Guy On Train Live Tweets Former CIA Chief's On-Background Interview

You'd think he'd be more careful: The man who was once responsible for the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency was giving a background interview during a train ride, but he didn't notice that a fellow passenger was live tweeting the highlights.

In truth, we didn't learn any secrets from Ret. Gen. Michael Hayden, but Tom Matzzie, who used to work for the liberal group MoveOn.org, provided a riveting — and funny — account of the ordeal on his Twitter feed.

Matzzie said Hayden told the journalists that he could only be identified as a former senior administration official and then went on to give "disparaging quotes about" the Obama administration. At one point Hayden, said Matzzie, was "bragging about rendition and black sites."

Hayden, you might remember, served as the NSA director under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He served as CIA director for Bush and President Obama. Currently, he works for the Chertoff Group.

As you might imagine, eventually Hayden got a call from his office telling him what was going on. Matzzie wondered if he should hide. But Hayden graciously offered an interview and even took a picture with Matzzie.

Eventually, Matzzie tweeted, Hayden got off the train in Newark.

"He touched my back ... again," Matzzie tweeted, before adding that he was about to get off the train himself and someone should "email my wife and explain all this."

Micah Sifry, the co-founder of Personal Democracy Forum, Storified the entire thing:

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/24/240587739/guy-on-train-live-tweets-former-nsa-chiefs-on-background-interview?ft=1&f=1001
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Stryker settles U.S. civil bribery charges for $13.2 million

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medical device maker Stryker Corp will pay $13.2 million to settle civil charges the company bribed doctors and government officials to win business in five different countries, U.S. regulators said Thursday.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the company tried to mask $2.2 million in bribes in Argentina, Greece, Mexico, Poland and Romania by booking them as legitimate expenses for charitable donations, travel costs, consulting services and commissions.

Stryker is settling the case without admitting or denying the charges. Neither a lawyer nor a spokesman for the company was available for comment.

According to the SEC's charges, filed with the regulator's administrative court, the company reaped about $7.5 million in profits as a result of the bribes.

The payments took place from 2003 to February 2008 and were used to help secure the company's ability to sell its products in public hospitals.

In one example, the SEC said Stryker's unit in Poland paid the director of a hospital and his wife to travel to New York City and Aruba.

Among the perks lavished on the couple were a six-night hotel stay in New York and tickets to two Broadway shows.

Internal documents confirmed what the SEC described as a "quid pro quo arrangement," noting that a form containing the director's schedule stated that the purpose of the visit was to "strengthen conviction that Stryker products are the best solution for her hospital."

The SEC said that the company retained outside counsel in response to the government probe and conducted its own internal investigation.

It has since implemented a company-wide, anti-corruption compliance program and now demonstrates "a commitment to designing and funding a meaningful compliance program."

Stryker's shares were down 55 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $73.42 in late morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stryker-settles-u-civil-bribery-charges-13-2-154138909--finance.html
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Zynga's Shares Pop Nearly 12% On Lower-Than-Expected Losses

Zynga’s shares rose nearly 12 percent in after-hours trading on lower-than-estimated losses.

Zynga posted a net loss of $68,000 on about $203 million of revenue, so they managed to stay roughly break-even. Their top line revenues are down 36 percent year-over-year as Zynga deals with disastrous losses in its user base on the Facebook platform. At the same time, they haven’t made as strong a transition to mobile gaming platforms as other com

Daily active users are down to 30 million, or half of what they were a year ago. Monthly active users are similarly now less than half of what they were a year ago at 133 million.

Today, they have just three of the top games on the Facebook platform by daily active users, a far cry from the days when they dominated the charts.

Yet new CEO Don Mattrick argued to shareholders that he is making the changes necessary to return Zynga to its former glory.

“We believe we are poised for future growth,” he said on the earnings call. “I am confident that Zynga is rewiring itself in a meaningful way that will strengthen the core of our business and put us back on track to achieve even more significant growth and progress.”

Today, Mattrick just hired Clive Downie, from DeNA and previously Electronic Arts, to be its chief operating officer. Mattrick said in reorganizing Zynga, he’s flattened the management structure. Creative product leads now report directly to him.

“Entertainment is an excellence business,” Mattrick said, adding that Zynga is aiming to build games “with the fit, finish and polish that truly engages a mass market audience.”

In the last quarter, the company launched a number of new titles, including Fairy Tale Twist, Ninja Kingdom and Hit it Rich. In mobile games, they’ve launched 1 Word, which was with the KiK Messenger App, and CastleVille Legends. They also released New Scramble with Friends, Baseball Slam (3P), and CityVille KRE-O.

While monthly payers declined to 1.6 million in the third quarter from 3 million the year before, the average bookings per daily active user rose to 5.5 cents from 4.7 cents. It also rose 4 percent on a quarterly basis. (That’s how much a daily active user spends on average on virtual transactions in Zynga’s games.)

Zynga said that its revenue will decline even further in the fourth quarter to $175 million to $185 million — which is usually a lucrative holiday quarter for game makers. Its loss will be in the range of $21 million to 31 million, the company added.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/PiE98aQkj2U/
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Report: The NSA's Been Spying on 35 World Leaders

The recent dustup over the NSA maybe monitoring German chancellor Angela Merkel's phone looks like peanuts compared to the latest Snowden-fueled revelation. It turns out, the agency has actually been spying on 35 world leaders—three five!—and encouraging other departments to shovel more contact information their way.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GJFManUMDUo/report-the-nsas-been-spying-on-35-world-leaders-1451598576
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Samsung ATIV S Neo Windows Phone coming to AT&T on November 8th for $100

AT&T's love of Samsung-made Windows Phones seemingly turned sour after it skipped last year's ATIV S. It's clear that any ill will was short-lived, however, as the carrier just unveiled its version of Samsung's ATIV S Neo. The Windows Phone 8 device is a close match for its Sprint counterpart, ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/mRT05UnnGFw/
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VIDEO: Russell Brand And His Call For Revolution

A BBC interview with comedian/actor Russell Brand is getting attention today because, it's said, he speaks for many younger adults who are fed up with politics and politicians.

Brand, who seems almost proud to say he's never voted, makes the case that "the lies, treachery and deceit of the political class that has been going on for generations" make casting a ballot pointless.

Brand is convinced that at some point there will be "a revolution." Exactly what that means wasn't quite clear from the interview. Still, The Telegraph's Tom Chivers writes that:

"If this is how 'young people' are thinking (Brand is five years older than me, chronologically, but I suspect he is a much better barometer of youth opinions than I am), then maybe he's right and we actually are all heading for a revolution."

The other part of the conversation that's getting attention is interviewer Jeremy Paxman's performance. "Brand made him look uncomfortable and faintly ridiculous," says The Independent's Simon Kelner.

Watch and see if you agree.

If you're interested in more about Brand's thinking, he guest-edited the New Statesman this week.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/24/240506398/video-russell-brand-and-his-call-for-revolution?ft=1&f=1014
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Marvel Creativity Studio Stylus lets you discover your artistic superpower on iPad

You may not have been bitten by a radioactive spider, but thanks to Marvel's new Creativity Studio and its accompanying stylus, you can at least draw the person who did. The app and pen combo, which is the fruit of a collaboration between Marvel and eKids, is a tool for those young imaginations out ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/8IQnhyyQGUM/
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