Kindle Fire is so successful, we aren't making any more

I've seen some desperate bone-headed, PR moves before, but Amazon's newest is one to long remember. When Apple announces a press event, the InterWebs erupt with speculation about what it can be. When product inventory is low in stores on some fruit-logo product, rumors explode about something new in the pipeline. Amazon has to work harder, issuing today a press release that Kindle Fire has sold out, ahead of next week's press event. Could the retailer be any less subtle, while revealing sales data that is absolutely nothing but meant to be something.

BetaNews founder Nate Mook nails exactly what's wrong with Amazon's gambit to drum up excitement ahead of the September 6 event. Earlier today he forwarded the Kindle-Fire sell-out email, writing: "It's SOOOO successful. So we're not making any more". That sums it up.

From the press release: "Today, Amazon announced that Kindle Fire is sold out, and that in just nine months, Kindle Fire has captured 22 percent of tablet sales in the US". Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos drops the big hint -- just so you won't miss what's coming next week: "Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead -- we will continue to offer our customers the best hardware, the best prices, the best customer service, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best content ecosystem".

Cough, cough, I must wipe a tear for Amazon's tablet, taken away from us after just 48 weeks of sales. Kindle Fire extinguished before its time.

Is the Fire out? Is that what Amazon really means, ahead of the new tablet we surely know must come next week. Kindle Fire flamed out in the Wilcox home. I gave my wife the tablet for Christmas 2011, and she loved it. Nothing could be better. That is until she spent seconds with the Nexus 7 I brought back from Google I/O in June. I ordered hers the next day. She loves Nexus 7 more. I was supposed to Craigslist her Kindle Fire weeks ago. Now that Amazon is sold out, perhaps this weekend will prove worth waiting to post.

Amazon announced Kindle Fire in September 2011 (well, there's another "hint, hint" about what's coming on the 6th) and started selling (beyond preorders) in early November. Amazon claims that Kindle Fire is the top-selling item on the retail site, but doesn't say how many. Then there's the 22 percent tablet sales figure, for which there is no cited source. I wouldn't let one of our writers throw out that kind of data without sourcing it. Says whom?

The sales figures are typical Amazon. Top-selling this or percentage-more that without any hard data by which to measure it. If Bezos goes to the doctor complaining about bladder problems and says he peed five times more today than yesterday or more today than any day this year, the practitioner will want to know how many times previously to make a diagnosis. There needs to be a frame of reference, and Amazon provides nothing.

I like Amazon and frequently shop there. But, geez Louise, today's press release stinks of desperation to drum up something -- even a hint of excitement -- before the big day.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey Recap: Hot Tub of Sour Grapes

The Real Housewives of New Jersey's California vacation finally came to an end and it was all "Hot Tub of Sour Grapes" as Caroline and Teresa went at it. 

When Teresa left Kathy out of her toast last week, was it an unintentional slight or a purposeful shun. In the end it doesn't matter as Kathy turns the focus onto someone else.

Instead of dealing with her own issues, Kathy throws Caroline under the bus.  Minus 12.  Of course she swears she has the best of intentions but is Kathy really that naive?

With everyone listening in on Teresa and Kathy's conversation, am I the only one who hoped that Caroline really would walk over and dunk Teresa's head in the hot tub?  Plus 15.  That could have been awesome but unfortunately we never got to see it.

Instead what we got was a lot of name calling and finger pointing as Caroline says all the things she's waited all season to say. She calls Teresa a liar, a fraud, and a disgrace. Plus 10 for not pulling any punches.  She wants nothing to do with Teresa and she's pretty darn clear about it.

At first Teresa keeps insisting that she loves Caroline.  Apparently in the fabulicious haze that is Teresa world it's OK to slander the people you love in the tabloids.  Minus 11. 

And what's up with Jacqueline.  She lies there and pretends to be asleep like a ten year old.  Minus 8.  At least get up and walk away like a grown up.

As the fight spills over to the boys table Kathy starts to think that maybe she made a mistake getting in the middle of Caroline and Teresa.  Duh!  Minus 13.

At first I loved it when Chris pulled out his smartphone and called out Joe Guidice on his bullsh*t but he still let him weasel out of it so minus 12.  Joe and Teresa are making a lot of money bad mouthing their friends in the press and Caroline seems to be the only one who has had enough.

Teresa tells the ladies she doesn't know how to lie.  Ha!  Plus 5 simply because I can't stop laughing.

But minus 10 because I'm tired of continually going over what Teresa wrote in her stupid cookbook.  She'll swear to her grave that what she wrote was a joke.  She's said that so often I wonder if she now believes it.

Plus 7 to Lauren for trying to jump in and help her mom but I really don't know that Caroline needed the help.  Caroline's right.  Teresa's not family so she has the luxury of walking away.

 

Melissa and Kathy aren't quite that lucky.  I couldn't believe it when Teresa kept grabbing Kathy's face over and over again to make her point.  She really deserved to get smacked for that.  Minus 10.  Sometimes Kathy's just too damn nice.

And as Caroline wondered when this night would end I couldn't help thinking the same thing.  

Will the Gorga / Guidice alliance hold once everyone gets back to Jersey?

Jerry Nelson, Count of 'Sesame Street,' dies at 78

LOS ANGELES  –  Jerry Nelson, the puppeteer behind a delightful menagerie of characters including Count von Count on "Sesame Street" and Gobo Fraggle on "Fraggle Rock," has died. He was 78.

Nelson, who suffered from emphysema, died Thursday night in his Massachusetts home on Cape Cod, the Sesame Workshop said Friday.

"Every description of his characters describes Jerry as well," said "Sesame Street" executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente.
"Silly, funny, vulnerable, passionate and musical, for sure. That voice of his was superb."

Although he'd been in declining health for some time "his attitude was never bad," Parente said Friday. "He was always so grateful for what he had in his life."

"We're having a rough day on the Street," she said.

In a tribute posted online by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop, Nelson was lauded for his artistry and the "laughter he brought to children worldwide" with the Count and other Muppet puppets including Sherlock Hemlock, Herry Monster and the Amazing Mumford.

Nelson was part of other projects featuring Jim Henson's Muppets, including the 1984 movie "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and TV series including the 1980s "Fraggle Rock" and 1990s "Muppets Tonight."

In recent years, Nelson gave up the physically demanding job of operating the Count and other puppets on "Sesame Street" but still voiced the characters, the workshop said. The show's new season launches in September and Nelson's voice will be heard.

In 2010, he released the album "Truro Daydreams," the title that referred to the Massachusetts town.

Survivors include Nelson's wife, Jan, Parente said. Funeral plans were not immediately available.

Liverpool draws 2-2 vs. Manchester City at Anfield

LIVERPOOL, England: Manchester City twice came from behind to secure a hard-earned 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the Premier League at Anfield on Sunday.

Martin Skrtel gave Liverpool the lead with a powerful header from a Steven Gerrard corner in a first half in which Brendan Rodgers' team edged the defending champions.

Yaya Toure equalized for Roberto Mancini's side in the 63rd after Pepe Reina failed to claim a cross that Martin Kelly could not control, allowing Toure to finish from close range.

Luis Suarez restored Liverpool's lead with a perfectly executed low free kick into the corner of Joe Hart's goal.

Skrtel was at fault for City's second with an under-hit pass back toward Reina, which Carlos Tevez ran on to, rounding Liverpool's goalkeeper and slotting into an empty net.

Dangerous inmate tries to escape Lebanon prison

BEIRUT: A dangerous Yemeni inmate, who belongs to the radical Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam group, tried to escape Lebanon’s largest prison, security sources said Saturday.

The sources said prison guards thwarted an attempt Friday by two former Fatah Islam inmates to smuggle out Yemeni prisoner Salim Saleh.

The ex-prisoners, identified as Palestinians Wassim Qambaz and Mahmoud Abdel-Qader, had presented their IDs at the entrance along with a third one that bears the photo of Saleh under the name Hasan Osman.

The Palestinians told the guards that the third man would join them shortly.

However, when the IDs were being photocopied, in line with jail regulations, the prison wardens recognized Saleh’s picture and arrested the two former prisoners.

The detained men confessed that they had been planning to smuggle out Saleh.

Dozens of Islamist prisoners have been held for several years without trial over suspected links to Fatah al-Islam, which fought the Lebanese Army in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in 2007.

Following Fatah al-Islam’s defeat, security services sought the arrest of 570 people for involvement with the group.
Since 2007, 147 of the detainees have been released, leaving 98 in custody, according to judicial sources.

Seven of the Islamist detainees were released on bail in June.

Arsenal still goalless in absence of van Persie

LONDON: Both Stoke City and Arsenal remained in search of their first Premier League win of the season after a goalless draw at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.

A share of the spoils left Stoke 11th and Arsenal 12th in the table, after they had each played two league games.

The Gunners had the best of the chances but, in the absence of star striker Robin van Persie -- sold to Manchester United -- they failed to find the back of the net in a second successive goalless draw.

"It is not good enough," Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports.

"We had some really good chances but at the moment we are not taking them. The same thing happened last week."

But whereas Stoke have sometimes bullied Arsenal at the Britannia, the Gunners stood up to the hosts' physical threat
on Sunday.
"You know if you concede fouls and throw-ins, they can put you in trouble because they get the ball in the box and are really organised at set pieces," Arteta added.

"We didn't concede many chances and were well organised."

Meanwhile, Arteta said it was just a matter of time before new Arsenal signings Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski became fully integrated into the Londoners' set-up.

"We need three, four, five games together... They have the quality."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was pleased by his side's defensive performance but said he was looking to bring in more players before Friday's transfer deadline.

"Our back four did well, our goalkeeper did well," he said. "They (Stoke) are a handful for anyone that comes here.

"I'm pleased with what I have, but yes, I anticipate that we will do something still. We are still in the market. Defensive midfielder, it depends on the quality of the players available."

The Frenchman's Stoke counterpart, Tony Pulis, said: "It was a good result, (but) there are things we are not happy with and can do better.

"We were playing a team on a different level. We have played two difficult games and we are still unbeaten."

Liverpool, bottom of the table after a shock 3-0 defeat by West Bromwich Albion last weekend, are at home to champions Manchester City later on Sunday.

Charbel: no political reasons behind abduction of Kuwaiti national

 Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said the kidnapping of a Kuwaiti national in east Lebanon was not politically-motivated, and that the security forces and Army intelligence are working relentlessly to secure his release, in remarks published Sunday.

Speaking to An-Nahar, Charbel said “preliminary investigation indicates no political reasons” behind the kidnapping of the Kuwaiti citizen.

Issam al-Houty was kidnapped by gunmen in Hawsh al-Ghanam in the eastern Bekaa region outside his house.




Reports said his wife informed the Kuwaiti Embassy of the abduction.

Meanwhile, Kuwait's Ambassador to Lebanon told the Kuwait-based Al-Anbaa newspaper that no party has announced responsibility for the kidnapping yet, denying rumors that a $500,000 ransom was asked in exchange of al-Houty.

Following a spate of kidnappings of Syrian and Turkish nationals along with threats by local groups to target Gulf citizens in tit-for-tat abductions, Kuwait and several other countries issued travel advisories, asking its citizens to avoid traveling to the country.

Kuwait has also said that most of its citizens have been evacuated.

An-Nahar also reported Sunday that 50,000 Kuwait nationals have left the country due to safety concerns.

Hezbollah says March 14 party implicated Lebanon in Syria's crisis

 Hezbollah figures Sunday accused Arab regimes of fueling tensions in Lebanon and Syria, adding that the March 14 coalition has brought the country into Syria’s crisis.

In a graduation ceremony in the southern village of Blida, Loyalty to the Resistance MP Mohammad Raad said: “Influential Arab regimes finance what strife is being sowed in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria for the U.S. and Europe.”

He added that the West “seeks to affiliate Lebanon with the organization of Arab regimes that want to pave the way for reconciliation with the Israeli enemy based on conditions set by the Jewish State.”

Raad also said his rivals have changed their agenda to satisfy the U.S. and Europe and to build animosity with Iran, Hezbollah’s main ally in the region.

He cited an example of Iran’s offer to help Lebanon with its electricity crisis, saying the “state did not even dare to consider the offer since that would anger the U.S.”

Meanwhile, Sheikh Nabik Qaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, accused the March 14 party of involvement in the course of the 17-month-old conflict in Syria which he said had automatically brought the whole country into the conflict.

“The presence of Syrian gunmen in Lebanon implicates our country in the crisis and the March 14 forces have already been involved and become partners in the aggression against that country,” he told supporters during a ceremony celebrating the six anniversary of “Hezbollah’s victory over Israel in 2006,” in south Lebanon.

Qaouk also said that the party provides both political and security cover for the alleged Syrian gunmen in Lebanon to launch attacks and carry out operations against Syria.

He also targeted the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, saying it harms civil peace in the country.

“The military and security wing of the U.S. Embassy threatens civil peace and the security of the resistance, as well as threatening Syria from Lebanon via its Lebanese tools,” Qaouk said.

Tevez tames Liverpool as battling City get draw

LONDON : Reigning champions Manchester City twice came from behind in a 2-2 draw away to Liverpool that denied Brendan Rodgers his first Premier League win as Reds manager.
Martin Skrtel went from hero to villain in the course of an exciting match at Anfield on Sunday, heading Liverpool in front before his loose back-pass set up the goal for Carlos Tevez that saw City make it 2-2 ten minutes from time.

A much-improved Liverpool, shock 3-0 losers to West Bromwich Albion last week, took the lead when Skrtel powered in a header from Steven Gerrard's 34th minute corner.

But City, who came through a see-saw clash to beat newcomers Southampton 3-2 in their league opener, were level in the 63rd minute when Yaya Toure capitalised on the failure of Liverpool's Martin Kelly to clear a Tevez cross.

However, parity lasted for just three minutes until, following a Jack Rodwell handball, Liverpool striker Luis Suarez curled the ensuing 20-yard free-kick round the wall and beyond the despairing dive of City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart.

But Argentina striker Tevez, with his 100th goal in English football, drew City level again in the 80th minute when he seized on a stray back-pass from defender Skrtel and then calmly rounded Pepe Reina before slotting home.

Nevertheless, Rodgers told Sky Sports: "My glass is very nearly full.

"I thought it was a brilliant performance. We were asked a lot of questions and I thought the players were incredible. Some times the best team doesn't win.

"Let's remember we were playing a good side."

And Rodgers, renowned when in charge of Swansea for his emphasis on passing football, absolved Skrtel of blame for City's second goal.

"He was brave enough to play it and that's the development of the team. As a group we will only get better," Rodgers said.

This was the fourth game in a row where City had conceded two goals and manager Roberto Mancini said: "This is the time to finish conceding two goals every game.

"But we have taken one point when we went down two times," the Italian added.

Earlier, Arsenal failed to score for the second league match in a row following the departure of star striker Robin van
Persie to Manchester United as they were held to a goalless draw away to Stoke.

"It is not good enough," said Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta after the Gunners' second straight 0-0 stalemate.

"We had some really good chances but at the moment we are not taking them. The same thing happened last week."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was pleased by his side's defensive performance but said he was looking to bring in more players to the London club before Friday's transfer deadline.

"I'm pleased with what I have, but yes, I anticipate that we will do something still," Wenger said.

"We are still in the market. Defensive midfielder, it depends on the quality of the players available."

R&B singer Usher wins primary custody of sons

ATLANTA : Grammy-winning R&B singer Usher on Friday was awarded primary physical custody of his two sons, ending a long legal fight with his ex-wife.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane ruled that the singer, 33, will have primary custody of 4-year-old Usher Raymond V and 3-year-old Naviyd Ely Raymond, according to Cherrise Boone, spokeswoman for the court clerk's office. His custody will start Sept. 1.

Boone said Usher and his ex-wife Tameka Foster Raymond will have joint legal custody. The type of visitation hasn't been determined yet for Tameka Raymond.

Usher's lawyer, Ivory Brown, did not immediately return a call on Friday. Lisa West, a lawyer for Tameka Raymond, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Usher, whose real name is Usher Raymond IV, married Tameka Raymond in 2007. They divorced two years later. He said the couple had been separated since July 2008 and claimed there was "no reasonable hope of reconciliation" and the marriage was "irretrievably broken."

In May, Usher testified that Tameka Raymond spit at and tried to fight with his girlfriend during one visit and that his ex-wife hit him during the dispute. He said he didn't press charges because: "I didn't want the boys to know that their father put their mother in jail," he said.

Tameka Raymond's attorney claimed that Usher provoked her client and that his account is exaggerated.

The custody decision comes after Tameka Raymond's 11-year-old son Kile Glover died last month after he was critically injured in a boating accident. The boy was run over July 6 by a personal watercraft on Lake Lanier northeast of Atlanta, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.