| Land of lakes
Thanks to its location far from Interstate highways and sizable cities, this little town in western Maine has stayed much the same for decades. The biggest news in the past couple of years has been about the expanded and relocated IGA supermarket, the addition of a Thai restaurant, and a new ski lodge at Saddleback Maine. The region known as Rangeley Lakes has 110 lakes, ponds, and streams, and it includes the small village of Oquossoc 7 miles west. Surrounded by mountains, the area is largely undeveloped, though more and more houses are being built along winding dirt roads in the woods. While Rangeley became legendary as a hunting and fishing mecca, now it attracts nature lovers year-round. RestIf you want to stay "downtown," you can't beat The Rangeley Inn and Motor Lodge (2443 Main St., 800-666-3687, rangeleyinn.com).
Area retailers prepare for Black Friday
Businesses across the area are preparing for what they hope will be a big shopping season starting bright and early Friday morning.That means smiling faces, warm greetings and help at every turn for prospective customers no matter if it is at 6 a.m. ... or if there are hundreds of people lined up waiting to get in ... or if they'll do anything to get the item they want."It's a quasi-holiday for us," said Wayne Ruchalski, the general manager at Staples in Mechanicsburg. "We'll have some in-store specials and early bird specials. This year I think what's going to be big are the GPS units, digital cameras, digital picture frames, photo printers, MP3 players and the Dell computers we have in our stores for the first time � we kicked off the sale last Sunday, Nov. 11."Ruchalski is no novice when it comes to Black Friday sales, working at Staples for nine years and in retail for 20.To make it easier for customers, Ruchalski is planning a new, slightly more organized system of tickets for items they're expecting to be gone within a few minutes.
Hidayat, Super Dan on course for HK clash
HONG KONG � Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and world number one Lin Dan remained on course for a Hong Kong Open badminton quarter-final showdown after crushing wins here yesterday. Lin �Super� Dan dispatched Englishman Andrew Smith 21-17, 21-5 while Hidayat routed China�s Chen Hong 21-11, 21-13 in just 23 minutes in the first round. Hidayat, still in search of his first Super Series title, will play South Korea�s Park Sung Hwan in round two on Thursday while Lin is strong favourite against Shoji Sato of Japan. Hidayat and Lin share badminton�s hottest rivalry, although the famously hot-tempered Indonesian has not beaten his Chinese rival since the 2005 world championship final. �I�m not thinking about Lin Dan yet,� Hidayat shrugged. �We�ll see the day after tomorrow.
Get 'em before they're gone
The real players in the debate over the hottest toys aren't the industry experts, of course, but kids.Cost isn't the decider. Ask any parent who watches a child unwrap a high-priced toy and then play with the box.That said, there are industry awards for creativity, quality and engineering. The 2007 awards listed below come from the Toy Industry Association, a 500-company trade group of toy producers and importers. Its membership accounts for 85 percent of the toys sold in the United States.The winning toys and nominees were released into the market in 2006. Several of them made Toy Wishes magazine's Hot Dozen for the 2006 Christmas season. We've included this year's Hot Dozen from Toy Wishes for the coming year, followed by a list of toys judged the best in the industry.The Hot DozenToy Wishes magazine's annual choices for hot toys for the coming season.• American Idol Talent Challenge (Tech2Go, $50) -- An interactive game combines karaoke with "American Idol" judging.
Zimbabwe Select beat SA Composite XI
Zimbabwe Select turned on a spirited show at the weekend when they beat South Africa Composite XI by 10 wickets at Sedgars Park in Potchefstroom, The Herald reported yesterday. The match was in the first of the three four-day cricket matches in the Supersport Challenge against the SA Composite XI that was chosen by that country's National Selection Panel. Zimbabwe Select only needed 57 runs in their second innings to claim the victory and this came courtesy of the opening partnership of Brandon Taylor (35) and Visimuzi Sibanda (19) and three extras. South Africa Composite XI were the first to bat having won the toss and in the first innings they scored 288 before Zimbabwe Select replied with 493 as captain Prospers Utseya led from the front to score an unbeaten 115.
Virtual world becoming kids' play
Webkinz is the latest "must-have" plaything for children across the United States and Canada - a cuddly soft toy which has a virtual website twin. Buying the toy, sold for $10 (about R65) and up, gains the proud owner access onto the website ( www.webkinz.com) where they have to care for, dress, entertain and generally pamper their virtual pet. .
Hot toys '07 | Retailers stocking shelves
The first trick-or-treater is barely out the door, and Christmas is already on retailers' minds. Aisles down from the costumes and candy corn are fake fir trees and candy canes. And Columbia-area merchants are quickly stocking shelves for wide-eyed children — and adults. Traditional dolls and character plushes, such as Fisher-Price's Tickle Me Elmo and Ganz's Webkinzs, are expected to sell big in Columbia, along with the new video console wonders of PlayStation 3, Xbox and Wii. The Consumer Electronics Association found that households with Internet access will spend an average of $172 on electronic toys for their children. In fact, the Guitar Hero III video game and controller set that retails for about $100 has been named an overall top seller this Christmas by Toys "R" Us.
PRESS RELEASE: Nintendo Kicks Off The Holidays With Two New Nintendo DS Bundles
REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 20, 2007 – Starting Nov. 23, Nintendo gives the holiday season a fresh blast of color with the launch of two special-edition Nintendo DS™ bundles. Each pairs a custom-color Nintendo DS system with one of the platform's hottest titles. The new Gold edition comes with The Legend of Zelda®: Phantom Hourglass, while the Metallic Rose Nintendo DS comes with the "Best Friends" version of Nintendogs™. "Nintendo DS remains the portable system of choice for gamers," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Our new bundles will be collector's items for current gamers while offering an attractive way for people new to video games to play with style." With its dual screens, touch-screen, amazing franchises and innovative games, Nintendo DS has been a cornerstone of Nintendo's efforts to expand the world of video games to new audiences and to get as many people playing as possible.
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