WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House oversight committee on Wednesday
voted to recommend holding Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in
contempt of Congress in a dispute over internal Justice Department
documents related to the botched gun trafficking operation called “Fast
and Furious.”
The 23-to-17 vote, which fell along party lines, came after President
Obama
invoked executive privilege to withhold the documents and
communications among Justice Department officials last year as they
grappled with the Congressional investigation into the case. As part of
the operation, weapons bought in the United States were allowed to reach
a Mexican drug cartel.
It was the first time that Mr.
Obama
asserted the privilege since taking office, and it sharpened the
long-festering dispute between Mr. Holder and Representative Darrell
Issa, Republican of California, the chairman of the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform. Democrats called for the panel to hold
off voting on the contemptcitation during an often acrimonious partisan
debate, but Republicans pressed forward with it.
Sharp introduced its new 90-inch Aquos
LED
TV on Tuesday -- what it's calling "the largest TV on the planet." At
4-ft. tall and 6-ft., 8-in. wide, it's sure to dominate the room -- and
this week, at least, the consumer electronics conversation.
In addition to being large, the TV also delivers a high-quality
consumer experience, according to the company, with "stunning" picture
quality. Content is displayed at 1080p, the highest resolution
available.
[ Sharp's 90-inch Aquos TV] --------->
The TV has a suggested retail price of US$10,999.99. It's fairly
light, considering its size, weighing only 141 pounds without the stand.
It's 5-in. deep, making it compatible with a sturdy wall mount, and
it's also relatively efficient, using less energy than two 75-watt light
bulbs.
The Aquos is a full HD active 3DTV, with two 3D glasses included. It
also features AquoMotion 240, which makes fast-action motion appear
seamless. The TV has built-in connectivity, offering users direct access
to services like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and
Hulu, as well as Aquos Advantage Live, a free service that puts users in touch with customer
support representatives via the Internet.
Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) has changed its payment
system, doing away with its Credits program as well as allowing app
developers to offer subscription billing.
Facebook currently sells in-app purchases for Credits -- digital
tokens that allowed users to buy virtual goods within games or apps. But
the company found that Credits didn't catch on as a Facebook currency,
and many developers introduced their own virtual coinage, such as Farm
Cash in
Zynga's
(Nasdaq: ZNGA) "FarmVille" game. To streamline the monetization process
across the platform, Facebook will support local currencies rather than
just Credits.
YouTube's attorneys have sent a cease-and-desist letter to
YouTube-mp3 demanding that it stop allowing users to extract audio clips from YouTube videos in order to copy them onto personal devices.
YouTube-mp3 is a highly user-friendly service. All a user must do is enter a video's
URL, and the audio is generated within moments. That process is the main reason for being for these sites.
