Shopping for American-made holiday gifts

Get ready for a red, white and blue Christmas.

With a sluggish economy, high unemployment and a just-finished presidential election laser-focused on jobs, many consumers say they are more eager than ever to buy gifts made right here in America.

Shoppers don't have to rifle through stores or flip over labels this year. Many retailers are proudly touting their wares with made-in-the-USA credentials in hopes of wooing shoppers eager to show their patriotism through their pocketbooks.

"Finding presents that are made here makes them special. It's usually more unique and not something that you can find just in Target," said Jodi Dirk, 31, of Sherman Oaks. "So if I find stuff this holiday that's made in the U.S., that's a big bonus."

That's not always an easy task. Industry experts say that 85% of the toys sold in America are made in China and more than 95% of the clothes are produced overseas. Most consumer electronics, too, are assembled beyond U.S. borders. So most of the Hanukkah gifts and presents under Christmas trees this year are likely to be manufactured outside the country.

But not if Yvonne Lopez has her way. The Los Angeles accountant wants to give gifts that are made in America this holiday, and she's willing to search for them. "If I spend money, I'd rather spend it on a local designer and support the local economy, which is so important right now," she said.

Across America, experts say, shoppers like Lopez are on the lookout, and stores and designers of all kinds say they are pushing their homegrown roots.

"Consumers care more about products made in the U.S. now, and all of our branding is crafted around being made here," said David Koral, co-founder of high-end denim line Koral Los Angeles, which makes all its jeans in Southern California.

Whether you're a recent convert or a faithful supporter of goods made here, experts offer some creative — and often thrifty — tips to wrap this holiday with stars and stripes.

Toys

Finding American-made toys among the sea of dolls, trucks and games can be a challenge for any shopper. That's because an "overwhelming amount" of toys are produced in foreign countries such as China, Indonesia and Mexico, said Jason Moser, an industry analyst at Motley Fool.

The labor and production costs are usually much lower than in America, he said, and as a result, the price is often right.

A modest selection of U.S.-made playthings can be found at big retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys R Us. But parents who are serious about made-in-the-USA toys will have to devote more time to tracking them down.

Simply searching the Internet will turn up an array of toy makers that have been in business for decades churning out kid-friendly items here at home. But think classic toys such as building blocks rather than high-tech ones with remote controls, smartphone apps and other digital whirligigs.

At Maine-based Roy Toy, co-owner Sue Dennison said shoppers scoop up the company's wood building sets. Some bestsellers — including a 37-piece kit for a log cabin —- have been produced since Roy Toy was founded in the 1930s.

"In the 1990s, making our toys in America actually worked against us in a lot of ways because everybody was importing from China," Dennison said. "Now you would be hard-pressed to find a small mom-and-pop store that didn't have a section of made-in-America toys."

The 2007 recalls of lead-tainted toys made in China pushed parents to scrutinize where their children's dolls, model cars and other playthings came from, said Laurie Schacht, co-publisher of The Toy Insider guide. As a result, some companies moved at least part of their production back home to soothe shopper worries and also burnish their brand's reputation.

"That big panic was one of the first things that really pushed the button on made in America," she said.

With safety top of mind, Irene Lopez, 62, of San Pedro is carefully hunting for gifts tagged "made in America." The homemaker says she worries that her grandchildren might chew or handle toys with toxic components.

"You always want to make sure they're OK," she said. "Also, I'd rather get something more unique that can't be found at every store everywhere."

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Veteran L.A. County sheriff's deputy charged with murder

After spending much of his life putting people behind bars, a veteran L.A. County sheriff's deputy stood in handcuffs Thursday, charged with gunning down a former neighbor who apparently got into a fight with his son.

Francisco Gamez, 41, is accused of shooting Armando "Cookie" Casillas, a well-known figure in his blue-collar neighborhood in Sylmar.

Gamez was off duty, sitting in his car, when he allegedly fired two shots on the night of June 17, killing Casillas and narrowly missing a second man, prosecutors said.

Gamez, a 17-year veteran who worked as a detective in West Hollywood, was allegedly furious over a fight between his 20-year-old son and Casillas, 38, prosecutors said. The younger Gamez had called his father to the scene, authorities said.

Casillas was later found by relatives lying near his home, and died later at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.

Gamez was removed from duty in July after witnesses and evidence tied the detective to the slaying, authorities said. He was arrested Wednesday and led handcuffed from his San Fernando home by his former co-workers.

On Thursday he was formally charged with murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm from an occupied vehicle. Gamez could face 75 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges.

In court, where he stood handcuffed in a plexiglass cage, sheriff's deputies peeked into the room to gawk at their former colleague. Sheriff Lee Baca described the whole thing as "deeply disturbing."

Gamez is being held on $4-million bail.

On Beaver Street in Sylmar, where the shooting occurred, Casillas' photo sat in a frame in the midst of a makeshift memorial, along with a cross and a potted plant with U.S. and Mexican flags and candles.

"He was a sweetheart, and very generous," said Patsy Telles-Cabrera, who lived across the street from Casillas for years. "He would check in on my parents." She left a box of chocolates at the growing shrine.

"It never should have happened," said one neighbor. "This is a family neighborhood."

sam.quinones@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

Times staff writer Wesley Lowery contributed to this report.

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Sina banks on Weibo but weak fourth quarter guidance spooks investors

(Reuters) – Chinese Internet company Sina Corp said its fourth quarter will be hit by a softer economy and posted weaker-than-expected sales guidance, despite a stronger revenue contribution from its hot microblogging platform Weibo.

Shares in Sina fell 7 percent after it forecast adjusted net revenue of $ 132 million to $ 136 million in the current quarter, below analysts’ expectations for $ 151.9 million according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sina, which makes most of its revenue from online advertising both on its website and Weibo, is facing stiff headwinds as firms slash advertising budgets due to a worsening economic outlook.

“We are going to see a weaker quarter for advertising overall in the fourth quarter,” said Charles Chao, Sina’s chief executive on an earnings conference call. The firm forecast Q4 advertising revenues would rise 6-8 percent from a year earlier.

Chao said Weibo contributed 16 percent to total revenue in the third quarter, up from 10 percent in the previous quarter. The platform, which is very popular with white-collar workers, university students and celebrities, had 424 million registered users at the end of the quarter, up from 368 million three months earlier.

Advertisers, like luxury brands, that traditionally don’t advertise with Sina’s main portal website flocked to Weibo to test out the social platform, Chao said.

There were about 230,000 Weibo advertising accounts in the quarter, and Sina was in the process of rolling out a online payment system and new Weibo advertising product to increase monetization at the end of the fourth quarter.

“We believe a ‘promoted feed advertising’ will become one of the major forms of (Weibo) advertising going forward,” said Chao, adding that the product will be effective also on mobile platforms, allowing Sina to tap into Weibo’s growth on mobile devices.

Q3 PROFIT BEAT

For the third quarter, Sina’s net profit was $ 9.9 million compared with a loss of $ 336.3 million a year earlier, and slighly ahead of analysts’ expectations of $ 7.5 million.

Sina’s quarterly advertising revenue rose 19 percent to $ 120.6 million, while non-advertising revenue rose 9 percent to $ 31.8 million.

The company started monetizing Weibo by offering special services to business accounts and selling VIP memberships to regular users earlier this year.

For its mobile-value-added-services business, Sina said it expects revenue to continue to decline due to new regulatory policies.

The company was also affected by a spat between Japan and China over islands in the East China Sea as Japanese automakers cut back on advertising in China. Chao said he expected the impact to last into the fourth quarter.

“It did have an impact on our third quarter as well as our fourth quarter. We did see cancellations from customers related to Japanese automobiles in the month of September and it impacted the fourth quarter (too),” Chao said.

Sina shares fell 6.74 percent to $ 49.52 in extended trading. They closed at $ 53.10 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Aurindom Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Richard Pullin)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Jason Mraz to make historic appearance in Myanmar

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jason Mraz will make history next month when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking.

Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert on Dec. 16 at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is believed to be the first international artist to perform an open-air concert in the country. The show includes local acts and is hosted by MTV EXIT, the music channel's initiative to raise awareness about human trafficking and exploitation.

"That's pretty exciting," Mraz said of the history involved, "and I'm going there with an enormous amount of gratitude and respect, and I hope we can actually make a difference. I hope it's also a testament to the songs. I've always wanted my songs to be about healing and self-empowerment, and if this is the way MTV is acknowledging that, then I am incredibly grateful."

The show, which will include local acts, will be broadcast on Myanmar national television and will air on MTV's international network in 2013. Mraz hosted a similar concert in the Philippines last year. He first became interested in the issue about four years ago when he attended the Freedom Awards, an annual salute to those working against human exploitation put on by the organization Free the Slaves.

"I thought this was something that was abolished when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but all it did is become hidden from our view," Mraz said in a phone interview from Zurich, Switzerland. "There was a recent estimate that there are about 27 million people enslaved on the planet, certainly due to hard economic times not just in the Western world but certainly in Third World countries. Humans as a commodity is a great way to run your business. So I signed on, lent my voice, lent my music to the cause."

Myanmar is opening itself to the world since a military junta ceded power to a new elected government last year. President Thein Sein's government has pushed the country toward democracy, and this Monday Barack Obama is scheduled to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country.

Mraz says there is concern predators will prey on the vulnerable in this time of great flux. The concert offers an opportunity to "educate, empower and engage." The 35-year-old singer says he plans to tailor his show to the message.

"I do curate a set list that I feel is going to be part of that educate, empower and engage (theme)," he said. "Obviously songs like 'I'm Yours,' 'I Won't Give Up' are great examples. Or '93 Million Miles' is a new one where it's about believing in yourself. And a lot of my songs are about that, about believing in yourself and really going for your dreams. Those are the kinds of songs I'll be playing at that show."

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Online:

http://jasonmraz.com

http://mtvexit.org

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott .

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For Alzheimer’s, Detection Advances Outpace Treatment Options

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

Awilda Jimenez got a scan for Alzheimer’s after she started forgetting things. It was positive.

When Awilda Jimenez started forgetting things last year, her husband, Edwin, felt a shiver of dread. Her mother had developed Alzheimer’s in her 50s. Could his wife, 61, have it, too?

He learned there was a new brain scan to diagnose the disease and nervously agreed to get her one, secretly hoping it would lay his fears to rest. In June, his wife became what her doctor says is the first private patient in Arizona to have the test.

“The scan was floridly positive,” said her doctor, Adam S. Fleisher, director of brain imaging at the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix.

The Jimenezes have struggled ever since to deal with this devastating news. They are confronting a problem of the new era of Alzheimer’s research: The ability to detect the disease has leapt far ahead of treatments. There are none that can stop or even significantly slow the inexorable progression to dementia and death.

Families like the Jimenezes, with no good options, can only ask: Should they live their lives differently, get their affairs in order, join a clinical trial of an experimental drug?

“I was hoping the scan would be negative,” Mr. Jimenez said. “When I found out it was positive, my heart sank.”

The new brain scan technology, which went on the market in June, is spreading fast. There are already more than 300 hospitals and imaging centers, located in most major metropolitan areas, that are ready to perform the scans, according to Eli Lilly, which sells the tracer used to mark plaque for the scan.

The scans show plaques in the brain — barnaclelike clumps of protein, beta amyloid — that, together with dementia, are the defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease. Those who have dementia but do not have excessive plaques do not have Alzheimer’s. It is no longer necessary to wait until the person dies and has an autopsy to learn if the brain was studded with plaques.

Many insurers, including Medicare, will not yet pay for the new scans, which cost several thousand dollars. And getting one comes with serious risks. While federal law prevents insurers and employers from discriminating based on genetic tests, it does not apply to scans. People with brain plaques can be denied long-term care insurance.

The Food and Drug Administration, worried about interpretations of the scans, has required something new: Doctors must take a test showing they can read them accurately before they begin doing them. So far, 700 doctors have qualified, according to Eli Lilly. Other kinds of diagnostic scans have no such requirement.

In another unusual feature, the F.D.A. requires that radiologists not be told anything about the patient. They are generally trained to incorporate clinical information into their interpretation of other types of scans, said Dr. R. Dwaine Rieves, director of the drug agency’s Division of Medical Imaging Products.

But in this case, clinical information may lead radiologists to inadvertently shade their reports to coincide with what doctors suspect is the underlying disease. With Alzheimer’s, Dr. Rieves said, “clinical impressions have been misleading.”

“This is a big change in the world of image interpretation,” he said.

Like some other Alzheimer’s experts, Dr. Fleisher used the amyloid scan for several years as part of a research study that led to its F.D.A. approval. Subjects were not told what the scans showed. Now, with the scan on the market, the rules have changed.

Dr. Fleisher’s first patient was Mrs. Jimenez. Her husband, the family breadwinner, had lost his job as a computer consultant when the couple moved from New York to Arizona to take care of Mrs. Jimenez’s mother. Paying several thousand dollars for a scan was out of the question. But Dr. Fleisher found a radiologist, Dr. Mantej Singh Sra of Sun Radiology, who was so eager to get into the business that he agreed to do Mrs. Jimenez’s scan free. His plan was to be the first in Arizona to do a scan, and advertise it.

After Dr. Sra did the scan, the Jimenezes returned to Dr. Fleisher to learn the result.

Dr. Fleisher, sad to see so much plaque in Mrs. Jimenez’s brain, referred her to a psychiatrist to help with anxiety and suggested she enter clinical trials of experimental drugs.

But Mr. Jimenez did not like that idea. He worried about unexpected side effects.

“Tempting as it is, where do you draw the line?” he asks. “At what point do you take a risk with a loved one?”

At Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, Dr. Samuel E. Gandy found that his patients — mostly affluent — were unfazed by the medical center’s $3,750 price for the scan. He has been ordering at least one a week for people with symptoms ambiguous enough to suggest the possibility of brain plaques.

Most of his patients want their names kept confidential, fearing an inability to get long-term care insurance, or just wanting privacy.

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State voters support cap and trade

SACRAMENTO — California voters strongly support the state's ambitious program to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming, according to a new post-election poll.

At the same time, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of 1,520 registered voters showed that they are sharply divided over whether it is a good idea for the state to relax requirements for environmental reviews of proposed new developments.

The two environmental findings were part of a wide-ranging telephone poll conducted from Nov. 7 to 12. In each case, voters were read a description of the issues involved and asked whether they agreed or disagreed.

In the case of global warming, voters were told about the pros and cons of a state law that seeks to curb emissions and provide financial incentives to find less-polluting alternatives. Then they were asked which view they generally agreed with.

In response, 63% said the law is needed, agreeing generally that the state needs to break from "outdated energy policies" and reward companies that produce energy from wind, solar and other renewable sources and to decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

But 32% said the state can't afford it, agreeing generally that this cap-and-trade plan to limit emissions is a "job-killing energy tax" that could "raise gas prices, increase energy costs and cost California thousands of jobs."

The remaining 5% had no opinion, or they neither agreed nor disagreed with the two sides.

The poll was commissioned by the USC DornsifeCollege of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Times. It was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm, and American Viewpoint, a Republican company. The margin of sampling error is 2.9 percentage points. Details of the poll can be found online here.

The results were released Thursday, the day after the California Air Resources Board held its first quarterly auction of pollution credits. The pollsters had differing interpretations of the results.

Curbing global warming and reducing consumption of fossil fuels "is an issue that can't really be separated from the economy," said Greenberg's Drew Lieberman. "People are still expressing a clear belief in the power of clean energy as a driver."

Republicans, especially in California, "need to make clear … that they are in favor of green energy" but not at any price, said American Viewpoint's Dave Kanevsky. Cap-and-trade auctions and "some of the particular regulations may be harmful to the economy," he said.

As for relaxing state regulations on development projects, poll participants were told about proposals to change the 1970 California Environmental Quality Act. The law requires an environmental impact study for development projects before getting approval.

Poll respondents heard arguments for and against easing requirements for development and making it more difficult to file lawsuits to stop projects. Supporters and opponents were almost evenly divided.

In all, 46% said changes were a "good idea," agreeing that revisions to the law would boost the economy and create jobs by speeding construction of roads and other major public and private projects.

Forty-five percent called it a "bad idea," supporting the argument that changes will hurt the environment and the economy and reduce property values.

The remaining 9% had no opinion, refused to answer or neither agreed nor disagreed with the opposing statements.

Respondents to the polls generally split along similar lines when answering the two questions. People who strongly favored regulating emissions of greenhouse gases tended to also oppose relaxing the environmental law. In the same way, many participants who thought the state could not afford the limits on greenhouse gases also supported relaxing the development law.

Democrat Mary Hout, 65, an Oakland artist, said she supported the greenhouse gas credit auction because "it gives companies a chance to improve in ways that they choose rather than just being regulated."

But she opposed easing restrictions under the 1970 California Environmental Quality Act.

"Businesses are going to go for the most profit they can make unless there are some rules," Hout said. "Global warming is real, and they don't care."

Republican Clayton Timmer, 30, favored relaxing development laws, saying businesses already bear too much of an economic burden because of inflexible environmental regulations. Timmer works in a group home for emotionally disturbed boys near Chico.

As for greenhouse gases, he said the law seeking to reduce them is unaffordable.

"I'm not for getting rid of all emissions regulations," he said, adding that the state economy is one of the biggest in the world but is "being restricted by emissions regulations. China and India have virtually no regulations, so why are we burdening California with making the world cleaner when it's not really us who's polluting it that much?"

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

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Israel attack on Gaza: Familiar tension, new circumstances

JERUSALEM — Israel's surprise air assault on Gaza Strip militants killed the top military commander of Hamas and set the rivals on a familiar course that could end with another major confrontation — but in unpredictable new circumstances created by the "Arab Spring."

Compared with its past campaigns against Hamas, Israel is likely to find itself more restrained politically and militarily in the new landscape.

Rather than being able to count on former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to help isolate Hamas, as he did during a 22-day operation four years ago, Israel must weigh whether another large-scale Gaza offensive would endanger the landmark 1979 peace accord with Egypt, which has long served as a cornerstone of regional stability.

By Wednesday evening, Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, announced he was recalling the country's ambassador to Israel to protest the assault on the Palestinian territory.

"It's a completely new game for Israel," said Yoram Meital, an Egypt expert at the Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy at Ben-Gurion University. "The equation before was between Israel and the Palestinians. Now it's a triangle, involving Egypt too."

Israel's offensive four years ago killed 1,200 Palestinians, but Mubarak brushed aside his own people's support for besieged Gazans and helped Israel seal Gaza's border.

The course of Israel's military campaign could be shaped by Morsi's decisions, analysts say.

Unlike his deposed predecessor, Morsi will find it difficult to ignore the anti-Israel mood of the Egyptian street. Israel is worried Egypt might open the Rafah border crossing to humanitarian aid or even Islamic fighters to help Gazans, Meital said.

"Israel is taking a very bold risk here because if this campaign continues, it could be gambling with the relationship with Egypt," he said.

Both Hamas, which has been emboldened by the new Egyptian government, and Israel, which has clashed repeatedly with it, will be watching closely to see whether Morsi comes out more strongly against Israel in the coming days or adopts a more pragmatic approach, perhaps trying to broker a cease-fire.

Besides public sentiment, Morsi must take into account his relationship with the United States and other world powers. He is seeking billions of dollars in aid and investment from the West to help the Egyptian economy. Some analysts say that even though Morsi will have to respond to be a credible Arab leader, Egyptians are more concerned with domestic problems.

Egyptian tribal leaders have blamed Hamas and other Palestinian groups for aiding the resurgence of deadly militant networks in the Sinai peninsula, who have attacked Egyptian government forces there.

Although he recalled his ambassador, Morsi did not immediately comment in public. But other leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood organization said the country would not tolerate another Israeli campaign in Gaza.

"The brutal aggression on Gaza proves that Israel has not yet learned that Egypt has changed," said Saad Katatni, head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

Israeli military officials said the assault could last several days. The campaign is aimed at "defending the people of Israel who have been under rocket attack and crippling terrorist organizations' capabilities," said Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitz.

Tension between Israel and Gaza militants has been mounting for nearly a week, following a missile attack against an Israeli jeep along the Gaza border that left four soldiers wounded.

In the ensuring back-and-forth violence, Hamas and other militant groups fired more than 120 rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel, injuring several Israeli civilians and damaging property.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced growing pressure to move aggressively to stop the attacks, which have terrified nearly 1 million southern Israelis and crippled daily activities.

Over the last year, Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, has resumed a more hostile stance toward Israel, betting that Morsi's election would strengthen its hand.

After observing a self-imposed cease-fire for most of the last four years, militants in recent months increased their attacks on Israel, using new types of weaponry acquired in Libya last year after the chaotic fall of Moammar Kadafi, such as antitank and antiaircraft missiles.

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Texas Instruments cuts 1,700 jobs, winds down tablet chips

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Texas Instruments is eliminating 1,700 jobs, as it winds down its mobile processor business to focus on chips for more profitable markets like cars and home appliances.

Texas Instruments said in September it would halt costly investments in the increasingly competitive smartphone and tablet chip business, leading Wall Street to speculate that part of the company’s processor unit, called OMAP, could be sold.

The layoffs are equivalent to nearly 5 percent of the Austin, Texas-based company’s global workforce.

“A sale would have been better than a restructuring but a restructuring is certainly better than nothing,” Sanford Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said.

TI has been under pressure in mobile processors, where it has lost ground to rival Qualcomm Inc. Leading smartphone makers Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd have been developing their own chips instead of buying them from suppliers like TI.

Instead of competing in phones and tablets, TI wants to sell its OMAP processors in markets that require less investment, like industrial clients like carmakers.

TI is expected to continue selling existing tablet and phone processors for products like Amazon.Com Inc‘s Kindle tablets for as long as demand remains, but stop developing new chips.

“This year, the Kindle runs on the OMAP 4 and next year’s Kindle is slated, we believe, for OMAP 5. We believe that program is well along to completion and do not expect that the termination of OMAP will disrupt those plans,” said Longbow Research analyst JoAnne Feeney.

Amazon had reportedly been in talks to buy the mobile part of OMAP.

TI said it expects to take charges of about $ 325 million related to the job cuts and other cost reduction measures, most of which will be accounted for in the current quarter. Its previously announced financial targets for the fourth quarter do not include these costs, TI said.

The company, which has 35,000 employees around the world, expects annualized savings of about $ 450 million by the end of 2013 from the action.

TI shares rose to $ 29 in after-hours trading after closing at $ 28.76, down 2 percent on Nasdaq.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew in New York and Noel Randewich in San Francisco; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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'30 Rock' heroine Liz Lemon to wed this month

NEW YORK (AP) — Liz Lemon is getting married and you're invited.

Fans of "30 Rock" might have reasonably assumed that Lemon, the harried TV producer played by Tina Fey, would ride out the series' seventh and final season as a perennial bachelorette unlucky in love. But Fey, who is also the creator and producer of the NBC comedy, clearly thought otherwise.

In the "30 Rock" episode airing Nov. 29, Lemon will wed.

Who's the lucky guy? He's Liz's latest fella, Criss Chross (played by guest star James Marsden), a Peter Pan-ish would-be entrepreneur who hatches ventures such as an organic gourmet hot-dog truck.

On Thursday, NBC made the grand announcement that Ms. Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon, 42, would be presenting herself to be married to Mr. Crisstopher Rick Chross — "But not in a creepy way that perpetuates the idea that brides are virgins and women are property."

The invitation also specifies that guests (i.e., you viewers) should plan to "bring your own snacks."

No preview of the episode has been made available.

The series, which airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST, will conclude early next year.

"30 Rock" is the saga of Lemon, the overextended producer of a fictitious comedy show loosely inspired by "Saturday Night Live" (where Fey toiled for nine seasons as cast member and writer). Liz is surrounded by kookie comrades like company boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), her boisterously unhinged star.

A recurring theme of "30 Rock" has been Lemon's comicaly flawed love life. Short-lived boyfriends have included quirky airline pilot Carol Burnett (played by Matt Damon), immature businessman Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters) and dimwitted pediatrician Dr. Drew Baird (Jon Hamm).

But clearly there was something special about Criss, who first arrived on the scene last season.

Even before meeting him, Donaghy was disapproving: "Lemon, I have said 'Good God' to you before," he huffed, "but I don't think I've ever MEANT it until now: Good God!!!"

But Criss is different, Liz insisted: "I'm more relaxed around him. My jaws stopped popping. And for once I'm not overthinking everything."

Jack wasn't convinced. He noted that Criss is a puppy-dog-eager dork who carries a Sunglass Hut credit card and owns a ukulele plastered with an Obama sticker.

Is this a match made in heaven? The wedding invitation says, "Whatever. It's no big whoop." But the episode is sure to be a very big whoop.

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Online:

http://www.nbc.com/30-rock

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State of the Art: A Review of New Activity-Tracking Bands From Nike and Jawbone

Maybe you’ve heard: Americans are becoming less fit and more fat. There are all kinds of theories about why — bigger meal portions, omnipresent corn syrup and sugar, fewer pickup stickball games after school. But people are starting to think that in many cases, body weight might somehow be linked to diet and exercise.

Now, studies have shown that if there’s some visible, omnipresent monitor of your negative behavior — spending too much money, eating too much food, using too much power in your home — you’re far more likely to correct it.

That’s the idea behind personal activity-tracking bracelets like the Nike FuelBand ($150) and the improved Jawbone Up band ($130). They make you constantly aware of how active you are (or aren’t). They let you compare your data with friends online, establishing a friendly rivalry or at least guilt. And they therefore motivate you to make changes that add up: park farther away, take the stairs, get off one bus stop early.

There are plenty of other fitness trackers, including clip-onto-clothing trackers (like the FitBit and Striiv) and wristwatchlike gadgets (like Motorola’s MotoActiv). But the beauty of the bracelets is that you can leave them on — asleep, in the shower, shirtless or even all three — and so you’re more likely to stick with the program.

Now, those who follow the wearable, accelerometer-based fitness-tracking gadget industry are no doubt scratching their heads right about now. The Up band? Wasn’t that a bracelet that came out about a year ago, and crashed and burned in a humiliatingly public epidemic of hardware failures? Didn’t Jawbone, a company known for Bluetooth speakers and earpieces, pull Up off the market, offering a generous mea culpa (“You can receive a full refund for UP. This is true even if you decide to keep your UP band”)?

Yes.

The company says that after months of testing and millions of dollars in research, it realized that the original band, billed as waterproof, actually wasn’t quite. Water, sweat and shower soap managed to seep inside and short out the components.

The new Up band, the company swears, is bulletproof. Or at least really, truly waterproof. The company says it redesigned 17 parts and made 28 improvements in the manufacturing process. The new band looks identical — it’s still a stiff, rubber, overgrown C in a choice of colors, with ends that overshoot each other — but inside, it’s far better shielded and enclosed. (It’s also $30 more expensive.)

The corresponding iPhone app has had some work done, too. The central conceit is a Facebook-style timeline of your life. Each “post” represents a day’s worth of activity, or a night of sleep, or a meal. (You can enter nonstep-based workouts manually, like biking or weights.) Your friends’ health developments can show up in your stream, too.

That doesn’t mean that the app is ready for its close-up. It’s fairly baffling, housing as it does duplicate hidden menus, and it has its share of bugs and quirks. Why, on a screen that’s much taller than it is wide, are your progress graphs inch-tall bars swimming in empty space? And wow — if you did a situp every time you got the “Sorry, there was an error connecting with the UP server” message, you’d have abs of concrete. (An Android app is in the works.)

What’s great, though, is that the Up’s ambitions extend beyond simple activity tracking. If you do a double press on the button at the end of the band when you go to bed, for example, the bracelet does an impressive job of tracking your night of sleep: how long it takes you to drift off, how many times you wake up, how many hours you spend in light and deep sleep.

A related, extremely useful feature: when you need a power nap (a 25-minute quick sleep, whose refreshing qualities have been well documented in studies), the band doesn’t start counting until it sees that you’re actually asleep. So you actually get 25 minutes, after which the band vibrates to rouse you. That’s something the average pedometer doesn’t do.

You can track your food intake in any of three ways: by taking a photo of what you eat, by scanning the bar code on its package (the app instantly and correctly identifies it) or by choosing from a categorized list of common foodstuffs. It’s still fairly manual — no wristband can tell what you’re shoving into your mouth — so most people probably won’t bother.

E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com

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