Friday, 28 May 2010

Andy Murray beats Marcos Baghdatis at French Open

Tough 3 days--hope it won't take toll!
clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
Andy Murray beats Marcos Baghdatis at French Open
Andy Murray
Murray was made to work his socks off on Court Suzanne Lenglen
Andy Murray recovered from a dreadful third set to beat 25th seed Marcos Baghdatis on Court Suzanne Lenglen and secure a place in the last 16 at the French Open.

The 23-year-old Briton returned to the scene of his epic four-hour first-round win over Richard Gasquet and this time came through 6-2 6-3 0-6 6-2 in two hours 33 minutes.

Murray will meet Tomas Berdych in the fourth round after the Czech Republic 15th seed enjoyed a straight-sets win over American John Isner, ranked 17.

After requiring a fairly tortuous rain-hit two days before seeing off Juan Ignacio Chela on Thursday evening, Murray was back on court 20 hours later to face Baghdatis.

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Wednesday, 26 May 2010

BBC News - Facebook reveals 'simplified' privacy changes

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg said the changes were necessary

Social network Facebook has said it will offer a one-stop shop for privacy settings in response to user concerns.

Mark Zuckerberg admitted the settings had "gotten complex" for users.

It follows a storm of protest from users over a series of changes on the site that left its members unsure about how public their information had become.

"We needed to simplify controls," he told a press conference.

The new system will offer users one privacy page with a list of all their applications and a choice of three settings for each.

The redesigned privacy page allows users to see all their information in one grid and apply privacy settings to each. Facebook will suggest defaults.

As with the changes made in December, users will be able to choose to share their applications with just friends, friends of friends or everyone.

"We've focused on three things: a single control for your content, more powerful controls for your basic information and an easy control to turn off all applications," said Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters.

Analysis

Continue reading the main story
Rory Cellan-Jones
Technology correspondent, BBC News

On the face of it, Mark Zuckerberg has delivered on his promise to make the privacy settings simpler.

One button which will change everything is certainly an advance on what went before.

There's also the opportunity to opt out completely from sneding your data out of Facebook to other applications.

But questions remain - the recommended setting still look designed to encourage users to share just about everything.

And I'm still working out just how I can stop my list of friends being visible to the whole world. Experience shows that every change at Facebook seems innocuous at first - and creeps up later to bite some users and the company itself.

Q&A: Facebook privacy changes

People who want more "granular control" will still be able to access existing settings.

Facebook has also reduced the amount of information that is visible to everyone. People will now be able to control who sees their interest pages and friends lists.

Users will also be able to turn off applications to ensure no information is shared without consent.

One of the things users found complicated was the need to apply new settings to every new feature introduced on the site.

From today, whatever setting users choose for "Sharing on Facebook" will now automatically be applied to any new products.

Initial reactions to the changes questioned whether Facebook had gone far enough.

Big battle

"The vast majority of people don't use privacy settings so the reforms are not likely to have as great an impact," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International.

"If the default is for less information then we've really made a step forward," he said.

With European privacy commissioners calling for companies to set defaults for the minimum sharing of information, the big battle could be "yet to come", he warned.

"That's where the rubber hits the road at a legal level."

Andrew Walls, a research director at Gartner wondered how the changes would affect Facebook's business model.

"Some questions not really answered were issues around the sharing of personal data with advertisers for doing targeted ads based on profile content. That's a tricky one - how do you make money if you can't sell targeted ads? How do you compete with Google?"

"They want sufficient privacy to attract users into service and take advantage of it but some sharing of data is also required in order for Facebook to make money," he said.

Mr Zuckerberg said that developers had "worked weekends, camped out in the conference centre" in order to overhaul its privacy settings.

"The number one thing we've heard to that the settings have gotten complex and hard for people to use," he said.

"It is something we take very seriously," he added.

He spent time explaining how Facebook has evolved from a very basic system when it was launched in 2004 to the 400m user site it is today.

"When we started Facebook, we built it around a few simple ideas. People want to share and stay connected with their friends and the people around them. When you have control over what you share, you want to share more. When you share more, the world becomes more open and connected," he said.

But since then the site has rolled out hundreds of new features and, alongside them, a raft a privacy settings.

Changes made to the site earlier this year and in December 2009 infuriated users and led to formal complaints from privacy groups.

The European Commission described the changes as "unacceptable".

Are you a Facebook user? What is your view on the new privacy settings?

AT LAST!

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Monday, 24 May 2010

Thieves ransack Leeds Rhinos star Ryan Bailey's home

Depressing!
clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
Leeds Rhinos player Ryan Bailey said he was "devastated" after his four Super League title winners rings were stolen from his family home.
Ryan Bailey celebrating at last year's final

Burglars removed glass from a door to gain access to Bailey's home in Stanningley on Sunday as the Rhinos played against Bradford Bulls at Odsal.

The four rings were among jewellery stolen during the burglary.

Bailey said he was "devastated" as the rings held "some very special memories" for him.

The rings are presented to each member of the Grand Final winning team at Old Trafford and have a distinctive design incorporating the 'S' logo of the Super League.

Bailey is one of only seven players to have played in all four of the Rhinos' successes since 2004.

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Sunday, 23 May 2010

Bradford Bulls 12-26 Leeds Rhinos

Wonderful game,if strewn with mistakes!
clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
Bradford Bulls 12-26 Leeds Rhinos
Scrum-half Danny McGuire ran in a hat-trick as Leeds saw off Bradford Bulls in the West Yorkshire derby at Odsal.
Danny McGuire

After being stung by second row Elliott Whitehead's early try, Leeds responded by half-time to lead 14-8 thanks to two from McGuire and one from Keith Senior.

Leeds scrum-half Danny McGuire took his season's tally of tries to 12

Paul Sykes had kept his side in touch with two first-half penalties, but Leeds stretched clear after the break.

Brett Delaney's early second-half try was followed by the clincher from McGuire for his hat-trick on the hour.

McGuire' illustrated Leeds' clinical finishing, in stark contrast to the Bulls' inability to take their chances in slipping to only their second defeat in eight matches.

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Friday, 21 May 2010

Winger Scott Donald is back after injury for Leeds

Hope LEEDS can continue with recent improvement!
clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
Leeds winger Scott Donald will make his comeback after three months out following shoulder surgery in Sunday's derby against Bradford at Odsal.

The 30-year-old Australian has missed the last 13 matches after picking up the injury in Leeds' fourth game of the season against Salford in February.

Scott Donald
Scott Donald first arrived at Headingley in 2006 from Manly Sea Eagles

"The medical staff have been brilliant with me and made sure that my shoulder has fully recovered," said Donald.

"I'm not the best spectator so it's been tough having to watch."

Donald's return will help the champions offset the loss of full-back Brent Webb for the next two games due to suspension.

Meanwhile, Leeds have extended the loan spell of young hooker Paul McShane at Super League rivals Hull for another week to enable him to face Castleford on Sunday.

McShane has played the last three matches for the Black and Whites following the loss of Shaun Berrigan.

But the 20-year-old's initial month-long loan period expired this week.

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Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Spotify undercuts itself - The Inquirer

ONLINE MUSIC SERVICE Spotify has cut its subscription fee in half in the hope of luring punters.

When it was launched, Spotify was hailed as the music industry's saviour, as if it needed one. Since all four of the major record labels took control of Spotify, the one size fits all £10 per month subscription model has deterred users from signing up. To fill in the gap between its paid and free service, the firm has introduced a £5 a month "Unlimited" service.

The new tariff gives users unlimited access to the firm's seven million song library without adverts. However in a bid to avoid cannibalising its original £10 per month service, Spotify will not allow access from mobile devices or the ability to listen to music when offline in its Unlimited service. So it's a somewhat limited, er, Unlimited service, really.

To further diminish the quality of its half price service, Spotify doesn't offer what it claims is "enhanced quality sound", that is, a stream with a bitrate of 320kbps. At press time, Spotify had not responded to our request to reveal the bitrate it will offer in its Unlimited service.

In recent months, Spotify has come under criticism for shafting artists, paying them next to nothing despite hours of airplay. The firm retorted by saying that as its service increases in popularity, the richer artists will become.

This latest price cut could, if Spotify is to be believed, help artists as well as itself. ยต

Interesting move!

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