Lakers beat Suns 99-83 to win 3rd in a row
Kobe Bryant scored 48 points - his fifth straight game with 25 or more - and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns 99-83 Tuesday night to win their seventh straight at home and third in a row overall.
Bryant, the NBA's leading scorer, topped the 40-point mark for the first time this season, the first in the league to do so. He was 18 of 31 from the floor and made 12 of 13 free throws. Pau Gasol added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Channing Frye scored 17 points, Marcin Gortat had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Steve Nash added 13 points and eight assists for the Suns, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
Shannon Brown scored Phoenix's first six points of the fourth quarter, twice drawing the Suns within one. He and Frye then hit consecutive 3-pointers that got the Suns to 83-82, but they were never able to take the lead in Brown's first game against his former team. He finished with 11 points.
The Lakers closed the game on a 16-2 run, including 10 in a row against a Suns team that is just behind them in the Pacific Division. Bryant had their final 10 points.
Phoenix led by one in the third and tied the game twice after that before getting outscored 11-6 to end the quarter trailing 73-68.
The Lakers led 46-40 at the break after allowing the Suns to erase most of their 12-point lead in the second quarter. The Suns got balanced scoring in a 15-2 run that drew them within one before Bryant and Gasol keyed a 9-2 spurt to end the first half, when Bryant scored 23.
Bryant scored 13 of the Lakers' final 15 points to put them up 25-19 in the first quarter after they trailed by nine.
FBI Report On ODB Released, Makes Sensational Allegations On Wu Tang
The FBI records on the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard have been released and charges that the rapper was involved in a variety of illict activities as a member of the Wu Tang Clan.
Gun.io obtained the records fairly easily as a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The 90-page report outlines when ODB was robbed and shot while residing in the Kingston projects of Brooklyn, New York.
The document more thoroughly discusses the Wu Tang Clan’s alleged past in the streets.
It accuses that a number of illegal matters including “The WTC (Wu Tang Clan) is heavily involved in the sale of drugs, illegal guns, weapons possession, murder, carjacking and other types of violent crime.”
They also state that the crew had connections to murder, shootouts with the NYPD, connections to the Bloods gang and possession of illegal body armor.
Amber Rose Forgives Kim And Kanye
A week after calling Kim Kardashian a “homewrecker” and blaming her for ruining her relationship with Kanye West, Amber Rose has forgiven the reality TV star, according to TMZ.*
Rose said she felt bad about calling the reality star a “homewrecker” and forgives her.
“I forgive her … and I forgive Kanye too … it’s not a big deal, you know?”
She also said she acted on her emotions when she said everything she did about Kardashian last week, including that she cheated on ex-boyfriend Reggie Bush.
Sources close to Kardashian said she denied all the accusations.
Tamara Tunie’s Ex-Accountant Sentenced to Prison
Actress Tamara Tunie’s former accountant – the one who was accused of secretly opening a credit card in her name and writing checks without her knowledge, has been sentenced to a minimum of two-and-a-half-years behind bars.
Joseph Cilibrasi was accused of allegedly stealing $1.4 million from the “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star over the course of their 10-year partnership.
He pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including grand larceny, back in November and, on Tuesday, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half-years to seven-and-a-half-years in prison for the crime.
Tunie appeared in court for the sentencing.
New Ludacris Album ‘Ludaversal’ Due in May
Ludacris tells Billboard.com that his eighth studio album, “Ludaversal,” is on track for a May release, and that Usher is on board for a collabo.
“Usher is one person that I’ve already worked with,” says Ludacris, “and in terms of other artists, you can say that there’s going to be a lot of surprises on here.”
Ludacris and Usher previously collaborated on the latter’s smash single “Yeah!,” which featured Lil Jon and topped the Hot 100 for 12 weeks in 2004, as well as Lil Jon’s “Lovers and Friends,” which peaked at No. 3 on the chart.
The follow-up to 2010′s “Battle of the Sexes” is still “in the beginning stages” for the Atlanta rapper, who tided fans over by releasing the mixtape “1.21 Gigawatts: Back To The First Time” in November.
Ludacris spent 2011 continuing to hone his acting skills, with supporting roles in “No Strings Attached,” “Fast Five” and “New Year’s Eve.” Meanwhile, he announced the opening of a new restaurant, Chicken & Beer, in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia last week, although the rapper has yet to specify when the eatery (which shares its name with Luda’s third album) will open.
Ludacris says that the first single from “Ludaversal” will be released “probably within March,” and that fans can expect the album to encapsulate everything within the Luda’s ever-expanding world, as the title suggests.
“It’s been a minute since I’ve been away from music, and there is just so much to talk about,” he says. “So [the album] is mostly about my personal life, my travels, my experiences, rumors, gossip — you know, everything coming together in one.”
Mayweather-Pacquiao saga plods forward with no end in sight
The latest development in the neverending saga that is the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao negotiations -- Pacquiao telling a Filipino media outlet on Monday that he wants Mayweather to be his next opponent and plans to advise his promoter Bob Arum accordingly -- sparked another Internet debate about will this fight happen ... and who is to blame this time if it doesn't.
Let's delve into some of those topics, shall we, in this all-Twitter, all Pacquiao-Mayweather mailbag:
If Manny stands up to his daddy Arum, there is still a chance!
--@Tha_R
Talk is cheap, Chris. Is Manny willing to make Bob put the fight together?
--@MisterRudolph
Pacquiao's longstanding unwillingness to demand certain opponents rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Of course, Pacquiao has put his faith in Arum, who has matched him well over the years and made him a truckload of money along the way. But if Pacquiao is really serious about fighting Mayweather in May -- something Arum has called impossible due to the slow-healing cut Pacquiao received during the Juan Manuel Marquez fight and financially irresponsible because a specially designed, 45,000-seat outdoor stadium in Las Vegas would not be ready in time -- he needs to make that clear.
Marquez, Tim Bradley, Miguel Cotto or Lamont Peterson might make Pacquiao some money, but it won't bring him a fraction of the attention a Mayweather fight would. Pacquiao has always said he is about giving the fans what they want. Now, he has a chance to prove it.
Arum is obviously afraid, he has come up with every excuse in the book not to make the fight
--@AbsolutVodka99
You don't know Bob Arum if you think he doesn't cares about money. It's ALL about money with Bob.
--@Layzie_Guy
I'm with a lot of you on this: I don't think Arum wants this fight. But it's not because of money. Arum is 80, worth hundreds of millions and Top Rank is in great shape with a well-stocked roster and bright executives Todd DuBoef, Bruce Trampler, Carl Moretti, Brad Goodman and Brad Jacobs running the show behind the scenes. It's not about not wanting to empower Mayweather anymore, either. Does it stick with Arum that Mayweather left him before signing on for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya? Yes. But Arum has promoted Ali. He has promoted Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and George Foreman. Fighters come and fighters go. He may not like Mayweather, but that would not stop him from making the fight.
No, what matters to Arum now is the process. He still enjoys promoting. What he doesn't enjoy -- and has said this to me many times -- is working with the people at Golden Boy or with Mayweather advisor Al Haymon. Arum looks at them condescendingly. He doesn't believe they have a true understanding of the boxing business and knows he would not enjoy a four- or five-month mega-promotion with them. That's his resistance to making this fight. Nothing more.
Of course Arum is afraid. He is afraid to lose his cash cow.
--@jtorell
Here's another argument that I find absolutely ridiculous: If Pacquiao loses to Mayweather, he loses his box-office appeal. Come on. When did a fighter's record become the reason we watch a fight? Pacquiao is appealing because he has an aggressive, come-forward style that usually ends in a knockout. That's not going to change.
Besides, let's look into the crystal ball of Pacquiao's career: The plan, according to Arum, is for Pacquiao to fight four more times before his desire to be a governor (and, ultimately, the Filipino president) consumes his career. Say he fights Mayweather in May. Say he loses. Would that diminish the attractiveness of rematches with Marquez and Cotto? Or a fight with Brandon Rios? Or a possible all-Filipino finale in Manila against (and this may be wishful thinking) Nonito Donaire? I don't think so.
And I'm not even considering the possibility here that the Mayweather fight would be so competitive that there would be an overwhelming demand for a rematch. Bottom line: Losses are not relevant. Just ask Oscar De La Hoya.
Is Mayweather serious about fighting Robert Guerrero?
--@TheRealMikeJC
It's possible. I've been told that Guerrero -- who has been openly lobbying for a Mayweather fight and was said to be close to an agreement, according to an Internet report -- is under consideration. I've thought all along that Saul Alvarez was Mayweather's first choice. He's a popular Mexican with a junior middleweight title around his waist. When you're talking about fighting on Cinco de Mayo, that's important.
Personally, I think both Guerrero and Alvarez are horrible choices. Guerrero would be a joke. He's a lightweight (a lightweight) who is coming off shoulder surgery in August. He has no real fan base and his resume doesn't suggest at this stage of his career he would be anything but a punching bag for Mayweather.
Alvarez is more popular but, at 21, he's raw. In September, Alfonso Gomez outboxed Alvarez for a few rounds before Alvarez caught him with a crushing combination. Mayweather would box circles around him.
The only competitive fight for Mayweather is Sergio Martinez, the lineal middleweight champion who has said he would drop to 150 pounds for the fight and agree not to rehydrate to more than 164, the weight Victor Ortiz carried into the ring against Mayweather in September. But I've been told Martinez's people have not heard a whisper of interest from Mayweather's people.
Chris Mannix
SI
Anguillan is acting general secretary of CFU
The Caribbean Football Union Normalization Committee appointed Damien Hughes as acting general secretary of the organization on Friday, filling the position left vacant when Angenie Kanhai resigned effective December 20.
The 34-year-old Hughes, who graduated from Moorehouse College in Atlanta and has a Master's degree from York University in Toronto, has been the general secretary of the Anguilla Football Association for the past 10 years.
The announcement by Cayman Islands Football Association President Jeffrey Webb, chairman of the normalization committee, of Hughes' appointment came following a conference call of the nine-man panel Friday.
The committee was selected in December by the 30 presidents of the Caribbean federations as the first step to rebuilding the CFU following the tumultuous past year.
The CFU has been without a president since Jack Warner resigned June 20 amid ethics allegations surrounding the FIFA presidential candidacy of Mohamed Bin Hamman, ending his 20-year tenure. The allegations, which also led to sanctions against several members of the CFU, prompted December's gathering at FIFA's urging to develop a plan to restructure.
Hughes will "serve as the chief administrator of the Union during the normalisation (sic) period, maintain the communication lines between the CFU and it members, and to prepare the Union for its Ordinary Congress slated for May 2012," Webb wrote to the CFU members in a letter.
"As you will imagine, the success of Mr. Hughes' tenure will be dependent upon our ability to partner with him as he seeks to assist us in return the Union to some level of administrative normality."
Hughes' appointment will not last 30 days past the congress, Webb wrote.
Web domains to get major overhaul with custom names
Applications will soon open for new top-level domains in the biggest change to the system in over two decades.
From Thursday it will be possible to register almost any word as a web address suffix.
Familiar endings like .com and .org could potentially be joined by the likes of .pepsi, .virgin or .itv.
The proposals are controversial but Icann, the organisation which regulates domain names, says the change increases choice and competition.
In December, the US Federal Trade Commission wrote to Icann warning that the expansion of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) "has the potential to magnify both the abuse of the domain name system and the corresponding challenges we encounter in tracking down Internet fraudsters."
And in the US, the Association of National Advertisers, whose members include some of America's biggest companies, have also opposed the changes.
Not cheap
But Peter Dengate Thrush, a former chairman of Icann's board of directors, said the change was necessary.
"It's badly in need of overhaul," he told the BBC.
"No-one would design a domain name system now for several billion users just using a couple of names that we started the system with in 1985."
Mr Dengate Thrush is currently chairman of Top Level Domains Holdings, a company developing registry services for top level domains.
At a cost of $185,000 (£120,000) just to apply, obtaining one of the new names is a serious financial commitment.
"Probably you are closer to half a million dollars to get it off the ground," said Jonathan Robinson, a non-executive director of Afilias, a registry operator which manages extensions like .mobi and .info.
The cost has lead to concern among some non-profit organisations that they will have to spend considerable sums defending themselves from cyber squatters.
Last month, the Reuters agency reported that the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and 26 other international organisations wrote to Icann asking it to protect suffixes like .imf from cyber squatters.
Deadline approaching
In spite of the cost there has been significant interest in applying for the new general top-level domains before the deadline for applications closes in April, according to companies advising on registrations.
"We're already working on over 100 applications - we're expecting that to increase," said Stuart Durham of Melbourne IT DBS.
He said around 25% of those had been "from Fortune 500 companies", with the majority of interest from the retail and financial services sectors.
As well as brand names, Mr Durham said there is likely to be a lively interest in place names.
"A lot of the geographic extensions that are being discussed like .london or .nyc will have a very good solid business case," he said.
"We've recently had extensions like .cat for the Catalan community that's done very well as well."
However, Mr Dengate Thrush worried this could lead to some conflict issues with places like Wellington, capital of his native country New Zealand, which shares its name with other places around the world.
"I think there are about 20 or 30 other cities called Wellington." However, he believed the systems set in place by Icann will ensure these issues can be successfully negotiated.
Cyber squatting
Even those who support the change foresee some issues.
"I would say it's almost certainly a good thing," Afilia's Mr Robinson told the BBC.
However, he says "you open up a whole new second tier of real estate that could be cyber squatted".
But Mr Durham thinks that there's very little that could be done to eradicate malicious squatters and others seeking to exploit the system.
"Cockroaches would survive a nuclear attack," he said.
"Some cyber squatters and infringers would too."
IRS comes up $385 billion short
The IRS has collected $4.4 billion from two programs that allowed tax evaders hiding money in offshore accounts to come clean and said it will launch a similar initiative this year.
The two voluntary disclosure programs, launched in 2009 and 2011, allowed taxpayers to pay reduced penalties and avoid jail time if they disclosed information about their offshore accounts.
The 2009 program netted $3.4 billion, and the 2011 program has brought in payments of $1 billion so far -- an amount that's expected to grow as the IRS processes the rest of the cases from last year, the agency said Monday. In all, 33,000 taxpayers have voluntarily come forward through the two programs.
Because of the success of the initiatives, the IRS also announced Monday that it is opening a third voluntary disclosure program for 2012.
"Our focus on offshore tax evasion continues to produce strong, substantial results for the nation's taxpayers," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. "We have billions of dollars in hand from our previous efforts, and we have more people wanting to come in and get right with the government."
Tax gap: IRS comes up $385 billion short
Unlike the past two initiatives, this year's program doesn't have a set deadline by which taxpayers must turn themselves in. But the IRS said it can change the terms of the program at any time, which could mean closing it altogether or increasing penalties.
For now, taxpayers disclosing offshore accounts are required to pay a penalty of 27.5% of the highest aggregate balance in their offshore accounts during the eight tax years prior to disclosing the accounts. That's up from the 25% penalty in 2011.
The lure of avoiding jail time is still there for the new program, and, as in the prior programs, taxpayers with smaller accounts may be eligible for lower penalty rates of 5% to 12.5%.
The program also requires tax evaders to fork over back taxes, interest and late charges for up to eight years.
Tax evaders who don't voluntarily disclose their offshore accounts but are instead caught by the IRS are in much more trouble. They risk jail time, and penalties can even be 50% -- or more if fraud is involved -- of the total account balance.
As part of the crackdown on offshore accounts, the IRS has also been boosting its audits of millionaires, because offshore accounts are often held by higher-earners, according to the agency. Last year, the IRS audited 1 in every 8 millionaires -- meaning about 12.5% of all taxpayers earning one million dollars or more were delivered audits
Intel Medfield chip on Motorola and Lenovo smartphones
Intel's new processor designed for mobile devices will be used by Motorola Mobility and Lenovo in upcoming Android-based smartphones.
The Medfield chip is designed to help Intel make headway in a sector dominated by processors based on designs by the UK firm Arm Holdings.
The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
The Motorola partnership is significant as Android's maker, Google, is in the process of taking over the phone maker.
This launch marks Intel's second attempt to get Atom-based chips used in smartphones.
LG unveiled a previous tie-up at CES in 2010, but the handset never went into production.
This time Intel has announced rough shipping dates for the new devices.
It said Lenovo would launch a Medfield-based phone in China before July, while Motorola would sell its first handset in the second half of the year with others devices to follow.
Battery life
Medfield's system-on-chip design packs an X86-architecture central processing unit (CPU), RAM memory, storage and an Imagination Technologies-designed graphics processing unit all onto the same chip using the firm's established 32 nanometre manufacturing technology.
The chip is smaller than a fingertip and is designed to balance processing power against energy use in order to maximise battery life.
Intel said a prototype unit, which it built itself, could deliver eight hours of 3G voice calls, six hours of 1080p video decoding or five hours of 3G internet browsing.
"Battery life on this platform is not the best in the mobile market, but it is by far not the worst," Mike Bell, Intel's Ultra Mobility Group general manager, told the BBC.
"We are very effective and good at some tasks and sort of in the middle of the pack at others.
"Essentially we think you can build a smartphone based upon our processor with an ordinary sized battery that you see in today's smartphones that will provide a great experience. There will be no battery life issue on our platform."
Avoiding fragmentation
Intel said it has also taken steps to prevent existing Android apps from being incompatible or slow on its chips.
It will deploy a team of experts to advise creators of Java-based titles on how to optimise their code - something it already does to help PC program developers.
The firm says it has also developed a technology to tackle "the 25% of apps" designed specifically to run on Arm-based processors.
"Applications that have native components or that were compiled natively for Arm - the majority of them, we think, by the time we ship will run just as well here as they do on other platforms. So the user won't have to worry about will it run on this or that phone," said Mr Bell.
"Compared to a native Intel version of the application it might use slightly more power if it is running under our technology, but the user wouldn't notice it.
"It will let those applications on day one run. And of course we are then going and evangelising to those people: 'Hey, if you recompile it it is going to run a lot faster on our platform as our platform is better.'"
Tablets
Intel said the chip could later be used in tablets.
However, for now it is promoting a separate Clover Trail processor, which was demonstrated on a tablet running the upcoming Windows 8 system software by chief executive Paul Ottellini during the CES keynote speech.
Despite showing off an Intel-designed Medfield prototype handset, Mr Bell said that the firm had chosen to pursue "a more horizontal ecosystem" with handset manufacturing left to others. However, he admitted that there had been discussions about Intel moving into the sector.
Intel's ability to crack the mobile device market could prove critical to its future success. Many analysts believe the division between smartphones and tablets versus PCs and laptops will become blurred over the coming years.
Microsoft's new system software has been designed to work on both Arm-designed processors as well as Intel's X86-based chips. Manufacturers have also experimented with Arm-based laptops running Linux operating systems.
"There are somewhere between three to five billion smartphones in the world, if Intel wants to grow its business at a significant rate it must participate in this market, there is no alternative," said Ken Dulaney, vice president of mobile computing at the tech research firm Gartner.
"It also gives them a fallback if the Wintel monopoly begins to fall apart and the browser, rather than system, becomes king. They have been too tied to Microsoft for too long."