Taking a page from Louis C.K., Chill launches online store for films, comedy specials

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Chill, a social video platform with close to 20 million users, has launched Chill Direct, a new store for creatives like Maria Bamford and Michael Urie to sell their movies, specials and documentaries directly to fans.

Comedian Louis C.K. sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry this summer by selling a comedy special directly online rather than making a distribution deal with a television network or online service. He made millions, and various others have followed suit, including Jim Gaffigan and Aziz Ansari.

Chill sees an opportunity to enter this emerging market, empowering artists and offering them an opportunity to control the distribution and monetization of their ongoing projects.

“The community gives filmmakers and comedians the ability to distribute premium video directly to fans,” CEO Brian Norgard told TheWrap. “The common analogy is to Louis C.K. and his ‘Live at Beacon Theater.‘ That was a seminal moment in the entertainment business and a lot of things now allow direct-to-fan to become a viable model.”

Artists who choose to sell through Chill also can sell their videos elsewhere, but Chill Direct launches with eight videos exclusive to the site. That slate includes “Maria Bamford: the Special Special Special!,” an hour-long comedy special starring Bamford, “Thank You For Judging,” a documentary from “Ugly Betty” actor Urie about high school speech and debate and “Unknown Sender,” a suspense series from “48 Hrs” and “Die Hard” scribe Stephen E. de Souza.

Starting Thursday, any artist can create a page for a project and has complete creative control over the page, from information about the project to trailers to pricing. Meanwhile, Chill handles distribution across devices as well as payments.

Artists retain rights to their own intellectual property while Chill takes a 30 percent cut of any transaction.

“What Chill does is let anyone build out socially integrated marketing pages – we call them story pages – beautiful, high-resolution tantalizing receptacles of premium videos,” Norgard said.

Chill, funded by WME and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and others, has previously enabled frictionless uploading, consumption and sharing of the web’s most popular videos. This maintains a social layer, allowing for commenting and offering bundles that combine the video with other perks like merchandise or meeting the creator.

“The land of premium video is still a very closed marketplace,” Norgard said. “If you have tremendous business development skills or connections to sell a film to Netflix or Hulu, you’re lucky. The ad-supported model doesn’t fit every type of content. There is plenty of stuff out there like documentary films and comedy specials where creators are between a rock and a hard place and wan to get it out there, distribute it, own the right but not put it on a free streaming site like YouTube.”

Selling direct to fans also offers a new revenue stream to a company that until now was mostly luring people a few times a day for videos.

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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The gov’s wish list

Nicole Gelinas

On Monday, Gov. Cuomo huddled with Mayor Bloomberg and New York’s congressional delegation to show solidarity on wringing billions out of the feds for Superstorm Sandy. “We need help today,” the governor said. Sure — but Congress could help best by putting good sense above speed.

Cuomo’s “extensive list and itemization of what it’s going to take to rebuild New York” totals $41.9 billion. The figure includes $32.8 billion he says the state (including the city) needs just to fix what got flooded or blown down.

The other $9.1 billion is for “prevention and mitigation” — that is, protecting against future Sandys.

Reuters

He’ll have support once he knows what New York really needs: Gov. Cuomo with President Obama on Staten Island this month.

Cuomo’s argument for the big payday, above and beyond what FEMA would normally give us for disaster aid? That everyone else got theirs.

The governor ticked off a list of storms over the past 20 years that won special aid, “all of which were less devastating and less impactful than Hurricane Sandy.”

(One sign of how twisted the cash-grab game is: Cuomo calls Sandy a hurricane for getting-money-from-Congress purposes — but he won’t let insurers call it a hurricane, because that would let them pay out less to homeowners.)

In a distasteful comparison he hasn’t repeated, he even compared Sandy to Hurricane Katrina, which emptied out nearly all of New Orleans for months in 2005.

There is really no comparison; that’s why the Gulf Coast got $130 billion in aid (in today’s dollars) post-Katrina, far more than what Cuomo is even asking for.

Anyway, the fact that Congress has fallen into a habit of writing big disaster checks isn’t the solution. It’s the problem.

Yes, New York merits special aid after storms (as do other places). But the way we’re going about it is all wrong.

Politics as usual pushes states to worry more about putting out a big number right away than about what to do with the money. Just look at Cuomo’s numbers: They’re not really serious estimates, just placeholders.

Consider one discrepancy: On Monday morning, Bloomberg put out his own detailed estimate, saying that the city would need $9.8 billion from the feds. That afternoon, Cuomo put the figure for the city at $15 billion.

Hours later, they agreed on the higher number (naturally). But how can anyone possibly believe that they know?

Then there’s Cuomo’s separate $9.1 billion for “prevention and mitigation.”

This number makes no sense at all. Consider: Also on Monday, the MTA put out its own list of prevention-and-mitigation measures to be “investigated” and “prioritized.” The list included everything from “bladders” to stop up tunnel entrances to buying more pump trains.

How can the state possibly know how much of this stuff to include in its $9.1 billion, when the MTA hasn’t even figured it out itself?

Then there’s the issue of floodwalls and levees: To build them or not? There are strong arguments for and against. But Dutch flood-mitigation expert Jeroen Aerts figures that a robust system for the city would cost $15 billion to $17 billion (and potentially increase risks for Long Island and New Jersey).

We haven’t remotely decided whether, or where, we’ll spring for such protection. One of Cuomo’s all-star commissions will probably make a recommendation — but until it does, how can Cuomo know whether to include at least some of this big number in his “prevention and mitigation” list? If the state does go for it, this cost would dwarf the rest of the list.

There’s also a real question of priorities within his $41.9 billion. The governor is asking for $9.7 billion to repair or replace housing — the biggest single item on his list, far above making the subway system safer and above hypothetical floodwalls.

Is it smart for Albany to help people rebuild coastal homes that will remain vulnerable to flooding — especially when the money could instead go to infrastructure to protect everyone
?

The risk of flooding should be accounted for in a cheaper home price, not paid for by the government.

On Thursday, Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie promised not to compete against each other for disaster aid, with Christie saying, “We’re going to work together.”

They should, of course. But they should also say neither state will officially ask for funds until they’re good and ready — and until they’ve thought a bit more on how they’ll spend the cash. And Congress should reward such deliberation.

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.

Twitter: @nicolegelinas

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

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Gift ideas for the techie on your list

The holidays are coming fast, and if you’re like me, you’ve probably gotten very little of your gift shopping done.

Here are suggestions for a variety of gifts for the techie and the not-so-techie people on your list.

Some of these items can be found in stores and some are only available online, but you should be able to order them in time for Christmas or Hanukkah.

IOMEGA EZ MEDIA & BACKUP CENTER

What is it? A hard drive that lives on your home network so you can share files, store all your photos and music and back up your home computers. Works on Macintosh, Windows and Linux computers.

The EZ Media & Backup Center is available in 1-, 2- and 3-terabyte capacities. It is simple to set up. It lives next to your home router and plugs into the network via Ethernet.

Major features include a built-in iTunes server so your music is available to all connected computers, Time Machine support for easy Macintosh backups and Iomega’s Personal Cloud to access your data from any Internet connection.

It can also stream your video files to your TV if you’ve got a compatible streaming box or an Internet-connected TV.

Software for backing up Windows PCs is also included.

Who’s it for? Any family that wants central storage for their digital lives. This is a great home for your digital photo, music or video library.

What does it cost? One terabyte for $169.99, two terabytes for $209.99, three terabytes for $279.99.

Where can you get it? Online at www.iomega.com, Amazon, Best Buy, Apple store, Fry’s.

NETATMO URBAN WEATHER STATION

What is it? A wireless indoor/outdoor weather station that displays through an application on your Apple or Android mobile device.

There are two parts, one that lives in your house and one you place outside.

The indoor component plugs into the wall and monitors the temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, carbon dioxide level and even the sound level in decibels.

The outdoor module is battery-powered and measures temperature and humidity.

Once you connect the Netatmo to your home Wi-Fi network, you can download the free app and see your weather stats from anywhere.

Setup was easy enough, and you can set the app to notify you when carbon dioxide rises to levels that you should be warned about — which is great.

Who’s it for? Weather geeks and people who like to know what the temperature is without having to fire up a browser.

What does it cost? $179

Where can you get it? www.netatmo.com

3M LED ADVANCED LIGHT

What is it? 3M’s first foray into the home light bulb market is with the LED Advanced Light, which uses light-emitting diodes (LED) to produce 800 lumens (the light of a 60-watt bulb).

The Advanced Light has a life span of 25 years and costs just $1.63 per year if it’s turned on for three hours per day.

The bulb lights instantly and is dimmable.

It’s a little intimidating to start buying light bulbs that might outlive me, but my wallet approves.

Who’s it for? Anyone who wants to save money or wants a bulb that might not have to be changed until 2035.

What does it cost? $25

Where can you get it? Select Wal-Mart stores. For more information, go to www.3mlighting.com/LED.

STEM IZON 2.0 WI-FI VIDEO MONITOR

What is it? A small, wireless video camera that you can monitor remotely with an iOS device.

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Miami-Dade ethics board rebukes two city of Miami commissioners

The county ethics commission dinged Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo this week for phoning the police chief after Carollo was pulled over for a traffic stop.

Separately, Miami Commission Vice Chairman Marc Sarnoff was reprimanded for not filing a gift disclosure when the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau paid his way to Brazil.

Sarnoff said his travels did not constitute a gift because he carried out public business. “I did everything I could do, including getting legal advice, to determine that the trip was not a gift,” he said.

Carollo denied wrongdoing in a response to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust written by his attorney. He declined comment Wednesday.

The grievance against Carollo said that he called Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa during a traffic stop in Coconut Grove in August. Carollo was pulled over after attempting to drive his black Lexus around a stopped recycling truck. He called the chief, who called the district commander, who reached out to the officer making the traffic stop.

The officer let Carollo go with a warning.

In the written response to the ethics commission, Carollo’s attorney said the commissioner had never asked Orosa for special treatment. Rather, Carollo called the chief “to inquire ‘what the problem was’ since the circumstances seemed odd.”

The “odd circumstances” included another car stop in the area.

“Commissioner Carollo’s request for a status [report] was well within his authority to communicate with the police chief, and was not accompanied by any request to obtain any resolution of the vehicle stop,” attorney Benedict Kuehne wrote.

Kuehne added: “The officer made the very reasonable decision to issue no traffic citation because the circumstances did not warrant the issuance of a ticket.”

Orosa also told investigators that Carollo had not asked for any favors.

But the ethics commission concluded that Carollo “clearly intended to use his influence with the police chief to avoid a traffic citation.”

“There was no legitimate reason for Carollo to call the chief of police other than to put into motion a chain of events that Carollo hoped would extricate him from a traffic situation that ordinary citizens find themselves in every day,” the ethics commission wrote.

The complaint against Sarnoff involved a trip he and his wife took to Brazil in April.

The pair went to watch the yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race depart Itajai for Miami, the next port of call. Sarnoff also travelled to Rio and Sao Paulo, with the Convention & Visitors Bureau footing the bill for his travel, lodging and meals.

Sarnoff did not disclose the trip as a gift, nor did he disclose that the Volvo Ocean Race had reimbursed him for his wife’s roundtrip airfare.

Sarnoff said he was acting on advice from Miami City Attorney Julie O. Bru. In a legal opinion, Bru said disclosure was unnecessary because the trip did not constitute a gift, but rather city business.

“I never held this secret,” Sarnoff said. “I did everything I was supposed to do. I talked about it openly.” He described the trip as “105 percent work.”

As for Teresa Sarnoff’s travel expenses, Marc Sarnoff said they, too, were incurred during “official” city business.

“The commissioner was unquestionably assisted in his official duties by Ms. Sarnoff and he quite honestly believed that Ms. Sarnoff was conducting city business,” Sarnoff’s attorney, John Dellagloria, wrote in a response to the ethics commission’s findings.

The ethics commission has said that elected officials don’t have to declare tickets to local events they attend for professional reasons. But according to the final report on the Sarnoff case, “all-expense paid trips to distant and exotic locales deserve different consideration since the grandiose scale of the gift creates a larger appearance of impropriety.”

The ethics commission will send a letter to Sarnoff suggesting he report his wife’s travel expenses as a gift. Another letter will be sent to the Miami city attorney to clarify when business trips must be reported as gifts.

The two complaints were filed last month by blogger Al Crespo.

Sarnoff also took a trip to China this year, where he watched the Miami Heat play a preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers. In October, Sarnoff said the Heat paid for his flight and hotel. On Wednesday, he said the Shanghai Sports Bureau paid for him and his wife.

He now plans to declare that trip as a gift, he said.

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Family learns of student’s death on Facebook

ATLANTA (AP) — The parents of a south Georgia college student first learned from Facebook that their daughter had been found dead in a dormitory study room shortly before Thanksgiving. Now, they hope that Facebook and other social media sites can help solve the death of 17-year-old Jasmine Benjamin, which police are investigating as a homicide.

The Valdosta State University freshman was found unresponsive on a study room couch on Nov. 18.

A family friend forwarded the Facebook post about the teen’s death to her parents before they were officially notified by authorities, said A. Thomas Stubbs, an attorney for the victim’s mother, Judith Brogdon, and her stepfather, James Jackson. But many questions remain unanswered about how she died.

The family has hired a private investigator, and a new Facebook site has been set up in hopes that students and others might share tips.

While some Facebook comments have already been turned over to law enforcement officers, the family hopes friends, classmates or others who noticed suspicious comments will also alert authorities.

“Anything that reveals a little more information than what’s publicly known about her death, those are the kind of comments police are looking for as someone who might warrant a closer examination,” Stubbs said.

Also of interest are “unusual comments or unusually timed comments about her death,” he said.

Police detectives have canvassed dormitories and interviewed several students on the campus, located about 250 miles south of the family’s home in Gwinnett County, outside Atlanta.

Benjamin wanted to follow the career path of her mother and become a nurse.

Police say they’re treating the case as a homicide, though autopsy results are not complete and they can’t say for certain whether she was killed. There were no obvious signs of a crime when her body was found, but an autopsy raised questions, authorities have said.

“We’re providing what resources are necessary to assist Valdosta State University police in solving this crime,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said. “The crime lab is expediting evidence from this incident.”

Shortly after Benjamin’s parents learned of her death from Facebook, Lawrenceville police officers knocked on the doors of the family home to inform them officially that their daughter was dead, Stubbs said.

“As frustrating as that may be for the family to learn that way, they understand it’s a different world,” Stubbs said.

The family has yet to learn the possible timeframe of when their daughter died, and police have not shared any theories about how she was killed, Stubbs said.

“We know that they have looked at the phone records, video records that they can find in the school,” he said. Beyond that, they’ve been going through legal procedures that are required to obtain records from Facebook Inc.

The family hired Martinelli Investigations Inc. of Lawrenceville to assist in the investigation.

Private investigator Robin Martinelli said Wednesday that any video near the scene, even if may seem insignificant, could prove helpful in the investigation.

“It wouldn’t matter if it was two weeks before, two hours before or 20 minutes before,” she said.

Martinelli said she’s confident that police are working diligently to follow up on leads, but private investigators can often provide valuable assistance, she said.

“On any homicide, they’re going to work around the clock aggressively every minute, and they’re doing that,” she said.

She said Jasmine Benjamin was a strong student who showed great potential. “Her favorite color was purple, her nickname was Jazzy,” she said.

“She wanted to help people, plain and simple,” her stepfather, James Jackson, told WSB-TV. “That was her goal in life. That’s all she talked about since she was young — ‘I want to be able to help people.’”

Valdosta State campus police, city police and the GBI were working together to conduct interviews and collect evidence, the university said in a statement Tuesday. University officials said they couldn’t release any further information.

Martinelli hopes students away at college keep in touch with their parents — and give them the passwords to social networking sites and their cell phones in case anything happens.

“If you have passcodes to your computer, your phone, please tell your parents,” she said. “Don’t tell everybody in the world, but tell your parents your passcodes.”

She said some of the best advice parents can give students is this: “They should listen to their gut,” she said. “If they walk into a situation and it’s not feeling right, leave.”

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Worthy of Kings

Welcome to the new Brooklyn, which looks a lot like Manhattan. It has a high-profile NBA team, flashy entertainment venues (Barclays Center and the expanding BAM complex), mobbed food purveyors (Trader Joe’s and Shake Shack) and condos priced at $1,000 per square foot.

Yes, $1,000 per square foot is the new normal for new developments in Kings County neighborhoods including Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope.

“The Brooklyn market is undervalued,” says Andrew Barrocas, CEO of the MNS brokerage, who notes that Brooklyn’s condo prices haven’t yet caught up to its rental prices. “If you took an area in Manhattan that’s comparable [to Brooklyn in rental prices], you’ll see the condo pricing is anywhere from 35 to 50 percent more [than Brooklyn].”

According to data from MNS, rental prices overall in Brooklyn Heights ($55 per square foot per year) are close to those in Chelsea ($58 per square foot), where apartments sell for an average of more than $1,400 per square foot.

“So there’s still a tremendous amount of growth where the [Brooklyn] condo market is,” Barrocas says.

Have no fear, developers are closing that gap.

“We saw a 20 to 25 percent premium for condos [over co-ops],” says Steve Kliegerman, president of Halstead Property Development Marketing, about how Park Union — one of a handful of buildings that is coming, or has just come, on the market with price tags breaking $1,000 a foot — was priced. “If you see buyers who are looking in Manhattan, they’re looking at places that are $1 million higher.”

What’s more, buyers are biting.

“Through the names of people we had on our list, a teaser website we had up and from the signage on the property, we have 23 out of the 32 units sold, and we haven’t spent a nickel on advertising,” says Ken Horn, president of Alchemy Properties, of his Sackett Union development, which hit the market last month.

And, Horn adds: “We actually raised prices already.”

72 Poplar
St.,

Brooklyn Heights

What once was a home for New York’s Finest will now be a home for Brooklyn’s richest. With a two-story addition, the former NYPD station house is being renovated into 13 condos with open floor plans and custom kitchens. The two-, three- and four-bedrooms will range in square feet from 1,500 to more than 4,000, with pricing starting at “just upwards of $1,000 a foot.” The adjacent garage will be renovated into a two-story townhouse, including a one-story addition, with a one-car garage, a private rear garden and a roof deck. Sales will start in fall of 2013, with occupancy slated for the spring of 2014. Contact: Greg Williamson and Rob Gross, Douglas Elliman, 718-780-8188

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Shareholders approve sale of U.S. Century Bank

A majority of U.S. Century Bank’s shareholders approved the Doral bank’s proposed sale to C1 Bank of St. Petersburg late Tuesday during a meeting at Florida International University despite dissension from some stockholders, including those who have filed suit against the bank and some of its directors and officers.

According to the terms of the deal, the bank’s 441 shareholders will receive $2.5 million from the sale, or about 1.7 cents on the dollar, from $150.1 million U.S. Century raised from multiple offerings since it was founded 10 years ago.

The sale agreement, which required approval from holders of 51 percent of the shares, still requires approval from federal banking regulators. Seventy-four shareholders attended Tuesday evening’s meeting.

The deal to sell U.S. Century to C1, reached Aug. 30, includes a proposed, renegotiated $6.27 million repayment to the federal government of $50.2 million in TARP funds. The U.S. Treasury Department must approve the proposed TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) repayment. According to documents, the deal also includes up to $400,000 to be paid by C1 to regulators should U.S. Century be fined over Bank Secrecy Act violations found in its recent regulatory examination.

The bank has said the sale is expected to be completed by year-end.

A group of shareholders has filed a “derivative action” suit, which seeks to recover money from the bank that allegedly resulted from the wrongdoing of the bank’s directors and officers.

The suit was filed Nov. 13 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court by brothers Carlos R. Silva and Jorge E. Silva, both Coral Gables attorneys and founding shareholders, and last week was amended to include several additional shareholders — including Shoma Group head Masoud Shojaee — totaling more than $10 million in original investments, said Coral Gables attorney Gonzalo Dorta who represents the shareholders who filed the suit against the bank and some of its current and former officers and directors. Among the defendants are Telemundo executive Jose Cancela, homebuilder Sergio Pino — who formerly owned U.S. Century’s headquarters building, and public affairs businessman and lobbyist Rodney Barreto.

“I feel terrible,” Carlos Silva said after the meeting. He estimated the losses that he and his brother sustained at $400,000. “We all lost a lot of money.”

“This bank was basically run by a group of individuals like it was their personal bank to finance their speculative real estate construction activity at the expense of others,” Dorta said before Tuesday’s meeting.

U.S. Century said in a statement that the bank is in the process of reviewing the suit and is “not at liberty to discuss it further until we have completed the review process and consulted with our legal counsel.”

U.S. Century was founded by a group of prominent, largely Cuban-American investors, many of whom are local business leaders, real estate developers and attorneys.

Among the issues raised in the lawsuit, the bank acknowledges that it has made loans to current and former directors, and a third of its 24 branches are leased from current or former directors.

Current and former directors of the bank hold a significant portion of the bank’s shares, several sources said.

U.S. Century has been struggling since the real estate downturn and recession. Founded in 2002, U.S. Century is operating under a June 2011 regulatory consent order mandating it to boost capital, reduce its bad loans and return to profitability, among other requirements. Last year, it hired Japanese investment bank Nomura Securities to try to raise at least $150 million in private equity funds.

C1, privately owned by four investors, including two Brazilians, is proposing to inject $100 million of fresh capital into the combined bank.

The deal would give the growing C1 Bank 24 branches in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and nearly $1.2 billion in assets.

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Citizens leader criticize media coverage of firm’s problems

TALLAHASSEE --
Beleaguered by allegations of corporate misconduct and exorbitant executive spending, leaders at Citizens Property Insurance Corp. expressed outrage — at the media.

During a special hearing on Tuesday to address several corporate improprieties first reported by the Times/Herald, Citizens CEO Barry Gilway reserved some of his harshest criticism for news outlets that uncovered the laundry list of scandals at the state-run company.

“I am committed to making sure the reputations of innocent employees are appropriately protected,” said Gilway, claiming that reporters had defamed former Citizens employees accused of wrongdoing.

Gilway used words like “preposterous,” “absurd,” “pathetic,” and “shameful,” when discussing media coverage of the company’s internal troubles.

He defended his top officials — who have been beset by a laundry list of scandalous allegations in recent months, including questionable severance packages, sexual impropriety, and falsified documents.

The board largely voiced support of Gilway — who took the helm of the state-run insurer in June — and saved criticism for the media, the former CEO and a few “bad apple” employees.

In recent months, at least two top executives at Citizens have resigned and Gov. Rick Scott has called for two separate investigations into its top management.

Gilway stood by a claim that Citizens terminated internal investigators who discovered the misconduct as part of a company restructuring effort – not as retaliation for exposing the company’s dirty laundry.

Scott’s chief inspector general is looking into the terminations.

Gilway and board members acknowledged that Citizens needed to make some changes, and said the company is beginning to take “corrective action” to address the various scandals.

“We have a new day in this company,” said board chairman Carlos Lacasa. “And we will win back the credibility of the company in the eyes of the public.”

Lacasa also lashed out at the media, referring specifically to a recent editorial in the Palm Beach Post that branded Citizens a “corruption-ridden scam artist that threatens Florida’s economic recovery.”

Such media criticism of Citizens is “shameful” and “designed to incite the public,” he said.

Homeowners covered by Citizens have expressed outrage this year over the company’s unpopular home re-inspection program, an 11-percent rate hike and news that executives were spending upwards of $600 per night for luxury hotel rooms across the globe.

Scott’s inspector general is investigating such expenditures.

“The state of Florida gave them this blanket ability to pull in money from homeowners,” said Sharon Goessel, a 65-year-old from Palmetto Bay whose Citizens insurance rates are skyrocketing. “I want to be one of those executives at Citizens and go spend the night in a $580 hotel room.”

Sean Shaw, a former insurance consumer advocate who works for a law firm that represents insurance policyholders, blasted the board at Citizens and called for the resignation of top executives.

“Instead of spending time talking about fixing abuses of the public trust, the board seems more interested in blaming the media for finding out about it,” he said.

Some board members attacked Shaw, whose employer regularly battles Citizens in court, as someone who “has a direct financial stake” in seeing the company tarnished.

The board had less criticism for former employees and executives whose actions sullied Citizens’ reputation, including the underwriting executive who resigned after a sex scandal blew up and the Chief Administration Officer who resigned after several allegations of misconduct occurred within her unit.

Both received lucrative agreements worth tens of thousands of dollars after resigning, and Citizens helped the underwriting executive apply for unemployment compensation.

Gilway stopped short of criticizing the hefty severance agreements, but said a new policy will be drafted to clean up the process.

Citizens’ board also spent much of Tuesday’s meeting discussing the company’s preliminary budget for next year.

The company expects to shrink from about 1.5 million policies to 1.2 million policies by the end of 2013, advancing Gov. Rick Scott’s push to downsize the state-backed insurer.

“Unlike the private sector, that’s a good thing if we’re shrinking,” said Chief Financial Officer Sharon Binnun.

Toluse Olorunnipa can be reached at tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com or on Twitter at @ToluseO.

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Play Your Wii U Anywhere — Even on a Train

Wii U on a Train

No need for a TV set. If you plug the Wii U in, you can interact entirely with the GamePad. This is on a Japanese Shinkansen, a high-speed train.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Nintendo Unveils Wii Mini for the Canucks]

Nintendo’s new Wii U console may have one real advantage over the competition: portability. Since you don’t need a television to play a good portion of the Wii U titles, gaming on the road is as easy as locating a power outlet.

Rocket News 24 tested the console’s mobility by taking a Wii U on a Japanese bullet train, which has power outlets at every seat. Thanks to that — and a little iPhone tethering magic — their staff was able to play New Super Mario Brothers U and Call of Duty Black Ops 2 while riding comfortably.

[More from Mashable: Wii U Sells 400,000 Units in First Week]

Check out Rocket News 24 to see more pictures and a full recount of their experience.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Analysis of Angus T. Jones' Head-Turning Comments

Two and a Half Men star Angus T. Jones made headlines this week when a video went viral of him calling the sitcom "filth."

RELATED: Angus T. Jones Apologizes For 'Men' Remarks

The 19-year-old actor turned to religion and it's speculated that his spiritual beliefs have inspired his distain towards his role of Jake. "You can't be a true God fearing person and be on a TV show like that. I know I can't," he asserted.

Angus won't be on the set of the hit show this week because he is not written into the script currently being recorded. Watch the video for more in-depth insight into his seemingly salacious comments.

VIDEO: Miley Cyrus Can't Shut Up on 'Two and a Half Men'

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