Source: www.artdaily.org --- Friday, December 30, 2011 CULVER CITY, CA.- in-D media announces the release of Frank Lloyd Wright - Fallingwater, an exciting new IPad app. This app features an interactive virtual tour that gives users an immersive experience of Fallingwater, via a rich multi-media format. Users are able to enjoy an extensive collection of photographs, 360 degree virtual reality panoramas, and archival drawings of Fallingwater. There is also 25 minutes of highlights from the documentary film, ?Frank Lloyd Wright?s Fallingwater.? This IPad app represents the most comprehensive look at Fallingwater ever produced. In-D media, LLC is proud to announce the launch of their latest IPad app for architects, students, enthusiasts and those merely curious about architecture. The app showcases Fallingwater, the critically acclaimed house perched over a waterfall. The house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the most famous architect the world has ever known. After a user has enjoyed full use of this unique iPa ...
Today’s LogicBUY Deal is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for the Verizon system for $199.99.? This is the first phone running the new Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.? Features:? 4.65″ 720×1280 HD Super AMOLED display, a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 processor, 1GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage, 5MP rear camera (1080p video capable), 1.3MP front [...]
Can you imagine the original Xbox 360, with its 20GB hard drive, being used as a DVR? We really can't see it working, but in January of 2007 Microsoft was down with the idea.
Patents discovered by Tom's Guide detail plans for a gaming console similar to the Xbox 360 with a "digital video recorder (DVR) application running alongside a television client component." In the alternate reality where Microsoft actually followed through with this patent, the console in question would be able to directly record content even when playing games or if "the gaming console is turned off."
Of course today the Xbox 360 can stream content in a number of ways, but does not allow for direct recording to the hard drive. Now that the ceiling for storage has been raised on the platform we'd be on board with such functionality, but if this languishing patent is any indication Microsoft is fine with the current state of things.
Twitter / Richard Florida: "Now ppl who opened their ..."Now ppl who opened their windows onto the sound of cars, open onto the sound of birds," RT @, Il y a environ 2 heuresvia web
Regardless of the occasion, it is always humbling to see 60,000 people gathered in a single square, and it was no different on Saturday, Dec. 24, when at least that many gathered on Moscow's Sakharov Avenue to demand democracy, humility and respect from the Russian government. But the size of the crowd, which was larger than any demonstration the city has seen since the fall of the Soviet Union, was not as astounding as the composition of the crowd. Among the protesters, practically at random, you could expect to run into doctors, lawyers, engineers, big businessmen, small businessmen, academics, poets, filmmakers and students from every imaginable faculty of Russia's best universities -- not quite "the masses" of Russian society. Looking out onto a sea of them on Saturday, one had to wonder, Where they have been all this time?
At least since 2004, when Vladimir Putin began his second term as President, there was no secret as to the paternalistic system he was building. That year, gubernatorial elections were cancelled to allow the Kremlin to handpick regional leaders. Election laws were changed to make way for what amounted to a one-party state. Political competition became extinct. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the billionaire who challenged Putin in politics, was put in prison that year, where he still resides, and that year's presidential elections were tainted by claims of fraud, just like every national election that followed. So why now? Why only after the faulty vote held on Dec. 4 have Russia's citizens finally ceased to be a silent, apathetic mass? (See photos of anti-Putin protest on Dec. 24 in Moscow.)
The answers to be heard at Saturday's rally were as diverse as the crowd itself, but they could be distilled to one potent Russian word: dostala, which means, "I'm sick of it." They were sick of not being given a choice of their country's leaders. They were sick of corruption and political paternalism. Unlike many of their counterparts in the Arab world, who rose up this year to overthrow dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, these people were not sick from want and unemployment. "This is not an economic protest," says Maxim Yermolin, the general director of a marketing firm who attended Saturday's rally. "These people are well fed and financially secure. They've had a chance to travel around. They've seen that in Europe a government is not some godlike power. It is a set of managers you hire for a while and then fire when they cease to be efficient. They want Russia to be like that too."
Sooner or later, if that line of thinking is pursued, Putin has to go. But it is hard to imagine an easy transition that would satisfy the protesters' demands. The institutions that usually allow for a healthy renewal of power -- competitive political parties, for one -- have been diminished under Putin, and his United Russia party controls the entire bureaucracy and nearly every elected body in the land. Some of the slogans at Saturday's rally do not give them much room to maneuver toward an exit. One of the most popular opposition leaders to speak on Saturday, Alexei Navalny, did not even need to prompt the crowd to chant his favorite slogan. They spontaneously began, "We will not forgive, and we will not forget." It is a pledge that Navalny has long made explicit: Putin and his lieutenants must eventually be put on trial. (Read "Seasons in a Turbulent Year.")
But right now that seems more like a bargaining position than a political platform. With Putin still in control of the armed forces and the police, only a very small segment of his opponents want to risk pushing him into a corner. "Our goal is not to kick this or that person out of power," Grigory Yavlinsky, the founder of the liberal Yabloko party, said from the podium on Saturday. "Our goal is to change the system." And with the people suddenly willing to take to the streets in protest, the Kremlin has started slowly moving toward reform. Putin's prot?g?, Dmitri Medvedev, who will step down as Russia's President in March, proposed laws to the parliament on Friday that would allow new political parties to register more easily. During his final state of the nation address the day before, he said, "I hear those who speak of the necessity of change, and I understand them."
But the mechanisms the government is using to respond to the clamor for change amount to more of Putin's system of "managed democracy." According to TIME's sources in the United Russia party, the regime intends to create new puppet parties that would fracture and distract the opposition. These would be led not by independent figures like Navalny but by old-time Putin loyalists, two of whom attended Saturday's protest to shore up their popular credentials. Neither received a pleasant welcome. Alexei Kudrin, Russia's former Finance Minister and an old friend of Putin's, was booed and whistled at when he took the stage; while Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets who claims to be challenging Putin for the presidency, was heckled viciously as he walked through the crowd. One member of his entourage got punched in the face.
"The people are not stupid," Boris Akunin, an acclaimed novelist who spoke at the demonstration, told TIME afterward. "They have been quiet all these years because they were coming of age. But they are adults now. They are smart and vocal, and they have reached a critical mass." That is the ultimate lesson of Saturday's demonstration. For the first time since the collapse of communism, a truly vibrant civil society has erupted onto the scene, and it is demanding real democracy, not managed democracy. This is a political playing field that Putin's elite has never encountered before, and nobody knows how or whether it will be able to adapt. "Society has awoken from a long hibernation," says Mikhail Fedotov, the chairman of the Kremlin's human-rights council. "So it turns out we aren't like bears. We are not going to sleep this winter."
See TIME's 2011 Person of the Year: The Protester.
NEW YORK?? Sears Holdings Corp. plans to close between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores after poor sales during the holidays, the most crucial time of year for retailers.
The closings are the latest and most visible in a long series of moves to try to fix a retailer that has struggled with falling sales and shabby stores.
In an internal memo Tuesday to employees, CEO and President Lou D'Ambrosio said that the retailer had not "generated the results we were seeking during the holiday."
Sears Holdings Corp. said it has yet to determine which stores will close but said it will post on http://www.searsmedia.com when a final list is compiled. Sears would not discuss how many, if any, jobs would be cut.
The company has more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Its stock fell $7.88, or 17 percent, to $37.97 in premarket trading.
The company's revenue at stores open at least a year fell 5.2 percent to date for the quarter at both Sears and Kmart, the company said Tuesday. That includes the critical holiday shopping period.
Sears Holdings said the declining sales, ongoing pressure on profit margins and rising expenses pulled its adjusted earnings lower. The company predicts fourth-quarter adjusted earnings will be less than half the $933 million it reporter for the same quarter last year.
Sears Holdings also anticipates a non-cash charge of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion in the quarter to write off the value of carried-over tax deductions it now doesn't expect to be profitable enough to use.
Sears said it will no longer prop up "marginally performing" stores in hopes of improving their performance and will now concentrate on cash-generating stores.
"These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers," D'Ambrosio said.
The weaker-than-expected performance reflect what analysts say is a deteriorating outlook for the retailer.
The results point to "deepening problems at this struggling chain and renewed worries about Sears survivability," said Gary Balter, an analyst at Credit Suisse. "The extent of the weakness may be larger than expected but the reasons behind it are not. It begins and some would argue ends with Sears' reluctance to invest in stores and service."
The company has seen rival department stores like Macy's Inc. and discounters like Target Corp. continue to steal customers. It's also contending with a stronger Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, which has hammered hard its low-price message and brought back services like layaway, which allows financially stressed shoppers to finance their holiday purchases by paying a little at a time.
The tough economy hasn't helped, either. Middle-income shoppers, the company's core customers, have seen their wages fail to keep up with higher costs for household basics like food.
But the big problem, analysts say, is Sears hasn't invested in remodeling, leaving its stores uninviting.
"There's no reason to go to Sears," said New York-based independent retail analyst Brian Sozzi, "It offers a depressing shopping experience and uncompetitive prices."
Sears Holdings Corp., based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., said that the store closings will generate $140 to $170 million in cash from inventory sales. The retailer expects the sale or sublease of real estate holdings to add more cash.
Sears Holdings appeared to stumble early in the holiday season, as it opened its Sears, Roebuck and Co. stores at 4 a.m. on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Rivals including Best Buy Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys R Us opened as early as Thanksgiving night. Sears stores had opened on Thanksgiving Day in 2010. Kmart has been opening on Thanksgiving for years.
A hint that trouble might be brewing came in mid-December when Sears Holdings unexpectedly announced that 260 of its Sears, Roebuck and Co. locations would stay open until midnight through Dec. 23.
Kmart's 4.4 percent decline in revenue at stores open at least a year was blamed on diminished layaways and a drop in clothing and consumer electronics sales. Part of Kmart's layaway softness likely stemmed from competitive pressure. Wal-Mart had said that its holiday layaway business had been popular. Toys R Us expanded its layaway services to include more items. Kmart's grocery sales climbed during the period.
Sears cited lackluster consumer electronics and home appliance sales for its 6 percent dropoff. Sears' clothing sales were flat. Sales of Lands' End products at Sears stores rose in the mid-single digits.
Sears Holdings said it also plans to lower its fixed costs by $100 million to $200 million and trim its 2012 peak domestic inventory by $300 million from 2011's $10.2 billion at the third quarter's end.
D'Ambrosio acknowledged in his internal memo that criticism over Sears Holdings' performance was likely to come, but that the company was prepared for the days ahead.
"We will bounce back and become stronger than ever," he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In a bid to streamline its unprofitable television business, Sony (NYSE:SNE) said Monday it would sell nearly 50% stake in an LCD Joint Venture with Samsung (PK:SSNLF) to the South Korean company for US$940-M, according to media reports on Tuesday.
Sony?s exit from the joint venture, which was set up in Tangjeong, South Korea, in April 2004, will let it switch to less-expensive outsourcing options.
Analysts have long blamed high production costs for Sony?s squeezing profit margins in a cutthroat competition. Besides, a strong yen has also weighed on Sony?s profit by eroding the value of its overseas earnings when they are repatriated into yen.
In November, Sony, the World?s 3rd largest flat panel TV maker, warned of a 4th straight year of net losses for the financial year to next March, with its TV unit alone set to lose US$2.2-B on tumbling demand and a rising Yen.
Sony said it expected to cut costs in its LCD business by 50-B Yen a year as a result of the departure.
Sony ?aims to secure a flexible and steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung, based on market prices and without the responsibility and costs of operating a manufacturing facility,? it said in the statement.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics, the World leader in flat-panel televisions, would gain freer rein in producing its next-generation displays by taking control of S-LCD.
Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.
Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr
Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. writes and publishes The Red Roadmaster?s Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a weekly, highly-regarded financial market letter, read by opinion makers, business leaders and organizations around the world.
Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr has studied the global financial and stock markets since 1984, following a successful business career that included investment banking, and market and business analysis. He is a specialist in equities/commodities, and an accomplished chart reader who advises technicians with regard to Major Indices Resistance/Support Levels.
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KABUL, Afghanistan ? A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday during a funeral in northern Afghanistan, killing 10 people, including a member of the national parliament, a government spokesman said.
The attack occurred as mourners were leaving after the end of the funeral in the town of Talaqan, said Faid Mohammad Tawhedi, a spokesman for the governor's office in northern Takhar province. Fifteen people were injured in the blast, he said.
Tawhedi said the dead included parliament member Abdul Mutaleb Baik.
Suicide attacks are rare in Takhar province, which is located 155 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Kabul and is considered one the nation's calmer regions.
Sayed Ikramuddin Masomi, another lawmaker from Takhar province, confirmed that Baik had died.
"The suicide attacker killed 10 innocent people and unfortunately Abdul Mutaleb Baik was among them," he said in a telephone interview.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But over the past year, the Taliban have repeatedly struck at prominent government figures. In September, a suicide attacker killed Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former Afghan president and head of the nation's peace council.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry said Sunday that security forces killed 30 suspected insurgents in a series of clashes around the country.
A ministry statement said army, police and NATO troops launched a total of 11 operations in the past 24 hours across the country. It said seven insurgents were arrested.
Sunday's statement said the killed insurgents were armed and that weapons were recovered in the operations.
Separately, NATO says one of its helicopters crash landed in Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand province on Sunday after taking small-arms fire from the ground. There were no injuries among the crew.
NATO relies on helicopters to avoid using roads that are frequently mined by the insurgents.
Another year has just about come and gone for the world of mixed martial arts. The growth and progress of the sport since 2001 has been simply incredible.
It's come a long way, but are the athletes revered and respected like those in the traditional "major" sports?If you're looking at media coverage, probably not. Mike Chiappetta from MMAFighting.com says definitely not. He penned a piece this week to express his anger that Jon Jones, the clear choice for king of the MMA world in 2011, got zero respect from those voting for the AP's 2011 Male Athlete of the Year award.
Green Packers Super Bowl winning QB Aaron Rodgers won the award with MLB AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander finishing second. Others getting votes included Novak Djokovic, Cam Newton, Tony Stewart, Kelly Slater, Derek Jeter, Dario Franchitti,? and Usain Bolt. That's right, there's also a surfer, driver and sprinter on the list, but no MMA fighter.
Maybe the time hasn't arrived yet for athletes like Jones to be considered along with stars from the NFL, NBA and MLB. Or as Chiappetta and Iole suggest, the lack of respect for Jones is more a sign that the folks voting for the award are out of touch with the younger demographic and the hottest sport for males 18-34 years old.
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hatte das samsung galaxy nexus nur ein bisschen in der hand - und schon kommt ihm der iphone-display mini vor #fbIl y a environ 4 heuresvia Twitter for Mac
ANKARA, Turkey ? Turkey's state-run news agency says authorities have released an AFP photographer, along with 12 other people who were detained as part of an investigation into a group prosecutors accuse of having links to Kurdish rebels.
Anadolu Agency said however, that a court early on Saturday ordered 35 other suspects formally arrested pending trial over their alleged involvement in the Union of Kurdistan Communities ? which authorities say is an offshoot of the PKK rebel group.
AFP photographer Mustafa Ozer was among 48 suspects, including a number of other journalists, detained in police raids in seven cities on Dec. 20, sparking increased concerns over media freedoms in Turkey.
Hundreds of Kurdish activists have been charged as part of the investigation since 2009.
From across Saskatchewan, 30 youth members of UFCW Canada Local 1400 recently convened for the first-ever UFCW Canada Local 1400 Youth Conference, June 13-14 at Local 1400's new Regina office.
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Each year on December 6 ? the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women ?? we commemorate the loss of the 14 women who were murdered that day in 1989 at Montr?al's?colePolytechnique simply because they were women.
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In 2010, the WSIB hired private consultants from KPMG to conduct an audit of its claims processes. Instead of staying within its proper scope and assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Board's work, KPMG told the WSIB to do a widespread review of its policies and legal framework in order to cut benefits to supposedly overcompensated workers.
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The 2011 Western Regional Youth Internship Program (YIP) in Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., recently marked the completion of yet another successful session of Canada?s leading program for youth and labour activists.
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The online efforts of activists and civil society organizations around the world have contributed to a big win for meat packers in New Zealand.
Smoking is a well-known risk factor for lung cancer, but nearly 25% of all lung cancer patients have never smoked. In a study published online today in Genome Research (www.genome.org), researchers have identified a previously unknown gene fusion event that could explain a significant proportion of lung cancer cases in never-smokers, and might serve as a target for new therapies.
Recent strides have been made to identify gene mutation events driving cases of lung adenocarcinoma in never-smokers, but the underlying genetic events leading to these lung cancers still remain unknown in a large number of cases. In this report, using a combination of genome sequencing and RNA sequencing, a team of researchers in South Korea has characterized a previously unknown gene fusion event in a case of lung adenocarcinoma striking a 33-year-old Korean male with no history of smoking or cancer within his family.
The group sequenced and compared the genome of the patient's cancer and normal tissue (blood), but they found no mutations in known-cancer related genes, such as EGFR, KRAS, and EML4-ALK mutations, that were likely to explain this case. Delving deeper, they also sequenced RNA isolated from the cancer cells, which when analyzed, can reveal gene rearrangement events that are difficult to detect by genome sequencing and may be driving the cancer.
ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) ? Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich made a last-minute dash to get on the ballot for the Republican primary in Virginia, in another sign his campaign may not be ready for prime time and could struggle to beat President Barack Obama next year.
Gingrich, who is polling as a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination both nationally and in early voting states, was forced to hold a rally of supporters in Virginia on Wednesday night as he hurries to get the 10,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot there.
Gingrich and his wife Callista attended the event at a hotel just across the Potomac River from Washington, far from Iowa where voters are less than two weeks away from kicking off the 2012 election season on January 3. Most of his party rivals are already campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire.
The former House of Representatives speaker has acknowledged that his campaign is behind and hustling to translate recent increased support for his candidacy to organizational capabilities.
Gingrich failed to qualify for the ballot in Missouri and barely made the deadline in Ohio, a key swing state in the general election. About 250 people attended the event in Virginia, where Gingrich said his campaign is "going to turn in vastly more signatures than you need."
By contrast, his main Republican rival Mitt Romney has a bigger and slicker campaign organization. The former Massachusetts governor's staff has already handed in 16,000 signatures to get on the Virginia ballot.
Gingrich said in New Hampshire earlier that his last-minute scramble should not lead Republicans to believe that Romney is a more viable candidate than he is.
"It shows you that a guy who runs for six years and has millions of dollars has a different operational style than the guy who arouses thousands of people," Gingrich said.
Kevin Madden, an informal adviser to Romney's campaign, scoffed at Gingrich's troubles in Virginia, where the former speaker lives in a wealthy suburb of Washington.
"The effort to defeat President Obama in 2012 is of utmost importance to Republican voters," Madden said. "If, like Newt Gingrich, you're just going to casually wing it in a primary campaign, it's an indication you plan to just wing it in a general election campaign.
"We need a nominee who will be organized and disciplined, not scrambling around for ballot access at the last minute."
In Virginia, a candidate has to present at least 10,000 signatures of registered voters, with 400 coming from each of the state's 11 congressional districts.
Gingrich has until 5 p.m. on Thursday to deliver those to the state board of elections in sealed boxes. A spokesman for the board said it recommends that candidates present at least 15,000 signatures - 700 from each district - to ensure legitimacy.
Gingrich said he has enough signatures to meet the requirement. He will hold another event on Thursday in Richmond, Virginia and will hand-deliver the signatures, he said.
Todd Elliott, a Gingrich supporter from Columbus, Ohio, attended the event in Virginia and said he is worried that Gingrich has to spend time in Virginia playing catch-up to Romney on organizational matters.
"There's obviously some concern there," Elliott said. "He should be in Iowa."
Gingrich's campaign all but collapsed last summer when much of his staff quit over questions about management.
If the race goes to many states, as Romney's campaign is anticipating, winning states like Virginia, which holds its primary on March 6, could determine the Republican nominee.
Lara Brown, a political science professor at Villanova University and author of the book "Jockeying for the American Presidency," said Gingrich's late-to-the-party style is "not a reassuring sign for those looking for clues into how he'd act as president."
"Although there is much more to governing than campaigning, candidates must show voters that they are competent enough to run a nationwide presidential campaign if they have any hope of sitting in the Oval Office," Brown said.
Gingrich is an unlikely front-runner as a longtime Washington insider with a history of bombastic, controversial statements, marital infidelity and private-sector work that could be confused with lobbying activity.
The eventual Republican nominee will Obama, a Democrat, in the November 2012 election.
(Reporting By Sam Youngman; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Couch potatoes may soon be able to get a more complete Android app experience without leaving the living room, or picking up a tablet or smartphone. Myriad's new Alien Vue is a customizable OEM platform that enables TV and set-top box manufacturers to bring Android to their existing products, adding support for apps designed for Google TV and HTML5. Myriad is the developer behind Alien Dalvik, which allows you to run Android apps on non-Android devices, including iOS and MeeGo. Alien Vue brings that concept to the living room, and includes a branded app store, web browser and portable device control, letting you control your TV and other home theater devices using a phone or tablet. But unlike Dalvik, it'll be up to manufacturers to add support for Vue -- you won't be hacking your TV and installing the software yourself. We'll be bringing you a full hands-on from CES, but jump past the break for a quick video demo.
WASHINGTON ? The Senate voted Saturday to temporarily avert a Jan. 1 payroll tax increase and benefit cutoff for the long-time unemployed, but forcing a reluctant President Barack Obama to make an election-year choice between unions and environmentalists over whether to build an oil pipeline through the heart of the country.
With the still-reeling economy serving as a backdrop, the Senate's 89-10 vote belied a tortuous battle between Democrats and Republicans that produced the compromise two-month extension of the expiring tax breaks and jobless benefits and forestalled cuts in doctors' Medicare reimbursements.
It also capped a year of divided government marked by raucous partisan fights that tumbled to the brink of a first-ever U.S. default and three federal shutdowns, only to see eleventh-hour deals emerge. It also put the two sides on track to revisit the payroll tax cut early next year as the fights for control of the White House and Congress heat up.
However, House GOP leaders held a conference call Saturday with rank-and-file lawmakers in which participants said strong anger was expressed at the Senate for approving a bill that lasted just two months. No specific date was set for bringing the House back to town or for a vote, they said, injecting uncertainty into the next step.
"You can't have an economic recovery with this," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., of the uncertainty he said the temporary bill would create. "If the Senate is incapable of doing that, we don't have to accept it."
A House GOP aide said afterward, "Members are overwhelmingly disappointed in the Senate's decision to just `kick the can down the road' for two months. No announcement was made regarding the schedule or plans."
By 67-32, senators gave final congressional approval to a separate $1 trillion bill financing the Pentagon and scores of other federal agencies through next September. That measure avoided a shuttering of government offices that otherwise would have occurred this weekend when temporary financing expired.
The tax legislation delivers tax cuts and jobless benefits that some Republicans opposed. It also represents a rebuff of Obama's original demands for a yearlong payroll tax reduction for 160 million workers that was to be even deeper than this year's cut, extended to employers and paid for by boosting taxes on the highest-earning Americans.
The measure's $33 billion price tag will be paid for instead by raising fees that government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will charge to back new mortgages or refinancings, beginning next year. When fully phased in, those increases could cost a person with a $200,000 mortgage about $17 a month.
Despite the changes, Obama praised the Senate for passing the bill and prodded the Republican-run House to give it final approval in a vote, which has been expected early next week. He exhorted lawmakers to extend the tax cuts and jobless aid for the entire year, saying it would be "inexcusable" not to.
"It should be a formality, and hopefully it's done with as little drama as possible when they get back in January" from their holiday recess, he said.
The Senate adjourned for the year after its votes Saturday.
While Obama and Democrats used the fight to portray themselves as defenders of beleaguered middle- and lower-income people, Republicans used it to cast themselves as champions of job creation.
Headlining that was a provision they inserted forcing Obama to make a decision within two months on whether to allow construction of the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline, which is to deliver up to 700,000 barrels of oil daily from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas. The language requires him to issue the needed permit unless he declares the pipeline would not serve the national interest.
Unions have clamored for the thousands of jobs the project could create. Environmentalists have decried the huge amounts of energy it would take to extract the oil. Obama originally announced he was delaying a decision until 2013, which would have allowed him to avoid choosing between two Democratic constituencies before Election Day next November.
When the House inserted the language into its version of the payroll tax bill this month, Obama said he would "reject" the legislation if it retained the Keystone provision. He abandoned that stance this past week as GOP leaders said they would insist on keeping the Keystone language and the final deal jelled.
"The only thing standing between thousands of American workers and the good jobs this project will provide is a presidential decision," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
An administration official said Friday that Obama would almost surely refuse to grant the permit, a stance echoed Saturday by congressional Democrats.
"We feel we're giving them the sleeves off a vest," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Democrats said when Congress revisits the issue of renewing the tax cuts and jobless benefits early next year, they would win the political battle because they would be viewed as protecting peoples' household budgets.
Republicans, though, said they would once again focus the fight on jobs, with some predicting they would try adding provisions to repeal pollution curbs and other government regulations that they say make it harder for companies to hire people.
"There are lots of issues Republicans are interested in as job creators that will still be alive in March," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
The tax bill would renew this year's 4.2 percent payroll tax through February, preventing the rate from bouncing back to its normal 6.2 percent on New Year's Day. Obama pushed that cut through Congress a year ago as a way to help spark the economy by leaving more money in people's pockets.
A $50,000-a-year wage earner would save about $170 during next year's first two months under the bill the Senate approved Saturday.
Obama had proposed reducing the payroll tax employees pay to 3.1 percent next year. The levy is the chief source of revenue for Social Security.
For two more months, the tax measure would also continue current jobless benefits that provide a maximum 99 weeks of coverage for people who have been out of work the longest. Without any extension, the White House said, 2.5 million people would have lost coverage by the end of February.
The bill also prevents a 27 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors that might have induced some to stop treating the program's elderly beneficiaries.
The spending legislation carries out budget cuts across government that Republicans won earlier this year and includes GOP provisions blocking energy efficiency and coal dust requirements. Democrats fought off Republican language that would have blocked limits on greenhouse gases and hazardous emissions from utility plants and other sources.
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Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Eight years of being investigated over steroid allegations ended for baseball's home run king Barry Bonds on Friday with a 30-day sentence to be served at home. No more ? and maybe less.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston immediately delayed imposing the sentence while Bonds appeals his obstruction of justice conviction. The former star was found guilty in April not of using steroids, but of misleading grand jurors.
Even without prison time, the case has left its mark on the seven-time National League MVP. His 762 career home runs, and 73 homers in 2001, may forever be seen as tainted records, and his ticket to baseball's Hall of Fame is in doubt.
Bonds declined to speak in court. Well-wishers hugged the 47-year-old in the hallway courtroom after the hearing was over, and a smattering of fans cheered him as he left the courthouse. It was a marked departure from his initial court appearance four years ago, when guards had to clear a path for Bonds to get through dozens of onlookers to his SUV.
"Whatever he did or didn't do, we all lie," said Esther Picazo, a fan outside the courthouse. "We all make mistakes. But I don't think he should've gotten any kind of punishment at all."
Bonds was sentenced to two years of probation, 250 hours of community service, a $4,000 fine and 30 days of home confinement. It will take time to determine whether he serves any of it; his appellate specialist, Dennis Riordan, estimated it would take nearly a year and a half for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella called the sentence a "slap on the wrist" and the fine "almost laughable" for a superstar athlete who made more than $192 million for playing baseball.
Parrella had sought 15 months in prison and argued that home confinement wasn't punishment enough "for a man with a 15,000-square-foot house with all the advantages." Bonds lives in a six-bedroom, 10-bath house with a gym and swimming pool.
"The defendant basically lived a double life for decades before this," Parrella said. He ripped Bonds not only over performance-enhancing drugs but over his personal life: "He had mistresses throughout his marriages."
Parrella said Bonds made lots of money due in part to his use of performance enhancers and that he has been "unrepentant" and "unapologetic" about it.
Illston said none of that had any bearing on Bonds' sentencing.
She said she agreed with a probation department report that called Bonds' conviction an "aberration" in his life. She said she received dozens of letters in support of Bonds, some discussing how he has given money and time "for decades" to charitable causes.
Bonds is the last ? and highest-profile ? defendant in the government's investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, a steroids distribution ring. The ex-slugger has long denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Illston said she was compelled to give Bonds a sentence similar to the two she meted out to other figures convicted after trial of lying to the grand jury and federal investigators about their connection to steroids.
The case against Bonds after he testified before the grand jury Dec. 3, 2003. Prosecutors revised his original 2007 indictment several times and spent a year unsuccessfully appealing a key evidentiary ruling before jurors deadlocked in April on three of the four remaining charges related to his grand jury testimony.
On the final charge, the trial jury convicted Bonds of purposely answering questions about steroids with rambling non sequiturs in an attempt to mislead the grand jury.
"I think he probably got off a little easy," said Jessica Wolfram, one of the jurors who convicted Bonds of obstruction. "He was just so clearly guilty, so I actually am happy he got sentenced to something."
Wolfram said she researched the case after the trial and viewed evidence not presented then. After that, she felt even more comfortable that Bonds was guilty.
Besides Bonds, 10 people were convicted of various charges in BALCO cases. Six of them, including track star Marion Jones, were ensnared for lying to grand jurors, federal investigators or the court. Others, including Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges.
The government's top BALCO investigator, Jeff Novitzky, declined to comment outside the courtroom after attending the hearing.
Bonds was one of two former baseball superstars to stand trial in doping-related cases this year. The trial of pitcher Roger Clemens was halted after just two days in July because prosecutors used inadmissible evidence. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton has set a new trial for April 17.
Both men will face a different judgment day in 2013, when they'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame.
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Associated Press writers Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, as signs of strength in the economy and higher-than-expected profit at FedEx outweighed more warnings about Europe.
The U.S. equity market continued its familiar back-and-forth rotation between optimism about the U.S. economy and fears that Europe's debt crisis could spark a global recession.
Lately the fear trade has been winning, as Wall Street fell to its lowest level in two weeks on Wednesday.
But FedEx Corp (FDX.N) boosted the market's sentiment. Shares shot up 8 percent to $82.47 after the package delivery company, viewed as an economic bellwether, reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit.
The news from FedEx, along with two strong regional manufacturing surveys and other data, was welcomed after some high-profile companies recently warned about falling profits. On Thursday, Honeywell International (HON.N) said Europe's slowing economy would take a toll on orders. Honeywell's stock rose 1.7 percent to $52.41.
Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York, said the question for investors is whether the U.S. economy can grow if European economies stalled.
"Can the U.S. go it totally alone? No. But the rest of the world, with the exception of Europe, we are pretty positive about. We don't think it's going to fall apart," he said.
Data showed weekly applications for unemployment insurance fell to a 3-1/2 year low, while a gauge of New York state manufacturing activity rose to its highest level since May and another measure of factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region showed a surge in new orders.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 45.33 points, or 0.38 percent, at 11,868.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was up 3.93 points, or 0.32 percent, at 1,215.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 1.70 points, or 0.07 percent, at 2,541.01.
Trading was volatile ahead of Friday's quadruple witching expiration when not only equity options expire, but also stock index futures, stock index options and individual stock futures.
Earlier, stocks pared some of their gains after Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, said the world economic outlook is "quite gloomy" and will require action by all countries to head off an escalating crisis that carries risks of a global depression.
The market's gains were concentrated in defensive sectors such as utilities, suggesting uncertainty was causing risk-takers to put their portfolios in neutral as the week nears an end, said Chad Morganlander, portfolio manager at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in Florham Park, New Jersey.
"Unfortunately austerity without a plan for structural changes will cap economic growth and potentially could bleed into earnings. Going into the new year, portfolio managers are squaring their books for that scenario," Morganlader said.
"There's a continued rotation into safety and stability in a global austerity environment."
Big-cap technology shares slipped, including Apple Inc (AAPL.O) off 0.3 percent to $378.94 and International Business machines (IBM.N), which fell 0.7 percent to $187.48.
Novellus Systems Inc (NVLS.O) jumped 16.3 percent to $40.37 a day after it agreed to be bought by larger rival Lam Research Corp (LRCX.O) for $3.3 billion in stock.
Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (KORS.N) shares jumped 21 percent to $24.20 in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange after the luxury goods company went public at $20 per share on Wednesday, above the expected range. The stock climbed as much as 25 percent to a session high at $25.23.
About 6.72 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and the Nasdaq. On the NYSE, advancers beat decliners by a ratio of 18 to 11, and on the Nasdaq, 13 shares rose for ever 10 that fell.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Longtime Russian parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov, the day-to-day head of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, said on Wednesday he would not take his seat in the State Duma lower house elected last week.
The decision appeared aimed at cooling public anger over an election opponents say was rigged in the ruling party's favor. Protests against the result have undermined Putin's authority ahead of a March vote in which he plans to return to the presidency.
"I decided today to reject my mandate as a deputy," Gryzlov said in remarks posted on the party's website, adding that it would "not be right to hold the post of chairman of the chamber for more than two consecutive terms."
As Duma speaker since 2003 and chairman of United Russia's Supreme Council, Gryzlov is a powerful symbol of a political system dominated by Putin and the party for more than a decade.
Voters expressed their frustration with that dominance by sharply reducing United Russia's parliamentary majority in the December 4 vote. It will hold 238 seats when the 450-member Duma convenes on December 21, down from the 315 it won in 2007 elections.
Opponents charge United Russia's official result - 49.3 percent of the vote - was inflated by fraud.
Claims of electoral violations spread via the Internet and tens of thousands of people protested in dozens of cities on Saturday, calling for a new election and chanting for a "Russia without Putin."
Putin, president from 2000-2008, will seek a new six-year term in the Kremlin in a March 4 election.
The decline of support for his party and the biggest opposition protests of his rule have put him under pressure to address the concerns of Russians who want a stronger voice in politics and fear his return could hamper economic progress.
Gryzlov's decision will be seen as a victory for the protesters, but may not appease them. Some observers had expected Putin to ensure he stepped aside in favor of a new speaker.
The decision fit into an apparent effort by Putin to set some distance between himself and the party, which has always been less popular than he is. Putin is chairman of United Russia but not a member.
Gryzlov, who turns 61 on Thursday, was entitled to one of United Russia's seats in the Duma because of his position on the party's candidate lists. Any candidate allotted a seat can refuse to take it and cede it to the next person in line.
Gryzlov, a former interior minister, once encapsulated the party's legislative style for its critics by saying the Duma was "no place for discussions."
(Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Sushubh 
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