Drowsiness Detector Could Keep You Safely Between the White Lines (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCV7ovVz4dHeRtt_X_NXa0pxDIq_a5_5kPYNlN0AefCFtNENTNM-fmy2zELLLujau0ZaCixbxSbJDs1eexjVSF9Ix8o_YyEMY9GOmjnbIENhcWqoHzJ9VqOS8OhZrzNu9O6a-uLcChg6k/s1600/bosch+drowsiness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCV7ovVz4dHeRtt_X_NXa0pxDIq_a5_5kPYNlN0AefCFtNENTNM-fmy2zELLLujau0ZaCixbxSbJDs1eexjVSF9Ix8o_YyEMY9GOmjnbIENhcWqoHzJ9VqOS8OhZrzNu9O6a-uLcChg6k/s1600/bosch+drowsiness.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_12_0_1_1390294485440_694" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><em id="yui_3_12_0_1_1390294485440_698">Crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo let inventors appeal directly to the public for funds. They’ve made a lot of entrepreneurial dreams come true.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><em>If you’re inspired by the inventor’s pitch video, you send some money. It’s not an investment; you’re not rewarded if the invention becomes a hit. But you do get some memento — a T-shirt or a discounted version of the invention once it’s manufactured — and the rosy glow of knowing that you helped bring a cool idea to life.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><em>Until now, there’s been only one problem: You had no way to know if the invention was actually any good. You had to trust the inventor’s video.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><em>That’s the beauty of our Kickstarter reviews. We actually test the prototype, find out how much promise it has and help you decide if the thing is worth funding or buying.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>Today’s invention:</strong> Vigo, a Bluetooth earpiece that detects when you’re getting drowsy and sounds an alarm to wake you.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="281" src="http://l3.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/6d711030b5416c5a1d173c4ccd17eb2ab10cef2e" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>The claim:</strong> The earpiece’s arm is just long enough that an infrared sensor on its tip can “see” your eyes. By measuring your blinking rate, the duration of your blinks, and the ratio of the time your eyes are open and closed, the Vigo can detect when you’re starting to drift off. An accelerometer (tilt sensor) enhances that data with information about the nodding of your head.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">If the Vigo decides that you’re getting sleeeeeeepy, it alerts you — by playing an alarm, playing a song from your phone and blinking a light at its tip.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">The goal is to wake people who fall asleep while driving, of course, but there are many other categories of people who might benefit: security guards, narcoleptics, employees in boring meetings, students in class and so on.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>Price: </strong>$80.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>Goal: </strong>This <a data-rapid_p="48" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasongui/meet-vigo-the-very-first-energy-gauge-for-you?ref=live" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kickstarter project</a> seeks $50,000 in backing. With just under two weeks to go before its deadline, it’s raised $41,000, so it’s looking good.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">(Fun fact: The Vigo began as a senior project at Penn by the current team. Originally, it was a pair of glasses, not a Bluetooth earpiece.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="348" src="http://l1.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/80d051cb20b382095307c99498c30a6026dad663" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">(Another fun fact: The original name was Invigo. Then one of the team members Googled that name — and discovered that it was taken. By a “natural male sexual stimulant.” Oh, well.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>Status: </strong>The creators — three recent Penn graduates — spent four months at a “hardware accelerator” program in Shenzhen, China, the electronics-manufacturing capital of the world. The Vigo hardware itself — now in prototypes whose bodies were created with a 3-D printer — is in its final shape and size.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="281" src="http://l.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/3bf88062b6c747771f54fc7d9c55c8d446854784" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">But all the software isn’t cooked yet. The hard part is, at least: The device can transmit data to a mobile device, and using test software I could see a real-time graph of my blinking and head-tipping. It looked something like the spikes on a lie-detector graph, communicated wirelessly from the earpiece.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">You’ll never see this software. What you will see is a slick phone app that isn’t quite ready. The team has finished designing the look of this app but hasn’t yet hooked it up to the blink-detecting/tip-detecting graphing module. In other words, the brains and the beauty have yet to meet.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="381" src="http://l1.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/5d85e54c91f29843228f24f5cc0279ebc8f1583f" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"> <strong>What I tested: </strong>I met with inventor Jason Gui, who showed me all three of the latest prototypes. They’re delicate and still on the road to refinement, but they do work.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">I wasn’t able to try the Vigo in actual real-world driving conditions, though. (Even if I’d been able to take one with me for a couple of weeks, I’m not sure how I’d have tested it on the road without risking my life!)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="319" src="http://l3.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/d165b29b836a8e0d9eddf7eb1c99610a877a3f97" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>What I learned: </strong>My first thought was that a drowsiness detector has a somewhat limited appeal. Who’d really spend $80 for a gadget — who’d really <em>wear </em>a gadget — just to detect sleepiness?</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">In truth, though, the market exists. I’ve gotten sleepy behind the wheel. A certain unnamed member of my family has drifted off many times. According to <a data-rapid_p="49" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://drowsydriving.org/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">drowsydriving.org</a>, 60 percent of adult drivers say that they’ve driven while drowsy in the past year; 37 percent actually admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel. 11 million of them say they’ve crashed as a result.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Some people might be required to wear a Vigo-like device: truckers, cab drivers and train operators. Normal drivers, however, might not bother — if it weren’t for the fact that the Vigo is also a traditional Bluetooth earpiece that lets you make phone calls hands-free (I didn’t test that aspect of it). That feature improves the odds that drivers really will wear the thing whenever they drive.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Vigo’s core team of 23-year-olds isn’t the only group trying to solve the drowsy-driving problem. <a data-rapid_p="50" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cSWQm_vNL4" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Volvo</a>, <a data-rapid_p="51" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.lexus.com/models/HSh/features/safety/precollision_system_with_driver_attention_monitor.html" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lexus</a> and <a data-rapid_p="52" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weeM9FZlQig" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Mercedes</a> offer optional systems that use cameras, steering monitors and other technologies. Various <a data-rapid_p="53" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.sav-a-life.com/Doze_intro.htm" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">over-the-ear gadgets</a> contain an accelerometer to detect your head nodding; so does an upcoming app for Google Glass called <a data-rapid_p="54" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.drivesafeforglass.com/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">DriveSafe</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">But built-in car systems can cost thousands of dollars, and gadgets that simply beep when your head tips generate a lot of frustrating false alarms, since there are many reasons why you might glance down even when you’re not drowsy. Worse, once you’re actually nodding, it’s too late: You’re already out of control of your car.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">The Vigo’s promise is that its blink detection is far more accurate a predictor, and it can detect sleepiness far earlier than nodding detectors. (The only better system, Gui said, is EEG, which measures your brain waves in real time. Neither the car companies nor the Vigo team think, however, that drivers will be willing to wear a mesh cap full of EEG sensors each time they get into the car.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="308" src="http://l.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/27d9d4487ee2e2f9431879b651b920d7ef03e3c2" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">The Vigo team has big plans for its technology. The guts fit on a tiny circuit board the size of your thumbnail, so it could be adapted to all kinds of things. Maybe Vigo could be built into glasses or available as a snap-on for existing glasses.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Someday, you might not need any hardware at all. Jason pointed out to me that there’s actually a tiny camera on the <em>inner </em>surface of Google Glass — pointing at your eye (circled below). Right now, all it does is permit you to take a photo by winking (as though Google Glass needs even more ways to make you seem creepy). But if there’s a camera pointed right at your eye, well, maybe someday Vigo’s software could be built right in.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="185" src="http://l3.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/19e0a69795c135473c5608a2007614f26e98646a" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>The bottom line: </strong>I’m a believer in the team, the gadget and its cause.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">I saw firsthand that the Vigo technology really works; I have no doubts that the final step — getting the detection software hooked up to the attractive phone app — will go well. (I’m not sure if it’s doable by summer, as the team hopes, though.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">The Vigo earpiece is obviously just a start. But the technology is sound, the prototype works and $80 is a good price. The team already has a network of contacts in Shenzhen, China, who can help them get the thing manufactured, so the prospects are bright.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">I say: Fund this.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><em>Yahoo Tech is a brand new tech site from David Pogue and an all-star team of writers. <a data-rapid_p="55" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:c3f8533a-2868-3f06-af68-297bf40aca72;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.facebook.com/yahootech" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Like us on Facebook</a> for all the latest.</em></div></div>

Drowsiness Detector Could Keep You Safely Between the White Lines (BLOG)

Crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo let inventors appeal directly to the public for funds. They’ve made a lot of entrepreneur...

Read more »

South Sudan says retakes oil state capital Malakal, rebels deny (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5cdmfEs4lyDeMiAdDjkJWgufqVSyGVtQf_6mdOy4fvVBsN6frXhbR-_pUly8cBJsCqb12QqXl08yzdyUMPkBGu93axgPD0b5XWP9dvvAbzM31Qi-B1HOJgfYWfpB6RxRVEfe0Xs13Hxs/s1600/2014-01-21T064934Z_1_AJOEA0K0IYP00_RTROPTP_2_OZATP-SOUTHSUDAN-UNREST-20140121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5cdmfEs4lyDeMiAdDjkJWgufqVSyGVtQf_6mdOy4fvVBsN6frXhbR-_pUly8cBJsCqb12QqXl08yzdyUMPkBGu93axgPD0b5XWP9dvvAbzM31Qi-B1HOJgfYWfpB6RxRVEfe0Xs13Hxs/s1600/2014-01-21T064934Z_1_AJOEA0K0IYP00_RTROPTP_2_OZATP-SOUTHSUDAN-UNREST-20140121.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_4412" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">By Carl Odera</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_4393" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">If confirmed, it would be the second major centre retaken in the past three days by government forces, who have been backed by troops from neighbouring Uganda.JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's president said his soldiers had seized the regional capital Malakal back from rebels on Monday, a report dismissed by insurgents battling in the world's newest country.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_5117" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The United Nations says thousands of people have been killed in a month of clashes pitting troops loyal to President Salva Kiir against rebels supporting Riek Machar, who was sacked as vice president in July.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Initially triggered by a political row, battle lines have increasingly followed ethnic lines with Kiir's Dinka battling Machar's Nuer.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"They took Malakal and other areas around in the Upper Nile region," Kiir told a news conference, referring to his forces.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">He did not say if the soldiers who retook Malakal, capital of oil-producing Upper Nile region, had received any help from Ugandan troops.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kampala's involvement has angered the rebels and raised the spectre of the conflict in one of the Africa's poorest states overflowing its borders.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">BP says South Sudan holds the third-largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa after Angola and Nigeria.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">MALAKAL "NEARLY DESTROYED"</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A rebel spokesman in Addis Ababa, where talks aimed at securing a ceasefire have been grinding on, dismissed Kiir's statement.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"It is true that they made an attempt to capture the town around 1pm this afternoon, but they were defeated. Malakal is still in our hands," Lul Ruai Koang told Reuters.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Witnesses say Malakal, a major transit hub on the White Nile, has been nearly destroyed by weeks of heavy shelling between both sides.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Control of the town has changed hands at least three times since the fighting started in mid-December and there have been conflicting statements about who controls it in the past.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kampala had said its soldiers were instrumental in the recapture of Bor, administrative centre of neighbouring Jonglei state, over the weekend.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Both Kiir and rebels have declined to sign a ceasefire agreement in Ethiopia due to disagreements over the fate of 11 detainees held by authorities in Juba and the involvement of foreign troops.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_5143" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Rebels insist the detainees be freed before a deal can be signed while the government maintains that they will only be released when the due process of law has been followed.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_5133" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 under a peace agreement to end decades of war with the Khartoum government. That conflict also saw fighting between southern factions, including one splinter group led by Machar.</div></div>

South Sudan says retakes oil state capital Malakal, rebels deny (BLOG)

By Carl Odera If confirmed, it would be the second major centre retaken in the past three days by government forces, who have been backed by...

Read more »

Student shot on Widener University campus in Pa. (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yRNOyHmNVS2cmTW3n79SqUdnp3W-Eh8IEMVxuR4hAD-D1cmCL0WN77tLDGz9Bfcn0dFBW39kpXrvWL6spct6bHa9Lc4Pyc_oqUcLWjHmj0PyHl6sSihKxIRzZ9Pb0n8Qut0tfsfcsfY/s1600/628x471+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yRNOyHmNVS2cmTW3n79SqUdnp3W-Eh8IEMVxuR4hAD-D1cmCL0WN77tLDGz9Bfcn0dFBW39kpXrvWL6spct6bHa9Lc4Pyc_oqUcLWjHmj0PyHl6sSihKxIRzZ9Pb0n8Qut0tfsfcsfY/s1600/628x471+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_2557" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A gunman shot a college student sitting in the parking lot of Widener University's athletic center Monday, but officials said the campus was secure, even as they warned students to remain inside as police searched across the city for the shooter</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_2581" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Chester police said the student was shot once in the side by an unknown gunman around 8:45 p.m. Monday and he called 911 himself. The victim, who wasn't identified, was listed in critical, but stable condition at Crozer-Chester Medical Center Tuesday morning after undergoing surgery Monday night, the hospital said.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_2590" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Widener said in a statement on its website that Chester police had secured the campus and did not believe there was an "active shooter" on the campus, but asked students to remain inside until 6 a.m.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Dan Hanson, a spokesman for the university, said Tuesday morning that "all indications are this was not a random act of violence." He would not release further details of the investigation.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_2611" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Chester police were reviewing surveillance footage and were using K-9 units to track the suspect, who they believe fled into a residential neighborhood adjacent to the athletic complex, on the edge of the campus.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_2600" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Police told reporters that they found one shell casing on the scene and believe the shooter used a revolver.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390294100751_2625" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Widener University is a private, co-ed university located in Chester, Delaware County, 14 miles south of Philadelphia. The university also has three other campuses in Harrisburg, Exton and Wilmington, Del.</div></div>

Student shot on Widener University campus in Pa. (BLOG)

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A gunman shot a college student sitting in the parking lot of Widener University's athletic center Monday, but offic...

Read more »

Tina Karol refused to be the most beautiful

<script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* bleu 280 */ google_ad_slot = "8164661108"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br />Ukrainian singer <b>Tina Karol</b> refused to participate in the contest "The most beautiful people of Ukraine" - the award, which is presented annually magazine «Viva!». Tina has twice been recognized as the "most beautiful" and 9 times on the cover of this magazine, which is a record of gloss in the world. But this year the actress refused to participate.<br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* biner3 */ google_ad_slot = "7346003106"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBWosoaTUbuGm0QppYfR4vGjwyLdDWG7eC57ZD1j0LAKk3N_injjJLDRYKEIiRo15wP3hFFIGLS4I1E9Ph1GsfEq6z7NMI1qcSQ0iSFtMXNHTDYe_Q_HoxEatfKHDyxzjkosyF2kCf/s1600/Tina+Karol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tina Karol" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBWosoaTUbuGm0QppYfR4vGjwyLdDWG7eC57ZD1j0LAKk3N_injjJLDRYKEIiRo15wP3hFFIGLS4I1E9Ph1GsfEq6z7NMI1qcSQ0iSFtMXNHTDYe_Q_HoxEatfKHDyxzjkosyF2kCf/s1600/Tina+Karol.jpg" title="Tina Karol" /></a></div><br />Fans of the singer on the social networks resent why their favorite not on the list of nominees for the award known magazine «VIVA!». As reported by the "Today" the press service of the singer Tina Karol not on the list of nominees for its own request. At the same time, the press service assured that the singer has a great relationship with the magazine, and this decision was taken by the singer exclusively personal reasons. <br /> <br /> Note that Tina Karol twice previously is awarded the "Most Beautiful" and magazine VIVA! nine times the singer posted on its cover, which was an absolute record in the world of gloss. At the same time, Google and Yandex named Tina Karol "The most popular woman of 2013", whose name Ukrainians most searched for in these search engines on the Internet. <br /> <br /> This year, the screens will also documentary "The Power love and Voices ", which tells about the fate of creative and life of the singer. Carol is now a solo concert tour across the country, which ends February 26 and 27 solo concerts in the capital in the National Palace "Ukraine".<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* boton */ google_ad_slot = "4392536701"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 90; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>

Tina Karol refused to be the most beautiful

Ukrainian singer Tina Karol refused to participate in the contest "The most beautiful people of Ukraine" - the award, which is p...

Read more »

Victoria Beckham said that he would never perform with Spice Girls

<script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* bleu 280 */ google_ad_slot = "8164661108"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br />Fortunately, fans of popular 90s group <b>Spice Girls</b> had the opportunity to see their idols in full force at the London Olympic. It was their last show, and as such, it seems, will remain.<br /><br /> Former member of the band, and now <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/11/victoria-beckham-has-presented-spring.html" target="_blank">fashion designer <b>Victoria Beckham</b> </a>told the Italian edition of Vanity Fair Italy, that he would never join former colleagues at the scene.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUGAxccGp7I7_vFZ9rudLZwfNuWinGDyNdEATcl-P8C_tUa5X1PVccjYCxlxQ64Mmv_QqQitqCactIIFJyTXQsdQKIpByX9CTRvu2O5QOjDWn3JaVw3spS9hJSR0HKmosJbDXYJRL/s1600/Victoria+Beckham+said+that+he+would+never+perform+with+Spice+Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUGAxccGp7I7_vFZ9rudLZwfNuWinGDyNdEATcl-P8C_tUa5X1PVccjYCxlxQ64Mmv_QqQitqCactIIFJyTXQsdQKIpByX9CTRvu2O5QOjDWn3JaVw3spS9hJSR0HKmosJbDXYJRL/s1600/Victoria+Beckham+said+that+he+would+never+perform+with+Spice+Girls.jpg" /></a></div><br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* biner3 */ google_ad_slot = "7346003106"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I will never again do not do it. Speech at the Olympic was a great honor for me. I'm so proud that we did it, was happy for Britain, for my countrymen, the fans who were able to see this show. It was the perfect moment to say goodbye to the audience, to thank her, but no more. It is time to know when to leave the party, "- said the former Posh Spice. </blockquote><br /> Victoria enthusiastically told also about the days spent with Geri Halliwell, Mel B, Mel C and Emma Bunton. Recall that the group officially disbanded in 2000. Girls trying to make a solo career. Someone got it, some do not, but all attempts were. At Victoria's musical career (solo) did not work, but she did not leave creativity - has become a designer. Soon she married David Beckham, and bore him four children: three sons, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz, as well as the long-awaited daughter Harper.<br /><br /> After working for famous brand Marc Jacobs, Victoria in 2008 opened his own clothing line, which for some According brings it over 100,000 pounds per day. Now in her clothes many celebrities go. Among others Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Beyonce, Cameron Diaz and others.<br /><br /> Victoria Relationship with girls, to tell the truth, were never perfect. At the last party after the show, dedicated group, Posh Spice kept apart. While the girls had fun, she communicated only with your spouse and steam-three celebrities. But other participants gelz band, did not seem to notice her absence. Then, perhaps, the band has never reunited more precisely at the whim of Victoria, and without which there is musical life than earning a living.<br /><br /><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- boton --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:90px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-8441125172513237" data-ad-slot="4392536701"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script>

Victoria Beckham said that he would never perform with Spice Girls

Fortunately, fans of popular 90s group Spice Girls had the opportunity to see their idols in full force at the London Olympic. It was thei...

Read more »

Training Day: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Hollywood

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqAiFFoRDh2v7QtIboQx4FLVGAdJpL0Vxkp92MVO229mPwZb0TtR3CV0pJTzNmFIHDbPWL86izP5bEzctSek58ubi_wPCqfQj2GqeVdHRakdTgQFun5AyaCPJISwMjiiB9eq-qsiJ/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+in+Hollywood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqAiFFoRDh2v7QtIboQx4FLVGAdJpL0Vxkp92MVO229mPwZb0TtR3CV0pJTzNmFIHDbPWL86izP5bEzctSek58ubi_wPCqfQj2GqeVdHRakdTgQFun5AyaCPJISwMjiiB9eq-qsiJ/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+in+Hollywood.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/search/label/Rosie%20Huntington-Whiteley" target="_blank">Rosie Huntington-Whiteley</a></b> is always ready to meet the <b><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/search/label/paparazzi" target="_blank">paparazzi</a></b>: even leaving the gym, a friend of Jason Statham looks no worse than on the catwalk. Girl can be proud of - looking at her tightened figure, and we want to quickly go to the gym! <br /> <br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* biner3 */ google_ad_slot = "7346003106"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br /> 26-year-old Rosie often spotted in the gym, but it is recognized celebrity, she trains every day: the model so busy filming for various promotional campaigns that she is just not enough time. However, its output Huntington-Whiteley as possible tries to devote sport. <br /> <br /> Way, Rosie just three fitness trainer - in London, New York and Los Angeles. Plus a yoga instructor - this practice model keen not less than traditional fitness. <br /> <br /> Regarding diets, then they Rosie, she said, the resort is not necessary thanks to the natural harmony, but the star listens to the advice of a renowned expert on fitness and healthy eating James Dyugana. Among his clients as Elle Macpherson, David Gandy and Hugh Grant. <br /> <br /> Dyugan celebrities recommends to eat only "clean" food - no artificial flavors or coloring and sugar as one of the main ingredients.<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFXnPXlCSw-3RVWiFAtX6LVHDXvqCO7h_613oJZLGnWvWCNuf0WQIT5kzFFYfzcBK4I8k-Iu_cVYbJ7vXFeh6bShlSu0fe27LYa2tRHAx_BNasKWamVObS8i-dhpmm-uH3oodXBhd/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFXnPXlCSw-3RVWiFAtX6LVHDXvqCO7h_613oJZLGnWvWCNuf0WQIT5kzFFYfzcBK4I8k-Iu_cVYbJ7vXFeh6bShlSu0fe27LYa2tRHAx_BNasKWamVObS8i-dhpmm-uH3oodXBhd/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+1.jpg" title="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NWu-Qy3QOzFr0V5HOFyVKUrc7xKr4p1GRbmEHI5P-eM2AUjBoKZIPChm409Co_LV4rLcsACSWc1Xkaj49ZgZawbTQVTNrp77nLZJb-YsNeaFv-R5EZzxzfuPw4CdmX4SvKhcSB-d/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NWu-Qy3QOzFr0V5HOFyVKUrc7xKr4p1GRbmEHI5P-eM2AUjBoKZIPChm409Co_LV4rLcsACSWc1Xkaj49ZgZawbTQVTNrp77nLZJb-YsNeaFv-R5EZzxzfuPw4CdmX4SvKhcSB-d/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+2.jpg" title="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_bXXIC_87mt9pWi4UD3OA67VTmvvPkNK_fi9YZ7zIOxg8mKwx-2Kvr98BBSpU77xiofML_-MCbw1hLyr4Zt7F3t5kI1bGpAiyUZ7bMdDhZrJkKq_GCwfjdhW-SRMb32kDBlDoFyL/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_bXXIC_87mt9pWi4UD3OA67VTmvvPkNK_fi9YZ7zIOxg8mKwx-2Kvr98BBSpU77xiofML_-MCbw1hLyr4Zt7F3t5kI1bGpAiyUZ7bMdDhZrJkKq_GCwfjdhW-SRMb32kDBlDoFyL/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+3.jpg" title="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBnm-MxqCp1kxzbDOC1X8c1fiCxyX0ewmVOpJbCKM-yU7rk0B8AE9PHNsUEIyi_P8KYTZakNFqtGOVAIGGRRbqruK7PFEf2Ljxz_FJix4zwGoWa5pZuAFUd6hmjMyBCwwPC8C_EvW/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBnm-MxqCp1kxzbDOC1X8c1fiCxyX0ewmVOpJbCKM-yU7rk0B8AE9PHNsUEIyi_P8KYTZakNFqtGOVAIGGRRbqruK7PFEf2Ljxz_FJix4zwGoWa5pZuAFUd6hmjMyBCwwPC8C_EvW/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+4.jpg" title="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dZrrUa5cVxG79V70k61edE-ZPQG057GtvteSKRyFSJKKgXTvd5ha_UH9WPefbg52eQtDaDRHP7DRCHmtEuIDGTrAOhH6rGU13RkIzHlV9L6B2NpxgeK9jIYyj7xnCxQfz78N90UF/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dZrrUa5cVxG79V70k61edE-ZPQG057GtvteSKRyFSJKKgXTvd5ha_UH9WPefbg52eQtDaDRHP7DRCHmtEuIDGTrAOhH6rGU13RkIzHlV9L6B2NpxgeK9jIYyj7xnCxQfz78N90UF/s1600/Rosie+Huntington-Whiteley+5.jpg" title="Rosie Huntington-Whiteley " /></a></div><br /><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- boton --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:90px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-8441125172513237" data-ad-slot="4392536701"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script>

Training Day: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Hollywood

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is always ready to meet the paparazzi : even leaving the gym, a friend of Jason Statham looks no worse than on t...

Read more »

A Weekly Dose of Architecture, 1999 - 2014

It was 15 years ago this month that I started the website <a href="http://archidose.org/wp/">A Weekly Dose of Architecture</a>. On January 18, 1999, I posted a feature on Louis I. Kahn's <a _mce_href="http://www.archidose.org/Jan99/011899.htm" href="http://www.archidose.org/Jan99/011899.htm">Kimbell Art Museum</a> in Fort Worth, Texas, the first of many weekly "doses." Actually, if I would have strictly kept to the weekly calendar this website would have 780 projects and about 500 book reviews (those didn't start until 2003), but given my sometimes sporadic posting the actual number is a bit less but still sizable considering it's just been me the whole time. So with the website turning 15 years old, it seems like a good time to retire the site. This may sound like the end of something, yet I'll still be posting at A Daily Dose of Architecture, including the occasional project and book review.<br /><br />So why retire the weekly doses? Well:<br /><ul><li>Websites like ArchDaily cover projects at such a great (visual) depth and quantity to make this website superfluous, especially if I don't take the effort to write the commentary;</li><li>Even though the website started as a way to write about the "ideas embedded in architectural works," over the years I have come to believe strongly that place and experience are so integral to architecture that writing about a building without visiting it is a disservice;</li><li>The weekly schedule (posts typically went online on Mondays) conflicted with other deadlines, such that the weekly doses were becoming even more last-minute than usual;</li><li>I already have a daily blog where I can (and do) post projects and book reviews, so why maintain more than one website? (Along those lines, anybody want to take over <a _mce_href="http://architourist.pbworks.com/" href="http://architourist.pbworks.com/">The Archi-Tourist</a>? If so, just <a _mce_href="mailto:archidose@yahoo.com" href="mailto:archidose@yahoo.com">email me</a>; it's yours for free.);</li><li>I'd like to devote the time and effort in creating the weekly doses to other things, such as <a _mce_href="http://www.world-architects.com/en/emagazine/architecture-news" href="http://www.world-architects.com/en/emagazine/architecture-news" target="_blank">my work at World-Architects</a>, teaching at NYIT, my <a _mce_href="http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/users/johnhill" href="http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/users/johnhill" target="_blank">writing at Houzz</a>, the occasional architectural walking tours, and perhaps writing another book.</li></ul>This isn't goodbye – you can still find me here on this blog.

A Weekly Dose of Architecture, 1999 - 2014

It was 15 years ago this month that I started the website A Weekly Dose of Architecture . On January 18, 1999, I posted a feature on Louis ...

Read more »

Phone-free Nokia under pressure to boost network sales (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWKP_k6s8lacZySgeZBLscZMjemNKAE5HOr8a-0gi0Y7X97itOT9JOiLprrDVqVRzwLjKKAJbabbyJCX96646-QhhOoaK5b9xtWo0oaZREEpFyh-5_qjGb6menOduUsjV59Wr3lJmFUyM/s1600/2014-01-20T160653Z_1_CBREA0J18RL00_RTROPTP_3_FINLAND_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWKP_k6s8lacZySgeZBLscZMjemNKAE5HOr8a-0gi0Y7X97itOT9JOiLprrDVqVRzwLjKKAJbabbyJCX96646-QhhOoaK5b9xtWo0oaZREEpFyh-5_qjGb6menOduUsjV59Wr3lJmFUyM/s1600/2014-01-20T160653Z_1_CBREA0J18RL00_RTROPTP_3_FINLAND_original.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3030" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">By Ritsuko Ando</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3032" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia is expected to show a steep fall in network equipment sales in its results this week, highlighting the challenge facing management after selling its once mighty handset division to Microsoft for 5.4 billion euros ($7.3 billion).</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3034" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Improved profitability at Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) due to cost cutting have helped cushion the company's declining handset business in recent quarters.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3036" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But with major projects in South Korea and Japan coming to an end, the NSN business, the bulk of Nokia's entire business after the handsets sale, is expected to report a 19 percent fall in fourth-quarter sales to 3.2 billion euros and a 17 percent fall for the whole of 2013 to 11.4 billion euros. Results are due on Thursday.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3038" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The decline for NSN would follow a 26 percent fall in third-quarter sales and come as scale has become increasingly crucial to competing against the industry leader for wireless networks, Ericsson, and China's Huawei, particularly due to high research and development costs.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">NSN's chief Rajeev Suri, in an interview with Reuters in November, confirmed the company was now prioritizing revenue growth even if it meant a trade-off in profit.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Analysts said NSN must demonstrate that shift in coming quarters, and that markets will accept a dip in margins as long as they don't fall too far below 8 to 10 percent.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">NSN's fourth-quarter adjusted operating margin is still likely to be high. The company forecast it will be around 12 percent, plus or minus 4 percentage points, compared with 8 percent in the third quarter.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">That's higher than most rivals such as Ericsson, which reported an 8 percent operating margin last quarter as NSN's restructuring program launched in late 2011 cut a quarter of its workforce and took the business out of low-margin projects.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"It is possible that we won't be seeing such high margins this year, but I'd rather see them starting to grow again," said Inderes Equity Research analyst Mikael Rautanen.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Nordea Markets analyst Sami Sarkamies said Nokia's challenge will be to find new business to make up for a decline in sales in Asia, where a year ago it was busy building out high-speed wireless broadband networks. Asia, including Greater China, accounted for around 41 percent of NSN's 2.59 billion sales in the third quarter.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">That won't be easy. While telecoms operators are expected to spend more on network equipment in 2014 due to strong demand for high-speed 4G mobile broadband technology, competition is set to remain fierce.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">MANAGING WITHOUT PHONES</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Analysts expect Nokia's results this week to also show a fall in its handset shipments. Quarterly smartphone shipments are expected to have risen 53 percent from a year earlier to 10.7 million while still lagging behind market leaders Samsung and Apple.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But results from the handset business, where revenues last year were estimated to have fallen by 26 percent to 11.6 billion euros, will be counted as discontinued operations, with the Microsoft deal expected to close shortly, pending regulatory approvals in China.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">That leaves Nokia investors to focus on how Nokia will operate the rump business and how much of the sale proceeds will be reinvested or paid out to shareholders. Company sources said last week that the board was still finalizing details of Nokia's new structure and leadership.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">NSN's Suri is widely seen as a leading contender for the CEO role, with investors happy with his track record of having turned NSN around.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Some sources familiar with recent talks, however, said Nokia's CFO and interim president Timo Ihamuotila is also a top candidate, favored by those who see a future in Nokia's HERE navigation software and its store of technology patents.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3040" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Those businesses will account for just 10 percent of the new company's sales, with the rest coming from NSN, but some believe they could be used to help turn Nokia into a patent powerhouse or develop wireless services of the future.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">As CFO, Ihamuotila has gained experience in mergers and acquisitions, which could prove useful if Nokia decides to sell parts of the remaining business such as HERE.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">ALCATEL LUCENT</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Analysts, however, see the most likely deal for Nokia as a tie-up with struggling rival Alcatel Lucent. Suri played down the likelihood of such a deal in November, but analysts say it could help NSN compete more effectively against Ericsson as well as Chinese rivals Huawei and ZTE.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Nokia clearly would have a great opportunity to improve NSN's position with the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent's wireless division," Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a research note.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3042" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">($1=0.7376 euros)</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3044" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">(Corrects spelling of 'cushion' in second paragraph and 'business' in paragraph 10)</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_3046" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">(Editing by Greg Mahlich)</div></div>

Phone-free Nokia under pressure to boost network sales (BLOG)

By Ritsuko Ando HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia is expected to show a steep fall in network equipment sales in its results this week, highlightin...

Read more »

JPMorgan sues Berlin transport provider over derivatives contract (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlOcqIaTApegpdBUWIGPfnmMznEsvjU1mY6fp3OzESVmZUHIE2JPp_LhGIT0VENdUF9rAtFH96aVmhpI2lzWVmr4K01qHXBU15NIZ1sw40ZkmYnQ5vSIhOfioKlbueTUzmp2rn0oU2dM/s1600/2014-01-20T180521Z_1_CBREA0J1E9600_RTROPTP_3_JPMORGAN-SETTLEMENT_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlOcqIaTApegpdBUWIGPfnmMznEsvjU1mY6fp3OzESVmZUHIE2JPp_LhGIT0VENdUF9rAtFH96aVmhpI2lzWVmr4K01qHXBU15NIZ1sw40ZkmYnQ5vSIhOfioKlbueTUzmp2rn0oU2dM/s1600/2014-01-20T180521Z_1_CBREA0J1E9600_RTROPTP_3_JPMORGAN-SETTLEMENT_original.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_1793" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">By Clare Hutchison</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_1796" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">LONDON (Reuters) - JPMorgan (<a data-rapid_p="8" href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=jpm" style="color: #324fe1; display: inline-block; margin-top: -85px; padding-top: 85px; text-decoration: none;">JPM</a>) is suing Berlin's public transport provider in a British court to recover the $204 million plus interest it says it is owed over an "unfortunate" derivatives contract taken out before the financial crisis.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_1798" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The lawyer for the U.S. bank said Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) was looking for anyone other than itself to blame for the losses on the collateralized debt obligation (CDO).</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_1800" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Rather than simply accepting that it had been unfortunate in the events that happened in the financial markets... BVG has decided to follow a course doing everything it could to avoid paying its debts... casting around for someone to blame other than itself," Laurence Rabinowitz told a London court on the first day of the trial.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Problems arose simply because the transaction occurred just when serious cracks in the world's financial system were appearing, Rabinowitz added.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">BVG, which runs the German capital's underground railway, tram, bus and ferry networks, argues that it was misled by JPMorgan and the bank's law firm, Clifford Chance, and that it did not fully understand the risks involved. BVG is due to begin its defense on Tuesday.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Clifford Chance said in a statement the "claims against us are misconceived and entirely without merit."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The transport authority maintains that the employee most closely involved in the swap had no experience of the complex financial derivative the bank had pitched to him and misunderstood it, according to court documents.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">CDOs are a series of assets, often high-yield junk bonds, mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps and other products, put together by a bank and sold in tranches according to their level of risk. They were marketed to investors as investments with a defined risk and reward.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Following the 2008 financial crisis many investors who lost tens of millions of dollars through such investments have questioned what banks knew when they modeled such products and a number have brought legal action against the banks.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Industry experts have also argued that some organizations may have lacked the sophistication to understand CDOs.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The case comes after JPMorgan paid nearly $20 billion in 2013 to settle assorted legal claims, including the "London Whale" derivatives trading scandal.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390260158023_1802" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">(Reporting by Clare Hutchison; Editing by Louise Heavens)</div></div>

JPMorgan sues Berlin transport provider over derivatives contract (BLOG)

By Clare Hutchison LONDON (Reuters) - JPMorgan ( JPM ) is suing Berlin's public transport provider in a British court to recover the $20...

Read more »

Nicole Scherzinger on the stylish photo shoot in California

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQi-lGauwfXpQSINXYFByJa76wtYlA_t1mhheY-KClSIYa5L3XeZQ_mBih8Az3eKTV3_O6LaFyrdrzutOKlCvI5ZEH6fNthQxRTLtDffd1ZMsE6n040-D2tdUxuByCn6Uh1sgym3vv/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQi-lGauwfXpQSINXYFByJa76wtYlA_t1mhheY-KClSIYa5L3XeZQ_mBih8Az3eKTV3_O6LaFyrdrzutOKlCvI5ZEH6fNthQxRTLtDffd1ZMsE6n040-D2tdUxuByCn6Uh1sgym3vv/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger.jpg" title="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" /></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/search/label/Nicole%20Scherzinger" target="_blank">Nicole Scherzinger</a></b> already very long ago, there were no news. It would seem that after parting with the driver, "Formula 1" Lewis Hamilton singer simply disappeared, but there it was: the network appeared fresh photos with the star. <br /> <br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* biner3 */ google_ad_slot = "7346003106"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br /> Recently paparazzi captured Nicole when she participated stylish photoset. Filming took place with the actress on the outskirts of Los Angeles at the famous Cadillac Pink Motel. <br /> <br /> Stylists picked for the project Scherzinger very sexy outfits, in which the singer looked perfect against the backdrop of colorful walls of the motel. <br /> <br /> It should be noted Nicole is in good shape - we see immediately that it's pretty much time to training. <br /> <br /> Well, we hope that after the photoshoot Scherzinger will return to the recording studio and soon will appreciate our new hit.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXeX6oCgUabWI2B5TZSmz8bxqEYM23Dw5AlZloaFjowB8arsa8_L5YIPevta4oAOH8LQXvCkYz1G-nxWCahvvulmDU8Vi3KwkGfXTyzT_NykiSUkYHBZicaFc43BTn5QU5QkXTbMV/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXeX6oCgUabWI2B5TZSmz8bxqEYM23Dw5AlZloaFjowB8arsa8_L5YIPevta4oAOH8LQXvCkYz1G-nxWCahvvulmDU8Vi3KwkGfXTyzT_NykiSUkYHBZicaFc43BTn5QU5QkXTbMV/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+1.jpg" title="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9yt22Ho6retW2sz7oX34w4djvMQNg8kDTzSYumy9kXU6vK5mhTg0ja_yykGYFAf-TOvDE2-0cesKBfLzZ6kuYttD01bvEZil1iXY68eJpgsrSMIOqx86lVB1Laxe3aMzlG2PG76lB/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9yt22Ho6retW2sz7oX34w4djvMQNg8kDTzSYumy9kXU6vK5mhTg0ja_yykGYFAf-TOvDE2-0cesKBfLzZ6kuYttD01bvEZil1iXY68eJpgsrSMIOqx86lVB1Laxe3aMzlG2PG76lB/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+2.jpg" title="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDTnPQG_gJHqdw_LCNZ2uabYwOQZ1bfX9L87SyqBH-bnDD2Y5k3LSzM7AkPLD_bhWbm1xK9zmaRZF_clnlK0eoP-UvfPDCjLut2t5jz0kbiEiwZ7DKlHMdXZSAs3Gh_5f65nVYKUav/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDTnPQG_gJHqdw_LCNZ2uabYwOQZ1bfX9L87SyqBH-bnDD2Y5k3LSzM7AkPLD_bhWbm1xK9zmaRZF_clnlK0eoP-UvfPDCjLut2t5jz0kbiEiwZ7DKlHMdXZSAs3Gh_5f65nVYKUav/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+3.jpg" title="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWb5sxaPllIz_tJNXmSoiE1zK13flUBqDUtBrrPnblCRj47_QvnUYZDZTi_6wsRtcmbpF9QocU5wiAFIpS-ioJVrIZaiuySWyx5Xbiux0uQtoBaaBR8DsDIH_48j9tKHZ96MLLbt7/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWb5sxaPllIz_tJNXmSoiE1zK13flUBqDUtBrrPnblCRj47_QvnUYZDZTi_6wsRtcmbpF9QocU5wiAFIpS-ioJVrIZaiuySWyx5Xbiux0uQtoBaaBR8DsDIH_48j9tKHZ96MLLbt7/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+4.jpg" title="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiyrUKu6gfcjiJhvM6yhXMbW2Fxb5ZVDwKeNjGaVR1nNaHNNS5Er5P6ZcFH88cTSfWuBNosBRm6f0MNM-XAjvTeJho2muAt4aCrH3oSpOzrAUGcPk6-mf5mK5bQR3s6zcAdPqT6diE/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiyrUKu6gfcjiJhvM6yhXMbW2Fxb5ZVDwKeNjGaVR1nNaHNNS5Er5P6ZcFH88cTSfWuBNosBRm6f0MNM-XAjvTeJho2muAt4aCrH3oSpOzrAUGcPk6-mf5mK5bQR3s6zcAdPqT6diE/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+5.jpg" title="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusF2HxUxfFb0NmCGqNMLKJ2Wo2tAPG8p_VRaa5PnkUX-JDcEEHHbzLQor5_-dCGQZCFjja4xfhYWJoLphTj420WirpthAKi_SSgBopI-BUNRKMVb8Ohr2-vkgV4hOYDSAJxd-a4gD/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusF2HxUxfFb0NmCGqNMLKJ2Wo2tAPG8p_VRaa5PnkUX-JDcEEHHbzLQor5_-dCGQZCFjja4xfhYWJoLphTj420WirpthAKi_SSgBopI-BUNRKMVb8Ohr2-vkgV4hOYDSAJxd-a4gD/s1600/Nicole+Scherzinger+6.jpg" title="Nicole Scherzinger Photoshoots" /></a></div><br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* boton */ google_ad_slot = "4392536701"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 90; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>

Nicole Scherzinger on the stylish photo shoot in California

Nicole Scherzinger already very long ago, there were no news. It would seem that after parting with the driver, "Formula 1" Lewi...

Read more »

Evgeni Plushenko go to the Olympics in Sochi

<script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* bleu 280 */ google_ad_slot = "8164661108"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br />Skater <b>Evgeni Plushenko</b> received the only Russian quota for participation in the men's figure skating at the Winter Olympics in 2014. Thank you for the news blogger AlisaZal. <br /> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* biner3 */ google_ad_slot = "7346003106"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br /> Source RIA Novosti news agency reports: <br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> In Sports Ministry had prepared a paper on the composition of the Russian team at the Olympic Games, which will adopt the executive committee on Thursday, the Russian Olympic Committee. In the men's figure skating there is one name - Plushenko, who will have to perform in the team competition, and in the singles tournament. </blockquote><br /> Earlier, it was reported that the Olympic champion will not participate at the European Championships and the Olympics take part only in the team competition.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQWpxcfcLQmuKiOaRHiNujg5jqSd2Zo_mJiufGNiAeFASlDLPFoHoUH6Gs-Gkx3z9MBp2-iE6jppfMiTAH2IZZPB9np4zy110hQ9YgVkG4vK-mMgqwIJTEp_pGNdHg3xqec7h_Ssn/s1600/Evgeni+Plushenko+go+to+the+Olympics+in+Sochi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Evgeni Plushenko" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQWpxcfcLQmuKiOaRHiNujg5jqSd2Zo_mJiufGNiAeFASlDLPFoHoUH6Gs-Gkx3z9MBp2-iE6jppfMiTAH2IZZPB9np4zy110hQ9YgVkG4vK-mMgqwIJTEp_pGNdHg3xqec7h_Ssn/s1600/Evgeni+Plushenko+go+to+the+Olympics+in+Sochi.jpg" title="Evgeni Plushenko" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSXueoYDtmA6fXRpEpiLKIN2sqYZVvWQhFKd0V8dHtxxh6GJKBWH-ODKGSlQ186LAULjxlZ1nzeuxKSp49mR_Dhgp1N0UJhfTjv6liGb702SVXD-jfcOX61aZuYd6SUCdYnDUn51d/s1600/Evgeni+Plushenko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Evgeni Plushenko" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSXueoYDtmA6fXRpEpiLKIN2sqYZVvWQhFKd0V8dHtxxh6GJKBWH-ODKGSlQ186LAULjxlZ1nzeuxKSp49mR_Dhgp1N0UJhfTjv6liGb702SVXD-jfcOX61aZuYd6SUCdYnDUn51d/s1600/Evgeni+Plushenko.jpg" title="Evgeni Plushenko" /></a></div><br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* boton */ google_ad_slot = "4392536701"; google_ad_width = 200; google_ad_height = 90; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>

Evgeni Plushenko go to the Olympics in Sochi

Skater Evgeni Plushenko received the only Russian quota for participation in the men's figure skating at the Winter Olympics in 2014....

Read more »

"Cheap Energy"

I heard this phrase from a guest on CNBC today. Perhaps it is time for a refresher course on the meaning of the word cheap.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cheap">The Free Dictionary: Cheap</a><br /><br /><div style="color: red;"><i>a. Relatively low in cost; inexpensive or comparatively inexpensive.</i></div><br />Let's attempt to compare the cost of energy to the cost of everything to find out how relatively low in cost energy actually is. The following chart shows the annual average of the consumer price index for energy divided by the consumer price index for all items.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rY99_WvDTu8d-_NaNX9lmb25TEWMpsQU5gogyR3cOMVSlCAWrlBBsdthLuAG_rdtnbEVgYcexGG3194nzk8siYMog3FFs-tnqUtVdH4S18UoJ4jNCCRi_HwUtnuj0oykR9JbVPqxWQw/s1600/Cheap+Energy.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rY99_WvDTu8d-_NaNX9lmb25TEWMpsQU5gogyR3cOMVSlCAWrlBBsdthLuAG_rdtnbEVgYcexGG3194nzk8siYMog3FFs-tnqUtVdH4S18UoJ4jNCCRi_HwUtnuj0oykR9JbVPqxWQw/s320/Cheap+Energy.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />Did I somehow manage to transport myself to a Pulp Fiction alternate universe? It's sure starting to feel that way lately.<br /><br /><a href="http://youtu.be/UPHuE5pDlEs">Say "cheap energy" one more time! I dare you!</a><br /><br /><b>See Also:</b><br /><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-pulp-fiction-of-rising-interest.html">The Pulp Fiction of Rising Interest Rates</a><br /><br /><b>Source Data:</b><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=rcJ">St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart</a>

"Cheap Energy"

I heard this phrase from a guest on CNBC today. Perhaps it is time for a refresher course on the meaning of the word cheap. The Free Diction...

Read more »

The 5 Most Important Tech Companies That Want to Stick a Computer On Your Face (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislNR2viqqPe_Jzyktdq_SQuFSc1gkXd3dxmnnILSJ10w2-Os_xC2VJHWSbqyW6PfOajbf4BH2QH5dlhtA9O7P6DcEvh3gk3zktFwLn9iaPhuUN9lUHUNPSy1aJkCF4axnprAnDBQDcVQ/s1600/1d97ef141732db605de8623587f9908c6d610f38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislNR2viqqPe_Jzyktdq_SQuFSc1gkXd3dxmnnILSJ10w2-Os_xC2VJHWSbqyW6PfOajbf4BH2QH5dlhtA9O7P6DcEvh3gk3zktFwLn9iaPhuUN9lUHUNPSy1aJkCF4axnprAnDBQDcVQ/s1600/1d97ef141732db605de8623587f9908c6d610f38.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">The battle for your face is on!</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">On Thursday night, Google <a data-rapid_p="49" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/google-develops-contact-lens-glucose-monitor/2014/01/16/e309c822-7f0a-11e3-97d3-b9925ce2c57b_story.html" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">announced that it is working </a>on a “smart contact lens,” which is meant to be worn by diabetics and which would use small sensors to measure the wearer’s glucose levels.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Google’s Contact — or “<a data-rapid_p="50" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.google.com/edu/resources/igoogle.html" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">EyeGoogle</a>,” as I’m calling it — isn’t the Silicon Valley giant’s first foray into wearable face-computing: Google Glass, the company’s head-mounted smartphone assistant, is slated for a wide release in 2014; nor is Google the only technology company working hard to get you to stick a computer in front of your eyes in the coming years.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Here are the most important companies working on wearable facial computers. If any of these companies have their way, we’ll all have little screens plastered on our noggins by New Year’s 2015. These are the ones you should keep an eye out for.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>1. Google</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">In the past year, Google has certainly established itself as the company people most associate with whimsical, futuristic face computers, with its <a data-rapid_p="51" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">forthcoming Google Glass</a> and <a data-rapid_p="52" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/16/google-shows-off-smart-contact-lens-that-lets-diabetics-measure-their-glucose-levels/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">still-several-years-away smart contact lens</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="338" src="http://l3.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/760faf68d7626e7f862195ee8506742e06309bc4" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Important to note: Though glasses and contact lenses perform similar functions in normal life, Google Glass and Google Contact Lens do not. Google Glass is what you might consider a more traditional wearable computer (if such a thing exists): It simply performs several of your smartphone’s functions on a small screen in front of your eye — showing you text messages, the time and weather, walking directions — so that you don’t have to pull your phone out of your pocket. Google’s contact lenses, meanwhile, has a more specialized function: Intended for diabetics, it measures your body’s glucose level in the eye so that you wouldn’t have to prick yourself for a blood sample several times per day.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">With contact lenses and eyeglasses covered, it’s only a matter of time before Google introduces computerized binoculars, opera glasses and monocles. Stay tuned</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>2. Oculus VR</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">For decades now, playing video games at home has usually meant staring at a screen — either several feet away from your eyes, with video game consoles, or about a foot away from your eyes, with computer games.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="375" src="http://l3.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/6ae2ccde0ccf5efe490792cfc3ab382181beab92" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><em>Photo by Steve Kovach/<a data-rapid_p="53" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://businessinsider.com/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Business Insider</a></em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">The <a data-rapid_p="54" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.oculusvr.com/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Oculus Rift</a>, created by a startup called Oculus VR, is a buzzy new system that brings the screen right up against your face. Still in prototype mode, the Rift itself is a sort of visor that completely blocks out your vision, except for a high-definition screen in front of your eyes that hooks up to a computer game. Your point-of-view is your game character’s point-of-view; and the system also tracks your head movements, so that wherever you look, that’s where your character in the game looks, too.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">It’s all very disorienting and immersive and lifelike, and it’s earned rave reviews from early testers. A consumer version that you can actually buy is on its way, perhaps this year, so that you, too, can look ridiculous while <img alt="image" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/3sFDKV18b2VQiXi6dW1DBA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTMzMjtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz02MzQ-/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-07-12/bb9d4270-ba64-459b-869a-c07a1119c13d_oculus-2.gif" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>3. Vuzix</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Perhaps Google’s stiffest competition for Google Glass (for now),<a data-rapid_p="55" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.vuzix.com/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Vuzix</a> specializes in wearable, glasses-like computers of various shapes and sizes, mostly aimed at professionals. Vuzix’s bread-and-butter is industrial smart glasses, meant for anyone from doctors to firefighters to construction workers, to allow those workers to view information in front of their eyes without having to reference other materials not in their eyeline. (The <a data-rapid_p="56" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.mygoldeni.com/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Motorola-owned Golden-i performs a similar task</a>.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="290" src="http://l2.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/8ce4752aaddbbd9172d0d9d6c004a92e7972f558" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Recently — especially with the surprise interest surrounding Google Glass — <a data-rapid_p="57" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a544065/vuzix-to-launch-fashionable-smart-glasses.html" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Vuzix has made strides toward creating consumer models</a> of its smart glasses, too, showing off a more fashionable design for its M100 model,  with HD cameras and Bluetooth smartphone connections at this January’s Consumer Electronics Show.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="376" src="http://l3.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/560fc388b6072d804056825201234b0db4acf4b1" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>4. GlassUp</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Speaking of competition for Google Glass: <a data-rapid_p="58" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.glassup.net/shop/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">GlassUp</a> launched on the crowdfuding startup Indiegogo, <a data-rapid_p="59" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/glassup-augmented-reality-glasses-that-display-messages-from-your-smartphone" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">seeking $150,000 to build a Glass alternative that</a> displays all of the notifications from your smartphone onto a small display in front of your eye. If that sounds familiar, GlassUp differentiates itself from Google Glass in its design: GlassUp looks more like a regular pair of glasses than does the Star Trek-ish Google version.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><img alt="image" height="194" src="http://l1.yimg.com/cd/resizer/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w500/e23b1fa7c80f7035756148a23410d760493599bb" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">GlassUp missed out on its fundraising goal by about $25,000, but the Italian company is soldiering ahead. It is now accepting preorders (in $300 cash, or in bitcoins) with an expected delivery date of June 2014.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><strong>5. Oakley</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Yes, <em>that</em> Oakley: The sunglasses manufacturer has gotten into the smartglasses game, producing a range of high-tech skiing goggles that display your speed, altitude and navigation, as well as text messages and music coming from your smartphone. You’re probably not going to wear these high-tech ski goggles every day; but the fact that a consumer-focused company like Oakley is dipping its toes into the smart-glasses water may be a sign that wearable face computers might be preparing to enter the mainstream.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><iframe height="281.25" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_gIvrVgLmWM" style="border-width: 0px;" width="500"></iframe></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">Despite the hype, head-mounted computers haven’t quite entered public acceptance in the way that, say, smartphones or Bluetooth headsets have. Google has heavily promoted its own version, but no other major technology companies have begun to push — or in many cases, even demonstrate — their own versions quite yet.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;">But with Microsoft, Samsung and Apple all rumored to have Google Glass competitors in the works, you might be heading to Lenscrafter for a quick charge of your glasses before long. The future’s so bright, you might be wearing electronic shades. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.55em; margin-top: 0.55em;"><em>Y</em><em>ahoo Tech is a brand new tech site from David Pogue and an all-star team of writers. <a data-rapid_p="60" data-ylk="elm:itm;elmt:link;g:d49aa3bb-c5bf-3884-8b92-8b007da3efce;ct:1;t1:a5;t4:18;itc:0;" href="http://www.facebook.com/yahootech" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Follow us on Facebook</a> for all the latest.</em></div></div>

The 5 Most Important Tech Companies That Want to Stick a Computer On Your Face (BLOG)

The battle for your face is on! On Thursday night, Google  announced that it is working  on a “smart contact lens,” which is meant to be wor...

Read more »

In S. Sudan, rebel-held town of Bor destroyed (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAESEKu5S3BmQDzlePU2j8GN9LYEX9pWH0RcuUioyj9DCH_1CNhoZvvEcstIMpTjZ_z-OwcxgRf1irafFpvd779tQuREV60Hj-kBJ_OTJo-whqPcD5B2t7pgoC_cVAwTICWJ1xiKkFisE/s1600/8c05a86db0ea6202490f6a7067001ae7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAESEKu5S3BmQDzlePU2j8GN9LYEX9pWH0RcuUioyj9DCH_1CNhoZvvEcstIMpTjZ_z-OwcxgRf1irafFpvd779tQuREV60Hj-kBJ_OTJo-whqPcD5B2t7pgoC_cVAwTICWJ1xiKkFisE/s1600/8c05a86db0ea6202490f6a7067001ae7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254995993_29180" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">BOR, South Sudan (AP) — Bor is a ghost town. Every shop is looted and empty. Bodies lie on the ground, and English-language graffiti curses the ethnic group of the South Sudanese president.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Once held by the rebels attempting to overthrow South Sudan's government, the city was taken back by the military over the weekend with the help of Ugandan troops.Near the airport, the road is littered with trash. Shipping containers are pried open and their contents ransacked. Smashed cars and motorbikes litter the dusty streets.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254995993_29194" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">More and more cities are falling back under government control after a conflict that began Dec. 15 saw rebels gain control of several key cities.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254995993_29203" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The government said Monday it has also regained control of Malakal, the capital of the oil-producing Upper Nile state, though the U.N. said its base there took fire, wounding nearly three dozen people and damaging the hospital.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Thousands of people have been killed and an estimated half million people have fled the fighting, which pits the government of President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, against former Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="8" data-uuid="1243a3cf-17fd-3f73-b477-5937996d3aa8" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/south-sudan-39-president-salva-kiir-speaks-media-photo-181116328.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="South Sudan&#39;s President Salva Kiir speaks to the&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 196px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="South Sudan&#39;s President Salva Kiir speaks to the&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="196" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Xr6Vtw2NqV4tXNAPlATgtg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE5NjtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/230f0563d48e7802490f6a7067006fde.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">South Sudan's President Salva Kiir speaks to the media at a press conference in Juba, South Suda …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Negotiators for Kiir and Machar said over the weekend that a cease-fire was close at hand. But a Twitter feed believed to be controlled by Machar said Monday there won't be a cease-fire until Ugandan troops supporting the government leave and high-level political detainees are released.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The government insists the detainees go through South Sudan's judicial process. Kiir late Monday said he would pardon Machar if he surrenders.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The governor of Jonglei state, where Bor is located, urged residents to return to their shattered town, insisting the military is now in charge and is chasing the rebels into the countryside. But it is not clear what kind of lives people will return to when they come back. The aftermath of the killings and looting is tangible.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The streets are deserted, except for government soldiers. Tens of thousands of residents fled across the White Nile River earlier this month as rebels rushed in. Thousands of others took refuge in a nearby U.N. camp, where they remain under the protection of U.N. soldiers.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">In Bor's hospital, the smell of death is overwhelming. A body lies stiffly on a hospital bed. The pools of dry blood beneath suggest the person has been dead for quite a while.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="9" data-uuid="f697e316-85ef-368d-b7e1-39f74772f4bf" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/unidentified-man-sits-gun-turret-while-leading-convoy-photo-181116800.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="An unidentified man sits in the gun turret while leading&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 189px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="An unidentified man sits in the gun turret while leading&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="189" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/YGXGxmDpw37.lFiINxjQeQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE4OTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/034d5b10b0ea6202490f6a706700b4e3.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">An unidentified man sits in the gun turret while leading a convoy of armoured vehicles from both the …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A frail woman, who identified herself only as Mary, was caring for two other women sleeping on a mattress in an empty ward. She said she had to help those too weak to flee the fighting.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"I am here to help them. They are sick, cannot move. It is my duty," she said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A U.N. humanitarian charter plane on Tuesday will deliver humanitarian supplies, including medicine and medical equipment, UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, said in a statement Monday.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">As the U.N. increases its involvement in South Sudan, friction between the government and the global body is increasing, with Kiir accusing it of trying to take over the country.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The U.N. complained Sunday that senior members of the government tried to enter the U.N. base and that the military threatened its staff when they refused soldiers entry.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="10" data-uuid="a01e21f8-04c4-32b7-beec-2a95a6658b29" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/elderly-woman-hid-rebels-office-during-recent-fighting-photo-181116413.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="An elderly woman who hid from rebels in an office during&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 194px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="An elderly woman who hid from rebels in an office during&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="194" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/3qU8AewJ8YJfFw1ZN2iKmQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE5NDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/0badc0e2b0e66202490f6a706700a948.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">An elderly woman who hid from rebels in an office during the recent fighting, speaks to a South Suda …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"This incident is just one of a growing number of violations ... making it increasingly difficult for (the U.N.) to implement its mandate and dangerous for United Nations staff working in South Sudan," it said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">South Sudanese officials strongly disputed the U.N.'s version of events. John Kon Kelei, a spokesman at the Information Minister, said the U.N. was distorting the facts.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kiir told a news conference that he submitted an official request to the U.N. to return guns he said fighters have inside the camp.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">He said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should make it clear the U.N. wants to take over South Sudan.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"We know the U.N. is in South Sudan. We did not know that when (the mission) was brought that it was brought as a parallel government," Kiir said.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254995993_29231" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">South Sudan became the world's newest country in 2011, when it broke away from Sudan after an independence vote, the capstone of decades of fighting.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254995993_29221" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The country, one of the world's poorest, derives nearly all of it income from an oil industry that has mostly been idled since the fighting broke out.</div></div>

In S. Sudan, rebel-held town of Bor destroyed (BLOG)

BOR, South Sudan (AP) — Bor is a ghost town. Every shop is looted and empty. Bodies lie on the ground, and English-language graffiti curses ...

Read more »