Published on January 19, 2012 by Technology Slice
Mark Wahlberg Apologizes for Comments – Mark Wahlberg has apologised after saying things may have turned out differently if he had been on one of the planes that crashed on 9/11.
In a magazine interview, he said: “If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did.
“There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.’”
One widow of a 9/11 victim had called the comments “disrespectful”.
Mark Wahlberg, who has appeared in films like The Fighter and The Departed, was meant to be on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York on 11 September 2001.
After making the comments in Men’s Journal magazine, the 40-year-old issued a formal apology.
“To speculate about such a situation is ridiculous to begin with, and to suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible,” he said.
“I deeply apologise to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive. It was certainly not my intention.”
The Oscar-nominated actor, who made his name in the music business as rapper Marky Mark, started acting in 1993.
He is now promoting his latest movie project Contraband, a thriller in which he plays a former smuggler forced to protect his brother-in-law.
Tags: 911, mark wahlberg
Posted in Entertainment
Published on January 19, 2012 by Technology Slice
Marg Helgenberger Will Leave CSI – CSI star Marg Helgenberger is leaving the TV series after 12 seasons.
The 53-year-old actress, who plays Catherine Willows, will bid farewell in a two-part episode, one of which was shown in the US on Wednesday night, and the other to be broadcast on January 25.
Marg said she was looking forward to time off, hiking with her dog and even looking for work – and would also love to do Broadway.
Despite her departure, the actress said she would be willing to return for a special episode or two in the future.
“Oh, absolutely, in fact that was one of the reasons why it was a little easier for me to leave the show because the producers said to me practically every day the door is wide open. If I’m available and I’m up for it you betcha,” she said.
She says she is proud the show has inspired some people to become criminologists and said to fans: “You haven’t seen the last of me.”
She called the part “one of the best roles” she ever had and “quite a journey”. Looking back at older episodes she likes to remember the crime that was solved, see who the guest stars are and marvel at some of her clothes and hairstyles. “Sometimes I go, ‘What was I thinking?’,” she said.
Marg has received both Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for her work on CSI and will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 23.
Her son Hugh is now a production assistant on the show.
CSI is known as the most watched show in the world and has received the International Television Audience Award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival.
Tags: Csi, marg helgenberger
Posted in Entertainment
Published on January 19, 2012 by Technology Slice
Marco Rubio Joins Protests – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida joined the thousands of websites Wednesday protesting the government’s Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), a bill that legislators claim would help stop Internet copyright infringement but that some online experts warn could restrict the freedom of the Internet.
“I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor,” Rubio posted on his Facebook page. “Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.”
Rubio’s change of heart comes as a bit of surprise as he was co-sponsor of the bill.
The biggest business names participating in the blackout against PIPA and the similar legislation entitled the Stop Online Piracy Act include user-based encyclopedia Wikipedia, web browser Mozilla and photo-sharing site Twitpic.
“For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history,” Wikipedia stated on its website. “Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.”
Besides those sites going totally dark, search engine giant Google and other sites have put up anti-SOPA content on their website in solidarity with the blackout.
In New York, members of the technology community planned a protest outside the offices of New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand who support the legislation.
“This legislation would give the government and corporations the ability to censor the net in the name of protecting creativity simply by convincing a judge that a site is ‘dedicated’ to copyright infringement,” The New York Tech Meetup’s website stated. “More importantly, the legislation amounts to a wholesale re-engineering of the open web in a way that would allow the US government to prosecute Internet users without due process, which in turn would discourage innovation, limit investment, and hurt our economic future.”
Tags: marco rubio, Protests
Posted in Internet
Published on January 18, 2012 by Technology Slice
Google to Protest Anti-Piracy Bill – GOOGLE’S home search page which is accessed billions of times each day will promote material highlighting the company’s opposition to two US anti-piracy bills.
However the promotion will not appear on Google’s Australian home page, a Google spokesperson said this morning.
Despite the US-centric nature of two bills – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), there is intense interest in the fate of the proposed legislation due to its likely impact on the web worldwide.
Wikipedia already has announced its plan to close its site for 24 hours as a protest against the two bills and now Google and other websites are planning protests to voice their concern over the legislation.
“Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” a Google spokesman said today.
“So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our US home page,” the spokesman for the Internet search giant said.
Google is yet to confirm the form of its rejig of Google.com but it is understood the site will not be blacked out.
Wikipedia has announced it will shut down the English version of its online encyclopaedia for 24 hours from 4pm tomorrow to protest against the two bills.
Google plans to use its much-visited US home page to draw attention to the bills while social news site reddit and the popular Cheezburger humor network plan to join Wikipedia in blacking out their sites.
The draft legislation has won the backing of Hollywood, the music industry, the Business Software Alliance, the National Association of Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce.
But it has come under fire from digital rights and free speech organizations for allegedly paving the way for US authorities to shut down websites accused of online piracy, including foreign sites, without due process and threatening the technical architecture of the Internet.
The founders of Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, Yahoo! and other Internet giants said in an open letter last month the legislation would give the US government “the power to censor the Web using techniques similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran”.
Tags: anti-piracy, google
Posted in Internet
Published on January 18, 2012 by Technology Slice
Tower Ban for NBN – Regional councils which do not approve NBN Co’s fixed wireless towers will have to rely on slower satellite internet services, the head of the government-owned company says.
The comment comes following reports that several groups of residents near Ballarat oppose some of NBN Co’s applications to install 20 towers for its fixed wireless internet service.
”We really do not have another option other than providing a satellite service,” Mr Quigley said when asked what would happen if councils reject NBN Co’s development applications.
”The local council has got to weigh up the impact [of] 30 and 40 metre towers, they are big monopole towers, but most local councils we speak to are very very keen to have much improved broadband services.”
”It is very important that we do not set a precedent where if people object in local councils to a fixed wireless service that they think [that] … it will be fibre, because it won’t,” Mr Quigley added.
The fixed wireless network is being rolled out to about 4 per cent of dwellings and businesses at the fringes of regional towns. Each premise receives a dedicated wireless signal at 12 megabits per second, equivalent to what is currently available over the copper network to premises close to telephone exchanges.
Cities and town centres will be fitted with fibre optic cable which will offer up to 100 megabits per second and even faster speeds in coming years.
The alternative satellite service operates at about 6 megabits per second and is already available across the country. Consumers will be charged the same price across all three technologies.
”We have been asked by the government to accelerate the fixed wireless [network] because many of the people in the [areas to get] fixed wireless are getting very poor service today,” Mr Quigley said.
Tags: Nbn, tower
Posted in Internet, Technology
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