UPDATE 1-NBA-Paul pulls the strings as Clippers slice up Mavs

(adds quotes, detail)
* Crawford returns for Clippers
* Mavericks lose fourth straight
Jan 9 (Reuters) - Chris Paul orchestrated another Los Angeles Clippers triumph with a season-high 16 assists as he pulled the strings in a 99-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
With the game evenly poised heading into the closing stages, Paul scored or assisted on eight of his team's 10 field goals in the fourth quarter to lift the Clippers to a franchise-record 13th straight home win.
Los Angeles had trailed 83-82 with nine minutes remaining but an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers set up by their point guard, gave them the momentum the Clippers needed to pull away for the victory.
"Our maestro Chris Paul was finding guys, getting to the paint and making good things happen," Los Angeles forward Caron Butler told reporters.
Paul finished with 19 points to tie reserve Matt Barnes for the team-high in scoring. Blake Griffin added 15 and 13 rebounds.
"That's the identity of our team - every night it's going to be a collective effort," Butler added. "We're building something truly special here."
While the Clippers (28-8) are riding high with the NBA's best record, the Mavericks (13-23) have lost four straight and appear unlikely to make the playoffs on current form.
Darren Collison led Dallas with 22 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 15 as he continues his rehabilitation from knee surgery that sidelined him until late last month.
The Mavericks fell behind early but they surged in the third where they took a 10-point advantage before Los Angeles scored the final seven of the quarter.
In the end, Dallas were undone by their inability to grab a rebound. Los Angeles beat the Mavericks 47-34 on the glass and snagged a few key offensive rebounds in the last few minutes to halt the visitors.
Top reserve Jamal Crawford returned to the lineup for the Clippers after missing two games with a sore left foot.
"I'm not all the way there obviously," said Crawford, who had 11 points. "I figured 50 percent was better than zero.

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Paul pulls the strings as Clippers slice up Mavs

(Reuters) - Chris Paul orchestrated another Los Angeles Clippers triumph with a season-high 16 assists as he pulled the strings in a 99-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
With the game evenly poised heading into the closing stages, Paul scored or assisted on eight of his team's 10 field goals in the fourth quarter to lift the Clippers to a franchise-record 13th straight home win.
Los Angeles had trailed 83-82 with nine minutes remaining but an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers set up by their point guard, gave them the momentum the Clippers needed to pull away for the victory.
"Our maestro Chris Paul was finding guys, getting to the paint and making good things happen," Los Angeles forward Caron Butler told reporters.
Paul finished with 19 points to tie reserve Matt Barnes for the team-high in scoring. Blake Griffin added 15 and 13 rebounds.
"That's the identity of our team - every night it's going to be a collective effort," Butler added. "We're building something truly special here."
While the Clippers (28-8) are riding high with the NBA's best record, the Mavericks (13-23) have lost four straight and appear unlikely to make the playoffs on current form.
Darren Collison led Dallas with 22 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 15 as he continues his rehabilitation from knee surgery that sidelined him until late last month.
The Mavericks fell behind early but they surged in the third where they took a 10-point advantage before Los Angeles scored the final seven of the quarter.
In the end, Dallas were undone by their inability to grab a rebound. Los Angeles beat the Mavericks 47-34 on the glass and snagged a few key offensive rebounds in the last few minutes to halt the visitors.
Top reserve Jamal Crawford returned to the lineup for the Clippers after missing two games with a sore left foot.
"I'm not all the way there obviously," said Crawford, who had 11 points. "I figured 50 percent was better than zero."

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NBA-Varejao faces two months out after operation

Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Cleveland Cavaliers' Brazilian center Anderson Varejao has been ruled out for six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on a quadriceps muscle on Thursday, the National Basketball Association team said.
Varejao suffered the injury on December 18 against the Toronto Raptors and on Thursday had an operation to repair a small split in his vastus medialis muscle, the Cavaliers said.
"Varejao is resting comfortably and will be admitted overnight. Rehab guidelines will be established today and he is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks," the team said in a statement.
Varejao is the Cavaliers' leading rebounder, averaging 14.4 rebounds a game and he is also their second top scorer averaging 14.1 points per game.

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Tired of seeing Android sued by everyone, Google cranks up its patent output

Google (GOOG) may hate the patent suit players, but it sure doesn’t hate the patent suit game. As Network World reports, Google ramped up its patent filings last year and was granted 1,151 United States patents in 2012, a 170% increase from the number of patents it was awarded in 2011. By increasing its patent output, Google actually surpassed rival Apple (AAPL), which was granted 1,136 patents on the year, a 68% increase from the year before.
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
Producing more patents is part of Google’s larger overall strategy of having a stronger intellectual property portfolio capable of combatting lawsuits from competitors. The company’s acquisition of Motorola was part of this strategy as well, although a recent deal with the Federal Trade Commission has left many of the Motorola patents much less valuable since Google has agreed to not use them in offensive patent suits in the future.

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Is BlackBerry back? Strong early BlackBerry 10 demand could signal RIM comeback

After hitting a rough patch that seemed to last for most of 2012, Research In Motion (RIMM) may finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. RIM plans to unveil the finished version of its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform at a press conference on January 30th, and at least one new smartphone is expected to be revealed during the event. Generating interest in BlackBerry 10 within the crowded global smartphone market will be no easy task for the struggling vendor, but if demand at top Canadian carrier Rogers is any indication, RIM is off to a promising start.
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
In mid-December, Rogers began taking reservations for RIM’s first BlackBerry 10-powered handset. The carrier offered almost no information about the BlackBerry smartphone, which has not yet been announced, but asked subscribers interested in purchasing the device to register on the company’s website.
[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $45 Straight Talk plan]
BGR approached Rogers on Thursday to see how subscriber response has been thus far.
“While we can’t release the total number of reservations we have received for the BlackBerry 10 all-touch device, we can say that customer interest is definitely strong and reservations continue daily,” a Rogers spokesperson told BGR via email.
The strong response from Rogers subscribers despite being provided only with the knowledge that the device will feature an all-touch form factor and will run the BlackBerry 10 OS is a good sign for RIM.
The vendor has a number of difficult challenges ahead, and convincing current BlackBerry users to upgrade en masse is near the top of the list. Strong early demand at Rogers for RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 handset is clearly a positive sign in this regard, as most early reservations likely came from current BlackBerry subscribers.

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Nokia: Q4 mobile phone sales beat own forecast

HELSINKI (AP) -- Nokia Corp. signaled Thursday its smartphone partnership with Microsoft was starting to reap rewards as it revealed that fourth-quarter mobile phone sales exceeded expectations and that its handset business would return to profitability.
The Finnish company's share price surged 11 percent to close at €3.32 on Helsinki Stock Exchange.
Nokia said it sold 86 million devices in the last three months of 2012, including some 4.5 million Lumia smartphones, while revenues amounted to some €3.9 billion. A year earlier, it posted a fourth-quarter net loss of €1 billion with a 19-percent plunge in revenue.
The cellphone maker said it sold 15.9 million smartphones in the quarter, up from 6.3 million in the previous quarter.
Nokia has been struggling in the fierce top-end race against Apple Inc. and Samsung and is now also losing ground to Asian makers in lower-end devices. Samsung overtook it as the world's No. 1 cellphone maker early last year after Nokia led the field for 14 years. In 2011, Nokia announced that it would join forces with Microsoft to produce a smartphone that would run on Windows software. The latest Windows handset, the Lumia was launched last year.
CEO Stephen Elop said he was pleased with the company's "solid" fourth-quarter performance.
"We are pleased that Q4 2012 was a solid quarter where we exceeded expectations and delivered underlying profitability," he said. "We focused on our priorities and as a result we sold a total of 14 million Asha smartphones and Lumia smartphones while managing our costs efficiently, and Nokia Siemens Networks delivered yet another very good quarter."
The company said operating expenses in the last quarter of 2012 had been lower than expected and that its devices and services sector saw operating margins of "between break even and positive 2 percent." Elsewhere, its networks joint venture with Germany's Siemens AG — Nokia Siemens Networks — had "record underlying profits and a third consecutive quarter of underlying profitability," with operating margins expected to be 13-15 percent.
However, the company warned that seasonality and competition would have a negative impact on the handset division's first-quarter profitability in comparison to the last three months of 2012. Nokia is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 24.

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New Novel Explores an Unusual Phenomenon in a Remote Valley

Author Helga Brendel's weaves an intricate web of mystery, suspense, folklore, romance, danger and excitement in a tale that will rivet readers from beginning to end.

CHAMPION, Alberta (PRWEB) January 10, 2013
Constance, Yukon lies approximately one hundred and fifty miles west of Whitehorse and is a remote predominantly native community accessible only by air. Jackson Jacobs spent most of his life here. It was relatively peaceful until a stranger arrives and shakes up the whole town, bringing new Changes In Constance. In this riveting fictional novel by Helga Brendel, readers can witness mysterious events unfold in a place where nothing is what it seems.
As the senior Royal Canadian Mountain Police (R.C.M.P.) officer, Constable Jackson Jacobs is determined to do whatever it takes to protect his home—even from a ‘crazy white woman’. When the arrival of newcomer Emily Linden sparks the increasingly violent activities of a mysterious presence in the valley, Jackson wants to hold her responsible for them. Emily has been invited to help reorganize the town’s finances though he is against it. Something, however, about Emily, told Jackson that this woman was no stranger to this valley. She had lived in this valley before; in fact, she had always been his greatest ally…
Interwoven with mystery, suspense, folklore, danger and excitement, Changes In Constance is engrossing from beginning to end. Secrets will be revealed while betrayal rears its ugly head and the valley wreaks havoc. Only Jackson holds the key to bringing peace back in Constance. But can he do it in time? Readers will find themselves glued to the pages as they unravel the mystery of Jackson and Emily’s past and how it will affect the present.
For more information on this book, interested parties may log on to http://www.Xlibris.com.
About the Author

Ms Helga Brendel has experienced ‘strange in phenomena’ since she was a child; from out-of-body experiences to seeing the holes or tears in the fabric of reality. She has been endowed with a highly overactive imagination, which caused problems for her since grade school. In her mind, she always lived the adventures of an explorer or pioneer: somebody who was discovering something. She was always driven/ guided by something which she felt was not only greater than herself but which also seemed to protect her from certain unfavorable aspects of life. She has been dubbed ‘Gypsy Wanderer’ as an indication of her ‘instability’. Despite the connotation she is an explorer in the realm of mind. Gypsy Wanderer: Inner Space Explorer.
Changes In Constance * by Helga Brendel

Publication Date: September 29, 2010

Trade Paperback; $19.99; 343pages; 978-1-4535-7010-4

eBook; $9.99; 978-1-4535-7011-1
Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7879. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x. 7879.
For more information on self-publishing or marketing with Xlibris, visit http://www.Xlibris.com. To receive a free publishing guide, please call (888) 795-4274.
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New Novel Follows a Young Deputy’s Struggle in His Quest for Justice

Alfred Patrick’s “Clinch River Justice” is a gripping tale that fans of suspense novels will enjoy.

(PRWEB) January 10, 2013
Author Alfred Patrick, in his newly published book Clinch River Justice, tells a tale about a boy who matures into manhood, falls in love, and begins to find his way in life. Set against the backdrop of the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia, this intriguing novel then follows how he, as a young deputy, makes his way toward bringing justice to his townspeople.
Charley Scott, an inexperienced but idealistic deputy sheriff, faces a rash of deaths in a normally idyllic, peaceful Appalachian community in the early 1940s. These deaths of neighbors and a beloved family member result when greed, passion, jealousy, hopelessness, or utter disdain for the life or welfare of another human overcomes some residents’ sense of fidelity and of right and wrong. In the young deputy’s endeavors to apprehend killers and in his quest for justice, he learns how difficult that simple concept is to achieve.
Packed with 31 chapters, Clinch River Justice is a pulse-pounding tale that will leave fans of mystery-murder stories hooked from the first page to the last.
For more information on this book, interested parties may log on to http://www.Xlibris.com.
About the Author

Alfred Patrick grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia. He earned degrees at Bluefield College, Virginia Tech, and the University of Tennessee. After teaching at high school and collegiate levels in Virginia and Louisiana, he served as professor, department chair, and dean in the College of Business at Eastern Kentucky University, where he retired.
Patrick enjoys reading, traveling, gardening, writing, crossword puzzles, and backpacking. He has completed hiking the Appalachian Trail, the John Muir Trail in California, and trails in other states. He and his wife, Peggy, live in Richmond, Kentucky; they have a daughter, a grandson, and five granddaughters.
Clinch River Justice * by Alfred Patrick

Publication Date: June 21, 2012

Trade Paperback; $19.99; 303 pages; 978-1-4771-1686-9

Trade Hardback; $29.99; 303 pages; 978-1-4771-1687-6

eBook; $3.99; 978-1-4771-1688-3
Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7879. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x. 7879.
For more information on self-publishing or marketing with Xlibris, visit http://www.Xlibris.com. To receive a free publishing guide, please call (888) 795-4274.

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Author Jill Sobieska Retells Hero’s Mythic Marathon Swim in New Dream Picture Book

It is the story of modern-day athlete whose record of swimming from Moorea to Tahiti remains unmatched to this day.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands (PRWEB) January 10, 2013
Jill Sobieska and her picture book story Pa and the Dolphins are deeply imbued with the mana (Tahitian for power) of the doughty Polynesian race, the hardy sea people who live (and dream) in the middle of the great Pacific. Pa, who can trace his ancestry back to sixty-four generations, is undertaking a marathon swim from Moorea to Tahiti, across Te Toparoa Miti (Sea of the Moon).
His father has told him the story of how their people sailed from Avaiki, (mother earth) which people know as Tahiti, to Rarotonga in double-hulled canoes called vakas. Doing the swimming marathon meant a homecoming for Pa because Tahiti is where Pa’s heart and roots are although it had been many generations since his people had lived there.
The night before the race, Pa sleeps deeply and dreamlessly with the perfume of the beloved Tiare Maori flowers in the air. He wakes up to a morning of good omen and therefore takes a memory stone to the place where well-wishers were gathered. He is going to carry the large stone in swimming to Tahiti and challenged anyone to take it back to Moorea on the same spot. This is an old Polynesian custom. Islanders, a French vessel full of tourists and a helicopter with a television crew are there to watch Pa make the distance through the Sea of the Moon.
Lithe and strong, Pa enters the water and becomes a creature of the ocean. His ancestors believe that sympathetic sea creatures are telepathically attuned to humans. This meant that ancestral spirits have returned in the form of sea birds and fish to watch over the people. And so it does in Pa’s case: a big shark suddenly comes up from the bottom and was about to bite him when out of nowhere a hundred dolphins streak like silver bullets to attack the shark and hunt it down into the bottom of the deep.
Pa swims into Papeete harbor where a happier drama awaits. He is welcomed as a true son of Polynesia. It is a grand welcome for a hero. Pa’s stone remains on Tahiti to this day and the people of French Polynesia still remember Pa’s epic swim through the Sea of the Moon.
For more information on this book, log on to http://www.Xlibris.co.nz.
Pa and the Dolphins * by Jill Sobieska

A True Story of Pa, Rarotongan Hero and His Return Journey to Tahiti

Publication Date: August 8, 2012

Picture Book; $44.99; 54 pages; 978-1-4653-5910-0

Picture Book Hardcover; $64.99; 54 pages; 978-1-4653-5911-7
Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at 0800-891-366. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (09) 353-1455 or call 0800-891-366.

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Murray Dixon’s New Book Tells the Exciting Journey of an Adventurous Ferret

New Zealand (PRWEB) January 10, 2013
Dreams have always been a playground for people’s imaginations, wishes, and aspirations. Many a fanciful fantasy that seems improbable in the real world finds their resolution in the realm of dreams. Author Murray Dixon, with the help of David Ogilvie, breathes life into the characters of his picture book for children, Hornsnoggle Ferret and the Pancake Fantasy Land. This is the first of a series of books featuring this loveable ferret.
In this book, Hornsnoggle Ferret is awakened from his peaceful sleep in the middle of the night by the unusual but nonetheless likeable Peek-a-Boo Sam. Sam invites Hornsnoggle with him on an expedition to a place called the Pancake Fantasy Land. Hornsnoggle can’t resist an exciting new adventure, so he accepts.
Children will love the adventures of Hornsnoggle Ferret. He’s the ferret who just can’t say “no” to an adventure, be it in his own backyard, outer space, or a fantasy land full of weird and wonderful friends. Written in an easy-to-read poetry style, every child will love this adventurous ferret, as well as the other interesting characters he meets along the way.
For more information on this book, log on to http://www.Xlibris.co.nz.
About the Author

Murray Dixon spent his career in the world of advertising in Auckland, New Zealand. From a background in retailing, he founded and managed two advertising agencies, retiring in 2007. He wrote his autobiography, and created Hornsnoggle Ferret to share with his grandchildren.
He has been married to wife Fay for 40 years, and has three children and four grandchildren.
About the Illustrator

David Ogilvie is a professional illustrator and concept artist. From a very young age, he has always had a passion for drawing and animation. In 2007, he graduated from the Freelance Animation School with a Diploma in Classical Character Animation. He has thoroughly enjoyed bringing Hornsnoggle Ferret and other characters in this book to life.
He lives with his wife Megan and their two young sons Micah and Daniel on Auckland’s North Shore.
Hornsnoggle Ferret and the Pancake Fantasy Land * by Murray Dixon

Publication Date: December 3, 2011

Picture Book; $34.99; 24 pages; 978-1-4653-0121-5

Picture Book Hardcover; $54.99; 24 pages; 978-1-4653-0122-2
Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at 0800-891-366. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (09) 353-1455 or call 0800-891-366.

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