Beach Boys announce 50th anniversary reunion tour

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2011 file photo, Mike Love of the Beach Boys sings for a crowd of thousands during the Colorado Remembers 911 event at Civic Center Park in Denver. The founding members of the classic rock group; Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine, announced Friday, Dec. 16, they were getting back together to celebrate their 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez, file)

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2011 file photo, Mike Love of the Beach Boys sings for a crowd of thousands during the Colorado Remembers 911 event at Civic Center Park in Denver. The founding members of the classic rock group; Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine, announced Friday, Dec. 16, they were getting back together to celebrate their 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? It's almost winter, but get ready for some surf and sun: The Beach Boys are reuniting.

The founding members of the classic rock group ? Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine ? announced Friday they are getting back together to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They're working on a new album and also plan a 50-date tour that will take them around the world.

"This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys, and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again," Wilson said in a statement.

The group also includes Bruce Johnston and David Marks, both of whom have been with the band for decades.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers gave birth to the California rock sound. Back then, the band members were Love, Jardine, Wilson and his two brothers ? Carl and Dennis Wilson, who have since died. With songs like "Good Vibrations," ''I Get Around" and "California Girls," the quintet embodied the fantasy of West Coast beach life. Their albums, particularly "Pet Sounds," influenced rockers of their generation and beyond.

But Wilson suffered mental problems that caused him to withdraw from the band, and there were years of animosity between Love and Wilson, who are cousins, as well as lawsuits among members of the band. Still, they have gotten back together over the years, including for their 40th anniversary in the last decade.

Love remarked in the statement Friday on how he and Wilson were getting along well, sharing compliments together in the studio.

"Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood," he said.?"It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world." Referring to a Beach Boy hit, he added: "Wouldn't It Be Nice to Do It Again??Absolutely!"

The group was supposed to announce their reunion as a surprise during the Recording Academy's live nominations special for the Grammys last month, but those plans fell through.

However, Jardine said the group planned to appear at the Feb. 12 Grammy telecast in Los Angeles.

"There will be a surprise at the Grammys," he told Rolling Stone. "We will do something really exciting. There's a lot of interest in it, which is nice. It's going to be a very big operation."

The Beach Boys first concert is scheduled for April 27 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

___

Online:

http://www.thebeachboys.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-16-Beach%20Boys-Reunion/id-aa597ce5833a4c1a8bc1a6c51bb8d547

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Russian opposition bracing for new weekend rallies (AP)

MOSCOW ? Russia's opposition parties on Friday called for weekend rallies to protest election fraud following Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's rejection of protesters' demands for a rerun of a disputed parliamentary poll.

Several parties and groups hope for a repeat of last weekends mass gatherings in Moscow and other cities, when tens of thousands of people vented their anger against results of parliamentary poll on Dec. 4 which they say were marred ballot stuffing and other irregularities.

The Moscow protest was the largest in Russia's post-Soviet history, signaling that Putin's comeback to the presidential job he held from 2000 to 2008 will not be as easy as had been expected only two weeks ago.

On Thursday, Putin insisted that the vote results reflected the people's will and dismissed the protesters as Western stooges.

Putin's United Russia party won nearly 50 percent of the vote, a 20 percent decrease on the number of seats it held in the previous legislature. The opposition and some observers said the slim majority it retained was due to widespread vote fraud.

The widespread protest following the vote reflected popular anger against Putin's party, dubbed by its critics as a "party of crooks and thieves."

"The crooks and thieves have stolen our victory," Oksana Dmitriyeva, a leading member of the opposition Just Russia party wrote in her blog, alleging that her party's victory in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city was taken away from it through massive fraud.

Putin, who has consistently marginalized the opposition and tightened election rules during his 12-year rule, promised on Friday some moves toward liberalization. He proposed placing web cameras in all the country's poling stations for the March 4 presidential election that he is contesting.

The opposition dismissed Putin's proposal as an attempt to deflect public anger.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_politics

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Zynga's rivals welcome the social gaming IPO | VentureBeat

With the IPOs of Zynga and Nexon, the social and online game industries have their first billion-dollar public offerings. May many more follow.

That?s the spirit among other social gaming rivals, including those that have been fierce competitors to Zynga, the largest of the social gaming companies. Now both Zynga and Nexon will have an extra billion dollars to buy some of those rivals, spreading around some of the holiday cheer. And the worldwide publicity from the offerings will bring new recognition that gaming is a big business and that social and online games have mass market awareness.

As we chronicled in our 25,000-word history of the company, Zynga has come a long way since chief executive Mark Pincus (pictured) founded the company in 2007. His tale is sure to inspire other entrepreneurs to follow in his footsteps. Pincus will ring the opening bell ? virtually, from Zynga?s headquarters in San Francisco ? on Nasdaq this morning.

Nexon went public three days ago, raising $1.2 billion on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at a $7 billion valuation. Zynga priced its IPO shares yesterday at $10 a share, which will enable it to raise $1.15 billion at a $8.9 billion valuation.

?Zynga?s IPO is great for the industry, providing a focal point for many to learn and get more involved in important industry trends,? said Trip Hawkins, chief executive of mobile and social gaming firm Digital Chocolate. ?The IPO should also prove to be a catalyst for many future transactions that will help the industry.?

Hawkins is certainly no fan of Zynga, as he competes head to head against it every day. Peter Relan, chairman of YouWeb and CEO of social game firm CrowdStar, said, ?In the western world zynga is the first company to bring validity to a business model that has thrived in Asia for over a decade as exemplified by the Nexon IPO.?

Kevin Chou, chief executive of hardcore social gaming company Kabam, said, ??The excitement and pricing of Zynga?s IPO as one of the largest in gaming history shows just how powerful and fast disruption is coming to the industry.?

He added, ?Zynga is at the center of not one but three very powerful disruptive forces.? That includes the free-to-play business model (where users play for free and pay real money for virtual goods) as a frictionless way to optimize how to charge for entertainment. It also provides technology advancements to put entertainment within reach of any consumer with an internet connected device. And it enables ?social interactions that power connectivity and play.?

Chou said, ?It?s the most important event in the gaming industry in the last decade, and Zynga didn?t even exist five years ago.?

Arjun Sethi, head of social game maker Lolapps at 6waves Lolapps, said, ?Zynga?s IPO is an important validation for the social gaming market which will continue its rapid growth in 2012. Zynga?s milestone proves that companies taking a data-informed approach to their product development continue to find the most success.?

Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, isn?t allowed to comment on the valuation yet. But he said, ?It?s not a surprise that they priced at the high end of the range. I think they created a lot of demand with limited supply, and expect it to trade up due to demand.?

Alex St. John, former president of social network Hi5, said, ?I think it?s a good thing no matter what happens. If they fail it will be blamed on the bad times and Facebook dependency. If they succeed, they will define the value of hundreds of online game companies that are successful and control their own audiences.? The market will become highly educated about the online game business regardless of what happens.?

?What Zynga?s IPO does is finally put tangible metrics and evaluations within the social space,? said Jesse Divnich, analyst at game research firm EEDAR. ?Till now the forces driving evaluations have mostly been expert driven guest work.? Now we?ll have an entire public market driving evaluations to their true value.?

But Divnich said that these new IPOs shouldn?t necessarily lead to a bunch of others.

?I do fear that Zynga?s IPO may create a surge in IPO offerings from other social and mobile game companies across the world, much like we saw in the 2000?s with the internet boom,? he said. ?At the very least, having an objective measuring stick (Zynga?s IPO) will likely accelerate acquisitions in the space. Certainly those being acquired or going public will see the benefit, but I do worry that this could be part of a bubble.?

Eric Goldberg, managing director at Crossover Technologies, said that Zynga?s IPO may actually be an impediment to more social game companies going public. Other companies will want to ride in Zynga?s slipstream and insist that they do one or two things better than Zynga. It doesn?t always follow that these followers are going to be good investments, Goldberg said.

Previous Story: On heels of new funding and global expansion, car service Uber launches in D.C.?today

Tags: mobile games, social games

People: Jesse Divnich, Kevin Chou, Mark Pincus, Michael Pachter, Trip Hawkins

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/16/zyngas-rivals-welcome-the-social-gaming-ipo/

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Internet Explorer to start automatic upgrading across Windows 7, Vista and XP

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right? Well, in an attempt to keep its tenuous grip on the browsing crown, it's borrowing some tricks from its plucky upstart competitors. Microsoft's announced that Internet Explorer will now tie into future Windows Update releases. The new system will start in the new year in both Australia and Brazil -- no, we don't get the connection either -- with a graduated roll-out from there throughout 2012. Microsoft says that this will help keep their browser secure and on the cutting edge of all those HTML5 developments. Fortunately, according to the Windows Team Blog, auto-update antagonists will still be able to opt out of the system. See how Ryan Galvin, Internet Explorer's General Manager, explains the reasoning over at the official blog; the link's just below.

Internet Explorer to start automatic upgrading across Windows 7, Vista and XP originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Hh7be14nHCM/

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AP Interview: Chou taps inner child for 11th album (AP)

TAIPEI, Taiwan ? The Number 11 seems to be a lucky number for Mandarin pop's biggest star, Jay Chou.

Chou released "Wow," his 11th Mandarin album on Nov. 11, and 2011 marks his 11th year in show business. Over that time, he has revolutionized the business in ways not even he could have foreseen and has heavily influenced a generation of musicians and song writers who followed.

Although his musical style is loosely categorized as R&B or pop, the 32-year-old Taiwanese singer/song writer is a classically trained pianist who often injects classical music and traditional Chinese instruments into his tracks.

With "Wow," Chou says he is "getting back to basics" and making music for a younger audience.

"I believe that a musician should have a child's heart," Chou said in an interview in Taipei with The Associated Press. "I've made a lot of more sophisticated tracks in the last 10 albums. There were a lot of songs that adults love. The 11th album is more for the kids."

Since becoming a huge star and developing a following across Asia, Chou has fallen victim to the growing paparazzi culture in Taiwan. He is often followed and chased by photographers and reporters who would go to great lengths to dig up stories about his personal life.

Chou doesn't hide his disdain for the paparazzi, and he vents his frustrations in lyrics, or, in the case of the music video for the album's title track, by blowing up a fictitious paparazzi "office building."

It's an "immature" thought, he acknowledges, but one he says will resonate with fellow celebrities. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way," he said.

Chou has also ventured into acting and directing. His directorial debut "Secret," is a story about star-crossed high school sweethearts who re-connect with the help of a magical piano. He revealed to AP that a sequel is planned for next year.

"I will use the same cast and crew," he said. "because I think we've already got pretty good chemistry."

Playing Kato alongside Seth Rogen's "Green Hornet" gave Jay Chou his first big Hollywood break, and more offers are coming in. But Chou hasn't yet found another project that appeals to him.

"I want to pick something that's suitable and something that I like," he said.

He's hoping "Green Hornet 2" gets the green light so he can reprise the role of Kato. Until then, Chou can be seen in the "Viral Factor," co-starring Hong Kong actor Nicholas Tse, in January 2012.

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Associated Press writer Angela Chen contributed to this report from Hong Kong.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_en_ce/as_people_jay_chou

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Clinton sees Syrian opposition, US envoy returns

With concern mounting over the crisis in Syria and President Bashar Assad's crackdown on dissent, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with a small group of expatriate Syrian opposition members, at an hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)

With concern mounting over the crisis in Syria and President Bashar Assad's crackdown on dissent, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with a small group of expatriate Syrian opposition members, at an hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)

With concern mounting over the crisis in Syria and President Bashar Assad's crackdown on dissent, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, meets with a small group of expatriate Syrian opposition members, at an hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defends the rights of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender persons from around the world in a speech entitled "Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights", at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, International Human Rights Day. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)

With concern mounting over the crisis in Syria and President Bashar Assad's crackdown on dissent, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, below right, meets with a small group of expatriate Syrian opposition members, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)

GENEVA (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held a rare meeting on Tuesday with Syrian opposition figures as the Obama administration returned its top envoy to Damascus, both signs the U.S. is increasing pressure on the Bashar Assad regime and looking ahead to a time when he is gone.

Ambassador Robert Ford had been recalled from Damascus six week ago because of threats on him and rising violence.

In Geneva, Clinton told a group of seven Syria n pro-reform activists that she wanted to hear their plans to establish a new democratic government if they are successful in prying Assad from power. Her invitation was a step short of endorsement, but a clear sign the U.S. wants to work closely with those who might assume leadership roles.

"Obviously, a democratic transition is more than removing the Assad regime. It means setting Syria on the path of the rule of law," Clinton told the activists who are all exiles in Europe and belong to the Syrian National Council, one of several umbrella groups for Assad foes.

Tuesday's meeting marked only the second time Clinton has held an in-person session with members of the Syrian opposition since President Barack Obama called for Assad to step down in August amid a still ongoing brutal crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators.

"We certainly believe that if Syrians unite, they together can succeed in moving their country to that better future," Clinton told the group. Reporters heard her greeting to six of the exiles, who agreed to be identified publicly despite a campaign of retribution against Assad opponents inside and outside Syria. A seventh joined the meeting later because he did not want to be identified.

The meeting in Geneva came as the State Department announced that Ford was returning to his post in Damascus.

The United States has abandoned hope that Assad might pull back from the crackdown and install reforms. But the U.S. has not endorsed any candidate or movement as a successor, and has been careful not to be seen as prescribing a solution from afar.

Ford is due to return to Syria overnight despite the Assad government's continuing crackdown on reformers, the department said. The administration has argued that Ford's presence in Syria is important for advancing U.S. policy goals by meeting with opposition figures and serving as a witness to the ongoing violence.

"He will continue the work he was doing previously; namely, delivering the United States' message to the people of Syria; providing reliable reporting on the situation on the ground; and engaging with the full spectrum of Syrian society on how to end the bloodshed and achieve a peaceful political transition," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.

"We believe his presence in the country is among the most effective ways to send the message that the United States stands with the people of Syria," he said.

Ford's recall on Oct. 22 prompted the Syrian government to recall its ambassador to Washington. Ford had been due to return to Syria in late November, but instability, including attacks on several foreign diplomatic missions, prompted the administration to delay his trip.

Ford's presence in Syria is a symbolic part of Obama's now-abandoned effort to engage Damascus, which was without a U.S. ambassador for years after the Bush administration broke ties over Syria's alleged role in the 2005 assassination of a political candidate in neighboring Lebanon.

In September, Ford and several colleagues were pelted with tomatoes and eggs by a violent mob as they entered the office of a prominent Syrian opposition figure. No one was injured, but officials said several heavily armored embassy vehicles sent to help extricate them from the situation were badly damaged with broken windows and dents when the same crowd hurled rocks.

Ford has angered the Syrian regime by visiting protest centers outside of Damascus in a show of solidarity with the anti-government uprising. Those incidents have further raised tensions between Washington and Damascus, which has accused the United States of helping incite violence in Syria.

___

Lee reported from Washington

.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-06-EU-US-Syria/id-5d599509d24e4a0d95df120bbfc04ef3

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