Tony Parker Sues W.i.P. Nightclub After Suffering Eye Injury in Drake-Chris Brown Melee


San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker is suing the Manhattan nightclub where a fight between Chris Brown and Drake broke out and led to mass chaos.

Why? Because the NBA star suffered a scratched retina when glass bottles and shards started flying during the melee, according to news reports.

The baller, who is expected to be fine in time for the Olympics but must wear a patch on the eye for several weeks, seeks $20 million in damages.

New York officials shut down W.i.P. nightclub in the aftermath.

Tony Parker Photo

Parker claims that the club nearly cost him his career by properly secure and oversee the premises in the lead-up to the violent brawl between Chris Brown, Drake, Meek Mill and entourages/security guys/friends of all three music stars.

Parker's lawsuit is not the first, nor the last to result from the night gone awry, in which numerous injuries were reported, some of them serious.

Drake alluded to the dustup during a concert in Long Island last weekend, while Meek Mill denies that there was any bad blood between any of them.

Drake's Young Money boss, Lil Wayne, is reportedly trying to help smooth things over as soon as possible. Yes ... Lil Wayne is the mediator.

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Mathis' ace launches him to lead at Travelers

David Mathis watches his drive on the first hole during the first round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament in Cromwell, Conn., Thursday, June 21, 2012. Mathis finished in the lead at 6-under-par. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham)

David Mathis watches his drive on the first hole during the first round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament in Cromwell, Conn., Thursday, June 21, 2012. Mathis finished in the lead at 6-under-par. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham)

Bubba Watson watches his drive on the 18th hole during the first round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament in Cromwell, Conn., Thursday, June 21, 2012. Watson finished his round with a 4-under par 66. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham)

Frederik Jacobson, of Sweden, watches his chip-shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament in Cromwell, Conn., Thursday, June 21, 2012. Jacobson finished with a 5-under par 65. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham)

(AP) ? David Mathis hoped to start strong at the Travelers Championship after missing the cut last week in the U.S. Open.

The 38-year-old Mathis birdied his first hole, then holed out from 158 yards on the par-3 11th hole. He knocked in a 49-foot birdie putt on his third, was at 6-under par after six holes, and fished with a 6-under 64 for a one-shot lead.

"It was an awesome start," said Mathis, who has never finished better than eighth in a PGA Tour event. "I was hitting a lot of great shots (later), and I guess it felt like a lull compared to how I started."

Nathan Green, Will Claxton and defending champion Fredrik Jacobson shot 65 on a day that saw temperatures soar into the upper 90s.

U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson and Masters winner Bubba Watson played together and finished in a group of 10 at 66. The third member of the threesome, PGA champion Keegan Bradley, shot a 68.

"We were relaxed all day," Simpson said. "Bubba is my Presidents Cup partner. We always laugh together. And I've played a lot of golf with Keegan this year. He's a good friend. We had a lot of fun feeding off each other, and luckily, we all played well."

Mathis' ace was the shot of the day. He said he was just trying to cut a nine iron close to the pin and hit it exactly where he aimed.

"It kind of bounced and stumbled right and went right in the hole," he said.

Green teed off at 6:50 a.m., well before heat and humidity set in, setting the early mark with a 65. Claxton opened his round with a birdie and an eagle, but finished with a bogey on 18.

"To start out birdie-eagle, that's huge," Claxton said. "I obviously had the driver going. I drove the ball well today. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be."

Jacobson, who picked up his only PGA Tour win at the event a year ago, spent much of the day atop the leaderboard before a double bogey on 16 dropped him to 5 under and into a three-way tie for second.

"I knew it was going to be challenging in this heat, and if you start to miss a few shots, it can get to you," he said. "So I was just happy to get through this day."

One of Jacobson's playing partner's, former Masters champion Zach Johnson, also had a tough finish. He was 3 under when he hit a drive over the green at 15. He made a 6 there and a seven on the par-4 17th, where he tried to putt from the fringe, and needed three more after making it to the green.

A gallery of fans five and six deep greeted Simpson, Watson, and Bradley on the first tee, and many followed them throughout what all three said was a relaxed round.

"Any time you can play with those guys, it's fun," Watson said. "We learn from each other. We watch each other. We're making some jokes out there. We were having a good time. It was good."

But it wasn't fun for everybody. Former UCLA star Patrick Cantlay made his professional debut with a 75 on the same course where he made headlines last year with a second-round 60 as a 19-year-old amateur.

"I started off poorly with a couple of doubles and couple weird things happened, and it just added up to a bad round," Cantlay said.

Associated Press

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LeapFrog LeapPad 2 and Leapster GS Explorer hands-on (video)

LeapFrog LeapPad 2 and Leapster GS handson video

If you've got little ones of your own, you're probably familiar with LeapFrog's various learning devices for children. Since last year, the company stepped things up a notch by offering up its LeapPad tablet breed for youngsters and pricing it at just $100. Not only did it ensure you'd never have to your precious iPad loose into rigors of the adolescence (read: having it tortured by kids in unimaginable ways), but it also packed LeapFrog's developmental education know-how into all of its apps. If you'll recall, it was just yesterday that the company announced its second iteration of the device, the LeapPad 2, and today we were able to spend some time with near production-quality engineering samples. On that note, the same can be said of its latest Leapster, the GS Explorer -- a $70 Gameboy-like portable unit focused more on educational gaming. Join us after the break for a brief rundown of what's been improved and our initial impressions of both.

Continue reading LeapFrog LeapPad 2 and Leapster GS Explorer hands-on (video)

LeapFrog LeapPad 2 and Leapster GS Explorer hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What Will New Immigration Policy Mean For Jobs?

President Obama recently decided to suspend deportations for some immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. Under certain conditions, they can apply for work permits. Host Michel Martin looks at some potential economic effects with two experts who both oppose the plan.

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EXCUSEMAN? Tackles Human Resources to Create Positive ...

Injury Board member Jordan Margolis? superhero tendencies run deep.

By day, the Chicago personal injury attorney pursues justice by fighting danger, accidents and crime.

But when he steps out of his (attorney) suit and into his alter ego, Margolis is EXCUSEMAN?, a fictional character who battles empty excuses and lame apologies to bring accountability to the world.

?

Donning a cape and colorful costume, his goal is to use a mixture of humor, creativity, acting, writing and musical theater to offer redemption for those ?celebrities, politicians, corporate miscreants or regular screw ups who mess up but won?t fess up.?

With 33 years of trial experience, Margolis?? as EXCUSEMAN? ? is taking a new show on the road in hopes of fostering healthier and safer workplace environs.

Just as he helps victims and their families tackle legal issues, Margolis is catering to human resources, university and business groups to help large and small companies stay afloat and thrive during tough economic times. He aims to achieve this by delivering to them smiles and tools to fashion positive, safe work environments.

To Margolis, workplace safety entails ensuring both the physical safety of employees as well as their mental and emotional safety. Margolis believes that the vitality of a work environment can make a huge difference.

As a business owner himself, Margolis has seen a direct correlation between creating a thriving, peaceful and fun work environment and workplace growth and productivity. Positive benefits abound when employees feel safe, appreciated and respected, Margolis says.

In particular, Margolis? program stresses the importance of Objective Performance Criteria to prevent employees from making excuses for poor management, by building a positive work environment that ensures employees appreciate their contributions in the success of the company.

He teaches unique workplace communications methods that not only increase productivity, but are effective in creating a great work environment.

EXCUSEMAN? will cover such topics as:

  • Where does human nature end and human resources begin?
  • What made the workplace from 1887 to 1937 so different from today?
  • You?re a human resources manager in real life, but could you play one on TV?
  • Why do the best workers make the worst bosses?
  • Are labor laws stopping your company from competing in the world market?
  • When are ?hot? topics in employment safe to discuss?

?When people are happy, laughing and feeling good, they generally work in teams better, are twice as productive and efficient, happy to go to work and thankful to have a job, rather than complaining with a negative attitude ? which ultimately only brings down morale for the entire workforce and affects productivity in the long run,? Margolis says. ?And we all know this can affect the bottom line, and it hurts everyone in the big picture, further creating more job loss,? he says.

EXCUSEMAN? is bringing his presentation to a Human Resources Management Professional?Development Lunch & Learn Program speaking engagement at DePaul University?on October 17, 2012 in Chicago and for the Professionals In Human Resources Association in Santa Clarita, California, February 14, 2013.

Details of all of EXCUSEMAN?S? upcoming appearances will be posted at www.excuseman.com.

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Alleged Zeta horse trainer wins release order

This photo provided by the U.S. Marshals via the Statesman.com shows 48-year-old Eusevio Maldonado Huitron, According to court documents, Huitron owns property in the Bastrop County community of Dale and has trained and boarded dozens of horses that were funded with drug proceeds. (AP Photo/U.S. Marshal via Statesman.com)

This photo provided by the U.S. Marshals via the Statesman.com shows 48-year-old Eusevio Maldonado Huitron, According to court documents, Huitron owns property in the Bastrop County community of Dale and has trained and boarded dozens of horses that were funded with drug proceeds. (AP Photo/U.S. Marshal via Statesman.com)

(AP) ? A federal judge ruled Monday that a Texas horse trainer charged with conspiring to launder money for Mexico's powerful Zetas drug cartel should be released on bail, rejecting the prosecution's argument that the threat of cartel reprisals against him was so severe it could harm the surrounding community.

Eusevio Maldonado Huitron remained in custody because federal prosecutors said they will appeal the decision. But the defense told The Austin American-Statesman hours later that the U.S. Attorney's Office had withdrawn its objections, clearing the way for Maldonado Huitron's release soon.

Maldonado Huitron ran a horse farm in Bastrop County southeast of Austin and is among 15 people charged with helping the Zetas launder millions of dollars through quarter horse operations in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and California.

After listening to a string of witnesses in a bail hearing that stretched over two days, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin said he was setting conditions for Maldonado Huitron's release, but he didn't immediately make them public.

Prosecutors conceded that they had no evidence Maldonado Huitron was violent but said there was a risk he could flee to Mexico and disappear given his family ties in that country. However, the greater danger in releasing him from federal custody, they argued, was the threat posed by the Zetas targeting him and his family ? and by extension, the community at large.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Fernald said she was limited on what she could say in open court prior to trial. But she argued that Maldonado Huitron should remain in custody given the "nature and seriousness of the danger to any member of the community," due to both "the nature of this organization and the seriousness of the potential retaliation, not just to him but to his family members and anyone else."

That argument was based on testimony Friday from FBI agent Haskell Wilkins, who said the defendant was a serious flight risk due to the possibility he could be targeted by the Zetas.

But Maldonado Huitron's attorney, assistant federal Public Defender Jose Gonzalez-Falla, countered Monday that "we haven't heard anything to indicate" his client's guilt. He said prosecutors' arguments of "'trust us, it's in the indictment'" is not enough.

Gonzalez-Falla said Maldonado Huitron is an illiterate horse trainer who poses no threat to the Zetas. An associate of Huitron Maldonado's from El Paso testified Monday that the trainer was actually dismissed weeks before his arrest because his horses were underperforming, which the defense attorney said meant his client was now even less important in the eyes of the cartel.

"Why on earth would they hit my client?" he asked. "What has he done? He's a horse trainer."

Also testifying Monday was Huitron Maldonado's brother, Jesus, who when asked if he knew what the Zetas were answered through an interpreter, "just what you hear on TV."

"From what they say, they killed a lot of people in Mexico and then they toss the bodies out," the elder Huitron Maldonado testified.

Gonzalez-Falla said his client had a right to get paid for his services no matter who hired him, adding that the government's arguments were based only on "a bunch of rumors about receiving some money." He said prosecutors feared the ferociousness of any possible reprisals, "just because they're the Zetas and they're bad and they kill people and take their heads off."

"What does that have to do with my client?" he asked.

Austin sided with the defense, saying Maldonado Huitron's family might be targeted, but that the threat was no less acute if the defendant was in prison. He said the only risk to the lager community he could see might be "someone's horse might get beat in a race if Mr. Huitron trains the horse."

Austin also said he appreciated the flight risk but couldn't imagine the defendant fleeing to Mexico given how powerful the Zetas are there.

Maldonado Huitron is "frankly, a lot better off in the United States than in Mexico, which is the only place I can see he'd flee to," the judge said.

Associated Press

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Microsoft unveils 'Surface' tablet computer

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Taking aim at perceived flaws in Apple's iPad, Microsoft unveiled Surface, a tablet computer that comes with a detachable rubberized keyboard that also acts like a book cover.

CEO Steve Ballmer said Monday that the sleek new device will be as useful for consuming entertainment as it will be for creating documents "without compromising the productivity that PCs are uniquely known for."

One version, which won't go on sale until sometime in the fall, is 9.3 millimeter thick and works on the Windows RT operating system which was made for tablets that run on low-power chips designed by British chipmaker ARM Holdings PLC. It comes with a kickstand to hold it upright and a touch keyboard cover that snaps on using magnets. The device weighs under 1.5 pounds and will cost about as much as other tablet computers.

The size is similar to the latest iPad, which is 9.4 millimeters thick and weighs 1.3 pounds. Microsoft also promised that the Surface's price tag will be similar to the iPad, which sells for $499 to $829, depending on the model.

Microsoft's broadside against the iPad is a dramatic step to ensure that its Windows software plays a major role in the increasingly important mobile computing market.

"They are saying it's a different world now and are trying to put the sexy back into the Microsoft brand," said Gartner Inc. analyst Carolina Milanesi.

Microsoft is linking the Surface's debut with the release of its much-anticipated Windows 8 operating system, which has been designed with tablets in mind. The company hasn't specified when Windows 8 will hit the market, but most analysts expect the software to come out in September or October.

Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows division, called the device a "tablet that's a great PC ?a PC that's a great tablet."

A slightly thicker version ? still less than 14 millimeters thick and under 2 pounds ? will work on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 Pro operating system and cost as much as an Ultrabook, the company said. The pro version comes with a stylus that allows users to make handwritten notes on documents such as PDF files. It will be released about three months later.

Each tablet works with a keyboard cover that is just 3 millimeters thick and resembles the lightweight "Smart Cover" that Apple Inc. sells for $38, but with a full QWERTY keyboard. It is rigidly flat instead of foldable. The kickstand for both tablets was just 0.7 millimeters thick, less than the thickness of a credit card.

Although the Surface looks like an elegant device, Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps criticized Microsoft for not using attention focused on Monday's announcement to highlight some of the reasons that it might be a better option than the iPad. For instance, she thinks Microsoft could have shown how its video calling service, Skype, will work on Surface or how people might be able to use its motion-control sensor, Kinect, on the tablet.

"I am excited about this product, but it felt like Microsoft was pulling punches with this announcement," Epps said. "Hardware is only part of the dynamic. They need to explain how Microsoft manufacturing this device will change people's experience with a tablet."

Microsoft also may be limiting the Surface's impact by limiting the initial sales to its own stores and online channels.

The cautious approach may be part of Microsoft's attempt to minimize a possible backlash to an expansion that will thrust it into competition with some of its longtime business partners and customers.

Manufacturing a tablet represents a departure from Microsoft's highly successful strategy in the PC market.

With PCs, Microsoft was content to leave the design and marketing of the hardware to other companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo and Acer, that licensed the Windows operating system and other software applications.

The more hands-on approach may upset some manufacturers.

"Are their partners going to be happy about it? No, but there isn't much they can do about it," said Gartner's Milanesi.

Epps also believes Microsoft runs the risk of alienating key partners. Microsoft may even be able to build a sleeker device than traditional PC makers because it won't have to pay licensing fees for an operating system.

Microsoft has been making software for tablets since 2002, when it shipped the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Many big PC makers produced tablets that ran the software, but they were never big sellers. The tablets were based on PC technology, and were heavy, with short battery lives.

Microsoft didn't say how long the Surface would last on battery power.

It won't be the first time Microsoft has ventured into hardware. And the Surface won't be its first computer, in the broad sense. The successful Xbox game console is essentially a PC designed to connect to a TV and play video games.

Microsoft has also made its own music player, the Zune, and a line of phones, the Kin. In both cases, it produced these products after hardware partners had failed to produce competitive products with Microsoft's software.

Both products were failures. The Zune gained favorable reviews when it launched in 2006, but still couldn't hold its own against the iPod, and was discontinued last year. The Kin phones were panned and pulled from shelves within two months of their launch in 2010.

The Xbox, on the other hand, didn't tread on the toes of any Microsoft partners. Launched in 2001, it has made Microsoft a major player in console gaming, alongside Sony and Nintendo. But it was a money-loser for many years, and while it's been profitable more recently, it's only marginally so, especially when compared to Microsoft's lucrative software business.

___

AP Technology Writers Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this report.

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Microsoft's rumored tablet may be a Barnes & Noble collaboration with Xbox Live video streaming

Microsoft hearts Barnes and Noble

Rumors swirling around Microsoft's mystery event on Monday have repeatedly centered on a tablet, but if TechCrunch sources are right, Microsoft may only play a partial role in the project. The unveiling, according to the claims, may instead be a tablet, e-reader or a crossover of the two built in teamwork with Barnes & Noble -- a company that just recently established a vague partnership with Microsoft after many months of legal wrangling over Android and the Nook. The slate may not include Windows 8 RT at all, despite earlier assertions, but that's not to say that Microsoft wouldn't be breaking ground in other areas. One of the reported insiders believes it could be the first device without the Microsoft badge to get Xbox Live video streaming, which might explain Redmond's eagerness to turn Xbox into a general media brand at its E3 keynote. It's still very much unknown if there will be any hardware at all, although decisions to host the event in the media capital of Los Angeles and detach the invitation from any existing Microsoft division provide at least indirect support for the notion. Whatever happens, we'll be there tomorrow to give you the lowdown.

Microsoft's rumored tablet may be a Barnes & Noble collaboration with Xbox Live video streaming originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jun 2012 18:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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YC-Backed Submittable Makes It Easy For Publishers To Manage Submissions

submittable logoIf you're a publisher looking for submissions (whether they're stories, essays, videos, or whatever), what's the best way to manage the process? It sounds relatively straightforward, but once those submissions start piling up, trying to track and sort them can turn into a headache. It's a problem that Submittable, part of the latest class of startups incubated by Y Combinator, may have solved. Co-founder Michael FitzGerald says there have been a few submission-management products designed for academia, but none for a broader customer base. In fact, he says Submittable's biggest competitor is Gmail. That's certainly the case at TechCrunch, where we manage guest column submissions through an unwieldy mix of email, Google Docs, spreadsheets, and Asana. (If you've submitted a guest column to TechCrunch and it seems to have disappeared into a black hole: I'm sorry, we're working on it.)

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