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Six tips to become your own boss

Clyde K. Valle
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Six tips to become your own boss

Swapping the day job for running your own business is more achievable than we think, says British entrepreneur and founder of Innocent Drinks, Richard Reed.

“If you have ever organized a wedding or a holiday for a group of friends you have got what it takes to set up a business,” says Richard Reed, who founded his company in 1998 with two friends from Cambridge University.

“It’s just about getting a group of people to do a certain number of tasks in a certain amount of time for a certain amount of money. It’s like organizing a wedding without having to have arguments with the in-laws about what color the serviettes are.”

Richard Reed has been looking for the next generation of start-up businesses to invest in and says that many people with aspirations to run their own company often over-exaggerate the risks involved and under-estimate the potential upside. So what are some of Richard Reed’s tips for budding entrepreneurs?

1. Get the idea right and work with a team

“It is about the idea, your commitment to the idea and your ability to execute that idea,” says Richard Reed.

The product or idea is fundamental as it is this that investors will have to believe in if they are going to part with their money. However, they will also look at whether the team behind the idea has the skills to deliver it.

“I always say to people who are thinking about setting up a business, why not think about building the team from the beginning,” says Richard Reed.

“We now invest in businesses and we are much more nervous about businesses which are a single person entity… because somebody needs to be thinking about the finances, someone has got be thinking about the marketing, someone has got to be thinking about the selling.

“You need all those things for the business to work and it’s very rare to find someone who is as good financially as they are creatively, or as good selling.”

Richard Reed says you can try and find this “band of brothers” on social media sites or by advertising. But for those do want to do it all on their own…

“Work out what skills are needed for you to be able to execute your business well and make sure that you’ve got those skills. If you don’t, make sure you find someone that does. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, you’ve got to see the bigger picture. What are all the pieces that I need to make sure this business will work, which ones can I cover, which ones do I need someone else to cover.”

Swapping the day job for running your own business is more achievable than we think, says British entrepreneur and founder of Innocent Drinks, Richard Reed
Swapping the day job for running your own business is more achievable than we think, says British entrepreneur and founder of Innocent Drinks, Richard Reed

2. Be creative about funding

To kick start the business you will need seed capital, or an initial injection of money. Then once the idea is up and running, it is time to seek further investment to grow the business.

“You can try the banks and I think there are more options available to people these days. The government has done quite a lot to make start-up funds available to small businesses, but we got turned down by 20 banks in a row,” says Richard Reed who stresses the resilience you need as an entrepreneur when approaching potential investors.

“If you’ve got a good idea, you are committed enough to it and you are prepared to keep going, you will find someone that does believe in it.”

There are also ways of structuring a business without securing the initial funding, he says. Some people sell their product to the consumer in advance, before they have to pay out for it.

Richard Reed also encourages creative thinking around new ways to secure investment, such as crowdfunding.

“Rather than get one person to give you half a million quid, you could get half a million people to give you a quid each.”

3. Don’t confuse branding, marketing and advertising

 “They are actually three different things,” says Richard Reed.

“The brand is basically your look, your tone, your identity, what you stand for. Marketing is how you go about creating demand for consumers… what is the price of the product, how is it packaged, how is it sold. With advertising it’s totally just pay a load of money to make a load of noise about your product.”

For Richard Reed, advertising is the most expensive and definitely one of the most likely to fail. He recommends advertising only once the name, product, packaging, price and distribution are all in place.

“Advertising is a brilliant way to burn through a lot of cash very quickly, so treat it carefully,” he warns.

4. Risk vs. reward

The rewards of setting up a business are great, he says.

“You go from nothing to something that you have created and you meet so many more interesting people, you learn so many things.”

The advantages are that you are in control and can shape the business the way you want. However, he admits working for yourself also comes with costs and risks.

“The practical advice I give people is don’t bet the family home. You’ve got to go into it with your eyes wide open, most small businesses fail. If you start betting the family home, then what you’ve got is not just the trauma of the business failing, but then it has a huge knock-on effect to your personal life.”

5. Hard work, long hours, no excuses

“I read this article saying that setting up a business you essentially have do five years of work in one year, and I think that’s about right,” says Richard Reed.

He says a good test of whether you have the staying power and commitment is if you can come home after your full-time job and work on your business plan rather than watch EastEnders. There is no blaming the economic climate either.

“There are as many opportunities in a down market as there are in an up market, but if you find yourself blaming the externalities all the time – well I can’t set up a business yet because of the economy or because of the weather or because I have a job – then you’re not thinking like an entrepreneur,” says Richard Reed.

“An entrepreneur accepts that the world is the way that it is and goes about changing it rather than waiting for someone to make it easy for them.”

6. Start small, start young

“At the age of four my mum found me trying to sell jam jars with rose petals in as perfume for 2p to my neighbors. Aged seven I was going round cleaning their windows. At age 11, I was buying Smurf stickers and reselling them in schools,” says Richard Reed, who started his entrepreneurial career young.

Anyone, he says, could go home today, and for instance, make some jam and start selling it. There are no limitations and no set path to success.

“I never would have thought it was possible for someone like me to set up a business, but then I found myself with a group of friends and we decided to give it a go. It turns out it is possible – not easy, but definitely possible.”

 

Dukan diet: Dr. Pierre Dukan holiday resorts

Kathryn R. Bown
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Dukan diet: Dr. Pierre Dukan holiday resorts

When word got out that Kate Middleton’s mother, Carole, was following Dukan regime to slim for her daughter’s wedding, it swiftly became the hottest weight-loss plan of the year.

Dr. Pierre Dukan’s book shot to the top of the charts, becoming the best- selling diet book of all time.

Published in 50 countries and translated into 25 languages, it seemed everyone was part of the Dukan phenomenon.

But then the bubble burst. At the end of 2011, the British Dietetic Association (BDA) put Dukan at the top of its list of diets to avoid – slamming it as “ineffective and without scientific basis”. The BDA even claimed it was worse than alcorexia, when you restrict food intake to save calories for alcohol.

Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray, who had been keeping a diary of her dramatic Dukan-inspired weight loss, admitted she’d regained all the 5 st she’d shed. Dieters lost faith, and Dr. Pierre Dukan’s loyal fans started to doubt the effectiveness of his high-protein, low-carb plan.

But now Dr. Pierre Dukan is back with a new venture: Dukanised holiday resorts. There is one in Morocco, another in Tunisia, a five-star one on Sardinia’s coast, and plans for one in Crete soon. The idea is you book yourself in for a week of pampering in the sun, let a chef and Dukan-trained staff monitor your food intake, then leave 5 lb to 10 lb lighter and ready to tackle the diet long-term.

Dr. Pierre Dukan’s book shot to the top of the charts, becoming the best- selling diet book of all time
Dr. Pierre Dukan’s book shot to the top of the charts, becoming the best- selling diet book of all time

On arrival on a weekend Dukan boot camp at Sardinian resort Valle dell’Erica, instead of a welcome cocktail and refreshing towel, you will be greeted with a medical check (there is another at the end of the stay). All Dukan holidaymakers are weighed, measured, have their blood pressure taken and go through a checklist of serious illnesses before sitting down with the resort’s enthusiastic Dukan liaison officers.

The Dukan diet is divided into four phases. First is the “attack” phase, which lasts two to five days, depending on how much weight you want to lose. It features unlimited meat, fish, eggs and fat-free dairy products.

Afterwards comes “cruise” – protein-only days alternated with days of unlimited vegetables and salad. When you reach your ideal weight, it’s “consolidation”, where you’re allowed treats – a little cheese, a piece of fruit, a glass of wine and two slices of wholemeal bread each day. This must be done for five days for every pound in weight you’ve lost, so a 10 lb loss means 50 days of consolidation.

Long-term dieters live in “stabilization” – basically healthy eating with a protein-only day once a week.

The boot camp isn’t cheap. Most people are new to Dukan and pay an eye-watering $2,900 for a week’s full board, supervision and programme of “slimming” spa treatments. And at the resort, non-dieters mingle with Dukan devotees (easily identifiable by their hungry look and slightly resentful demeanour).

The good thing is that you can take your partner and children on holiday with you if you want – and they can eat normally while you follow the programme.

In the room, the minibar is stripped of treats and filled with water, diet drinks and fat-free yogurt. At breakfast, Dukaneers choose from eggs, cold meats, oatbran crepes, pancakes and muffins. Lunch and dinner is a fish or meat starter, main course and rather fabulous looking dessert.

The portions are enormous (a definite Dukan bonus) and the food luxurious (for “shellfish” read oysters, clams and langoustine). If you survived as far as the cruise phase, where you’re allowed salad and vegetables, your only option was the non-dieters’ all-you-can-eat buffet.

Exercise is an important part of the Dukan deal, but it’s not brutal assault courses and 6:00 a.m. runs. A 20 to 30-minute walk each day is part of the weight-loss plan, but it’s a suggestion, not a demand.

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Facebook friends influence voting behaviour

Nancy Clayson
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Facebook friends influence voting behaviour

A new research has found that a banner message on Facebook showing users’ friends who had voted drove a third of a million more voters to the poll booths.

Sixty-one million Facebook users in the US were shown the message, while 600,000 others simply saw a message imploring them to vote.

A report in Nature shows the message drove about 60,000 extra votes in the 2010 US Congressional elections.

But the message appearing on friends’ pages drove a further 282,000 votes.

The work was led by James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, whose prior work has shown, among many other things, that the friends we choose may in part be down to genetics.

For the current work, he and his colleagues were interested in examining the oft-cited claim that online social networks influence offline decision-making – a claim that has until now been difficult to pin down.

A new research has found that a banner message on Facebook showing users' friends who had voted drove a third of a million more voters to the poll booths
A new research has found that a banner message on Facebook showing users' friends who had voted drove a third of a million more voters to the poll booths

“There’s been a lot of work in online social networks showing that app adoption can spread from person to person, and there’s been a lot of work in the real world showing that things like obesity and drinking and smoking can spread from person to person,” Prof. James Fowler said.

“But there hasn’t been any work that showed what happens online affects the real world.”

To look into that question, the team arranged for Facebook to post a non-partisan “social” message along the top of 61 million users’ pages, including a reminder that it was voting day, a clickable “I voted” button, a link to information about nearby polling places, and a list of up to six of the users’ friends who had already clicked the button.

About 600,000 users were shown an alternate, “informational” message, identical except for the absence of the friends data. A further 600,000 were shown no message at all.

The data on which users sought polling station data or clicked the “I voted” button could then be cross-correlated with publicly available data on who actually went to cast a vote.

The results showed to a high statistical significance that those who received the “social” message were more than 2% more likely to report having voted and 0.4% more likely to actually vote than those shown the “informational” message.

And users were 0.22% more likely to vote for each “close” friend – as measured by the degree of Facebook interaction – who received the message.

By correlating the findings with polling data and comparing with the “no-message” case, the team estimate that the message resulted in more than 340,000 extra votes being cast.

Prof. James Fowler conceded that the results represented a small fraction of the voting public, but that it was enough to sometimes make a large difference.

“I doubt it changed the outcome of the overall election, but it’s possible it had an impact on local elections,” he said.

“There are certainly circumstances in our history where a far smaller number of votes would have mattered: in 2000 in the US the presidential election was decided by just 537 votes in Florida.”

The findings are intriguing from a political point of view, but the study is also finally shedding light on the thorny problem of extracting these “peer influence” effects from the factors that drive the network’s formation in the first place.

What confounds that problem is what is called homophily – we tend to befriend people in real life or online with whom we share significant similarities.

“If we were just going to do an observational study where we just looked at the network to see whether or not people who voted tend to be connected to others who voted, we wouldn’t know if that was because they tended to become friends because they both like politics or if one friend influences another,” Prof. James Fowler said.

But the random selection of friends to show to users in the “social” message – some close friends, some only peripheral – should sidestep issues of homophily, he explained.

“The beauty of this experiment is that we can rule that out as an explanation for what we found,” he said.

And the scale of peer influence they found was notable.

“The <<friend>> vote is really critical,” he said.

“In this experiment we were able to show that if you just looked at the users and whether or not the message directly affected them you’d be missing the whole story; for every user that changed their behavior, there were four friends who changed their behavior.

“In other words, the network quadrupled the effect of the <<get out the vote>> message.”

 

Woolly mammoth remains discovered in Siberia give hopes for cloning

James J. Williams
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Woolly mammoth remains discovered in Siberia give hopes for cloning

The discovery of well-preserved woolly mammoth remains in eastern Siberia has raised distant hopes that the animal could be cloned.

A Russian-led team of international scientists found intact cells among remains including hair and bone marrow.

In theory, the animal – which died out between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago – could be recreated if living cells are discovered among the remains.

But one of the team members told Reuters news agency that was unlikely.

The remains were discovered in August, metres underground in the permafrost of the vast north-eastern Siberian province of Yakutia, reports said.

The discovery of well-preserved woolly mammoth remains in eastern Siberia has raised distant hopes that the animal could be cloned
The discovery of well-preserved woolly mammoth remains in eastern Siberia has raised distant hopes that the animal could be cloned

“All we need for cloning is one living cell, which means it can reproduce autonomously. Then it will be no problem for us to multiply them to tens of thousands cells,” Semyon Grigoryev, a professor at North-East Federal University (NEFU), told Reuters.

Laboratory research is now said to be under way to determine whether there are living cells among the remains.

But Semyon Grigoryev admitted the chances were slim.

“We are counting on our region’s permafrost to have kept some cells alive. But it is unlikely,” said Semyon Grigoryev, explaining that the remains would need to have been kept at a stable temperature between -4C and -20C (25F and -4F) for cells to remain alive.

Scientists have attempted to clone mammoth remains several times, but without success. Not all believe it would be possible to do so.

Most mammoths are believed to have died out about 10,000 years ago, but small groups were thought to have lived on for several thousand years in Alaska and the Russian Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean.

 

Protests erupt outside U.S. embassies across Muslim world as Pentagon sends two warships to Libya

Roy Siemens
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Protests erupt outside U.S. embassies across Muslim world as Pentagon sends two warships to Libya

Violent protests were sweeping across the Muslim world following the bloody attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that led to the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, as U.S. officials say they are sending warships to the coast of the volatile country in an apparent terrorist hunt.

Two marines and a communications officer were also killed dead in the strike in the city of Benghazi.

Also on Wednesday, U.S. officials said one destroyer, the USS Laboon, moved to a position off the coast of Libya, and the USS McFaul is en route and should be stationed off the coast within days.

The officials say the ships, which carry Tomahawk missiles, do not have a specific mission. But they give commanders flexibility to respond to any mission ordered by the president.

The destroyers have crews totaling about 300. There have been four destroyers in the Mediterranean for some time. These moves will increase that to five.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss troop movements.

Palestinians burn a US flag during a protest against the movie, Innocence of Muslims, near the UN office in Gaza City
Palestinians burn a US flag during a protest against the movie, Innocence of Muslims, near the UN office in Gaza City

But as tensions rise outside Libya, the response to a film produced in the U.S. that depicts Prophet Mohammed is sending shockwaves through the Muslim world.

In Cairo, protests continued into early Thursday morning near Tahrir Square, the site of Egypt’s massive uprising last year.

With further street violence and demonstrations expected across the Middle East, Britain, the U.S. and their European allies stepped-up security at their embassies and consulates.

On Wednesday night, there were protests outside U.S. diplomatic buildings in countries including Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco and Egypt.

In Tunis, the Tunisian capital, police fired teargas and rubber bullets into the air to disperse a protest.

Around 200 protesters, many of whom had long beards, burned U.S. flags and chanted slogans such as “Obama, Obama, we are here for the triumph of Islam”.

It is believed that the attacks were part of a coordinated ambush by terrorists using a pro-Islam protest as cover.

The victims died during a rocket attack when an armed mob set fire to the consulate in Benghazi after joining a protest over a “blasphemous” film about the Prophet Mohammed.

It was also revealed on Wednesday that Ambassador Christopher Stevens and information technology specialist Sean Smith were killed during an attempt by U.S. forces to evacuate staff from a safe house, Libya’s Deputy Interior Minister Wanis Al-Sharif said.

U.S. consular staff was moved to the safe house after an attack on the consul building in the eastern city of Benghazi in which the ambassador was killed, minister Wanis Al-Sharif told a news conference.

A plane with U.S. security units arrived from Tripoli to evacuate other staff but militants discovered the location of the safe house, he said.

“It was supposed to be a secret place and we were surprised the armed groups knew about it. There was shooting,” he said.

Two American security personnel were killed in the shooting, Wanis Al-Sharif said. Two other people were killed and between 12 and 17 wounded.

It is believed a “small, vicious group” of attackers used the protest as a diversion, although questions remain over whether the killers drummed up support for the march or simply took advantage of it, an official told CNN.

While it is not known exactly who was responsible for the rampage, a London think tank with strong ties to Libya said Christopher Stevens, who is not believed to have been targeted, could have been the victim of a revenge attack by al Qaeda.

U.S. officials, describing their preliminary understanding of the incident, told Reuters that the attack began at roughly 10:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, with Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith and one security officer trapped under fire in the burning consulate building.

“They became separated from each other due to the heavy dark smoke while they were trying to evacuate the burning building,” one senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The security officer made it outside, and returned with help to search for the missing U.S. diplomatic personnel.

The assault “came to avenge the death of Abu Yaya al-Libi, al Qaeda’s second in command killed a few months ago” in Pakistan, think tank Quilliam told CNN, noting the rocket-propelled grenade launchers used in the attack do not normally appear at peaceful protests.

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Hope for deafness treatment: Stem cells used to restore hearing in animals for the first time

Kathryn R. Bown
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Hope for deafness treatment: Stem cells used to restore hearing in animals for the first time

British researchers say they have taken a huge step forward in treating deafness after stem cells were used to restore hearing in animals for the first time.

Hearing partially improved when nerves in the ear, which pass sounds into the brain, were rebuilt in gerbils – a UK study in the journal Nature reports.

Getting the same improvement in people would be a shift from being unable to hear traffic to hearing a conversation.

However, treating humans is still a distant prospect.

British researchers say they have taken a huge step forward in treating deafness after stem cells were used to restore hearing in animals for the first time
British researchers say they have taken a huge step forward in treating deafness after stem cells were used to restore hearing in animals for the first time

If you want to listen to the radio or have a chat with a friend your ear has to convert sound waves in the air into electrical signals which the brain will understand.

This happens deep inside the inner ear where vibrations move tiny hairs and this movement creates an electrical signal.

However, in about one in 10 people with profound hearing loss, nerve cells which should pick up the signal are damaged. It is like dropping the baton after the first leg of a relay race.

The aim of researchers at the University of Sheffield was to replace those baton-dropping nerve cells, called spiral ganglion neurons, with new ones.

They used stem cells from a human embryo, which are capable of becoming any other type of cell in the human body from nerve to skin, muscle to kidney.

A chemical soup was added to the stem cells that converted them into cells similar to the spiral ganglion neurons. These were then delicately injected into the inner ears of 18 deaf gerbils.

Over 10 weeks the gerbils’ hearing improved. On average 45% of their hearing range was restored by the end of the study.

Dr. Marcelo Rivolta said: “It would mean going from being so deaf that you wouldn’t be able to hear a lorry or truck in the street to the point where you would be able to hear a conversation.

“It is not a complete cure, they will not be able to hear a whisper, but they would certainly be able to maintain a conversation in a room.”

About a third of the gerbils responded really well to treatment with some regaining up to 90% of their hearing, while just under a third barely responded at all.

Gerbils were used as they are able to hear a similar range of sounds to people, unlike mice which hear higher-pitched sounds.

The researchers detected the improvement in hearing by measuring brainwaves. The gerbils were also tested for only 10 weeks. If this became a treatment in humans then the effect would need to be shown over a much longer term.

There are also questions around the safety and ethics of stem cell treatments which would need to be addressed.

 

Rihanna ruins her smile with a gold grill

Lisa.Felice
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Rihanna ruins her smile with a gold grill

Rihanna showed that even when she looks good on the outside she still struggles with her inner beauty as she ruined her smile with a gold grill.

Rihanna, 24, stepped out for dinner at her favorite restaurant sporting the mouth accessory as she rocked up to Giorgio Baldi for dinner with friends.

Her grill, which is a gold or bejeweled dental apparatus that sits over the teeth in the same way that a gum shield does, did nothing positive for her appearance.

Although they can be easily applied and removed as a temporary fashion accessory, they normally worn by men.

They are generally worn as a status symbol of wealth in the hip hop community and have been earning people street cred ever since the early 1980s when the blinged-out teeth became a full-blown hip-hop fashion statement.

Earlier this year Chris Brown joined rappers Kanye West, Nelly, Lil Wayne, and Lil Jon in the trend by proudly flashing his golden chompers to the dancing crowds at AV Nightclub in Hollywood.

Olympic swimming champion Ryan Lochte also wore a pair of grills after winning gold, which were customized to show the American flag.

Rihanna herself first started wearing the gold mouthpiece in 2011 when she filmed her music video for You Da One.

The singer may have found it rather difficult to eat her meal with the expensive piece of metal covering her teeth but thankfully she could have taken them out with ease.

The golden smile wasn’t the only thing on show by Rihanna as she also whipped out her legs for the low key dinner date.

Rihanna looked stunning in tiny black shorts, a black and white top and peep-toe boots covered with a sheer fabric.

But her face summed up her feelings at the end of a day spent remembering those tragically lost on 9/11 in 2001.

Earlier in the day, she tweeted a pic of New York City with the caption: “We’ll never forget this day! 9/11.”

 

iPhone 5 unveiled in San Francisco at the same price as the iPhone 4S

Nancy Clayson
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iPhone 5 unveiled in San Francisco at the same price as the iPhone 4S

Apple has now unveiled the iPhone 5 in San Francisco.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, talking on the stage in San Francisco and beamed live to London, announced: “We’ve got some really cool stuff to show you, it’s an extraordinary time at Apple.”

The latest version of the iconic smartphone comes with a four-inch screen, an eight-megapixel camera which can take 28-megapixel panoramic shots, and is the thinnest iPhone yet, at just 7.6 mm.

All of which comes, for the first time, in a package made entirely in glass and aluminium.

Apple confirmed iPhone 5, available in black and white, has a four-inch display, – 1136×640 – which is the same width as previous models but taller.

It uses a new display which is 30 per cent thinner that previous handsets.

Phil Schiller, vice president of marketing, said: “It is designed to fit in the hand, and all of our software is being updated to take advantage of this display.”

The handset also has a new chip, the Apple A6, which is twice as fast as previous versions but 22% smaller.

iPhone 5 is expected to be the biggest selling in Apple’s history, with an estimated 8 million set to be sold according to some estimates.

The battle for domination of the mobile market has become increasingly heated recently with Apple’s competitors taking it on with a series of new products.

iPhone 5 will cost the same price as the iPhone 4S, $199 to $399 depending on size
iPhone 5 will cost the same price as the iPhone 4S, $199 to $399 depending on size

The firm boasted the new handset has eight hours of 3G talk time, and a 225 hour standby time.

It also has an eight megapixel camera with a 3264×2448 sensor, and has improved its performance in low light, and a lens made from sapphire crystal.

The handset also now has a panorama mode to create wide shots.

“The ocean looks bluer, kids look happier,” joked Phil Schiller.

Phil Schiller also confirmed the handset has a controversial new connector.

“The iPhone from its start used the 30 pin connector, and it has served us well. A lot has changed and it is time for the connector to evolve – and out new connector is called Lightning.”

Apple also showed off a connector allowing people to use their existing chargers and accessories.

The handset will use iOS 6, and dumps Google’s maps for Apple’s own.

“We’ve built in free turn by turn directions,” said Scott Forstall of Apple as he demonstrated the new Apple Maps app.

“We use a cinematic camera angle to fly you around corners.”

Apple also showed off a 3D flyover feature allowing people to virtually fly over an area, and showed off the software “flying” over Big Ben in London.

A new app called Passbook also allows people to collect store cards, tickets and other information in a single app.

It can be used to show boarding passes on planes and for entry to concerts and sports games that support the codes.

Users can also share photo albums easily, and Apple’s speech recognition software Siri has been updated to give people sports scores, and even book restaurants.

Facebook has also been integrated into the service, allowing people to update their status via speech.

The handset will cost the same price as the iPhone 4S, $199 to $399 depending on size.

It will begin shipping on September 21st in US, Canada and several other countries, and customers can pre-order from this Friday.

 

Big Mo Moustafa Ismail, the real-life Popeye, and his 31 inch biceps enter Guinness Book of World Records

Clyde K. Valle
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Big Mo Moustafa Ismail, the real-life Popeye, and his 31 inch biceps enter Guinness Book of World Records

Moustafa Ismail, an Egyptian-born bodybuilder, has just had his 31 inch biceps crowned the biggest in the world.

Moustafa Ismail, 24, has spent ten years pumping iron twice a day and his upper arms now have the same circumference as a grown man’s waist.

But despite his cartoon proportions he hates spinach.

Instead “Big Mo” eats as much as 3 lbs of chicken, 1lbs of steak or fish and four cups of almonds washed down with two gallons of water and three litres of protein shakes.

The bodybuilder was so dedicated to bulking up his arms he moved his whole family to America to gain access to better workout equipment.

 

Moustafa Ismail, an Egyptian-born bodybuilder, has just had his 31 inch biceps crowned the biggest in the world
Moustafa Ismail, an Egyptian-born bodybuilder, has just had his 31 inch biceps crowned the biggest in the world

 

The muscle man said: “People always say you remind me of Popeye the sailor man.

“This makes me laugh as the truth is I don’t have any spinach in my diet – I can’t stand the stuff.

“Actually I think my arms are now bigger than the cartoon character.”

Moustafa Ismail, who lives with his wife Carolina, started bodybuilding ten years ago in a bid to keep fit.

But after hitting the gym he received hundreds of compliments on his bulging biceps and decided to concentrate all of his efforts on making them even bigger.

Five years ago, when he failed to win a place in the Egyptian bodybuilding team he swapped his home country for the USA.

He now trains at least twice a day and can lift an incredible 500 lbs.

The gym fanatic admits to taking protein shakes to help with his bodybuilding but puts his bulging body down to genetics – his father was an Egyptian wrestler.

He has a daily exercise regime of 5:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. during which he concentrates on cardio, strength-training and body sculpting, using heavy and light isolated weights.

When Moustafa Ismail is not pumping iron he’s pumping gas at the two petrol station he owns near his home in Massachusetts.

“Working out makes my mood better. You’re just focusing.

“And I like that in this type of sport you can see your improvement in your shape,” he says.

“I know they are growing, my chest, my shoulders, my arms. I love weights.”

Moustafa Ismail’s biceps have now been confirmed as a record and he will appear in the Guinness Book of World Records 2013, which is launched in London today.

 

BIG MO’S DAILY ROUTINE

A minimum of three hours of training, at least twice a day

• strength training

• body sculpting

• Weightlifting using heavy and light isolated weights

Daily diet includes:

• 3lbs of chicken

• 1lb of steak or fish

• 4 cups of almonds

• various sources of carbohydrates

• 2 gallons of water

• 3 litres of protein shakes

 

A-F33 ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment from Avon stops women going under knife

Lisa.Felice
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A-F33 ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment from Avon stops women going under knife

Anti-wrinkle cream ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment from Avon, said to be so effective it has convinced women not to have cosmetic surgery, has gone on sale in the U.S. this month.

During tests, ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment was said to have reduced the signs of ageing in just seven days.

Avon, which is selling the cream for $40, says it contains an ingredient that boosts production of collagen and elastin, which give skin its youthful plumpness and elasticity.

As we age, production of these proteins rapidly slows, leaving us to develop lines and wrinkles.

Avon says A-F33, the cream’s “miracle” ingredient, steps in to stop this slowdown.

Anti-wrinkle cream ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment from Avon is said to be so effective it has convinced women not to have cosmetic surgery
Anti-wrinkle cream ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment from Avon is said to be so effective it has convinced women not to have cosmetic surgery

In tests, 69 women aged between 35 and 59 used the ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment cream twice a day for 11 weeks. All claimed their wrinkles had been reduced, with some improvements noticeable in a week.

Some even decided against cosmetic surgery after using it, the firm said.

Dermatologists used a 3D imaging camera to look at the skin’s response and claimed the cream had thickened the epidermis – the outer layer of the skin.

Another test on skin cells suggested they expressed more collagen and elastin after being treated with the cream.

Cheryl Karcher, a New York dermatologist and Avon consultant, told Plastic Surgery Practice that the product would be an ideal alternative to Botox or similar injectables.

“It is something to add to our armamentarium of injectables, lasers and acids and all that we could do in the office,” she said, likening the Avon product to those on the professional market.

“It is more of more of an adjunct to what dermatologists and aesthetic doctors offer,” she added.

A-F33, which stands for Amino Fill 33, is a modified protein discovered by scientists in Princeton, and licensed to Avon.

Anthony Gonzalez from Avon’s research and development department said the ingredient had the power to change the way women look after their skin.

“A-F33 is potentially as game changing in the fight against wrinkles as alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs) and Retinol were in the 1990s,” he said.

Fans include British actress Anna Friel, 36, who said she noticed “an immediate difference to my skin which appeared smoother with a fabulous glow to it”.

The cream launched earlier this month, and is on sale on the Avon website or from the company’s famous Avon ladies.

This Friday sees the launch of the product in the UK, and thanks to buzz from the U.S., 60,000 are said to have already signed up for it on waiting lists.

 

 

Richard III remains: strong circumstantial evidence points to a skeleton being the lost king

James J. Williams
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Richard III remains: strong circumstantial evidence points to a skeleton being the lost king

British archaeologists searching for the grave of Richard III have said “strong circumstantial evidence” points to a skeleton being the lost king.

The English king died at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.

A dig under a council car park in Leicester has found remains with spinal abnormalities and a “cleaved-in skull” that suggest it could be Richard III.

The University of Leicester will now test the bones for DNA against descendants of Richard’s family.

Professor Lin Foxhall, head of the university’s School of Archaeology, said: “Archaeology almost never finds named individuals – this is absolutely extraordinary.

“Although we are far from certain yet, it is already astonishing.”

A dig under a council car park in Leicester has found remains with spinal abnormalities and a cleaved-in skull that suggest it could be Richard III
A dig under a council car park in Leicester has found remains with spinal abnormalities and a cleaved-in skull that suggest it could be Richard III

A university spokesperson said the evidence included signs of a peri-mortem (near-death) trauma to the skull and a barbed iron arrow head in the area of the spine.

Richard III is recorded by some sources as having been pulled from his horse and killed with a blow to the head.

The skeleton also showed severe scoliosis – a curvature of the spine.

Although not as pronounced as Shakespeare’s portrayal of the king as a hunchback, the condition would have given the adult male the appearance of having one shoulder higher than the other.

Philippe Langley, from the Richard III Society, said: “It is such a tumult of emotions, I am shell-shocked.

“I just feel happy and sad and excited all at the same time. It is very odd.”

As the defeated foe, Richard III was given a low-key burial in the Franciscan friary of Greyfriars.

This was demolished in the 1530s, but documents describing the burial site have survived.

The excavation, which began on 25 August, has uncovered the remains of the cloisters and chapter house, as well as the church.

Work focused on the choir area, in the centre of the church, where it was indicated Richard was interred.

The bones were lifted by archaeologists wearing forensic body suits in an effort to limit contamination by modern materials.

DNA will be extracted from the bones and tested against descendants of Richard’s family.

Dr. Turi King, who is leading the DNA analysis, said: “It is extremely exciting and slightly nerve-wracking.

“We have extracted teeth from the skull, so we have that and a femur, and we are optimistic we will get a good sample from those.”

The tests are expected to take about 12 weeks to complete.

If their identity is confirmed, Leicester Cathedral said it would work with the Royal Household, and with the Richard III Society, to ensure the remains were treated with dignity and respect and reburied with the appropriate rites and ceremonies of the church.

Work to record the finds are continuing and discussions about when to fill in the trenches are ongoing, officials said.

 [youtube nfX-znNnJiY]

Kim Kardashian wears unflattering optical illusion dress as she arrives at LA airport

Lisa.Felice
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0
Kim Kardashian wears unflattering optical illusion dress as she arrives at LA airport

Kim Kardashian is openly admitting changing her style since she started dating Kanye West earlier this year, but she or her new stylist isn’t likely to win much praise for this unflattering outfit as she arrived at Los Angeles’s LAX airport.

Kim Kardashian, 31, wore a monochrome optical illusion dress, which failed to accentuate her figure’s attributes.

The shapeless dress swamped Kim Kardashian’s diminutive height and famous curves as she walked through the airport.

The reality star teamed the outfit with a pair of $1,695 black fold-over Givenchy boots, which she also owns in cream.

No doubt fans of Kim Kardashian will wonder if this outfit is suggestion by her rapper boyfriend, who was seen going through her wardrobe in a recent episode of the show.

Kim Kardashian wore a monochrome optical illusion dress, which failed to accentuate her figure's attributes
Kim Kardashian wore a monochrome optical illusion dress, which failed to accentuate her figure's attributes

Kim Kardashian claims she is now dressing more “sophisticated” after hiring a new stylist introduced to her by Kanye West.

She said last week: “So I introduced my stylist into the mix so we can kind of collaborate on a more sophisticated look on something that I felt kind of reflects my own personality and the changes that I’ve had in my life.”

Kim Kardashian admitted she didn’t throw out her old clothes, but simply put them in a guest room.

She explained: “In regards to all the clothes, I definitely kept all the stash to the side for a couple of months to make sure that I liked the new stylist that he introduced me to. I put all my stuff in a guest room of mine for two months and once I didn’t really feel the need to take anything – I liked evolving, I liked growing up a little bit.”

As she prepared to board a flight to New York on Tuesday, Kim Kardashian also took to her Twitter account to announce that she is embarking on a three-month-long trip.

She wrote: “Packing for 3 months is so hard! But I did it and I’m off!!! I’m gonna miss you LA.”

While Kim Kardashian was keen to give her fans a teaser as to what they can expect, she wasn’t about to spill the beans on her travel plans.

When asked by a fan where she was heading, the star kept coy and responded: “Can’t say yet but it will be revealed during our season finale. But were soooo excited!!!”

However, Kim Kardashian earlier had used the micro-blogging site to say she is making a brief return to New York and was wrapped up warm when she arrived at the airport this evening.

Kim Kardashian was seen sporting a mod style in a monochrome wool dress with a pair of knee-high slouchy black boots.

The curvy brunette may have been jet-setting in recent days but her mother has enjoyed spending some time in New York where the youngest members of the brood, Kendall and Kylie, have been walking in fashion shows.

 

Michael Jackson’s promoter drops insurance claim

Lisa.Felice
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Michael Jackson’s promoter drops insurance claim

AEG Live, Michael Jackson’s former concert promoter, is withdrawing a $17.5 million insurance claim over the singer’s cancelled comeback gigs.

AEG had filed the claim against insurer Lloyd’s of London for its concert-related losses in 2009.

However, the insurance company sought to nullify the policy, saying AEG made false claims about Michael Jackson’s health.

A lawyer for AEG said the company dropped the claim because it had been reimbursed by the singer’s estate.

The move comes a week after the publication of leaked internal emails from the concert promoters which saw them voice concerns over the 50-year-old’s stability and health.

AEG Live, Michael Jackson's former concert promoter, is withdrawing a $17.5 million insurance claim over the singer's cancelled comeback gigs
AEG Live, Michael Jackson's former concert promoter, is withdrawing a $17.5 million insurance claim over the singer's cancelled comeback gigs

In one email, sent the day the singer appeared in London to announce his This Is It shows, AEG chief executive Randy Phillips described the singer as “locked in his room drunk and despondent”.

The company’s lawyer Marvin Putnam said the decision to withdraw the insurance claim had “nothing to do with the recent leak”.

Lawyers said they suspected the emails were leaked from material shared between the two sides in a separate legal case between AEG and Jackson’s mother, Katherine.

Katherine Jackson has accused the promoters of pressuring the singer to carry on with the sold-out comeback shows despite indications he was too weak.

“We are standing by AEG’s lawyers comments that the withdrawal of the claim was not related to the leaked emails,” Paul Schriffer, a lawyer for Lloyd’s of London said.

“In exchange for AEG withdrawing its insurance claim, underwriters agreed to dismiss AEG from the case and to waive any costs recoverable from AEG.”

Michael Jackson died on 25 June, 2009 from an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol.

Last November his personal physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted of his involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in jail.

 

iPhone 5 could come with fingerprint scanner as Apple makes takeover bid of security firm for $365m

Nancy Clayson
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0
iPhone 5 could come with fingerprint scanner as Apple makes takeover bid of security firm for $365m

Apple is in the final stages of purchasing a fingerprint security firm – meaning future iPhones are likely to have an extra layer of built-in security.

There are even suggestions that iPhone 5- due to be unveiled on Wednesday – will already have a fingerprint scanner built in, stopping anyone from reading your messages and data without your fingerprint authorization.

If AuthenTec agrees to the $365 million purchase by Apple on October 4, it will be one of the largest sums paid in a takeover by the tech giant.

Other than the purchase of a “flash memory” supplier last year, this is believed to be Apple’s biggest acquisition since the pre-iPod days of 1997, showing how serious Apple is about the technology.

Apple is also unveiling a new service called PassBook, which allows users to store shop coupons, loyalty cards and other items such as airport boarding passes, with the release of iOS6 – the sixth-generation of its iPhone software – this autumn.

Airlines in the U.S., such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Australia will all allow Apple users to store their documents on their phone, meaning a quick swipe will get you to the boarding gates.

Apple is in the final stages of purchasing a fingerprint security firm meaning future iPhones are likely to have an extra layer of built-in security
Apple is in the final stages of purchasing a fingerprint security firm meaning future iPhones are likely to have an extra layer of built-in security

AuthentTec creates mobile phone security and, according to the merger documents, has already been developing 2D fingerprint sensors for Apple.

The technology could see a fingerprint scanner built behind the screen, requiring your thumbprint to unlock the phone, or it could be a sensor on the back of the device, across which you roll your thumb to allow access.

Technology writer Matt Brian, for the site My Next Web, said: “Will we see fingerprint technology in the new iPhone, or iPad? It seems almost certain.

“Details are scarce but [Apple’s] desire to use the technology and see it developed quickly leads us to speculate that we could see it in just a matter of weeks.”

If Apple comes with NFC, which allows contactless authorization or payments, it could make the iPhone a wallet-replacements, allowing secure payments for small orders.

The technology is similar to that seen on some bank cards.

However, not everyone agreed that the iPhone 5 will come with either finger-print scanners or NFC technology built-in.

Blogger Sonny Dickson, inspecting images of the insides of the iPhone 5, said the internals do not match the rumors.

Previous looks at the internals revealed a mysterious square that seemed an appropriate candidate for an NFC chip.

But Sonny Dickson said the square may simply hold the front-facing FaceTime camera, proximity sensor and a speaker.

He said: “The latest leaked pictures appear to show that there is indeed no NFC chip or fingerprint scanner included in what appears to be the complete front assembly.

“Apple may well be keeping these features under lock and key until their announcement on September 12th.”

He added that an NFC chip and a fingerprint scanner would make “perfect sense”, but added: “Looking at Apple and their incremental iPhone updates it may be too big an update in too short an amount of time.”

Either way, if NFC does not come to the iPhone this time round, it cannot be far away.

AuthenTec executive Art Stewart said recently: “The real sweet spot for today’s smart sensor is the NFC-enabled smartphone, where the smart sensor not only strengthens security but greatly increases the speed and convenience of mobile payment transactions.

“It accomplishes this by reducing multiple steps into one simple user action.”

If the technology does not appear on the iPhone 5, it is likely to appear on the mooted iPad 4 next spring, or in Apple’s annual refresh of the iPhone next autumn.

 

Virgin birth found in wild snakes for the first time

James J. Williams
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1
Virgin birth found in wild snakes for the first time

A form of virgin birth has been found in wild vertebrates for the first time.

US researchers caught pregnant females from two snake species and genetically analyzed the litters.

That proved the North American pit vipers reproduced without a male, a phenomenon called facultative parthenogenesis that has previously been found only in captive species.

Scientists say the findings could change our understanding of animal reproduction and vertebrate evolution.

It was thought to be extremely rare for a normally sexual species to reproduce asexually.

First identified in domestic chickens, such “virgin births” have been reported in recent years in a few snake, shark, lizard and bird species.

Crucially though, all such virgin births have occurred in captivity, to females kept away from males.

Virgin births in vertebrates in general have been viewed as “evolutionary novelties”, said Warren Booth, from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.

Professor Warren Booth is lead author of a paper published in the Royal Society’s Biological Letters that challenges this label.

He and his collaborators investigated virgin births in wild populations of two geographically separated and long-studied species of snake.

They captured pregnant copperhead and cottonmouth female pit-vipers from the field, where males were present.

The snakes gave birth, allowing the scientists to study the physical and genetic characteristics of the litters.

Of the 22 copperheads, the scientists found one female that must have had a virgin birth.

Another single virgin birth occurred within the 37 cottonmouth litters.

A form of virgin birth has been found in wild vertebrates for the first time
A form of virgin birth has been found in wild vertebrates for the first time

“I think the frequency is what really shocked us,” said Prof. Warren Booth.

“That’s between 2.5 and 5% of litters produced in these populations may be resulting from parthenogenesis.”

“That’s quite remarkable for something that has been considered an evolutionary novelty,” he said.

A virgin birth, or parthenogenesis, is when an egg grows and develops without being fertilized by sperm.

It results in offspring that only have their mother’s genetic material; no fatherly contribution is required.

This is not uncommon in invertebrates such as aphids, bees and ants.

It also happens in a few all-female species of lizard; geckos and whiptails for example. But here it occurs across a generation; all female reproduce asexually via a process called obligate parthenogenesis.

But asexual reproduction by a normally sexual vertebrate species is still rare, having been reported in under 0.1% of species.

It was only in the mid-1990s that virgin births began to be documented in captive snakes, followed by a captive giant lizard in 2006 and a captive shark in 2007.

To date this now includes around 10 species of snakes including a couple of boas, and a python, four species of shark, and several monitor lizards, including the endangered Komodo dragon.

Recently the zebra finch and Chinese painted quail were added to the list. All were kept in isolation in unnatural conditions and away from any males.

So to find asexual reproduction in two species of snake in the wild on their first attempt was “astounding”, according to Prof.Warren Booth and his collaborators.

Virgin births should no longer be viewed as “some rare curiosity outside the mainstream of evolution,” he said.

It remains unclear whether the female snakes actively select to reproduce this way, or whether the virgin births are triggered by some other factor, such as a virus or bacterial infection.

“Any answer is pure speculation at this point,” says Prof. Warren Booth.

In captivity, two sharks, and three snakes, have been shown to have had multiple virgin births, producing more than one litter via facultative parthenogenesis.

As yet, it also remains unclear whether the offspring of these wild virgin births can themselves go on to have normal, or virgin births of their own.

In captive snakes studied so far, offspring have so far not been proved viable, that is capable of surviving and reproducing.

However, earlier this year Prof. Warren Booth and colleagues reported that a checkered gartersnake that has had consecutive virgin births, appears to have produced viable male offspring.

Parthenogenicly born copperheads and cottonmouths are also currently being raised and “in the next two to three years we will know if they are indeed viable,” said Prof. Warren Booth.

“If they cannot survive and reproduce, then this is a reproductive dead-end.”

“However, if they are healthy and can reproduce, that opens an entirely new avenue for research,” he said.

Being able to switch from sexual to asexual reproduction could be advantageous; in the absence of males a female could still give birth and start a new, albeit inbred, population.

Her genes could still be passed on via her fertile male offspring.

Scientists believe that facultative parthenogenesis is more common in some lineages such as reptiles and sharks.

However it is unlikely that similar virgin births will be found among placental mammals, which include all the mammals aside from the platypus and echidnas.

That is because mammals require a process called genomic imprinting to reproduce, where a set of genes from one parent dominates over the other. The interaction between the two sets of parental genes is required for embryos to develop normally.

 

Christopher Stevens, US ambassador to Libya, killed in Benghazi attack

Roy Siemens
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2
Christopher Stevens, US ambassador to Libya, killed in Benghazi attack

President Barack Obama has confirmed that US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, is among four Americans killed in an attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

Unidentified armed men stormed the grounds on Tuesday night in a protest over a US-produced film that is said to insult the Prophet Muhammad.

They shot at buildings and threw handmade bombs into the compound.

Protesters also attacked the US embassy in Cairo over the film.

In a statement, Barack Obama condemned the “outrageous attack” on the facility in Benghazi.

US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, is among four Americans killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi
US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, is among four Americans killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi

“Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States. Throughout the Libyan revolution, he selflessly served our country and the Libyan people at our mission in Benghazi,” he said.

President Barack Obama also ordered a tightening of security at US diplomatic posts around the globe.

A second US man killed in the attack was named as Sean Smith, a father of two who was employed as an information management officer.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Sean Smith as “one of the best”.

The names of the remaining two victims have not yet been released.

It is not yet clear how the four died.

Hillary Clinton said of Christopher Stevens: “Chris was committed to advancing America’s values and interests, even when that meant putting himself in danger.”

The killings were also condemned by the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur.

“I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere,” he said on the social networking site Twitter.

Reports say a militia known as the Ansar al-Sharia brigade was involved in the attack, but the group has denied the claim.

Many people are still armed following the conflict that overthrew Col. Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Analysts say the attack will raise serious new concerns about stability in the country and the ability of the new Libyan administration to maintain security.

Other countries will be wondering whether their consular staff is safe in Libya, they say.

The film that sparked the demonstration is said to have been produced by a 52-year-old US citizen from California named Sam Bacile, and promoted by an expatriate Egyptian Copt.

The two men are described as having anti-Islamic views.

A trailer of the low-budget movie, which correspondents say is highly provocative and insulting to Muslims, has appeared on YouTube translated into Arabic.

There are real fears that protests over the video could spread.

A demonstration in Cairo on Tuesday saw protesters breach the US embassy and tear down the US flag, which was flying at half mast to mark the 9/11 attacks.

They condemned what they said was the humiliation of the Prophet of Islam under the pretext of freedom of speech.

 [youtube 4PMC3mYYl-M]

[youtube TmybuDexikM]

iPhone 5 launch: How the new iPhone, iPad Mini, and iPad stack up against each other

Nancy Clayson
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0
iPhone 5 launch: How the new iPhone, iPad Mini, and iPad stack up against each other

Apple fans are looking forwards with keen anticipation to the expected launch of the iPhone 5 tonight.

But it is possible Apple might surprise us “one last thing” by the end of tonight’s presentation – an iPad Mini, a shrunken-down, pocket-friendly of the iconic tablet which ushered in the post-PC era.

Now, a leak from Chinese website shows us the potential size of Apple’s new range and – even if all we are looking at is cases – is the first image to show us how an enthusiast’s collection will stack up.

If the Apple Mini does not arrive tonight, a number of leaks and images of prototypes imply the device will be on shelves before Christmas.

Leaked images claim to show how the new iPhone, iPad Mini, and iPad stack up against each other
Leaked images claim to show how the new iPhone, iPad Mini, and iPad stack up against each other

These images appeared on a Chinese supplier’s website, before being spotted by French website nowhereelse.fr.

Nowhereelse said the images conform to previous leaks about the iPad Mini, and their own mocked-up iPad Mini, based on specifications revealed over the last few months, matched these covers “perfectly”.

The blog website added: “In addition, the location of the holes cut into multiple accessory supposedly designed to protect the iPad Mini correspond perfectly with the positioning of components.”

The Apple Mini is believed to sport an eight-inch screen, making it a shrunken version of the iPad’s ten-inches.

This will allow a higher degree of portability over previous models, and also give Apple the ammunition to compete with Google, which recently brought out a seven-inch range of Nexus tablets.

It is also believed to be a 3G-capable model, meaning you can use data on the go.

While Steve Jobs was famously against smaller iPads, the success of the Nexus and Amazon’s Fire of budget tablets appears to have convinced Apple there is a market for the slim-line device.

Rumors from Apple suppliers suggest the innards of the Mini will be equivalent to an iPad 2, which analysts suggest will be more than enough to power the shrunken device.

The third iPad had a specification increase but also increased slightly in weight due to the demands of the high-definition Retina display.

 

iPhone 5 launch: Apple makes final preparations for tonight’s event

Nancy Clayson
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0
iPhone 5 launch: Apple makes final preparations for tonight’s event

Tech giant Apple is expected to unveil the latest version of its best-selling iPhone tonight.

The secretive company is hosting a “special event” which typically involves Apple executives unveiling new products to a specially invited audience.

The message included the line “it’s almost here” and also featured a figure 12 with a shadow that appears to be the number 5 – seemingly confirming the company will announce the arrival of the iPhone 5.

It comes a day after the UK’s largest mobile network operator unveiled plans to launch the country’s first superfast 4G products and services in time for Christmas.

Yerba Buena Center for Arts in San Francisco, where later today Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 5
Yerba Buena Center for Arts in San Francisco, where later today Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 5

Orange and T-Mobile owner Everything Everywhere, which was renamed today as EE, will make the state-of-the-art technology available to some 20 million people in 16 cities across the UK.

The 4G network – which offers speeds up to five times faster than 3G – will be available on HTC, Samsung, Nokia and Huawei devices, as well as “one more to come”, widely expected to be the Apple product.

The 4G services will allow uninterrupted access to the web on the go, high definition movies to be downloaded in minutes and TV to be streamed without buffering.

The battle for domination of the mobile market has become increasingly heated recently with Apple’s competitors taking it on with a series of new products.

Nokia and Microsoft recently joined forces to launch two new phones which will run on the Windows operating system.

The Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 are the Finnish company’s attempt to claw back lost ground since it lost its position as the world’s biggest phonemaker to Samsung.

Online retailer Amazon recently unveiled new models of its Kindle Fire tablets, and are seen as rivals to Apple’s best-selling iPad.

It is around a year since Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S complete with voice recognition software and an A5 chip allowing it to use much faster graphics for gameplay and to download data twice as fast.

 

What are the Honda Civic specifications?

Clyde K. Valle
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0
What are the Honda Civic specifications?

The Honda Civic range has been pretty central to the company’s car manufacturing throughout the last half decade or so with regular new versions boasting improved specs being released to maintain its place. In terms of the Japanese car manufacturing market Honda is now primarily competing with Toyota to be the number one producer, and the Civic is up against Toyota’s Auris car in the mid-size hatchback field. So it is important to keep coming up with the specifications for it that will enable to it maintain pace with this and other comparable vehicles produced by rival manufacturers.

Honda Civic
Honda Civic

Honda gave a public debut to the latest Civic at the motor show in Frankfurt during September 2011 – before it hit the market – and a couple of major changes to the specifications, which covered all the different vehicles within the Civic range, were immediately apparent. Two innovative features developed in-house by Honda the Adaptive Cruise Control and the Collision Mitigation Braking System had been made a part of the honda civic range for the first time; having been features of other Honda vehicles for some time before. This version of the Civic also reaffirmed Honda’s belief in cutting the environmental impact of its vehicles – an area the company has committed itself to since it became the first major vehicle manufacturer to accept the terms of the Clean Air Act passed in America back in 1975 – as it includes the ECON option which is designed to improve the fuel efficiency of the engine.

When it comes to the engines, this version of the Civic offers a choice of 1.4 and 1.8 litre petrol engines, and a 2.2 litre diesel one, while also boasting a number of other impressive specs across the different versions. For instance, the EX GT model has heated seats in the front of the car, panoramic glass roof, rear parking sensors, alloy wheels, keyless vehicle entry and leather upholstery throughout the inside of the car.

Jose Manuel Barroso calls for EU to evolve into a federation

Clyde K. Valle
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0
Jose Manuel Barroso calls for EU to evolve into a federation

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for the EU to evolve into a “federation of nation-states”.

Addressing the EU parliament in Strasbourg, Jose Manuel Barroso said such a move was necessary to combat the continent’s economic crisis.

He said he believed Greece would be able to stay in the eurozone if it stood by its commitments.

Jose Manuel Barroso also set out plans for a single supervisory mechanism for all banks in the eurozone.

He called the plans a “quantum leap… the stepping stone to the banking union”.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for the EU to evolve into a federation of nation-states
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for the EU to evolve into a federation of nation-states

The European Central Bank would get much greater powers of oversight and regulation of Europe’s 6,000 banks under the plan.

Jose Manuel Barroso said he was not calling for a “superstate”, but rather “a democratic federation of nation states that can tackle our common problems, through the sharing of sovereignty”.

“Creating this federation… will ultimately require a new treaty,” he said.

The inability of governments thus far to respond effectively to economic developments was “fuelling populism and extremism in Europe and also elsewhere”, he added.

The banking union would be a big first step in the creation of closer union within the eurozone.

There will be opposition to the plans – the German government, for example, says far fewer banks should be involved.

Britain does not want to take part but supports the idea of a single supervisor for the eurozone, as long as it does not affect the integrity of the wider EU single market.

 

iPhone 5 prototype leaked ahead of today’s launch in San Francisco

Nancy Clayson
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0
iPhone 5 prototype leaked ahead of today’s launch in San Francisco

Apple is ready to unveil the new iPhone 5 to the world in San Francisco today.

Meanwhile a video, which was purportedly filmed in an Apple factory, with the user taking great care to hide any serial numbers which might identify where the phone comes from, emerged to the public.

The video shows off the iPhone’s larger display, and the dock port which has caused much consternation for Apple fans who own accessories and cables which will not fit the new model.

The latest video has already had four million views on YouTube since it appeared on Asian website vgooo.com.

The video shows off the iPhone's larger display, and the dock port which has caused much consternation for Apple fans who own accessories and cables which will not fit the new model
The video shows off the iPhone's larger display, and the dock port which has caused much consternation for Apple fans who own accessories and cables which will not fit the new model

While these leaks should always be taken with a pinch of salt, it follows the design pattern for the iPhone 5 which has been rumored for months.

In the video, the new handset’s controversial connector can be clearly seen, along with the larger 4 inch screen.

The user went no further than the “connect to iTunes” messages on the screen, perhaps in fear of being tracked and discovered with an unauthorized model.

The video follows a leak last week which also claimed to show an iPhone 5 next to an iPhone 4S, which was posted by an anonymous user to YouTube.

Meanwhile, a Taiwanese pop star casually shared photographs of his brand new “iPhone 5” with his 13.5 million followers on Weibo, the Chinese micro-blogging equivalent of Twitter.

“Today I confirmed that the iPhone 5 will be longer and have an aluminum back like the iPad,” Jimmy Lin wrote, sharing that the new Apple phone will indeed have a smaller USB connector, much to many’s chagrin.

Though information has been known to leak about Apple’s secretive phone updates, many have dismissed Jimmy Lin’s new toy as just another knock off.

After Jimmy Lin shared several photographs of his new device, it was shared more than 80,000 times across the web, according to The Next Web.

“While it has a four-inch screen, it’s thinner, though it feels about the same in the hand,” he said.

“The headphone jack has also been moved to the bottom.”

[youtube CmZid5rtqBI]

 

iPhone 5 launch expected to boost American economy

Clyde K. Valle
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iPhone 5 launch expected to boost American economy

Apple fans aren’t the only people chomping at the bit for the new iPhone to be released but now American economists are excited about the expected unveiling of the latest version because they think it will boost the US economy.

The next generation iPhone 5, which Apple plans to release on Wednesday, could not only boost the tech giant’s bottom line but could give a significant boost to the overall US economy.

Sales of the iPhone 5 could add between a quarter and a half percentage point to fourth quarter annualized growth in the US, according to J.P. Morgan’s chief economist, Michael Feroli in a note to clients on Monday.

Such an impact would be significant.

The next generation iPhone 5 could not only boost Apple's bottom line but could give a significant boost to the overall US economy
The next generation iPhone 5 could not only boost Apple's bottom line but could give a significant boost to the overall US economy

“Calculated using the so-called retail control method, sales of iPhone 5 could boost annualized GDP growth by $3.2 billion, or $12.8 billion at an annual rate,” Michael Feroli wrote.

That 0.33 percentage-point boost, he added, “would limit the downside risk to our Q4 GDP growth protection, which remains 2.0 percent”.

Michael Feroli laid out his math. J.P. Morgan’s analysts expect Apple to sell around 8 million iPhone 5s in the fourth quarter. They expect the sales price to be about $600.

With about $200 in discounted import component costs, the government can factor in $400 per phone into its measure of gross domestic product for the fourth quarter.

Michael Feroli said the estimate of between a quarter to a half point of annualized GDP “seems fairly large, and for that reason should be treated skeptically”.

But, he added, “we think the recent evidence is consistent with this projection”.

Michael Feroli said that when the last iPhone was launched in October 2011, sales significantly outperformed expectations.

“Given the iPhone 5 launch is expected to be much larger, we think the estimate mentioned … is reasonable,” Michael Feroli wrote.

According to a recent Reuters poll of Wall Street dealers and economists, US GDP was seen at 2.0% on average in 2013, down slightly from estimates this summer.

 

Mark Zuckerberg disappointed by Facebook stock

Clyde K. Valle
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Mark Zuckerberg disappointed by Facebook stock

Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of social network Facebook, has spoken for the first time of the drop in his company’s market value.

Mark Zuckerberg called the drop in his firm’s value “disappointing”. The value of its shares is almost half the $38 debut price in May.

But he vowed that Facebook will make more money on phones than on desktops.

“Over the next three to five years, the biggest question on everyone’s mind is really going to be how well Facebook does with mobile.”

Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg said: “Literally, six months ago we didn’t have an ad on mobile.”

 

Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg called the drop in Facebook's value disappointing
Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg called the drop in Facebook's value disappointing

Earlier this year, Facebook launched native apps for Apple’s iOS smartphones and its Android rival by Google.

“Ads have to be more integrated into the product on mobile,” Mark Zuckerberg said.

In another exchange, he joked: “Everything I do breaks, but I fix it quickly.”

Facebook is the world’s most popular social network with 950 million users.

When asked of constant rumors that he was building a Facebook phone, he rejected the speculation and pointed to the site’s huge reach.

“If we make a phone we could get maybe 10 million users? Twelve million users? That doesn’t move the needle for us.

“Building a phone is the wrong strategy for us.”

He admitted the fall in Facebook’s share price had made it harder to find and retain staff.

“It doesn’t help,” he said.

“There are tons of people that are super-pessimistic,” Mark Zuckerberg said.

“I would personally rather be underestimated. It gives us latitude to go out and make some big bets.”

Since their debut at $38 in May, Facebook shares have lost 49% of their value. They closed at $19.43 on Tuesday.

Mark Zuckerberg owns about 444 million Facebook shares plus an option to issue another 60 million.

Last month, Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist and one of Facebook’s earliest backers, sold much of his stake and made more than $1 billion in total from his investment.

 

German Constitutional Court decides whether ESM bailout fund is legal

Clyde K. Valle
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German Constitutional Court decides whether ESM bailout fund is legal

Germany’s top court in Karlsruhe is about to deliver its verdict on whether the ongoing attempts to contain the eurozone crisis breach the country’s constitution.

The Constitutional Court will decide whether the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) bailout fund and the European fiscal treaty are legal.

It is feared a negative decision could spark fresh turmoil in the markets.

Analysts expect the court will decide the schemes are legal and can continue – but only under certain conditions.

Germany's top court in Karlsruhe is about to deliver its verdict on whether the ongoing attempts to contain the eurozone crisis breach the country's constitution
Germany's top court in Karlsruhe is about to deliver its verdict on whether the ongoing attempts to contain the eurozone crisis breach the country's constitution

The court has recently allowed steps towards greater European integration, but has insisted the German parliament be given a greater say over decisions.

Critics argue that the ESM commits Germany to potentially unlimited funding of debt-ridden southern eurozone countries.

Some 37,000 people have signed a petition to the court asking it to block the ESM, and make it subject to a referendum.

Since Germany is due to contribute 27% to the 500 billion-euro rescue fund, it cannot proceed without German ratification.

In addition to its ESM verdict, the Constitutional Court is also due to rule on a new fiscal treaty aimed at forcing eurozone governments to adhere to strict budget discipline.

This is one of the most important cases faced by the court in post-war German history.

It has caused intense debate, with politicians and lawyers from across the political spectrum joining the case against the government – from the left party, Die Linke, to dissidents from within the government party.

If the judges take a hard line against the government and in favor of the plaintiffs, then the elaborate and laborious efforts to keep the euro together will be dealt a severe blow, perhaps a fatal one.

A likely outcome is that the judges will say the treaties are within the constitution – but then put a string of caveats in place, which might constrain, for instance, how the bailout fund could be expanded in the future.

 

US official killed after radical Islamist stormed the US consulate in Libyan city of Benghazi

Roy Siemens
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US official killed after radical Islamist stormed the US consulate in Libyan city of Benghazi

A US state department official was killed and at least one other American was wounded when a gunmen stormed the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

It is believed the protest was held over a US-produced film that is said to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.

The militiamen raided the compound with grenades before setting it on fire.

On Tuesday, protesters against the film breached the walls of the US embassy in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The film that sparked the demonstration is said to have been produced by a US citizen from California named Sam Bacile, and promoted by an expatriate Egyptian Copt.

The two men are described as having anti-Islamic views.

A trailer of the low-budget movie has appeared on YouTube translated into Arabic.

The video, called Innocence of Muslims, is shot in English, but provides Arabic subtitles.

It was written, directed and produced by Israeli-American real-estate developer Sam Bacile in California, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sam Bacile, 52, told the paper that he regards Islam as a “cancer” and was able to produce the film with $5 million that he raised with the help of about 100 Jewish donors.

The film depicts Muhammad as a fraud, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

Throughout the video, “Muhammad” – portrayed by an American actor – is branded a “bastard”, “rapist” and “child molester” by other actors in the film.

A US state department official was killed when a gunmen stormed the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi
A US state department official was killed when a gunmen stormed the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi

Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any fashion, much less in an insulting way.

Ultra-conservatives have claimed the actions are a protest against the film, which they say attacks Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, and is a form of blasphemy.

In the attack in Benghazi, unidentified armed men stormed the grounds, shooting at buildings and throwing handmade bombs into the compound.

Security forces returned fire but Libyan officials say they were overwhelmed.

“One American official was killed and another injured in the hand. The other staff members were evacuated and are safe and sound,” Libya’s deputy interior minister Wanis al-Sharif told AFP news agency.

The identity of the US official killed is not yet known. The consular worker was reported to have been shot.

In a statement, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed the death, saying: “We are heartbroken by this terrible loss.”

“Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet,” she said in a statement.

“The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.”

Reports say a militia known as the Ansar al-Sharia brigade was involved in the attack, but the group has denied the claim.

Many people are still armed following the conflict that overthrew Col. Muammar Gaddafi last year.

There were calls on social media networks for protests against US interests in the capital, Tripoli, but no disturbances have been confirmed.

The rally followed a demonstration in Cairo, in which protesters breached the US embassy and tore down the United States flag, which was flying at half mast to mark the 9/11 attacks, and replaced it with an Islamist banner.

Thousands of protesters had gathered outside the US embassy in the Egyptian capital.

Egyptian protesters condemned what they said was the humiliation of the Prophet of Islam under the pretext of freedom of speech.

“Both Muslims and Christians are participating in this protest against this offence to Islam,” said one protester, according to Associated Press news agency.

US Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama for his response to the protests.

“It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks,” Mitt Romney said in a statement.

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