21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio – How chips, PCs, services companies are faring
May 5, 2012
By The Associated Press
A look at how selected companies providing computers, components, services and related software are faring:
April 11: Research groups Gartner and IDC estimate that PC shipments in the first quarter were ahead of their expectations, though growth was modest in light of competition from smartphones and tablet computers. Hewlett-Packard Co. appeared to have regained some of the business it had lost as it was weighing whether to dump its PC business. Lenovo Group Ltd. showed strong gains over last year. Dell Inc.'s market share fell as it focused on higher-end, higher-profit machines.
April 17: IBM Corp. reports flat revenue, falling short of analysts' expectations. Software and services revenue grew, but IBM's hardware and financing segments saw a decline.
Intel Corp. reports first-quarter results that were held back by a shortage of hard drives, which meant that PC makers had to curb production and needed fewer Intel chips. The scarcity was caused by flooding of hard-drive factories in Thailand last year. The company says hard-drive supplies improved during the quarter and the shortage is now over.
Seagate Technology PLC reports that its earnings in the latest quarter surged and revenue almost doubled. CEO Steve Luczo says the company benefited from a general recovery in the market for hard drives. But Seagate says it also shifted its product line to “industry-leading products” across all of its markets.
April 18: Strong demand boosted revenue at Qualcomm Inc. CEO Paul Jacobs says the company benefited from growing global demand for new 3G- and 4G-enabled devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. But he says the cost of making more 28 nanometer chips could cut into profit margins in upcoming months.
April 19: Microsoft Corp. reports a surprise rise in sales of its Windows operating system for personal computers. Analysts had assumed that many businesses and consumers thinking about buying a PC would hold off until Windows 8 hits the market in the fall. That didn't turn out to be the case as revenue in the Windows division increased 4 percent in the latest quarter.
EMC Corp., one of the world's largest makers of data-storage computers, says first-quarter earnings jumped 23 percent, boosted by increased demand for its cloud computing products.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. says its computing solutions unit had flat revenue, while the graphics segment saw a 7 percent decrease in revenue because of lower demand for desktop and mobile graphics.
SanDisk Corp., a maker of flash memory, says quarterly earnings sank by almost half amid weak demand and low selling prices – trends the company expects will continue in the current quarter. The company says it expects demand to rise, but not until the second half of 2012.
Altera Corp., a semiconductor maker, reports weak results it attributes to lighter-than-expected demand for its products, particularly from customers in the communications industry. In addition, the company said it had some issues trying to fill orders that arrived in the last month of the quarter. The company expects its business to rebound in the second quarter and says its backlog has significantly improved since the end of the quarter on stronger demand for its products.
Monday: Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. says the business cycle “bottomed” in the first quarter. Orders rose 13 percent. CEO Rich Templeton says 2012 will be “a good year for growth.”
Xerox Corp. says revenue from its services business grew, while technology revenue, such as sales of document systems and supplies, declined. Services now make up more than half the company's revenue.
Tuesday: Apple Inc.'s Mac sales for the quarter came in slightly below expectations, at 4 million. But Apple once again reported blowout iPhone sales, along with iPad sales that were two and a half times what it sold a year earlier. The relative strength of iPhone sales means they accounted for 58 percent of Apple's revenue, more than ever. Three years ago, the figure was 27 percent.
Wednesday: Business software maker SAP AG says net income rose 10 percent in the first quarter. It cited strong sales momentum for its high-speed HANA data platform and cloud-computing acquisition SuccessFactors.
Thursday: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which supplies chips under contract for other companies including Apple, predicts “solid growth” with stronger-than-anticipated demand for smartphones and tablet computers coming from the U.S. and China.
May 23: Hewlett-Packard Co.
Not yet known: Lenovo Group Ltd., Salesforce.com Inc., Oracle Corp. (June), Micron Technology Inc.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio – How chips, PCs, services companies are faring
Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama get the battle for Pennsylvania rolling
May 4, 2012
In the game of presidential election poker, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama placed their bets in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
With the Keystone State’s GOP primary set for April 24, the former U.S. senator, the one-time Massachusetts governor and the U.S. president all made sure they had chips on Pennsylvania’s campaign table.
Santorum did what he’s done best — engaged in inexpensive retail politics and pressed the flesh from Westmoreland to Cumberland counties.
Fresh off striking out Tuesday in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C., Santorum spent a teetotaling 90 minutes reacquainting himself with central Pennsylvanians at Trindle Bowl — a dry Hampden Township bowling alley.
Taking up 14 lanes with family and friends, Santorum relaxed in a custom Trindle Bowl bowling shirt embroidered with his name. He greeted about 100 supporters, signing autographs, taking pictures and accepting their well-wishes.
“Good luck, Senator,” said Jim Martin, 41, an accountant from New Cumberland who shared a firm handshake with Santorum. “Don’t give up.”
At just about the same time, Romney toured The Iron Shop, in Broomall. The Montgomery County business provided his initial entree to the all-important, voter-rich Philadelphia suburbs. He is to be in Harrisburg today.
Not to be outdone, Obama deployed a welcome-to-the-thunderdome media counteroffensive that placed the presumptive GOP nominee firmly in the Democrat’s sights.
The Obama campaign opened its 14th office in the state Wednesday and plans to have 20 operating next week.
Obama surrogates — Delaware County party Chairman David Landau and state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Delaware County — welcomed Romney to the commonwealth by challenging his economic and health care positions at a senior citizens center.
Earlier, Obama national campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt and Pennsylvania campaign director Bill Hyers hosted a conference call with reporters from across the commonwealth.
Though Obama won’t visit the state before the primary, Hyers said the president’s re-election effort will continue to invest in grassroots organizing.
“While the Republicans are trying to get votes in the state, we’re actually using this opportunity to build for November,” he said. “We’re using this opportunity to kick it up a notch and really educate the public here on President Obama.”
LaBolt said the campaign will have to be strong on the ground to counter the expected heavy campaign money the GOP will utilize.
“The Republicans have bet they can win this campaign on the air with their super PAC allies carpet-bombing on the air,” LaBolt said.
But with polls showing Santorum’s lead over Romney in Pennsylvania ranging from two to six percentage points, the front-runner is certainly within striking distance.
Romney won at least 83 delegates in the three primaries Tuesday, with six yet to be allocated. That pushed his total to 655 of the 1,144 needed to clinch the nomination, according to an Associated Press tally. Santorum had 278 delegates, Newt Gingrich 135 and Ron Paul 51.
Romney appealed for the votes of the 500 supporters who greeted him in Broomall.
“On April 24, I need you to take the next step, the next step in taking back America and restoring opportunity and freedom,” he said. “I will do that, with your help. Let’s get out and vote. Let’s get the job done.”
A more subdued Santorum remained defiant, saying he’s sticking in the race because Romney is a weak candidate.
“To me the story is why is he not just blowing the doors off this thing,” Santorum said. “And why is it we’re able to hang in there? Folks want someone who they can get excited about, who they can trust, who they believe is authentic, and who can battle Barack Obama and effectively defeat him in the general election, and govern this country in a way they feel confident will return us to our founding principles.”
After bowling a solid 150 and a 145 in two games, Santorum led his entourage into a caravan of SUVs and headed to his home in Virginia. He’ll take the rest of the week off to observe the upcoming religious holiday, but is expected to return to the Pennsylvania campaign trail Tuesday for appearances in Franklin County and Lancaster.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama get the battle for Pennsylvania rolling
Mississippi Airports Association Poker Run 2012
May 3, 2012
Mississippi Airports Association
Gulfport, MS (PRWEB) April 26, 2012
This year’s Poker Run 2012 will be held on Thursday, May 10th, 2012. All pilots, passengers and aviation lovers are invited to come out and enjoy flying fun this spring and support aviation in Mississippi.
This is an event that is hosted by the Mississippi Airports Association in conjunction with the annual Airports Conference beginning May 9th, 2012. Pilots, passengers, and aviation lovers are invited to register and attend this premier meeting for aviation business executives in the state. Those in attendance are airport directors and board members, engineers, consultants, and representatives from government and other aviation-related businesses. More information can be found online at msairportsassociation.com/annual_conference.html.
This is a variation on Texas Hold’Em. Attendees will travel to outlying airports (at least two, but as many as nine—which improves the odds of a good hand!) to collect one poker card per airport. Attendees will arrive at KGPT before 6:00 pm on May 10th and receive a final card.
Compose your best 5-card poker hand from the cards you collected plus any, all or none of the shared community cards. Since there are three community cards, participants will need to collect at least two (2) offsite cards to compose a playable hand. Collecting additional cards from other airports will simply improve the odds of creating a winning hand.
Participation from all of the airports / FBOs has been confirmed. No registration is required! Just fly out, get cards, and have fun. Mississippi Airports Association will be sending out enough cards to support up to (twenty-five) 25 participants, which should be more than adequate.
Depart your Airport and fly to at least 2 (two) other designated airports returning to and finishing at Million Air Gulfport-Biloxi KGPT Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport (Gulfport, MS).
Refer to the attachment or visit msairportsassociation.com for complete participating rules and registration information.
Mississippi Airports Association Poker Run 2012
She’s lucky in poker and B’way
May 2, 2012
Cindy Adams
Jennifer Tilly, Best Supporting Oscar nominee for “Bullets Over Broadway,” is also a World Series Poker Winner and also the star of B’way’s “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” which opens the 26th at the Roundabout.
On a cellphone while paying a cab driver, Jennifer Tilly said: “I have the same dressing room from 11 years ago when I did ‘The Women.’
“This is a French farce. One door opens, another closes. Physical comedy. Three girls jump on a guy. I slap someone, scrape off spaghetti with a spoon, roll over sofas on the floor in my underwear. I wear skimpy outfits. There’s wife swapping. I jump off a ledge onto one actor. Another had to wear a back brace because he fell.”
The cabbie was paid. I was exhausted. I asked about her poker.
“Eight years ago I grew obsessed and wanted to become one of the best ever. I didn’t want to be a dilettante. I read the books. I went in full-steam. I met my boyfriend, a pro poker player, at a tournament. He tried to dissuade me because it’s a seedy gritty world. Listen, I’ve played till 4 in the morning. I’ve played with a half million dollars on the table.
“I won $100,000 in Vegas, which buys furniture for my beach house. That takes nerves. You can’t think if I’m wrong I’ll blow $30,000. You must disassociate yourself. Can’t look at it as money. If you get hit it’s like the stock market. Ongoing. A professional player has the ability to get it back.”
I wondered if she tipped the driver.
WITH no word in advance, Bono showed for dinner at The Container. In Jaffa. The leader of its resident band I Was a Bastard (great name in the Holy Land, right?) invited him onstage. He declined. With that name, I would, too . . . Lone patron fourth-row center seeing “Peter and the Starcatcher” had to be escorted from the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Maybe drinks, maybe drugs, maybe dreams but after talking loudly she dozed off and began snoring during Act 2.
WHERE people go to celebrate shoes, I don’t know. About sneakers, I know. Rapper Rick Ross sealed his new Reebok deal with Rosé Champagne in Philippe NY’s private wine cellar . . . Ryan O’Neal’s coming out with his book about Farrah Fawcett . . . For godson Devon, Jean-Claude Baker’s doing an Autism-Friendly brunch Sunday at his West 42nd Chez Josephine.
LAST week “God Is the Bigger Elvis” was HBO’s documentary on Dolores Hart. More than 50 years ago she co-starred with Elvis, Brando, Warren Beatty. Today, she’s Mother Prioress in Connecticut’s Regina Laudis Abbey. Patricia Neal’s buried there. Gary Cooper’s daughter, Maria Cooper Janis, is a supporter. I’ve visited twice.
One Christmas, Mother Dolores, who suffered a form of neuropathy and was not well, read Bible passages dealing with Jesus’ birth. Its dramatic presentation made clear she’d been professional. I was told: “We rehearsed our movements, chorus, readings and pageantry. Mother Dolores encouraged memorization of scriptural passages.”
Following cookies after service, cows stood at the window. Sister Anastasia, in charge of farming, explained her homemade recipe for ridding the stable of unneighborly creatures. Then, she said, “I raise my hands to ask God’s Help.”
The 400-acre Benedictine Abbey is in Bethlehem. Bucolic Fairfield County. They grow their own food, raise their own beef. I petted one black-and-white cow who I thought favored me. But I took one step away, and she let out her opinion right on my foot.
Please, all may visit. They welcome you.
THE Met Museum’s VP historian Harold Holzer on paying this year’s taxes late: “Postponement dates to Abraham Lincoln, who introduced federal income tax in the first place. April 1862, the bill for which he is most famous lay unsigned on his desk for two days. So next Monday, with a last look at our 1040 forms, let us know April 16 is the day Lincoln signed the act to release the slaves in the District of Columbia.”
EVERY big-name memoir deals with miseries, drugs, drink, lousy parentage, abuse. Comes now Joe Pantoliano’s advance copy with the long title: “Asylum. Hollywood Tales From My Great Depression: Brain Dis-ease, Recovery, and Being My Mother’s Son.” Joey Pants from “The Sopranos” and birth in Hoboken, NJ, says his mom was “fiercely schizophrenic” and that he was dyslexic and the family was dysfunctional, and tells of his undiagnosed mental problems, substance intake, 20 Vicodin a day, clinical depression and mental and physical pain. Seems no one but Mickey Mouse was ever happy growing up.
ABOUT the three lottery winners, this guy cracked: “One’s about to get this love letter: “Haven’t slept since we broke off. Please forget and forgive. Your absence leaves a void nobody else can fill. I love you, I need you, I want you. Signed, Marian . . . P.S. Congratulations on winning those jackpot millions.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
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She’s lucky in poker and B’way
The Hays Daily News
April 30, 2012
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Third-year Otis-Bison High School boys’ basketball coach Alan Clark is already well-known for handing out poker chips to his players one day at practice late in the regular season. He asked the Cougars if they were “all in” for the rest of the year.
The motto eventually took off. The team repeated the slogan at games, community members wrote it on signs, shouted it at contests and frosted it on cookies. It eventually carried Otis-Bison to an 18-8 record and the Class 1A, Division II state championship game where the Cougars lost to Frankfort.
“I didn’t know how big it was going to be,” Clark said.
However, Otis-Bison’s run to the title consisted of much more than poker chips. It includes Jeff Langrehr, the former Great Bend coach who is now at Gardner-Edgerton, a wrinkle that Clark puts into daily practice that few coaches use, another motto Otis-Bison first started last summer, a meeting that Clark had with seniors in late season — and a feeling of dissatisfaction when the year was over.
All of it helped Otis-Bison finish in third place last season and collect second this year, the two best boys’ basketball seasons in school history. On the boys’ side, only Class 6A juggernaut Wichita Heights has finished in the top-three in the state the last two seasons. For the turnaround, Clark earned Hays Daily News Boys’ Coach of the Year honors on the 34th annual all-area team.
“He cares about the players so much,” senior guard Trevor Keller said. “He gets on you. Obviously we respect him a lot for that. We all understand that he cares about you more than anything.”
Clark originally went to college because he wanted to teach and coach. He was a biology major in college and had to tutor some students in a sophomore biology class.
“Found out how bad some kids didn’t want to be there,” Clark said. “They could care less about biology. It really kind of soured me on teaching. I just wanted to coach, but I didn’t want to be teaching in the classroom where half the kids didn’t want to be there anyway.”
Clark started a business in Lyons and officiated games for many years. He was the Great Bend Middle School boys’ basketball coach for five years under Langrehr, who led the high school Panthers to two state titles. Langrehr wanted Clark to help with the varsity, but Clark wished to be free on Tuesdays and Fridays to watch his sons play for Lyons.
When the Otis-Bison position came open three years ago, Clark’s youngest son had just graduated. Otis-Bison principal Mark Goodheart talked with Langrehr and asked if he knew of any strong candidates. Clark’s name came up and he took the position, the first varsity job of his career.
His first season, Otis-Bison advanced to the sub-state semifinals before it won the first two state games in boys’ basketball school annals last winter. This season, the Cougars again peaked in March, a difficult task for any coach. Clark partially credited the late-season improvement to not conditioning after practice, a move he said he’ll “probably be criticized” for. Virtually every team runs sprints at the end of practice, but Clark will only run the Cougars for discipline. Clark never liked extra running as a player and believes if players go hard for a full practice, extra running is unnecessary.
“Why waste the time running up and down the court without the basketball,” he said. “If I am going to have them running up and down the court, I am going to have them passing the basketball, I am going to have them dribbling the basketball.”
When Otis-Bison started summer basketball last year, the Cougars returned many of the pieces from the 2011 third-place team. Every huddle and practice, Keller led them in a cheer: “1-2-3, state champs.”
“That was the goal,” Clark said. “That was the only goal.”
Otis-Bison started 8-2, but wasn’t playing well. The Cougars didn’t have a player who averaged more than 12 points a game, and had trouble meshing early after Mike Hlavaty and Dominic Trapp, the 2011 leaders, had graduated.
“With Mike and Dominic leaving from last year, I think we all wanted to step up and help the team, but I think that kind of hurt us because we weren’t playing as a team,” Keller said. “We were more trying to do it ourselves.”
Otis-Bison slipped to 10-5 and had just lost 40-36 to Claflin-Central Plains on Jan. 31. Clark met with the four seniors, Keller, Patrick Piper, Brandon Pechanec and Zach Stejskal. Clark wasn’t upset, but was disappointed. At school the following day, the seniors talked again.
“We all decided that we were trying to do too much by ourselves,” Keller said. “Just work together better.”
As well, Clark presented the poker chips in practice, a tactic he learned from a story about the New York Giants. The Giants struggled in midseason, but a motivational speaker handed out poker chips to each player. The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl. After he handed out the chips, Otis-Bison played better down the stretch. The Cougars still lost a couple games to Class 2A Ness City, a state qualifier, and Class 1A, Division I St. John, two Central Prairie League schools that weren’t in the same classification.
“Playing that schedule really prepares you for the postseason,” Clark said.
At state, Otis-Bison defeated Tribune-Greeley County and Hope before it lost in double overtime to Frankfort in the final. Even though Otis-Bison wasn’t favored to reach the final, the loss was difficult for Clark, who believed he let the players down.
“In my opinion, I didn’t do a good enough job of finding a way to stop (Jacob) Broxterman,” Clark said, referring to one of Frankfort’s two 6-foot-4 stars. “If anybody wants to look at what cost us the game, they don’t have to look any further than the head coach, because the head coach could not find a way to get him stopped in time.”
PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Berlin Day 2: In the Money; Anton Wigg Takes the Lead
April 29, 2012
Day 2 at the 2012 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event wrapped up on Wednesday after six levels of play. To begin the day, 329 hopefuls returned to action. At the conclusion, that number was whittled down to 102 and they are all in the money.
Former EPT champion Anton Wigg, who won EPT Copenhagen in Season 6, maneuvered himself around all of the obstacles he ran into on Wednesday and bagged up 695,000 in chips. That’s good enough to claim the pole position and he’ll be the man to catch on Day 3. Wigg played a few big hands during the day, including clashes against Calvin Anderson and Davidi Kitai.
The hand against Anderson came first and resulted in Anderson’s elimination. He five-bet shoved with after Wigg had four-bet. Wigg wasn’t messing around, though, and quickly made the call with . The kings held up and Wigg collected the pot.
Then, in the last level of the day, Stephane Albertini opened the action with a raise to 8,500 from middle position before Wigg three-bet to 18,500. The blinds were 2,000/4,000/500 and Kitai was in the small blind. After action folded to him, Kitati four-bet to 45,000. The big blind and Albertini got out of the way, but Wigg put in the chips to make the call.
The dealer ran out the flop and Kitai was first up. Both players had plenty of chips to play with and Kitai fired a bet of 55,000. Wigg didn’t flinch. He studied intently, then motioned towards his chips with his right hand. As his left hand gripped firmly to his cards, Wigg counted out more than just 55,000. He slid the batch into the middle for a raise to 118,000. Kitai began to tank while the cameras shot the action. After a couple of minutes, Kitai turned over and tossed it into the middle. Wigg showed just the with a wry smile across his face and the dealer pushed him the pot. That pot sent him over the 600,000-chip mark.
What’s more is that Wigg has already won an event here in Berlin. Tuesday night, he took down the €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty for €37,250.
Wigg wasn’t the only player to have a great day on Day 2. Right out of the gate, EPT Snowfest Season 7 champion Vladimir Geshkenbein stormed to the top of the leaderboard. He made quads, he smashed trips with a straight, and also had his kings hold up in a big three-way all-in pot against and pocket jacks. All of his run-good combined with some very solid play meant he was just about as unstoppable as one could be in a poker tournament. After entering the day with 201,600 in chips, Geshkenbein finished on 670,500, which is good enough for second place overall.
And then there were the Team PokerStars Pro members. Out of that bunch, Vanessa Selbst had the best day in her quest for poker’s Triple Crown achievement and wrapped up the day with 374,500 in chips. She’ll be on a short list heading into Day 3 as Martin Staszko, Angel Guillen, Alex Kravchenko, Barry Greenstein, Viktor Blom, Juan Manuel Pastor, George Danzer, Theo Jorgensen, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Pierre Neuville were all eliminated on the day. The other two Team Pros still alive are Jan Heitmann (129,000) and Ana Marquez (99,000).
Another notable player still in contention is EPT Berlin Season 6 champion Kevin MacPhee. He finished Day 2 with 390,500 and that’s more than the 258,000 he finished up with after Day 2 in 2010 when he went on to win the event for €1,000,000.
With all 102 remaining players in the money, that means there must have been a bubble at some point in the day. Finishing in 113th place was EPT London Season 7 champion David Vamplew.
After Heinz Kamutzki raised preflop, Vamplew three-bet shoved for 61,500 and his tournament life. Action got back to Kamutzki and he made the call holding . Vamplew was in front with , but not for long. The fell on the flop and Kamutzki took the lead. The on the turn was no help for Vamplew and neither was the on the river.
Despite Vamplew’s demise the UK & Ireland still have some players to rail in this tournament thanks to Marc Wright (585,500), Jason Tompkins (207,800), JP Kelly (152,000) and Paul Vas Nunes (97,500).
Top 10 EPT Berlin Day 2 Chip Counts
PlacePlayerChips 1Anton Wigg 695,000 2Vladimir Geshkenbein670,500 3Mario Puccini604,000 4Marc Wright585,000 5Andreas Vlachos531,500 6Cesar Garcia Domínguez526,500 7Bahadir Kilickeser500,000 8Zachary Korik450,000 9Soren Vohrs429,500 10Gereon Sowa421,500
Play will resume on Thursday at 1200 CET (0300 PDT) and the plan is to play down to the final three tables. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand for all of the action and we hope you’re there to join us! We’ll see you then.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
*Photo courtesy of Neil Stoddart.
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PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Berlin Day 2: In the Money; Anton Wigg Takes the Lead
Legalized online gambling sought in Calif. bill
April 28, 2012
A California bill that seeks to raise money by legalizing Internet gambling has the big players in the state’s betting industry – and some fresh faces from the tech world – competing for a cut of the envisioned bounty.
They’ve created alliances, tested websites and lobbied lawmakers. But what many see as an inevitable move online for legal gambling is also creating tension and uncertainty.
The bill by two legislators, including the leader of the state Senate, would offer 10-year licenses to the state’s tribal casinos, card clubs and horse racing interests, allowing them initially to offer online poker. The state could begin to phase in other games after two years.
The prospect of bringing gambling to people’s homes and smart phones is pitting the traditional gaming rivals against each other. Indian tribes that now reap riches from brick-and-mortar casinos are eager to make more money, but worried that a digital shift will take away customers.
The state’s gambling interests are also trying to erect barriers to savvy outsiders who want to get in the game, including Las Vegas casinos and social media companies like San Francisco’s Zynga, which hosts the world’s biggest free online poker game.
Opponents of legalized gambling, meanwhile, worry they are outgunned by a multibillion-dollar industry that spends heavily on campaign donations and lobbying. They fear that state leaders grappling with a $9.2 billion budget deficit will clear a new path to possible ruin for gambling addicts.
Offshore industry
California residents now can use the Internet only to bet on horse racing. The bill, SB1463, seeks to raise fees and taxes from an online poker industry that has operated offshore, without regulation, for years.
Anyone who launches a site would have to pay the state 10 percent of gross revenue. Players would have to register with the sites, using their Social Security number to prove they are at least 21, and pay taxes on any winnings.
Past efforts to legalize online gaming in California have failed, but backers in several states now believe public opinion and the legal landscape are both moving in their favor.
The legislation by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood (Los Angeles County), comes after an opinion released in December by the U.S. Justice Department that a federal law standing in the way of online gambling applies only to sports betting.
Millions sought
Steinberg “has been very clear,” said his spokesman, Mark Hedlund. “His interest in this bill is as a way to raise much-needed revenue for the state to help fund education, public safety and all of those things we’ve had to whack because of the budget deficit.”
How much money might be raised is unclear, though the bill says the state intends to collect at least $200 million in licensing fees.
The bill’s divisive centerpiece is its offer of licenses to roughly 150 entities that are already under the watch of state gambling regulators: cardrooms, tribal casinos and horse tracks, plus three advance-deposit wagering firms that take online bets for those tracks.
There’s hardly consensus in the group. Some tribes support online gambling, believing it reaches a unique clientele, while others fear customers will stay home rather than travel to pull the levers of lucrative casino slot machines.
Most cardrooms appear to support online poker. While some customers may be lost, said Randy Pellolio, the co-owner of Pete’s 881 Club in San Rafael, “at the same time, it will introduce more people to playing the game.”
Pruning the field
Divides have opened, as well, over who should get a license, industry representatives said in interviews. Everyone wants to limit the number – so long as they aren’t excluded.
The tribes and cardrooms, for instance, want the horse tracks out, arguing they have no connection with poker.
Legalized online gambling sought in Calif. bill
Cannery casinos pay out more than $316,000 in pai gow jackpots
April 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 | 9:48 a.m.
Aces and jokers have been flying at the pai gow poker tables this month at Cannery casinos, with jackpots paying out more than $316,000.
Three players, each drawing hands of five aces, have hit jackpots for more than $56,000 at the Eastside Cannery and the Cannery Casino. That follows an April 15 progressive jackpot of more than $260,000 on a seven-card straight at the Eastside casino.
Five aces are the highest hand in pai gow, consisting of four aces and a joker that plays as an ace.Pai gow is similar to a Chinese domino game of the same name. It uses a 53-card deck with a joker. Players compete one-on-one with the dealer.
Among the pai gow payouts this month, all winning on five-ace hands:
• April 5: $27,282 at Eastside Cannery.
• April 14: $15,106 at Cannery Casino.
• April 18: $13,979 at Eastside Cannery.
The Cannery progressive jackpot is currently at $128,848. The two Cannery casinos became the first in Las Vegas to link their pai gow pots into a progressive jackpot with no commission fees.
Pai gow is similar to a Chinese domino game of the same name. It uses a 53-card deck with a joker. Players compete one-on-one with the dealer.
The Eastside Cannery Casino is located at 5255 Boulder Highway in Las Vegas. Cannery Casino is located at 2121 E Craig Road, North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cannery casinos pay out more than $316,000 in pai gow jackpots
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ at the Broadhurst Theater
April 26, 2012
That moment occurs early enough in Emily Mann’s production, which opened on Sunday night at the Broadhurst Theater, to fan hopes that the show might strike the occasional spark. Four manly men are sitting around a table in a sullen pool of light, studying their cards, swapping insults and looking as picturesque as those figures in the often-reprinted Thomas Hart Benton painting inspired by “Streetcar.”
And then — boom! — they’re on their feet yelling, looking as if they might tear out one another’s throats with their teeth. Testosterone has turned into nitroglycerin. And you can’t help agreeing when one of these fellows’ womenfolk says, “When men are drinking and playing cards, anything can happen.”
It comes in a flash, that explosion, and it probably wouldn’t stand out in most productions of “Streetcar.” I wouldn’t be lingering on it, except — help me here, I’m grasping at air.
You see, the more significant, subsequent action in that scene — a man starting to beat up his pregnant wife, the other men wrestling him down, a floridly feminine visitor aflutter with horror — has none of the spontaneity or urgency of that first eruption. Nor, I regret to say, does anything else in the play, including a rape that leads to the most heartbreaking nervous breakdown in American drama.
You may have read that most of the principal roles in this “Streetcar” have been cast with African-Americans, including Blair Underwood (best known for “L.A. Law” on television) as the brutish Stanley Kowalski and Nicole Ari Parker (the Showtime series “Soul Food”) as the breakable Blanche DuBois. Ms. Mann has said in interviews that Williams had always liked the idea of an African-American “Streetcar.”
Given the easygoing ethnic eclecticism of the New Orleans quarter in which the play is set, you could argue that such casting makes a certain sense, especially if you eliminate all nontracking references, like Stanley’s being Polish, as this version does. And after the commercial success of the 2008 production of an African-American “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” why shouldn’t the same approach be applied to “Streetcar”?
Heck, I wouldn’t care if all the performers were green and they called it “A Spaceship Named Desire,” if the acting were good enough. One of the advantages of theater, where metaphor reigns, is that it doesn’t have to be literal minded in the way film does. Part of the contract between any play and its audience is our willingness to make a leap of imaginative faith.
James Earl Jones is so unerringly on target playing a former president in the crackling Broadway revival of “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” that I didn’t stop to think that a man of his color would never have been elected to this country’s highest office in the 1950s. And I was more than prepared to be seduced by Mr. Underwood and Ms. Parker, exceptionally attractive people who can fill a stage just by standing there.
But when the woman in the seat beside me started to nod off during the first act of this “Streetcar,” I didn’t have the heart to nudge her. Handsomely designed by a top-flight team — including Eugene Lee (set), Paul Tazewell (costumes) and Edward Pierce (lighting) — this “Streetcar” is mostly an exquisite snooze.
Allow me to say that, to their credit, the performers here don’t seem daunted by the ghosts of illustrious actors past. (Cate Blanchett’s devastating portrayal of Blanche in 2009 remains tattooed on my memory. And Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando’s definitive performances in the 1951 film are still very much with us, on screens small and large.) Mr. Underwood, Ms. Parker, Daphne Rubin-Vega (as Blanche’s sister, Stella) and Wood Harris (as Blanche’s suitor, Mitch) never give the impression of trying desperately to erase fond memories via outrageously stylized portraits.
On the contrary, they speak Williams’s lyrical prose in a fluid, conversational style. Often they exude the ease you associate with actors in long-running television series, for whom banter has become second nature. They sound so relaxed, in fact, that you can’t imagine that there’s ever much at stake — a marriage, financial solvency, sanity.
Ms. Parker’s Blanche registers as a lively, self-assured gal, accustomed to manipulating others with her feminine wiles. Sure, she’s a schemer and, on occasion, a liar. But so was Lucy Ricardo in “I Love Lucy.” And whenever Blanche was caught out in a fib — about her age, drinking habits or sexual past — the audience with which I saw the show chuckled indulgently.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ at the Broadhurst Theater
Tech Business Roundup: Analyst Likes Samsung, RealD Jumps, Microsoft Strong, Nokia Hits Finland (NASDAQ:AAPL, NYSE:RLD, NASDAQ:MSFT, NYSE:NOK, NASDAQ:ZNGA)
April 25, 2012
Samsung’s (SSNLF.PK) first quarter results are due next week, but Edward Zabitsky of ACI Research thinks that the company sold more than 40 million smartphones during that period, which would easily top the 30 to 33 million estimates. In addition, Zabitsky thinks that ‘Samsung’s massive internal sourcing of components makes it the smartphone market’s cost leader,’ as he maintains his Sell rating and price target of $270 on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) against whom the former filed another patent suit, on Friday. A federal judge has ordered the two rivals to hold settlement talks, even as more suits come.
Don’t Miss: Apple Is Well Equipped With This Parachute as it Falls from the Sky.
Shares of RealD (NYSE:RLD) jump following the company’s announcement that it has okayed a $50 million stock buyback program and has entered into a $125 million credit agreement, which is comprised of a $75 million revolving credit facility and a $50 million term loan facility.
Driven by impressive enterprise Windows sales, and increasing subscription license revenue for Office and server solutions, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) fiscal quarter report exceeded estimates, and shares are nearing new 52-week highs. Bank of America maintains a Buy, while it forecasts valuations remaining low, plus a huge upcoming product refresh to push shares even higher. However, Goldman keeps its Neutral as it expects shares to stay within their limits until the launch of Windows 8 in autumn.
Further Reading: A New Tug Of War Over Microsoft Begins.
Two Friday initial public offerings have yielded diverse reactions. Analytics-based security software supplier Proofpoint (PFPT) opened its 6.3 million $13 shares at $16.56, but they sold off down to $14.02 midday. The firm currently has a market cap of $13 million, posted revenue last year of $81.8 million (+26 percent year-to-year) with a net loss of $20.1 million. Meanwhile, Infoblox (BLOX), which supplies software for managing and automating enterprise networks, is doing better as its 7.5 million shares are so far retaining a healthy premium (38 percent at midday) of their opening price of $16, which will help support a market cap of $972 million. This company saw revenues of $80.7 million (up 31 percent year-to-year) over the 6 months ending Jan. 31, along with a net loss of $2.9 million.
Finland has been hit hard by its favorite company’s slide. Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) local workforce, by the end of 2012, is projected to have fallen by 40 percent at the end of a 6-year period. Equally as bad, around 10 percent of the company’s shares are owned by households in the country, and the shares have plummeted 90 percent off their 2007 highs. Finns are hoping that this steep decline in their fortunes will be ameliorated by a success with Rovio’s Angry Birds.
Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) shares have lost their temporary glow that followed the company’s purchase of Draw Something developer OMGPOP, falling nearly 30 percent after a $13.55 high. Disappointment from declining activity with some of its top games in the wake of a competitive Facebook market, could be driving the slump. AppData reports that Draw Something, CastleVille, FarmVille, and Hidden Chronicles have all seen daily user rates shrink in recent weeks, with Texas HoldEm Poker alone standing against the trend.
Don’t Miss: Verizon’s LTE Sale Signals New Direction in Tech Wars.
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