Mar 082010

In a software-driven world, it’s easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it’s cars, robots,ghd iv, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times,timberlands boots, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.


The University of Mississippi is already monitoring its historic Lyceum, the John Davis Williams Library, the Gillom Sports Complex, and some of its stadium facilities, and has plans to install SmartMeters in more buildings in the coming months.

The SmartMeters contain software and hardware that give electrical meters their own Internet Protocol (IP) address and communicate data via the types of wireless networks used for cell phones back to a centralized virtual dashboard that can be accessed by utilities or customers.

Lyceum's August 13 Facebook status: "(10.46kWh usage, 0.15 kWh peak) Bad day all around. Usage up 7.93% and peak up 6.67%,timberland roll top boots;."

Of course, maybe that is part of Ole Miss’ plan.

SmartSynch CEO Stephen Johnston has insisted through several public statements that the biggest catalyst for conservation he’s seen is when people come face-to-face with their own usage data.



I’m guessing that the University of Mississippi is no more wasteful than the next institution of higher learning. But if reader responses on past stories of energy consumption are any indication, the general public does not realize how much energy is collectively consumed.

Besides providing the community with a glimpse of how much energy university buildings can consume, the data will be archived for further analysis. The university hopes to determine how things like weather and the habits of its population effect power consumption, and what it can do to lower that consumption.

Monitoring buildings to determine usage patterns–such as the use of Sentilla devices at San Francisco’s Moscone Center to look at power and temperature changes during the JavaOne 2008 conference–has become a little more common in the last few years. But Ole Miss seems to be to be one of the first to put its community usage out there for all to see.

(Credit:Facebook/University of Mississippi)

As part of a green initiative guided by its Office of Campus Sustainability, the university is installing SmartSynch’s SmartMeters to monitor and transmit data on the power consumption of lights, appliances, computers, and climate control systems in its buildings.

In the spirit of social-networking transparency, the ongoing collection of data for the university often known as Ole Miss will also be published in real time on public Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds. Each building will have its own Twitter channel and Facebook page. Details on where students, faculty, alumni, and others can subscribe will be posted to the school’s green initiative Web site, according to the University.

Is it wise to let people observe (and pass judgment on) how much power a university’s old and new buildings consume?

Ole Miss to tweet its electricity use

The University of Mississippi is letting the world in to observe its power consumption in real time.

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Mar 082010

He signed off, before a question and answer session, with his trademark campaign slogan, which has been rarely heard during a grim year of governing and battling a string of economic and financial crises.

Obama and Biden formally rolled out an $US8 billion ($A8.95 billion) grant for high speed rail under the president’s $US787 billion ($A880.4 billion) economic stimulus plan,mbt shoes chapa on sale, which had been previously announced.

“Right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change – or at least that I can deliver it,” he said, and bluntly stated “change has not come fast enough.”

Seeking a political rebound, Obama held a folksy town hall meeting in Florida, where his approval numbers have tumbled as the key swing state which helped send him to the White House battles the mortgage crisis and high unemployment.

“It’s about time we moved … . But most important, we’re creating jobs, good jobs, construction jobs, manufacturing jobs.”

“How can we,mbt shoes chapa, the leading nation in the world, be in the position where China, Spain, France, and name all the other countries who have rail systems that are far superior to ours?” Biden, a long-time rail commuter asked.

Obama comes out swinging for big reforms
January 29, 2010 – 8:04AM

AFP

“Yes we can,” Obama said, picking up a chant from an audience. “We don’t quit, we don’t back down, we are Americans.”



“Joe and I are pretty smart politicians – we have been at this a while. The easiest way to keep your poll numbers high is to say nothing and to do nothing that offends anybody,” Obama said.

After spending a year trying unsuccessfully to pass health care reform, Obama said on Wednesday his top priority in 2010 was creating jobs, as Democrats head into what look a tough set of mid-term congressional polls in November.

Despite hammering the jobs message, Obama could not resist turning back to his health care reform plan, and vowed to unpick the deadlock in Congress on an issue he termed a bone he could not stop “gnawing.”

A day after his defiant State of the Union address, Obama insisted on a rare road trip with Vice President Joe Biden that he would not shelve hopes for reform even though testy Washington politics slowed his drive for change.

But on this trip, and in Ohio last week, and even in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night, Obama seemed a little liberated, striking more populist notes and slamming the moral bankruptcy of Washington.

“I campaigned on the promise of change – change we can believe in, the slogan went,” Obama said on Wednesday, recalling the days before his barnstorming campaign promises hit a brick wall of Republican opposition in government.

The administration said the investment would create or save tens of thousands of jobs over time in areas like track-laying, manufacturing, planning and engineering, and rail maintenance and operations.


“The minute you actually start doing something, somebody is going to disagree with you,” Obama said, who sprinkled his speech with quips and took a sarcastic swipe at the press.

Obama appears determined not to scale back his reform hopes because of a suddenly inhospitable political environment. But it remains unclear just how much of his ambitious agenda will make it though Congress unscathed.

“We ran to get the tough stuff done. I make no apology for trying to fix stuff that is hard,” Obama roared, in an event highlighting an $US8 billion ($A8.95 billion) investment in job creating high-speed rail projects.

President Barack Obama has rekindled the “Yes We Can” mood of his 2008 campaign, vowing not to shirk from the “tough stuff” after his reform plans ground to a near halt in Congress.

A Quinnipiac University poll last month found 49 per cent of voters in Florida,ghd hair straightners, hard hit by the mortgage foreclosure crisis, disapproved of Obama’s performance and only 45 per cent approved.

The White House denies that Obama used his State of the Union speech to “reset” his administration, after his most humiliating political blow yet, the Democratic loss last week of the Senate seat of the late Edward Kennedy.

Florida, like swing states Ohio, where Obama went last week, and New Hampshire, on his itinerary next week, has seen independent voters turn against the president after national unemployment hit 10 per cent.

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Mar 082010

On Sunday the North’s military lashed out at South Korea’s vow to launch a pre-emptive strike to thwart any nuclear attack,timberland kids shoes, calling it “an open declaration of war.”

The brief but intense battle left the North’s boat retreating in flames and one South Korean craft with bullet holes in its hull. There was no information on any North Korean casualties,timberland shoes, while the South’s crewmen were unhurt.



Efforts to restart six-nation nuclear negotiations are currently stalled over the North’s demand for early talks with the United States on a pact to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.

The border known as the Northern Limit Line,Womens North Face Jacket, which the North refuses to recognise, has been a persistent flashpoint. There were deadly naval clashes in the area in 1999 and 2002.

The threat was sparked by comments last week from the South’s defence minister, who said Seoul would have to launch such a strike if an atomic attack from its neighbour was imminent.

Its naval command said at the time the move came in response to “reckless military provocations” from the South.

North Korea has announced a two-month ban on shipping near its disputed sea border with South Korea, Seoul’s defence ministry says, in a move set to heighten tensions after a naval clash in November.

A ministry spokeswoman said the no-sail zone had been imposed in waters near South Korea’s Baengnyeong Island off the west coast from January 25 to March 29. She said the exact location would be announced on Wednesday.

Last month the North warned South Korean ships to avoid the border area, saying its coastal artillery would target it in firing exercises.

Analysts have said the communist state could try to fuel tensions to strengthen its case that a peace deal is urgently needed. The United States and South Korea say the North must return to nuclear talks before any discussions on a peace pact.

Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday South Korea’s military was checking whether the announcement was part of preparations for more short-range missile launches.

Naval tensions have remained despite recent efforts by the sanctions-hit North to upgrade or restart joint business projects with the South.

Seoul said November’s clash broke out when a North Korean patrol boat crossed the line and refused to turn back despite warnings.

In addition to its ballistic missile launches, Pyongyang has many times in recent years test-fired short-range missiles at sea.

North Korea declares 'no sail' zone
January 26, 2010

AFP


Yonhap said the zone extended north of the island and along the disputed border, and also stretched east of the island where November’s firefight erupted.

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Mar 082010

(Credit:U.S. Air Force)

NORAD's alternate command center illustrated

NORAD’s alternate command center, at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, near Colorado Springs, Colo. While NORAD’s main operations recently moved to the nearby Peterson Air Force Base, it still maintains the ACC at Cheyenne Mountain.

View the full gallery

The ACC, as seen in this photo, has certainly been “scrubbed,” meaning that personnel in the room were very careful to ensure that nothing sensitive was visible in the shot. Still, you can get a sense for what goes on in the room today. To be sure, it looks very little like the giant command center that was made so famous in “War Games.” Yet in today’s world, where everything is smaller, more compact,ugg boots sale, and more efficient than back in the early 1980s, it’s no wonder that a facility like this would have the feel of an office full of cubicles.

During my recently completed Road Trip 2009 project, one of the biggest highlights was my visit inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. Recognizable from the movie, “War Games,” and the “Stargate” TV series,timberland pro boots, the complex was long popularly known as NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Now, the Air Force has provided me with this photo, of the ACC, which, since my very first step when planning Road Trip 2009 was to see about arranging a visit to Cheyenne Mountain, is a fitting way to formally close the book on the project.

When I visited,ghd hair straightner, I was allowed the rare privilege of bringing a camera with me, and I took a lot of pictures. But the pictures were mainly of the infrastructure of Cheyenne Mountain, and I wasn’t able to see the alternate command center (ACC).

Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel.




Either way, you can tell that the ACC is a place that has the ability to run serious exercises, and, in the case of a real emergency, is capable of being used as NORAD’s main nerve center. Let’s hope that’s never necessary.

But in 2008, NORAD officially moved to the nearby Peterson Air Force Base. Still, even to this day, it maintains an alternate command center at Cheyenne Mountain that it shares with U.S. Northern Command, or USNORTHCOM.

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Mar 082010



The final determination about who gets Nortel’s wireless businesses won’t be based solely on the highest bid. Nortel will make a recommendation after the auction closes, likely on July 24, based on criteria including saving its workers’ jobs. On July 28, a judge at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware will decide on which bidder should get the assets. A similar hearing in Canada is scheduled for July 30.

One bidder, private equity firm MatlinPatterson Global Advisers, has bid $725 million for the wireless assets and says it will participate in future auctions if it wins this one. Another, Nokia Siemens Networks, has bid $650 million, and may be willing to pay up to $800 million,timberland kids boots, according to Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura Securities. Nokia Siemens spokesman Ben Hunt says the company’s bid &quot,Paul Smith Cap;represents the best long-term value for Nortel customers,timberlands boots, employees, and other stakeholders."

Nortel's Remnants: Up for Grabs

On the morning of July 24, bidders will assemble at the offices of a New York law firm to compete for parts of bankrupt Nortel Networks’ wireless telephone equipment business.

It’s the first of several upcoming auctions of Nortel’s (NRTL.Q) businesses, and the winner, likely determined by the end of July, will snare several networking technologies carriers use to transport data and phone calls. Depending on who wins, some buyers may stick around to compete for four other Nortel units up for sale.

For sale this month are Nortel businesses that produce equipment for wireless networks based on so-called Long-Term Evolution and Code Division Multiple Access technologies, used by carriers including Verizon Wireless to carry voice and data signals. Sales of CDMA gear are declining as carriers migrate to faster LTE and other next-generation infrastructure. But CDMA can be a cash cow, yielding profit margins as high as 20%, as it requires little research and development investment to maintain, says analyst Windsor.


Saving Jobs a Factor

If the bidding for Nortel’s wireless business reaches $800 million, it would indicate other units may fetch 40% of their annual sales as well—a richer proposition for Nortel’s creditors than the 30% Wall Street originally figured on. Some divisions could be worth even more. An $800 million wireless sale could also value all Nortel’s assets at $2.6 billion, vs. analysts’ initial estimates of $2 billion.

For Nokia Siemens, winning the wireless assets could help rev up its North American business, where it’s secured just a few contracts. On July 20, the joint venture said it had won a deal to build a wireless network in Canada for phone company Globalive Wireless. Nortel’s longstanding relationships with wireless carriers could help Nokia Siemens win larger deals for next-generation wireless networks, including those based on LTE. "They are interested in getting an installed base and relationships with carriers," says Ronald Gruia, a principal analyst at consultant Frost & Sullivan.

Revving Up in North America

Posted by admin
Mar 082010


,ghd sale

North Korea Detains Second US Citizen
(Jan. 28) — For the second time in the last month, a U.S. citizen has been detained in North Korea.

In a brief news dispatch today,Paul Smith Socks, North Korea said it arrested an American man for illegally entering the country from the Chinese border. The unidentified man was detained on Monday and is being questioned, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment today. The U.S. embassies in Beijing and Seoul offered no comment.
Frederic J. Brown, AFP/Getty ImagesNorth Korean soldiers talk at a guard post along the Chinese border in April. North Korea said Thursday it had arrested an American who crossed over from China.
Another U.S. citizen, Robert Park, was detained in North Korea late last month and accused of illegally crossing the North Korean-Chinese border. The state did not identify Park, a 28-year-old Korean-American missionary, but activists in the U.S. said Park was apprehended after he traveled to North Korea to call attention to the country’s human rights abuses. Park is believed to have entered North Korea by crossing the frozen Tumen River that demarcates part of the border.

With no diplomatic ties to North Korea, the U.S. is seeking access to Park through the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang,ugg outlet, according to U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, who addressed reporters Wednesday in Washington. A similar avenue may have to be taken in order to gain consular access to the man arrested this week.

At the time of Park’s arrest, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters, “We are concerned by these reports and we are looking into them.”

Last year, American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling were detained for illegally entering North Korea and sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp. They were released after four months as part of a diplomatic mission led by former President Bill Clinton.

The second arrest of a U.S. citizen comes the same week North Korea is exchanging fire with South Korea. The North initially fired artillery shells into the water near its maritime border with the South, prompting warning fire from the South. North Korea continued firing into the water for a second day today, after making a statement that the activity was part of a military drill. Filed under: World, Only On AOL News

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2010 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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Mar 082010

In addition to its ballistic missile launches,ghd straightener, Pyongyang has many times in recent years test-fired short-range missiles at sea.


Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday South Korea’s military was checking whether the announcement was part of preparations for more short-range missile launches.

The threat was sparked by comments last week from the South’s defence minister,ugg sale, who said Seoul would have to launch such a strike if an atomic attack from its neighbour was imminent.

North Korea declares 'no sail' zone
January 26, 2010

AFP

Efforts to restart six-nation nuclear negotiations are currently stalled over the North’s demand for early talks with the United States on a pact to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.

Seoul said November’s clash broke out when a North Korean patrol boat crossed the line and refused to turn back despite warnings.

Its naval command said at the time the move came in response to “reckless military provocations” from the South.

A ministry spokeswoman said the no-sail zone had been imposed in waters near South Korea’s Baengnyeong Island off the west coast from January 25 to March 29. She said the exact location would be announced on Wednesday.

North Korea has announced a two-month ban on shipping near its disputed sea border with South Korea, Seoul’s defence ministry says, in a move set to heighten tensions after a naval clash in November.

The border known as the Northern Limit Line, which the North refuses to recognise,Cheap North Face Jackets, has been a persistent flashpoint. There were deadly naval clashes in the area in 1999 and 2002.

Last month the North warned South Korean ships to avoid the border area, saying its coastal artillery would target it in firing exercises.

Analysts have said the communist state could try to fuel tensions to strengthen its case that a peace deal is urgently needed. The United States and South Korea say the North must return to nuclear talks before any discussions on a peace pact.

On Sunday the North’s military lashed out at South Korea’s vow to launch a pre-emptive strike to thwart any nuclear attack, calling it “an open declaration of war.”



The brief but intense battle left the North’s boat retreating in flames and one South Korean craft with bullet holes in its hull. There was no information on any North Korean casualties, while the South’s crewmen were unhurt.

Naval tensions have remained despite recent efforts by the sanctions-hit North to upgrade or restart joint business projects with the South.

Yonhap said the zone extended north of the island and along the disputed border, and also stretched east of the island where November’s firefight erupted.

Posted by admin
Mar 082010

According to the Economic Times,ghd iv stylers, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told reporters at a press event Wednesday in India, that “the PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge.” He said Nokia sees a lot of opportunity in this convergence and he added that the company is “looking at the Netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there.”

It’s clear that consumers are looking to be more mobile and as carriers around the world build faster 4G wireless networks, demand for mobility will likely increase. What’s more, Nokia and other handset makers will soon be facing competition from computer makers in the mobile phone market. Laptop maker Acer has already announced it is developing a smartphone. And there are reports that PC maker Dell is also working on a mobile phone.

Nokia considers entering Netbook market

Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cell phones, could be preparing to enter the crowded Netbook market.

(Credit:CNET )

Nokia is likely hoping to cash in on Netbooks’ popularity.

Nokia has been marketing its N97 smartphone as a mobile computer.

Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.


These devices, which are geared toward early adopters and gadget lovers, typically start at around $300 to $400. They don’t incorporate a traditional cell phone, but they come with a full QWERTY keypad and access to the Internet via Wi-Fi or through a Bluetooth-connected phone.

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Nokia might push further into the computing space. The company has been marketing its new smartphone, the N97, as a “mobile computer.” And the company has also been selling its mobile Internet devices,hair straightener, or N-series Tablets.



Netbooks appeal to a wider audience than mobile Internet devices, which could help Nokia diversify its business. Netbooks, which once were seen as “companion devices” for accessing cloud-based services like Gmail or social-networking sites like Facebook,mbt reviews, are now being used as full-blown computers.

Their low cost (around $299) has driven big sales of these devices. About 16 million Netbooks were sold in North America in 2008. And because these devices often use Windows XP, a familiar operating system, most PC users already feel comfortable using them.

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Mar 082010

By not “heel-striking,” barefoot runners avoid painful and potentially damaging impacts that concentrate the equivalent of two or three times one’s body weight on to a coin-sized surface.

A radical reshaping of the foot about two million years ago, including shorter toes and a fully-arched foot,North Face Shoes Sale, probably occurred to enhance our ability to move quickly over sustained periods.

“People who don’t wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike,” said Daniel Lieberman, a professor at Harvard University and lead author of the study.

But up to now, there has been little scientific evidence supporting the claim that barefoot is better.



But even well-cushioned sports shoes that help distribute weight across the foot cannot fully absorb the shock of these blows: 30 to 75 per cent of regular runners each year suffer repetitive stress injuries.

Running unshod or in so-called “minimal shoes” requires the use of different muscle groups. “If you’ve been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in calf and foot muscles,” Lieberman said.

The practice is especially common in several east African countries where long-distance running is nearly a national past time.

“Our endurance running abilities may have evolved to enable our ancestors to engage in ‘persistence hunting’,” the ability, in other words, to run down one’s prey, he said.

“Bipedalism” – walking on two feet – “has been around for millions of years, and we have been unshod for more than 99 per cent of that time,” he wrote in a commentary, also in Nature.

If running is your thing, you may want to throw away those pricey sports shoes and just do it barefoot, according to a new study.

Running shoeless is better, says study
January 27, 2010

AFP

“Most people today think that barefoot running is dangerous and hurts, but actually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain,” the study found.

“All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot.”

By contrast, the vast majority of unshod runners don’t hit the ground with their heels, landing instead on the sides or balls of their feet, the study found.

The merits of shoelessness are hotly debated in specialty magazines and online forums, and major manufacturers have started to make thin-as-skin shoes in anticipation of new markets.

But making the switch to barefoot running is not simply a matter of kicking off one shoes, the authors caution.

In 1960,timberland winter boots, for example,timberland waterproof boots, a shoeless Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the 1960 Olympics marathon in record time.

“By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision,” he said in a press release.

Lieberman and colleagues helped fill this void by studying the gaits of three groups of runners in the United States and Kenya: barefoot, shod, and those who had converted to shoeless running.

Three-quarters of runners who wear shoes land squarely on their heels – about 1,000 times for every mile run.

The study, published in the British science journal Nature on Wednesday, also bolsters evidence suggesting the human foot evolved for rapid upright motion, said William Lungers, a professor at Stony Brook University Medical Centre in New York.


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Mar 082010

An injury time goal from Bochum’s Slovakia striker Stanislav Sestak robbed Schalke of the chance to go top as the Royal Blues were held 2-2.,ghd iv stylers

Robben wonder goal sends Bayern top
RYLAND JAMES January 24, 2010

Dutch star Arjen Robben hit a second-half wonder goal on Saturday as Bayern Munich came from behind to win 3-2 at Werder Bremen as the German giants went top of the league.

The flying Dutch winger, who signed for 24 million euros (33.9 million US US dollars) from Real Madrid last summer, hit a curling free-kick which gave Bremen’s Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese no chance of saving on 78 minutes.

Hertha’s Czech Republic goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny kept his side in the game when he saved a first-half penalty from ‘Gladbach’s midfielder Juan Arango from Venezuala while Nuremberg drew 1-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

And defending champions Wolfsburg host struggling Cologne also on Sunday while fourth-placed Hamburg have the opportunity to get back into the league race if they win at fifth-placed Dortmund on Saturday night.

Having picked up only their second win of the season last weekened, bottom side Hertha Berlin were held 0-0 at home by Borussia Moenchengladbach.



Schalke took the lead when Uruguay striker Vicente Sanchez converted a pass from Jefferson Farfan in the fifth minute before ex-Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi made it 2-0 to the hosts just before the half-time whistle.

Having taken over from Andreas Bergmann as coach last week,timberland pro boots, new Hanover boss Mirko Slomka got off to a losing start when his side were beaten 1-0 at mid-table Mainz – their eighth game without a win.

The result left Felix Magath-coached Schalke third in the table, but second-placed Leverkusen have the chance to regain the lead on Sunday providing they win at Hoffenheim.

Bayern hit back when rising star Thomas Mueller scored after good work by Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger on 25 minutes before Croatia striker Ivica Olic netted from a Philipp Lahm cross ten minutes later.

Robben’s stunning direct free-kick gave Louis van Gaal-coached Bayern their sixth straight league win while the Holland star hit his fifth league goal of the season.

It was a bitter blow for the home side who had opened the scoring after midfielder Aaron Hunt slotted home from close range after 10 minutes.

Bremen equalised when Portugal striker Hugo Almeida slotted home a top-class goal on 75 minutes before Robben’s stunning winner.


It left Bayern 2-1 up at the break as they welcomed back French midfielder Franck Ribery,timberland for sale, who came on for Olic in the second-half to make his first appearance for Munich since suffering a knee injury on October 3.

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