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NEW YORK, Sept 23, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq: RATE) announced today it has acquired Bankaholic, a Web site owned by Blackshore Properties, Inc. Bankaholic provides rate information on savings products, such as certificates of deposit, savings accounts, and money market accounts, as well as insurance quotes and a comparison of the best credit card offers, which are currently powered by Bankrate. In addition, Bankaholic offers consumers advice and information that allows consumers to comment and rate banks and their promotions through social networking features. Bankrate paid $12.4 million for Bankaholic, with up to an additional $2.5 million earn-out payment available for the attainment of certain performance metrics in the next 12 months.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040122/FLTHLOGO )

“We have been working with Bankaholic in a co-brand relationship since July and have seen first-hand the volume and quality of its traffic,” stated Thomas R. Evans, President and CEO of Bankrate. “Bankaholic is ranked high in natural search for both deposit and credit card keywords. We believe their organic traffic will increase our deposit and credit card revenue, and with a high composition of free traffic, will help to improve margins,” Mr. Evans added.

Bankrate will take over the operation and management of the Bankaholic Web site immediately. John Wu, the founder of Bankaholic, is the sole employee and will work with the company for a specified period of time during the transition.

Bankrate will hold a brief conference call today at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the Bankaholic acquisition and provide an update of the current state of the company’s business.

Conference Call Dial-In Information:

To participate in the teleconference please dial: (913) 312-1483. International callers should dial: (888) 245-0987. Please access the call at least 10 minutes prior to the time the conference is set to begin.

Conference Call Replay Information:

A replay of the conference call will be available beginning September 23, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT through October 6, 2008. To listen to the replay, call (719) 457-0820 and use the pass code: 7324962. International callers should dial (888) 203-1112 and enter the pass code: 7324962.

About Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq: RATE)

The Bankrate network of companies includes Bankrate.com, Interest.com, Mortgage-calc.com, Nationwide Card Services, Savingforcollege.com, Fee Disclosure and InsureMe. Each of these businesses helps consumers to make informed decisions about their personal finance matters. The company’s flagship brand, Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes, debt management and college finance. Bankrate.com is the leading aggregator of rates and other information on more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees. Bankrate.com reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in 575 markets in 50 states. In 2007, Bankrate.com had nearly 60 million unique visitors. Bankrate.com provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 75 partners, including Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), America Online (NYSE: TWX), The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT). Bankrate.com’s information is also distributed through more than 500 newspapers.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

Certain matters included in the discussion above may be considered to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company and members of our management team. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements made with respect to future revenue, revenue growth, market acceptance of our products, and profitability. Investors and prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward- looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the following: the willingness of our advertisers to advertise on our web site, interest rate volatility, our ability to establish and maintain distribution arrangements, our ability to integrate the operations and realize the expected benefits of businesses that we have acquired and may acquire in the future, our ability to maintain the confidence of our advertisers by detecting click-through fraud or unscrupulous advertisers, the effect of unexpected liabilities we assume from our acquisitions, the effects of expanding our operations internationally, the ability of consumers to access our Online Network through non-PC devices, our ability to manage traffic on our Online Network and service interruptions, increased competition and its effect on traffic, advertising rates, margins and market share, our ability to protect our intellectual property, the effects of facing liability for content on our Online Network, the concentration of ownership of our common stock, the fluctuations of our results of operations from period to period, the accuracy of our financial statement estimates and assumptions, our ability to adapt to technological changes, the impact of legislative or regulatory changes affecting our business, changes in consumer spending and saving habits, changes in accounting principles, policies, practices or guidelines, effects of changes in the stock market and other capital markets, the strength of the United States economy in general. These and additional important factors to be considered are set forth under “Introductory Note,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and in the other sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results or expectations.

    For more information contact:     Bruce J. Zanca     SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer     bzanca@bankrate.com     (917) 368-8648

Resources: News Provided by COMTEX

SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.

http://www.bankrate.com

Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Simpson, who went from American sports idol to celebrity-in-exile after his murder acquittal, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

His attorney said he would appeal.

Many people considered the four-week trial justice delayed. Simpson was cleared in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in one of the most sensational trials of the 20th century, but was later found liable for the deaths in a civil case.

“I don’t like to use the word payback,” defense attorney Yale Galanter said. “I can tell you from the beginning my biggest concern … was whether or not the jury would be able to separate their very strong feelings about Mr. Simpson and judge him fairly and honestly.”

The Hall of Fame football star was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for gathering up five men a year ago and storming into a room at a hotel-casino, where the group seized several game balls, plaques and photos. Prosecutors said two of the men with him were armed; one of them said Simpson asked him to bring a gun.

Simpson’s co-defendant, Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, 54, also was found guilty on all charges and taken into custody.

Simpson showed little emotion as officers handcuffed him and walked him out of the courtroom. His sister, Carmelita Durio, sobbed behind him in the arms of Simpson’s friend, Tom Scotto, who said “I love you” as Simpson passed by. As spectators left the courtroom, Durio collapsed.

Jurors made no eye contact with the defendants as they entered the courtroom. They declined to answer questions after the verdict was read.

Galanter said his client had expected the outcome, and in a courthouse conversation with an Associated Press reporter on Thursday, Simpson had implied as much.

Simpson said he was “afraid that I won’t get to go to my kids’ college graduations after I managed to get them through college.”

Galanter said it was not a happy day for anybody. “His only hope is the appellate process,” he said.

Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said prosecutors would not comment until the case was “completely resolved.”

Judge Jackie Glass made no comment other than to thank the jury for its service and to deny motions for the defendants to be released on bail.

She refused to give the lawyers extended time to file a motion for new trial, which under Nevada law must be filed within seven days. The attorneys said they needed time to submit a voluminous record.

“I’ve sat through the trial,” Glass said. “If you want a motion for new trial, send me something.”

Stewart’s attorney, Brent Bryson, also promised to appeal.

“If there was ever a case that should have been severed in the history of jurisprudence, it’s this case,” he said of unsuccessful attempts to separate Stewart’s case from Simpson’s because of the “spillover” effect.

From the beginning, Simpson and his lawyers argued the incident was not a robbery, but an attempt to reclaim mementos that had been stolen from him. He said he did not ask anyone to bring a weapon and did not see any guns.

The defense portrayed Simpson as a victim of shady characters who wanted to make a buck off his famous name, and police officers who saw his arrest as an opportunity to “get” him and avenge his acquittal.

Prosecutors said Simpson’s ownership of the memorabilia was irrelevant; it was still a crime to try to take things by force.

“When they went into that room and forced the victims to the far side of the room, pulling out guns and yelling, `Don’t let anybody out of here!’ — six very large people detaining these two victims in the room with the intent to take property through force or violence from them — that’s kidnapping,” prosecutor David Roger said.

Kidnapping is punishable by five years to life in prison. Armed robbery carries a mandatory sentence of at least two years behind bars, and could bring as much as 30. Sentencing was set for Dec. 5.

Simpson, who now lives in Miami, did not testify but was heard on a recording of the confrontation screaming that the dealers had stolen his property. “Don’t let nobody out of this room,” he declared and told the other men to scoop up his items, which included a photo of Simpson with former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Four other men charged in the case struck plea bargains that saved them from potential prison sentences in return for their testimony. Some of them had criminal records or were otherwise compromised in some way. One, for example, was an alleged pimp who testified he had a revelation from God telling him to take a plea bargain.

Memorabilia dealer Thomas Riccio, who arranged and secretly recorded the hotel-room confrontation, said he netted $210,000 from the media for the tapes.

Similarly, minutes after the Sept. 13, 2007, incident, one of the alleged victims, sports-memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley, was calling news outlets, and the other, Bruce Fromong, spoke of getting “big money” from the case.

Simpson’s past haunted the case. Las Vegas police officers were heard in the recordings chuckling over Simpson’s misfortune and crowing that if Los Angeles couldn’t “get” him, they would.

During jury selection, Simpson’s lawyers expressed fears that people who believed he got away with murder might see this case as a chance to right a wrong.

As a result, an usually large pool of 500 potential jurors was called, and they were given a 26-page questionnaire. Half were almost instantly eliminated after expressing strong feelings that Simpson should have been convicted of murder.

The judge instructed the jurors to put aside Simpson’s earlier case.

In closing arguments, Galanter acknowledged that what Simpson did to recover his memorabilia was not right. “But being stupid, and being frustrated is not being a criminal,” he said.

He added: “This case has taken on a life of its own because of Mr. Simpson’s involvement. You know that. I know that. Every cooperator, every person who had a gun, every person who had an ulterior motive, every person who signed a book deal, every person who got paid money, the police, the district attorney’s office, is only interested in one thing: Mr. Simpson.”

Associated Press writers Ken Ritter and Kathleen Hennessey contributed to this report.

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China astronauts braced for walk

The spacecraft is now in a stable, circular orbit

China’s three astronauts have spent their first day in orbit preparing for the mission’s spacewalk.

Resources: BBC News 

A 42-year-old fighter pilot, Zhai Zhigang, is due to carry out the 20-minute manoeuvre at 1630 Beijing Time (0830 GMT) on Saturday.

It will be the first time Chinese yuhangyuan (astronauts) have ventured outside their spacecraft.

Their Shenzhou VII capsule soared into orbit on a Long March II-F rocket from Jiuquan spaceport in north-west China.

The rocket put the Shenzhou capsule in a near-circular orbit more than 300km above the Earth.

Mr Zhai is joined on the mission by two other “yuhangyuan” - Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng.

The astronauts have been training in a water tank

Zhang Jianqi, one of the chief engineers for China’s space programme, said keeping three men in the spacecraft, and then sending one outside, would be a “big test”.

“This is a big technological leap,” he told state-run news agency Xinhua.

“The risks are quite high. Sending up three astronauts is a jump both in quantity and quality.”

When Mr Zhai carries out his extra-vehicular activity (EVA), he is expected to wear a Chinese-made spacesuit thought to have cost between £5m and £20m ($10m-$40m).

1958: Base for spaceflights built at Jiuquan, in Gobi desert April 1970: China launches its first satellite into space 1990-2002: Shenzhou I-IV are launched to develop systems Oct 2003: The first manned space mission launches on Shenzhou V Oct 2005: The Shenzhou VI mission takes two men into space Oct 2007: Chang’e-1 orbiter sent on unmanned mission to the Moon

The yuhanguan will be tethered to the capsule with a cable that provides him with life support and a communications link with the spacecraft.

His back-up, Mr Liu, will monitor the activity, presumably to reel the spacewalker back inside if there is an emergency.

Mr Zhai will retrieve an externally mounted experiment and oversee the release of a satellite.

During their 68 hours in orbit, the astronauts will be able to enjoy an unprecedented choice of food. The menu includes spicy chicken with peanuts, shrimps and dry fruits.

“We have tried to make them taste like stir-fried dishes they have on Earth,” Chen Bin, who is in charge of food for the astronauts, told state-run news agency Xinhua.

At the end of the mission, the Shenzhou re-entry capsule will target a landing in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

China became only the third nation after the United States and Russia to independently put a man in space when Yang Liwei, another fighter pilot, went into orbit on the Shenzhou V mission in October 2003.

Two years later, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng completed a five-day flight on Shenzhou VI.

According to the Associated Press, Xinhua posted an article on its website prior to the lift-off that was written as if Shenzhou VII had already been launched into space.

China’s Shenzhou VII rocket blasts off

The article reportedly carried a date of 27 September and came complete with a dialogue between the astronauts.

Chinese media report that this latest mission is the “most critical step” in the country’s “three-step” space programme.

These stages are: sending a human into orbit, docking spacecraft together to form a small laboratory and, ultimately, building a large space station.

The Shenzhou VIII and IX missions are expected to help set up a space laboratory complex in 2010.

China launched an unmanned Moon probe last year about one month after rival Japan blasted its own lunar orbiter into space. ]]> http://jotting.org/2008/09/26/china-astronauts-braced-for-walk/feed/ http://jotting.org/2008/09/26/bush-scrambles-to-save-700b-bailout-plan/ http://jotting.org/2008/09/26/bush-scrambles-to-save-700b-bailout-plan/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:44:41 +0000 admin http://jotting.org/2008/09/26/bush-scrambles-to-save-700b-bailout-plan/ Bush scrambles to save $700B bailout plan

By CHARLES BABINGTON from Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush scrambled Friday to bring rebellious members of his own party behind a multibillion-dollar government bailout of the financial system amid bitter political recriminations from both Democrats and Republicans over collapsed negotiations.

Bush delivered a terse statement from outside the Oval Office of the White House, acknowledging that lawmakers have a right to express their doubts and work through disagreements, but declaring they must “rise to the occasion” and approve a plan to avert an economic meltdown.

“There are disagreements over aspects of the rescue plan,” he said, “but there is no disagreement that something substantial must be done. We are going to get a package passed.”

On Wall Street, the level of institutional nervousness was palpable, especially after Washington Mutual Inc. became the largest U.S. bank to fail. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 100 points, while fears of a deepening economic crisis fed safe-haven buying in Treasury notes.

Earlier Friday, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank declared that an agreement depends on House Republicans “dropping this revolt” against the Bush-requested plan.

The Massachusetts Democrat said leading Democrats on Capitol Hill were shocked by the level of divisiveness that surfaced at Thursday’s extraordinary White House meeting, leaving six days of intensive efforts to agree on a bailout plan in tatters only hours after key congressional players of both parties had declared they were in accord on the outlines of a $700 billion bill.

Bush decided to speak, and also was in constant contact with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was returning to talks with lawmakers, White House press secretary Dana Perino said. Vice President Dick Cheney canceled planned travel Friday to New Mexico and Wyoming to remain in Washington and jawbone lawmakers.

And the campaign season’s first face-to-face debate between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, scheduled for Friday night, was still in doubt.

Frank said he did not think that Democrats were going to see a substantially different proposal from the plan the administration has been trying to sell to lawmakers and which had been the focal point of closed-door talks for days. He called the rival proposal being pushed by House conservative Republicans “an ambush plan.”

Participants in a meeting late Thursday afternoon that Bush had at the White House with congressional leaders, McCain and Obama said that it descended into arguments. Disagreements were so deep-seated that some lawmakers wondered aloud just who — and how many — would show up for the resumption of talks, presumably Friday morning, at the Capitol.

“I didn’t know I was going to be the referee for an internal GOP ideological civil war,” Frank, D-Mass., said on CBS’s “The Early Show.”

Democrats put the responsiblity on Bush for getting a rescue package back on track.

“We need to get the president to get the Republican House in order,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor. “Without Republican cooperation, we cannot pass this bill.”

Schumer said Bush should also “respectfully tell Sen. McCain to get out of town. He is not helping, he is harming. Before Sen. McCain made his announcment, we were making progress.” Schumer was referring to McCain’s announcement earlier in the week that he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington for the negotiations on the financial industry crisis.

McCain met briefly Friday morning with House Republican Leader John Boehner.

Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said many GOP lawmakers dislike the proposal that has been pushed on the administration’s behalf principally by Paulson.

“Basically, I believe the Paulson proposal is badly structured,” Shelby said. “It does nothing basically for the stressed mortgage payer. It does a lot for three or four or five banks . … ”

Even for a party whose president suffers dismal approval ratings, whose legislative wing lost control of Congress and whose presidential nominee trails in the polls, Thursday was a remarkably bad day for Republicans.

The White House summit meeting had been called for the purpose of sealing the deal that Bush has argued is indispensable to stabilizing frenzied markets and reassuring the nervous American public. But it quickly revealed that Bush’s proposal had been suddenly sidetracked by fellow Republicans in the House, who refused to embrace a plan that appeared close to acceptance by the Senate and most House Democrats.

Paulson begged Democratic participants not to disclose how badly the meeting had gone, dropping to one knee in a teasing way to make his point according to witnesses.

And when Paulson hastily tried to revive talks in a nighttime meeting near the Senate chamber, the House’s top Republican refused to send a negotiator.

“This is the president’s own party,” Frank said at the time. “I don’t think a president has been repudiated so strongly by the congressional wing of his own party in a long time.”

The presence of McCain and Obama at the White House session indeed lent a greater aura of urgency — and personal intensity — to the discussion.

McCain’s leadership in the negotiations “is to try to stop us from yelling at each other, announcing deals that don’t exist, to actually talk to the House and the Senate and get agreement and then go to the press,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on NBC’s “Today” show.

What caught some by surprise, either at the White House meeting or shortly before it, was the sudden momentum behind a dramatically different plan drafted by House conservatives with Boehner’s blessing.

Instead of the government buying the distressed securities, the new plan would have banks, financial firms and other investors that hold such loans pay the Treasury to insure them. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a chief sponsor, said it was clear that Bush’s plan “was not going to pass the House.”

But Democrats said the same was true of the conservatives’ plan. It calls for tax cuts and insurance provisions the majority party will not accept, they said.

At one point in the White House meeting, according to two officials, McCain voiced support for Ryan’s criticisms of the administration’s proposal. Frank, a gruff Massachusetts liberal, angrily demanded to know what plan McCain favored.

These officials also said that as tempers flared, Bush struggled at times to maintain control.

At one point, several minutes into the session, Obama said it was time to hear from McCain. According to a Republican who was there, “all he said was, ‘I support the principles that House Republicans are fighting for.’”

Some at the table took that to mean the conservatives’ alternative proposal, which stands little chance of passage.

___

Associated Press reporters Julie Hirschfeld Davis and David Espo contributed to this report.

Democrats put the responsiblity on Bush for getting a rescue package back on track.

“We need to get the president to get the Republican House in order,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor. “Without Republican cooperation, we cannot pass this bill.”

Schumer said Bush should also “respectfully tell Sen. McCain to get out town. He is not helping, he is harming. Before Sen. McCain made his announcment, we were making progress.”

McCain met briefly Friday morning with House Republican Leader John Boehner.

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — JPMorgan Chase & Co., which bought most of Washington Mutual Inc. yesterday, raised $10 billion in stock sale today.

JPMorgan, which is taking over deposits and branches of the Seattle-based savings and loan, sold the shares for $40.50, or 6.8 percent lower than yesterday’s closing price of $43.46. The New York-based bank sold 246.9 million shares, according to a statement today.

JPMorgan raised more than the $8 billion it was seeking to offset an estimated $8 billion in credit provisions, write downs and losses in the third quarter. The company’s stock has remained unchanged this year through yesterday compared with a 19 percent drop in the 24-member KBW Bank index.

WaMu is the latest casualty of a financial crisis that drove Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. out of business and led to the hastily arranged rescues of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos., which was itself absorbed by JPMorgan. WaMu in March rejected a takeover offer from JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon that the savings and loan valued at $4 a share.

JPMorgan is taking on $176 billion in mortgage-related assets and writing down the value of it and other portfolios by about $31 billion, the company said. The bank will make a one- time payment of $1.9 billion to the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as part of the deal.

JPMorgan fell 56 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $42.90 at 9:56 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange Composite trading.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin introduce the new T-Mobile G1 phone.

Google - the internet search leader - launched their G Phone today. The G Phone developed by HTC will be available in US markets through T-Mobile on October 22, 2008.

The cost of T-Mobile G1 Phone will be $179. This was much cheaper of what was expected. This Google G-Phone is developed to compete with Apple’s hot selling iPhone.
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Google map street view on G Phone

Google launches T-Mobile G1 Phone

G phone will have a qwerty keyboard

Google g phone by T-Mobile customizable home screen

The operating system of Google G Phone is Android - an open source operating system. Google has started a project called Android Developer Challenge I or ADC I to develop Android based applications by outside developers much earlier. There will be two rounds and the total prize money will be USD10 million.

The Google G1 Phone will be available in the UK market in November 2008 and it will be available in select EU markets next year. This is very quite reasonable time compared to Apple iPhone.

An Early GPhone Review

So now we know that the first GPhone is indeed coming this fall.

Will it be a hit? It’s hard to tell much from the supposed spy photos we’ve seen floating around on the Web, like the one to the right.

But someone who’s actually seen the gadget — similar, if not identical to the one in the photo — tells us that both the hardware (from handset-maker HTC) and Google’s Android software suffer from a similar problem: They’re technically powerful but not as elegant as Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and OS X.

Specifically, the phone — apparently a hot item to show off in Google’s cafeterias these days — is big and bulky, and not as sleek as the iPhone. And Android, while extremely powerful, has a less-elegant, less-user-friendly interface than the iPhone.

Does this mean it won’t sell well? Of course not. There’s a lot more variables, like device and contract pricing, software and services, etc. that will help determine its commercial success.

Developers, meanwhile, should get some new software to play with soon: Our source says that Google (GOOG) will finally be publicly releasing an updated version of its software developers kit in the next few weeks. Google has been releasing editions of the Android developers kit to preferred developers for several weeks — without updating the public edition

Google on Tuesday released the beta version of its new open-source Chrome Web browser.

The 7-Mbyte download is available now via http://www.google.com/chrome/ in 122 countries and 43 languages. It will run on Windows-based computers running XP or Vista, but Mac and Linux versions are still in the works.

News over Chrome broke Monday after Google inadvertently published a Web comic book with details about the browser.  

more here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329293,00.asp

Snapshots of Chrome browser

here: http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/0,1206,l=231523&s=1489&a=231521,00.asp