Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down DOMA

The Obama administration on Friday urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense Of Marriage Act in a brief that calls the law unconstitutional because it violates “the fundamental guarantee of equal protection.”

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argues in the brief that Section 3 of the 1996 federal law prohibits the marriage of same-sex couples and should get the court’s close scrutiny.

“The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite-sex couples. Because this discrimination cannot be justified as substantially furthering any important governmental interest, Section 3 is unconstitutional.”

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Canada Ambassador Says He Feels Slighted By Argo

TORONTO — Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, who protected Americans at great personal risk during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, said Friday if “Argo” wins the Oscar for best picture on Sunday there would be something wrong with director Ben Affleck if he didn’t mention Canada.

Ken Taylor said he continues to feel slighted by a movie that he says makes Canada look like a meek observer to CIA heroics in the rescue of six U.S. citizens caught in the crisis. He said there would be no movie if the Canadian embassy didn’t take in the Americans.

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Google’s future 42-acre ‘Bayview’ home gets its own Vanity Fair profile

Google's future 42acre 'Bayview' home gets its own Vanity Fair profile

Usually when we get a peek at Google’s Mountain View home it’s to gawk at the latest Android-related statue but a Vanity Fair article posted today showed the company’s future HQ plans. After initiating plans for a new structure next to the existing Googleplex and then abandoning them last year, it’s opting for a new facility designed by Seattle firm NBBJ (which also created offices for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) in another area of the city. Planned to open as soon as 2015 — potentially ahead of Apple’s halo-shaped new digs — it’s called Bay View and consists of nine buildings connected by bridges over 42 acres.

According to Google it’s designed for many workers to operate just on natural light, and avail themselves of the many cafes and green roofs. Quoted in the article is civil engineer David Radcliffe, who claims that employees will never be more than a two and a half minute walk away from each other, which, along with the bent floorplan of each building, is intended to create opportunities for innovation through “casual collisions”. These are just some of the tidbits included in the article waiting beyond the source link, but we’re still trying to figure out where they hid parking spots for all the self-driving cars.

[Image credit: NBBJ]

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Source: Vanity Fair, LA Times

Derrick Clifton: It’s About Time We ‘Wake Up’ and Listen to Black Youth

We forget that black youth have important ideas to offer during critical discussions about issues directly affecting their lives. Black youth voices are routinely rendered invisible. It’s a dilemma that the documentary Woke Up Black addresses head-on.
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SMART Storage Systems Optimus 1.8″ SAS SSDs

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SMART Storage Systems is proud to bring you their newest line of SAS SSDs, the Optimus 1.8″. Coming in both 200GB and 400GB capacities, these 1.8-inch SSDs are equipped with MLC NAND Flash memory chips, a SAS 6.0 Gbps interface and capable of delivering read and write speeds of up to 500MB/s and 500MB/s, respectively. The Optimus 1.8″ SAS SSDs will begin sampling to select customers in Q2 of 2013. [Product Page]

Wedding Dress Shopping: Boutiques Mail Gowns You Can Try On At Home

There’s a new way to shop for a wedding dress, and it doesn’t even require leaving your house.

Bridal designer Kirstie Kelly recently launched a program called “Borrow Me,” which allows brides to order gowns from the website, keep them for two days to try on, and either buy them or mail them back. It costs $35 to borrow each dress.

Another bridal company, The Dessy Group, also offers a similar program.

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Marc Nager: The Emergence of a New Industry Around Entrepreneurship

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Entrepreneurship, the notion that anyone, anywhere, can pursue something they are passionate about, is something so innately human that its manifestation worldwide is nothing short of natural, rewarding, and sustainable.
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HTC One for Sprint spotted with FCC approval

HTC One for Sprint spotted with FCC approval

The HTC One just made its first official appearance (unless you count its brief showing by Peter Chou at the year-end party as “official”) on Tuesday, and while we haven’t been given any specific availability in the US, its models are at least starting to receive approval from the FCC. This particular model sports Sprint-specific LTE (band 25) and also includes 802.11ac support, a telltale sign that this is indeed the Now Network’s One. The fact that the docs detail the test unit as a production model is a solid indication that HTC’s flagship is well on its way to Overland Park, and soon. And it doesn’t appear to be alone, either; two other variants snuck through the process of federal approval, one with quad-band LTE (bands 2, 4, 5 and 17) and another with dual-band (bands 4 and 17). It seems that HTC isn’t wasting any time on bringing its attack to US shores.

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Source: FCC

Verizon Nokia RM-860, RX-108 Windows 8 device and others spotted

Over at AdDuplex, Alan Mendelevich was shifting through data and spotted a variety of unannounced Nokia devices, including a Windows 8 device that could be a tablet and a few handsets. Among them is the Nokia RM-860, which is a Verizon handset featuring a high-definition display that is speculated to be a Lumia 920 variety. The big question is, will we see any of these devices at the upcoming Mobile World Congress?

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Likewise, the Lumia 720 was spotted showing off a WVGA-resolution display, of which images surfaced of the device earlier today. The handset goes by the name “Fame,” and is said to have a 4.3-inch ClearBlack screen, a dual-core 1GHz processor, and 8GBs of internal storage space. There’s a 6-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera.

Another handset was spotted, the Nokia RM-892 showing up from India. Perhaps the most interesting device, however, is the RX-108, which is shown as a Windows 8 machine. Whether it is a PC or a tablet, however, is unknown. Many consumers have been awaiting a Windows 8 tablet from Nokia, and so if the RX-108 is such a device, we’ll likely see it at MWC.

This follows a series of Nokia handsets he tweeted about on Monday, which included a Lumia 520 (RM-914), Lumia 720 (RM-887), and an RM-860 device, the same one mentioned today. We’ll be keeping an eye out for these handsets, and will let you know as soon as more info is available, so stay tuned.

[via WP Central]


Verizon Nokia RM-860, RX-108 Windows 8 device and others spotted is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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‘The Tomorrow People’ Pilot Adds Mark Pelligrino, Henry Ian Cusick Joins ‘The Hundred’ And More Pilot News

Two CW pilots are getting a visit from “Lost” alumni.

“The Tomorrow People” pilot has cast Mark Pellegrino, best known as Jacob from the ABC island drama, to play Dr. Jedikiah Price, Deadline reports. According to Deadline, Dr. Price is “an evolutionary biologist” who believes the “Tomorrow People” are a grave threat to the human race and makes it his mission to contain them.

Meanwhile, Henry Ian Cusick, who played Desmond on “Lost,” is heading to The CW for “The Hundred” pilot, which is set 97 years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization. In the sci-fi drama, the Ark, a space station containing the only human survivors, sends 100 juvenile delinquents down to Earth in the hopes of re-colonizing the planet. According to Deadline, Cusick will play Kane, an Ark officer who wants the Chancellor’s job.

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