10A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY. OCTOBER 29. 2009
Padding the field
Tanner Grubbs/KANSAN
Steve Owens, left, and David Nanninga work on installing pads along the baseline fence Tuesday morning at Hoglund Ballpark. Crews are continuing work from last month when they finished padding the outfield walls.
INTERNATIONAL
Merkel sworn in for second term
BERLIN — Angela Merkel was sworn in Wednesday for a second term as German chancellor and her new center-right government took up the task of tackling the country's tough economic situation a month after national elections.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Merkel, 55, will serve as chancellor of a ruling coalition made up of her Christian Democratic Party, its Bavaria-only sister party the Christian Social Union, and the pro-business Free Democrats
She was elected through a vote of 323 in favor out of a possible 612.
"I respect those who do not want to vote for me," Merkel said in an interview with ARD public television. "That is part of democracy."
But nine members of coalition parties voted against her, leading some to question the government's solidity hours after she and her 15 ministers were sworn in.
In its sweeping agenda, the new coalition has promised an overhaul of the health care system, more help for families and annual tax cuts of up to $36 billion.
But Merkel called into question whether the government would be able to come good on its pledges.
"I cannot guarantee it down to the letter, as there are others involved who are not part of the coalition agreement," Merkel said. Germany's upper house of parliament, made up of representatives of its 16 states, must also sign off on any tax cuts.
Hours after being sworn in, Merkel departed for Paris, where she is to have dinner with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, keeping up a postwar tradition of new German and French heads of government visiting the other upon taking office.
In his address to the new government, Koehler called Merkel and her ministers to help give
European integration a boost.
"Germany should be one of the nations that actively contributes to moving Europe forward," the president said.
From Paris, Merkel heads to Brussels to attend the European Union summit on Thursday and Friday, expected to focus on the bloc's future and the disputed treaty that Merkel championed during her first term in office.
In 2005, Merkel became the first woman to be elected as Germany's head of government.
During her first term, Merkel led a grand coalition of Germany's two main parties — her conservatives and the Social Democrats.
She is the only German head of government to switch coalition partners between terms in office.
On Tuesday she is to speak before the U.S. Congress, a week before she will give her first address to Germany's parliament.
TECHNOLOGY
iPhone look-alike could save Verizon, Motorola
The Motorola Droid mobile phone is Verizon Wireless' answer to the iPhone, Verizon and Motorola are both relying on the phone to restore them to prominence.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless' answer to the iPhone — the Droid — will go on sale for $200 next week as the company taps into the growing appetite for smart phones that go far beyond making calls.
The Droid could help Verizon retain its status as the nation's largest wireless carrier and contribute to a turnaround of its manufacturer. Motorola Inc., which hasn't produced a hit since the wildly popular Razr phone in 2005.
The new device also could give a boost to Google Inc., which used the Droid to unveil new mapping software that could challenge standalone navigational devices, sending GPS gadget maker Garmin Ltd's stock plunging after Wednesday's announcement.
Although the Droid won't be first challenger for the iPhone, which is available in the U.S. only to subscribers of AT&T Inc., Verizon has thrown its largest marketing campaign ever behind the new device with television commercials and other ads. Verizon has been pointing out the features Apple Inc.'s iPhone lacks, such as a physical keyboard and the ability to run several applications at once.
Verizon is targeting 15- to 35-year-olds who are highly engaged with their gadgets for social networking, blogging and other online tasks. Social networking is integrated throughout the device. That means you can sync Facebook friends into your contacts and share photos on Picasa without having to go through separate applications.
"Apple revolutionized the industry," and the smart phone industry needed time to collect itself and figure out its next move, John Stratton, Verizon's
chief marketing officer, said at a launch event in New York. With the Droid, Verizon and Motorola are hoping to shatter any perception that the iPhone is the end-all of mobile devices.
Verizon, the Droid's exclusive U.S. distributor, will start selling the phone Nov. 6 for $199.99 after a rebate, with a two-year contract. The price is comparable to the iPhone's basic model.
With the Droid, Verizon is tapping into the frustrations some users have with the iPhone. Users have complained of dropped calls, while many software developers hate Apple's requirement that it approve all applications running on it ahead of time. The Droid runs on Google's Android operating system, an open platform that any developer can customize.
The Droid is a sturdy, angular device, with a standard,
"QWERTY" keyboard that slides out,
though you can also pop up a virtual on-screen keyboard with tactile feedback so it bumps back a little when you tap out the keys.
It has a five-megapixel camera — better than the iPhone — and a tiny flash, along with voice-activated search that brings up your contacts and location-based Google search results. Say "pizza" and nearby pizza restaurants will pop up.
The Droid's display is slightly larger than the iPhone's, and its claimed talk time on a single battery charge is a bit longer — 6.4 hours, compared with the iPhone's five hours.