SEXTING: AN OPEN LETTER FROM PARENTS TO TEENAGERS

The NSPCC and Channel 4's teen drama Hollyoaks are tackling "sexting" - the sending of explicit texts, images and videos - in an ad campaign and in a new plot aired this week. The Duchess of Cambridge even addressed the issue at a charity conference.

Here is a selection of open-letters from parents who blog to their pre-teen or teenage children about the issue.

By Jean, a single parent to two teenage girls

Dear girls,

So, sexting. It's not something I ever imagined we'd have to talk about, mainly because it didn't even exist until a few years ago.

We've had plenty of conversations about sex over the years, and now you're both teenagers I never shy away from talking to you about alcohol and using drugs, but this is a new one and although you're probably cringing right now the fact it exists means we need to talk about it.



Child's hands on laptop










The biggest problem with sexting is the lack of control on your part. Once you send an explicit photo or video to someone, as soon as you press "send" you have handed over control to whoever receives it. Think that's not a problem because he's someone you trust? Maybe now, yes, but what about when you are no longer a couple/friends and he decides to share your photo?

Before long everyone you know (and plenty that you don't) will have seen that image, the one that was meant for one person's eyes only, and there's not a thing you can do about it. Once it's out there in the ether you can kiss goodbye to any control over who sees it. Pretty yucky, eh?

And just in case you're wondering, if you did get caught sexting, of course I'd be disappointed. Not because it would be embarrassing for me, although of course it would be. No, I'd be more upset about your lack of self-respect. Do you respect yourself enough not to be pressured or emotionally blackmailed into something like this? I think you do.

Think about it this way - before you send an intimate message or photo to anyone ask yourself if you would post it on your own Facebook wall. No? Then don't send it to anyone. End of.

Jean
Scene from HollyoaksHollyoaks' Holly Cunningham shares a revealing photo which is posted online
By Tim Atkinson

Dear son,

This isn't an easy letter to write but it might just be one of the most important you read, so please read on. And I know what you're thinking - here goes dad spoiling the fun, being boring, not understanding anything.

But the thing is, I do. I understand what goes on and I understand why it happens, too. And I know a little of the consequences - enough to know that it isn't always just "fun". These things stick around. And in a few years from now, the things you say, the pictures you post, the texts and tweets and updates… well, they could all come crashing down around your head.

But dad, you're saying - it's harmless, it's a laugh, everyone does it.

Well just because everyone does, it doesn't make it right. And it might be a laugh now, but people change, relationships change. What's said can't be unsaid and if it's in writing then it's potential dynamite.

And it isn't always harmless. Anything but. What's done in the heat of the moment or the height of passion can be potentially devastating in the morning. And remember - these things have a habit of sticking around.

So before you dismiss it as harmful 'banter' just remember:

*Other people will see or read it. It's almost inevitable. Can you deal with that?

*It might come back to haunt you later. Friends can become enemies. Don't leave them with any powerful weapons to use against you.

*And finally - respect the person you're with. And ask yourself whether what you're saying or what you're doing shows that.

Simple rules but I think they'll make things a lot less complicated for you down the line.

Love,

Dad

By Jo Middleton

Dear daughter,

I want you to take a few minutes please just to picture a little scenario.

It's been three years in the making but you are finally applying for your very first job out of university. (It will come round quick you know.) It's exactly what you want - the first step on a dream career path - and you've been offered an interview. You're over the moon of course, and so you should be, you've worked hard to get here.

You spend ages preparing and are feeling confident. You rock up, in your best black suit and the smart shoes you borrowed from your flatmate, and prepare to be grilled. The panel look frosty though, concerned. "We've been researching you online," they say, "and we found this…"










Bam.

That's it, dream job out the window.

I know you probably think I'm just some cynical old technophobe, that I'm uncool and don't understand young people, but the problem is that I understand young people and technology only too well. Sending that provocative picture of yourself, that suggestive text message, might feel like a perfectly normal and safe thing to do at the time, but the trouble is that however loving the relationship may be when you send it, however much you may trust the person you are sexting, can you ever know what the future will hold?

In my day of course, before we all had smartphones and still communicated via pigeons and slates, it wasn't an issue. You might have sent letters, possibly made the odd private video, but there were only ever one copy of these - easily found and destroyed, not so easily shared. Nowadays it takes just a second, one button - "upload" - and your most intimate moments and thoughts are out there for the world to see. Forever.

I'm not saying you have to close yourself off - suspect everyone and deny your sexuality - but please just be careful. Stop to think before you commit thoughts and images to cyberspace, because the minute they leave your phone they cease to be yours.

Love Mum xx

PS You're going to nail that interview when it comes around, I know you are.

WARNING ISSUED OVER WINDOWS XP BUG

Microsoft has issued a warning about a bug in older version of Windows that could let attackers take over a computer.

The vulnerability in Windows XP and Server 2003 is being actively exploited by cyber-thieves, it said.

It has taken the unusual step of issuing a temporary workaround that closes the loophole.

However, it acknowledged that applying this fix could break some Windows functions that people regularly use.

Security firm FireEye has been credited with finding the bug that lets an attacker piggyback on a known flaw in some older versions of Adobe Reader. Via the Adobe bug, the FireEye researchers found evidence that attackers were able to "escalate" the access they were granted to the system to eventually allow them to install their own code.

Microsoft said it was aware of "limited, targeted" attacks using the combined bug to attack PCs.

It issued advice to customers saying they should turn off some services to stop the attack working. It warned that turning off the vulnerable service could shut down some widely used networking functions including the ability to access a machine over the net or use a PC to work remotely over a virtual private network (VPN).

A comprehensive fix for the loophole is now being worked on by Microsoft and it said it hoped to include this in a future security update.

Although Windows XP has been superseded by versions 7 and 8 of Microsoft's flagship operating system, the older software is still widely used. Market research figures suggests about one-third of PCs still run XP.

People who have upgraded to the latest version of Adobe Reader will not be vulnerable to the combined attack, said FireEye.

PLAYSTATION 4 STARTING TO SELL OUT

Sony's PlayStation 4 was launched in the UK at midnight and is already "starting to sell out".

Fans camped overnight for a chance to get their hands on one of the consoles.

The first-come first-served launch was considered one of the only ways for people to get hold of a console before Christmas.

Amazon said customers who had not pre-ordered before 13 November would not receive a console in time for Christmas.

The UK launch comes two weeks after the PS4 was launched in the US and a week after Microsoft's Xbox One was launched worldwide. Both consoles sold over a million in the first 24 hours.

In a statement to the BBC a Sony spokesman said: "We are starting to sell out - very rapidly but [we] will continue to work with all parts of the supply chain including our partners at retail to get more, as and when we can."

The company said it was facing "unprecedented" demand and it would be setting up a stock-tracker website to help customers find "those elusive units".

The launches are seen as a fight for dominance in the key Christmas season says the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.

Imran Choudhary was the first in the queue outside the venue in Covent Garden, London.
"It was always my goal to try and be one of the first people in the country to get hold of a PS4," he said.

Online scams

The chief executive of Sony's computer entertainment division, Andrew House, said: "We are trying to create a much more social and connected feeling. The whole goal of PlayStation 4 is to connect people via play, in a way that they maybe have not had before."

Customers who had placed online pre-orders with Amazon before 6 August were given the option of receiving their console on release day.

Anyone ordering after 14 November will have to wait until after Christmas for delivery, the company said.

The console was sold out on Game's website and only people who had paid a deposit when pre-ordering were guaranteed to receive a console before Christmas.
Customers have been warned to be careful of online scams involving consoles. NetNames, a company which advises brands on protecting their online reputation, said it had seen an increase in marketplace websites offering cheap consoles, sometimes in countries where they have not yet been launched.

"To avoid falling victim to the latest online scams, consumers need to remember that if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is," said NetNames product director of brand protection, Haydn Simpson.

Both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 have suffered problems after their launches in the US and worldwide.

Users of the Xbox One reported that the console's disc drive made a loud noise when they tried to insert a disc and in some cases couldn't read discs at all. Microsoft responded by offering a replacement console and a free game download to anyone affected by the problem.

Sony published a troubleshooting guide after some users complained that a blue light continuously flashed on the front of the PS4 console affecting its operation

ROBOTS RIGHTS: WOULD IT BE WRONG TO MURDER OR TORTURE A MACHINE?????

Kate Darling likes to ask you to do terrible things to cute robots. At a workshop she organised this year, Darling asked people to play with a Pleo robot, a child's toy dinosaur. The soft green Pleo has trusting eyes and affectionate movements. When you take one out of the box, it acts like a helpless newborn puppy – it can't walk and you have to teach it about the world.

Yet after an hour allowing people to tickle and cuddle these loveable dinosaurs, Darling turned executioner. She gave the participants knives, hatchets and other weapons, and ordered them to torture and dismember their toys. What happened next "was much more dramatic than we ever anticipated," she says.

For Darling, a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, our reaction to robot cruelty is important because a new wave of machines is forcing us to reconsider our relationship with them. When Darling described her Pleo experiment in a talk in Boston this month, she made the case that mistreating certain kinds of robots could soon become unacceptable in the eyes of society. She even believes that we may need a set of "robot rights". If so, in what circumstance would it be OK to torture or murder a robot? And what would it take to make you think twice before being cruel to a machine?

Until recently, the idea of robot rights had been left to the realms of science fiction. Perhaps that's because the real machines surrounding us have been relatively unsophisticated. Nobody feels bad about chucking away a toaster or a remote-control toy car. Yet the arrival of social robots changes that. They display autonomous behaviour, show intent and embody familiar forms like pets or humanoids, says Darling. In other words, they act as if they are alive. It triggers our emotions, and often we can't help it.

For example, in a small experiment conducted for the radio show Radiolab in 2011, Freedom Baird of MIT asked children to hold upside down a Barbie doll, a hamster and a Furby robot for as long as they felt comfortable. While the children held the doll upside down until their arms got tired, they soon stopped torturing the wriggling hamster, and after a little while, the Furby too. They were old enough to know the Furby was a toy, but couldn't stand the way it was programmed to cry and say "Me scared".

It's not just kids that form surprising bonds with these bundles of wires and circuits. Some people give names to their Roomba vacuum cleaners, says Darling. And soldiers honour their robots with "medals" or hold funerals for them. She cites one particularly striking example of a military robot that was designed to defuse landmines by stepping on them. In a test, the explosions ripped off most of the robot's legs, and yet the crippled machine continued to limp along. Watching the robot struggle, the colonel in charge called off the test because it was "inhumane", according to the Washington Post.

Killer instinct

Some researchers are converging on the idea that if a robot looks like it is alive, with its own mind, the tiniest of simulated cues forces us to feel empathy with machines, even though we know they are artificial.

Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany used an fMRI scanner and devices that measure skin conductance to track people's reactions to a video of somebody torturing a Pleo dinosaur – choking it, putting it inside a plastic bag or striking it. The physiological and emotional responses they measured were much stronger than expected, despite being aware they were watching a robot.

JOEL NWALE-BRINGING FACEBOOK EDUCATION TO KENYA

A young social entrepreneur from Kenya might have solved one of the conundrums of the Facebook generation - how to stop social media getting in the way of studying.

Joel Mwale, a 20-year-old who never completed his own education, has realised the answer is to stop trying to push social media away, and instead embrace it.

More than one million people around the world seem to agree with him, because in the five weeks since his website Gigavia.com went live, they have signed up as users.

Teachers and schools have always faced the problem of stopping students using social media in class, seeing it as a distraction.

But they also know that teenagers are addicted to chatting to each other online.








His website allows schools and teachers to be part of it, so you can sign into class-specific areas of the site where academic materials can be shared.

There is a personal library section where you can share books at a class level, and there is a section for mentoring.

This is all on the same site which you can also use for all the usual personal social media chats and sharing with friends.

Although he wants his idea to be taken up in East Africa, his ambition is global.
Screengrab from the Gigavia websiteMore than 50% of Gigavia users so far come from the US
His website has been developed with a team of international software developers.

The proof of its success is not only the staggeringly quick take-up by users, but also that they come from around the world.

More than 50% of users so far come from the US, and other countries like Turkey and South Africa have been quicker to sign on than Kenyans.

Rainwater for school fees?

Mr Mwale arrives on foot for our interview in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, after someone drove into the back of his car in a traffic accident.

Walking through the streets carrying a simple bag with his laptop, you would never guess that the unassuming young man in a checked shirt and canvas shoes has rubbed shoulders with former US President Bill Clinton and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Joel Mwale


His extraordinary personal story started aged 14, when he along with others from his village near Kitale, a town in western Kenya, were struck down by dysentery from unclean drinking water.

In the local hospital, the people in the beds on either side of him died, and he thought "something has got to be done".

So he dug a borehole to reach clean water, designed a pump using an old bicycle wheel, and provided clean water for his neighbours.

Drinking water formed the basis of his first commercial venture.

When he did not have enough money for school fees, he collected rainwater from the gutters of a local milk factory, purified it, bottled it and sold it to local people during the dry season.

However, he never went back to school, and sold his "SkyDrop" water company last year for $500,000 (£307,000) to an Israeli investor.

This success brought him international recognition, a spell in the African Leadership Academy, a place on the Forbes list of "30 under 30: Africa's Best Young Entrepreneurs" and meetings with some of the top players in Silicon Valley in California.

It was there, while in a meeting with Mr Zuckerberg that the founder of Facebook said something that made Mr Mwale sit up.

"In the next two years a start-up is going to come up and it's going to grow from zero to 200 million users in two years," he said.

Mr Mwale says he was sitting there listening and he thought:"Wow! I'm definitely going to be that person."

Free for users

It is this confidence and determination that belies his softly spoken voice; when he sets his mind to something he believes he can achieve it.

"What I've learnt is that to be successful you've got to be determined, you've got to work hard, and if you do so the world will give you a standing ovation. If you dedicate 100% of your efforts into something it will definitely succeed."

The mixture of the social and the entrepreneurial, which marked his first successful venture with SkyDrop, is central to his internet platform.

It is free for users - although schools with more than 100 pupils signed up will have to start paying - but he also expects it to be financially successful in the future.

"I came from nothing, we had no money, and I always wanted to be rich when I was young. I want to help people improve their lives, but I'm also an entrepreneur who wants to succeed."

And he seems to be succeeding with Gigavia.

The website has not been promoted in any way, it has not been officially launched, yet has gained more than a million users through word of mouth alone.

It is a simple website which looks similar to Facebook in its layout, but with the added sections for mentoring, school assignments, teachers and schools.

It is this combination of education and social media that Mr Mwale hopes is going to transform the way young people use social media.

"We are connecting education and social media together in a meaningful way."

And he is aiming high - he wants 150 million people to be using his website by March 2014.

"The reality is I started from a very low background, now I'm where I am, and I think that anyone else could do the same thing," he says.

"You've just got to remain focussed, and work hard, and never give up."

EX NOKIA EMPLOYEES LAUNCH SMARTPHONE-JOLLA

Jolla phoneThe Jolla smartphone is based on software Nokia abandoned in 2011
A team of ex-Nokia employees has released the first handset running on a new smartphone platform.

The Jolla phone - pronounced Yol-la - is powered by open-source operating system Sailfish, but can run most apps designed for Google's Android platform.

The company has paired with a major Finnish network, and hopes to set up a similar deal with a UK operator.

Industry analysts said Jolla faced a challenge in taking on a market dominated by Google and Apple.

Just 450 Jolla phones will be available at launch on Wednesday evening, with the majority going to customers who have pre-ordered the device.

Co-founder Marc Dillon told the BBC the company was in the process of ramping up manufacturing.

He said the phone's ethos was to provide a more "open" approach to how people used their mobiles, a contrast to the relatively closed systems used on the iPhone and, to a lesser extent, Android devices.
There's different opportunities for people to get apps form different places, different stores," he said.

"We've created a world-class platform. Users will be getting more choice."




Dumped OS

The platform - originally called MeeGo - was developed by Nokia, but dumped in 2011 in favour of the company adopting the Windows Phone system.

Nokia released just one handset running the software, the N9-00.

Antti Saarnio, chairman and co-founder of Jolla, told the BBC in May that MeeGo - now called Sailfish - had not been given enough chance to succeed.

"Everybody felt so strongly that they wanted to continue," he said.

Large parts of the Sailfish code were open-source, which meant anyone could expand and adapt the platform, Mr Dillon said.

"We are ramping up our Jolla community right now.

"There's already a Sailfish website so that developers can come and contribute."

David v Goliath

According to CCS Insight, 81% of smartphones shipped globally from July to September ran Google's Android software. Apple's iOS accounted for 13%.

Smaller players such as Blackberry, Microsoft and Mozilla made up the numbers.

Analyst Geoff Blaber, from CCS, said while it might seem Jolla was taking on an impossibly large challenge by trying to muscle in, its strategy could pay off.

It's easy to characterise this as David v Goliath," he told the BBC. "But the fact is if Jolla can maintain a competitive cost base, there is already an enthusiast base seeking this product. It could be successful."

But Mr Blaber added the handset was a means to an end, and that Jolla's long-term strategy was to create a operating system it could licence to other manufacturers.

"This is the challenge," he said.

"At the moment we have a situation where Android is utterly dominant. They've got to prove the software is competitive and it works."

Jolla may also be buoyed by support in its home country as a result of Microsoft's planned buy-out of Nokia.

Jolla co-founder Mr Dillion said he was getting "stopped everywhere I go".

"We're not trying to piggy-back, but we have seen a bump," said Mr Dillon. "We've had a lot of support in Finland."

Mr Blaber added: "This is the 'what might have been' scenario had Nokia not gone down the Microsoft road with Windows Phone."

SEX HAS TURNED DAILY REALITY FOR GIRLS

Sexism is so widespread in the UK that it affects "most aspects" of the lives of girls and young women, a report from Girlguiding UK says.

"Sexual harassment is commonplace, girls' appearance is intensively scrutinised and their abilities are undermined", says the report.

The report Equality for Girls is based on a survey of more than 1,200 girls and young women aged seven to 21.

Girlguiding UK chief executive Julie Bentley called it a "wake-up call".

"This cannot be dismissed as something that girls and young women just have to deal with as they grow up," she said.

Girls needed to live in an equal society if they were to flourish and fulfil their potential to be leaders in all walks of life, added Ms Bentley.

The survey of a representative sample of girls and young women, both Guides and non-Guides, gives "a disturbing insight into the state of equality for girls in the UK", says Girlguiding UK, which has more than half a million members.

'Priority issue'

"Girls identified sexism as a priority issue for their generation", with three-quarters saying sexism affected "most areas of their lives", says the report.

Of the 11- to 21-year-olds questioned, some 87% thought women were judged more on their appearance than their ability.

More than a third (36%) of all those surveyed had felt "patronised or made to feel stupid" because their gender, rising to 60% of the 16- to 21-year-olds.

Most of the 13-year-olds questioned said they had experienced sexual harassment, rising to 80% of 19- to 21-year-olds.

This included being shouted and whistled at, sexual graffiti and pornography, sexual jokes and taunts as well as unwanted sexual attention, unwanted touching and stalking.

More than three-quarters (78%) said they found this behaviour threatening if they were alone.

'Double standards'

The girls said there were "clear double standards" for girls and boys when it came to relationships and sex.

Three-quarters (76%) of the 11- to 21-year-olds said girls were judged harshly for sexual behaviour seen as acceptable in boys, with just 3% feeling the opposite.

Most of the 16- to 21-year-olds questioned said they thought too much responsibility was placed on girls for their sexual safety.

The report also talks of bias in the way women are portrayed in the media, with girls and women facing "unprecedented levels of personal and public scrutiny" over body shape".

Of the 11- to 21-year-olds questioned, 75% agreed boys expected girls to look like images they saw in the media, while 71% said they would like to lose weight.

Other challenges are similar to those faced by previous generations, such as overcoming stereotypes and constraints in work and family life, say the authors.

Some 46% of the 11- to 21-year-olds said they feared having children would damage their careers. Most of the 16- to 21-year-olds worried some employers may to some extent prefer to hire men.

The report concludes that despite awareness of the difficulties they face, most girls remain positive, with 55% hoping to get to the top of their chosen profession, 70% wanting to combine a career and motherhood and 11% preferring a career over children.

Lucy Lawrenson, 18, of Girlguiding UK, said she was "depressed" by the findings.

"Issues that should only be read about in our history books are still common.

"I know because they happen to me, and this can't continue. Something has to change."

Emma Gees, 22, also of Girlguiding UK, said cultural misconceptions and media stereotypes "deeply ingrained in our culture" were major barriers to equality

"Equality requires a change in perception and attitudes, not just laws, which is currently the case" she said.

Girlguiding UK plans to meet the leaders of the main political parties in the run-up to the general election in 2015 to discuss the findings.

XBOX ONE HAD TURNED INTO 'SEX BOX'

The Xbox One is hailed as the all-in-one answer to our entertainment needs and now it is able to satisfy the most carnal of cravings as users have found a way to watch pornography on the console, as reported on Digital Trends.

Adult entertainment company SugarDVD delivers streaming adult movies in a similar fashion to that of Quickflix through the Xbox One web browser, giving unlimited access to hundreds of titles for a monthly subscription fee.

The SugarDVD app has been available on the PS3 and Wii and now comes to the Xbox One after the company stated the console was superior.

Anyone who is worried about adult content being seen by children won't have to worry though as the Xbox One privacy and security settings allow you to put in place filters that block sites with explicit content or you haven't approved.

While the movie service is classified as an app, by going through the browser it sidesteps any Xbox Marketplace violations

After being on the market for just under a week it was only a matter of time before gamers and porno providers took advantage of the built-in web browser to bring hardcore content into living rooms, and if there's a sure-fire way any technology is to succeed it's to get the adult industry behind it.

In 2007, when the adult industry opted to support the Blu-ray format of disc as its medium for movie distribution it left rival format HD-DVD dead and buried.

Xbox has been contacted by news.com.au for comment.

NSW MAN BEHEADED AFTER FIGHT OVER A TREE

MARGARET Simmons faced her brother's murderer and asked only one question: "Where is his head?"

Jonathon Andrew Stenberg, 47, shot and decapitated Edward "Ned" Kelly, 54, at his Broadwater home on the NSW north coast in June last year.

After years of disputes with his neighbour, it was an argument over a tree that led to the Mr Kelly's murder.

His headless body was found on his kitchen floor with two blood-stained knives next to his neck. His head has never been found.

Days before the grisly discovery, Mr Kelly had been in a heated argument with Stenberg.

According to court documents, the pair had a history of bad blood, dating back to 2008 when Stenberg bought a block of land that backed onto Mr Kelly's.

Stenberg was charged with assaulting Mr Kelly in September 2009. But both alleged they were assaulted by the other and the charge was eventually withdrawn.











Then on the morning of Sunday June 17, 2012, Stenberg was cutting down a tree on his property using a chainsaw when a row between the two erupted.

One neighbour heard Stenberg say: "I'm going to f*** you up, arsehole."

Around 3am the next morning, Stenberg stumbled home from the pub, telling his wife: "I got pissed off and shot our neighbour."

It would take until July for police to track down Stenberg, who was found hiding out in thick scrub just south of Darwin armed with a Glock pistol.

At Stenberg's sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court in Sydney on Friday, Ms Simmons faced her brother's murderer and asked: "Where is his head?"

"Come on, tell us," she said to a motionless Stenberg.

"If we knew ... it may put an end to our suffering."

Ms Simmons said she had been extremely close to her brother, who, while at times stubborn, had been a loving, caring and creative man, who nursed sick birds back to health.

"Some days the mere thought of this stings my eyes," she said.

"I found I have started to withdraw ... I seem to have lost the joy of the unknown.

"I used to feel safe living alone. Now I'm not so sure."

Barbara Mikkelsen, Mr Kelly's partner of 15 years, described their plans for the future.

"We were going to travel ... and look around for a little property to settle on and grow old together," she said in a statement read to the court.

"I'm now depressed and alone with the thought of moving forward without Ned."

Stenberg's barrister, Chris Bruce SC, said while the severing of Mr Kelly's head was an aggravating factor, it came "some hours" after the killing and was not done out of pleasure.

"The reason for the severing of the head and attempt to burn the house was an attempt to get rid of the evidence," he submitted.

A crude fuse consisting of a lit cigarette and a number of long matches bound by copper coil were found on the Akubra hat on top of Mr Kelly's body.

The electric stove top was also on.

Justice Monika Schmidt will sentence Stenberg next month.

GTA San Andreas Coming To Android and iOs

Rockstar has just announced the mobile version of the critically acclaimed GTA San Andreas game. The game will be released on Android( both Google and Amazon appstore), iOS and Windows Phone in december. Pricing and specific release date are yet to be disclosed.

Rockstar has already released GTA III and Vice City for mobile devices so it was only a matter of time before San Andreas followed suit. The Studio promises remastered graphics, new touch controls, new checkpoints and suppory for third party controllers, Personally I can't wait to get my hands on it.

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COMPUTER USES IMAGES TO TEACH ITSELF COMMON SENSE

A computer program is trying to learn common sense by analysing images 24hours a day

The aim is to see if computers can learn, in the same way a human would, what links images, to help them better understand the visual world.

The Never Ending Image Learner (NEIL) program is being run at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.

The work is being funded by the US Department of Defense's Office of Naval Research and Google.

Since July, the NEIL program has looked at three million images. As a result it has managed to identify 1,500 objects in half a million images and 1,200 scenes in hundreds of thousands of images as well as making 2,500 associations.

The team working on the project hopes that NEIL will learn relationships between different items without being taught.

Computer programs can already identify and label objects using computer vision, which models what humans can see using hardware and software, but the researchers hope that NEIL can bring extra analysis to the data.










"Images are the best way to learn visual properties," said Abhinav Gupta, assistant research professor in Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute.

"[They] also include a lot of common sense information about the world. People learn this by themselves and, with NEIL, we hope that computers will do so as well."

Examples of the links that NEIL has made include the facts that cars are found on roads and that ducks can resemble geese.

The program can also make mistakes, say the research team. It may think that the search term "pink" relates to the pop star rather than the colour because an image search would be more likely to return this result.

To prevent errors like this, humans will still need to be part of the program's learning process, according to Abhinav Shrivastava, a PhD student working on the project.

"People don't always know how or what to teach computers," he said. "But humans are good at telling computers when they are wrong."

Another reason for NEIL to run is to create the world's largest visual knowledge database where objects, scenes, actions, attributes and contextual relationships can be labelled and catalogued.

"What we have learned in the last five to 10 years of computer vision research is that the more data you have, the better computer vision becomes," Mr Gupta said.

The program requires a vast amount of computer power to operate and is being run on two clusters of computers that include 200 processing cores.

The team plans to let NEIL run indefinitely

BLACKBERRY SHAKES UP SENIOR MANAGEMENT

The firm's chief financial officer, Brian Bidulka, will be replaced by James Yersh who has previously served as controller and head of compliance.

The chief marketing officer and chief operating officer will leave the firm with no replacements announced.

This comes just weeks after the firm appointed a new interim chief executive as it shelved a plan to sell itself.

Blackberry named John Chen as the interim chief executive officer as it announced it had abandoned a planned sale to its biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings.

The management changes are the first major move made by Mr Chen.

'Working more closely'

Blackberry once dominated the smartphone market, but has seen its fortunes dwindle in recent years,

It has been hurt by the success and popularity of smartphones launched by rivals such as Apple and Samsung. Its attempts to boost its market share have not yielded the desired results.

In September, it reported a net loss of $965m (£597m) for the second quarter, blaming poor sales of its new smartphone, the Z10.

The firm has also announced a plan to cut 4,500 jobs, or 40% of its workforce, to reverse the giant losses.

Mr Chen said the management changes were aimed at refining the company's strategy "to ensure we deliver the best devices, mobile security and device management".

"I look forward to working more directly with the talented teams of engineers, and the sales and marketing teams around the world to facilitate the BlackBerry turnaround and to drive innovation," he added.

PROTRIBAL: NAIJA'S FLYING EAGLES' KELECHI IHEANACHO DECLARED MISSING

<a href="http://protribal.blogspot.com/2013/11/naijas-flying-eagles-kelechi-iheanacho.html?m=1">PROTRIBAL: NAIJA'S FLYING EAGLES' KELECHI IHEANACHO DECLARED MISSING</a>

COOL! HOW TO SWITCH YOUR IPHONE TO ANDROID

FOR those who have toyed with the idea of swapping their iPhone for Android but found it to be baffling and stressful, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has written a Google+ post on how to switch. HERE This step-by-step guide</a> covers how to keep your contacts, set up your email (Gmail, obviously), and transfer your music and photos.


"Here are the steps I recommend to make this switch. Like the people who moved from PCs to Macs and never switched back, you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back as everything will be in the cloud, backed up," Schmidt says. Just follow the steps below and it'll be easy.


1. Firstly, what you'll need to do is setup your Android phone. Here's how to do this:

a) Turn your phone on and connect to wi-fi and login to your Gmail account when prompted

b) Download the Google Play Store and all the applications you used on your iPhone (Instagram, Facebook etc) if available

c) Make sure the phone is running its latest software (to do this go to apps>settings>about phone)












2. Next, Schmidt says to update your iPhone or iPad:

a) Turn the Apple device on, make sure your Gmail is logged in and upgrade the iOS software to the latest version (typically iOS 7+). Do this by plugging your phone into iTunes and clicking update software

b) Check you are using iCloud to back up contacts (go to settings>iCloud>contacts switched on). If not, sign up for it (it's free, anyway)

c) Sync your Gmail contacts (go to settings>email>Gmail account>turn contacts tab on)

Turn off iMessage (go to settings> messages>turn iMessage tab off)

d) Sync your iPhone to iTunes to ensure backup of your photos and music


3. Okay, still with us? Eric says by this point you "should see all your Gmail, have your apps, and have your contacts in the Android phone." If not, manually download contacts on your Mac as follows:

a) Go to apple.com/icloud and login with your Apple ID and click on contacts.

In the lower-left corner, click on the wheel, and "select all" the contacts and "export" the vCard into a vCard file (in Downloads).

b) In a browser, go to gmail.com, click on the Mail button and select "Contacts". You should see a list of your Gmail contacts. Import the vCard file into Gmail/contacts using the "Import contacts" command and it should have manually added your contacts. Delete any duplicates or use the "More / Find & merge duplicates" function.


4. To get all your music on the handset, follow this:

a) On your Mac, connect to your music to Google by downloading Google Music Manager onto the Mac, and run it. Music Manager will upload your iTunes music.


At this stage you should have all your Gmail, apps, contacts and music in your new Android phone. So, take out the SIM of the iPhone and insert it into the Android handset (you might need an adaptor for those with nano-SIMS), restart and off you go!


Any iPhone owners who have felt all too trapped in the past will be sure to welcome this handy guide, although it's worth noting not all apps will magically appear on your new device. Mainly because you can't transfer an app built only for iOS to Android. If you've dropped a wad of cash on an iPhone app, chances are you're going to have to do so again. Also, any movies you have bought on iTunes won't get ported over, either.

NEW: GOT AN STD? THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT

The free app, called Hula, makes the whole devastatingly embarrassing situation a whole heap easier by firstly helping users find a nearby test centre suited to them by listing its services and a contact number so they can booked.

Sadly, the app can't replace the doctor or the test itself (yet, who knows what the next iPhone could bring?) but when it's time to pick up the results you won't have to face the doctor as Hula sends them directly to your mobile in an easy-to-understand and interpret interface. If you're gonorrhoea free, it'll simply have a negative symbol next to it on the app. If not, there's a positive icon, which is probably easier to take than in person.

The idea is to promote a simpler, less (mentally) painful screening process in the hope of helping people deal with their result, whatever it is.

If you want to share with the world your results, Hula will let you securely do so. It even has a feature that lets you 'friend' another Hula user to both share results, something that could help improve the safety of online dating.

With the rise of dating apps, Hula is looking to make the mobile dating scene safer by partnering with MISTER, an app that helps gay men get together by introducing themselves over mobile. Users can romantically make their result available on their profiles. However, it is believed this could prove even more dangerous as it could lull users into a false sense of security as someone could easily post a clean record and have contracted an STD since.

When it's about time for another check-up Hula will automatically remind users when it's time to re-book.

A KID WHO THINKS HE IS BACK FROM THE DEAD

RYAN remembers seeing Marilyn Monroe at a party one time, but he got punched in the eye by a brawny bodyguard before he could get close to her. 
 
He can flip through books about old Hollywood and point out friends like Rita Hayworth (who was famous among the group for making Coke spiders).

He remembers small details about black-and-white classics from cinema's golden age, and can tell you all the gossip from behind the scenes.

But Ryan is five-years-old.

His mother, Cyndi, a devout Christian who was taught to think of reincarnation as nonsense, wrote to Jim B Tucker for help when she realised her troubled son was having memories of what he believed to be a past life.

In his new book Return to Life, Tucker tells the extraordinary stories of children all over the world who believe they're reincarnated.

Among them are a three-year-old golfing prodigy who believes he's the reincarnation of 1930s golf star Bobby Jones; a two-year-old boy whose father-son visit to a flight museum triggered memories of the battle of Iwo Jima; and Ryan, the five-year-old from Oklahoma.

Cyndi brought home some books from the library about old Hollywood to see if they would trigger any more memories for Ryan. That's when he pointed to a photo taken on the set of the 1932 movie Night After Night, and said: "Mama, that guy's me. I found me."

He could describe a scene in the movie that involved a closet full of guns. Cyndi watched the film on YouTube that night. Sure enough, it featured a scene with guns in a closet.

Tucker and his team used the photograph to track down the man in Ryan's memories. His name was Marty Martyn, a big-shot Hollywood agent who lived in Los Angeles and died of cancer in 1963 - five decades before Ryan was born.

Ryan says he returned to life because Marty held on to regrets in the after life.

"Ryan said the reason he had to come back was that he didn't spend enough time with his family in his last life," Tucker writes. "He worked so much that he forgot that love was the

most important thing."

Ryan detailed other eerie things about his former life, which were proven to be true as Tucker and his team investigated Marty Martyn.

"Ryan had talked a lot about a sister and also mentioned another one, and Marty had two sisters. His mother had curly brown hair as Ryan had said," Tucker says.

He was also telling the truth about a period working as a dancer in Broadway, about his huge LA home with a swimming pool in the yard, and about dates with beautiful women on the beach.

Ryan knew he had died in a room with numbers on the door. Martyn died of cancer in a hospital room in 1963.

And while he would sometimes cry about wanting that life back, he was troubled by his memories too.

"At one point, he told (Cyndi), 'Mommy, I just want to be me, not the old me'," Tucker writes.

Tucker believes past-life recall is strongest in young children because their minds have not yet been written over by the present.

But he concluded that Ryan also showed psychic abilities - which he admits is a controversial area - as he could do things that separated him from other cases Tucker had investigated.

Ryan knew his grandmother had lost a premature baby shortly after childbirth - a sibling Cyndi didn't even know about, and that her mother had never discussed with Ryan.

He predicted who his teacher would be, and wanted to wager an Xbox on it - a bet his mother wisely didn't shake on.

And he knows who is calling before the phone has even been lifted off the hook.

"Most of the children we study have not demonstrated special knowledge about anything other than the life of one deceased person ... from the viewpoint of that person," Tucker writes.

"(Ryan) seemed to have access to information he could not have gained through the usual functioning of his brain. There may be a more diffuse field of knowledge rather than just individual points where it resides."

  Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives  is in bookstores today.

What do you think? Hocus pocus or real-life links to the spirit world? Comment below or continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauHQ | @danielstrudwick

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND A 10,000 YEARS OLD HOUSE IN ESHTAOL NEAR JERUSALEM IN ISRAEL

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered a 10,000 year old house near Jerusalem showing "evidence of man's transition to permanent dwellings."

The Times of Israel reports that the house, along with a 6000 year old cultic temple, were found ahead of a planned road expansion.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, together with the Netivei Israel Company that is carrying out the highway expansion, invited the public to visit the excavation site in Eshtaol, labeling it "a fascinating glimpse into thousands of years of human development."

"Settlement remains were unearthed at the site, the earliest of which dates to the beginning of the eighth millennium BCE (Before Common Era) and latest to the end of the fourth millennium BCE," the authority said in a statement











"We uncovered a multitude of unique finds during the excavation," said Amir Golani, one of the excavators for the Antiquities Authority. "The large excavation affords us a broad picture of the progression and development of the society in the settlement throughout the ages. Thus we can clearly see that in the Early Bronze Age, 5000 years ago, a rural society made the transition to an urban society.

"We can see distinctly a settlement that gradually became planned, which included [streets] and buildings that were extremely impressive from the standpoint of their size and the manner of their construction," he said. "We can clearly trace the urban planning and see the guiding hand of the settlement's leadership that chose to regulate the construction in the crowded regions in the center of the settlement and allowed less planning along its periphery."

"Whoever built the house did something that was totally innovative because up until this period [local human groups] migrated from place to place in search of food. Here we have evidence of man's transition to permanent dwellings, and that in fact is the beginning of the domestication of animals and plants; instead of searching out wild sheep, ancient man started raising them near the house," researchers said in a statement.

The house is the oldest structure ever found in the Judean lowlands, dating back to the period known to archaeologists as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

NAIJA'S FLYING EAGLES' KELECHI IHEANACHO DECLARED MISSING

The father of Kelechi Iheanacho has raised alarm over the whereabouts of his son, saying he has been taken away by agents without his consent. Iheanacho, 17, was the top star of the recent FIFA U-17 World Cup in United Arab Emirates and is wanted by several top clubs in Europe. However, controversies have continued to trail his next destination.

This week, Golden Eaglets assistant coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, was reported to have manhandled a FIFA agent in Owerri over the youngster's transfer, MTNFootball.com reports.

"I don't know the whereabouts of my son. I have not been able to reach him for the past three days," MTNFootball.com quoted James Iheanacho as saying on Hot FM Owerri on Friday.

Unconfirmed reports said two Golden Eaglets officials and a Portugal-based agent simply known as Graham may have taken the younger Iheanacho to Abuja to perfect his transfer to Europe.

Graham was behind the summer transfer of Flying Eagles midfielder Chidi Osuchukwu to another Portuguese club, Sporting Braga.
Portuguese champions FC Porto is believed to be in pole position to sign the player from Taye Academy in Owerri

D'BANJ AND DON JAZZY EXCHANGE CIGARETTE AT FIRE OF ZAMANI CONCERT

D'banj has once revealed, 'I really miss Don Jazzy and I miss the whole Mo'Hits crew…' He could have gotten married if Mo'Hits was still in existence, 'To tell you the truth, I would have been married if Mo'Hits had not broken up. The crisis really affected me and I had to start so many things afresh…'

Don jazzy and D'banj were once the best of friends, they formed an indomitable label called Mo'Hit records, they broke up and became cat and dog, D'banj and Don Jazzy spilled their guts and exposed their dirty linings in public, Over the months, they have expressed how they are still friends especially D'banj, who always say he is in love with the Don, they met over the weekend at the Fire of Zamani concert, and quickly settled their differences as friends for life.

This is the second time , the Kokomaster and the Don are meeting in public and exchanging cheerful pleasantries. The first time was at the wedding ceremony of Dotun Ojuolape of Cool fm and D'banj's sister Dotun and they had even performed together on stage. They had walked deliberately towards each other and the Ice cracked in this concert of Ice Prince, that was held at the Eko Hotel and Suites.

Don Jazzy and D'banj were seen sharing smiles, giving each other bear hugs and even sharing a cigar… they are totally into each other no matter how strained their relationship might be.

HOW MY BEST FRIEND SNATCHED MY HUBBY FROM ME - ACTRESS GLORIA MBA

Actress Gloria Mba has narrated how she lost her husband to her best friend.

Losing one's husband to someone least expected can be very painful and for Gloria, she didn't believe such a thing will ever happen to her as most of such events are encountered in the movies, but the actress disclosed that she caught her husband 'in the act' with her best friend and this made her to pack out of her matrimonial home, thereby abandoning her husband for her so called friend. Below is her experience:

Have you encountered lesbianism in Nollywood?

Yes, I have and I was very firm with them. We can be playing but when it gets further than necessary I won't tolerate it. When you are not a man, why should you be touching my sensitive parts? What do they see in it? But it's their choice. I am not against them; just don't come close to me.

What's your relationship now with your best friend who ruined your marriage?

I haven't spoken to her for more than a year. I don't have anything against her; God is my witness. I saw her once at Shoprite in Surulere. I don't keep grudges for long, because if you are holding down someone, you are holding yourself down too. I wish them all the best.

A lot of marriages break up in the industry, how do you intend to safeguard your next marriage?

From my experience, I have learnt something and I will use that as a yardstick. All marriages can never be the same but I have always wanted to be a wonderful wife.

NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS, PRINCESS CHINEKE RELEASES HOT PIC!!

The name Princess Chineke will surely not sound strange to many people, especially among Nigerian movie buffs. Even though the actress is not one of the stars that has been in the news for the negative reasons, she has proven with time that Nollywood is not only about one scandal or the other, as some of its players have made many people to believe.

Princess Chineke recently hit the headlines when she posed with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the United States of America (USA), where both of them attended a meeting.

The ex-Miss UNIBEN queen has now released some hot pictures of hers, which are no doubt breathtaking...
For me, i'l go for "hot" lol

TIWA SAVAGE: A MARRIED WOMAN

It is a thing of joy for any parent to see their daughter getting married, Tiwa Savage got married on saturday and from all indications her mother was most happy, her wedding saw family and friends join her for the celebrations.

Her mom who of course was also present at the event was looking lovely just like her daughter, and from what we heard, Tiwa is the only daughter of her mother.

Congratulations once more Mrs Tiwa Balogun

We think her mom looks adorable and happy. Lol.. She looks pretty happy. :))

TRANSFORMERS: CHECK OUT OPTIMUS PRIME'S SURPRISING NEW LOOK

The human roles in "Transformers" aren't the only characters getting revamped for "Age of Extinction." The leader of the righteous Autobots has an updated look as well.Gracing this cover of the January issue of Empire magazine are Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, and Nicola Peltz, the three new leads in the "Transformers" series, alongside Optimus Prime, who is sporting a new, tougher look for the fourth entry in the franchise.

Whereas Optimus Prime had a fair amount of color in the first three "Transformers" movies (orange and red flames with bright blue background), the new version looks more washed out. Much of his color, especially on his chest, is gone. His look is harsher than his original softer expression around his eyes, but the "Age of Extinction" model sports a more furrowed brow that gives the character an edge.The other big difference is the large sword that Optimus wields in his right hand. This isn't the first time that the Autobots leader has brought a blade into battle. In the destructive finale of "Dark of the Moon," he had orange blades extending from his wrists, but here, he's clearly holding onto his new saber."Transformers: Age of Extinction" is the fourth film in the series directed by Michael Bay, and it follows an all-new cast of characters. Wahlberg plays an inventor who finds himself involved with the warring mechanical alien races, alongside his daughter, played by Peltz, and the young man who is after her heart (Reynor)."Transformers: Age of Extinction" opens in theaters on June 27, 2014.

EMINEM AND BURSTA RHYME'S SIX MINUTES RAP BATTLE! "pretty crazy"

Eminem is no stranger to rap battles. But if you think top-selling records has made Em soft, think again. Slim Shady is prepping for a lyrical throwdown with none other than Busta Rhymes, and producer Scoop DeVille spoke to MTV News about it."[I'm] working with Busta Rhymes, I have a single coming out with him called 'Calm Down' with Eminem and that's a six-minute record where they're battling each other for like 30 to 50 bars apiece. It's pretty crazy," Scoop told us while he walked the red carpet for the 2013 American Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Busta first opened up about the track, which will appear on his upcoming Extinction Level Event 2 LP, in a September interview."I've got a six-minute record with Eminem that sounds like we are respectfully trying to battle each other in a way that you probably never heard us battle in our entire careers on a record," he told XXLMag.com. "So it's lot of real incredibly golden moments for us on this project."The track is sure to be a highlight for all involved, including DeVille, who has built his career by logging in standout records with Snoop Dogg ("I Wanna Rock"), Fat Joe ("Slow Down") and Kendrick Lamar ("Poetic Justice").During Sunday's awards, Scoop got to see K-Dot perform "Poetic Justice" and confirmed to us that he's back in the studio with Lamar."Yes, actually we're working on his new album right now," he said. "I think he's molded his sound to where it needs to be and there's a lot of good surprises for this new album. Be expecting to hear something different, something new."

Rapist's private part cut off...!

The person in the photo rapes girls, not minding their age.
Everyday for the thief, a day for the owner they say. His cup ran full and he was caught in the act. This was his sad end.
Feel sorry for him? Drop ur comment!

UNBELIEVABLE!! WOMAN GETS A CALL AND TEXT FROM SATAN

A Colorado mother spent the night scared and ‘praying
nothing would happen’ after she got a missed call from
‘Satan’.
Jenn Vest was half asleep while bosom-feeding her son
when her phone rang from the number 1-666-666-666.
After that call, she received 48 text messages from
different numbers, all with only the single word ‘Satan’ in the messages.
‘It really freaked me out because I was half asleep
feeding my son and it woke me up.
She said she thought she might have been dreaming at
first.
'Then I stayed up the rest of the night praying and
hoping nothing would happen,’ Vest told KUSA TV.
The woman said she tried calling the number back, only to get a recorded message saying the number was no longer in service.
The phone number has been used to prank people in the past, sometimes with threatening messages telling
people they were going to die.
'Yesterday I got a phone call and my mom answered it. It said "Ian Folk (my name) has three days to live". Of
course my mom has been freaking out all day about it. I pushed last call on my phone and it says the number is 666-666-6666. I try to call it but it isn't a real number. it was pretty creepy,' says one person on a blog.
Another person wrote: 'I just got a call from
 666-666-6666 (which was creepy enough). An automated voice that sounded like the old Apple text to speech guy stammered sputnik at me for a bit then called me a f**kstick and told me to press 3 to remove myself from the calling list.'
Vest said she did not know how someone had found her
number but said she had recently hung up business
flyers and thought that it could stem from them.
According to one comment, there is nothing to be
scared of and that it is an automated service people can use at the website, www.ospenterprises.com/phone/.
People who want to play a prank of their friends can do it through that website, according to the comment.
However, the said website was not working at the time
this story was published.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512002/Satan-calling-Colorado-woman-gets-48-text-messages-666-number-claiming-devil-himself.html



Re: Woman Gets A Call And Text Messages From 'Satan' by the

SAD: TWO NIGERIAN STUDENTS DROWN IN GHANA

Two Nigerian students Charles and Eddy students of knusford University college Accra went for an excursion to the volta region of Ghana on the 23rd of this month.
It was one of the most anticipated events of the semester as most of the students from knusford and other schools rushed the ticket,when they finally arrived there was a river that served as a barrier and they had to hire a speed boat to get there,looking at the limited amount of the boats and the price,they decided to talk to a fisherman to take them to the other side with his canoe,they managed to convince the fisherman and the five of them went on board without life jackets http:///Nn0cSh[url]

ASUU STRIKE

EBSU Withdraws From ASUU Strike - School Registrar, Mr. Sam Egwu by L.M Ayedun..(m): 4:06pm
The school authorities took the decision following the failure of the ASUU National Executive Council which met in Kano at the weekend to put to an end to the strike.
A statement issued by the institution’s Registrar, Mr. Sam Egwu, said academic activities will resume in all the university campuses on Tuesday.
The statement said, “Having waited patiently for Federal Government and ASUU to resolve the impasse occasioned by the over four months strike embarked upon by the union to no avail, the management of EBSU on Monday, November 26 resolved to reopen the school.
“We therefore inform all concerned that teaching and learning will begin fully on Tuesday, 26th, November, 2013. This is to enable us cover what we have lost to the strike.”

The Brand New Gold HTC 1

HTC recently revealed their Gold plated Htc 1.

It has the same specs as its predessor, i doubt if it was upgraded to Kitkat. It was released as a marketing ploy just like Apple released their gold plated iPhone 5s which recorded a lot of profit 2 months ago.

But don't be dissuaded, its a great smartphone with sn awesome camera with a unique user friendly intrface. But not such a great price

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The BB Porshe 2, The Most Beautiful Smartphone No One Will Ever Buy.

If you spend $2,350 on a Blackberry smartphone, you can at least know that you'll get a very special phone carton.

The new Porsche Design P'9882 reveals a very quiet sence of irony: This is Blackberry's most beautiful device but you will probably never spot it in the wild because it's alzo one of the most expensive smartphones in the world selling for nearly $2,400 on the market.

Making the price all the more shocking, at its core--- it has a stainless steel frame ana a hand -wrapped Italian leather backplate--- that aside, Its also essentially The Same Thing as the Blackberry Z10 that was launched in February. It also comes in blue

click HERE to make some extra cash and buy one.




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Should We Realy Be Allowed To Use Our Phones During Flights?

Commercial air travel is already filled with annoyances like shrinking personal space, overpriced meals and frequent delays. For many people, there's one bright spot to flying: A forced break from making, receiving and hearing phone calls. That could change with the Federal Communication Commissions new proposal to drop the ban on cellular connections and allow phone calls once a plane reaches 10,000 feet. The FCC first pitched the idea in 2004, before the rise of the smartphone. The reaction from passengers and flight attendant unions at the time was loud and negative: phone calls on planes would be disruptive, annoying and a potential safety issue. The FCC decided against the proposal. Now people are more attached to their tablets and smartphones. So much so that they rebelled against the ban on using small electronic devices such as phones, tablets and e-readers during takeoff and landing. After reviewing safety issues, the FAA and airlines finally gave in this month and relaxed restrictions. An unpopular idea Quietly playing games or reading e-books on a tablet or phone is one thing, but chatting away mid-flight doesn't seem to be as in demand. In a survey of 1,600 adults by an advisory group, the FAA found that 61% of people supported a ban on making calls while in the air. "I'm definitely against it," said Spud Hilton, travel editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. "People would be carrying on loud, full-voiced conversations right next to someone who doesn't want to hear it." The Association of Flight Attendants, the world's largest union of flight attendants, came out against the idea on Thursday, citing safety and security concerns. "In far too many operational scenarios, passengers making phone calls could extend beyond a mere nuisance, creating negative effects on aviation safety and security that are great and far too risky," the AFA said in a statement.Brett Snyder, who blogs about the airline industry on C rankyflier.com, agrees with lifting the restriction and thinks each airline should be allowed to set its own policy. "The public in the U.S. seems to be strongly against cell phones on airplanes, but let the airlines make the decision on whether or not they want to move forward and allow it," said Snyder. Keeping the peace Cell phones could cause friction between passengers who want to talk and passengers who would prefer peace and quiet. They would introduce yet another behavior flight attendants would have to police. "We're trained to de-escalate. Why would you put something in the environment that can escalate?" said Veda Shook, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants. Shook has worked as a flight attendant for the past 22 years. "The idea potentially introduces yet another stress factor into an already stressful environment," said airline pilot Patrick Smith of A skThePilot.com. The stress is made worse by tight quarters. When taking a phone call in public, it's good etiquette to keep 10 feet away from other people, protocol expert Pamela Eyring told Reuters. It's not even possible to get 10 inches of space on an airplane, where economy class seats are typically 17 to 18 inches wide and each seat is butted up against the one next to it. One option is for the FCC and airlines to allow cell phone use and hope that passengers act responsibly and only make calls when necessary and speak in a quiet voice. Unfortunately, the firsthand experience of flight attendants, frequently fliers and people who take other forms of mass transit cast doubt on that dream scenario. "The real problem with travel, especially air travel, is not baggage fees, it's not long lines... the real problem with travel is other travelers," said Hilton. The "quiet car" option

GOOGLE'S Nexus 5 Specs and Features.

The Nexus 5 was launched on the 5th of November. For those of you considering buying the device, here are the specs and features.

Screen: 4.95 inch true HD IPS. 137.9 *69 *686mm and it weighs 130grams.

MEMORY: it comes in 16gb and 32gb variants but with no space for an additional memory card. It also runs on 2gb RAM.

OPERATING SYSTEM: It runs on Androids Kitkat 4.4

CAMERA: 8MP primary camera with autofocus, optical image stabilisation , LED Flash, face detection photosphere etc. The secondary camera is a 1.3 MP camera

OTHERS: wireless charging capabilities, it comes with a non-removable battery with 300hrs standby time and 17hrs talktime on 3G.

Click HERE


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Why Facebook is Becoming Boring

Facebook may be the top social media platform in 2013, but it's no longer a secret that it's become very boring. Reading posts about someone's opinion on a new movie or what they listened to 5 minutes ago can lead to recurring sessions similar to watching paint dry. Wall posts are now very similar to tweets, either too short or long enough to make you wonder why you started reading it in the first place, making you consider joining other networks like Google+ or Reddit, that are'nt so popular around here.

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The Best Video App For Androids.

Video chat on smartphones has come
a long way in a relatively short
amount of time, and the tools
available for Android have matured
from gimmicky to genuinely useful.
You have a lot of great options, but
we think that Google Hangouts
deserves the crown for the overall
best and most well-integrated
method to see and talk with friends.
It's been a while since we updated
this post, and in the time since we
last selected Skype as our favorite
video chat application for Android,
the arena has shifted entirely. Lots of
people went from not using their
phones for video chat or video calls
at all to having a best-in-class tool
built in that they use on the reg.
Here's our new favorite pick, along
with where the competition stands
today.
Google Hangouts
Platform: Android (and others)
Price: Free
Download Page
Features
Places video calls to desktop
and other mobile devices over
3G/4G and Wi-Fi
Supports group video calls
with up to 10 other people
Synchronizes your Hangouts
and their history across devices so
you can see what you talked
about in the past, and review
shared photos, links, or other
media
All video calls to other users
are free (excluding data charges)
Supports front and rear-facing
cameras
Supports calls to mobile and
landline numbers via Google
Voice (or right through Hangouts
in iOS)
Supports bluetooth and wired
headsets for audio
Supports chat, SMS, MMS,
group SMS and MMS, video and
picture sharing, animated GIFs,
emoji, and more
Supports location sharing
Integrates with Google+

The Best Video App For Androids.

Video chat on smartphones has come
a long way in a relatively short
amount of time, and the tools
available for Android have matured
from gimmicky to genuinely useful.
You have a lot of great options, but
we think that Google Hangouts
deserves the crown for the overall
best and most well-integrated
method to see and talk with friends.
It's been a while since we updated
this post, and in the time since we
last selected Skype as our favorite
video chat application for Android,
the arena has shifted entirely. Lots of
people went from not using their
phones for video chat or video calls
at all to having a best-in-class tool
built in that they use on the reg.
Here's our new favorite pick, along
with where the competition stands
today.
Google Hangouts
Platform: Android (and others)
Price: Free
Download Page
Features
Places video calls to desktop
and other mobile devices over
3G/4G and Wi-Fi
Supports group video calls
with up to 10 other people
Synchronizes your Hangouts
and their history across devices so
you can see what you talked
about in the past, and review
shared photos, links, or other
media
All video calls to other users
are free (excluding data charges)
Supports front and rear-facing
cameras
Supports calls to mobile and
landline numbers via Google
Voice (or right through Hangouts
in iOS)
Supports bluetooth and wired
headsets for audio
Supports chat, SMS, MMS,
group SMS and MMS, video and
picture sharing, animated GIFs,
emoji, and more
Supports location sharing
Integrates with Google+

The Best Video App For Androids.

Video chat on smartphones has come
a long way in a relatively short
amount of time, and the tools
available for Android have matured
from gimmicky to genuinely useful.
You have a lot of great options, but
we think that Google Hangouts
deserves the crown for the overall
best and most well-integrated
method to see and talk with friends.
It's been a while since we updated
this post, and in the time since we
last selected Skype as our favorite
video chat application for Android,
the arena has shifted entirely. Lots of
people went from not using their
phones for video chat or video calls
at all to having a best-in-class tool
built in that they use on the reg.
Here's our new favorite pick, along
with where the competition stands
today.
Google Hangouts
Platform: Android (and others)
Price: Free
Download Page
Features
Places video calls to desktop
and other mobile devices over
3G/4G and Wi-Fi
Supports group video calls
with up to 10 other people
Synchronizes your Hangouts
and their history across devices so
you can see what you talked
about in the past, and review
shared photos, links, or other
media
All video calls to other users
are free (excluding data charges)
Supports front and rear-facing
cameras
Supports calls to mobile and
landline numbers via Google
Voice (or right through Hangouts
in iOS)
Supports bluetooth and wired
headsets for audio
Supports chat, SMS, MMS,
group SMS and MMS, video and
picture sharing, animated GIFs,
emoji, and more
Supports location sharing
Integrates with Google+