the Web
now is old, requires a subscription or rental fee or
comes from broadcasters who already also offer
their shows for free.
It’s great for fans of, say, the classic sitcom The Jef-
fersons or last year’s episodes of Showtime’s Dexter.
But there’s no free lunch for people who want to
watch the new season of HBO’s Big Love, the Super
Bowl or American Idol.
It’s unclear whether that will change soon. Seven
companies — CBS, Disney, Discovery, Fox, NBC Uni-
versal, Time Warner and Viacom — account for
about 90% of all the professionally produced video
that people watch.
“It’s hard to imagine that they will shoot them-
selves in the head” by offering more of their hottest
shows online in a way that undermines their lucra-
tive relationships with pay TV providers, Moffett
says.
But some of the Internet’s biggest powers are
working to change that:
uApple last fall relaunched its Apple TV box,
which feeds Internet video to the electronic hearth.
The company’s now cutting deals with studios in-
cluding Disney and Fox for Apple’s iTunes to rent
episodes of some recent TV shows for 99 cents
apiece.
uGoogle has introduced Google TV, a service
that helps people find TV programming on the
Web, including videos on Google’s YouTube. The
major networks are blocking their shows from
Google TV, at least for now.
uNetflix and Hulu are signing agreements with
studios and program producers as the two vie to
become the Web’s leading subscription service for
streamed movies and TV shows.
“I’m really shocked at how much content is avail-
able online,” Verizon’s Strickland says. “Every day,
you’re seeing a new announcement that’s breaking
down the wall.”
Studios may be forced to accommodate Web TV
if they see increasing numbers of people using the
Internet in their living rooms to play online games,
shop or keep up with their Facebook friends on
their TV, says Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Brightcove, a
broadband video service company.
“That’s going to create the basis for enough adop-
tion”ofWebTVtomakepayTVcord-cuttingareal-
ity, he says.
Those who expect a Web TV surge also observe
that many consumers are fed up with pay TV’s an-
nual rate increases. The average cost for basic ser-
vice — the programming tier that includes popular
ad-supported channels such as TNT, USA and Dis-
covery — will hit $49.72 a month this year, up
63.7% from 2000, SNL Kagan projects.
Pay TV providers say that’s still a bargain: A typ-
ical subscriber receives about 130 channels now,
compared with 63 in 2000.
But no one regularly watches all 130 channels.
And the average monthly cost for each channel that
people in a household actually watch at least once a
month — including the most popular programming
from local TV stations that transmit ABC, CBS, Fox
and NBC — has increased to $1.84 from $1.36 in
2000, Credit Suisse analyst Wang calculates.
RoyceBrown,53,anelectricalengineerwholives
near Oklahoma City, decided he’d had enough early
last year when his monthly payment for TV, broad-
band and phone services hit $185. “I just said, ‘I
cannot handle any more of this.’ ”
He canceled his subscription to AT&T’s U-verse
television service. He replaced it with an Apple TV
box for Web video and a rabbit-ear antenna to get
local over-the-air channels free. Brown also decid-
ed to spend $8.99 a month to subscribe to Netflix,
which largely streams movies and TV shows to de-
vices including his Apple TV.
“I now have more shows that I want to watch,
available to me at any time,” Brown says. With Net-
flix, a $42-a-month broadband subscription from
Cox and a MagicJack, a device that enables users to
makecheapphonecallsviatheInternet,“I’msaving
a lot of money.”
Web TV isn’t for everyone: For example, Brown
can’t watch CNN’s live newscasts or live sports
events on ESPN.
Even so, stories like his led to speculation that a
groundswell of Web TV switching already has be-
gun. Lending credibility to the idea: Total pay TV
subscribers declined in the second quarter — for
the first time ever — to 100.1 million, down
216,000 from the previous quarter. The industry
lost an additional 119,000 customers in the third
quarter.
Pay TV companies say the Web had little or noth-
ing to do with the declines. Many young adults in
this slow economy continue to live with their par-
ents instead of moving to their own places and be-
coming new pay TV subscribers, they say. And
companies also lost customers who bought sub-
scriptions in 2009 because they mistakenly thought
that would be the only way to watch TV after
broadcast stations made the federally mandated
switch from analog to digital transmission.
That argument will become unpersuasive, how-
ever, if pay TV providers continue to lose customers
in early 2011, Strickland says.
Don’t expect much change?
Skeptics say that forecasters who expect a dra-
matic change to Web TV don’t appreciate how im-
portant television is to most people — and how
comfortable they are with their current viewing
habits.
The pay TV business “isn’t going to change
much” in the next three years, says Leichtman Re-
search Group President Bruce Leichtman. Cord-
cutting “is happening on the fringes. I’m not seeing
anything substantial.”
Indeed, ordinary viewers who watch TV every
day and enjoy talking with friends about the latest
shows may find Web TV more expensive and less
satisfying than pay TV.
“Somebody who uses Apple TV only could be
spending easily $100 to $120 a month just (renting
shows) for a few hours a day,” says TiVo CEO Tom
Rogers. That’s why most people who are attracted
to Web TV think of it “not as a substitute, but as a
supplement” to pay TV.
Even people who are comfortable with the pro-
grams and prices on the Web, and want to use it to
cut their monthly subscription bills, may find their
bargains short-lived.
That’s because cable operators also account for
about 54% of all residential broadband subscrip-
tions, and their market share is growing. Cable lines
typically offer faster speeds than phone company
DSL services, which account for 30% of the market.
Cable companies say that if they begin to lose pay
TV subscriptions, they’d probably have to charge
more for broadband.
“We are earning a reasonable return on capital,
but not an excessive one,” says Time Warner Cable
CEO Glenn Britt. “There’s perhaps an illusion here
that (Web TV offers) something that’s free. It’s not.”
Cable companies could raise prices across the
board. Or they could begin to charge customers for
the amount of broadband service they use, much as
electricity, water and gas utilities do. Because video
uses a lot of Internet resources, people who cut
their pay TV service in favor of Web TV could end
up paying much higher broadband fees.
But cable companies also would enter a minefield
if they fiddle with broadband pricing.
Competitors, including new and growing wire-
less Internet services, could step in and use a cable
price increase “as a way to gain market share,” Al-
laire says. If that didn’t keep cable broadband prices
in check, he believes the Federal Communications
Commission, which wants to promote widespread
broadband usage, “would step in and take action.”
But most major cable, satellite and phone compa-
ny TV services are trying to have their own angle on
Web TV. They are beginning to make it possible for
their subscribers to watch their pay TV program-
ming via broadband, particularly on portable de-
vices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
“We intend to be in all those devices,” Britt says.
He sees Web TV “as an opportunity, not a threat.”
One way or another, then, the Internet is about to
reshape the USA’s favorite pastime.
“An awful lot of mainstream households for the
first time are recognizing what’s out there in
broadband,” Rogers says. “And their mind-set for
the time being is, this is more choice — and this is
really good.”
For many, Web TV isn’t worth the cost — yet
Continued from 1A
AP
On the Web: Julia Stiles and Michael C. Hall star in Showtime’s Dexter, one of several shows now avail-
able online. But for those who rely only on the Web for television, many first-run shows are not available.
Internet content is making its way
onto TV sets . . .
Estimate of share of homes with at least one TV
connected to the Web:
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
9% 14% 20% 26% 32% 38%
. . . and some people are starting to
use it to replace pay TV service
Estimate of homes using the Web instead of pay TV
to get professionally produced programming:
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
1% 2% 4% 5% 6% 7%
Source: SNL Kagan
Television alternatives
Nation
MIAMI — A former Catholic
priest who left the church after
photossurfacedofhimkissinghis
then-girlfriend is criticizing
church leaders in a new book and
calling their stance on priests’ ro-
mantic relationships hypocritical.
Alberto Cutie — dubbed “Fa-
ther Oprah” by the English-lan-
guage media for his relationship
advice — left the Roman Catholic
Church in 2009 to become an
Episcopal priest.
Paparazzi photos of Cutie kiss-
ing Ruhama Buni Canellis, whom
he later married, caused such a
media frenzy that CNN en Espa-
ñol broadcast his announcement
to leave the church on live TV.
One Miami Spanish-language
TV station even cut into its reg-
ular programming to report the
news.
Cutie, who now heads the
Episcopal Church of the Resur-
rection in the Miami suburb of
BiscaynePark,andhiswifehavea
daughter, Camila.
Cutie details his once-secret
relationship and speaks candidly
about his former church in a new
book, Dilemma: A Priest’s Struggle
With Faith and Love.
He writes that he became dis-
illusioned with “bishops too con-
cerned with their own images”
during child sex-abuse crises. The
church often abandons priests
accused of sexual crimes “to sink
or swim,” he said.
Cutie, 41, says church leaders
secretly accept homosexual and
heterosexual relationships
among priests but disapproved of
his because it became public.
“There are so many homosex-
uals, both active and celibate, at
all levels of clergy and Church hi-
erarchy that the church would
never be able to function if they
were really to exclude all of them
from ministry,” Cutie writes.
The Archdiocese of Miami and
the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops declined comment Mon-
day.
Cutie’s once-popular cable
television show and advice col-
umn might have fallen by the
wayside since the scandal, but
hundreds gathered at an Episco-
palian ceremony in May marking
his return to priesthood.
He said many Catholics “act as
if I dropped dead, as if I don’t ex-
ist.”
Priest blasts church’s
stance on romance
By C.M. Guerrero, AP
“Father Oprah”: Alberto Cutie, with now-wife Ruhama Buni Canel-
lis, left the Catholic church after his romance became public.
Book details
secret love
amid hypocrisy
The Associated Press
NORFOLK, Va. — A high-ranking Navy officer who
produced and showed raunchy videos to the crew
of an aircraft carrier three or four years ago is ex-
pected to be relieved of his command of the ship,
defense officials said Tuesday.
A senior defense official said the announcement
on Capt. Owen Honors of the USS Enterprise was
expected Tuesday afternoon. The officials said the
Navy has chosen a commander to replace Honors
on the nuclear-powered ship that is currently sta-
tioned in Norfolk and scheduled to deploy to the
Middle East this month.
TheofficialsrevealedtheplansforHonorsonlyon
the grounds of anonymity because no official an-
nouncement has yet been made.
No phone listing was immediately available for
Honors and he did not respond to e-mails.
The offending video shown in 2007 became pub-
lic this weekend, proving an embarrassment to
Pentagon.
The videos released by a newspaper in this Navy
port city feature Honors using gay slurs, pantomim-
ing masturbation and staging suggestive shower
scenes. They were played on the shipwide televi-
sion system during weekly movie night when Hon-
ors was executive officer, or second in command, of
the Enterprise. Honors has since become com-
mander of the ship.
Over the weekend, the Navy at first downplayed
the videos as “humorous skits,” then called them
“not acceptable” and said they were under in-
vestigation.
The videos’ existence was not news to Navy
higher-ups. In a statement to the Virginian-Pilot on
Friday, the Navy said its leadership had put a stop to
videos with “inappropriate content” on the En-
terprise about four years ago.
Michael Corgan, a career Navy officer who now
teaches at Boston University, said before the news
that Honors would be relieved that he was guilty
notonlyofanerrorinjudgmentbutoffailingtorec-
ognize a changing Navy culture.
“Standards shift, of course, and trimming your
sails is something you have to do if you’re going to
command people in the Navy,” Corgan said. “This
guy showed poor judgment.”
The military has undergone a cultural shift in re-
cent decades away from the loutish, frat-boy be-
havior that was exposed by the Tailhook scandal in
1991. It is now working to accommodate gays in its
ranks with Congress’ repeal of “don’t ask, don’t
tell.” Also, the Navy is opening its all-male sub-
marine force to women this year.
Corgan said the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell
probably had nothing to do with the furor now:
“What he did would have been dumb 30, 40 years
ago.”
Some sailors who served on the Enterprise have
taken to Facebook to defend Honors and his video
skits for providing a much-needed morale boost
during long deployments at sea. They portrayed
Honors as a man who genuinely cared about his
sailors and helped them blow off steam with corny
and occasionally outrageous videos he concocted
every week during six-month tours of duty in the
Middle East at the height of the Iraq War. Maintain-
ing morale is typically part of the XO’s job.
“He was a caring professional and, yes, he has a
sense of humor, but you need that on a boat,” said
Misty Davis, who served on the Enterprise from
2006 to 2010. The offending video was shown in
2007, and was a compilation of previous videos he
had shown, she and others said.
“It’s no worse than anything you’d see on ‘Sat-
urday Night Live’ or ‘The Family Guy,’ ” Davis said
Monday. “I used to watch all of them. They were
freaking hilarious.”
Szkotak reported from Richmond, Va.
The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot via AP
Under investigation: U.S. Navy Capt. Owen Hon-
ors did a series of profanity-laced comedy sketches.
Official: Navy
officer to be
be relieved
Racy skits out of place in
changing military culture
By Dena Potter and Steve Szkotak
The Associated Press
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3. USA TODAY · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 · 3A
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Democrat Jerry Brown was sworn in Monday as
California’s 39th governor, returning to the office he
left 28 years ago but now facing a financial morass.
Brown has predicted a grim future for the fi-
nancially beleaguered state since winning the
Nov. 2 election. California has faced several years of
deficits and is confronting another estimated at
$28 billion through June 2012. “The year ahead will
demand courage and sacrifice,” Brown, 72, said af-
ter taking the oath in Sacramento.
Other new governors also took charge Monday:
uIn Nevada, Republican Brian Sandoval became
the state’s first Latino governor.
uIn Wisconsin, Tea Party Republican Scott Walk-
er replaced retiring Democrat Jim Doyle.
uIn Wyoming, Republican Matt Mead took over
for term-limited Democrat Dave Freudenthal.
uIn Minnesota, Mark Dayton became the state’s
first Democratic governor in 20 years.
Texas backs exoneration after 30 years
Prosecutors declared a Texas man innocent of a
rape and robbery that put him in prison for 30
years, more than any other DNA exoneree in Texas.
An exoneration hearing is set for today in Dallas.
DNA test results that came back after Cornelius
Dupree was paroled in July excluded him as the
person who attacked a Dallas woman in 1979,
prosecutors said. Dupree, now 51, was 20 when he
was sentenced to 75 years in prison in 1980. Texas
has freed 41 wrongly convicted inmates through
DNA since 2001. “Our Conviction Integrity Unit
thoroughly reinvestigated this case, tested the bio-
logical evidence and, based on the results, conclud-
ed Cornelius Dupree did not commit this crime,”
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said.
Changes sought after fatal gas explosion
Federal investigators issued a host of urgent safe-
ty recommendations aimed at the California utility
responsible for the gas pipeline blast that killed
eight people in a San Francisco suburb last year.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it
has not yet determined what caused the Sept. 9 ex-
plosion that destroyed dozens of homes in San Bru-
no. One of the urgent recommendations asks Pacific
Gas & Electric to identify all gas transmission lines
that haven’t undergone testing for safe operating
pressures. The NTSB also urged state regulators to
make sure the utility follows through on the testing.
Passenger charged after clash on flight
A passenger on a flight departing from Boston
was released on his own recognizance after refus-
ing the flight crew’s request to hang up his cell-
phone and sit down. Passengers reported hearing
strangesoundsfromabagOgnjenMilatovic,35,put
in the overhead bin, state police said. The bag con-
tained a set of keys, some food, a hat and a wallet.
Milatovic, a math professor at the University of
North Florida, was charged with disorderly conduct
and interfering with the operation of an aircraft.
Michael Jackson’s doctor faces charges
The physician who was with Michael Jackson the
day the pop star died faces a preliminary hearing
today on an involuntary manslaughter charge. A Los
Angeles judge will decide whether there is enough
evidence for Conrad Murray to face trial. The Hous-
ton cardiologist is accused of gross negligence
when he administered the anesthetic Propofol to
help Jackson get to sleep. Jackson died June 25,
2009, of Propofol intoxication complicated by other
sedatives. If convicted, Murray could face four years
in prison and the loss of his medical license.
Also . . .
uSPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A jury was selected in
the manslaughter trial of former police chief Ed-
ward Fleury, whose company co-sponsored a 2008
gun fair where a Connecticut boy fatally shot him-
self with an Uzi submachine gun. Christopher Bizilj,
8, lost control of the Uzi and accidentally shot him-
self in the head in October 2008.
Nationline
Please recycle
By John Bacon with staff and wire reports
By Ethan Miller, Getty Images
Vegas gets snow
Rare winter occurrence: Joe Barrese builds a
snowman on top of a telephone call box Monday in
the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
in Las Vegas. A winter storm dumped a few inches
of snow several miles west of the Strip.
By Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
No frills: California Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife,
Anne Gust Brown, have a hot dog Monday during
festivities after his swearing-in.
Brown back in Calif.’s
governor’s mansion
Nation
ASHEVILLE,N.C.—Tomost,
skateboarding is a sport fea-
turing half-pipes and high-
flying riders performing dare-
devil tricks.
To Ryan Seymour, it repre-
sents something much more
basic: transportation. He
would like to commute to his
job managing the city-run
Food Lion Skatepark in down-
town Asheville, from his
apartment in the nearby
Montford neighborhood.
“It’s really the commute
home that would be more
fun,” he said. “It’s all down-
hill.”
Though it might be fun,
Seymour knows that trying it
could currently mean a $50
fine and an appearance in the
city’s nuisance court.
Skateboarders in Asheville
and across the USA are push-
ing to end such bans so they
can legally use longboards —
a more stable type of skate-
board than those typically
used for skate park tricks — as
a means of transportation.
The debate is heating up
along with gas prices and a
national interest in going
green. Supporters stress that
the boards don’t take up
parking spaces and are easily
stored inside, unlike bicycles.
Opponents point to safety
concerns.
“I feel the overall public
safety risks of adding a new
element to our city roads out-
weighs the desire for a group
of folks to see the legalization
of this alternative transporta-
tion mode,” said Bill Russell, a
member of the Asheville City
Council and chair of its Public
Safety Committee.
Other council members
feel differently. Gordon Smith
said he supports the “four
wheels down” concept of le-
galizing skateboards strictly
for transportation, and Cecil
Bothwell called the idea “a vi-
able transportation alterna-
tive.”
Jeff Stern, president of the
National Skateboard Associa-
tion in Westlake Village, Calif.,
said setting rules for how
people use skateboards is “ri-
diculous.”
Laws involving skateboards
as transportation vary.
uIn 2009, Kennesaw State
University, north of Atlanta,
banned skateboarding in
most places on campus but
allowed it for transportation
to and from class.
uCity leaders in Portland,
Maine, lifted a ban on skate-
boarding as transportation
downtown three years ago,
but re-enacted it in 2009 on
hilly Exchange Street after
business owners complained
about trick riders, Lt. Gary
Rogers of the Portland Police
Department said. Skate-
boarding is legal in other
parts of the city, he said.
uLast summer, Pennsylva-
nia’s Doylestown Borough
Council heard a request to lift
the skateboarding ban to al-
low longboards as transpor-
tation. The measure failed be-
cause leaders were worried
about accidents with cars.
“For myself, it’s odd that a
child can go and ride on an
aluminum scooter and not
face a penalty,” said council
President Det Ansinn. “For a
community like ours, the
council didn’t feel like (long-
boarding) was a good fit.”
uCalifornia state law con-
siders skateboarders the
same as pedestrians, said Jim
Beres, the civilian supervisor
of the Laguna Beach, Calif.,
Police Department, where he
said downhill recreational
longboarding has spawned
complaints. Skateboards as
transportation there are com-
mon, he said.
Ostendorff and Burgess also
report for the Asheville (N.C.)
Citizen-Times.
Skateboarders aim to flip commuter bans
By Jon Ostendorff
and Joel Burgess
USA TODAY
the base of the objects. . . . This was a
scattering.”
The number of dead blackbirds is
more than 3,000, Rowe said. “Envi-
ronmental Services says they picked
up approximately 2,000 birds.” There
were others they couldn’t reach, she
said, and “scavengers probably car-
ried off quite a bit — if you’re a cat, it’s
Christmas dinner.”
Red-wing blackbirds are native to
North America and gather in large
flocks in the winter, generally settling
near food sources for weeks at a time,
said Mike Parr of the American Bird
Conservancy in Washington, D.C.
The number of birds that died Fri-
day is high, he noted, but “to put the
number in perspective, windows,
communication towers, power lines
and wind turbines kill tens of millions
of birds each year, probably hundreds
of millions.”
In an unrelated event, a major fish
kill was reported on the Arkansas Riv-
er last week, , Stephens said. Approxi-
mately 80,000 to 100,000 dead fresh-
water drum were found along a
17-mile stretch of the river, about 100
miles from Beebe, between the Ozark
Lock and Dam and a point due south
of Hartman.
State officials believe the fish kill
was disease related. Specimens have
been sent to state labs for testing.
The incidents — coming during a
traditionally slow news period —
made for a wild weekend for state
Game and Fish staffers.
“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever ex-
perienced and I’ve been doing this for
25 years,” Stephens said. “I’ll bet you
I’ve had 100 calls today, I’ve done 25
interviews. I did Al-Jazeera live last
night.”
Contributing: Associated Press
A mysterious event that caused
thousands of red-wing blackbirds to
rain down from the sky New Year’s
Eve in the Arkansas town of Beebe
may have occurred when loud noises
or fireworks frightened a flock that
roosts in a neighborhood, causing
them to fly into buildings and other
obstacles, a state ornithologist said.
But others still think weather could
have played a role.
Preliminary necropsies on the dead
birds by the state Livestock and Poul-
try Commission “showed trauma,”
said Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and
Fish Commission ornithologist. “The
birds obviously hit something very
hard and had hemorrhages.” Beyond
that, all the birds were healthy.
The state is also performing chem-
ical and disease testing, but the results
will take a week.
Neighbors reported five to 12
booming noises in the eastern part of
Beebe, a community of 5,000 north-
east of Little Rock. “They reported it
sounding like a cannon or transformer
exploding,” but officials are still in-
vestigatingto findoutwhat thenoises
were, Rowe said.
The flock then rose from its roost
and tried to fly away, but possibly be-
cause of fireworks in the sky “they
naturally wouldn’t want to go up
high,” she said. “They were below the
roof line, so they were hitting houses,
mail boxes, chimneys and walls.”
Blackbirds have very poor night vi-
sion.
The first calls about the incident
came in at about 11 p.m. on New
Year’s Eve, according to Keith Ste-
phens, with the Game and Fish Com-
mission.
“They told us there were birds fall-
ing out of the sky. After we verified
that this wasn’t some kind of prank,
one of our wildlife officers went over
there and sure enough, there were
birds falling,” he said.
The Department of Emergency
Management tested the air and found
nothing amiss, so the state isn’t put-
ting out any health warnings, he said.
Many theories being floated about
causes of the die off can be discount-
ed, said Dan Cristol, a professor of bi-
ology at the Institute for Integrative
Bird Behavior Studies at the College of
William & Mary in Virginia. The birds
couldn’t have eaten a fast-acting pes-
ticide because they would have eaten
it during the day and died long before
they began to roost at night, he said. A
slower-actingpesticidewouldn’thave
affected them all at the same time. A
hail storm is unlikely because they
would have had to be flying for that to
happen, and at that hour red-wing
blackbirds are asleep.
Rough weather had hit the state
earlier Friday, but the worst of it was
well east of Beebe by the time the
birds started falling, said Chris Buo-
nanno, a forecaster with the National
Weather Service in North Little Rock.
But one expert said he can’t dis-
count weather as a cause.
“Thousands of birds encountered
something, whether it was a lighting
strike or hail or something, and that
caused the trauma and death,” said
Robert Meese, an avian ecologist at
the University of California-Davis. “I
don’t see any way that they could
have flown into obstructions, because
then the birds should have been at
By Danny Johnston, AP
Looking for answers: Assistant state veterinarian Brandon Doss examines dead red-winged blackbirds at a laboratory in Little Rock.
Trauma cited in mass bird kill
By Warren Watkins, The (Searcy, Ark.) Daily Citizen, via epa
Cleanup: A worker in protective clothing picks up a dead blackbird in Beebe,
Ark. More than 3,000 birds tumbled from the dark sky New Year’s Eve.
Why blackbirds
fell from Arkansas
sky still a mystery
By Elizabeth Weise
USA TODAY
MILLERSBURG, Ohio — A
10-year-old boy was charged
Monday with murder, a crime
nearly unheard of at such a
young age, after he told a
neighbor he had shot his
mother.
Paramedics found Deborah
McVay, 46, of Big Prairie, lying
facedown in her living room
Sunday night, dead of a single
gunshot wound to her head,
Holmes County Sheriff Tim
Zimmerly said. Authorities
went to the home after a
neighbor called a dispatcher
to say McVay’s son had come
to her home and confessed to
shooting his mother.
The boy appeared in court
Monday with his attorney,
Andrew Hyde, who denied
the charge. Hyde said he will
ask the judge to release the
boy to stay with a family
member until his trial. He is
being held at a juvenile de-
tention center.
The woman’s 15-year-old
daughter is staying with rela-
tives. It was unknown wheth-
er the girl was at home at the
time of the shooting or
whether McVay was married.
Hyde did not return a
phone message left at his of-
fice.
About 49 children each
year kill their parents, but few
are so young, said Kathleen
Heide, a criminology profes-
sor at the University of South
Florida who has studied the
crime, called parricide, for
more than 30 years. Most
children who kill a parent are
teenagers, she said. “You rare-
ly, rarely, rarely see cases of
kids killing parents who are
that young,” she said.
From 1976 through 2007,
10 children the same age as
the boy killed a parent, she
said. In 2008, an 8-year-old
Arizona boy killed his father
and the father’s friend.
Holmes County prosecutor
Steve Knowling said that in
two decades in the county,
midway between Cleveland
and Columbus, he had not
seen a similar case.
“We don’t have homicides
here, period,” he said. “I’ve
got nothing to compare it to.”
Knowling said he would
not prosecute the boy as an
adult.
“In the case of a 10-year-
old, a mental health profes-
sional needs to examine him
to determine if he’s compe-
tent and even understands
what happened,” Heide said.
“Did he really understand the
mother would be forever
gone?”
USA TODAY does not name
minors accused of crimes
when they are not charged as
adults.
Ohio boy, 10, held in mother’s death
Woman was
found shot
once in head
From staff and wire reports
http://hotnpapers.com/

4. 4A · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 · USA TODAY
The head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church ap-
pealed to the government on Monday to address
Christians’ complaints about discrimination as
fierce riots broke out in the capital. Tensions had
surged following a New Year’s Day church bombing
that killed 21 people.
The interview with Coptic Pope Shenouda III on
television came as hundreds of predominantly
Christian protesters clashed with riot police in Cai-
ro. Shenouda called on the government to address
Christian grievances in the country, especially of
laws restricting freedom of worship.
“The state also has a duty. It must see to the prob-
lems of the Copts and try to resolve them,” he said.
“If there are laws . . . unjust to some, the state
should correct many laws.”
The pope said the unprecedented attack on the
Saints Church in Alexandria had “caused panic”
among Muslims and Christians, but he appealed for
calm among his flock and warned that political ac-
tivists might use protests to push their anti-govern-
ment agenda.
Iran sets date for global nuke inspection
Iran has invited Russia, China, the European
Union and its allies among the Arab and developing
world to tour its nuclear sites, in an apparent move
to gain support ahead of a new round of talks with
six world powers. In a letter, Iranian envoy Ali As-
ghar Soltanieh suggests the weekend of Jan. 15-16
for the tour and says that meetings “with high-
ranking officials” are envisaged.
Although no reason was given for the timing of
the offer, it comes just weeks before Iran and the six
powers follow up on recent talks that ended with
agreement on little else but to meet again. The new
round between Tehran and the permanent U.N. Se-
curity Council members — the U.S., Russia, China,
Britain, France — plus Germany, is tentatively set for
Istanbul in late January.
Deal offered to thwart Ivory Coast crisis
African leaders offered Laurent Gbagbo an am-
nesty deal on condition he cedes the presidency
peacefully to the internationally recognized winner
of Ivory Coast’s elections.
The African heads of state traveled to Ivory Coast
to give persuasion another chance before resorting
to military intervention. The presidents of Benin, Si-
erra Leone and Cape Verde also visited last week
without result, and this time they were being
joined by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. No
developments were immediately announced.
The country’s electoral commission showed
Gbagbo lost the November election by a 9-point
margin to opposition leader Alassane Ouattara.
The Associated Press
By Bernd Wustneck, AFP/Getty Images
New German soldiers
Reporting for duty: Recruits march at Fu¨nfeichen
barracks in Neubrandenburg, Germany. They were
among about 12,150 starting their compulsory ser-
vice Monday, the last contingent to do so before the
national draft is suspended midyear.
Egypt’s pope: State
has duty to mediate
World
Influential local elders in one of south-
ern Afghanistan’s deadliest regions have
agreed to stop insurgent attacks and to
expel foreign militants from their area,
raising hopes that a growing number of
civilians are turning on the Taliban and
supporting Afghan and coalition forces.
“We are cautiously optimistic of this
agreement and will monitor whether it
leads to reduced insurgent influence and
a rejection of illicit ac-
tivity,” Marine Maj.
Gen. Richard Mills,
commander of forces
in southwest Afghani-
stan, said in a state-
ment.
The agreement cen-
ters on Sangin, one of
the Taliban’s remain-
ing pockets of resis-
tance in southern Hel-
mand province, a
former Taliban strong-
hold.
“The insurgents
have already begun to strike back sav-
agely at those who desire peace but so
far the elders remain steadfast,” Mills
said in the statement.
As part of a surge of U.S. forces, coali-
tion and Afghan troops have stepped up
pressure over the past year to push the
Taliban from Helmand.
More than a dozen Marines have lost
their lives since their deployment in
mid-October in Sangin, according to the
Associated Press.
“The fight for Sangin is a tough one,”
Mills said at a Pentagon press briefing
last month.
“Oncehelosesthere,hehasinfactlost
Helmand province, and he realizes that,”
Mills said, referring to the insurgents.
“So he’s fighting a
tough battle and a re-
silient battle against us
in that area.”
The Sangin agree-
ment invites compari-
sons to a tribal revolt
in Iraq, which came to
be known as the
Awakening. The
movement grew in
power in 2006 and
2007, becoming a
turning point in the
Iraq War.
Led by tribal sheiks
in western Iraq, tribesmen joined the
police and helped U.S. and Iraqi forces
drive al-Qaeda from Anbar province.
Andrew Exum, a military analyst at
the Center for a New American Security,
said there are key differences in Afghani-
stan, where tribal rivalries and drug traf-
ficking complicate the enemy situation.
But Exum, who formerly served as an
Army officer in Afghanistan, said the
agreement reflects the military success
that U.S. Marines and British forces have
had over the past year in Helmand.
According to Exum, the progress on
the battlefield has helped build security
and convince locals that coalition forces
will not suddenly depart. Those factors
were critical in convincing Iraqis to join
the Awakening revolt.
Mills said the agreement in Sangin
was prompted by elders who ap-
proached both Helmand Gov. Gulab
Mangal and Mills to talk about security.
He said it is primarily an Afghan bro-
kered agreement “arrived at in close
consultation with local coalition forces.”
Mills said the local leaders were
prompted by what they saw in other
parts of Helmand province, where coali-
tion and Afghan forces drove militants
away.
“They want schools, medical clinics
and the freedom to move about without
fear of the insurgency,” Mills said.
The local elders pledged “that fighting
would cease by insurgents against coali-
tion forces and foreign fighters would be
expelled from the area,” he said.
He added that, “U.S. Marines would
respond in force to any attack, and coali-
tion forces would continue to advance
into currently uncontrolled areas.”
Agreement in Afghanistan offers hope
By Dusan Vranic, AP
On patrol: Marine Lance Cpl. Andreas Padilla walks through a market in November
in dangerous Sangin, Afghanistan, a Taliban pocket of resistance.
Elders pledge to stem insurgent
attacks in Taliban stronghold
By Jim Michaels
USA TODAY
BRISBANE, Australia — A military flight
rushed Monday to restock an Australian city
before it was cut off by floodwaters that have
turned a huge swath of the Outback into a
lake, while police confirmed two more
deaths in the crisis.
Drenching rain that started before Christ-
mas has flooded an area the size of France
and Germany combined in northeastern
Queensland state. Rivers are overflowing and
at least 22 towns and cities in the farming re-
gion are inundated.
In the coastal city of Rockhampton, waters
from the still-swelling Fitzroy River closed
the airport and cut the main highway to the
state capital of Brisbane. Scores of families
abandoned their homes for relief centers on
high ground.
By Monday night, floodwaters had inun-
dated the last route into the city, Queensland
Premier Anna Bligh said.
“Rockhampton is now completely stranded
— a town of 75,000 people — no airport, rail
or road,” Bligh told Australian Broadcasting
Corp. radio.
Residents emptied supermarket shelves of
food and bottled water in recent days as they
stocked up to reduce the need to get around
in waist-deep waters.
Acting Defense Minister Warren Snowdon
said a C-130 military cargo plane would fly to
a town north of Rockhampton on Monday
carrying food, medical supplies and other
items that would then be trucked to the
stricken city.
Authorities have warned the Fitzroy will
continue rising until late today or early
Wednesday local time.
Mayor Brad Carter has said about 40% of
the city could be affected by the surging wa-
ters, and residents could be forced to wait at
least two weeks before returning home.
State authorities say about 200,000 people
have been affected by the floods, Australia’s
worst in a decade, and Prime Minister Julia
Gillard on Monday extended emergency re-
lief to those affected, including low-interest
loans to farmers to begin cleaning up and get
their businesses running again.
“This is a major natural disaster, and recov-
ery will take a significant amount of time,”
Gillard said. The damage could ultimately
amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, she
told reporters.
Three people have died in the flooding
since Saturday, though police in Queensland
state say seven other people have drowned
separately involving swollen rivers and water
accidents since tropical deluges began in late
November.
Chief Superintendent Alistair Dawson said
the latest victim was a man who drowned
Monday when the car he was traveling in was
washed off a flooded causeway in the town of
Aramac, in central Queensland.
Earlier Monday, police said they had recov-
ered the body of a man who was last seen
Saturday when his small boat was swamped
by raging waters in a different part of the
state.
The rains that started the flooding have
eased, and water levels have been dropping
in some towns.
Officials said about 1,000 people were liv-
ing in evacuation centers across Queensland,
and it may be a month before the flood-
waters dry up completely.
By NT Police via epa
Waiting for help: German tourists get stuck Monday in crocodile-infested waters in Kakadu National Park near Jabiru in Darwin, Australia.
Australia floods swamp 22 areas
Residents evacuate to
relief centers on higher
ground as water surges
The Associated Press
By Kelly Watt, epa
Town is cut off: Wendy Hilcher helps rescue
a dog Monday in North Rockhampton.
As of Monday, 4,420 U.S. service-
members and 13 Defense Depart-
ment civilians had been reported
killed in the Iraq War. In and
around Afghanistan, 1,341 U.S. ser-
vicemembers and two Defense De-
partment civilians had been re-
ported killed.
Latest death identified in Af-
ghanistan:
uMarine Lance Cpl. Maung P.
Htaik, 20, of Hagerstown, Md.,
died Saturday during combat oper-
ations in Helmand province; 2nd
Marine Expeditionary Force.
Source: Defense Department
uFor a full list of U.S. military
deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan,
go to casualties.usatoday.com
U.S. death toll
ISLAMABAD—Thegovernorof
Pakistan’s wealthiest and most
populous province was shot dead
in the capital Tuesday by one of
his own guards, who later told in-
terrogators that he was angry
about the politician’s stance
against the country’s blasphemy
law, officials said.
The killing of Punjab province
Gov. Salman Taseer was the most
high-profile assassination of a po-
litical figure in Pakistan since for-
mer Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto was assassinated in De-
cember 2007, and it rattled a
country already dealing with cri-
ses ranging from a potential col-
lapse of the government to a vir-
ulent Islamist insurgency.
The killing could add to con-
cerns about inroads by Islamist
extremists and fundamentalists
into Pakistan’s security establish-
ment and represented another
blow to the country’s Pakistan’s
embattled secular movement.
Taseer was a member of Bhut-
to’s Pakistan People’s Party and a
close associate of the president.
The governor was vocal on a
range of subjects, even using
Twitter to get across his views.
Punjab is a major base and
recruiting ground for Pakistan’s
powerful military and security
establishment, which many fear
is coming under the increasing
influence of religious fundamen-
talists as Islamist movements
have spread in Pakistan. Some
analysts have suggested that fun-
damentalist members of the se-
curity establishment pose a
greater threat of Pakistan nuclear
proliferation than militant groups
such as the Taliban.
In recent days, as the People’s
Party has faced the loss of its co-
alition partners, Taseer, 56, had
insisted that the government will
survive. But it was his very public
stance against the blasphemy law
that apparently led to his killing.
Pakistan’s blasphemy law has
come under greater scrutiny in
recent weeks after a Christian
woman, Asia Bibi, was sentenced
to death for allegedly insulting Is-
lam’s Prophet Muhammad. The
law effectively orders death for
anyone convicted of insulting Is-
lam. Taseer had said Bibi should
be granted a pardon, a stance
that earned him opprobrium
from Islamist groups across the
country as well as threats, ac-
cording to Shahbaz Bhatti, the
minister for minorities.
An intelligence official interro-
gating the suspect, identified as
Mumtaz Qadri, 26, told The As-
sociated Press that the bearded
elite force police commando was
boasting about the assassination,
saying he was proud to have
killed a blasphemer.
Dozens of Pakistanis are sen-
tenced to death each year under
the blasphemy law, which dates
back to the 1980s military rule of
Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq.
Most cases are thrown out by
higher courts and no executions
have been carried out, but hu-
man rights activists have long
complained that the law is used
to settle rivalries and persecute
religious minorities.
Police official Mohammad If-
tikhar said Taseer was gunned
down after he reached Kohsar
Market, a shopping center in Is-
lamabad popular with Western-
ers and wealthy Pakistanis. Five
other people were wounded as
other security personnel re-
sponded to the attack.
By Muhammed Muheisen, AP
Crime scene: Pakistani police officers collect evidence at the scene
where Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was shot dead by one of his guards.
Pakistani governor
killed for opposing
blasphemy law
The Associated Press
USA TODAY
Afghanistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbek. Tajikistan
Pakistan
Kabul
0
Miles
100
N
Helmand
province
Kandahar
province
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5. USA TODAY · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 · 5A
Republican leaders in the House say they’ll hold a
vote next week to repeal President Obama’s health
care overhaul.
The announcement of the
Jan. 12 vote by the No. 2
House Republican, Virginia
Rep. Eric Cantor, sets the
stage for a showdown with
the Democratic-led Senate.
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid of Nevada said
earlier Monday that Demo-
crats in that chamber will
block any attempt to repeal
the legislation extending
coverage to more than 30
million uninsured people.
Cantor spokesman Brad
Dayspring said Monday the health care law is a “job
killer for businesses small and large,” but Reid said
Republicans are on a “partisan mission.”
Venezuelan envoy choice is uncertain
The Obama administration says it may nominate
a new ambassador to Venezuela after its previous
choice was rejected by the government of Presi-
dent Hugo Chávez.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said
the U.S. believes it is important to have an ambassa-
dor in Caracas in order to manage relations, which
have been strained by Chávez’s condemnations of
the U.S. and by U.S. criticisms that democracy is de-
teriorating in Venezuela.
Crowley said Monday the administration regrets
that Chávez refused to accept Larry Palmer as am-
bassador. It said that if a decision is made to seek
Venezuela’s agreement on another envoy, that can-
didate’s nomination would have to be submitted to
the Senate for confirmation. Crowley said this was
now under consideration.
Officials probe death of ex-GOP aide
The body of a military expert who served in
three Republican administrations was found
dumped in a Delaware landfill over the holiday
weekend, and investigators said Monday they do
not know who might have killed him.
John Wheeler III, 66, was last seen Dec. 28 on an
Amtrak train to Wilmington. His body was found
three days later, on New Year’s Eve, as a garbage
truck emptied its contents at the Cherry Island
landfill. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Wheeler, who served in Vietnam, helped lead ef-
forts to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall
in Washington. Wheeler served as a special assis-
tant to the secretary of the Air Force under Presi-
dent George W. Bush, and in the administrations of
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
He also was the first chief executive of Mothers
Against Drunk Driving.
The former Army officer lived in New Castle and
worked as a consultant for The Mitre Corp., a non-
profitbasedinBedford,Mass.,andMcLean,Va.,that
operates federally funded research and develop-
ment centers.
The Associated Press
Health care repeal
vote planned Jan. 12
Getty Images
Cantor: Health care
law a “job killer.”
Washington
WASHINGTON — The Obama ad-
ministration can expect congressional
hearings this year on WikiLeaks, fore-
closures, corruption in Afghanistan
and food safety as Republicans take
over the House oversight committee.
That’s the agenda that Rep. Darrell
Issa, the incoming chairman of the
committee, laid out Monday.
His “Initial Oversight Investigations
Lineup,” which the California Repub-
lican rolled out via Twitter and later
outlined in a written statement, is his
most detailed indication of where and
how he intends to use Congress’s sub-
poena power after taking the helm of
the committee on Wednesday.
Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella said
in a written statement that all the
hearings will “advance an agenda fo-
cused on reforming a broken bu-
reaucracy and addressing waste,
fraud, abuse and mismanagement.”
Among the topics for hearings:
uThe impact of government reg-
ulations on job creation. “Why hasn’t
the economy created the private sec-
tor jobs the president promised?”
Bardella said.
uThe role of government-spon-
sored mortgage backers Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac in the housing crisis.
uThe failure of the Financial Crisis
Inquiry Commission to agree on a
root cause of the financial meltdown.
uCorruption in Afghanistan.
uHow to combat the release of
classified information via the website
WikiLeaks.
uThe Food and Drug Administra-
tion, which Issa calls “a broken bu-
reaucracy.”
TheDemocratinlinetobecomethe
committee’s ranking minority mem-
ber, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ac-
knowledged that Republicans are in
control and can set the agenda.
“I think the thing that concerns me
most is not so much the subjects, but
how they will be addressed,” he said.
Foreclosures, he said, should be a
top priority — but Congress should
also look at the failure of lenders to
modify mortgage terms, and the “ro-
bo-signing” scandal in which banks
foreclosed on homeowners without
verifying they were in default.
“Now it sounds like a how-do-we-
attack-Fannie-Mae-and-Freddie-Mac
hearing,” Cummings said. “I don’t see
how you can have true oversight and
true reform if you only look at one
piece of the puzzle. I have no problem
looking at Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac, but I know — and Congressman
Issa knows — that’s not the only cause
of the financial crisis.”
Danielle Brian, director of the in-
dependent good-government advo-
cacy group Project on Government
Oversight, said the lineup mostly
avoided obvious partisan bludgeons.
One topic did give her pause: Hear-
ings on jobs, which will invite busi-
ness leaders to talk about how reg-
ulations are hurting job growth. “That
was at the top of the Chamber of
Commerce’s priority list,” she said.
But hearings on corruption in Af-
ghanistan are “a brilliant topic” for
oversight hearings, she said. Those
subjects have previously gone to For-
eign Affairs or Armed Services, “and
those committees don’t have the cul-
ture to do serious oversight,” she said.
The agenda is for the first three
months of the year. “If something’s
not on the list, it doesn’t mean we’re
not doing it,” Bardella said.
Issa targets ‘broken bureaucracy’
By Tim Sloan, AFP/Getty Images
Hearings: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., will use the powerful House Oversight
and Government Reform committee to scrutinize President Obama’s policies.
Incoming
chairman sets
reform agenda
By Gregory Korte
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Candi-
dates seeking to oust Repub-
lican National Committee
Chairman Michael Steele fo-
cused on the organization’s
$20 million debt in a debate
among Steele and four chal-
lengers. A Jan. 14 vote will
choose the party’s leader.
The 2012 presidential and
congressional elections de-
pend on erasing the commit-
tee’s debt to determine
where and how aggressively
the party can compete,
Reince Priebus, Steele’s for-
mer legal counsel, said at the
debate Monday. Priebus has
the most committed votes so
far, according to the National
Journal’s website.
“We need a lot of money,”
said Priebus, who estimated
the party must raise
$400 million over the next
twoyears.Anothercandidate,
former Michigan Party chair-
man Saul Anuzis, said the
party has “tremendous chal-
lenges” with “this unprece-
dented debt.”
Steele defended his han-
dling of the party’s finances
during his two-year term.
“My record stands for itself;
we won” in the Nov. 2 elec-
tions, when Republicans took
the House majority and nar-
rowed Democrats’ lead in the
Senate, he said.
Steele, elected two years
ago, announced last month
he would seek another term
amid weakening support
from party leaders.
According to a count pub-
lished Monday on the Nation-
al Journal’s website, Priebus
was in first place with 30
votes among national com-
mittee members, followed by
Steele at 15. Ann Wagner of
Missouri, a former RNC co-
chairwoman, had 12 votes.
Anuzis had 10, and former
party official Maria Cino had
six. The winner will need 85
of 168 votes in the party elec-
tion. Priebus, chairman of the
Wisconsin Republican Party,
has the backing of Henry Bar-
bour, a nephew of Mississippi
Gov. Haley Barbour, a former
RNC chairman. Cino is sup-
ported by former national
party chairman Ed Gillespie.
The debate focused more
on the need to uphold con-
servative values such as fiscal
restraint and the party’s anti-
abortion platform.
“We’re tired of going to
polls holding our noses and
voting for Republicans that
didn’tupholdthebasicprinci-
ples of our platform,” Priebus
said. “We need to stick to our
principles.”
The debate was sponsored
by the Daily Caller website,
Americans for Tax Reform
and the anti-abortion group
Susan B. Anthony List.
In race to lead RNC, debt under Steele a sore point
By Alex Wong, Getty Images
Incumbent and challenger: Republican National Committee
Chairman Michael Steele, right, speaks next to Reince Priebus.
Bloomberg News
For more puzzles, go to
puzzles.usatoday.com
Find them in today’s Life section with USA TODAY’s popular Crossword and Sudoku puzzles.
WITH USA TODAY’s 2 NEWEST PUZZLES
uTxtpert - Decode clues using the numbers on a keypad
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6. 6A · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 · USA TODAY
www.usatoday.com
'
Money
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Moneyline
Read Ben Mutzabaugh’s daily Today in
the Sky blog at blogs.usatoday.com/sky
Traveling for business today?
USATODAYSnapshots®
By Jae Yang and Veronica Salazar, USA TODAY
Home-equity lines of credit
4.89%
4.98%
5.00%
Home-equity loans
Now
6 months ago
Year ago
6.99%
7.24%
7.44%
Now
6 months ago
Year ago
Source: Informa Research Services (www.informars.com/bestrates)
Average home-equity rates
Some airport
restaurants open
near gates, 8A
BusinessTravel
Fliers
find
closer
food
OTG Management
Croque Madame: A French restaurant at New York’s JFK.
Some deep-water drilling may resume
Thirteen companies whose deep-water drilling
activities were suspended last year may be able to
resume drilling without detailed environmental re-
views, the Obama administration said. The compa-
nies, including Chevron USA and Shell Offshore, can
resume work at previously drilled wells, as long as
they meet new policies and regulations.
Former Madoff secretary seeks bail
Bernard Madoff’s former secretary has asked to
be released on bail, saying the government has
seized control of her finances and eliminated any
means to flee. Annette Bongiorno, 62, made the re-
quest in a filing in federal court. Her lawyers argue
electronic monitoring and frozen finances would
eliminate any risk of flight. Bongiorno is charged
with conspiracy and securities fraud.
Fiat interested in majority of Chrysler
Fiat,theItaliancarmakerthatowns20%ofChrys-
ler Group, may boost the holding to more than 50%
before the U.S. automaker’s initial public offering,
the companies’ CEO said. “It is possible that we’ll go
over the 50% mark if Chrysler decides to go to the
markets in 2011,” Sergio Marchionne said. Fiat got
the stake as part of Chrysler’s 2009 bankruptcy re-
organization. It expects an additional 15% this year
and has an option to increase the holding to 51%.
Dollar General plans 6,000 new hires
Discount-store operator Dollar General plans to
open 625 new stores and hire more than 6,000
workers in 2011. The company said the store open-
ings will be in 35 states it currently operates in as
well as in three new states: Connecticut, Nevada
and New Hampshire. Dollar General currently op-
erates 9,200 stores and employs 88,000 staffers.
Motorola formalizes split into two units
Motorola’s formal split into two companies today
will mark the final step in the breakup of a consum-
er electronics industry pioneer. The company is
splitting its consumer-oriented side, which makes
cellphones and cable set-top boxes, from the pro-
fessional business of selling police radios and bar-
code scanners to government agencies and large
companies. The new companies, Motorola Mobility
and Motorola Solutions, begin trading today.
Citigroup completes Student Loan sale
Citigroup completed the sale of its Student Loan
Corp. assets to Discover Financial Services and SLM,
also known as Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae bought $27
billion in securitized federal loans and related as-
sets. Discover got the company’s private student
loan business and private student loans and other
assets totaling $4.2 billion. It also bought Student
Loan’s $3.4 billion of asset-backed securitization
funding and other liabilities.
Microsoft says e-mail problems resolved
Microsoft said it has resolved a glitch that caused
some Hotmail users to temporarily lose their e-
mails. A chorus of frantic people posted complaints
to the company’s online message board over the
weekend, saying their messages had disappeared.
Microsoft spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said
that all the affected users have their e-mails back.
From AP and Bloomberg News reports
Companies are doing everything they can do to
get rid of cash — short of hiring people — but the
moola just keeps mounting.
The typical ways companies burn off excess cash,
such as boosting dividends, buying back their own
stock and buying other companies,
are rising. But none of these standard
uses of cash are keeping up with swelling corporate
earnings, resulting in an ever-increasing pile of cash.
The largest U.S. companies in the Standard &
Poor’s 500 index are sitting on a record $902.4 bil-
lion in cash, up 10% from a year earlier, S&P says.
That’s expected to rise to another record when the
sum is tallied for the end of 2010.
That is happening even as companies are taking
the typical steps to dispense cash, including:
uBoosting dividends. Among S&P 500 compa-
nies, 255 increased their dividends in 2010, up
from just 157 in 2009. As a result, companies are
paying investors an additional $20.6 billion a year in
dividends. And it’s expected to continue: Two-
thirds of companies are forecast to pay out more in
dividends in 2011 than in 2010, S&P says.
uBuying back their own stock. Companies in
the S&P 500 spent $79.6 billion during the third
quarter buying up their own shares. That’s an in-
crease of 128% from the same period in 2009. Com-
panies have now boosted stock buybacks for five
consecutive quarters.
Stock buybacks are welcome because they make
each investor’s slice of the company’s profits larger.
About 45 companies in the S&P 500 have bought
back so much stock their earnings per share will get
a 5% lift as profit is spread over fewer shares, says
Howard Silverblatt of S&P.
uBuyouts of other companies. Companies
spent $895 billion buying U.S. companies in 2010,
up 12% from 2009, Dealogic says.
Of course, another big use of cash would be to
hire new employees.
But companies are wise to hold off there for now
as most industries have ample capacity, says Jack
Ablin of Harris Private Bank. “This is not an econo-
my you want to expand in,” he says.
Even so, companies in many cases could afford to
be more aggressive in hiring and boosting divi-
dends than they are, says Jim Paulsen of Wells Cap-
ital Management. CEOs, as with many individuals,
are holding onto “dry powder” so they won’t need
to struggle if the economy sours, he says.
The stockpiling of cash, though a drag now, could
be “our biggest stimulus yet,” once companies start
spending, Paulsen says.
“The biggest stimulus will be the reintroduction
of confidence,” he says.
Companies’ cash stash grows
Stock buybacks, dividends
increase – but not jobs
By Matt Krantz
USA TODAY
Markets
If last year’s International Consumer Electronics
Show was overshadowed by Apple’s about-to-be-
announced tablet computer, the iPad, no-show Ap-
ple will have an even bigger presence this
week in Las Vegas.
Richard Doherty, an independent ana-
lyst at the Envisioneering Group, says that
more than 100 companies will attempt to
ride on Apple’s iPad coattails with their own ver-
sions of a tablet computer. This comes at a time
when Apple is expected to soon announce a sec-
ond version of the iPad, tech analysts say.
Toshiba, Motorola, Research In Motion, Asus, Ac-
er and Vizio are among the companies expected to
unveil tablets at the multiday tech orgy that
is CES. “There’s no question Apple blind-
sided everyone in the industry with the
iPad” last year, says Tim Bajarin, an analyst
at technology research firm Creative Strate-
gies. “Everyone’s playing catch-up.”
CES could attract as many as 140,000 attendees
this year, up from 126,000 in 2010, says Gary Sha-
piro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association,
No boredom here: A
girl stays entertained
with an iPad during a
weather-related shut-
down of Moscow’s Do-
modedovo airport on
Dec. 26.
By Pavel Golovkin, AP
More online
Preview the
10-inch tablet
Toshiba is
announcing at CES at
tech.usatoday.com
Take a look at Toshiba’s
upcoming glasses-free,
3-D laptop at
tech.usatoday.com
Is 2011 the year of the tablet?
Tech companies to play
iPad catch-up at CES
By Jefferson Graham
USA TODAY
Cover
story
Please see COVER STORY next page u
Facebook enters the new year with a cash in-
fusion almost sure to boost it alongside America’s
elite club of the most valuable companies: the likes
of Visa and American Express.
Goldman Sachs and Russian
partner Digital Sky Technologies invested roughly
$500 million in the social-networking site within
the past few days, according to reports from The
New York Times and confirmed by USA TODAY.
That infusion is the latest deal to peg Facebook’s
market value at around $50 billion, a level just 55
publicly traded companies in the U.S. currently
meet or exceed. Facebook’s valuation tops that of
Nike, eBay and Time Warner.
Unlike nearly all the other $50 billion-plus com-
panies, Facebook was founded only seven years
ago. Even 13-year-old Google, valued at $190 bil-
lion, looks like an old-timer next to Facebook. Face-
book and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Facebook continues to be one of the most pop-
ular sites on the Internet, with 500 million users,
says market researcher ComScore. Investors hope
Facebook will give companies a powerful way to
target online advertising to engaged users, says Lou
Kerner, analyst at investment firm Wedbush.
Goldman’s investment isn’t the first to place a
$50 billion value on Facebook. The company was
valued at $56 billion on Dec. 17 after a private on-
line marketplace, SharesPost, conducted an auction
in which 165,000 shares traded for $25 each, says
SharesPost CEO David Weir.
Most investors, though, do not qualify for such
trading because of net worth and income require-
ments. Facebook shares are not available on a major
stock exchange, and it has thus far avoided going
public through an initial public offering. Regulators,
though, require large companies to register their
stock and provide financial statements once they
have 500 or more shareholders.
Facebook is a private company, so financial state-
ments are not publicly available. But if reports of
the company’s revenue being $2 billion last year are
correct, investors are paying 25 times revenue, well
above the seven times revenue Google trades for,
says Ira Cohen, managing director for investment
banking firm Signal Hill.
That means Facebook must meet high expecta-
tions for investors to make money. “The history of
companies with extremely high valuations is that
upside is limited,” says Jay Ritter, professor of fi-
nance at the University of Florida.
Goldman Sachs invests $500M in Facebook
It’s the second deal to estimate
social site’s value at about $50B
By Matt Krantz
USA TODAY
uMyspace layoffs could be afoot, 7A
Technology
Bank of America said it agreed Monday to pay
$2.8 billion to taxpayer-funded Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac to settle claims that it sold the mort-
gage giants bad home loans.
The agreement is the biggest
so far between Fannie and Fred-
die and lenders that sold them loans during the
subprime lending boom and before standards were
tightened.
More such agreements are likely as Fannie and
Freddie, which now buy about two-thirds of all
home loans, then package and sell them to in-
vestors with a promise to cover losses, seek restitu-
tion for loans that they say failed to meet their un-
derwriting standards. “All major banks will have
something similar,” says Guy Cecala of Inside Mort-
gage Finance.
The financial industry may face about $52 billion
in costs from such mortgage claims, according to a
consensus of Wall Street analyst estimates. While
the costs will be huge, Monday’s agreement un-
derscores that they “won’t put banks out of busi-
ness,” Cecala says.
BofA shares rose 6.4% Monday to $14.19. The
agreement deals with loans originated by Country-
wide Financial, one of the largest subprime lenders.
BofA acquired it in 2008.
The cost to BofA, the nation’s largest bank and
mortgage servicer, was in line with most Wall
Street estimates, which reduced fears among in-
vestors that costs could go much higher for the
whole industry, says Paul Miller, banking analyst at
FBR Capital Markets. He says the agreement also
sets the “ground rules” for future deals.
Fannie and Freddie, which were taken over by
the government more than two years ago, may get
more restitution than private investors, Cecala says,
because lenders need the mortgage giants to con-
tinue to buy their loans.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which reg-
ulates Fannie and Freddie, said the BofA agree-
ments — and a recent deal in which Ally Financial
agreedtopay$462milliontoFannieMaeforsimilar
claims — return $3.3 billion to taxpayers.
The BofA agreement resolves the bulk of BofA’s
exposure to Fannie and Freddie. But it still faces po-
tential liabilities from mortgages it sold to private
investors. In a statement, BofA CEO Brian Moynihan
said that one of the bank’s main goals is to “put
these issues behind us.”
As part of the deal, BofA made a $1.28 billion
cash payment to Freddie Mac. It paid Fannie Mae
$1.52 billion.
BofA to pay Fannie, Freddie $2.8B in mortgage case
More such restitution payments
from lenders, banks are expected
By Julie Schmit
USA TODAY
Banking
Track the major market indexes updated
continuously throughout the day at
money.usatoday.com
How’s the market doing today?
Sprint 4G Network reaches 55 markets and counting, on select devices. ©2010 Sprint. Sprint and the logo are trademarks
of Sprint. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The smartphone ranked
#1 by PCWorld.
sprint.com/epic
September 9, 2010
6 mos.
New York rates Mon Fri ago Yr. ago
Australian dollar 0.9811 0.9765 1.1873 1.1145
British pound1
0.6455 0.6414 0.6582 0.6192
Canadian dollar 0.9917 0.9957 1.0641 1.0531
Chinese yuan 6.5946 6.5920 6.7751 6.8280
Euro2
0.7483 0.7481 0.7966 0.6980
Hong Kong dollar 7.7694 7.7730 7.7942 7.7551
Indian rupee 44.683 44.683 46.729 46.410
Israeli shekel 3.5461 3.5515 3.9093 3.7910
Japanese yen 81.65 81.21 87.73 92.34
Mexican peso 12.2560 12.3467 13.0850 13.0730
Norwegian krone 5.8282 5.8285 6.4433 5.7935
Singapore dollar 1.2841 1.2844 1.3933 1.4051
South African rand 6.6203 6.6107 7.7640 7.3889
South Korean won 1124.10 1119.80 1228.00 1163.90
Swedish krona 6.7024 6.7114 7.6278 7.1531
Swiss franc 0.9330 0.9338 1.0645 1.0355
Taiwan dollar 29.13 29.15 32.26 32.00
1 – pound per dollar; 2 – euro per dollar:
The Dollar
Rates for trades of $1 million minimum
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7. USA TODAY · WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 · 7A
which stages CES. CEA expects total electronics
sales, including everything from TVs and comput-
ers to video games and Blu-ray players, to top
$182 billion in the United States.
“The show is off the charts,” he says. “Consumers
are having a love affair with technology. Even in a
recession, they didn’t cut back.”
The iPad was the best-reviewed tech product of
the year, and created a new category in tablet com-
puting, with a portable entertainment device that
ditched the keyboard for a touch-screen and made
it more fun to watch movies and TV shows, play
games and read books.
Gartner expects sales of tablets — the iPad and
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab — to top 20 million units in
2010, growing to more than 60 million in 2011.
Helping the companies with their tablets is Apple
competitor Google, whose Android operating sys-
tem has overtaken the iPhone as the fastest-grow-
ing platform for smartphones. A version of Android
created for phones is being used for many of the
new tablets. But Bajarin and other tech analysts say
it isn’t yet powerful enough to run larger tablets.
“Many of them will barely run,” says Doherty.
“Consumers will be very upset.”
If 2011 is the “year of the tablet,” as many are ex-
pecting, “It won’t begin to happen until the third
quarter,” when Google is expected to release its
new, more powerful Android, called Honeycomb,
Bajarin says.
Tablets from Toshiba and Motorola, for instance,
won’t be introduced until the second half of the
year. “We’re waiting for Google,” says Toshiba Vice
President Jeff Barney. He won’t release his new 10-
inch Toshiba tablet (expected price: about $499)
until Honeycomb is ready for release, because the
extra power is needed to run the unit, he says.
Omar Khan, chief strategy officer for Samsung’s
mobile division, which released the Galaxy Tab in
November, says Android 2.3 has worked fine for his
tablet, which has a 7-inch screen. “We proved we
could provide a very compelling tablet experience,”
he says. The Honeycomb release “will only further
enhance the experience” on bigger tablets, he says.
Flash comes up again
Many iPad clones are expected to follow in the
Galaxy Tab’s footsteps, offering what consumers
saw as important omissions in the current iPad.
The Tab and Toshiba’s Tablet, for instance, have
two cameras for video and photos, a USB port and a
slot for SD memory cards for photos. They work
with Adobe Flash software, which is used to play
more than 75% of online video.
Apple doesn’t support Flash for the iPad, iPhone
or iPod Touch for various reasons. (Apple CEO Steve
Jobs says Flash is “buggy.”) So consumers using Ap-
ple mobile products aren’t able to view video-
heavy sites such as Nickelodeon’s Nick.com and
most websites from car manufacturers, which use
Flash extensively.
“One of the reasons the iPad was so popular is
because so many iPhone users already knew how
to operate it, since it has the same operating sys-
tem,” Barney says. “They didn’t have to relearn the
navigation system. The same is true with Android:
They already know it.”
Google declined to comment for this story. But at
a recent industry conference in San Francisco, Andy
Rubin, a Google vice president who runs the An-
droid division, showed a prototype of the upcoming
Motorola tablet which, unlike the iPad, had no but-
tons on the device. All directions are done via
touch-screen. Even though the iPad has just one
button — the home button — “You still get a little
lost,” Rubin said.
Rubin said Google has worked closely with tablet
manufacturers to come up with software that can
work more efficiently with tablets. “We’re not in
the business to build just one tablet.”
Is smaller better?
In competing with Apple, Samsung’s Khan says
the biggest selling points have been offering a
smaller tablet computer “that fits in the pocket”
and being part of the Android family. “There’s a sig-
nificant community that’s using Android on the
phone.”
But not all device manufacturers are working
with Google. Research In Motion’s PlayBook will
use its own BlackBerry operating system.
Hewlett-Packard, which bought longtime device
manufacturer Palm for $1.2 billion in 2010, is ex-
pected to show off a new tablet at CES using Palm’s
WebOS system.
And Microsoft, which has been shut out of the
tablet market even though the original concept was
touted by co-founder Bill Gates in the 1990s, is ex-
pected to show — but not offer for sale — a new line
of tablets powered by Windows.
But the 1,000-pound gorilla at CES will be the
product that isn’t there: Apple’s sequel to the origi-
nal iPad, which could be announced within days or
weeks of the event.
A new iPad isn’t a stretch. The company histori-
cally refreshes its lines with new features every
year.
Several tech blogs have spent the holidays spec-
ulating on what the new iPad will look like.
The sequel is expected to have most of the new
features that will be touted by rivals, except for
Flash. They include a camera for photos and video;
a slightly smaller, thinner design; and a sharper
Retina display, like 2010’s iPhone 4.
Is Apple CEO Jobs worried about the competi-
tion?
Apparently not.
On a recent conference call with analysts, Jobs
predicted that the new tabs would be “dead on ar-
rival.” The chief problem, he said, is that many com-
peting devices will look too similar to the iPad and
be too small — most with a 7-inch screen. “Seven-
inch tablets are tweeners — too big to be a phone
and too small to compete with the iPad,” he said.
Time will tell if Jobs is right.
Coverstory
3-D TV:Industry makes adjustments
At last year’s CES, the buzz was about bringing
the third dimension to the living room, complete
with battery-powered glasses selling for $150 to
$200 a pair.
Sales weren’t as strong as manufacturers and re-
tailers had hoped. So the industry is trying to im-
prove on its offerings this year.
Those glasses that worked only with a specific
TV and needed to be charged? Gone.
Many new TVs on display will use what’s called
“passive” glasses that can even work at your local
movie theater. (Battery-operated glasses are called
“active.”)
And what if you don’t want to wear glasses
while watching 3-D? Toshiba will show off 3-D TVs
and even a 3-D laptop that can be viewed without
glasses.
But 3-D isn’t targeted only for TVs. A new Nin-
tendo gaming system, the Nintendo 3DS, is set for
a March release. And Sharp is releasing a 3-D
phone in Japan. Both might be seen at CES as well.
Connected TVs:Look for built-in Web access
There were few positive reviews last year for
Google TV, which promised to bring the complete
Web to the living room, via new TVs and Blu-ray
players from Sony and a set-top box from Logitech.
Google TV is taking a back seat at CES, as Google
attempts to get it right.
But new TVs from LG, Samsung, Panasonic and
others — which offer more-limited Internet access,
for example, to specific channels such as YouTube
and Netflix — will be featured. Set-top boxes that
bring the Internet to the TV, such as Apple TV and
Roku, get a lot of attention.
But TVs with built-in Web access, such as Pana-
sonic’s Viera line and LG’s Netcast TVs, are “the
primary gravy train for retailers in TV,” says Rich-
ard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group.
“They’re more profitable,” he says, “and (retail-
ers) love them.”
Digital cameras:Smaller, more powerful
Many manufacturers now introduce their digital
cameras at CES instead of at the Photo Marketing
Association convention in February.
Samsung has already announced two new mod-
els. The $649 NX11, a compact SLR, lets photog-
raphers use their left hand to easily adjust expo-
sure and other functions, while keeping their grip
with the right hand. Its $300 WB700 is a point-
and-shoot with a 16-megapixel sensor.
Kodak has the new EasyShare Mini, which it
says is its smallest ever — about the “size of a cred-
it card” — and available in spring for $99.95.
Canon, Panasonic, Nikon and Olympus will also ex-
hibit at CES.
Autos:More Web behind the wheel
Each year at CES, we see more ways to bring the
Internet into the auto, for tools such as navigation
and entertainment. This year, expect more as Ford
Motor CEO Alan Mulally and Audi CEO Rupert Sta-
dler talk about tech plans in speeches.
— By Jefferson Graham
Tech firms strut their stuff at CES
The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off the new year with a sneak peek at products that will be on
retailers’ shelves in the spring and fall. The show brings together most of the top manufacturers — in-
cluding Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Samsung and others — to strut their stuff with their latest and greatest.
Here’s some of what you’ll see this week:
Android
plays a role
in tablet
mania
Continued from 6A
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
Toshiba’s turn: Vice President Jeff Barney shows
the Toshiba tablet, expected to arrive in mid-2011.
LG
LG Smart TV: Has a Wii-like remote.
Business Wire
Samsung NX11: Easy-to-handle compact SLR.
Sony
3-D TV: Sellers try to boost interest.
Myspace’s 1,100 employees are bracing for a
round of layoffs that could slash hundreds of jobs.
Sources close to the sagging social-networking
company, which has been battered by the meteoric
rise of Facebook, say the cutbacks are imminent but
had no other specifics. The sources asked not to be
named because they’re not authorized to speak on
behalf of Myspace. Myspace spokeswoman Laurie
Spindler declined to comment.
The Beverly Hills-based company, which is
owned by News Corp., has burned through CEOs,
performed a couple of face lifts on its design, even
signed a content-sharing
deal with Facebook to
reinvigorate its flagging
audience. But the compa-
ny’s latest machinations haven’t done the trick, the
sources and analysts say.
Myspace’s audience melted to 81.5 million mem-
bers in November 2010 from 108.1 million in No-
vember2009,accordingtomarketresearcherCom-
Score. In the past year, Facebook zoomed to 500
million members from about 350 million.
“The end was in sight” before former CEO Chris
DeWolfe left in 2009, says Jeremiah Owyang, an
analyst at market research firm Altimeter Group.
“They didn’t innovate for years, while Facebook did.
It comes down to culture and leadership. Myspace
did not evolve its business model. It stuck with its
young demographic, and made minimal changes
until it was too late.”
The fall is particularly humbling for Myspace,
which once was king of the hill in the social-
networking world. It lost its mojo several years ago
when Facebook became available to everyone, and
it continues to suffer at the hands of Facebook and
others, including Twitter and Yelp. Owyang openly
wonders if Facebook — flush with cash — might ap-
proach News Corp. about scooping up Myspace and
consolidating an otherwise crowded market.
Facebook has reportedly raised another $500
million in funding from Goldman Sachs and a Rus-
sian investor. The investments have helped balloon
Facebook’s valuation to an astounding $50 billion —
more than Yahoo, eBay or Time Warner.
An initial public offering could be in the offing in
2012, some analysts suggest.
By Jon Swartz
Feats of derring-do make comeback?
Game: Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror — Re-
mastered
Devices: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Price: $6.99
Rated: 3 out of 4
The Apple iPad might single-handedly save ad-
venture games.
Popularized in the 1990s, point-and-click adven-
ture games challenged computer players to unravel
astorybytalkingwithcharactersforcluesandsolv-
ing puzzles. But despite somewhat strong sales in
Europe and a few North American successes, the
genre has all but petered out in the past decade.
Now it’s making a comeback on iOS devices. One
recent debut is Revolution Software’s Broken Sword
on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, a mobile version of
the PC and Sony PlayStation game from 1997.
In case you never played the original, this 2-D
graphic adventure follows George Stobbart (in-
troduced in the first Broken Sword game, released in
’96), who witnesses the kidnapping of his journalist
girlfriend, Nicole. He embarks on a journey to save
her, and while doing so, uncovers an epic conspira-
cy surrounding a forthcoming solar eclipse.
The game also features an exclusive interactive
comic from Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons,
enhanced graphics and animated facial expressions.
By Marc Saltzman
Many layoffs at Myspace could be coming soon
Social-networking site’s
membership has fallen
News, gadgets and games at tech.usatoday.com
Broken Sword: Point-and-click adventure games
such as this are set up for iPad, iPhone and Touch.
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