Hasta La Gadget!

WASHINGTON — Three influential conservative groups that helped to defeat Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” before Christmas called for a “no” vote on the fiscal cliff deal struck by the White House and the Senate. The calls of opposition from these groups appear to have been heard by House Republicans, who are refusing to support the deal passed by the Senate.

The ultra-conservative Club for Growth stated, “This bill raises taxes immediately with the promise of cutting spending later. Tax rates will go up on marginal income, capital gains, dividends, and even certain estates when a person passes away. But it also delays the sequester for at least two months, breaking the promise made by Congress in 2011 to cut government spending. And, among other things, it includes an unpaid for extension of unemployment benefits.”

Heritage Action, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, echoed these concerns, “To be clear, this is a tax increase. … Heritage Action opposes the kick-the-can tax increase and will include it as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.”

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Connor Shaw led No. 11 South Carolina to the brink of victory and Dylan Thompson carried the Gamecocks over the hump in the Outback Bowl.

Thompson came off the bench to throw a 32-yard touchdown pass with 11 seconds remaining Tuesday, enabling South Carolina to match a school record for victories in a season with a 33-28 win over No. 19 Michigan.

Thompson replaced Shaw during the winning drive, covering the final 43 yards after Shaw begin the march from his own 30. Devin Gardner’s third TD pass of the game had given Michigan a 28-27 lead.

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We’ve seen several reports over the last week about Intel’s set-top box efforts, and an impending CES launch. According to GigaOM, some of those rumors simply aren’t true. The site has confirmed with several sources at Intel that a set-top box (and a whole lot more) is in the works, but a CES announcement has not been planned. Instead, Media, the mysterious Intel division, which is run like a startup with staffers hired from other Silicon Valley companies rather than shifted from different departments, could be unveiled in March, or perhaps even at the AllThingsD Dive Into Media conference in February.

A detailed GigaOM report outlines the company’s plans, which do include a STB manufactured by Intel that would compete with Apple TV, but also solutions for other platforms, including computers, tablets and smartphones. According to GigaOM sources, the company has spent more than $100 million on Intel Media, so it’s clearly taking the effort seriously. Still, until Intel Media has been exposed to the market, it’s too soon to judge its success. Hit up our source link for the full scoop.

Update: Now the Wall Street Journal has chimed in, with its own reports from usual unnamed sources indicating that a launch could be pushed as far as Q4. The reason for the wide launch window? Trouble negotiating content agreements for those unbundled packages (at much higher rates than the channels currently receive) it reportedly wants to offer, although the rumors say Intel has reached at least one content deal — we’re guessing it wasn’t with ESPN. Whether this will ever appear or simply remain vapor like so many other rumored Intel software products remains to be seen, but just like the often hinted at Apple television, the licensing issues will probably be much harder to work out than any software or hardware.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Intel

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Source: GigaOM, Wall Street Journal

Meet Logan Phineas Miller Murphy!

Ryan Murphy introduced his newborn son Tuesday via his Twitter account.

“Thanks to everyone for the kind wishes. Logan is one week old and doing great. Happy new year!” the Glee and American Horror Story creator, 47, writes.

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DALLAS — So much for the idea that Oklahoma State didn’t care about playing in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Clint Chelf threw three of his team’s five touchdown passes and the Cowboys shook off a tough Big 12 finish by rolling up 524 yards and forcing five Purdue turnovers in a dominating 58-14 victory on Tuesday.

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