Rodgers says he was 'lied to' by Braun

Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers spins a ball on his finger during NFL football training camp Friday, July 26, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers spins a ball on his finger during NFL football training camp Friday, July 26, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

FILE - In this June 9, 2011 file photo, Green Bay Packers NFL football quarterback Aaron Rodgers, left, and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun speak during batting practice before a baseball game between the Brewers and the New York Mets,, in Milwaukee. Rodgers says he was "shocked" when his friend Ryan Braun admitted he violated baseball's rules against using performance-enhancing substances. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)

Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers runs a drill during NFL football training camp Friday, July 26, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers, left, talks to head coach Mike McCarthy during NFL football training camp Friday, July 26, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) ? Ryan Braun apparently has some work to do to repair his friendship with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Describing himself as shocked and disappointed, Rodgers said Friday after the Packers' first training camp practice that Braun "looked at me in the eye on multiple occasions and repeatedly denied the allegations" that the Milwaukee Brewers slugger was using performance-enhancing drugs.

Braun this week accepted a season-ending 65-game suspension after admitting to violating baseball's rules against using PEDs.

Rodgers felt duped by his buddy and business associate, a sentiment being expressed by many others in Wisconsin. A Milwaukee restaurant is named for two of the state's most well-known athletes, and Rodgers last year defended his friend on Twitter, going so far as to betting his multimillion-dollar salary that Braun was clean.

"It's disappointing, not only for myself as a friend but for obviously Wisconsin sports fans, Brewer fans, Major League Baseball fans," Rodgers said before a throng of media surrounding his locker. "It doesn't feel great being lied to like that, and I'm disappointed about the way it all went down."

Rodgers and Braun have spoken since the slugger's suspension. Asked if he considered themselves friends, Rodgers didn't answer directly but said in part, "I trusted him, and that's the thing that probably hurts the most."

The future of their business relationship ? they're involved in a licensing agreement for the 8-twelve MVP Bar and Grill ? was yet to be determined, Rodgers said.

With the benefit of hindsight, Rodgers plans to take a more measured approach next time if faced a similar situation in the future.

"People make mistakes. I definitely believe in forgiveness and moving forward," Rodgers said. "Obviously, (Braun) has a tough task in front of him moving forward with his career, on and off the field."

All the attention at the first practice was atypical even for Rodgers, a former Super Bowl and NFL MVP who leads one of most dangerous passing attacks in the league. He was smiling and laughing on the field Friday, running through drills like the rest of his teammates on an overcast, breezy morning.

In the locker room, however, the off-the-field questions didn't stop at Braun.

Earlier this week, former Packers receiver Greg Jennings ? now with the archrival Minnesota Vikings ? criticized of his ex-quarterback. In an interview with the Star Tribune, Jennings questioned Rodgers' leadership and implied the quarterback had become bigger than the team.

"Don't get me wrong, '12' is a great person," Jennings was quoted as saying, referring to Rodgers. "But when you hear all positives, all positives, all positives all the time, it's hard for you to sit down when one of your teammates says, 'Man, come on, you've got to hold yourself accountable for this.' It's hard for someone to see that now because all they've heard is I'm doing it the right way, I'm perfect. In actuality, we all have flaws."

Rodgers said he wasn't spending time or energy on Jennings' comments.

"To me, I'm concerned with the opinions of the guys in this locker room and the guys we have here," Rodgers said. "It's exciting to be able to be one of the leaders of this football team, and I'm very confident in my style."

Not surprisingly, the current Packers had the quarterback's back.

"It is what it is," receiver Randall Cobb said about Jennings' remarks. "Aaron is a great leader. He puts us in some great situations on and off the field. He makes it easier for us to have someone to look up to for support and leadership."

Rodgers had one of the best offseasons of his nine-year career, according to coach Mike McCarthy.

"He's in good shape. He's ready to go. He really understands his role as far as the leader and one of the veteran leaders on our football team," McCarthy said. "I think Aaron's off to a great start coming off a very good offseason."

As for practice itself, McCarthy liked what he saw. It's just the first day, so he and the coaching staff plan to take a closer look at tape for a better evaluation.

The tempo has picked up a little from previous years, in part because music is being played on loudspeakers during what are being called "TV timeouts." It's designed to give players a breather and, in part, to mimic the routines during games. Rodgers' favorite tune in the rotation? Darius Rucker's version of "Wagon Wheel."

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Follow Genaro Armas at http://twitter.com/GArmasAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-07-26-FBN-Packers-Rodgers-Braun/id-54520edcef60444fb719b73e8f82a5de

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Snowden needs 'world's protection', says Venezuelan leader

By Alissa de Carbonnel and Alexei Anishchuk

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that Edward Snowden, the former U.S. spy agency contractor, deserved the "world's protection" for divulging details of Washington's spy program.

Snowden, wanted by Washington on spying charges for revealing the secret U.S. electronic surveillance program Prism, has applied for political asylum in more than a dozen countries, in his search for safety.

The 30-year-old is in legal limbo in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, unable to fly on to a hoped-for destination in Latin America because he has no legal travel documents and no Russian visa to leave the airport.

On Monday, he broke a nine-day silence since arriving in Moscow from Hong Kong, challenging Washington by saying he was free to publish more about its programs and that he was being illegally persecuted.

That ruled out a prolonged stay in Russia, where a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said Snowden had withdrawn his request for asylum after the Russian leader said he should give up his "anti-American activity".

But while countries lined up to deny his asylum requests, Venezuela, part of an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America, said it was time to stop berating a man who has "done something very important for humanity".

"He deserves the world's protection. He has not asked us for it yet. When he does we will give our answer," Maduro told Reuters during a visit to Moscow.

He said he would consider an asylum application if Snowden made one. His request for safety in Ecuador, which has sheltered the founder of antisecrecy group WikiLeaks Julian Assange in its London embassy, has seemingly ended.

U.S. President Barack Obama, embarrassed by the affair, has made clear to a number of countries that granting him asylum would carry costs.

"MISTAKE"

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa was quoted in Britain's Guardian newspaper on Monday as saying his country could not consider an asylum request unless Snowden was on Ecuadorean territory.

He said giving Snowden a temporary travel pass to fly to Moscow from Hong Kong was "a mistake on our part".

"Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It's not logical," he said, adding that Snowden was now Moscow's problem.

Moscow has been unwilling to send Snowden to the United States and look weak but is just as unwilling to damage ties with Washington over a man Putin, a former KGB spy, has little sympathy with.

"Snowden is in the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport and has not crossed the Russian Federation's border (onto Russian soil) ... Russia has never extradited anyone, is not extraditing anyone and will not extradite anyone," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Tuesday.

Peskov said Snowden showed no sign of stopping releasing secret U.S. documents and added that he had "abandoned his intention (of staying in Russia)".

Snowden has prepared requests for asylum in countries including India, China, Brazil, Ireland, Austria, Bolivia, Cuba, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela, WikiLeaks said on Monday.

By Tuesday, the list of rejections was growing.

Norway said he was unlikely to get asylum there, and Poland said it would not give a "positive recommendation" to any request. Finland said it could not accept his request as Finnish law required him to be in the country. France, Iceland and Italy said they had not received any formal request for asylum.

Snowden's options are narrowing. His U.S. passport has been revoked so he has no travel documents and he does not have a valid Russian visa to leave the airport.

In a statement released by WikiLeaks on Monday, he accused the Obama administration of deception in a campaign to prevent him from finding political asylum and of "leaving me a stateless person" by revoking his U.S. passport.

"This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile," he said.

"Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right," Snowden said. "A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum ... Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me."

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Nanda Chitre rejected Snowden's allegation "since he is still a United States citizen and his country is willing to take him back."

Snowden said he was being illegally persecuted in a undated letter sent to Ecuador's Correa seen by Reuters.

"I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest," Snowden, who had been a contract employee for the U.S. National Security Agency, said in the letter.

"No matter how many more days my life contains, I remain dedicated to the fight for justice in this unequal world. If any of those days ahead realize a contribution to the common good, the world will have the principles of Ecuador to thank."

(Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-needs-worlds-protection-says-venezuelan-leader-101733505.html

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Unbelievable Pacific Rim video reveals all of the Kaiju's secrets

If you only watch one behind-the-scenes video from Pacific Rim, watch this one. We got an exclusive video featuring an INSANELY detailed look at Guillermo del Toro's new batch of monsters featuring charts, concept art and brand new monster footage from the movie!

This is the video we've been waiting for ? director Guillermo del Toro and the Pacific Rim cast sit down to talk monsters, while dropping some completely bananas action on the screen. Plus, he addresses the whole New Monster Vs. Classic Kaiju Man-in-the-Suit controversy. And his decision was brilliant. Just watch the video already!

Take a look at some of our favorite screengrabs:

And to top it all off, the Pacific Rim Facebook page just released two new pieces of art from the film:

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Pacific Rim will be released in 3D and 2D in select theaters and IMAX on July 12th.

Source: http://io9.com/unbelievable-pacific-rim-video-reveals-all-of-the-kaiju-634921963

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Cassidy: NSA muzzle should be removed from Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo

The NSA spying scandal and the way it runs through Silicon Valley "is the story that just won't go away," to borrow a phrase from Fox News.

Details -- some accurate, some not -- of the government's snooping continue to trickle out. Many of us continue to wonder just what the government has scooped up about us from our go-to social networking and search companies like Google (GOOG), Facebook, Yahoo (YHOO) and Apple (AAPL). And some of us wonder just what those companies have done to try to protect our privacy

It's the last question that has become my personal obsession. The feds and the commercial keepers of the Internet have said all the right things to make us feel better. When several news outlets were reporting that the NSA through a program called Prism was tapping directly into the servers of search engines and social media sites, executives said that was not the case. The NSA explained

that it was only targeting foreign suspects and only with the authorization of a top-secret court.

But does any of that put you at ease? Me neither.

There is something that could help us all feel better about the oceans of personal data that are sloshing around out there: National security officials should free companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Yahoo to explain what is going on in much greater detail. After all, we are their customers. We put our trust in them. They have benefited greatly from using our data to target ads and develop marketing schemes. They know more about us than we know about ourselves.

All this was on my mind recently when I attended a New York Times global forum. This one, hosted by columnist Thomas Friedman, centered on the notion that we'd moved from being a connected society to a hyper-connected one and that the transformation has changed everything from business to security to philanthropy to education to relationships.

The spin was generally positive, but obviously this increased connectivity has some serious down sides.

Among the many speakers was Dov Seidman, CEO of corporate advisory firm LRN and a guy who's become a guru of good corporate behavior. He seemed a

An illustration picture shows the logo of the U.S. National Security Agency on the display of an iPhone in Berlin, June 7, 2013. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski (PAWEL KOPCZYNSKI)

logical one to ask about the role of valley companies in the NSA drama.

"At the end of the day," Seidman, whose outfit works with Fortune 500 companies globally, told me, "the Silicon Valley companies that are capturing a lot of data are in a very precarious and a very rich relationship with their (customers). Their currency is trust and if they do anything to betray that trust, it's going to be hard to regain it."

No kidding. The problem is that it's going to be hard for Silicon Valley companies to maintain or regain that trust if the federal government continues to muzzle them.

Part of Seidman's gospel is that the world has become a place where what companies do is important, but more important is how they do things. The explosion of social media and the ability to immediately and broadly call out bad corporate behavior, means that companies that act unethically or otherwise mistreat customers, partners, suppliers and others will have a hard time getting away with it.

Few things matter more to people than their personal information, said Seidman, author of "How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything." "So these are the crown jewels that these companies are possessing," he said. "They've got to handle them with great care."

How have they done? Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft and others have pushed back, asking the feds to let them disclose more details about government demands for information and corporate responses to those demands. But the feds have provided little useful relief.

No question it would be good to get a good accounting. I'd also be interested in knowing what search and social media companies did when the NSA first came calling. The week the NSA news broke, I wrote a blog post wondering whether Silicon Valley companies stood up for our privacy. Did they go to court to fight the orders to turn over data? Did they use their considerable connections in Congress? It would be fair to say the post was critical and assumed the worst.

But now comes news that at least one company in 2008 fought a request made under the law that governs the Prism program. The legal battle was fought secretly and to this day the court hasn't disclosed the name of the company, although The New York Times reported that it was Yahoo.

That is exactly the sort of information that the feds should allow companies to disclose. There is no need to keep the targeted company secret five years later. If they ever doubted it, terrorists now know that investigators monitor U.S. Internet companies; and they know Yahoo is a U.S. Internet company. That Yahoo fought a surveillance order would tell those who mean us harm nothing they don't already know.

But it would tell consumers a lot. For instance, if Yahoo fought the feds prying through Prism and Google didn't (something we can't know for sure) a reasonable consumer might want to shift from Google to Yahoo for search, or from Gmail to Yahoo Mail for correspondence.

At the very least, a reasonable consumer would want to know the track record of the two companies in order to make an informed decision.

Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5536. Follow him at Twitter.com/mikecassidy.

Source: http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_23553774/cassidy-nsa-muzzle-should-be-removed-from-google?source=rss_viewed

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Petition to Pardon Snowden to Receive White House Response (ABC News)

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Biba Comes Out Of Stealth With $15M In Funding For Mobile-First, Password-Free Conferencing And Messaging Service

The smartphone is changing how people work but so far the applications for web conferencing have not taken much of a mobile-first approach. Biba, a new company coming out of stealth, has spent more than a year and $5 million in a Series A investment to quietly build a service that offers a lightweight way to use your iPhone, iPad or Android device to participate in conference calls or message people in your network.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Z9FzCKpl9D8/

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Social Media Revolutionizing Online Video - Business Insider

BI Intelligence

Television is no longer the only game in town for distributing and watching video.?The Internet and the social web have provided content creators and advertisers with a cost-effective way to distribute video.

"Social" video ?is video that is influenced ? in any part of the pipeline, from production to distribution ? by social media.?For audiences, discovery is no longer about flipping through channels or a TV guide, it's about listening to friends' recommendations and glancing at social media feeds.

Just how big is social media-influenced video? It's big, having eclipsed non-social video on the Web in audience size (see chart, top right).?And it's only getting bigger.?

In a new report?from?BI?Intelligence,?we look at?the general state of social video, examine social video audiences and their demographics, analyze how marketers and advertisers are getting into the mix, compare the major social video platforms, and?detail how social is influencing video as a content medium.

Access The Full Report And Data By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here's an overview of the?rise of social video:

• Social media-influenced video has eclipsed non-social video on the Web in terms of audience size:?Online video audiences are expected to double in 2016, reaching 1.5 billion?globally, according to Cisco. A majority now , and an increasingly significant portion of them in the future, will discover or watch video and TV content on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and new mobile-focused social video apps like Vine.?comScore found that 63 million U.S. users watched a video on Facebook alone during April 2013. In the U.S.,Facebook had the fastest-growing online video audience?of major Web properties over the last 10 months, and is only second to Google in terms of video audience size.
• Social media is having a profound effect on this content medium:?Video length is shrinking, in part to accommodate the preferences of social media audiences who like to snack on video. The intersection of mobile devices and social media will likely be crucial to video's future.?Videos are increasingly discovered and shared on mobile devices, but through social media channels. Video content that is well-suited to small screens and social contexts will do well.
• Advertisers want to be next to social video: 85% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in April 2013, and?video advertising is now up to 13.2 billion monthly views?in the U.S. alone.?Data?shows that consumers are more likely to enjoy a brand video and remember the brand involved if they come across it thanks to a social media recommendation. Also, socially-referred video starts are more likely to be completed?than non-social video, according to Adobe.
• And social is key to the all-valuable viral video: Brands are keen to spur video virality. The push for ?earned media? is driving this. For a brand, a video that goes ?viral,? and earns millions of views on YouTube means that a brand has earned millions of impressions that it didn't have to pay for. Brands are experimenting with cracking the code to videos that will tap the right emotions and trigger mass sharing.?

In full,?the?report:

For full access to the report on Social Video sign up for a free trial subscription today.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-revolutionizing-online-video-2013-6

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