Zelinka has strike for missed drug test;athletes have mixed feelings on protocol

Jessica Zelinka had flown to Ontario for the Olympic Heroes Parade in September when drug testers knocked on her door in Calgary to find her not home. Her absence was considered a missed doping test, the first strike for one of Canada's top track and field athletes. Three strikes is an anti-doping violation, and can come with a suspension of up to two years. Some athletes are quietly complaining...

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Former Lance Armstrong teammate banned for 2 years

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- David George became the latest former teammate of Lance Armstrong to be banned from cycling for doping on Wednesday, receiving a two-year suspension after he chose not to give evidence at a hearing before South Africa's anti-doping body. George did not attend Saturday's disciplinary proceedings and claimed that he had taken the blood-booster EPO in isolation and there was no...

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Former Lance Armstrong teammate David George banned for 2 years for doping with EPO

JOHANNESBURG - Lance Armstrong's former U.S. Postal Service teammate, David George, was banned for two years for doping after choosing not to give evidence at a hearing, South Africa's anti-doping body said Wednesday. George did not attend Saturday's disciplinary proceedings and instead claimed that he had taken the blood-booster EPO in isolation and there was no doping infrastructure in his case,...

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IOC strips 4 medals from 2004 Athens Games for doping, postpones decision on Armstrong medal

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - The IOC has stripped medals from four athletes caught doping at the 2004 Athens Olympics — including one gold medallist — and postponed a decision to revoke Lance Armstrong's bronze from the 2000 Sydney Games. The IOC on Wednesday disqualified four athletes whose Athens doping samples were retested earlier this year and came back positive, including shot put gold medallist...

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IOC not ready to move on Armstrong's Olympic medal

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong will hold on to his 2000 Sydney Olympic bronze medal a little longer after the International Olympic Committee said it would wait for the international cycling union to inform him before moving to strip him of it. The 41-year-old had his seven Tour de France victories nullified and was banned from cycling for life in October after the International...

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The Xbox 720 Is Coming Sooner Than Anyone Anticipated

After almost three years without an update, and with Windows 8 sales flailing, Microsoft will release a new Xbox just in time for Christmas next year, sources told Bloomberg's Dina Bass and Ian King. Last year Microsoft had said that it wouldn't release a new version of the gaming system "anytime soon," with other sources talking up a date sometime in 2013 "at the earliest." This new Christmas launch...

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Zynga shares slide after privileged status with Facebook ends

(Reuters) - Shares of gaming company Zynga Inc fell as much as 10 percent, a day after the "Farmville" creator reached an agreement with Facebook Inc that reduces its dependence on the social networking giant. The companies reported in regulatory filings on Thursday that they have reached an agreement to amend a 2010 deal that was widely seen as giving Zynga privileged status on the world's No.1...

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Zynga stock falls after Facebook terms change

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Zynga slumped Friday after it disclosed with its partner Facebook that they have loosened their close ties to one another. THE SPARK: The companies said in regulatory filings Thursday that they have amended their 2010 contract to say Zynga will no longer have to display Facebook ads or use Facebook payments on its own properties, such as Zynga.com. In addition, Zynga, which...

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Microsoft updates Android Xbox SmartGlass app for 7-inch tablets

While Nintendo (NTDOY) has chosen to create second-screen experiences with the new Wii U GamePad, Microsoft’s (MSFT) strategy for the Xbox 360 involves bringing your own devices (BYOD) with the Xbox SmartGlass app for Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. One of the more frustrating things initially about the Xbox SmartGlass app was that it wasn’t natively compatible with 7-inch Android tablets...

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Is Facebook planning to develop its own games? Revised Zynga terms open the door

As Zynga (ZNGA) continues its free fall into irrelevancy with layoffs and its one-hit social games, the gaming company has revised its contract with Facebook (FB) to free it from being “forced to launch games exclusively on the Facebook platform” and “obligated to use Facebook Credits for Zynga game pages,” according to AllThingsD. The change of terms filed with the SEC also includes a clause that...

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