- Want your Thin Mints or Do-Si-Do’s but don’t know if there is a Girl Scout living in your neighborhood? Thankfully, there is now an app to help you get FAT by ordering too many boxes of Trefoils and dunking them in 2 percent milk before jamming them into your pie hole. With sales of their famed cookies lagging as America’s eating options (and waistlines) continue to expand, the organization is embracing new technology and using the smartphone and tablet revolution to reach out. After adding online sales last year to save lazy Girl Scouts from having to lug boxes of cookies around and actually ask annoyed family members and neighbors to buy them in person, the Scouts have introduced the free Cookie Locator app available for iPhone and Android users. Girl Scouts no longer have to knock on doors because the app will lead tech-savvy Samoa-lover to the nearest cookie sale location, which could even be a new neighborhood booth that accepts credit cards. Using technology seems an appropriate way to honor the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts and in that spirit, the organization is also introducing a new cookie — Savannah Smiles. The name sounds better than the cookie itself, which is a lemon-wedge cookie, dusted in powdered sugar. Its primary selling point is being low in calories and fat, as a serving of five Savannah Smiles cookies has only 140 calories. This is the 95th year of Girl Scout cookies, which were first made in 1917 when troops baked cookies and sold them in high school cafeterias. Some 200 million boxes are sold on an annual basis and the Thin Mint is the biggest seller for the troops, accounting 25-percent of overall sales. At a mere $3.50 per box, the chance to pack on extra pounds while supporting a solid cause is still relatively affordable………
- NBC had an admittedly bad fall. Network entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt admitted the Peacock “had a bad fall,” one punctuated by the first-month cancellation of the bomb-tastic “Playboy Club” after just three episodes. Mix in the poor ratings of much-hyped show “Prime Suspect” and generally low ratings for NBC shows across the board and it’s not difficult to see why Greenblatt is so glum. In light of its slow start, the network had to be hoping for big things from “The Firm” as the series based on John Grisham’s best-selling novel and the feature film of the same name. Unfortunately for the Peacock, the Power of Tebow trumps all and “The Firm” had its legal briefs yanked into an atomic wedgie Sunday night by the overtime playoff game between Tebow’s Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers - and most everything else on network and cable television that night. “The Firm” posted ratings a whopping 46 percent below the demo rating of “The Cape” last year. “Cape” was NBC’s big new show at the time and it didn’t overwhelm by any standard, but it was far better than “The Firm.” Worse still, the legal drama lost viewers with each succeeding half-hour. It was NBC’s first Sunday since August without “Sunday Night Football” and already the Peacock is struggling profoundly. ABC’s freshman drama “Once Upon a Time” returned from its holiday break to further hold down “The Firm,” posting ratings 28 percent above its last first-run episode on Dec. 11. With Tebow anchoring a 4:30 p.m. game that ran over into the 8 o'clock hour, CBS pulled in 25.23 million viewers and in the 7 o'clock hour, the game had 41.89 million viewers and a 14.8 rating among the prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Back to the drawing board, NBC…………
- Wireless devices are consuming an increasing amount of work tasks and other important items on individuals’ to-do lists, but the ol’ iPhone, iPad or Droid doesn’t necessarily have the storage capacity needed to keep many large video or audio files. Tech manufacturer Seagate looked at that reality and saw an opportunity to cash in by partnering with Verizon Wireless on a mobile hotspot storage device. Like so many other new gadgets, the prototype for the device was revealed at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show/Dork Fest in Las Vegas, where tech lovers gather to ogle new devices in between all-night gambling-and-tequila sessions. Seagate revealed and demonstrated the prototype of a product tentatively called Personal Server 4G LTE Wi-Fi, which essentially combines the company's GoFlex Satellite and a 4G LTE mobile hot spot in one single unit. It is the result of a 16-month collaboration with Verizon, which will be the exclusive provider of the 4G LTE connection for the product whenever it is released. With the product, the tablet wireless storage expander will connect to the Internet from anywhere in the United States. Instead of belonging exclusively to the GoFlex family, the Personal Server 4G LTE Wi-Fi has just one fixed USB 2.0 port and a built-in 4G mobile hot spot. Its two main selling points are wirelessly expanding the storage capacity of smartphones and tablets with enough storage space carry hundreds of HD movies and serving as a mobile hotspot at the same time. Typically, when a mobile device connects to the Personal Server via a Wi-Fi connection, it gains access to the Internet via a 4G LTE connection. With the Personal Server 4G LTE Wi-Fi, a user will not need to be in an area with a Wi-Fi network to gain access to the Internet. Another common concern with any mobile wireless device is battery life and Seagate claims the Personal Server will come with a battery that lasts about 5 hours, about the same as that of the GoFlex Satellite. It will utilize Wireless-N technology, offer storage space of at least 500 GB and sport mobile apps for iOS- and Android-based mobile devices and will also work with any devices that have a full browser, such as a laptop. No release date was offered at CES for the Personal Server 4G LTE Wi-Fi, but here’s hoping…………
- So……Syrian President Bashar Assad doesn’t seem like he’s coming to his senses, backing down or doing anything else that involves him willingly ceding so much as one ounce of his dictatorial power. Months of rebellion have not softened his defiant stance, nor has international pressure to step down. Assad affirmed as much on Tuesday when he vowed to respond to threats against him with an "iron hand" and refused to step down because he is confident he still has the support of the very people who have angrily demanded his resignation for months. Ten months of riots around Syria haven’t clued Assad in to reality and in his fourth speech since the revolt began in March, he reiterated his bizarre foreign conspiracy theories. Instead of accepting the obvious will of the people, Assad insisted terrorists are behind the unrest -- not true reform-seekers. "Our priority now is to regain security which we basked in for decades, and this can only be achieved by hitting the terrorists with an iron hand," he proclaimed in a speech at Damascus University, where he stood at a podium flanked by Syrian flags. "We will not be lenient with those who work with outsiders against the country." The targets of his rage included western powers and even the Arab League, which Assad denounced for failing to protect Arab interests. The organization did suspend Syria and send a team of monitors to assess whether the regime is abiding by an Arab-brokered peace plan that Assad agreed to on Dec. 19, which could explain some of the tension. In the course of the 10-month revolt, Assad has made himself scarce and even left the country for weeks for medical treatment of injuries sustained in attack on his compound. His regime’s crackdown on dissidents never slowed and has grown more violent by the week. Assad has continued to run the same dictator’s playbook as other failed leaders in the region even though the formula failed miserably in Tunisia and Egypt. "We will declare victory soon," Assad said. "When I leave this post, it will be also based upon the people's wishes.” Lies, lies and more lies. If he was willing to leave because of the will of the people, he would already be long gone. With more than 5,000 dead in the revolt and more sure to follow, the will of the people could not be any clearer…………
- The UCLA football team had the distinct honor of being the first sub-.500 football team to make a bowl game this season and even added to their humiliation by losing the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl to Illinois to finish the year an embarrassing 6-8. Their subpar season was bad enough to get coach Rick Neuheisel fired and former Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora was hired to take his place. Mora is now assemling his new staff and suffice it to say, he’s not necessarily looking for high-character individuals to fill out the list. As long as he’s bringing in the only former assistant coach found guilty of deliberately tripping an opposing player on the sideline during an NFL game, Mora’s staff definitely cannot be rooted in integrity. That coach would of course be former New York Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi, who became an NFL punchline when he tripped Dolphins player Nolan Carroll while Carroll was running along the Jets' sideline in a December 2010 game. The organization investigated the incident and determined that Alosi had instructed inactive players to form a "wall" along the boundary to deter Miami players and set up the trip. He was indefinitely suspended following the incident and later resigned/was fired. After leaving the Jets, he worked as a personal trainer out of his home in New Jersey before taking a job with tiny Bryant College in Rhode Island. Now, he joins UCLA as its strength and conditioning coordinator. He previously worked on Mora's staff with the Falcons in 2006, hence Mora tossing him a bone with this job. Alosi has never commented on the tripping incident, likely because he signed a confidentiality agreement upon his resignation, prohibiting him from commenting on anything pertaining to his time with the Jets. Whether he will be able to improve the strength and conditioning of the Bruins is uncertain, but opposing players will definitely be wary of going anywhere near the UCLA sideline…………
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